Yeah. Did you know that if you have a trailer almost out of sight in a neighborhood you will still have people complain?

“Awh lookie thar Matilda! That thar trailer ain’t made of unicorns and pixie dust! Let’s complain because it’s gonna go ingest them thar local virgins EVEN THOUGH it’s just sittin’ thar, not at all unattractive to my faceholes, doing nothin’ to impede on our daily lives! Pass the XXX jug fer ‘mah liver decimation and crank up thar Billy Ray!”

Seriously?! And not only has my gracious buddy received one complaint, he’s received MULTIPLE! It’s just a trailer! It’s not even dirty! It’s doing nothing to you! Move on with your lives! Take up a hobby! Try learning a new language! I wanna go around knocking on their doors asking, “Really? It bothers you THAT much? It’s just a trailer, practically out of sight. I’ll give you a wowwy pawp if you, I dunno, USE YOU ENERGY ON SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!”

*ahem*

My apologies. I don’t like to vent publically but… I feel it was well justified.

Anyway, I’m currently downloading Xcode for Mac. Apparently it’s a nifty tool to have with Ruby on Rails development. Web 2.0 fascinates me and I want to bathe in it’s shiny, reflective, glowey e-juices. I look at the sheer genious and simplicity of Twitter and think, “Ohhh I can do that!” The mere fact that it cuts development time by roughly two-thirds has me salivating like a teenaged boy in an erotic video game store. Did I talk about this stuff already? *reads previous blog*

Why yes I did.

Having my server squad update the operating system on my server is going to be necessary when I start transitioning over to Rails. Do I fear such a thing? Possibly. Transistions from server operating systems, especially from one physical server to another, has never been a copy/paste process. They tell me that the transistion is near seamless and I might have to go in and reconfig a few things, so that puts my geeky paranoia at some sort of rest.

My first Rails project will be Blargbox.com to get myself familiarized with the system. It’ll be a rather simple, yet incredibly functional, blogging site. I have no intention on making it a success, but I think it’ll be a nice thing to play with and get down. It’ll function kindof like Rawrb.com does, but allow signups and let people create their own Blargbox. It’ll have feeds, comments, messages, friends, blah blah blah – just simplified. And dumb.

I think.

What else… oh. Joshy sent me 110 changes to the DVD the other day. I flipped out. “Rawrb was done, but not anymore!” Meeeh. I finished 108 of those 110. The last two remaining changes contain one somewhat simple task and one really annoying one. I decided I don’t like video editing mostly because I have to endure the scrutiny of others. Wait… it’s scrutiny I don’t like, not video editing. Then again, perhaps I just need to relax and be gracious for the extra eyes.

NO! I’m just ANGRY!

Alright, I suppose I should start getting ready for my trip. Thanks for being there for my venting, anonymous internet reader!

OH! I also just became an iPhone developer! Now once there’s a high, profitable demand for “Hello world!” apps I’ll be a rich, bearded, trailer transgressor rather than the broke kind.

I’m incredibly interested in Ruby on Rails. This web 2.0 stuff is very impressive to me and I’m a bit burnt out on slaving away at hundreds of lines of PHP code. I watched a few of their presentations and was just blown away about how this guy build a blog app in 15 minutes. I think about this and how much my productivity can go up just from that. The thing that would take longer would be the actual design with CSS and graphics. 0_o

So, before I start any new projects, I’m going to study Ruby on Rails in a bit more depth and get this slow moving web development thing taken care of. I figure with all these things I want to produce it’ll benefit me in the long run to learn this new language and API. Luckily the past 10+ years of learning web stuff will be my learning curve. Yay!

Tomorrow I’ll be blasting energy at this new DVD menu. It’ll be nice to have that done.

I’ve decided to find more motivated writers for Pluh.com, and I think I’ve found a small handful who won’t disappoint. I can build them the means to write awesomeness and help lead them to recognition and experience. One of those win/win situations that I’m trying my best to cultivate and unleash.

A good example would be Blizzard Entertainment.These guys take their time and make sure that all their products are to the highest quality standards. Fix bugs, polish, fix more bugs, polish, polish… POLISH. Then, spend another year polishing. At the end you deliver an amazing product that all have been anticipating. Starcraft II and Diablo III look amazing from the teasers they’ve released and if I gotta wait another year for either one, I’ll gladly wait.

Man I’m tired. I just received Jimmy’s interview for the DVD, so now I can finally finish it. While I was waiting on that I did a ton of little things to Pluh.com. I often go back and forth with that site not knowing what to do with it. I’d scrap, rebuild, take away, patch, scrap, etc. At this point I feel like I can keep adding to it, piece by piece, to get some serious results. Eventually I feel that we’ll truly be able to deliver funny, high quality media at a consistent pace. All of us that work on that site had to go and do some “growing up” before we could commit to production. Little by little I aim to make it as memorable (and as popular) as Homestarrunner or Penny-Arcade.

For now though, I feel Psychostick will need my energy until the name alone carries it.

So everyone go do that election thing in a few days. Seems like the collective attention is caught by that event. Cool stuff.

One of those 3 AM blogs! I better get some rest because I’ve got tons of recording to do. Rawr.

Oh yeah, I also uploaded some VERY old Pluh.com videos onto my youtube account. Enjoy!

I thought that initially having a reviews section would be cool for the band to review stuff or whatever, but I’m like the only guy that does that kind of stuff. Jake cruises myspace, Jimmy is on a computer twice a year, Alex watches bad movies, and Jarsh has pretty much had his fill of reviewing stuff on Pluh.com. He, much like myself, doesn’t just like to write a review. We like to carve a masterpiece of humor at the expense of the thing/person/whatever that we’re reviewing. We did that for several years on Pluh.com and lost interest to review stuff after awhile. Hell, at one point we had a record label contact and send us some bands to review. Trik Turner and The Color Red. Yeah. The Color Red was pretty good, but Trik Turner’s tough guy rap/rock thing came out right when that genre was dying and I was extremely burnt out on it. I didn’t review either of them.

At that point I decided I just can’t review music. I’m very particular and have a hard time opening up to something new. My friends will often introduce bands to me and they almost have to force me to hear it for me to show interest! It’s a flaw, I know. Part of it is because I’m IN a band and know what really goes on behind the scenes. There’s just so much out there that it’s the equivalent of drinking from a firehose.

It also makes me feel a bit hypocritical. I want people to discover Psychostick, but I don’t discover new bands. Weird huh? I’ll get a message on myspace every now and then from someone who wants me to hear their band. 49 times out of 50, I just don’t. It’s almost a knee-jerk reaction now. I feel bad about it too, but what do I do if I don’t like the band? Tell them they suck? That hurts Psychostick’s reputation! It’s not fair really. So I just don’t listen. What a jerk I am, huh?

For example, there was a local band here in Phoenix that Jarsh reviewed on Pluh.com a long time ago. They were a weird, somewhat popular local band that got all the good opening slots for all the big acts that came through. They had more of an image than a musical act which we didn’t really enjoy, so Jarsh spoke him mind on the interweb.

One night after a show singer approaches me and Josh after a particular show and starts asking us about the bad review Josh put up. It was a very awkward situation and we were caught off guard, so we copped out, “Yeah I don’t know who that Gawkman fellow is but we’ll have a chat with him.” Heh. We COULD have given in to the confrontation but it was such a weird deal to have someone call you out on your bad review on their band FROM A WEBSITE in person. It’s not easy to take a bad review on your band and this guy was really upset (I won’t mention the choice words Jarsh used to describe their image), but at that point we decided not to review bands any longer since we were a band and it could hurt the progress of our band. All those review were taken down.

Anyway, I will review just about anything else. A movie, a video game, a restaurant – just for the hell of it. I used to review chicks, but… heh, who wants to keep putting hot chicks on a pedistal? Not me. Let Maxim and Stuff Magazine do that. They can also keep giving out that “dating advice” from chicks to guys all night and day. Damn near every piece of advice you read from that mag on dating is way off. Asking a lady for dating advice? Hmm. I don’t mean any offense to the ladies because they mean well, but I’ve never received a piece of advice from a lady that’s worked really well for me. Our two genders are pretty much two different universes. You know, square peg in a round hole? Yeah. Heterosexual women generally do not date women like a man dates women, so they cannot understand the male perspective! It’s not because they’re unintelligent, it’s just that we think differently. So guys, if you want good advice on dating women just ask a dude who dates a lot of women. They’re doing something right.

That also goes for anything else you want. Wanna be filthy rich? Get advice from a rich person. Want to sell a million records? Get advice from those who know how.

Subject change galore. I’m gonna go program stuff now. Yay!

Over the past couple of weeks I started selling some of my old stuff that was just sitting in storage. I’m pretty sure there’s more in there I can sell, but thus far I sold my TV and a couple of rare games that I had. Those two games (Lunar and Lunar 2 for the Playstation) I had no attachment to and I honestly didn’t even like the games. I tell you, when money isn’t as abundant you tend to bring into question what REALLY has value and what doesn’t. I’m gonna put up my PCMIA Verizon Internet Card and Ogre Battle: Limited Edition for the Playstation next. Bam.

With the profits from those sales I picked up a new monitor. I had a giant, clunky CRT monitor that was eating up so much space and just didn’t display my stuff in the color that my laptop screen can. So here’s what I got:

Yeah. This thing is AWESOME (the Samsung T240). The picture above doesn’t do it justice. I was editing the DVD artwork on there and at 300 DPI things get rather huge. On this monitor, which has a crisper display than my laptop, I could see everything in perfect clarity. I downloaded a 1080p version of the Quantam of Solice trailer and watched it on there too. Holy CRAP. My next console purchase will be a PS3 or an XBox 360 because this thing also supports HDMI. Mmm hmm. The only thing that I’m trying to find a solution for is the ability to hook up S-Video for my PS2 and Xbox. I can’t find any adapters that go into HDMI… so I’ll have to poke around the ‘net for a while for that. If any of you know where I can find S-Video and/or component adapters going to HDMI, let me know!

Also what you’re seeing above is the amazing fruits of my labor and patience. I have my own room now (after 2 years of mooching due to touring) and made some cash from selling stuff + CD sales to create a harmonious working environment. It’s actually fun and peaceful to work on artwork and DVD stuff where I’m sitting. Notice the bowl of pineapple slices. I recommend it as a snack… ya jerks.

During my last blog I asked you for a smidge of advice. Thanks for the responses. I did find my answer through other means, but I don’t want your responses to go unrecognized. Aren’t I just THAT awesome? (yes)

Whew.

I finally finished everything with The Dumb. Actually finishing a project is like crack. Getting to that crack is the tough part, but with some potential bugs that might creep up I can honestly say I’m finally 100% done with TheDumb.org‘s street team management system.

The Dumb is a website that is uniquely organize to assist in getting street teamers for Psychostick all the materials they need to promote. Sounds simple, right? On paper it is simple, but the logic between real world promotion and managing the promotion is not simple. Plus there has to be incentive. “What’s in it for me?” When massing an army, or just leading a team of people, incentive is vital. Sometimes just acknowledgement is enough, but in the real world people need to see a light at the end of the tunnel for all their hard work. We’re coming up with more rewards for the hard work, but for now we’ll have backstage access, featured dumb t-shirts, and some others.

Now I can get back on track with the Psychostick DVD. I’m really looking forward to finishing that one. There’s been a ton of pressure to get this thing done but more important stuff keeps pulling me away. NOW, between recording and some occasional artwork, I can divert the majority of my energy towards this thing. Fucking finally. It’s coming folks so you just hang in there. I’m just glad to be crossing things off of my list.

Rawrb’s tip on actually being productive: Get all that to-do stuff out of your head and on to paper! Make a list and cross things out as you complete them. You’ll sleep better at night with all your ideas/to-dos/projects written down rather than swirling around in your head with the potential to be forgotten.

I had a couple more questions come in as well. I’ll make that a separate blog!

I did receive a few questions (all within a day!), so I answer them IN YOUR FACE.

“Whats it like to be in a band and what all do you need to begin one? Because we were wanting to start one ourselves. – Justin.“

Well, being in a band is kind of like being married. Not that I would know what it’s like to be married since I haven’t been, though I’m told it’s like being in a marriage.

Anyway, being in a band is a very atypical thing to do by society’s standards. You know, go to school, get a job, have kids, etc. A band is quite the opposite of all those things in many ways and it’s a very strange experience if you’re not used to it. It almost feels like you’re walking on a different plane of existence from those around you who are not experiencing it.

For me personally it’s been a huge learning and growing experience. Your comfort zone gets demolished, at times you want to strangle your bandmates, you find out exactly how you handle stress, but in the end it’s more than worth it when you walk on that stage. They way people react to your music, your creation, cannot be described. It can only be experienced.

I hope that helps.

“what do you do, when your ex-girlfriends friends, keep calling your phone, and telling you how awesome her new boyfriend is? – zac”

WOW.

This is tough to answer.

First of all, you’re young (it says you’re 14 on your profile). Chicks at THAT age can be extremely obnoxious. I find that when dealing with immature actions like that (which can sadly carry on throughout their lives in some cases) you counter with something they don’t see coming.

Something that they won’t have any way to get the upper hand.

Be humble and positive. Most people don’t know how to deal with that. It’s AWESOME.

Here’s exactly what I would say.

“Really? He’s that awesome? You know what? Good for them. I really hope they’re happy.”

Something along those lines would work. If they can’t insult you or make you feel like crap, they’ll never win. Not only that, but it’ll generally make you feel better for wanting the best for everyone.

And be genuine about it. They might be playing this stupid little game, yet you are above the game by completely dismissing it and hoping for the best for everyone. Don’t give in to that crap.

In the end, what you said will carry back to your ex-girlfriend and she’ll actually appreciate that, even if you don’t want her to. :p

“I need some advice. I’ve been friends with someone for about 4 years now.  I went to his birthday party last week and I found out he has been a stoner for about 3 years.  this hit me hard because I’m very anti-drug if that makes sense. I did not suspect a thing. What would you do in this situation?  Should I keepin touch with him? – Adam”

You know, I’ve been in your situation. Yeah! I can actually say that.

Several years ago one of my oldest, bestest friends ended up telling me he was a stoner. I couldn’t believe it at first because at the time, I was STRONGLY against drugs of every kind.

Thing is, he probably hasn’t told you because he was worried about how you’d feel about the whole thing. Personally you can stand your moral ground and still be against it, but make things clear with him how you feel and how you don’t want anything to do with it.

I find that when dealing with stoners or druggies in general you can either get angry, hate them, whatever, but that won’t stop them from doing what they do. Letting them in your life all depends on how strongly against it you feel, but keep in mind the type of drugs also makes a difference in this choice too.

For example, I refuse to associate with people who are into the “drugs that can kill you,” like heroine, coke, etc. Pot is really harmless. I personally don’t do any drugs whatsoever, aside from the occasional Advil for a headache. HAR HAR. I’ve just never had any interest. You wouldn’t believe how many people freak out when I tell them I’ve never tried pot. Very funny stuff.

Also, I find it hard to be around people who obsess with any type of substance, even alcohol. Too much of anything is bad.

That’s all for now. More stuff coming as always. Hell yeah!

I especially love it when I keep getting asked for video clips and stuff while I’m on the road. Yeah, where and how am I supposed to do that? I’m on a LAPTOP. I have an external drive, but jeez, ripping video takes time. They’re just gonna have to wait.

There’s a lot more being asked of me too that I’m just astonished they think I can do these things. It’s the lack of them knowing what the road is like, which is tough to convey to those.

It’s like this. You know what it’s like when you’ve been traveling all day, like on a plane of a bus, right? How tiring that is? Multiply that by eight, then go nuts on a stage, then do it 30 to 60 times in a row. That’s what it’s like.

But it’s fun as hell. Strange how that works, no?

Spambots are breaking through my image verification. *sigh* I’d like to violently rip out the innards of those who write spambots. I hope I never meet one. Rather, they should hope to never meet me.

The response to this video has been crazy. It took me like… no time at all to assemble this vid. So I can do a bunch of these to keep the fans somewhat fulfilled until we hit the road.

Speaking of hitting the road… heh, we now have two big opportunities. Waiting on some more detail and confirmation. Most of it is seeing if the other parties will walk the talk. Should know something more in the coming weeks. I’m very excited to see how it’ll turn out, and FINALLY we’ll get to tour the US. It’s very cool to see dreams turn into reality. You want to know how to make that happen for yourself? Well… just pursue what you love and never, ever give up. You will get it.

We’re recording more stuff soon. There’s one acoustic song in particular that I wrote I can’t wait to record. The new Psychostick stuff and Evacuate Chicago stuff is all amazing.

Those blogs below suck ass (therefore they are gone). Har, I’ve progressed so much since then. I got annoyed at a party I went to on Saturday, but then… I realized what was really important; having fun and enjoying the time I spend with friends. So guess what? I’m no longer concerned with “it” anymore. “It” being that crap below. It’ll all work itself out without me even having to put forth any of my time and energy into it. It’s all out of my control anyway, so whatever. Bros before hoes, right? RIGHT? Of course.

G’night intarweb.