This particular session is almost completely as-is… Facebook lag and all!

Yo

So, get this, I got a notice today from my ISP that I got busted for downloading copyrighted material.

Damn

Sucky.

I didn’t know they still did that shit.

I had to promise I deleted the material or my Internet would be suspended.

hahaha

Honor system.

OK. Let’s do this.

Yeah.

So, politics… that what I promised…

Let’s start with that whole healthcare reform hoopla. What’s Mr. Riley’s take?

Ideally, we’d have single payer health care like every other fully developed nation in the world, but that’s off the table.

A distant but still vastly improving second would be the public option, though that seems to have been severely compromised at this point and likely won’t even go through at all.

But isn’t that socialism? (rolls eyes)

Just like the police and fire departments. Sure.

Ooops, I forgot to start with, “So, I heard you are a Libertarian.“

I was, but I stopped being one when I left my first wife.

Haha. Anyway… so I am basically on the same page with you there. Public option would have been a good step, let’s hope it still works out.

I give it 1 in 20 odds at this point.

Ok, so what else is hot in the political/social forum right now? Any opinions you want to share with me?

I’m not as informed as I should be, in all honesty. I take the issues as they come. I’ve paid more attention to health care than most because it would effect me directly. Generally speaking, I side with the far left liberals the vast majority of the time.

I tend not to fall on the American political spectrum a lot of the times, so I feel ya.

Yeah! Me too.

How about the Kanye West debacle?

I’m all about salary caps, the legalization of all drugs and culturally unacceptable stuff like that. I don’t even use any illegal drugs but it’s a massive waste of our resources to criminalize them. It’s wholly ineffective; it also puts a lot of people in prison unjustifiably.

Oh. Yeah. I hear Kanye said some shit at the VMAs. Homie, I could not care less. I don’t get celebrity obsession. It just doesn’t resonate with me.

It’s like that Mike Vick thing you asked me about.

Why is this important?

I think he’s funny sometimes and he taught me valuable lessons, like that George Bush doesn’t care about white people.

Why is this part of our public discourse? It’s absolutely trivial; it’s taking the place of something really important we could be talking about instead.

I do like that Kanye brought back shutter shades. They’ve always been cool.

True, true. Isn’t that always the case though?

Shutter shades?

Yes. They’ve always been cool.

I meant on the public discourse thing, but… yeah, that too.

Stupid Facebook lag.

So… I am running a remix contest. I was kinda hoping you’d take a whack at it.

I saw. Haven’t checked the track out yet, but I’m gonna have to decline. Busy with my own stuff. Thanks for thinking of me, though.

It’s ok. I don’t hate you or anything, but check out the song. CookBook is dope.

I like his name.

Indeed.

Oops.

Oops?

Sorry about that.

Still with me?

I might have missed your last question.

Navigated away from this page accidentally.

Hello?

Yes, I’m here.

Any more questions?

I think I am gonna be lame and make this session a bit short. I feel so old, I have a hard time staying up too late. We’ll have to have next week’s final chat be grandiose.

OK. lol

Any subject you want to focus on for next time?

Let’s conclude with something interesting, at least. How is Nerdcore Rising? I saw on your Twitter that you were watching it on your XBOX.

We ended up not watching it because Beefy had technical issues. We’re gonna reschedule.

Damn. Beefy! You should have yelled Beefy in the way that supervillians do when their plans are foiled by their nemeses.

I can’t stay mad at Beefy.

Well, anyway… next time let’s focus on pop culture that has changed your life in some way, like music, movies, tv, books, whatever.

If you’d ever met him in person, you’d understand. He’s like a giant cherub.

That’s a good subject!

Thanks.

I’m rad like that.

You omitted a key medium, though.

Which?

Video games!

That too.

Right on.

So, that said. In addition to my questions for you, I want you to pose at least two interesting questions to me as well.

Yeah? OK. I’ll do that.

I want to say something worthwhile on my site for once.

I gotta get you something for your mix tapes soon, huh?

We’re working on more stuff. Haven’t just forgotten about you or anything.

Ok, so… the wife and bed beckon. Take care of your wife and your fellow Libertarians… and yes, I want a track. Hell, an EXCLUSIVE one!

We’ll get you something.

Word. Tell Beefy I love him.

Night.

Night.

Another Facebook chat session with the one and only Shael of the Rileys.

How’s a little chat tonight for you?

Let’s do it.

Word.

So, how’ve ya been since we last talked. I read that you were sick on your Twitter.

Still having some health problems. I’ve been light headed and fainting, and have a chronic muscle spasm in my neck and shoulders. I’ve had a lot of MRIs and other tests, but still haven’t been diagnosed.

That sucks!

It’s OK, man.

I’m not mad or anything.

So, what are you working on musically?

Anything new?

I’ve been trying to write new songs for the full length Double Ice Backfire release, primarily. Working on a little bit of Grammar Club on the side.

Doing one-hour music writing contests every other week or so.

That’s been fun.

Cool. One-hour music writing?

Never heard of such a thing.

Yeah!

You’d never think of it, right?

It’s cool. What websites do contests like that?

It started, in so far as I know, with the video game music arranging crowd, but I’m sure its roots are older.

ThaSauce.net does the ones I participate in right now.

Everyone gets together in a chat room; we’re all given a theme and an hour to compose, then we all listen to each other’s work and vote on our favorites.

While I’m not much a musician, I’ll have to try sometime.

You should! Everyone’s welcome. #ThaSauce on the Enter The Game IRC network.

It’s a lot of fun. It’s super nerdy, though, because you’re hanging with all your friends in a chatroom while you’re sitting by yourself on a computer.

So, I reviewed Dual Core. They got my name from you. I absolutely loved their album. Have a favorite track of theirs?

“Here to Help” right now.

Rad. Have you ever done a track with them?

Not under the Dual Core name, though C64, the producer of Dual Core, is producing the new Grammar Club album right now.

Int 80 might make a guest appearance.

That’s awesome. As a big fan of you, them, and Beefy, I will have to rock that as soon as it’s ready… which will be…

I don’t know, man.

We’ve had three or four false starts with this album, and a lot of personnel changes. I think everything’s finally rolling now, but at this point I’m just not gonna give a date until it’s done and being processed by CD Baby.

You’re only as fast as the slowest band member when you’re working virtually, over the Internet.

Who exactly is in this incarnation of Grammar Club?

Oh man!

Check this out:

Me on sequencing and vocals;

Beefy on vocals;

Kabuto the Python replacing Glenn Case as our third vocalist;

And C64 doing final production and engineering. He’s also doing a lot of drum loop and synth arrangement stuff, and some awesome turntablism too.

Nice!

Facebook tells me you didn’t get half of that

Kabuto the Python on vocals

Ailsean on guitar

Mustin on bass for half of the album

Adam!, the producer of our first album, on bass for the other half of the album

DJ Snyder doing some table work and some drum loop stuff

So that’s 8 guys.

I think….

Awesome. I did miss like half of that.

Yeah.

8 different artists.

Double Ice Backfire, by contrast, is only three.

Ok, well, most of those cats are new to me. Who are they (minus you and the Beefster)?

Snyder did all the scratching on our first record, and did some production.

C64 is, as I mentioned, the producer of Dual Core. He creates all of the instrumentals that Eighty raps over.

Mustin is the front man of TheOneUps, a jazz fusion video game cover band with a good bit of a following. (www.oneupstudios.com)

I’ll have to check that out, for sure.

Ailsean is an old school overclocked remixer whose guitar work I’ve been a fan of for a very long time. It’s amazing to be on a project with him since I was a big fanboy of his video game music arrangement stuff. Still am, actually.

I’ve heard mad good stuff about Kabuto, but I’ve never heard anything myself.

Kabuto the Python is a really good rapper. I’m stoked about the addition of a second rapper. The new album takes a more hip-hop direction than our last.

You should check out his mix tape Parseltongue.

I will, where can I get it?

Lemme check….

http://www.scrubclubrecords.com/music/parsel.html

SCHWEEEEET!

I’ll be rockin’ that on my new iPod tomorrow.

Did I mention I got a free Touch?

No.

My sis bought a MacBook and already had an iPod Touch. It came free, so I got an early B-day gift.

Sounds good.

I am digging on it. So anyway… I am watching Greek (an ABC Family show that is basically a college sitcom/dramedy) with the wife.

You are married, right?

Where did you get that idea?

I don’t know. I thought it said so on your Facebook.

It’s never that on my Facebook.

Then, I’m crazy. Not sure why I thought so.

No wife, then I guess.

I like these interviews. lol

Haha. Me too.

Any lady friend? or man friend? or…

I’m straight and single.

To the point.

I always find it easier to write music, though, when I’m not in a relationship.

A girlfriend takes a lot of emotional energy. You know what I mean?

And making the relationship work takes a time investment, too.

Agreed. Am I at least right on the fact that you live in NYC?

Kind of. I’m a little ways North of the city right now, dealing with this health issue.

Ahhh. I’m originally from Northern NJ, so I am familiar with NY.

Yeah. So I’ve been really happy with the stuff I’ve been writing recently, since I’ve spent most of my adult life in relationships and haven’t had much of an opportunity to write music while single until now. I think the stuff I’ve just recently written is my best stuff yet.

Interesting.

So, I think I’m gonna bounce. Next week, we’ll have to hit up some controversy, like politics and uhh… stuff.

lol

Oh man.

That’s gonna be great.

You’re gonna be like

“I hear you’re a Libertarian.”

Hmmm…

lol

I’m not.

I’m very Liberal.

I’m just ribbing you, man.

We’ll be ok.

Besides, libertarianism is just anarchy for rich white guys with guns… or so I’m told.

This week’s session will be up tomorrow by like noon, most likely, so check it out.

Anyhoo, I’m out like trout, homie. Keep it real.

Peace out.

Before scanning the news on Friday via Google News, I’d never heard of Greg Gutfield (who I then found out was the 4th most underrated talk show host). This is likely due to the fact that I try to avoid Fox News and it’s “fair and balanced” (read: RIGHT WING FILTH) way of sharing the news.

On Friday, however, I stumbled across his Greg-alogue entitled “Call Someone Racist and Win”. He begins by recapping his discussion of racial politics:

So it took only one day before I was called a racist for, guess what, criticizing racial politics.

If you remember, I pointed out that choosing a Supreme Court nominee based on minority status is a diversionary trick meant to obscure left-wing ideology.

Then he points out:

[A blogger] called me a racist.

Which is awesome, because it proves my point: In the world of racial politics, all you have to do is call someone a racist and you win. Game over.

I know very little about this Greg guy, but I do know that he’s right. Playing the race card is so 90’s… it’s played out. I say that with a my tongue against my cheek, but that doesn’t mean I don’t honestly believe it. Sure, there are racists… sure, minorities are as good as anyone at a job… but using race to get ahead, make a point, or just play the system is wrong. But, unfortunately, it works… and it works well.

I couldn’t care less about Sotomayor’s controversial comments because everyone in the limelight provides controversial soundbites. What is troubling, however, is that the only thing that either side talks about is her race. How about talking about her politics, her ideals, and her accomplishments? The Republicans’ focus on the race comments makes the GOP look old and non-progressive. The Democrats’ focus on her race makes an educated person question her qualifications a great deal. Either way, this whole thing wreaks of black-white racial politicking bullshit.

Let me tie in my personal perspective of the mentality behind racial politics and affirmative action:

As a white male, I am the “privileged”. While I don’t discount the privileges that have been thrust upon me, it is much more due to a solid upbringing and/or my family’s socioeconomic class than by my race. That said, what has being a white male, specifically, gotten me?

A good college education? No, I did that myself… I would likely have been given much more financial aid and many more scholarships and grants had I not been a white male.

A good job? No, I did that myself… in fact, had I been born a female… or, perhaps, black… I’d have a much better shot at a promotion in the next few months. However, as I work for the government and we already have 2 white males in our current management structure, I am likely out of the loop.

So, I ask you… does my stance against affirmative action, racial politics, or playing the race card in general make me a racist? Conservative, liberal, or somewhere in between… if you answer with a simple yes, then your ignorance is much greater than the ignorance of the “racists” that you lambast against. I hate racism, yes, even institutional racism… but Gutfield is dead on.