Review – W.A.S.P at Showcase Live
by jandrews on Mar.10, 2010, under Reviews
Tonight I did something I wish I had done a lot sooner. I went to see a band that has been a part of my album collection for 30 years. I first started listening to W.A.S.P. when my uncle introduced me to their debut album. Being an impressionable 10 year old I instantly fell for “School Daze”, a song that compares a child’s need to go to school to that of a person imprisoned for no reason for just being what they are and what they have no control over. With introduction W.A.S.P. seeds were sown. Seeds of free thinking, of rebellion, and of personal desire to make something of myself.
I arrived at Showcase Live at 5:15pm, early enough to grab my spot in line with my friend Laurie who had been waiting for me there. The doors opened and we were offered a place to sit. Stage right. The venue is INCREDIBLE. Being able to sit at a table, order a gourmet burger and fries, or a New York Sirloin steak to eat while watching the opening act. Having a spectacular view of the stage. It blew my mind.
The opening band was War Machine. The singer/guitarist reminded me of Dio for some reason. They had a solid sound, and were enjoyable to listen too. If I were more familiar with their music I probably would have gotten more involved in watching them. I plan on give them a fair listening too, and maybe if they are around again I’ll go and check them out.
The lights were down low. One by one the members of W.A.S.P came out onto the stage starting with their drummer, and soon the stage was set. Blackie started off the show with “On your Knees”. A classic from their first album. Starting the show off right. They ran through a series of songs from that album. The ones I influenced me as a child and drove my mother mad. Blackie though looking his age, sounded exactly as if it were straight off the CD.
Now I have to admit over the years I have lost touch with many bands I had once listened too. W.A.S.P was one of those bands. The songs I was unfamiliar with, like those from “The Crimson Idol” showed me that Blackie’s writing style had grown in a way I wouldn’t have expected. One example is the song they opened their finale with “Heaven’s Hung in Black”, which is a modified quote from Abraham Lincoln. Behind the band on a screen shown images of dead soldiers from the civil war, slowly the images moved to a more recent time period. The lyrics talking about the loneliness on the battlefield waiting to die. It was very touching, and it has been a while since a metal song has moved me so. It was highly unexpected. At the end, Blackie actually looked up to the sky and said a prayer. I don’t know what was said as he wasn’t mic-ed at the time, but he ended it with the symbol of the cross, which was equally unexpected.
The final song of the night, was also my favorite W.A.S.P song. A song about alcohol and debauchery. Blind in Texas. It was so wonderful to hear it live.
If you are a metal head and have never heard W.A.S.P. you should give them a try, they are a fun band to listen too. If you get the chance to see them live, I recommend you take it.
PHP Class – Calendar Matrix
by jandrews on Mar.08, 2010, under PHP Development
The other night I found myself needing a PHP class file that would give me calendar data. Specifically I needed something that I could build a calendar display with. The problem was I didn’t want it to write the HTML, I just wanted it to give me a multidimesional array of weeks and days. That way I could have whatever content I wanted in it. Not finding anything that didn’t write out HTML I created the CalendarMatrix class.
/**************************************************************************
Copyright 2010 James Andrews (email : contact at jamesmandrews dot com)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation version 2 of the License
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
**************************************************************************/
class CalendarMatrix implements ArrayAccess, Iterator, Countable
{
// Define a list of the days of the week in english.
private $daysOfWeek = array( 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday','Saturday','Sunday');
private $dayCount = 0;
private $matix = array();
public function __construct($year, $month)
{
$this->dayCount = cal_days_in_month(CAL_GREGORIAN, $month, $year);
$this->generateMonthWeeksMatrix();
}
public function calendarDayHeaderArray()
{
return $this->daysOfWeek;
}
public function getMonthName($year=false, $month=false)
{
return date('F', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month, 1, $year));
}
private function firstDayOfMonth() {
return date("l", strtotime(date('m').'/01/'.date('Y').' 00:00:00'));
}
private function primeMatrix($startPos)
{
// Set up the first matrix array
$this->matrix[] = array();
for($count=0; $count < $startPos; $count++)
{
$this->matrix[(count($this->matrix)-1)][$count] = "";
}
return $matrixPos = count($this->matrix[(count($this->matrix)-1)]);
}
private function generateMonthWeeksMatrix()
{
// Get the position for the first day in the week header array.
$startPos = array_keys($this->daysOfWeek, $this->firstDayOfMonth());
// prime the matrix
$matrixPos = $this->primeMatrix($startPos[0]);
// Handle each day of the week
for($day = 0; $day < $this->dayCount; $day++)
{
// Fill in the date into the array value
$this->matrix[(count($this->matrix)-1)][] = ($day+1);
// If the current array hits a length of 7 start a new one.
if(count($this->matrix[(count($this->matrix)-1)]) == 7){
$this->matrix[] = array();
}
}
}
/*
* Below are our "implementataion functions."
*/
// We don't want to be able to change the data, so this
// function though here for compatibility does nothing.
// We'll throw an exception later.
public function offsetSet($offset, $value) {
}
public function offsetExists($offset) {
return isset($this->matrix[$offset]);
}
public function offsetUnset($offset) {
}
public function offsetGet($offset) {
return isset($this->matrix[$offset]) ? $this->matrix[$offset] : null;
}
public function rewind() {
reset($this->matrix);
}
public function current() {
return current($this->matrix);
}
public function key() {
return key($this->matrix);
}
public function next() {
return next($this->matrix);
}
public function valid() {
return $this->current() !== false;
}
public function count() {
return count($this->martrix);
}
}
The class is designed to mostly work like an array. With one exception, you can not modify an indexed value. It does how ever allow you to use for, and foreach statements to iterate through the array.
// Instantiate the matrix using the year and month in the constructor.
$matrix = new CalendarMatrix(2010, 03);
The matrix will now initialize itself with the constructor and you can use it like so.
<table>
<?php foreach($matrix as $week): ?>
<tr>
<?php foreach($week as $day): ?>
<td<>?php echo $day; ?></td>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</table>
The code will now have created an calendar with the first row being Monday the last row being Sunday. There is also a function go build the day header at the top.
<table>
<tr>
<?php foreach($matrix->calendarDayHeaderArray() as $dayName): ?>
<th><?php echo $dayName; ?></th>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</tr>
<?php foreach($matrix as $week): ?>
<tr>
<?php foreach($week as $day): ?>
<td<>?php echo $day; ?></td>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</table>
It is also flexible enough to be used to build a calendar out of divs simpley use both foreach calls next to each other and then put a div in the middle instead of a <td> tag.
Chat Roulette
by jandrews on Mar.06, 2010, under General Discussion
For the last hour I have been playing around with “Chat Roulette”. A website designed to randomly select a person on the site for you to chat with over video chat.
It is the strangest place. I have seen groups of 3 people, 1 person. Mostly men, a pot plant, and the one that has freaked me out so far. A man hanging from the ceiling. Not sure if it was a hoax or an actual suicide, but the man hung motionless. Chair tipped over on the floor.
One group of 3 were these 2 girls and a guy from France. Montpelier to be exact. They spoke very little english, I tried to chat with them using google translate. Then the guy tried to hook me up with his “sister”. Who was overweight. Not that I am picking on the fact she is overweight, but more the fact that he kept saying it, and calling her miss piggy. Which I thought was rude. They were from France, so I guess the saying is true.
Most of the users seemed to be men in their teens and 20s. Who would click the “next” button when they saw me. One group even went on to call me “old and stuff”. Which I found amusing.
I do have to say it’s amazing how many penises that have flashed by. Not a site for the kiddies. No real way to flag clean content only. Oh look, there’s another penis… *sigh* The one thing that thrives on the Internet….
Right now I am talking to a girl, Sophie from switzerland, and studies medicine. She asked my why I was on chatrt. I told her to chat, she then asked if it wasn’t to find a nice girl, I then told her I was married, and she was very surprised.
So, the concept is neat, who knows if it will last or if it’s just a fad, but you should give it a try if you like meeting random people.
Movie Review – Ponyo
by jandrews on Mar.06, 2010, under Movies
Tonight I ventured over to Movie Stop and grabbed a disc I have been waiting to be released for months. It is the latest Hayao Miyazaki’s Chibli studios film “Ponyo”. A story inspired by “The little mermaid” (or so Disney has put on the outside box) of a little sea creature who is found by Sasuke a 5 year old boy who mistakes her for a gold fish, and takes her home. Ponyo however is the daughter of the sea goddess, and once she gets the taste of human food she uses her magic to transform herself into a human. With her transformation brings on strange events and their adventure begins.
Much like many of Miyazaki’s other films it is hard not to fall in love with the characters. Ponyo’s innocent playful manner. Sasuke’s serious undertaking of the job that he’s set out to do, along with the incredible character design and story makes for great family fun. Highly recommended.
Beat Drums Beat Drums…. ah hah hah hah….
by jandrews on Mar.04, 2010, under Video Games
Since I was a child I have loved the drums. Whether it be pots and pans from under the cupboards, beach pales and other odds and ends out in the yard. It is an instrument that I always wanted to play. When I was in the 4th grade, when we had the ability to join “band” my parents wouldn’t let me get a drum. Instead they allowed me to get the trumpet. When I became interested in playing rock music, I didn’t have the money to afford a kit, and as an adult I really have never had a place to keep a kit.
Fastfoward to New Years Even 2008. I went over to my friend Bridget’s house for a NYE party. Much of the night was spent playing Rock Band on the Xbox 360. Though I was enthralled with their drums. They don’t have the crappy plastic that easily breaks piece of garbage that comes with the game. Instead her husband had purchased an “ION Drum Kit”. The ION Drum Kit is pretty incredible. It is designed and sold by Alesis, a manufacturer of high end electronic drum equipment. It was designed to give you flexibility, but more importantly it was designed to allow you to disconnect your game system, plug in one of their drum brains, and PLAY the drums. Allowing a potential drummer to start with a basic kit, and move up as he/she outgrows the game. The best part is it’s a reasonable price. $200 for the core system. A little bit more for the electronic symbols. When the game is outgrown you can buy a basic brain for $150, or a more advanced brain for $350.
I want one badly….
