It’s finally happened. The whole entire internet has run out of things to write about.

Last week, Skwerl (real name: Kevin Dale Cogill) posted some newly leaked Guns n’ Roses tracks on his blog. What happened? Exactly what you’d think would happen. He was told to take them down. On top of that, he got a visit from two FBI employees. As dramatic as that sounds, my old guitar players little brother got a similar visit from two FBI agents for some shady kid bullshit he was up to. It happens. Skwerl cooperated and immediately took the music down. No harm, no foul.

What is the big deal? Honestly, I have no fucking idea. But it’s been reported on by rollingstone.com, wired, and a couple other content-starved websites. There are a few potentially interesting aspects to the story, but none of them have been reported on at all. For example:

1. Instead of anonymously sharing the music with the music-loving internet community through widely accepted avenues (torrent sites, etc.), why did he choose to re-tag the files with his sites web address and post them exclusively on his own blog? Remember, he wasn’t the source of the files getting out, just a middleman.

2. Rather than posting downloadable MP3 files, he posted a stream player. People could listen, but not download. I could be mistaken about this part, but I’m pretty sure that’s the way it went down.

3. This is less important maybe (as if any of this is important), but it’s something I couldn’t help but notice. Skwerl claimed these files to be “final, mastered versions” of the songs. To my ears, they clearly are not. The overall relative volume of the tracks alone give away the fact that they are not final masters, and some of the songs just can’t be final mixes in my opinion. I would be amazed to hear the released version of Chinese Democracy with these exact versions on it.

When Skwerl finally launched this site, I suggested that he add a forum that didn’t come down on file-sharing amongst the users. That’s exactly the way it was done on an old site that he worked on, and it worked wonderfully. Users got to know one another, made requests, and music was shared. In addition, no files were hosted on his server. That keeps his server from taking a hit, and it takes all the heat away from the sites owner if/when anyone in a suit notices that the files are there. On the flip side, it also keeps your name and photo from being plastered all over the internet for 15 minutes. And no offense, but people in Los Angeles don’t exactly go there to lay low and fly under the radar, nameen?

In the end, I fully support his decision to “share” the leaked tracks, but I do question the way in which it was done. At the end of the day I’m just glad to have some new Axl jams on my iPhone. So for that, thanks. I guess this makes me one more website with nothing better to write about.

Don’t say I never gave you anything.

Yesterday I celebrated my first Father’s Day as a father. That video gives you a pretty good idea of how I spent most of the day, aside from romping through the city earlier in the afternoon eating everything in sight.

Overall the day was very good. I was worried that it wouldn’t be, because Saturday was a total fucking nightmare. I woke up on Sunday morning, like most mornings, to the sound of Darwin doing whatever the hell he does in his crib when he wakes up, and the woman moving about the room. She asked me if I wanted my present, which I surely did. I got a Panasonic SDR-SW20 camcorder. It isn’t some flashy high-end HD camera or anything, but it is exactly the one I wanted. It’s shock-proof, dust-proof, water-proof, records on tiny little SD cards, and fits right in my pocket. I really like it, and I’m certain it will be used to capture countless hours of cute Darwin action. Anyway, it was a good day at a time when most are not.

Oddly enough, I got through the entire day without ever thinking about my own father at all. It crossed my mind today though. Just like “Oh wow yesterday was Father’s Day and I didn’t talk to my Dad again…”. On we go.

I should type a really detailed post about my day, and just set Wordpress to post that same thing day after day. It would be pretty accurate most of the time. My days are more or less one big string of frustrations and problems. I’m in a bad mood almost all of the time, which probably makes me less than pleasant to be around. Luckily that isn’t a problem, since no one is around me anyway. Whatever.

I got to thinking about that good old “grass is greener” adage. I suppose like most people I find myself occasionally searching for, or at least thinking about the better options out there for me when it comes to various aspects of my life. In doing so, I can’t help but notice the shockingly short list of people who I believe truly have my best interest in mind, or would actually stick their neck out for me when it really counts. All the while, the list of people who will abandon me when the going gets tough grows ever longer. Admittedly, I get fooled sometimes. I look over the fence, and I see that greener grass. I see that cosmetic facade, and like a child my eyes light up and I want to chase right after it. Alas, when I reach for the fire, I get burned. Maybe I’m already on the green side. Maybe I’m color blind! Shit, maybe I’m just in the middle of the desert.

I’ve been working on some new art.