Angry, Young, and BORED: The Reason I Am How I Am

Spending a week in Hawaii has, in many ways, changed me.

It feels a little snooty on my part to say something like that, but it really has. I came back more relaxed, happy, and ready and willing to see the world in ways I never actually thought of... at least, not since I was a kid. Seeing everything so different out there, even though it was still part of the country, just did something.

People say you should always leave the country once to see just how different things are. In reality, I think just going even 90 miles away from where you live can do just as much.

I'm actually shocked now by how many fat people are in this city. I mean, there are A LOT. A incredibly insane number! Just looking around on the train today, going down and playing my guitar on Market Street, I would say the number seems to be 1 out of 10 are morbidly obese, 1 in 5 are fairly overweight, and the rest are just there.

So, I just want to get this one off my chest: There's just as much soda and fast food in Hawaii that there is here, and a lot less fat people. In America. Shocking, isn't it? Maybe it ISN'T the food that's the problem, but our LIFESTYLES? MMMM? Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

I also realized how conservative this place tends to be, and how in many ways and many places any new ideas or new concepts seem to be crushed. Then again, that's something I've said time and time again for years.

At the same time, there is a new generation of people in the city, those who actually DO encourage creativity, those willing to dare to be different, and live outside the hipster-encrusted areas of Fishtown and Northern Liberties. It is nothing short of amazing and encouraging to find them, and I thank them all for encouraging me to grow and do more.

More and more, I'm tempted to move, yet at the same time, tempted to stay and make the city better. My perils the same as countless others my age who run into the same problem as I do; Do you move to a place where you know your creativity will be encouraged, or stay in a place where it won't and simply fight harder to be better than the rest?

Why am I the way I am?

It's simple; there's nothing to really do here. "Art and culture" may be promoted, but the reality is that it's not. There are some great people out there doing great stuff, and some amazing galleries working their butts off to encourage a budding art scene that literally could take the world by storm! Instead, I see the self-declared "smart blogs and newspapers" ignore them to, once again, promote something that is simply the same-old same-old.

The nightlife sucks unless you live or are willing to go to Fishtown or NoLibs at night, and even then it's pretty hit-or-miss. The fact that 90% of all stores here close at 7PM is pretty bad, too, especially in Center City.

I remember bitching and moaning for years about how the local music scene here sucks. Then I started going to a few shows put on by local promoters with local bands opening for national acts, and I found out the very simple truth: There are some INCREDIBLE bands in this city! The problem is that the same old guard that used to encourage this type of stuff instead got old and decided to focus on art-alt-rock-indie bands that have all the appeal of a wet shoe to 99% of the public.

Man, why do I keep doing this? Every time I start writing about how I love one place or another, I wind up complaining about the same stupid problems that plague this city over and over again.

I guess it's simple: I'm angry, young, and bored and need some excitement in my life this city can't give me.

The Problem With TWU 234 and Unions: A Response to a Comment

It's rare that I respond to a comment in general, and this is the first time I've dedicated an entire entry to a response.

I saw this comment, and I honestly think it warrants a full response from me:

Hmmmm I spent most of my adult life avoiding working for a Union. Most of my family are in Unions, including TWU 234.

But I have a family and child with medical needs that had me chasing good Medical Benefits and pay all my adult "working" life!

I have had to pay up to $1300.00 a month for family coverage. And when I would get a raise, it would be dissolved into higher Medical Coverage costs! EVERY YEAR!

I had to work longer hours and spend less time at home. I would have to suffer no pay days off just to see the kid's school play. I would sell my vacation back to my work to afford Christmas.

So I have managed up to 30 associates and held a good Management position while doing all this.

Then after years of growing business and expanding the work as well as the companies profit. I was laid off.

That's when I understood Unions and their purpose.

It is not greed my friend. It is protecting your work and fighting for fair wages and benefits.

Last year I would have stood 100% behind you on this. But after what I have been through in the last 15 years. I was forced to face a question.

This question was where can I work that will give me affordable Medical Coverage for my child and wife, while make enough money to keep ahead of the quick rising cost of living while using my non-college educated experience in customer service?

Then I was faced with a tougher question. Who will hire me in 2009 while the economy takes a dive and companies are laying off all over?

SEPTA was the "ONLY" company that called me back. I had a CDL already so it was set to happen.

I once was on the out side. Now I am on the inside. But it was the outside that convinced me.

Ask not what is wrong with Unions/SEPTA/TWU 234. But ask why is it that in 2009, that people are fighting for just the cost of living increases? You have a few facts wrong, and so does the article you linked. That's why it is getting shredded as we speak.

You have every right to your opinion. But that's what should be noted. It is your opinion. Not facts, nor from what I see, you have no idea what it is like as a father and husband trying to give his family the best life he can give them.

I hope the Phillies win. And I get the deserved terms that I work my ass off for. You should get what you work for right?

gfunkerror: By no means am I trying to be anti-union, and I am sorry if my response came off as such. More than anything, and I think you understand, I'm not Anti-Union: I'm anti-TWU 234.

The leadership of TWU 234 is crooked, plain and simple. They have allowed the workers they are designated to protect to work without a contract without striking since March. Its been over 7 months. Within that time, neither side has made an effort to actually meet at the bargaining table, and SEPTA ran as usual without any strikes. All the while, the leadership of TWU 234 spent money on ads they took out in local newspapers and on Television complaining about how SEPTA isn't meeting their demands for more money.

The idea of a union is to protect its workers and demand fair treatment. The problem, though, is that the demands of the leadership of the union are unreasonable to most people. They originally went on strike in 2005 because they didn't want to contribute ANYTHING to their health care, and now they pay a simple 1%. With health care costs rising and co-pays with them, this is now the second biggest issue and here's why:

The union does not want to increase its health-care contributions, but does want to increase its pension benefit to $100, up from $75, for every year of service. The union also wants to remove the cap for those earning more than $50,000 a year, so that their benefits are commensurate with their salaries.

In essence, they want more for less. I've seen numbers saying that SEPTA wanted a measly 4% from them of health care costs and offered them a yearly raise, although I agree that it's not enough at only 2% during the 2nd and 3rd years.

Also, lets go back to the fact that last week was the first time SEPTA and TWU 234 sat down to actually TALK about this since MARCH. Seven MONTHS. Why, why, WHY did it take 7 months for TWU 234 to agree to sit down with management? Why did they, instead of sitting down in April and working out a fair and honest deal as soon as possible they benefit both sides, did they wait until AFTER the Phillies were in the World Series? Why did they wait to vote on a strike until AFTER the Phillies were going to play in the World Series? Why did they wait until the first DAY of the series in Philadelphia to actually go on strike?

Greed, for lack of a better word.

The leadership of TWU 234 doesn't care about their workers or protecting their rights. Instead of working over the last 7 months to get a deal, they now are holding SEPTA to the wall and holding the city hostage to get what they want. These thugs are holding economic guns to their heads and want their demands met.

A strike will hurt this city. Traffic will be a nightmare, the city could lose millions in revenue it would have gained from the playoffs, and they're forcing their agenda on SEPTA and the riders. If the cost of riding one of the most expensive public transit systems in America goes up AGAIN, the union will lose more public support! In fact, that's the biggest problem TWU 234 faces: Public opinion. In the eyes of many in Philadelphia, TWU 234 leaders are, as I've said, simply thugs hellbent of take as much as possible from taxpayers and riders for their own gain while their workers still struggle.

The fact that they decided to wait until NOW to strike doesn't help, and the public is far from the side of the workers.

No one is disputing that they deserve fair wages, but there are problems with the system, most notably the fact that SEPTA cashiers are pulling in duel-incomes of $55k a year with a 4% raise each year. SEPTA needs to eliminate the practice of letting people do that instead of getting disability, and TWU 234 needs to agree that this needs to stop.

Am I anti-union? No. I've actually considered joining a freelancers union myself because they offer benefits and protections you don't have as an independent worker. At the same time, they also offer various problems and restrictions. It used to be for a long time that you couldn't get certain jobs unless you were a member of a union, and that has changed greatly over the years. Will unions come back? I hope so to a large degree, but only if we start asking questions about how they are run, who runs them, and if they actually help the workers or hurt them.

At The Drive-In "Realtionship of Command" - So Good, It Destroyed Music

I posted not too long ago a rant about what I think is wrong with music today, and the how the very people who think they're "helping" and actually destroying music.

Back in 2000, I was 15 and in my Junior year of High School. MTV2 had just launched and they were lauding a few bands, most notably Coldplay and also... At The Drive-In. Its odd, really, that BOTH these bands are to blame for the sorry, sad state of music today.

Case in point? How many lame, pathetic, pussy "rock" bands are there that sing about how lame and boring life is and how they "DEEP" they are when, in reality, the music they're playing is not? Thank Coldplay!

But for this, I'm going to focus on At the Drive-In because they are a band I love to hate. I LOVE these guys, but I HATE that fucker Cedric Bixler-Zavala! Why? Why do I hate this guy to the point where I would love to punch him in the face? Because he is so far up his own ass, it would be nothing short of amazing if I could! The reason At the Drive-In broke up was because he wanted to go in a more "art rock" direction. The result was The Mars Voltra, a band that is every shitty indie rock band you've heard over the last decade.

But I'll leave that for later.

At The Drive-In was a post-hardcore band that, by 2000, had reached its peak of success. By combining it with progressive and psychedelic rock, the result was an album that shocked everyone listening and was a much-needed alternative to the bubblegum pop and alt-rock of the time dominating airwaves. "Relationship of Command" was a bit challenging to listen to, and it made you feel like you were listening to the next big thing. I dare say, the next Nirvana.

For me, there was something daring about them that I was hearing anywhere else. I was getting into Megadeth and Metallica for the first time, digging Rancid and learning more and more about rock, metal, and punk. I didn't buy the album until 2005, but "One-Armed Scissor" had something just incredible to it! I was hearing metal and punk merge in a really interesting way, as well as tinges of grunge and alt-rock. Plus, later on, I learned they got their name from the Poison song "Talk Dirty to Me". Hey, they're alright!

Listening to the album now may have some of the same effect, but over the decade, countless other indie kids and hipsters have taken the same cue and destroyed any and all uniqueness in the sound, and turned it into something I fucking hate. Derived, convoluted, boring, and easily re-created by just pretending to play and instead making "noise". As self-important as this album made you feel, countless others insisted on doing the same, creating a whole genre of musis dominate the rock world where the idea was that YOU felt important about the music you were listening to, with the result being shitty album sales and only 5 people knowing of the band.

I'm left wondering what, exactly, would have happened if they stayed together in 2001? What if they released more music, and The Mars Voltra never existed? Other than being over-joyed at the thought, we get to go back to the man I hate and want to kick in the face: Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

Cedric is not like the others in the band. To his credit, I fully respect the fact that he has always stayed true to what he wants to do, and that he was not willing to compromise on his vision and settle for less. I fully respect him for that! But in return... he's gone up his own ass in self-importance, which is fine in and of itself, but he's taken most of the music world with him. For that, he must pay! Ranting aside, let me get to my point: He was not like the others.

If Cedric stayed in the band, he may have turned it into The Mars Voltra, anyway, but I doubt it would be as potent. People would have said they sold-out, caved into the hype and pressures they were facing, and we may have seen them call it quits mid-decade instead. Would modern rock be better? Who knows.

Philadelphia, Your Music Sucks!

Music today is boring.

It is derived, condensed, and consists of nothing more than a bunch of whiny little lame-asses who played and recorded something in their basement, released something on MySpace and got a nice buzz, and then did nothing. The biggest Indie-Rock band in the world consists, in spirit and execution, of nothing more than a bunch of kids singing nonsensical lyrics about their shitty love life and how unfair life is because the guy at Starbucks didn't get their fuckin' Tall Frappe Cappuccino drink right! Their breath of politics is nothing more than a trendy little liberal though, 2 years ago "Bush sucks" and nothing more. Now? Little more outside of "We have hope".

To complain that music consists of only 3 chords played repeatedly would be the highest case of me being a hypocrite, yet it would be incredibly appropriate. While punk bands back in 1977 may have been guilty of only have 3 chords and six strings to this world, grasping onto this existence with barely more than cheap drugs, cheaper beer, and women for free, they had some depth and personality to them. It would also be naive of myself in countless ways to romanticize something that was considered, at the time, the last way of self-expression in a world where many there was nothing left to say. To simply re-create what was and reuse it for one owns gain was looked down-upon.

Yet, here I am, over 30 years later, doing the same thing as I listen to Rancid's "...And Out Came the Wolves", shaking my fist like a man with the numbers in his age reversed, talking about a time he barely remember.

No, do you know why music today sucks? YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FUCKING BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I could print out each letter of that 50 feet high and get on the news for it. I wish I had an army of people who feel the same exact way outside every fucking indie club and indie rock band! Outside Johnny Brenda's, outside the North Star Bar! Outside the Khyber and the Tritone! Outside every fucking bar in Fishtown where people think going to a club around the corner of where some crack dealer was only a year ago and now you have a bar and you think your "dangerous"! Outside every alt-weekly newspaper praising some "great band" that's only going to sell 10 CD's, not because they didn't get the exposure they feel they deserve, but because the band didn't have TALENT!

I AM SICK OF IT!

I'm sick of shitty joke bands getting more respect than bands practicing and playing their asses off, creating something that may not be earth-shattering but more interesting and well-played than what a bunch of fuckers who decided to start a band with a fucking ocarina and banging together empty Pat's Blue Ribbon beer cans for "the art"! I'm sick of someone being a respected music critic because they have a fucking mustache or a beard, despite the fact they have no taste in music, talent, or ability!

Lo-fi rock, post-rock, music where people rip off others and its considered "sampling others" or doing something "that's part of a community of artists"! Indie rock that relies more and more on self-gratification than actual hard work and musicianship! Wussy, pussy, sad, pathetic people who simply take old folk-rock music and genres, add some minor "twist" to it, and create something that isn't that much interesting, just marginally better! The shitty hip-hop artist who thinks crafting together two lame rhymes together with some shitty beat you got on sale at Walmart! The guy and gal who think they're being "EDGY" or "COOL" by walking around with thick nerdy glasses! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY?! YOU DON''T LOOK GOOD IN THAT!!!!!

All of you! Your not creating something worth listening to, you're just regurgitating something everyone is doing or done and not adding to it!

AND YOU! The asshole who actually BUYS this stuff!

YOU! The self-righteous prick who thinks you're doing the world a favor by supporting shitty music and art! YOU! The guy who'd rather spend $10 to see 5 bands who have NO potential and no spirit, but are out there playing a gig not to pay the bills or do something interested, but they're only playing to feel like they're self-important themselves! YOU! The high-and-mighty "know-it-all" who feels "Special" because only you and your friends know of some band with no label or support! YOU! The asshat who thinks metal and punk died! YOU! The idiot who thinks tearing things with quality and value down is cool and hip!

YOU!

YOU are what wrong with Music! YOU are why I can't fucking stand this shit! YOU are why I play my guitar every night, knowing I may not be the best or better than 99% of the people in this city... but its YOU why I'm going to keep trying and then burn your house to the ground when I play.

YOU are destroying music.

Prepare to burn.

Photo courtesy of Just Say NO to Emo

EDITORS NOTE: This post was originally written during a case of vertigo and cough medicine. All thoughts and opinions expressed should be taken as such... although I think I'm right about most of this stuff.

So You've Gone Vegan? Congrats, You Shouldn't Be Reading This!

I realized something when I got to the third panel: Being Vegan basically means that you can't touch anything man-made.

Wait, what do I mean?

Well, lets just say you're against exploitation of all creatures on Earth. Awesome. You don't want anyone and anything to be treated poorly or exploited for the good of others. So I can only assume that Vegan's never wear Nike, Adidas, Gap, Old Navy, or pretty much 99% of all clothing available in America or the civilized world since they are, more likely than not, made in a Third-World country where people are working in sweatshops. Or China. And China... well, do I even have to explain?

Most electronics and gadgets are also made in these sweatshops, so unless your computer was made in America, you shouldn't be reading this. Cellphones? Same deal.

Oh, but it doesn't stop there! You already said by being Vegan that nearly any and all fast food is out, which is good, since most fast food places take advantage of their workers and exploit them as well.

Then you have farms.

Yes, farms.

How likely do you think it is that your "organic" food wasn't used with exploited migrant workers? And since "organic food" actually exploits the earth since it means using a form of farming that's less efficient and healthy for the Earth... no organic food.

But then again, all of this an extreme, isn't it?

If your rational for being or going Vegan is because "you don't like living creatures to be exploited", well... I think you need a reality check. If you're doing it because, in the end, you don't like meat, hurting animals, etc.. well, that's just fine.

I'm not trying to come down on the Vegan lifestyle at all. Personally, it isn't for me. Not even close. If I tried it, with my allergies, I wouldn't last a week. Its not for everyone, and if everyone did go vegan, this planet would waste away to nothing really fast. More than anything, I'm just doing what I do best: Exploring a tangent and making fun of it.

Editors note: SINFEST is one of the greatest comic strips of all time and by no means was this a rip at it, nor the Vegan lifestyle!

Comic courtesy of Sinfest.

YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE? FAUX HAWKS!

Seriously? WHY?! WHY?! Quit it!



Who am I talking about?

This douche bag:



And this one:



And this sack of shit:



QUIT IT! It is not a style for everyone! It is not MEANT for everyone! You head is not made for one! You look stupid! You look like you missed a fucking part of your head when you went to the barber! You look like a lame-ass poser who thought ripping off someone who had real balls to grow theirs out would be "cool"!

POSERS!

Here's A REAL Mohawk:



So please, join me in killing this shitty, shitty trend. Death to faux hawks, and a swift kick in the ass to posers!

Why Philly Blogs Tend to Suck; Event Notification

Well, this is going to win me friends, isn't it?

I go to 3 Philadelphia blogs on a daily basis: Philadelphia Will Do, Philebrity, and The Clog. All 3 of them had at least one story about me. All 3 of them will never talk to me again.

The main problem I have with all of them is one thing: NOT TELLING YOU ABOUT EVENTS UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE!

There's a lot of problem with all three blogs respectively, and one day soon I'll go into detail about it. For now, it's this.

When it comes to Philebrity.com, there is advertising for R5 Productions, The TLA, Johnny Brendas, and P.O.P.E., and a few other places you never heard of or could care less about. In turn, your finding out the real problem with the site in terms of informing you of events. The site says it isn't for "hipsters", but the seemingly non-stop parade of bands-you-never-heard-of-but-we-think-are-cool never ends. Need proof? Ever hear of a band called Faux Slang? Me neither., but they seem to think they're worthy of a post. Need info on some band that plays shitty Indie Rock or some funk faux-punk band? Check out their nightly wrap-up of city events! Or don't. Whatever's more ironic.

The main plus is that, yes, there is some advance warning. But if you did want The Pros From Denver play a show tonight, they'll tell you... a good 5 hours before the show.

Philadelphia Will Do? Next to non-existent. It's basically comes down to Dan, if he feels like it, coming to the blog and posting about the event, making jokes about it, and letting it go from there. Sometimes it's before the event, sometimes it's not. The last event I can think of was when he posted a flyer for an event by Philly 52 the day before the thing was supposed to happen. To make fun of it. Classy.

Then you have The Clog. They do a sort of Catch-22; they tell you about the event... when it's too late. For example, there was an awesome story about Home Movie Day... the day of the event. Oh, and the day before an event to protest Prop 8, they mentioned the protest that told people to "Call In Gay". Yep, one WHOLE day!

These blogs, all-in-all, SUCK when it comes to telling you about upcoming events in Philadelphia. These blogs are, frankly, fairly big outlets. Philadelphia Will Do is run by Philadelphia Weekly, The Clog is run by City Paper, and Philebrity has garnered a large, respectable following in it's own right. They seem less interested in informing people about events in the city they would care about than anything else. These aren't entertainment blogs, that's for certain, but they do serve a purpose of informing people since they do have a rather large audience.

Are there places dedicated to informing you about local events? Yes... but they suck. They're hard to navigate, tend to focus on more all-inclusive events, and less on anything interesting. While the local blogs have their problems, they all have their charm. They tend to be fun, not that serious when you want it to be fun, and fairly informative at times. But, really, the details are for another day.

I can't say I've been doing much better; I've ignored some really awesome metal shows coming to town myself. Then again, I'm just some punk who works a 9-5 job and can't afford to go to said shows. I'm going to TRY and change that myself. There's a new year coming, so why not?


EDIT: I want to add that this isn't a dig at any of these guys. I think The Clog has gotten better over the last year, I read Philebrity because it's entertaining to get a decent look at the city, and Dan McQuade is a good friend of mine. This really is more of a rant in frustration and a sort of "Hey, wake up!" thing for them. Thanks to whoever put this on Twitter, and R5 Productions is AWESOME.

YOUR WEB SITE SUCKS!!!: My Thoughts on "Modern" Web Design, 2.0

I am not a coder.

I want to state that now because a lot of so-called "web designers" are coders. There's a big difference between the two; Design denotes a sense artistic ability while coding is a skill. OR:

RIGHT-BRAINED = Arts
LEFT-BRAINED = Smarts

So, I'm right-minded. I love art, weird stuff, and and generally creating hell. When it comes to making them happen... well, I won't lie, I'm not great at it. My best friend is a coder and he's given me a ton of help and I couldn't repay him enough. A lot of my friends are more left-brained than right because, just like your brain, you need both left and right in order to get something done. In turn, you can't have a great website without both a great design and a working, functional, and correct code.

I mention all of that just so I can say this: YOUR WEBSITE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck, I can't get close to enough exclamation points for this one! Seriously, it does. Why does it suck? Because you decided to go that horribly lame, over-used, suburban, cookie-cutter, god-awful terrible, idiotic, horrible, gag-inducing design known as WEB 2.0. Well, I'm here to tell you YOU SUCK! YOU FUCKING SUCK!

God, that felt good. REAL good. You have no idea how long I wanted to scream that at the top of my e-lungs.

OK, being constructive now, yes, your website is a horrible abomination to web design. Why? Because your making the web ugly again. Very, very ugly. Now, if your like me, you regularly head over to web design blogs and marvel at how cool they look, the awesome tutorials, and want to aspire to create something great. In turn, your not sure what to do for your own design. If your like me, you design a site in Photoshop, use image ready, plop it into Dreamweaver and BAM! You got yourself a website. But show the code to a coder... and, well, say hello to a new orifice in your body.

Too often web design has become about "trends". It's a fairly recent thing, really, when you consider that anyone and everyone had their own idea of what a website should be up until 2004. By then, everyone had basically been online and came to expect things, like a navigation bar at the top of the page, content, not to be bombarded with flashing text, etc... basically, whatever you see on MySpace now.

In turn, the internet has accepted some insanely boring web design practices, and I won't call it the "Web 2.0" look. No. It's "Earthy". I wish I was kidding.

I'm going to use an example. I'm going to sound mean because, frankly, I'm sick of seeing this stuff happen. Now, this is a great site and I, personally, hate the re-design. That's me. But this is what I mean:


Now, the design isn't bad. As much as I may say something "sucks", it's because I have a limited vocabulary and I just love saying that word. A lot. But I hate the fact that the trend now is to take all the interesting and cool-looking concepts and instead create this ultra-sleek and "modern" style of site with soft gradients. It looks nice in and of itself, but god, that's 99% of the web it seems.

The "earthy" web design is the trend because, let's face it, America as a nation is coming into an age where we no longer see ourselves as immortal; we really understand that the earth matters and we need to conserve energy and reduce waste. We translate that into our once-crowded and jumbled websites and, in turn, have created a design that is insanely boring.

We've created sites where content is king, but the content tends to be boring and nothing more than a place holder for the blog we're really pushing instead. The design of this blog, for example, is boring. I hate it. I haven't done much to change it since, frankly, I don't really care. I just come here to rant. But that's my point. The blog is king in terms of websites now, and the design isn't.

Example? OK.

Here's a link to an AWESOME tutorial on making a website with Photohshop. The problem? Would you ever want to go to a site like that? Seriously, would you? Me? Only if it had some sweet content.



Now, I've spent all this time complaining about web site design and not offering solutions. So what do I think should be the new trend? Simple: Be yourselves again.

To me, a good website is defined by the personality of the site. Navigation and content needs to be simple to understand and you should be able to tell what's going on in the first 4 seconds. I'll go more in all of this later, but a few of my favorite sites will explain it better:


MEGADETH.COM - Welcome to the next evolution of web design! Dave McRobb has been designing the Megadeth.com site since it first came out in 1995, the FIRST band web site ever, mind you. The current version uses a flash navigation that loads quickly and looks great. The content is updated daily, and there's more than enough reason for anyone to keep coming back. The design is top-notch, fun, interesting, and makes you want to come back for more.


GOMEDIAZINE.COM - The site has a really interesting design, great articles and advice, and is just overall very nice. It's how to use the Web 2.0 philopshy and still have an interesting site.

These articles ha more than I can post:

• Irresistible Websites Part One
  
• 40 Beautiful And Inspirational Website Designs
  

Thanks to School Is In Session - 100 Design Articles To Keep You Motivated : Part 1

Now, all of this wasn't simply to insult or tear down people who do or want that look; on the contrary, I actually like the design to a degree. I think it sucks that everyone is doing it and, in turn, is ruining an otherwise decent aesthetic value. It's like going from your house to some urban apartment loft; your house is a little messy and it's use. That person with the apartment has next to nothing in it, it looks really clean and minimalistic. Then again, that person most likely doesn't have the money to get "Stuff" for it, anyway.

In the end, I just want people to just start using their right brain instead of their left when it comes to design. I'm a damn good designer, but I suck at coding. I'll post more later, but for now... consider this part 1.

Redesigning My Website: War Journal 6: The Battle of CSS Positioning

I hate CSS positioning. A lot. Then again, you only hate something like this when you can't get it to work for you.

Also, I want to take some time to complain about W3 standards, at least to some degree.

A neutral validation service, W3 has been basically defining what it means to have a site that works in all browsers. Admittedly, the validation seems so incredibly anal retentive it's sick. Want an example? Twitter gives a code that allows you to put their code on your page. The problem? The code they have leaves one tiny little list object.

The result:

Line 385, Column 57: end tag for "ul" which is not finished.

It leaves a small open list thing since, without it, the content doesn't work properly. My friend, who's site is 100% XHML complaint, told me not to worry about it. It's only getting under my skin because that one tiny thing is holding my back from actually having a perfect page. ...OK, at least in terms of XHML coding. CSS wise, it's fine, but the positioning thing is really less about valid CSS than making it right in the eyes of coders. But that's something else.

If you do a W3 Validator search on what may be some of your favorite sites, you'll see that about 99% of them aren't valid. My favorite band's site, Megadeth... well, it's a lot. 291 Errors, and 194 Warnings. Anthrax? 64 errors, 16 warnings. Nettuts, an awesome website dedicated to helping designers create awesome and valid websites. Their results? 102 Errors, 53 warning.

To me, it isn't a total holy grail for a web designer since, well, a lot of great sites that work fine and look great aren't valid. This doesn't mean I'm trying to forgive the sites, mind you. A lot of them should be valid in all browsers... and they are. The errors are mainly dealing with some rather odd occurances that don't realy effect the site at all. But I guess all I'm saying is that the validation is really cool.

At the same time, save my friends site, I really haven't seen a Fully W3 Complaint website that looks cool. Not one. They all seem to suck. It's like they all have one thing in common; being so damn over-simplified that, in reallity, it isn't exactly that much different than the websites that populated the internet when it first started. Here's one site that is 100% complaint. It's a fairly nice design, but really, it's so slick and clean it doesn't seem like something that I would ever go to.

Eh, I'm just rambling.