Early Start on New Year's Resolutions

Here it is getting towards the end of the year and I'm certain among the list of holiday parties and presents and get-together's, I'm certain that somewhere you might have contemplated about what you're trying to do to improve yourself for the next year.  The setting of resolutions and the eventual breaking of them by spring.  Hence why I didn't set any this past year, but I'm feeling a little different this year.  I was thinking about what I could do to improve personally and what goals I thought of what I should do that I haven't accomplished yet.  So I've compiled a reasonable list and this is what I think would be great for resolutions, at least for me.

• Beat Final Fantasy VII, finally :: It was the RPG that changed the landscape of all other RPG's for a generation.  I remember when I first played it back in high school and was fascinated by how badass it was.  It's been a goal since I can remember for such.  So I figured why the hell not.  I've already downloaded it off of the Playstation Network and figured this will be the year I will beat the game that haunted me for the past 15 years.  I'll even post some updates about it later, but this will finally resolve my obsession of beating my white whale.
• Read, something else that isn't webcomics :: As a homeschooling parent the wifie and I stress very strongly the importance of reading to my sons.  They see my wife read a lot, me not so much outside of articles online.  I feel that this is a personal resolution to not help myself be more literate, but be a good example to my sons.  I'm a strong believer that reading is indeed fundamental, and I want to take that example across the board to my sons.
• Write a new song/lyric a month for next year :: I've been personally neglecting myself with writing new material for the past two and a half, well, close to about three years now.  A lot of stuff happened and I wasn't feeling much creative and that I was kind of depressed at that time.  But now since I felt that I've took a long enough hiatus, I want to bring my musical juices back and ripen them for the thoughts that I've had the past time.  I feel pretty good about this and I am assuring myself to put a new song/lyric up once I'm done by the end of each month in 2012.  Get ready for some kickass stuff to come out of this.  And to further on with this, by the end of the year, I will make sure that I learn how to play the guitar and preform one of my songs via a youtube video.  I figure guitar because bass solos, even though I like them, not as sexy as an acoustic guitar.  So look forward to some great content on that end.
• Learn to manage all that's on my plate ::  Lately I've been trying to work on other web content manage systems such as Wordpress and Joomla to help with other's requests for sites.  I have been stuck putting my stuff on the back-burner thinking of other's need before mine.  Which is in essence a good thing, but I need to take some me time to get my stuff off the ground.  I didn't do as much as I thought I would do such as videos on this blog or even upgrading the look and feel just yet, but I will with this resolution.  I want to make time for me to do what's good for me while not neglecting any of the time I devoted for others.  Of course I still need a day job and family time, that's not gonna go away, but I feel that with this resolution, I can get something going for myself as well as others.

So those are just some of the resolutions I plan on taking.  It's not as serious as others like losing weight (which I do need to do) or stop smoking (which I don't smoke to begin with), but it's stuff that I contemplated for for a long time and I really want to get this going.  I love to continue on with this blog post but I really feel that this is enough for now.  It'll be a great year, and I hope that your's will be as well.

Happy holidays and a wonderful new year.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

List o' Best Songs You Might've Never Heard Of

So I'm back with another list. This time its a music list because as we all know, I loves me some good tunes from time to time. But I feel that some songs go unrecognized on how epically great they are. That really saddens me on that concept. So I decided to give these tracks some well deserved recognition. The only thing is that they're so many songs for me to choose from that deserve some respect. I mean do you choose those that are meaningful in their lyrics, ambiguous with their instrumental prowess, a combination their of, or just something that is just wacky and left of center. I mean, that's a lot to sink your teeth into, so I just decided to make it a hodgepodge of it all and make the sky the limit on which stylings to have available. In saying that, what I did was that I decided to give myself a restriction on such by just limiting songs that I could find and put onto my project playlist which is embedded on my post for your listening pleasure. Also I wanted to add the stipulation of only 1 song per artist/group/band so that it inhibits more of a variety for you all. So without further ado, here's BootLeG sampler..'s top 17 underrated songs... or whatever the hell I called this post. Just look at the title and you know... (And why top 17 you ask? Because it's the perfect length of tracks for a mix tape, duh!?!)

*Disclaimer :: This playlist is rated M for Mature. Don't listen unless you want your ears to bleed from all the possible F-bombs*

And in the order of my mix tape on how they're played out, here they are:

• 11:59 by doubleDrive :: Didn't I already mention that I friggin' love doubleDrive!!! They're so talented and yet so underrated themselves. Thus the reason why I established the 1 song stipulation.
• Zebra by John Butler Trio :: This Aussie outfit lends some great skills to creating a neo-folk piece of greatness.
• Starshines by 311 :: Just listen to the first set of words in the song, it says it all. (Honestly it was a toss-up between that and Homebrew, but I had more of a fondness for this track, so Homebrew deserves an honorable mention).
• The Icicle Melts by The Cranberries :: Such a subtle track but powerful in meaning, it deserves to be on this list.
• Charlie Brown's Parents by Dishwalla :: If you ever had angst about authority and fitting in as a kid, this one's for you.
• Lemonade by Tsunami Bomb :: When life gives you lemons, yada yada yada... And this song takes the cake in that message.
• Suite-Pee by System of a Down :: This track is just sick, no other word to say it, it's just friggin sick.
• End of the World by Cold :: Screw R.E.M.'s song of the same name, this is what I want to play just before it happens.
• Walking thru Barbed Wire by Papa Roach :: Quite honestly their best song in their entire catalouge that didn't end up as a single (Between Angels and Insects is their best song, but it's too well known to be considered underrated.)
• Pollution by Limp Bizkit :: I tried to find one with the intro track before this so that it would be even more epic; but it's still stands out on it's own and a great leadin to the next track.
• Everything Remains Raw by Busta Rhymes :: When I first heard this back in 1995, I was like "Damn, that's some great solo rappin shit!!! He's gonna go far in his career." And I was right.
• Inhale by Stone Sour :: People really gotta give Corey Taylor more props with his stuff outside of Slipknot. Stone Sour ain't just all mellow and pussified, they have balls.
• Alone I Break by KoRn :: This is one of the few of my tracks that actually made it as a single. While most thought of it as tame, I thought of it as intriguing and stepping into a new realm for the band.
• O Paranoia by Gangster Fun :: I don't do ska that often, but these guys are really good. I had to find the best one available instead of the track I wanted, Skarabia.
• Summer by Alien Ant Farm :: It shows the complete range of the band all in one track without mocking a classic Michael Jackson song.
• Boyz In Da Hood by Dynamite Hack :: This is the only cover I have on my list and they made a great song by NWA legend Eazy-E even greater.
• Triumph by Wu-Tang Clan :: In my opinion their last great track they produced. Honestly, anything after 36 Chambers really was shit, so I had to promote this track cause this was really good in my opinion.

And just for show, here's the playlist for everyone to enjoy. You'd honestly think that I would leave ya'll hangin?!? C'mon...

So that's my piece on great songs that need to be recognized. Hope ya'll enjoyed it.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Don't forget what lyrics?

In an earlier post I written about how certain theme songs are epic with and without lyrics to them. But what if they did have lyrics, all of them. That would be pretty sweet. But only if the lyrics truly represented the show. I hope that this would at least stir some stimulation to the idea that that would be either hilarious or just plain awesome. So I'm compiling a list of shows that could benefit for some help from a disembodied voice.

1) Bobby's World: I mean c'mon it has to be the sleeper cartoon of the 80's and 90's. Fox had a goldmine and if they could have Howie Mandel do the theme in Bobby's voice, that would be epic. Here's a sample line from an improved theme... "De de de, I'm a kid on a trike//de de de, I have a really big head..."

2) Seinfeld: Truly, it doen't need a theme, and it doesn't even have a theme per say. It's just a random jazz bass riff and some scatting that what it opens to. But it's true theme song is at it's ending credits, at which you can play at any part of the show seriously. Think about it, a theme that could potentially last the entire show, c'mon?! "This is a show about nothing, and we make big bank//and this song is played at the end, because we're that bad ass"

3) M.A.S.H.: I've already talked about it in my last theme lyrics post, but still, it would rock if it had it's own lyrics for the series versus just having some morbid message of suicide for the M.A.S.H. movie. It would be a nice uplifting comedy of errors that should suffice for the lyrics on M.A.S.H. because the show itself was a comedy of errors. "Why the hell this war's still going//it's been eleven seasons//and is Klinger ever gonna get away"

4) C.O.P.S.: I know, what's with all these acronyms. Well, C.O.P.S. was a show on CBS Saturday morning cartoon lineup that took place in the then future with this bad ass half cyborg cop that was more or less like a cross between RoboCop and Lawrence Fishburne. Classy, but lacking a good theme; all it did was repeat it's title name kind of how like Eek the Cat did in its theme. Repetitive and lame. So here's my take on it... "We're off to kick some cyber ass//C.O.P.S.//C.S.I. ain't got crap on me//C.O.P.S."

5) Beetlejuice: It's just that epic. A sick and twisted tale about a goth girl and her friends in some sort of bizarro limbo world. That and it came from Tim Burton. The only thing missing from it is lyrics to make it a grand opus of cartoondom. "Beetlejuice//he is one//sick little//demented person//oh no here come a huge sandworm//he chasing us oh W.T.F.//this some twisted stuff that Tim was smokin up"

So that's my rant on only some of the shows that could benefit from some theme lyrics. I hope you like where this was going and if you want more insight on where that idea came from, just follow the link here to That Guy With The Glasses and you'll find out. And no this is not a paid promo, it's me just being a huge fan of the sight.

I'm The BootLeG sampler.. and I approve this message, I mean, signing out...

Inspiration Block

Since I've started working overnights, lots of things have changed in subtle ways. I'm eating forth meal (a meal between dinner and breakfast,) I've been posting on my blog and various social outlets more (always under the pseudonym 'BootLeG sampler..',) and another thing that some how seems to really gets my skin crawling. I've been on a creative stint and haven't been able to get out of the rut. Sure I bring my sketchbook to work with me and try to create new characters, but I feel that there's no story to it. At least not like my other characters that I've created. Also my musical outlet seems to be hitting the brick wall as well. I've had a few ideas for a couple of new songs, but nothing seems to be amalgamating together in a coherent fashion (even though some of my songs can be an enigma themselves.)

I felt that maybe I've reached a peak, but also feels that there's more to give and that I can't stop now. I just need to find a more solid ground to base everything from. These new characters that I'm trying to develop feels like more of a character development stage of an MMORPG than just some fantasy comic. Maybe it's a new direction since I've haven't venture that route yet. Create multiple plots and settings for them, break out the inner D&D geek in me towards these manifestations. I just don't know at this point. Maybe I'll figure it out, but for now, just keep on with the character creations and hopefully find a way to integrate them.

As for my music, well, maybe it's time for a little hiatus. I'm still working on trying to complete the series of songs that I'm currently working on before I can feel that its works are done. I go through this with every stint of writing that I create. But now I feel that I can possibly juggle drawling, storytelling, as well as songwriting all in my leisure. And I'll never give up and stop writing songs, that's a part of me (the BootLeG sampler.. and my true self.) It's an extension of me that I feel is a personal outlet to either vent or speculate from whatever point-of-view that is being presented and represented. Songwriting will always be a part of my life, I just wish that it's something that can be produced now with all these ideas that are running through my head.

So in short, I hit a speed bump and it kinda pissed me off. But hopefully I can go forward onto great things later on. Until next time,

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...