Sunday, February 27, 2011

DESPERATE POSTS REQUIRE DESPERATE MEASURES...
...such as throwing photos up on the blog wall & hoping they stick...
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Snow on the Coast! At Sea Level! Here's what I saw when I poked my head out the window a few days ago. Snow! If you click the picture (it gets waay bigger), you can see the flakes falling. I've heard that each snowflake is a minor miracle, because many flakes start out as snow, but they don't end up that way. So to get all the way down to sea level, a flake has to be especially hardy. Most likely, there were a couple of snow clouds overhead that blew away later on, because about a half-hour I took this shot, the Sun had broken out, the ice melted off my steps, and Snow as we know it was all done, at least for a while. It makes me think, though, if it snows this much here, it's gotta be snowing a lot more inland. Having lived through quite a few snowstorms in my life, the ol' winter driving skills immediately return. Actually one of the worst times for driving, at least for me, is when it's raining at night; the precipitation causes the roads to get darker, they cause the car to hydroplane, and sometimes I can't see the fog line at road's edge because the raindrops splattering on the windshield, as well as reflecting light from approaching motorists, obscures my view of just where I'm at on the road. I've also heard that as a person ages, their night vision worsens. For a few years now, I've felt that the Nights are darker than they used to be. So now there's some medical evidence to bear that out. Just another sign I'm gettin' old.
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On one of the colder days last week, the sun was out, and so I went driving around. There are still a lot of places I've never stopped at in Coos Bay or North Bend, and there are some really drastic hills in this area, which juts out into the bay like a miniature San Francisco. Some of the roads go almost straight up, so maybe it's a good thing it doesn't snow a lot down here. What you're seeing here a steep hill leading down into North Bend, only the Camera doesn't really capture how steep this hill actually is. In the distance, off to the left, is the old North Bend Hotel that's undergoing massive reconstruction. You're basically looking down, way down, at the old downtown area of North Bend. There are more convenient ways for me to get home, but this is the 'road less traveled' in my case. Of course, I've made a fool out of myself, accidentally pulling into dead-end streets or roads that end up in a cul-de-sac; a lot of the streets here don't go all the way from one town to the other; you'd almost think the City Fathers of each town couldn't agree on connecting their roads with the other guys'...either that or the zoning laws are all out of whack, and I'd say it was a little of both.
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Just past the top of the hill, way, way up, I found this little Neighborhood Market that I'd never been in. And since my daily Wild-Cherry-Pepsi fixation hadn't yet been addressed, I stopped here and got that taken care of. This really takes me back; it's almost as if the concept of a small-neighborhood-grocery store is almost irrelevant in this hustling, bustling age of ours. This store is not on a main street, and traffic on this hilly road is nowhere near as busy as it is in other parts of town. Why am I making such a big deal out of this? I remember going to the little small neighborhood market, back when I was a kid. Mom would send my sister and me to go get bread, milk, and other small items that wouldn't justify a trip to a larger store. Back then, the days were so lazy and hazy, I was in the middle of Being A Kid, riding bikes with my sister, who sometimes went along with me. That's a good memory of a now-long-ago time. While one can never really go home again, it's nice sometimes to think about life back then. As such, I'm sure countless neighborhood kids go to this store for candy or gum, or getting a few groceries Mom sent them for. It's all just part of being a kid.
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The weather around here lately's been a whole mixed bag of tricks imposed upon us by Ma Nature, and she can't seem to make up her mind if it's gonna be clear or cloudy. The weather down here can change on a dime. The coastline here doesn't freeze up, as it can do further north, nor is it as arid and dry as a lot of the California coast seems to be. We get it all here. For example, in the course of driving 5 miles around here, I've seen sun, rain, hail, heavy winds, blue skies, turbulence and calm, all in one short trip. This photo shows Mother Nature's confusion, but maybe she's beckoning me to just have faith, because the sun is still shining up there somewhere, and amidst all the turbulence o fimposing dark rain clouds, there's also peace and the promise of more blue skies to come. Well, it's either that or, "hey, the sky looks like the weather is uncertain, hope the sun comes out and shines someday!"
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Finally, what would a photo-blog be without a couple Sunset photo or two? So, at left, is your ordinary cloudless-skies sort of Sunset, with a Winged Messenger navigating towards his home, or wherever it is that Seagulls spend the night. Actually, the gulls and many other birds around here "park it" for the night waay out on the end of a jetty, way out near the seaward end of that rock wall which juts out into the ocean. Contrasting with that photo is the sunset of another recent evening, with the clouds overhead making everything look Really Weird, almost looking like some massive starship on its landing approach. I think my camera, working under much duress, throws 'false coloration' into the mix when I'm trying to make it do what it wasn't made to do. The calm waters of the bay add to the overall strangeness of the photo.
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And there, just like that, is another post. Gotta feed the blog, ya know...or else I'll be in the "bloghouse", ha ha...this is a case of going to the blog-site, having had no prior idea what I was gonna write. And then I thot, "well, there's always photos I can use". Desperate times make for desperate posts, after all...

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

THERE'S A FORCE OUT THERE...
...that knows when you've got extra money...
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It's happened again. Five Hundred Bucks gone just like that. I'd been living in a fairly austere manner over the last couple of months, saving up to try and get my taxes paid. I'd like to get 'em paid in one shot, but that's not possible this time around, so I'm paying my taxes in stages. I didn't even have to take out a bank loan this time around. How about that, I Now Have Money! Except I don't. A couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden I had No Hot Water. When I left the 'hot' water on, it would warm up to, maybe 60 degrees. Lately it doesn't even do that. And, at the risk of providing too much information, sponge-baths in Winter aren't a really big turn-on. Everything that's said about cold showers is true, by the way. BRRRRRRRRR!
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So, I need to get a new Hot Water Heater. It's on its way and most likely will be installed by this time tomorrow. There. Problem solved. Done with it. But I really did need that money for other stuff. It seems that if I have extra money, I'm always having to spend it on something I didn't plan on happening. Such as busted pipes. Or car windows that won't roll up. Or a TV fizzes out all of a sudden. Every time I have disposable cash, it gets disposed of paying for things I wasn't planning on. There is a force out there that watches over my Monetary Life and capriciously Makes Things Happen that I Need To Pay For. Such as, dropping this laptop computer, and now it doesn't receive Wireless Internet. So I had plans to take it in and get it fixed. But, NO!!! I''ve got to spend it on a HOT WATER HEATER instead! (that's my really bad Steve Martin imitation there).
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PICTURE BREAK #1: In the photo at left, you see a little tugboat doing double-duty, chaperoning the two barges that are being towed behind it. After it moved further seaward, I noticed something thru my binoculars on the horizon, and about half an hour later, the big aquamarine tanker I'd been spying on prepares to cross the bar into the bay.
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Switching subjects here, I was thinking that I haven't regularly watched prime-time programs on the major networks for over Ten Years now. This is the way I become familiar with programs such as NYPD Blue (it had been on the air for three years before I saw an episode) or "Criminal Minds" which I started watching on Cable; I guess it ran on CBS (or maybe it's still running) for several years before I became aware of it, and by now, I've seen so many cable-TV reruns of CSI: MIAMI that I'm almost sick of the show. And I LIKE that show. I've seen so many reruns of all those shows that I can see 5 seconds of a show and tell you what it's about. One night, I meant to watch channel 55, but accidentally hit 44, which is the USA Network, and, ha! More police dramas such as "Special Victims Unit" and "NCIS" which features Mark Harmon as a hard-core slavedriver who slaps his employees on the back of their heads if they don't perform well enough. So, at least it'll be a while before I begin seeing the same episodes over and over again. And then, I'll have to find another channel.

PICTURE BREAK #2: In the photo at left, it's near 5pm and the sun is beginning to think about shutting down for the night. At right, another sunset a bit closer to nightfall. The colors are great, aren't they? Every sunset has a different personality.
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So there ya go, some vital (or not) information and some pictures to serve as eye candy. Just when you get tired of reading my ramblings, there's fotos for ya to gawk at. Yep, that's my blog: Bunches of boring stuff alleviated by pointless photos. Enjoy!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

THE FURTHEST WEST YOU CAN GET...
...in the 48 Contiguous States, that is...-
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I first accessed the Cape Blanco Lighthouse back in 2004. During a tour of it, I was able to go up and see the absolutely-huge Fresnel Lens. If you can imagine a cut diamond the size of an average asteroid, that's what the lens looks like. So I learned a lot, but I could only go so far that particular day. When I got up to the top of the 260-foot bluff, high above the ocean, the place was socked in by fog. I resolved to come back one day when the sun was shining. I wanted to stand on the very edge, as far west as I could go. Cape Blanco is the furthest west you can get in the "lower 48".
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When I got waay up to the top, I was met by a great view, along with the "closed" sign out, which didn't exactly make my day. And I'd driven all that way for nothing. 'Closed is Closed', right? Deciding to make the best of it, I took as many photos from this point that I could. Then, I saw a couple walking their dog, coming from the lighthouse. "Can anyone go up there?", I asked them, and they told me that nobody stopped them. Aha. Okaay. The only thing was, I had to walk all the way up there from here. And I'm so out-of-shape, it's pathetic.
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First of all, here's how Cape Blanco looks from outer space. Even the gigantic ocean is rendered small once you get way up there in the Atmosphere. Highway 101 bypasses the point, but there's a connecting road, and after 5 more miles, you are there. The place has a certain forbidding quality, a bleak, austere type of beauty. It felt like I was standing on the edge of the world. It may be snowy and ice-cold this time of year back east, but here, everything stays relatively the same. The big piece of rock the Cape Blanco Lighthouse sits on has been the lonely keeper of the flame for a long time.
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After taking this photo of the Lighthouse compound, up there I went. The access road was blocked off where I stood here, so I still had a little ways to go if I was going to get any decent photos...trying to work up the courage to walk over there, I was just a little paranoid, thinking the Coast Guard or Park Service Meanies were gonna order me off the property...well, I guess if yer gonna trespass, do it here for the views!
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So I took that last photo, and went up the last incline to where the Lighthouse stood. I didn't need another tour; I'd been there before. I wanted outside visuals! The last part of the road, as well as the Lighthouse, is closed from October thru March. But having been here and not seeing the view tortured me, and I just had to go back on a day when Blue Skies prevailed. It was a real spontaneous thing; I woke up one morning when the sun was out, and decided to Go, just like that. I'm glad I did. Why did I go to the Lighthouse? Because it was there!
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Just before embarking on my unforeseen trek up to the lighthouse, I took this photo which depicts the northern cliffs of Cape Blanco. I think those tough rocks protected the land just behind it; when I came here the first time, in the thick fog, I thought there was a steep cliff to the side of the road, but not so. Now I'll feel more comfortable when I navigate the road again.
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And here it is, a couple hundred feet West of the lighthouse. Unless you want to swim out to those rocks, this patch of ground is the Furthest Point Westward in the "lower 48". That's it. Unless you feel like making a 260-foot cliff dive. Uh, no thanks. The winds were fairly fierce that day. This foto was taken 3 feet from the edge. You can actually see the curve of the horizon out there.
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Moving onward around the point, I ran across the foundation of some sort of building (The Lighthouse Keeper's quarters?) of which the structure disintegrated due to the climate, with this concrete footprint left as a sort of memorial. The west end of the foundation, behind me, is at the exact edge of the cliff, and with the years, the winds will erode that part of the cliff even more, with concrete chunks falling into the ocean.
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Going down the steps at the front of the foundation, I headed south/southeast along the edge, pointed the camera, and grabbed this minor photo masterpiece of the Cape Blanco Beach with a forbidding sea-stack. Off in the distance (mid-right of this foto) is Humbug Mountain, which is over 2,000 feet high and tumbles into the ocean. Highway 101 has to loop around behind it in order to continue south.
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As I was completing my way around the point of Cape Blanco, (now I'm southwest of the lighthouse), I thought I'd take this photo, which depicts old technology working together with the new. I'm not sure about the future use (in general) of Lighthouses, since those who sail have GPS monitors, and marker buoys out in the ocean are also wired up. It's still a working lighthouse, with the beacon moving in circles. Constructed, 1870.
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As I headed back to get to my car, I took this last photo, which looks north/northeast and you can see how windy it was with all those whitecaps out there on the ocean. I want to come back down here and spend an entire day. It was definitely worth it, coming back here to see what I couldn't see the first time around. It was mid-afternoon when I left; I had one more photographic destination; the Sea-Stacks of Bandon, 30 miles to the north. You'll see those photos sometime in the future.
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Finally, some philosopher said once upon a time that the Journey, not the destination, is the thing. I think I proved him wrong here. What a destination!

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

A 'GECKO' INSURANCE COMMERCIAL I'D LIKE TO SEE...
...I think this would grab viewers' attention...
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By now, you've all probably seen an Elliot Ness-type figure in your TV screen, hawking Car Insurance. (Mike McGlone is his real name.) In these commercials, he ambles his way to the camera, fixes his glare upon us viewers and spits out, "Is it true that 'Gecko' can really save you 15% on your car insurance?" And then he answers that question with another question, something along the order of, "IS IT REALLY OVER WHEN THE FAT LADY SINGS?" Believe you me, I've heard my share of Fat Lady Singers, mostly in Church, where their warbling reduced my eardrums to something resembling Pink Fiberglass insulation...
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Anyone who reads this blog on a semi-regular basis can accurately gauge my reaction to Anything Operatic, and that is, "Blech!" "Gag!" "Run for cover!" "Where's the nearest FALLOUT SHELTER?" A Lady Opera singer, especially the more rotund among them, is basically an Air-Raid Siren with Legs. They may be able to hit the Really High Notes, but with their voices on Maximum Vocal Vibrato, even if they're singing a nice melody, I can't understand what the Heck they're singing about. I've seen Opera Singers on PBS or on the old Variety Shows, so I've been somewhat exposed to a bit of that stuff, wondering mostly, "When will this be over?" So, with computer resources here at my fingertips, I tried in vain to find a way to answer that interrogative, with Yogi Berra's timeless quote inspiring me ever onward..."It Ain't Over 'Til it's Over."
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So, having taken all of the above into account, you've had plenty of time to deliberate upon the Gecko Insurance Question Of The Day: "IS IT REALLY OVER WHEN THE FAT LADY SINGS?" Next Picture, Please...
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"O SOLE MI-OOOOOOOOOOOO" KA-BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that was certainly terrifying, wasn't it? Let me just say that I tried to find something a bit more sanitized, like an artist's rendering of Carnegie Hall collapsing upon itself. Lacking that, I did what I had to do. Sometimes, folks, Blogging Ain't Pretty.

I think I have finally Lost My Mind...it was bound to happen sooner or later...

Saturday, February 05, 2011

CAN FIFTEEN MINUTES REALLY SAVE YOU 15%?
...does Coach Jimmy Johnson use "Extenze"?
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I've been insured by the Gecko for a long time now. I have no idea how good this insurance company really is, since I've haven't had an at-fault accident since 1977. But who really wants to find out how good their insurance is...I don't want to get crashed into by someone else; traffic accidents being hazardous to your health and all...Insurance is funny that way; you insure yourself to the gills, all the while hoping you never actually have to use it.
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So here's my little green insurance mascot. He can comfortably stand on your open hand and charm you out of your socks if he has to. He's been in a lot of sticky situations. He's had a "name" sticker pasted on his body, basically covering him up altogether. He's been mistaken for a blonde lady's lover of a couple of years ago. He's disappeared up the suction tube of the Mailroom, where he started out with the company. He once stole the first dollar his boss had ever made and then bought a bag of 'crisps' (potat0 chips) with it. Our little friend has had quite a career so far. Indeed, this is one gecko who's paid his dues. While his complexion is green, he is not. He's a large part of why I stay with Mr. Gecko; I like a company that has a sense of humor. And not even Progressive Insurance's "Flo" character can sway me. And I think "Flo" is super cool. But she's not the Gecko. I contacted another major insurance company, and he pulled up my records and said that the Gecko had a better rate than he, the agent could provide me. Rah Rah Gecko!
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So how did the Little Green Guy get so famous? Did he just jump out of the mailroom and into instant stardom? Well, not exactly. Here's how our little green buddy looked back in the day. Image consultants decided that some "mainstreaming" had to be done in order for Mr. Gecko to appeal to the masses. He was as green as a gecko could be, but facial reconstruction and a nip and tuck here and there were needed. After that, he was advised to watch the BBC as much as he could, in order to pick up that accent of his. And lastly, every day while in makeup, a green paste is applied to disguise those blue spots all over his body. The Hollywood Treatment for sure...
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This next photo is transitory in that it shows Mr. Gecko, who had by this time, undergone some cosmetic adjustments, but before before he learned how to walk upright. That would prove to be his biggest chore, since Geckos are hard-wired to slip and slide around, and since they are quite rubbery, they have trouble supporting themselves with their rear legs only. But this was no average Gecko. He rose to the occasion and stood proud and tall. A little-known fact about Mr. Gecko is that he can only stand for 30 seconds at a time, and falls over, exhausted, once the director yells "CUT!!!" So Mr. Gecko has to be a quick study, since he can only do a few "takes" before he needs to get back on his slippery rocks, because after all, no matter how human he seems to be, our little friend is still a Gecko. There's no truth to the rumor that a Gecko Garter is being devised to help our little green friend stand for longer time periods.
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Competition is increasing in the Insurance industry, however. All of the major insurance firms are spending many zillions of dollars telling you how much you can $ave if you switch to this firm or that firm. While things aren't so bad that the Insurance Carriers are ready to Pay You to insure with them, the infighting continues. "Progressive" here. "State Farm" there. "Farmers" behind you. "Allstate" by your side. Soon, insurance firms will have to take out insurance to protect them from other insurers who are out to get them. Indeed, the folks at Geico are trying hard to protect their lovable little mascot from a fate such as this...
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Obviously this is a work of fiction. Or is it? Stay tuned for part two of this project...an insurance commercial I'd like to see. Betcha can't wait!

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, SO MUCH YOUNGER THAN TODAY...
...I'd never thot their music would be sold in every-which-way...
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Remember on the TV show "Home Improvement", when Tim the Toolman Taylor's trusty sidekick would say, "I don't think so, Tim". (?) I think this would be a good time to implement that quote. I read today, on the internet, about how the Beatles' "Love" album is going to be re-released on I-Tunes, with two songs that weren't included on "Love's" first issue. Granted, they're two more old Beatle songs which I already have elsewhere in my collection. On the "Love" album, though, 28 Beatle songs were re-mixed around each other, and now two more BeatleSongs are going to be subjugated to that process, weaving in and out of the distorted swirling and semi-monstrous mix that resulted in the original "Love" album. So am I gonna pay for another CD to get two more old songs newly remixed? Is that what the Powers that Be think I'm gonna do?
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Well, NO. I won't do it. I can't, really. Because the two additional tunes, plus all the rest on the existing "Love" album, are being sold thru I-Tunes, and being something of a dinosaur, I don't really know what an "I-Tune" is, other than it's some kind of virtual song format that you play on your computer or in a hand-held device of some sort. So you can now have BeatlesTunes without really having them 'cos you can't hold them or touch them the way you can with a Record or CD release. So I'm 'sposed to join I-Tunes just so I can get two more remixed, but still old, Beatles songs? This isn't the first Beatles project I've declined to add to my collection. I didn't buy any of the "Capitol" U.S.A. Beatles CD's that came out a few years ago. Plus, there's a new Special Beatle Box available featuring all their U.K. albums in re-mastered Mono that I'm supposed to buy if I am to stay current (that is, after I buy the Capitol Albums CDs, which I'm not going to buy). What? Didn't I just get their remastered STEREO CD's only last year? Didn't I just buy the remastered '1962-1966' and '1967-1970' CDs just a month or two ago? Whoa, there, pod'ner...and I've heard that those last two remastered CD albums will be available on vinyl soon. Help! I'm feeling down!
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Look, I Love the Beatles. Their music courses thru my soul on a daily basis. I've bought not only all of their original U.S. vinyl albums, I've also bought all of the re-packaging over the years, in both LP and CD formats even though those repackages consisted entirely of songs I already had in my collection. For instance, I bought both the CD of "Love" as well as the 2-LP Limited Edition set, which I'm told, only 5,000 copies were pressed for sale in the States. I bought all their original CD's of '60s albums that came out in the '80s. I've bought all three of their 1995 "Anthology" albums on vinyl (each set is a triple-LP set) and I recently got those on CD as well. (I think, actually, the 'Anthology' series works better on CD than LP.) Plus, in addition to their U.S. albums that I've always had, I've bought vinyl copies of their British albums. I wanted to hear their songs like a British fan would've originally heard them. (The song lineups and the number of songs on their U.S. albums up thru "Revolver" are different from their British albums.)
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I'm getting a bit weary of how the Beatles are being re-packaged over and over again. The collector in me wants to get everything right now. My heart jumps when I see New Beatle Product. Because I WANT it, in spite of the fact that I feel terribly manipulated by it all. When I bought all of the Beatles' Remastered CD's in Stereo a while back, I didn't really want 'em, but I felt I had to have them, so I clenched my jaw and bought them. And that expenditure set me back financially for months! And now I'm supposed to buy the MONO remasters? I don't think so, Tim. I've bought so much Beatle Product over the years that I'm beginning to feel like a "Beatles' Hoarder". If Apple Corps decided to release an album of Beatles out-takes that no one had ever heard of before, I'd jump on it. If I knew the half-hour-long version of "Helter Skelter" was going to be made available, I'd be surfing online instead of paying penance here, looking for a way to get it. That tape is currently sitting in a vault in London. In my Beatles Library is contained a book titled "The Long and Winding Road" by Neville Stannard, which enumerates all of the Beatles stuff that's yet to be issued. Release some of that lot, guys, and I'll buy that! C'mon, you guys! Us "first generation" fans know there's more songs you haven't released. How about it!?
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It becomes apparent that Apple Corps, which holds license to all products Beatle, is looking past my generation, the original fans, and is charting a future course that has no end, sort of like the "Voyager"space probe leaving the solar system, sailing in deep space, forever and ever. Uncharted territory. It should be mentioned that The Beatles were among the last of the major groups to let their material be issued on the newly-prominent CD format in the '80s. They were also one of the last to be made available on I-Tunes, which happened just recently. That tells me that before Apple Corps, the Beatles organization, takes any forward leap, they want to exhaust all possibilities of sales in older formats, and having done that, they've now migrated to I-tunes. That's my theory, anyway. Stall. Get a good controversy going. Create Demand. Buy it! Sell it! Rah-Rah-Rah!!!
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It's sad to realize that everyone's in it for the money. It's sad to think that this music that I hold dear is being mass-merchandised on a cost-per-thousand (or million) basis. The good thing is that their musical legacy will be passed on, perhaps Across The Universe...