Gas prices hurting our pockets & the economy

I”m going to say this clearly. When gas prices go up so does everything else. The question is why are gas prices going up? For awhile it was in the $3 range & i think even a little lower then that. Why? Perhaps we can blame President Obama Bin Laden. No.. seriously, i feel we are continuously letting idiots run the office. Companies are finding ways to save money, layoffs, cuts, flexing, and many don’t allow overtime. Prices go up in some places & more scams are taking place worse then it did before, like my post about file sharing.

I had to cut back on driving as well as not being able to buy certain things i used to like going out to eat or even eating that much. But like everyone else we have to have money to survive. I don’t really see many solutions here. Last several weeks i saw the gas prices dropped but that’s practically nothing. It’s still $4 a gallon & it’s not even the same pricing around the globe. The economy hasn’t always been good but i don’t think it’s been this bad, or at least i haven’t seen it this bad before. I can’t afford to buy new work clothes or clothes in general. I have been trying to make stuff last as possible but sometimes things just fail anyways. For awhile i had a roommate but she couldn’t hold down a job or even pay for her half of the bills. It got to the point where i just kicked her out & decided i can do better on my own. It’s not by much but i can’t even go out anymore. I don’t want to spend the gas & i feel like im just living my life just to survive. Most people get to go out, have parties or go to shows/concerts. With me i can’t even drive to a friends house. I basically just sit at home on my computer all day because i have nothing better to do with the amount of money i have.

I just find it amazing how i don’t really see that many others suffering or hurting from the lack of funds but maybe perhaps they don’t live on their own. But gas needs to be brought back to $1 again. Something that people can afford. I hear people say when gas drops down to like $3.. oh well at least it’s not that bad.. not bad? Um really.. are we that naive? With each generation it seems to go up & while people complain it’s not that bad.. This generation is the worst it’s ever been & has been proven to hurt the economy. Yeah lets use more credit cards to balance out & fix the economy while consumers are in debt from too much money spending.I feel like the entire industry is stealing our hard earned money. If we don’t make sales at our job they start cutting back. Well how much money do you need to make?

And what about gas prices? Is it because we’re running out? Is it because of radical environmentalists? If so lower the prices & work on a solution to the environment. You don’t need high gas prices for an incentive. That will just put less money in everyone’s pockets so they won’t have time to find a solution.

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Downloading Music, hurts the music companies!?

READ FIRST: I do not condone file sharing, i have downloaded & even shared some stuff in the past & sometimes i do download. But for every album i download that i like, i purchase. So before you attempt to condemn me read the rest of this material first.

Ok we all know what happened to Napster when the big bad music corporation found out & even Metallica got involved. It got shut down & rebuilt so if you download something you’ll have to pay for it. Then came iTunes & more digital downloads so people can save money. However, labels still saw a decline in sales due to the fact people are only buying one or 2 tracks from an album. This also became worse as more file sharing programs & direct downloads came into place. P2P programs like Kazaa & limewire were found liable & instead of the labels trying to shut down these programs, they decided to attack individuals who are distributing the files. One lady got fined $1.2 million for sharing 24 music tracks. Only, 24 tracks.  The labels wanted to set an example for others to try to curb file sharing. But it didn’t stop there. Recently they went to the internet providers, like Comcast & put a cap on how much a person can dl & high bandwidth users would get flagged & would receive a phone call or email saying that they need to stop using so much bandwidth or their service will be terminated.

It didn’t start off too bad but then many users were getting flagged & it became a problem since this was kept behind the curtains but then Comcast announced the cap & everyone was given a monthly bandwidth meter on their comcast user profile. But even then they got rid of it because since users knew how much they were using they decided to use more, kinda defeating the whole process of eliminating file sharing users. So, labels decided, lets go to the firesharing programs like uTorrent & report people who are file sharing. Well technically, an IP address isn’t a person so it never held up in court & ended up as a closed case? It stopped right here. I haven’t heard of any news or anything so perhaps they have given up but i really don’t think so.

When you think about it, when someone is sharing a new movie it doesn’t just give people less incentive to go out & buy it but not only that the movie loses sales & then the company who sells the movie doesn’t get a good revenue. If you enjoyed it then BUY IT. Don’t sit there & say.. oh well i saw it already & i already have it on my computer so it doesn’t really matter does it? Some people are using downloading as an excuse, well i don’t have the money, the person is dead he won’t care. Regardless of the reason you downloaded something, companies won’t like it. Even if you download a band’s discography & go out to purchase them all companies will still most likely frown upon that.  If all your doing is weeding out the albums you don’t like so you don’t have to buy them companies still won’t like it. Basically they want you to buy an album regardless if you enjoy it or not.  They don’t care if you don’t like it. Well.. some of them do care to a certain extent. Either way when you download something it’s considered stealing.

The thing that bothers me the most is this.

If a record company wants to sell an album you want, but can’t afford it then you can’t buy it. But if the reason for not being able to afford it is gas prices, which everyone or almost everyone is suffering at the pump, then why don’t the labels go after the gas/oil companies? Possibly because there is nothing they can do about it but however you think it, if labels are really losing money they’re losing money because no one has any money left because of GAS PRICES!!

If oil companies are allowed to rip people off & steal their money just so they can fill their tank then so can people with music downloading or file sharing. Hey well if i’m spending $100 a week on gas then i’m going to download $50 worth of music then. Again, read the disclaimer at the top of this post. Rather then suing people, putting them in jail badmouthing them (example: CHRISTIANS!) then why can we just leave it alone. If i download a new movie who’s right is it to snoop on what i do with my computer?

Oh i shared a movie & now the companies are looking at me for it. So who’s looking at the oil companies robbing us at the pump? NO ONE! NO ONE IS DOING FUCKING SHIT ABOUT THIS! What happened to $1 a gallon? Oh well i guess oil companies wanted to buy Rolex watches for the workers.

In conclusion, if your going to dl something, BUY it or DELETE IT. Because downloading something you enjoy & you have the money for it is just stealing & wrong. And to the oil companies & to whoever allowed gas prices to raise up $3, FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU DIE ON THAT HARDWORKING CASH. KARMA IS A BITCH & YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS ATROCITY! The economy is FAILING because of this! Either this economy needs to fail or recover i can’t stand it lingering from ok, to bad & back again. It needs to be fixed once & for all!

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“Carmax Repair” Price gouging?!?!

Image via Wikipedia

Carmax is a great place to get a used or even a new vehicle for many reasons. One being (if they still do this) they won’t push you into buying a car. Carmax won’t haggle you for price, what you see on the car is what you basically pay for, which is great. You even get a five year warranty with the new car you just bought. However, once that warranty is over things get a little hectic. I even talked to a guy who works at an auto-part store who just bought a car, tried to make an appointment a week before his 30 day warranty “guarantee everything works or we’ll fix it for free” but, there was no room for an appointment so he was scheduled for a week later (2 days after the 30 days were up) & he didn’t get the 30 day guarantee because he came in after the 30 days. Well of course the owner of the vehicle wrote a letter to corporate saying that he wasn’t going to go back to Carmax again. Unfortunately i don’t remember the rest…

My story about Carmax is much better. They did a better job treating me even though i realized their repair shop is a bit expensive. They charge about as much as a regular dealer & every once in awhile i will take my car in to get the oil changed & for them to do an inspection to make sure everything on the car is running properly. 11 years & it still runs well, i thought there was something wrong with the A/C but they told me it was running fine. But when they took off one of my tires, they noticed that two lug nut bolts (also known as bolt stems) were broken off, right next to each other, most likely due to the crazy snowstorm of 2011. Before i took my car in every time i braked there was some kind of buckling that sounded like the rotor wasn’t completely stationary. Well.. in order for them to replace those bolts, they were going to charge me $120!

“$120!?!

You have to be kidding me!”

Well that’s what i thought in my mind, i declined it & even though the service consultant told me that it was unsafe to drive on just 3 working bolts. I had to sign a waiver & i was feeling nervous driving home.  Fortunately it was my day off so after i paid & got my car back i head towards Gurnee for an auto-part store. A friend also had some tools in that area so i figured i’ll head that way. Of course everywhere i went (had to take side roads) there were bumps & the speed limits were pretty high so it was hard for me to get home at lower speeds, i really wasn’t sure how fast i should have been going but after realizing that 40-50 seemed like a good area of speeds. It was really hard because many other drivers usually will drive the speed limit or higher. Which is a pain! What bothered me more was since gas prices are high why is everyone driving 55 or higher? Well i did make it to my friends place with the parts which only cost me $10. So you mean to tell me i would have had to pay $110 for labor? I ended up having to drive to my place because my friend didn’t have the right size for a particular tool & i really wanted to get it done so that i don’t have to worry about one of my tires falling off. Well needless to say with the right tools it would have been a fairly easy task. I could have done this for someone for about no more then $30 in labor.

It’s just shocking how even a place like Carmax would leave a person stranded if they can’t pay a particular amount of money for an easy fix. You’re pretty much screwed. If more then 3 of those bolts were broken off i don’t think it would be very safe to drive on it & i probably would have been forced to pay the amount for replacements. In all.. that was pretty screwed up, just for an oil change & a tire rotation. From now on i think i’ll be doing my own tire rotations.

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Dimension Zero News??

A follow-up to He Who Shall Not Bleed?

Many Dimension Zero fans are wondering, is there a new album coming out? Many, including me is hoping for a follow-up to He Who Shall Not Bleed Well i started digging around, nothing on the site, So what is Dimension Zero doing? Well.. doing some more digging i found THE RESISTANCE: New Supergroup?

This is the line-up:

Marco Aro (FACE DOWN, ex-THE HAUNTED) – Vocals
Jesper Strömblad (ex-IN FLAMES, DIMENSION ZERO) – Guitar
Glenn Ljungström (ex-IN FLAMES, DIMENSION ZERO) – Guitar
Alex Losbäck Holstad (ex-DESPITE, DECAMERON, CARDINAL SIN) – Bass
Chris Barkensjö (CARNAL FORGE, GODSIC, ex-GRAVE) – Drums

Ok, so it’s possible that since two of the members of Dimension Zero are in this “project band” they have no time for other bands at this present moment. So, what are the band members doing? Well..

Joakim “Af Gravf” “Jocke” Göthberg – (vocals) he is also in Marduk

Daniel Antonsson – (guitar) is currently in Dark Tranquillity

Hans Nilsson – (drums) isn’t really doing anything at the moment or there is no news about him (that and there are multiple names showing up in google)

So it seems there really is no new info on this band but! I left this for last.. a Dark Tranquillity interview

Source: swedenrockstage.com.ua (Translated by Google)

swedenrockstage.com.ua : Thank you. Daniel, you and Jesper is also playing in another band, Dimension Zero , whose music in the same direction. Do you have any plans for a new album, or other future plans?

Daniel : We have plans for a new album with Dimension Zero. I do not know when we all will have time for it, but it will happen – the new album will be released, but we’ll see when. The thing is, when we have time, and when Jasper will not be busy, but personally I have some time on it. So let us hope that maybe next year we will write and write it. If possible, I think we’ll be releasing it at the end of next year. I do not know … but I hope so.

So it’s really hard to tell when they’ll work on a new record, maybe in 2012?

If you find more info involving Dimension Zero please let me know in a comment! I will edit that info on here. Thanks! And stay \m/etal.

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“Deliver Us” single – In Flames

Cover of Deliver Us

So, it’s May 25th 2011 now & i had the opportunity to listen to the “Sounds Of A Playground Fading” track as well as “A New Dawn”. My Opinion has changed, but not by much. The truth is, the new material does sound better then ‘A Sense Of Purpose’.  The lyrics are much better & while i do enjoy some tracks off of ASOP it didn’t really change the fact that the overall sound sounds bad & generic. But i found that it does have a certain melody to the material. You most likely will be able to find these tracks on Youtube. Deliver Us still deserves a 2.0 in ratings & will not change either in RYM. But.. i can listen to the song more often, it’s still not really recommended but i personally enjoy it.

I’m not going to repeat the same review i did on Rate Your Music, however it doesn’t change the fact i think the single is bad. Well it’s good & bad. The good part is the intro was pretty good, the bad part is the rest of the song sounds so watered down that it’s alternative rock. Back when Soundtrack To Your Escape came out i actually enjoyed listening to the newer style In Flames had. I even enjoyed Come Clarity as well. However.. A Sense Of Purpose took yet another direction, further away from the melodic death metal sound & from The Jester Race/Colony style. Now it’s 2011 & we got possibly another bad album coming our way. This track,

is shocking yet disappointing. Their upcoming album, Sounds Of A Playground Fading seems like In Flames is reaching a point where their style won’t resemble anything they once had. Should i remain optimistic? We’ll see. Honestly I’ll be looking around for melodic death metal. This band may not be as good as they once were. I already know they won’t continue on with melodic death metal but of course the fan-boys will just eat this band up & think that this is the best melodic death metal out there today.

“Who is At The Gates?”

“Who is Insomnium?”

“Who is Dark Tranquillity?”

“Who is Dimension Zero?”

These people may never know… I can only hope that people realize there are far better stuff out there then the stuff In Flames is was capable of.  I know where this is heading…

My rating: 2.0 stars (1 time listen, not recommended)

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Introduction to MidnightDeathMetal.

Welcome to my WordPress page.

Here i will most likely talk about artists, do reviews for them. Not much else to really say at this point except for enjoy this page & to start off i will post my review from the “Deliver Us” single from In Flames.

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