"hey mark, what are some cool albums i should check out that nobody seems to know about? i'm getting kinda sick of the stuff on the radio."
"what? you mean you actually don't like the crap (read the word: cRAP) that's force fed to you on kiss fm, mtv, and in pretty much every media outlet? i dunno about you but i don't mind people telling me what music i'm supposed to like!"
"what?"
"kidding. here's some stuff you should check out..."

first off, you need to check out one of my new favorite electronica bands. they've had two albums so far (only one of which is available in the u.s.), but they're quite well-known in the world of remixes. way out west - intensify they're quite similar to early crystal method, but a little more trancey and varied.

wanna chill out and escape from the world? i know just the thing for that. conjure one's self-titled album is a project by delerium and rhys fulber (of front line assembly). it's mostly dreamy female vocals awash with trance backdrops... and some of the tracks are nice and upbeat. this one's a keeper.

you wanna chill out even more, but to darker music? then you need some massive attack my friend. their best (and most popular) album is mezzanine. you may recognize a few of the tracks from television commercials or movie ads, but this is far from prime time radio material. the only place you're gonna hear this is perhaps a late-night lounge deep in the city, just as the night is either getting going or cooling off.

another band i recently discovered that looks very promising is cirrus. they manage to keep some of their tracks quite poppy, but without losing their acid trance/breakbeat roots, which is awesome. check out their album counterfeit.

acidy trance mixed with hard rock. curve - come clean. nuff said.

last but not least... nikka costa. she had a semi-hit with the song "like a feather" but then seemingly disappeared from the media's eyes. check out her album everybody got their something... the whole thing is that good, and nobody seemed to notice that. what a shame.

i would mention soulvation here... but their album "one" doesn't seem to be available anywhere yet. if you can find it, wow is it awesome.

that's all for now, i hope everyone checks some of these albums out. radio free strube!!

i just had the worst cheesy gordita crunch ever. they were very scant with the meat, and there was no special sauce!! what gives taco bell?!

well, someone finally made a comment on my moblog. kinda disturbing. but yeah.

bad head colds really really suck. i'll just be crawling around the house for today. ate way way wayyy too much at the machine shed last night... maybe somehow i knew that would be the last night with taste in my mouth. i was going to go to three for marty's birthday last night, but the head cold was just way too bad, and considering late last night i felt like i was about to pass out (probably a combination of the head cold and too much food), good thing i didn't go.

this is from the polo website. is she supposed to be hot?! can you say transvestite? what was ralph lauren thinking...

clothes shopping sucks. oh well, got some new cool threads, and new shoes... so it was worth it, i guess. looking forward to a fun friday night.

shoot me. please.

went to the budget theater to see secret window. meh, it was certainly worth the $1.50... not the worst, but certainly not the best. i saw that twist a mile away.

i'm in a bad mood. wanna cheer me up?

had dinner with andy at the kiltie. then we drove around some lake, i don't remember which one, sorry i forget these things. it was cool.
kiltie, for those of you who don't know, is this awesome drive-in fast food place. yeah, that's right, drive-in, not drive-thru. you actually have someone come up to your window, take your order, and then bring your food on a tray which goes onto the window. all old fashioned like. and the food is awesome. except that you have to tip, and it's friggin fast food... oh well, that's the only downside. i'll get some moblog pics of the place soon.

no ibook for mark. (at least for now.) don't ask. it depresses me.

mark got a police scanner. oh it picks up everything. if you get my drift. many hours of amusement shall come from this device. i love technology. i do. i do.

Remember the good 'ol days?

i woke up embarrasingly late. then i met up with andy and erik to eat dinner at noodles. after that we hung at andy's house for a little while, and then we decided to see van helsing. andy had to bail since he had to clean someone's car or something.
not sure what to think of van helsing... had some cool action scenes, and the special effects were nothing short of amazing. i guess it was just a little too busy for me, if that makes any sense. every action scene, the camera never stood still, and there was constant non-stop movement in every corner of the screen. with action scenes like that i find myself going wow, ok, this is kinda cool but when is it going to end? when i should be thinking whoa, bring on more! oh well, it wasn't the worst i've seen, it was ok... wish i had seen it during the day and saved a few bucks, though. leave a comment, let me know what you thought of it. yeah, that's right, reader interaction, what up now?!

well can't say i've never achieved anything due to my insomnia. tweaked the code to make my moblog section on this page look more integrated. oooo... yes that's right, look in wonderment and amazement. i also restored my subscription to entertainment weekly. i canceled it a few weeks ago and i was suffering withdrawal symptoms.
goodnight.

damn you insomnia.

check this out... it will get your nerd juices flowing.

went to node. meh. too smoky... too alternative. they can keep it.

last night was fun... ate at tgi friday's with erik, and then we went to hang out with andy. ended up driving into the sorta-ghetto for some reason to take a look at this trendy college 24/7 coffee shop called node. it looks pretty cool, we'll have to go there sometime. after that we just hung at andy's house and listened to police calls on his scanner. i forgot how fun that is, i'm going to have to go on a major search to find mine... especially considering mine can also pick up analog cell phone calls. great fun. after that we watched some good 'ol aqua teen hunger force. great show.
mo moblog coming soon.

for those of you who don't know... take a look at my moblog. the tiny picture on the left side is the latest picture added to it. i'm going to be constantly adding more to it by taking pictures with my cell phone and uploading them directly to there. should be fun.

crazy night last night. wow. i was going to get into every single detail of everything we did, but then i accidentally closed my browser and lost the whole thing. smart mark. so, i'll just give you some keywords and you can put the evening together yourself.
shelly, andy, elliot, obie, kiltie, culver's, fun world, george webb's, shelly's house, hdtv, fields, walking, lightning, pain, home.
wasn't that fun now?
later.

not too eventful today so i'll make it quick.
got a voicemail from erik that his rents want me to copy some tape to a dvd... so i immediately made a call to them... yes, i'm poor. went over there and picked up the tape and ended up playing a softball game with his mom, stepdad, and some relatives. it was surprisingly fun... maybe that had something to do with the fact that none of us ran the bases, but ya know. so, i've been struggling with my stubborn computer to capture the whole entire tape without freezing... my old video card never had issues, damn ati, their capture cards are overrated.
had a late mclunch so i had a late dinner... drove to marty's pizza and picked up some goodness... right when the frickin severe thunderstorm decided to start. i was outside for maybe a total of 5 seconds and i was immediately drenched. i love spring.
i heard that andy pyzyk is back in town, i'll have to give the a-man a call tomorrow. i need to see van helsing.
that'll be all.

Yes... excellent. markstrube@gmail.com

before i post anything, the old forum is still around, just check the links to the left.
work... yeah... i hadda get up at 9am today, to go to work and transfer 58 pages of names and numbers to some new software. (i work at a catering company for those of you who don't know.) yesterday i had to transfer about 200 menu items to that new software. funness.
after work... went to dinner at chili's with jake thurner and jose pulido... never really hung with jose much, he's pretty damn cool! after that we did some wonderful unauthorized off-roading (ask me if you want some inside info), and hung at tom's house with mary, chelsea and erik. an ok evening.
i got home and found out g4tv is buying techtv, and firing all the hosts of their current shows. crap. really. g4 is ok but nowhere near the quality and viewerbase of techtv. i'm gonna miss cat and kevin the most. i really hope they stay with this new channel. how's this for a first entry? let me know. moblog coming soon. maybe. later all.