This MP3 is an excerpt, a sort of teaser if you will. Enjoy!

Nathan

Have You Seen My Sunshine (Unplugged)

I would love to find out who made this. They are geniuses.

Above is a photo of the card I took sitting next to a United States dime. Both items are resting on the battery from my Blackberry Pearl, which is also relatively small yet fills the photo. When I first removed the Micro SD card from its point-of-sale container, I was almost afraid of losing it. It also seems fragile, but that's probably just a misperception.

There are two gigabyte cards available, but the Blackberry Pearl does not yet support them. I'm waiting for the four gigabyte cards. Hopefully my carrier will update the Pearl's firmware to support them.

Have you seen my sunshine? (mix 24 excerpt)

I have a special message for all you women out there. 99% of all heterosexual men think this woman is disgustingly emaciated. Even if it may offend, I want to drive the point home by saying that she looks like a concentration camp victim, except of course that she's prancing around in a bikini. Observe the look on her face, like she's the bitch of the universe. That kills any attraction for the remaining 1%, who prefer demure pretzel women.

My advice to young ladies who see this picture and think "oh, I am so fat" is this: only about 30% of you are actually fat, according to the statistics I just made up in my own mind. The rest of you are just fine the way you are. You are not in competition with other women. The simple truth is that not every man is attracted to the same kind of woman, or the same look. Some prefer blondes, some brunettes, some redheads or auburn. Some men actually prefer women who are overweight. Many men actually like it when a woman's stomach plumps out a little near the waistline. Perhaps this is a hard-wired biological response akin to being pleased with the look of a pregnant wife.

Not only that, but personality can go a long way. In fact, a good personality and being fun to hang out with are so important to a man that I recommend you switch gears. Instead of starving yourself to death...chill...go with the flow. Realize now that this woman is in a love/hate relationship with her body and do not follow her down the path to becoming a leathery husk of bones.

By the end of 2006, I will be releasing my first official CD (about damned time).

If you would like an interactive preview of coming attractions, and have a fast internet connection, head on over to The Gunk Mixer. You will need Flash Player 8 or higher (including version 9) in order to load the mixer in your browser.

If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy of Gunk, please send an email to gunk@dicksoncreative.net with the word Gunk as the subject line. I can then give you all necessary details.

What the Arizona Foster Voucher Program Would Have Meant to Me by Lisa Dickson

Lisa was recently on a local Columbus, Ohio radio station with D.J. Dave James. Dave was kind enough to send me this third installment of what is so far a three-part series of interviews on Foster Care.

Lisa Mix 97.1 Part 3.mp3 (18.5MB)

You can listen to the first two parts of the interview here.

However, after about year of tossing it around in my head, I had what was to be a good portion of the melody as of a few months ago, especially the chorus portion, which I thought was very good. The melody for the verse was still tenuous and up in the air.

Since I no longer had the separate recording elements because I am an idiot and accidentally misplaced them a few years ago, I would have to either re-record the song or just sing on top of the original mix -- I chose the latter. This past weekend, I finally had the nerve to at least record myself performing some melodic ramblings along with version five of the recording, prompted mostly by the fact that I had just pinned down a perfect melody for the "skipping along" portion -- vastly superior to what I had last month.

Anyway, after mixing down a non-word version with random vocal sounds similar to what the final might have (for some reason, I realized right away that the hook should probably end with an "-ine" sound), I decided to work out some temporary lyrics off the top off my head -- sort of "whatever came into my head". The working title was Lisa2, so I decided to make it about my wife Lisa, but not necessarily by name. The harmonies came quite by accident while recording both the non-word and worded versions (typical creation by accident, where you just sing the first thing that comes into your head).

I liked the temporary lyrics so much that I decided to just stick with them. I also used some very powerful audio plug-ins to re-pitch and re-time song, making it about ten percent faster and one whole step lower in pitch. That made it both catchier and easier for me to sing. One last touch -- I deleted the bridge because it was an afterthought to the original recording and I never liked it. At this point, the only stuctural element I would change is to put the line ending with "wine" after the line ending with "fine", essentially exchanging them.

So, here it is, along with lyrics. Feel free to comment.

Have You Seen My Sunshine?
Copyright 2006 Nathan Dickson. All rights reserved worldwide.

(Intro Chorus)
Where's the girl of mine?
Have you seen my sunshine?
Skippin' right along and feelin' the wind blow

She's the girl who can make you feel that
Everything is sun and true
Out there you'll find her
Just beyond the thunder
Sun is so high and the sky so blue

(Chorus)
Where's the girl of mine?
Have you seen my sunshine?
Skippin' right along just feelin' the wind blow
Sippin' on a glass o'wine
Tell'er that she's mighty fine
Skippin' right along just feelin' the wind blow

She's the girl who will make you think that
Every other girl is gone
She holds you closely
And you know that mostly
Everything about her is just for you

Chorus

Save your day for the girl who makes you
Sing your song, but just for her
Yeah, she'll be here soon
Yeah, I'll sing her this tune
Then she will know that I want her sooner

Chorus

Head on over to Diggnation and check out the latest humorous, yet informative rantings from Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. It’s also available as an iTunes Podcast, which is a much easier way to download and view.

Not for little kids.

When phenomenal and ground-breaking television programs like Sons and Daughters get cancelled after only ten episodes in favor of something like According to Jim, something is wrong. Here is a short list of television programs or types of programs that I have only watched briefly, but never will again, mostly because I think they are beyond retarded. Unfortunately, I am sure this list will expand:

American Idol
Give me a break. This is nothing more than televised karaoke. Just because you can belt out a song does not mean you are talented, no matter how good you are. This show is more about embarrassment than singing anyway. Moronic.

Survivor
In any of its ridiculous incarnations. This show is nothing but exhibitionism and voyeurism, but it's not even good exhibitionism or voyeurism. Let's put a group of beautiful people in a situation where they emaciate, sometimes run around naked (and emaciated) and stab each other in the back. It's like setting up cameras at a concentration camp or televising Christians fighting lions from a Roman coliseum. With today's perspective, who in their right minds would want to watch that? Absurd.

Redneck Television Shows
I don't even remember what they're called, but they're on Comedy Central and various others. It may just be the all the mullets that annoy me. No, it's also the way they talk and the way they dress and the way they carry themselves -- like they're all inbred. "If you watch this show . . . you may be a redneck."

Celebrity Sports
I don't care what the sport is -- Celebrity Bowling, Celebrity Skiing, even Celebrity Bash-The-Fuck-Out-Of-Each-Other -- I refuse to watch it. After all, how far down the alphabet of celebrity status do you have to be in order to be on one of these shows? D-List maybe? It's a cry for help. I won't bite.

Awards Shows
The only one that counts (and that I watch) is the Academy Awards. The others are all "me toos" that can be safely ignored. Even the Academy Awards gets annoying, though, especially if the host is not quick on their feet. I think Jon Stewart did a great job this year.

And now, on the flipside, here is a show that you will watch if you are anything but a half-wit:

The Daily Show
Brilliant, ascerbic wit. Not only that, but you learn what's going on in the world even as it is being mocked. To get a taste, go to The Daily Show Website. Always smart, never pandering, this show will be difficult to top, as it's well on its way to being rated the best comedy ever.

I do not know the authorship of the exceedingly funny animated GIF at the top of this entry. However, if the author contacted me, I would be more than happy to give credit where credit is due.