I wonder how this one person is doing that was hospitalized with heart problems. I was going to call her and send my well-wishes, but I decided against it. First of all, I doubt she even remembers me. Second, if she did remember me, I didn't want to risk her possibly giving my phone # to "Rita". I don't want that woman to have it!!! Thankfully I am unlisted now, so she cannot even get it in the phone book. No doubt "Rita" is still going around spreading gossip and BS about me. But hey! That's OK. She doesn't even know me, and anyone who listens to her is nothing but a fool. All "Rita" knows about me is based on a breeding I did ages ago, before I knew anything about dog shows, backyard breeders and pedigree research. Back in those days, people still just bred dogs for the fun of it, not to win some blue or purple ribbons at a snobby dog show! And if I wanted to be in a show, I'd move to Hollywood! Simple as that! Or I'd answer to these ads where people offered to pay ME. Not me pay THEM! Most likely though, they'd be paying me to stay OFF the camera! LOL!
I always said I'd be the World's worst show breeder. Not because of the breeding and showing of dogs. But because the one thing I learned about show breeders (especially from Pluba and that e-mail group I was once a member of) is that show breeders like to listen to gossip. They love drama, and they will believe anything anyone tells them about someone whether the person spreading the gossip really knows the person they are gossiping about or not. Just as long as the person spreading the gossip has a lot of show wins and purple ribbons, that's all that matters to them. This is the internet age! It's amazing how many people think they know everything there is to know about someone just by words stated on the internet. And that is not my style. I prefer to meet someone, get to know them, talk to them, then make final judgments. Some people do seem scary on the internet though! But I can honestly tell you I have never cussed someone out or anything of that nature in life or on the internet. There are some people whose internet persona I don't care for, but again, this is the INTERNET. People can be the biggest ass there is on a computer, but then when you meet them in person, they may be the sweetest person you'll ever meet. That is why I prefer not to make any final judgments on someone until I've actually met them.
I have toned down my character a wee bit. I know I still have a long way to go now. But I have met enough show breeders to know that they even admit themselves that they don't like people in general. One person said that in order to do really good for the animals, you have to really hate people. A lot of show breeders I've noticed live up to that. A lot of the ones I met were very insecure people. Sometimes I wonder why. Maybe their parents beat them up as children. Or, if their parents were also show breeders, maybe they felt neglected because the parents paid more attention to the dogs (or cats) than they did to them. Or maybe the parents paid more attention to outside sources than they did to them. Who really knows except maybe the show breeders themselves. But a lot of the show breeders I've met show that classic symptom of some kind of neglect which led to them being insecure adults. That's why they feel the need to put down the little people, like me. I was never very big in the show world. I showed Odessa a couple of times, but that was it. I never claimed to be a show breeder. Though I did buy Odessa with the intent to show her, as she was sold to us as a show prospect. We did try, we just could not get into showing and getting into the ring. And now that I know the kind of people behind the dogs, I can understand why! I was completely uncomfortable at dog shows!! And not just because of "Rita", though she was reason enough. I know for a fact that she was gossiping about me and Anna at the last show we went to. Because a man who I didn't even know and never met, kept giving me and Anna the "evil-eye", and he had been talking to "Rita" throughout the course of that show. So his reasons for snubbing me the way he did had to have been because of something "Rita" said to him. And that is why I'd make the World's worst show breeder. I'd have told "Rita" to bugger off, and let me get to know the person she is gossiping about for myself. I don't want to throw away someone who could become a potential friend just because of some mindless gossip. Especially if I had found out Rita did not even really know the person she was gossiping about, and she did not know me or Anna very well.
In essence, Rita is another JohnFaa. I kinda wonder if they are related? LOL! That wouldn't surprise me. If anyone doesn't know what a "JohnFaa" is, it's one of the biggest hypocrites I've ever met on the internet. It's name is Carlos Miguel Albuquerque and it hangs out with people like Viergacht. And Viergacht, as some of you may have read, hangs out with low-lifes who make threats of violence on the internet, are racists, sociopaths, and like to have sex with trees. LOL! In short, the kind of people I wouldn't give the time of day to! But at least I can give them credit for coming by it honestly! Those are things I don't think I would have revealed on the internet if they ever applied to me. Which they don't. LOL! And you should see, the people on the Speculative Evolution forum all think Viergacht and JohnFaa are good people. LOL! Well, the people on that forum are still too young to have all their instincts in place. Some of the members of that forum are good, but definitely NOT JohnFaa or Viergacht!!! You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of people they hang out with and well, you saw how I described Viergacht's friends, directly from reading his journal. My friends are not like that. There is a very good reason why I do not have many friends, and that is because the kind of people I like to call "friends" are of a very rare species, and becoming more and more extinct every day. Especially now that this is the internet age. Only one person on Viergacht's journal seemed to be at least somewhat decent (there's one in every forum!) but not too far off from the others. I only make friends with people who are kind, thoughtful and caring, and would not even dream of making threats to anyone over the internet. Look at Katrina. She's young, but she's got quite a big heart, and she is one of my best friends. Remember how I said she bought a hot cup of chili for a homeless man on a cold day. She told me the restaurant didn't like that, but she did it anyway, because she wanted to. That's Katrina! That's how she is. She's a loving, caring person. But she too doesn't like Viergacht or JohnFaa. LOL! She read their journals (it was her husband who told me about them) and she said they are too compulsive-obsessive....... and totally nuts. But, that's the kind of friends I have.
Viergacht has this thing that I am being narcissistic. LOL!! Poor chap, thinks he knows everything there is to know about me, but really he has no clue! He only sees the World in either black or white, and I am soooooooooo many shades of gray as a person, it would really confuse him. I am actually very honest about myself, both the good and bad. I don't think that is narcissism. I just don't like to dwell too heavily on my negative points. Whenever I do, I get too many people telling me to stop. So once in a while, I accentuate on my good points. I wasn't always like this. I used to be just as insecure of a person as Viergacht and JohnFaa are. The World is much prettier though when you lose those insecurities (even laugh at them, as I do) and start feeling better about yourself. That's why in the midst of JohnFaa calling me things like "a fat whore" and "bitchy Metazoica", I was able to take them in such stride it was fantastic. At least the "fat" part is true! Let's face it, I'm not Tyra Banks! I may never be either. Fat is where it's at! But JohnFaa is such a big hypocrite, he's undoubtedly a fat-ass himself. Nothing is more pathetic than one fat person making fun of another.
Yes, I have been taken down before, but not by a nameless person on the internet who doesn't know the first thing about me as an individual. Viergacht likes to think he's hurt my feelings. That's all that he dwells on. LOL!! Actually, very far from it. There is no way on Earth Viergacht can hurt me at all. I was never his friend. I never even liked him, ever! And he has never given me good reason to like him at all. And in order for someone to hurt me emotionally the way Viergacht wants so badly to, I would have to have liked that person at least at some point in my life. LOL! I'll tell you, I was more hurt by Proletarian than I've ever been by Viergacht or JohnFaa. Because at least I used to like Proletarian. Well, Proletarian is now in hiding, and I am not surprised! I'd hide too if I treated people the way he is now in the habit of treating them. But I guess Proletarian is just being a typical boy. A lot of boys like him allow others to influence their feelings toward other people. I've seen it happen a lot. Proletarian is one of those examples I have where my initial instincts about someone was proven wrong. I used to think Proletarian was a good person. But I turned out to be wrong. It happens once in a while. I usually have a natural knack for being able to tell who is good and who is not. Comes from years of meeting all kinds of people. I'm usually right about 85-90% of the time. Usually if a person is no good, I can feel it. But I didn't feel it at all with Proletarian. This leads me to believe his current behavior problems have been severely scarred and imprinted by JohnFaa and a few others on his forum. It's sad really. On my forum he was such a nice person. Then he got in with this lousy crowd and he's become an asshole. A jerk. A JohnFaa. LOL!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
INXS's Soon-To-Be New Album
This is my views of INXS's new album to come. I cannot wait!!! If Chris Murphy thinks this will be their next biggest album to date since Kick, I cannot wait! I'm sure it's going to rule!! I stand firm in my support of these guys, I will always love INXS, and I will always love Timmy. Nothing will change that. Well, nothing except Tim himself. I am the type that as long as he does nothing bad to me, or never snubs me (no more than usual anyway, LOL), I will be forever loyal to him. So far, he hasn't done either so, I have no reason not to be loyal to him. Thus no reason not to be loyal to INXS. I love their music and their videos. I don't care how many singers they get to help record their new album, I will still be the one sitting on the curb and cheering these guys on.
I might make one suggestion for their latest songs. I was listening to some music last night, and I notice that besides INXS's music, which I am naturally partial to, some of my most favorite songs ever are the ones that either has animal sounds inspired, or that start off slow and gradually get faster. Just a bit of variety for INXS to think about when recording their new songs. For animal-sound inspirations, I might suggest listening to whale songs, like in Billy Joel's "Downeaster Alexa". Or maybe bird calls, like Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy". Or maybe sounds just inspired by animal noises, like the oropendola-like sounds of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away".
I also love songs that start off slow and easy, then gradually get faster and harder like towards the onset of the chorus. Kinda like Live's "I Alone", or another example would be like Giant's "I'll See You In My Dreams". I noticed there are no INXS songs that do that. The closest would be "Kick", which is one of my all-time favorite songs from INXS. It used to be my life's theme song back when my nickname was Kick87. I'm not trying to tell INXS what to do with their new album, and I am not saying I don't love the music they've done so far. This is just a bit of a "head's up" of what I would love to see these guys doing in their next set of songs or some time down the road. It would make their next album oh-so interesting, one that I may never want to take out of my CD player!! I also understand that every artist has their style, and maybe it's just INXS's style to have pretty much the same kind of music. But I'm just saying a little bit of variety would be a great thing from these guys.
Then it may just be me. I notice a lot of the songs I mentioned were not that popular. Just with me. Aside from that, they were mostly mediocre. But I would love to hear what INXS could do with the suggestions I just made. I already love the band, if they could take their already wonderful and talented musical ways and apply the suggestions I just made, INXS could be a totally AWESOME band!!! A band like no other on Earth!! And this next album would definitely kick ass!!! Oh yes, and apply an image of Timmy with longer hair too. That would make it all the more special too. hehe! Or at least bring back Cowboy Timmy!!! I miss that look!
Oh and get this! I just recieved this latest bulletin on MySpace:
Barry Gibb will close the show with a superstar band including INXS drummer Jon Farriss. Gibb is expected to bring a special guest from America with him to perform a couple of numbers - Olivia Newton-John.
So you're telling me 2 hot, sexy males are coming to perform in the USA and I can be sitting there in the front row stage with all that manliness in the room before me!!?? Oh, be still my fluttering heart!! I don't give a shit about Olivia Newton-John, but I would love to see Barry Gibb and Jon Farriss!!!!
I might make one suggestion for their latest songs. I was listening to some music last night, and I notice that besides INXS's music, which I am naturally partial to, some of my most favorite songs ever are the ones that either has animal sounds inspired, or that start off slow and gradually get faster. Just a bit of variety for INXS to think about when recording their new songs. For animal-sound inspirations, I might suggest listening to whale songs, like in Billy Joel's "Downeaster Alexa". Or maybe bird calls, like Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy". Or maybe sounds just inspired by animal noises, like the oropendola-like sounds of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away".
I also love songs that start off slow and easy, then gradually get faster and harder like towards the onset of the chorus. Kinda like Live's "I Alone", or another example would be like Giant's "I'll See You In My Dreams". I noticed there are no INXS songs that do that. The closest would be "Kick", which is one of my all-time favorite songs from INXS. It used to be my life's theme song back when my nickname was Kick87. I'm not trying to tell INXS what to do with their new album, and I am not saying I don't love the music they've done so far. This is just a bit of a "head's up" of what I would love to see these guys doing in their next set of songs or some time down the road. It would make their next album oh-so interesting, one that I may never want to take out of my CD player!! I also understand that every artist has their style, and maybe it's just INXS's style to have pretty much the same kind of music. But I'm just saying a little bit of variety would be a great thing from these guys.
Then it may just be me. I notice a lot of the songs I mentioned were not that popular. Just with me. Aside from that, they were mostly mediocre. But I would love to hear what INXS could do with the suggestions I just made. I already love the band, if they could take their already wonderful and talented musical ways and apply the suggestions I just made, INXS could be a totally AWESOME band!!! A band like no other on Earth!! And this next album would definitely kick ass!!! Oh yes, and apply an image of Timmy with longer hair too. That would make it all the more special too. hehe! Or at least bring back Cowboy Timmy!!! I miss that look!
Oh and get this! I just recieved this latest bulletin on MySpace:
Barry Gibb will close the show with a superstar band including INXS drummer Jon Farriss. Gibb is expected to bring a special guest from America with him to perform a couple of numbers - Olivia Newton-John.
So you're telling me 2 hot, sexy males are coming to perform in the USA and I can be sitting there in the front row stage with all that manliness in the room before me!!?? Oh, be still my fluttering heart!! I don't give a shit about Olivia Newton-John, but I would love to see Barry Gibb and Jon Farriss!!!!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
JD's Real Feelings About INXS
JD really looks up to INXS, according to this article. He said he never meant for this issue to turn into a "he said-she said" battle. I don't blame him. Now, Chris Murphy won't even give JD a chance to prove himself. Nothing personal against Chris Murphy, but he needs to allow INXS and JD to sit together and confront each other about this issue, ALONE and in a mature manner. As a devoted fan of INXS, I don't want to see their relationship with JD end like this. I know Terrence Trent D'Arby would be a good replacement choice again, but I would hate for everything that INXS went through with JD to just end on a sour note. It'd make the Rockstar: INXS show a bit in vain. I want to take this moment to say to INXS (if they happen to be looking in) that they have lost a lot of their fan base because of this issue. I cannot be accused of being among the fans who have lost respect for INXS, but several have that I can put my fingers on right now. I think INXS can gain back a lot of that respect by just sitting down with JD, and discuss the issues between them. I feel personally like I am in the middle of a tug-of-war. I like INXS, but I also like JD. He's great as a soloist! Not necessarily a team-player, but a great soloist. I just want to see some kind of compromise, and I don't feel like this is such a major issue that it should break up the band.
Wow, if there was ever any doubt in anyone's mind that I was crazy, this should be concrete proof that I really am! I'd have to be to cling on to INXS like I am now!
Anyway, here is the article I found:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/music/2009/03/05/8645896.html
J.D. Fortune says he never wanted to get into a “he said, she said thing” with his onetime bandmates in INXS.
In setting the record straight with Sun Media, he is clarifying — and even retracting — some statements he made two weeks ago.
The 35-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native says the veteran Australian funk-rock act will remain his favourite group “forever” — despite the awkward manner in which they’ve parted ways.
Fortune became INXS’s frontman by winning the Rockstar: INXS reality TV show in September 2005. The new incarnation of the band immediately recorded and released an album, Switch — Fortune-co-wrote the first single Pretty Vegas — and then toured the world for 23 months, through summer 2007.
“INXS has always been and will always be my favourite band — always,” Fortune told Sun Media in an exclusive newspaper interview leading up to the spring release of his new solo album, The Death Of A Motivational Speaker.
The only times Fortune teared up during our one-hour chat was when he was asked what he’d say to all five members of INXS if they suddenly joined us at the Liberty Village restaurant in Toronto.“ ‘Can I buy you a drink? How’s it going?’ Really. I mean, those guys changed my life,” he said.
What Fortune did clarify was that he was not fired by INXS via a handshake at a Hong Kong airport, as he earlier told Global’s ET Canada, which broke the story of Fortune saying he was penniless (having poured all his money into making Motivational Speaker) and homeless since leaving the band.
“To set the record straight, I was never given a handshake at an airport and said, ‘Thanks, a lot,’ ” said Fortune, who replaced original INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997.
‘Misquote’
“That was sort of a misquote (on my part). It was the proverbial handshake. Nobody really said, ‘Thanks a lot, kid.’ I thought we were going to see each other again. It was kind of like, ‘Hey, hey, I’ll catch up with you later.’ ”Fortune said he returned to Canada thinking there were still two more legs of the INXS 2007 tour to complete.
But when those tour legs were cancelled and none of the band members would return his phone calls after 10 months, he had no choice but to think he was no longer in the group.
“It was very ambiguous, very cryptic. ‘We’ll get back to you,’ ” said Fortune, who claimed his relationship with INXS had been “fantastic” up until that point.
“I thought this was a bit strange, because I had based my entire being on being with these guys for the rest of my life. But I started to feel really alone. I started to feel maybe like I was a sports car that they were going to put a tarp on and take a tarp off any time they wanted to. So as an artist, I couldn’t really do that.”
In an interview last week with The Daily Telegraph, INXS spokesman Chris Murphy said the band was shocked by Fortune’s allegations that he had been let go, and that the group had not ruled out Fortune’s return.
Murphy even told The Telegraph he was just about to phone Fortune about a future INXS project when the ET Canada story broke, and that as a result the phone call was no longer necessary.
Just this week, Fortune heard unsubstantiated rumours that INXS, who were dropped by Epic Records in September 2006 and who signed with Petrol Records in December 2008, might be looking at another Rockstar: INXS contestant — third runner-up MiG Ayesa — as their new frontman.
Regardless of his replacement, Fortune said Murphy’s statements were jarring.
“You go from being an unknown in Toronto, to being the toast of your country, to being the toast of many different countries with these gentlemen who have taken you under their wing — to just basically being, for lack of a better expression, forgotten about. I thought, ‘Really uncool.’ ”
Murphy then told Confidential magazine: “The whole thing has been bizarre — (J.D) was basically a contractor and his contract had ended.”
Fortune, however, told Sun Media he was “not on a contract. Not at all. I was an equal member of that band according to them.”
And despite telling ET Canada that his heavy cocaine use while touring with INXS may have been a contributing factor to his parting ways with the band, Fortune — who says he has been clean for two years, with the exception of pot smoking — now says that that was not the case.
“When you play six nights a week to crowds of 10,000 to 15,000, you don’t have a lot of time to be stoned,” Fortune said. “When I did find time to do drugs, I did as much as possible — to cut out the fact I went from living out of my car to fronting this freight train that we were on. I went from my life into their life, and I thought that was going to be the rest of my life.
‘Very confusing’
“I was living in my car eight months ago, now I’m flying around in a private jet.
“It was very confusing and tumultuous and I loved every aching inch of it, because it was with INXS.”
Fortune, who did help his mother in Nova Scotia pay off her house after joining INXS, claims to not actually know how much he was paid as frontman, other than “tens of thousands of dollars” being deposited into his bank account. He says he didn’t know because of the fast transition between winning the reality show, writing, recording and releasing Switch and the world tour.
But he said he wasn’t spending money on cocaine. Rather, “the availability became more and more frequent. Everybody you met wanted to party with J.D. Fortune from INXS. The drug thing was never an issue because I would always time it that I would have the next day off.”
Fortune, who had been living couch to couch and eventually out of his black Dodge Ram truck in his post-INXS phase, also now has a permanent roof over his head.
His godparents — Ron Cameron Lewis and Lloyd Cameron Lewis (who became the third gay couple married in Canada four years ago) — offered him a place at their Mississauga home.“I’ve known them for 20 years,” he said.“They saw the ET Canada piece and they said basically, ‘Darling, you have to come clean with us, and tell us that you’re having this hard time.’ Them offering me a chance to live there to get my life back on track, I’m really indebted to both Ron and Lloyd for that.”
Wow, if there was ever any doubt in anyone's mind that I was crazy, this should be concrete proof that I really am! I'd have to be to cling on to INXS like I am now!
Anyway, here is the article I found:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/music/2009/03/05/8645896.html
J.D. Fortune says he never wanted to get into a “he said, she said thing” with his onetime bandmates in INXS.
In setting the record straight with Sun Media, he is clarifying — and even retracting — some statements he made two weeks ago.
The 35-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native says the veteran Australian funk-rock act will remain his favourite group “forever” — despite the awkward manner in which they’ve parted ways.
Fortune became INXS’s frontman by winning the Rockstar: INXS reality TV show in September 2005. The new incarnation of the band immediately recorded and released an album, Switch — Fortune-co-wrote the first single Pretty Vegas — and then toured the world for 23 months, through summer 2007.
“INXS has always been and will always be my favourite band — always,” Fortune told Sun Media in an exclusive newspaper interview leading up to the spring release of his new solo album, The Death Of A Motivational Speaker.
The only times Fortune teared up during our one-hour chat was when he was asked what he’d say to all five members of INXS if they suddenly joined us at the Liberty Village restaurant in Toronto.“ ‘Can I buy you a drink? How’s it going?’ Really. I mean, those guys changed my life,” he said.
What Fortune did clarify was that he was not fired by INXS via a handshake at a Hong Kong airport, as he earlier told Global’s ET Canada, which broke the story of Fortune saying he was penniless (having poured all his money into making Motivational Speaker) and homeless since leaving the band.
“To set the record straight, I was never given a handshake at an airport and said, ‘Thanks, a lot,’ ” said Fortune, who replaced original INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997.
‘Misquote’
“That was sort of a misquote (on my part). It was the proverbial handshake. Nobody really said, ‘Thanks a lot, kid.’ I thought we were going to see each other again. It was kind of like, ‘Hey, hey, I’ll catch up with you later.’ ”Fortune said he returned to Canada thinking there were still two more legs of the INXS 2007 tour to complete.
But when those tour legs were cancelled and none of the band members would return his phone calls after 10 months, he had no choice but to think he was no longer in the group.
“It was very ambiguous, very cryptic. ‘We’ll get back to you,’ ” said Fortune, who claimed his relationship with INXS had been “fantastic” up until that point.
“I thought this was a bit strange, because I had based my entire being on being with these guys for the rest of my life. But I started to feel really alone. I started to feel maybe like I was a sports car that they were going to put a tarp on and take a tarp off any time they wanted to. So as an artist, I couldn’t really do that.”
In an interview last week with The Daily Telegraph, INXS spokesman Chris Murphy said the band was shocked by Fortune’s allegations that he had been let go, and that the group had not ruled out Fortune’s return.
Murphy even told The Telegraph he was just about to phone Fortune about a future INXS project when the ET Canada story broke, and that as a result the phone call was no longer necessary.
Just this week, Fortune heard unsubstantiated rumours that INXS, who were dropped by Epic Records in September 2006 and who signed with Petrol Records in December 2008, might be looking at another Rockstar: INXS contestant — third runner-up MiG Ayesa — as their new frontman.
Regardless of his replacement, Fortune said Murphy’s statements were jarring.
“You go from being an unknown in Toronto, to being the toast of your country, to being the toast of many different countries with these gentlemen who have taken you under their wing — to just basically being, for lack of a better expression, forgotten about. I thought, ‘Really uncool.’ ”
Murphy then told Confidential magazine: “The whole thing has been bizarre — (J.D) was basically a contractor and his contract had ended.”
Fortune, however, told Sun Media he was “not on a contract. Not at all. I was an equal member of that band according to them.”
And despite telling ET Canada that his heavy cocaine use while touring with INXS may have been a contributing factor to his parting ways with the band, Fortune — who says he has been clean for two years, with the exception of pot smoking — now says that that was not the case.
“When you play six nights a week to crowds of 10,000 to 15,000, you don’t have a lot of time to be stoned,” Fortune said. “When I did find time to do drugs, I did as much as possible — to cut out the fact I went from living out of my car to fronting this freight train that we were on. I went from my life into their life, and I thought that was going to be the rest of my life.
‘Very confusing’
“I was living in my car eight months ago, now I’m flying around in a private jet.
“It was very confusing and tumultuous and I loved every aching inch of it, because it was with INXS.”
Fortune, who did help his mother in Nova Scotia pay off her house after joining INXS, claims to not actually know how much he was paid as frontman, other than “tens of thousands of dollars” being deposited into his bank account. He says he didn’t know because of the fast transition between winning the reality show, writing, recording and releasing Switch and the world tour.
But he said he wasn’t spending money on cocaine. Rather, “the availability became more and more frequent. Everybody you met wanted to party with J.D. Fortune from INXS. The drug thing was never an issue because I would always time it that I would have the next day off.”
Fortune, who had been living couch to couch and eventually out of his black Dodge Ram truck in his post-INXS phase, also now has a permanent roof over his head.
His godparents — Ron Cameron Lewis and Lloyd Cameron Lewis (who became the third gay couple married in Canada four years ago) — offered him a place at their Mississauga home.“I’ve known them for 20 years,” he said.“They saw the ET Canada piece and they said basically, ‘Darling, you have to come clean with us, and tell us that you’re having this hard time.’ Them offering me a chance to live there to get my life back on track, I’m really indebted to both Ron and Lloyd for that.”
Friday, March 6, 2009
INXS Finally Respond
I found this tonight from one of my online buds, INXS finally speak their piece on this matter between them and JD Fortune. What do you all think? Me, I really hate using my sis Anna's computer!! The touchpad is so sensitive!!! I cannot wait to get a computer of my own now!!
March 06, 2009 01:38 PM ET
Paul Sexton, London
INXS songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player Andrew Farriss and creative director/global business strategist Chris Murphy have spoken exclusively to Billboard about the apparent departure of lead singer J.D. Fortune.
The frontman sang lead vocals with the long-running, multi-platinum Australian rock band for four years after winning the CBS reality TV series "Rock Star: INXS" in 2005. But Fortune claimed in a television interview Feb. 16 that the band had fired him on a handshake at a Hong Kong airport.
INXS has denied that such a meeting ever took place. "It's bizarre," says Farriss. "Frankly, if you can make any sense out of it, I'd love to have it explained to me."
Murphy, who was INXS' longtime manager during their rise to international acclaim and is now working with the band again, recalls of the circumstances: "Everybody's doing their own thing, I'm focusing on what I'm doing, next minute somebody calls you and gives you a link to YouTube and you go 'What's going on here?'"
Murphy observes that the rest of the band are on a creative high that he has not witnessed since the "Kick" era of 1987, and adds: "I just find it annoying that something so unfulfilling is causing the band any distractions. From my perspective, I wouldn't want to work with [a] guy that works in this manner.
"If the band said to me tomorrow, 'We'd still like you to make that call and talk to him about working on a project,' I'd have to say 'Sorry, I have to go.' I'm not being rude or arrogant, I just find that extraordinary behaviour, and this is a professional, mature outfit. I don't want to play in that playground.
"INXS' last studio album, and the only one on which Fortune sang lead vocals, was 2005's "Switch," which debuted and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 in December 2005. Murphy says that the band is currently on a recording project, on completion of which, "when the time is right, I'll get talking to the labels."
Farriss points out that after original frontman Michael Hutchence's death in 1997, INXS worked with a number of other singers including Terence Trent D'Arby and Jon Stevens, "singers we'd known for years and get on great with, and still do. The future is whatever we make it."
Concludes Murphy: "We're just concentrating on the project at hand. There are some amazing singers in this world, let's leave it at that."
March 06, 2009 01:38 PM ET
Paul Sexton, London
INXS songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player Andrew Farriss and creative director/global business strategist Chris Murphy have spoken exclusively to Billboard about the apparent departure of lead singer J.D. Fortune.
The frontman sang lead vocals with the long-running, multi-platinum Australian rock band for four years after winning the CBS reality TV series "Rock Star: INXS" in 2005. But Fortune claimed in a television interview Feb. 16 that the band had fired him on a handshake at a Hong Kong airport.
INXS has denied that such a meeting ever took place. "It's bizarre," says Farriss. "Frankly, if you can make any sense out of it, I'd love to have it explained to me."
Murphy, who was INXS' longtime manager during their rise to international acclaim and is now working with the band again, recalls of the circumstances: "Everybody's doing their own thing, I'm focusing on what I'm doing, next minute somebody calls you and gives you a link to YouTube and you go 'What's going on here?'"
Murphy observes that the rest of the band are on a creative high that he has not witnessed since the "Kick" era of 1987, and adds: "I just find it annoying that something so unfulfilling is causing the band any distractions. From my perspective, I wouldn't want to work with [a] guy that works in this manner.
"If the band said to me tomorrow, 'We'd still like you to make that call and talk to him about working on a project,' I'd have to say 'Sorry, I have to go.' I'm not being rude or arrogant, I just find that extraordinary behaviour, and this is a professional, mature outfit. I don't want to play in that playground.
"INXS' last studio album, and the only one on which Fortune sang lead vocals, was 2005's "Switch," which debuted and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 in December 2005. Murphy says that the band is currently on a recording project, on completion of which, "when the time is right, I'll get talking to the labels."
Farriss points out that after original frontman Michael Hutchence's death in 1997, INXS worked with a number of other singers including Terence Trent D'Arby and Jon Stevens, "singers we'd known for years and get on great with, and still do. The future is whatever we make it."
Concludes Murphy: "We're just concentrating on the project at hand. There are some amazing singers in this world, let's leave it at that."
Monday, March 2, 2009
In Other News
OK, one final post! I wanted to put an end to the INXS/JD Fortune drama. I still love INXS, and always will! Nothing will ever stop that! Tim is still as handsome as ever, and will always be the most handsome man in rock n roll!! I will always be grateful to him for all he's done, even though he was not aware of any of it. LOL! But still the fact remains, he did, and I was there, and it made me feel good!! Whenever the problems of the World today lay down on me too hard, I always think about my last meetings with Timmy and it makes me happy all over again. That coupled with listening to INXS's music and videos. I know Andrew said that if his music helps others feel happy then he was grateful for that. I don't know what Tim thinks of that though. He was a sweet man when I met him, just maybe he feels the same way. I love Andrew too, he was also one of the sweetest men I've ever met. He was actually one that I really hunkered to instantly. When I shook his hand for the first time, his coolness level shot right up with me! Before then, he was my 6th favorite band member. After then, he shot up 3 times over!
Well, INXS will be recording again this month according to The Daily Telegraph. But they will be doing so without a lead singer. I thought "Are they going instrumental?" but then I read the article more and it implies that maybe they will have guest singers. Maybe. But Chris Murphy won't say. Perhaps it's a surprise, like the biggest present on Christmas morning. I sure am sorry to see JD Fortune not working with INXS anymore. But as cold as this may sound, life does go on, and I will continue to support my favorite men of INXS. I always said I would, no matter how many singers they go through. As long as Tim is there, INXS will always be INXS to me. But now I wonder who will be doing the singing should INXS decide to tour? Will they bring all their guest singers, bring back JD, or have one of the band members do the singing on the tour? I guess we'll just have to wait to find out. They had a great thing going with JD, they were a complete band once again. I will always love them, but I just wonder what is going to be next.
Anyway, here is the article:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25123194-5001026,00.html
INXS didn't dump singer JD Fortune, on contract for one album
March 02, 2009 12:00am
INXS are putting the JD Fortune affair behind them and will not break up - and instead head into the studio this month to record a new project without a singer.
It also emerged yesterday that singer Fortune - who won a reality TV quest to join - was only ever on a one-album-one-tour contract which ended in December 2007.
Fortune generated global headlines 10 days ago when he claimed the band sacked and dumped him at Hong Kong airport when their two-year tour ended.
But the band's creative director and business manager Chris Murphy exclusively told Confidential yesterday it seemed he did so to attract attention for his unreleased solo album.
"The whole thing has been bizarre - he was basically a contractor and his contract had ended," Murphy said from Los Angeles. "Why is he suddenly complaining 14 months later?"
The band will now record what Murphy said would be "the most creatively energetic and exciting project since (1987's) Kick". "It will blow people's minds," he added.
Murphy would not elaborate on who would sing or whether guest vocalists would be used.
Principal songwriters Andrew Farris and Garry Beers are currently in LA working on pre-production for the album, as are other members in Europe and Sydney.
Murphy was INXS's original manager but they parted in the early 1990s before Michael Hutchence died in 1997.
Murphy, who re-entered the fold a year ago, believed they lost focus in the ensuing years.
"I always said 'passion first, money second,' and my job was to free them of all that business side of things," he said.
"In the past decade advice to them has been business, business, business - and one of the pleasures of my job is to keep that out of the way of their creativity."
Well, INXS will be recording again this month according to The Daily Telegraph. But they will be doing so without a lead singer. I thought "Are they going instrumental?" but then I read the article more and it implies that maybe they will have guest singers. Maybe. But Chris Murphy won't say. Perhaps it's a surprise, like the biggest present on Christmas morning. I sure am sorry to see JD Fortune not working with INXS anymore. But as cold as this may sound, life does go on, and I will continue to support my favorite men of INXS. I always said I would, no matter how many singers they go through. As long as Tim is there, INXS will always be INXS to me. But now I wonder who will be doing the singing should INXS decide to tour? Will they bring all their guest singers, bring back JD, or have one of the band members do the singing on the tour? I guess we'll just have to wait to find out. They had a great thing going with JD, they were a complete band once again. I will always love them, but I just wonder what is going to be next.
Anyway, here is the article:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25123194-5001026,00.html
INXS didn't dump singer JD Fortune, on contract for one album
March 02, 2009 12:00am
INXS are putting the JD Fortune affair behind them and will not break up - and instead head into the studio this month to record a new project without a singer.
It also emerged yesterday that singer Fortune - who won a reality TV quest to join - was only ever on a one-album-one-tour contract which ended in December 2007.
Fortune generated global headlines 10 days ago when he claimed the band sacked and dumped him at Hong Kong airport when their two-year tour ended.
But the band's creative director and business manager Chris Murphy exclusively told Confidential yesterday it seemed he did so to attract attention for his unreleased solo album.
"The whole thing has been bizarre - he was basically a contractor and his contract had ended," Murphy said from Los Angeles. "Why is he suddenly complaining 14 months later?"
The band will now record what Murphy said would be "the most creatively energetic and exciting project since (1987's) Kick". "It will blow people's minds," he added.
Murphy would not elaborate on who would sing or whether guest vocalists would be used.
Principal songwriters Andrew Farris and Garry Beers are currently in LA working on pre-production for the album, as are other members in Europe and Sydney.
Murphy was INXS's original manager but they parted in the early 1990s before Michael Hutchence died in 1997.
Murphy, who re-entered the fold a year ago, believed they lost focus in the ensuing years.
"I always said 'passion first, money second,' and my job was to free them of all that business side of things," he said.
"In the past decade advice to them has been business, business, business - and one of the pleasures of my job is to keep that out of the way of their creativity."
Should I, Or Not?
I have a wee bit of a problem. Someone I know is now in the hospital with heart problems. She is a sweet person for sure and I hate it that she is having to deal with this. But we were never really friends. I hardly know her! And she is a show breeder. But she is one of the nicer show breeders I've ever met. I was told about this tonight, and my main question to myself is, should I call her and send my well-wishes, or should I not? Part of me says do it. Part of me says forget it. The part of me that says to do it, remembers this person as one of the nicest people I've ever met in the dog show world. She was going to help me with Vegas. The part of me that says don't do it remembers how show breeders love to talk and tell all. I'm scared to death she will somehow, some way give my phone # to "Rita", and I don't want "Rita" to have it! I don't trust "Rita". I know I have forgiven her, but at the same time, I don't know what "Rita" is going to do from one minute to the next, she's so damn loony. Besides, this woman and I have not spoken since I left Olympia. I remember she used to live a short way away from me. I don't know if she is still there or not, I don't even know if she knows we moved away from there.
I'd hate to just not say anything to her, I want her to know that yes I do care. I've been thinking for the last hour of just calling and remaining anonymous. Or maybe giving a fictitious name. I mean, heart problems are no fun, my grandma had some heart problems as well. And since I do know this person, and have met her face to face, and actually did like her, I'd hate to just not say anything. I'm not even sure she'd remember me. Maybe I could give my married name. LOL! But I'm not even a member of the Chihuahua club anymore. And have no desire to join again either. Funny thing, when I first became a member I was so excited. But that was mostly to show Rita up and put it in her face. A personal triumph. She said I'd never do it, so I did.
I'll probably be shaking this around all night. It's hard when you know someone is the nicest person, but I didn't really know her that well. Well, heck. Maybe I'll just do it!! If she doesn't want to hear from me, she can just hang up. Most likely though, she won't even remember me.
This is going to be my last post for a while. Tomorrow, I have to give this computer back to the store. Just wanted to let everyone know.
I'd hate to just not say anything to her, I want her to know that yes I do care. I've been thinking for the last hour of just calling and remaining anonymous. Or maybe giving a fictitious name. I mean, heart problems are no fun, my grandma had some heart problems as well. And since I do know this person, and have met her face to face, and actually did like her, I'd hate to just not say anything. I'm not even sure she'd remember me. Maybe I could give my married name. LOL! But I'm not even a member of the Chihuahua club anymore. And have no desire to join again either. Funny thing, when I first became a member I was so excited. But that was mostly to show Rita up and put it in her face. A personal triumph. She said I'd never do it, so I did.
I'll probably be shaking this around all night. It's hard when you know someone is the nicest person, but I didn't really know her that well. Well, heck. Maybe I'll just do it!! If she doesn't want to hear from me, she can just hang up. Most likely though, she won't even remember me.
This is going to be my last post for a while. Tomorrow, I have to give this computer back to the store. Just wanted to let everyone know.
Friday, February 27, 2009
So, What's The Point?
Well, everyone here knows I love INXS and will always be loyal to them, but I saw this from one of my online friends this morning and it implies that JD was a contracted member only there to do one album and one tour. So I wonder, what is the point? What was the whole point of going through the Rockstar series only to do one album with JD, and what is Chris Murphy talking about in this article? And who's going to do the singing?
In retrospect, I notice JD never said INXS said they were letting him go and that is the most puzzling thing. JD just said he got a handshake in Hong Kong, but never said or even implied by whom or why. So I kinda wonder why this is all being blown out of proportion the way it has been for the past 2 weeks?! That's why I haven't given much of my own opinion on this matter. I just don't know what to think. Anyway, here is the article I found.
http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=7719
JD Fortune Was Out Of INXS Long Ago
by Paul Cashmere - February 27 2009
The news of the sacking of the JD Fortune by INXS may not be simple as it seems. According to what Undercover is hearing, JD was only on a contract with the band for one album and one tour.
Fortune joined INXS after winning the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS.
Undercover has learned according to the terms of the contract, the prize entailed recording one album and then touring the album with the band.
Fortune’s fortune changed at the end of the tour. He claims the band sacked him at Hong Kong airport.
But according to our information, under the terms of the prize, his contract had expired when the tour ended meaning JD was out of INXS at the end of the tour anyway unless a new contract was renegotiated.
Technically, JD Fortune could not have been sacked by INXS as both sides fulfilled the terms of the agreement.
That is not to say that Fortune’s expectations wasn’t for a future with the band.
After the last tour, the singer started work on a solo album. The result is ‘The Death of a Motivation Speaker’ which Fortune is shopping for distribution right now.
In a statement this week, former manager Chris Murphy resurfaced as “INXS Creative Director and Global Business Strategist”.
The statement read, “Ever since Petrol Records signed INXS last December, the band has always stated to me that Fortune’s services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour. In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present. I guess I have no reason to call him now!”
Reading between the lines, the statement was actually an announcement that Murphy, who himself was removed from the management of the band in the mid-90s and replaced by Martha Troop, was back working with INXS.
The press release made the bold statement that, “Andrew Farriss, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers are all in lock down preparing for what is rumoured to be the most exciting recording project since KICK”.
‘Kick’ was INXS’ biggest album worldwide. It sold more than 10 million units in the USA alone and spawned the hits ‘Need You Tonight’, ‘Devil Inside’, ‘New Sensation’ and ‘Never Tear Us Apart’.
An announcement that the band is going to kick ‘Kick’ is indeed a bold statement.
Undercover did request additional information about the wording on the Chris Murphy press release this week but it was not forthcoming.
And here is another article I found:
http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=7683
INXS Did Not Dump JD Fortune
by Paul Cashmere - February 23 2009
JD Fortune may not really have been sacked by INXS but he will never get back in the band after last weeks outburst on Canadian television.
The INXS / JD Fortune saga will continue this week following an announcement from former manager and new record company boss Chris Murphy that the band did not sack JD Fortune.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Murphy says, "Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band."
He goes on to say that the band has a new recording deal coming up with his own label Petrol Records and that Fortune was about to be called.
"I guess I have no reason to call him now," he said.
JD Fortune announced on Canadian television last week that he was fired by the band at Hong Kong airport, that he was homeless and living in his car and had a problem with cocaine.
Fortune became lead singer of INXS after winning the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS.
His Canadian TV appearance was in support of his forthcoming solo album.
Fortune’s behavior has been somewhat erratic of late.
In retrospect, I notice JD never said INXS said they were letting him go and that is the most puzzling thing. JD just said he got a handshake in Hong Kong, but never said or even implied by whom or why. So I kinda wonder why this is all being blown out of proportion the way it has been for the past 2 weeks?! That's why I haven't given much of my own opinion on this matter. I just don't know what to think. Anyway, here is the article I found.
http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=7719
JD Fortune Was Out Of INXS Long Ago
by Paul Cashmere - February 27 2009
The news of the sacking of the JD Fortune by INXS may not be simple as it seems. According to what Undercover is hearing, JD was only on a contract with the band for one album and one tour.
Fortune joined INXS after winning the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS.
Undercover has learned according to the terms of the contract, the prize entailed recording one album and then touring the album with the band.
Fortune’s fortune changed at the end of the tour. He claims the band sacked him at Hong Kong airport.
But according to our information, under the terms of the prize, his contract had expired when the tour ended meaning JD was out of INXS at the end of the tour anyway unless a new contract was renegotiated.
Technically, JD Fortune could not have been sacked by INXS as both sides fulfilled the terms of the agreement.
That is not to say that Fortune’s expectations wasn’t for a future with the band.
After the last tour, the singer started work on a solo album. The result is ‘The Death of a Motivation Speaker’ which Fortune is shopping for distribution right now.
In a statement this week, former manager Chris Murphy resurfaced as “INXS Creative Director and Global Business Strategist”.
The statement read, “Ever since Petrol Records signed INXS last December, the band has always stated to me that Fortune’s services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour. In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present. I guess I have no reason to call him now!”
Reading between the lines, the statement was actually an announcement that Murphy, who himself was removed from the management of the band in the mid-90s and replaced by Martha Troop, was back working with INXS.
The press release made the bold statement that, “Andrew Farriss, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers are all in lock down preparing for what is rumoured to be the most exciting recording project since KICK”.
‘Kick’ was INXS’ biggest album worldwide. It sold more than 10 million units in the USA alone and spawned the hits ‘Need You Tonight’, ‘Devil Inside’, ‘New Sensation’ and ‘Never Tear Us Apart’.
An announcement that the band is going to kick ‘Kick’ is indeed a bold statement.
Undercover did request additional information about the wording on the Chris Murphy press release this week but it was not forthcoming.
And here is another article I found:
http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=7683
INXS Did Not Dump JD Fortune
by Paul Cashmere - February 23 2009
JD Fortune may not really have been sacked by INXS but he will never get back in the band after last weeks outburst on Canadian television.
The INXS / JD Fortune saga will continue this week following an announcement from former manager and new record company boss Chris Murphy that the band did not sack JD Fortune.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Murphy says, "Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band."
He goes on to say that the band has a new recording deal coming up with his own label Petrol Records and that Fortune was about to be called.
"I guess I have no reason to call him now," he said.
JD Fortune announced on Canadian television last week that he was fired by the band at Hong Kong airport, that he was homeless and living in his car and had a problem with cocaine.
Fortune became lead singer of INXS after winning the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS.
His Canadian TV appearance was in support of his forthcoming solo album.
Fortune’s behavior has been somewhat erratic of late.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Viva La Portuguese Water Dog!!
Obama made up his mind about what kind of dog he will be getting for his children. I'm happy to announce it is a Portuguese water dog! I'm glad! I'm glad he chose a water dog over the other choice, a labradoo, which is nothing but a glorified mongrel thought by some to be a true "breed", when it's not. I think Obama made a wise choice to take the Portuguese water dog. The last thing that labradors and poodles need is the publicity of a mongrelized version of themselves by a popular politician like Obama. Now, all Obama fans will be seeking themselves a Portuguese water dog! That's how people are! But for a long time, I knew it came down to a choice between the mongrel and the Portuguese water dog and I was worried nearly sick that they would choose the mongrel! But I am so glad to see they didn't. Then everyone would have been looking for mongrels like labradoos! Eventually that would cause the extinction of labradors and standard poodles, and that is not good!
Face it, where dogs are concerned, we live in an uneducated World!! People go for what is popular on television, not what they should be getting! People now are even preferring the deer-head chihuahuas, or so-called "teacup" chihuahuas. But what is popular is not what counts. What counts is the kind of people breeding these dogs. No reputable breeder would breed deerheads or call smaller chihuahuas "teacup". It's a sad fact, but it's true. I'm not saying that people who buy these varieties are stupid people, I'm just saying that they have not really been educated in what to look for in a breeder. I have a friend who bought what they called a "teacup" chihuahua. When asked if my dog is a "teacup", I replied that there is no such thing as a "teacup" chihuahua. I thought this friend might as well know the truth. But their dog was adorable! I just didn't want this person to think "teacup" is a special or different thing, as I am sure that is what the dogs' breeder told them. I told this friend that my chihuahuas are on the smaller side, but I don't call them "teacups". I was nice about it, but I'm afraid I made this friend angry anyway. But I had to tell this friend the truth! I just haven't heard from them in a while, and that conversation has pissed people off before who wanted to believe "teacups" are special breeds, separate from other chihuahuas. The only separation in chihuahuas is the coat type. Not size or even head type. Though I must say the deerheads appear too mongrelized to me. If chihuahuas really looked like that, I wouldn't have any interest at all in the breed. And all deerhead-type chihuahuas I've seen were bred by breeders I wouldn't give the time of day to! They all either register with ACA, Continental KC or APRI. It is good that AKC is cracking down hard on breeders, and DNA testing! That way you know who the conscientious breeders are.
I do hope that Obama also makes the right choice when picking out a PWD puppy for his children. Or maybe he will go for an older dog. But according to the AKC, Portuguese water dogs are very active and need to receive lots of attention. But that's typical of all gun dogs. I know how some kids are, they love something when they first get it, they promise to take care of it and love it, then when the "new" wears off, they forget all about them. I hope that doesn't happen! If it does, Obama may think again about next time getting a smaller breed because the Portuguese water dog is going to entertain it's self and the present owners of the White House are not going to like the way it does!! I used to raise Australian shepherds, an equally as active breed, I know what I am saying! I cannot tell you how many sofas I've had to replace, how many coushins, how many holes were dug in the yard, how many walls have had to be rapaired because I was working and raising these dogs, and any pups left alone found ways to entertain themselves. Sure I took my dogs hiking on the weekends, but that was on the weekend! I had work during the week!
I can see a lot of people are enjoying Obama's run so far. But I've seen enough presidents to know that this is how it always starts out! Sure, Obama has been fast to react to everything. He seems to be genuinely interested in fixing the problems of the country. This is how it always begins. Clinton began this way, and so did Bush. Then later in their terms, people were getting sick of them, because they made promises and didn't keep them. We will still see.
Monday, February 23, 2009
What You Need
Some people prefer to ignore the drama that is surrounding JD and INXS. I heard about the out and out war going on at inxs.com. So I kinda wonder why the mods there are not as sensitive to these rants and attacks at each other on the forum. Now I am not on inxs.com anymore and I'm thinking maybe that is a good thing. Even if I was, I'd probably go in only as a silent member. I don't care for the forums anymore, and I'd prefer to blog here. If I do blog there, it would only be to send INXS a message saying that I will continue to support them.
A lot of JD fans are saying they would not support INXS or go to anymore of their concerts if JD is let go. One person in a private thread I've been following said that INXS needs to forget about all the media hype and sit down with JD 5 to 1 and discuss this like mature gentlemen. I know INXS has it in them to do that. I cannot imagine Timmy at least giving in to what is said in a tabloid program like Entertainment Tonight. It's like reading the Enquirer and taking what they say as the gospel! If INXS do fire JD over that interview, then that is the dumbest thing they can do. They were doing fine. I love INXS, I will be at as many concerts as I can, JD or no JD. But I don't want to see it end like this. They really do need to sit and talk this over with JD. I just hate seeing INXS throw JD away like that, and a lot of other fans on this thread have said that they would not go to anymore INXS concerts without JD because INXS keeps rotating singers. No, this cannot be happening. I love INXS, and like I said all along, I will always support them. I cannot tell this band what to do though, and I cannot expect them to comply, I am only a mere fan. But I don't want to see this turn into a war between INXS and JD to a point where it's like "he said this, he said that, and I don't care about him anymore!" That cannot be true! And I would prefer to see these 5 wonderful, beautiful guys sit and talk with JD than to see them just throw him away only to go with another singer, and another and another and so on. I think those were very wise words, even though I don't know the person who said them. They are the wisest words I've heard spoken since this incident got started.
So to INXS, please if you're reading this in any way, shape or form, PLEASE talk to JD!! Don't give into sensationalism. I know they may not be looking in on this blog, but just in case they are. I've gotta say something. I cannot let them make a final decision to just let JD go without saying something! But I will always love these guys. Tim is really the main object of my affection and devotion. He is what will always keep me going back to INXS no matter what. He was always sweet to me when we've met. So, I won't abandon this band. Just in case he is reading. LOL! And to those who are reading and cannot differentiate the distinctness between "devotion" and "delusion", buy a dictionary and learn! LOL! No, I am not delusional, the many people who know me can vouch for that. I'm just very highly devoted to INXS, and no matter what happens between them and any other group or singers, I always will be there to cheer them on.
A lot of JD fans are saying they would not support INXS or go to anymore of their concerts if JD is let go. One person in a private thread I've been following said that INXS needs to forget about all the media hype and sit down with JD 5 to 1 and discuss this like mature gentlemen. I know INXS has it in them to do that. I cannot imagine Timmy at least giving in to what is said in a tabloid program like Entertainment Tonight. It's like reading the Enquirer and taking what they say as the gospel! If INXS do fire JD over that interview, then that is the dumbest thing they can do. They were doing fine. I love INXS, I will be at as many concerts as I can, JD or no JD. But I don't want to see it end like this. They really do need to sit and talk this over with JD. I just hate seeing INXS throw JD away like that, and a lot of other fans on this thread have said that they would not go to anymore INXS concerts without JD because INXS keeps rotating singers. No, this cannot be happening. I love INXS, and like I said all along, I will always support them. I cannot tell this band what to do though, and I cannot expect them to comply, I am only a mere fan. But I don't want to see this turn into a war between INXS and JD to a point where it's like "he said this, he said that, and I don't care about him anymore!" That cannot be true! And I would prefer to see these 5 wonderful, beautiful guys sit and talk with JD than to see them just throw him away only to go with another singer, and another and another and so on. I think those were very wise words, even though I don't know the person who said them. They are the wisest words I've heard spoken since this incident got started.
So to INXS, please if you're reading this in any way, shape or form, PLEASE talk to JD!! Don't give into sensationalism. I know they may not be looking in on this blog, but just in case they are. I've gotta say something. I cannot let them make a final decision to just let JD go without saying something! But I will always love these guys. Tim is really the main object of my affection and devotion. He is what will always keep me going back to INXS no matter what. He was always sweet to me when we've met. So, I won't abandon this band. Just in case he is reading. LOL! And to those who are reading and cannot differentiate the distinctness between "devotion" and "delusion", buy a dictionary and learn! LOL! No, I am not delusional, the many people who know me can vouch for that. I'm just very highly devoted to INXS, and no matter what happens between them and any other group or singers, I always will be there to cheer them on.
Saying Goodbye For Now
Well, I found another article. A lot of people are angry at INXS and calling them assholes. It's a shame. I will always stand by my favorite men of INXS, nothing is going to change that! I still love Tim the way I always have. And I always will. I just want to make that known to the World. I have friends who have let me know I will never be the last INXS fan standing. I was perfectly willing to be, but it is good to know I will always have other fans surrounding me as well, cheering on our favorite guys. I also respect these guys' decision. I hope that they don't dump JD, but no matter who they go with for this new album Chris Murphy speaks of, I will always love my favorite men of INXS. It's Tim I still only care about anyway. As long as he is still in the band, I will always be happy with INXS, and I will attend as many concerts as I can.
I also wanted to say goodbye to my readers on here. I will be "off the air" for a while. Hopefully not too long! The computer I am typing on now is a rented computer. And because of this recession, I have decided I cannot make the payments anymore. So I have to send it back to the store. I will be saving a little bit here and there to get myself a new computer. The very earliest I can predict actually getting a new computer will be about May. But most likely it won't be until June. I will *try* to get on and maybe write something here once a week at the library computer, but no promises made there. Metalraptor has agreed to keep my Metazoic blog active, I will be turning that blog over to him on the 1st of March. But this blog may have to be left standing on it's own. Though sometimes I do discuss evolution topics here, this blog is mostly reserved for my own rants. Though I am trying hard to stop ranting so much (except when it comes to PETA) and take on a more friendly attitude. That hasn't been easy I must tell you!! Especially with internet dumbasses at every turn!! Speaking mainly of JohnFaa and Viergacht. But it is still the early morning hours of the year, so to speak. And maybe getting away from the internet for a while will help. It did last time. That is until---well, nevermind. It's all been forgiven. But I do want to keep checking up on Metalraptor's posts on my Metazoic blog. He seems to have some pretty cool ideas lined up! Should keep that blog hopping good!
Anyway, this is an article someone on Facebook noticed and spread around. It's about INXS dumping on JD. It doesn't really say much more than the article I posted yesterday. I keep wondering if it's true that Chris Murphy was going to call JD back in for another big recording session with INXS. One of my online buds doesn't buy it. I'd prefer to give INXS the benefit of the doubt. I cannot imagine 5 guys who claim to love their fans so much would do something like this to trick them! It's true they are nice guys. Well, except for Kirk. Gotta be honest there. But Tim was always nice when I've met him.
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/inxs%20blast%20former%20singer_1095866
02/23/2009 12:07:31 PM
INXS - INXS BLAST FORMER SINGER
Rockers INXS have hit back at reports they ruthlessly dumped their lead singer J.D. FORTUNE at an airport - insisting his outburst has ruled out any chance of a return.
Fortune alleged last week (begs16Feb09) he was unceremoniously sacked from the band with a simple handshake as he waited for a flight at Hong Kong airport.
But a spokesman for the Australian rockers claims they are baffled by his statement, because they were about to involve him in their next recording venture and tour.
INXS creative director and global business strategist Chris Murphy says, "Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band. "What annoys me the most after viewing Fortune's interview is the bloody slant he makes toward the founding band members. These guys are the nicest people on this planet, they are not the people he portrays.
"The band have always stated to me that Fortune's services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour. In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present. I guess I have no reason to call him now."
I also wanted to say goodbye to my readers on here. I will be "off the air" for a while. Hopefully not too long! The computer I am typing on now is a rented computer. And because of this recession, I have decided I cannot make the payments anymore. So I have to send it back to the store. I will be saving a little bit here and there to get myself a new computer. The very earliest I can predict actually getting a new computer will be about May. But most likely it won't be until June. I will *try* to get on and maybe write something here once a week at the library computer, but no promises made there. Metalraptor has agreed to keep my Metazoic blog active, I will be turning that blog over to him on the 1st of March. But this blog may have to be left standing on it's own. Though sometimes I do discuss evolution topics here, this blog is mostly reserved for my own rants. Though I am trying hard to stop ranting so much (except when it comes to PETA) and take on a more friendly attitude. That hasn't been easy I must tell you!! Especially with internet dumbasses at every turn!! Speaking mainly of JohnFaa and Viergacht. But it is still the early morning hours of the year, so to speak. And maybe getting away from the internet for a while will help. It did last time. That is until---well, nevermind. It's all been forgiven. But I do want to keep checking up on Metalraptor's posts on my Metazoic blog. He seems to have some pretty cool ideas lined up! Should keep that blog hopping good!
Anyway, this is an article someone on Facebook noticed and spread around. It's about INXS dumping on JD. It doesn't really say much more than the article I posted yesterday. I keep wondering if it's true that Chris Murphy was going to call JD back in for another big recording session with INXS. One of my online buds doesn't buy it. I'd prefer to give INXS the benefit of the doubt. I cannot imagine 5 guys who claim to love their fans so much would do something like this to trick them! It's true they are nice guys. Well, except for Kirk. Gotta be honest there. But Tim was always nice when I've met him.
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/inxs%20blast%20former%20singer_1095866
02/23/2009 12:07:31 PM
INXS - INXS BLAST FORMER SINGER
Rockers INXS have hit back at reports they ruthlessly dumped their lead singer J.D. FORTUNE at an airport - insisting his outburst has ruled out any chance of a return.
Fortune alleged last week (begs16Feb09) he was unceremoniously sacked from the band with a simple handshake as he waited for a flight at Hong Kong airport.
But a spokesman for the Australian rockers claims they are baffled by his statement, because they were about to involve him in their next recording venture and tour.
INXS creative director and global business strategist Chris Murphy says, "Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band. "What annoys me the most after viewing Fortune's interview is the bloody slant he makes toward the founding band members. These guys are the nicest people on this planet, they are not the people he portrays.
"The band have always stated to me that Fortune's services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour. In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present. I guess I have no reason to call him now."
Sunday, February 22, 2009
What Chris Murphy Says
I was visiting another site and someone mentioned this article from an Aussie newspaper. I found it and read it, INXS are horrified by what JD said on ET Canada. But one should keep in mind, ET tends to exaggerate to make their stories interesting, and a lot of what JD said was probably edited. I wish INXS had kept that in mind. But they will probably not want anything to do with JD again after that. Murphy was thinking of calling JD back for the making of another album this year. Bummer!!!
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,25091739-5013560,00.html
Chris Murphy says INXS did not dump JD Fortune at airport
By Sydney Confidential
The Daily Telegraph
February 23, 2009 12:00am
INXS has hit back at claims that they unceremoniously dumped their former singer JD Fortune from the band in the middle of a busy airport.
INXS creative director and global business strategist, Chris Murphy, said yesterday that the band was horrified by comments made by Fortune that he was dropped by the band at Hong Kong airport.
Gallery - INXS, one of the greatest bands of all time
"Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band," Murphy said.
The former lead singer of the band told Canada's Entertainment Tonight last week that he was now broke and living in a car after losing his job with the band he had travelled for 23 months.
JD Fortune's side - How INXS dropped me
"What annoys me the most after viewing Fortune's interview is the bloody slant he makes toward the founding band members," Murphy added.
"These guys are the nicest people on this planet, they are not the people he portrays."
Fortune was the latest singer to join INXS, filling the enormous void left by the death of Michael Hutchence in a Sydney hotel in 1997.
Murphy said the other band members - Andrew Farris, Jon Farris, Tim Farris, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers - had made it known to him that they had not ruled out seeing a return by Fortune.
"The band have always stated to me that Fortune's services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour.
"In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present.
"I guess I have no reason to call him now."
Murphy also heads Petrol records, who signed INXS last December.
Fortune, a Canadian who joined the band in 2005 after winning the Rockstar: INXS Us reality series, also said he abused cocaine while touring with the band.
He said although he had given it up, it partly motivated the band to sack him.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,25091739-5013560,00.html
Chris Murphy says INXS did not dump JD Fortune at airport
By Sydney Confidential
The Daily Telegraph
February 23, 2009 12:00am
INXS has hit back at claims that they unceremoniously dumped their former singer JD Fortune from the band in the middle of a busy airport.
INXS creative director and global business strategist, Chris Murphy, said yesterday that the band was horrified by comments made by Fortune that he was dropped by the band at Hong Kong airport.
Gallery - INXS, one of the greatest bands of all time
"Not only are we shocked by the claims, even the place the supposed incident was to have taken place is a mystery to the band," Murphy said.
The former lead singer of the band told Canada's Entertainment Tonight last week that he was now broke and living in a car after losing his job with the band he had travelled for 23 months.
JD Fortune's side - How INXS dropped me
"What annoys me the most after viewing Fortune's interview is the bloody slant he makes toward the founding band members," Murphy added.
"These guys are the nicest people on this planet, they are not the people he portrays."
Fortune was the latest singer to join INXS, filling the enormous void left by the death of Michael Hutchence in a Sydney hotel in 1997.
Murphy said the other band members - Andrew Farris, Jon Farris, Tim Farris, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers - had made it known to him that they had not ruled out seeing a return by Fortune.
"The band have always stated to me that Fortune's services could potentially be contracted again when INXS next tour.
"In fact he was next on my list to call regarding a very big recording project I am putting together for INXS at present.
"I guess I have no reason to call him now."
Murphy also heads Petrol records, who signed INXS last December.
Fortune, a Canadian who joined the band in 2005 after winning the Rockstar: INXS Us reality series, also said he abused cocaine while touring with the band.
He said although he had given it up, it partly motivated the band to sack him.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
It's Official Now
JD has been fired from INXS. INXS got angry at JD apparently because of his outburst on ET Canada, posted a few posts down. I hope it wasn't because he was saddened by the loss of his friend!! I cannot imagine the men of INXS firing JD over him being saddened by something like that when they themselves should understand how that would feel. They lost Michael much the same way. But I cannot imagine INXS being angry at JD over that. It must have been something else he said. And a lot of people thought that it was because of JD's drug use. Apparently it wasn't.
Now, I have no idea what INXS are going to do. But whatever it is, I will stand by them. I love JD, but Tim was always my most favorite. So no matter what happens to INXS, my Timmy-fanhood stands strong. If INXS just goes out of business I don't know what to do! Just not go to concerts anymore I guess. I've been a loyal fan of INXS since 1990, I've favored them for so long, I don't even have a reserve band for a favorite. The only one that even comes remotely close is Roxette. And well, I haven't heard anything from them either for years! And frankly, I am not as attracted to Per Gessle as I am to Tim Farriss. I'm not saying Gessle is ugly, I'm just saying he is not as attractive in my eyes as Tim has always been.
I don't like any of these new bands run by a bunch of young sprigs. I HATE Brittney Spears with the biggest burning passion!!!! And it seems every other young band is following in her footsteps. Though I heard Spears actually was the one who ripped off Christina Aguilera, or however you spell her name. But anyway I don't care about those two. I just want to know what INXS will be doing next. Will they do another series of Rockstar episodes? I kinda hope so, then I can go to more tapings! I dunno though, the one I did go to, I felt like a tiny little squirrel among a redwood forest! I was the shortest damn viewer there! But at least I got to see my favorite guys. I was one of the ones that stood right by their panel. LOL! One guy standing in front of me said he was there just to see Dave Navarro. Funny, but I hardly even noticed him there! LOL! Well, maybe it's not so funny, I don't care for Dave Navarro in any way, shape or form! I only cared to see Tim. He was the best-looking guy on the panel!!!
Now, I have no idea what INXS are going to do. But whatever it is, I will stand by them. I love JD, but Tim was always my most favorite. So no matter what happens to INXS, my Timmy-fanhood stands strong. If INXS just goes out of business I don't know what to do! Just not go to concerts anymore I guess. I've been a loyal fan of INXS since 1990, I've favored them for so long, I don't even have a reserve band for a favorite. The only one that even comes remotely close is Roxette. And well, I haven't heard anything from them either for years! And frankly, I am not as attracted to Per Gessle as I am to Tim Farriss. I'm not saying Gessle is ugly, I'm just saying he is not as attractive in my eyes as Tim has always been.
I don't like any of these new bands run by a bunch of young sprigs. I HATE Brittney Spears with the biggest burning passion!!!! And it seems every other young band is following in her footsteps. Though I heard Spears actually was the one who ripped off Christina Aguilera, or however you spell her name. But anyway I don't care about those two. I just want to know what INXS will be doing next. Will they do another series of Rockstar episodes? I kinda hope so, then I can go to more tapings! I dunno though, the one I did go to, I felt like a tiny little squirrel among a redwood forest! I was the shortest damn viewer there! But at least I got to see my favorite guys. I was one of the ones that stood right by their panel. LOL! One guy standing in front of me said he was there just to see Dave Navarro. Funny, but I hardly even noticed him there! LOL! Well, maybe it's not so funny, I don't care for Dave Navarro in any way, shape or form! I only cared to see Tim. He was the best-looking guy on the panel!!!
Low-Tech Solutions In A High-Tech World
At least one or two of these things has happened to all of us, I found this article fascinating. I remember when my ma lost one of her cell phones in a toilet once, and I wish I had known about this before, I'd have told her about it! Anyway, this is an interesting article!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/technology/personaltech/19basics.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&no_interstitial
Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems
By PAUL BOUTIN
Published: February 18, 2009
BEHIND the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swipes a customer’s credit card to ring up Turkish cigarettes. The store’s card reader fails to scan the card’s magnetic strip. Azar swipes again, and again. No luck.
As customers begin to queue, he reaches beneath the counter for a black plastic bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and swipes it again. Success. The sale is rung up.
“I don’t know how it works, it just does,” says Mr. Azar, who learned the trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the store’s card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick works. But it’s one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered, often out of desperation, and shared.
Today’s shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks. “In postwar Japan, the economy wasn’t doing so great, so you couldn’t get everyday-use items like household cleaners,” says Lisa Katayama, author of “Urawaza,” a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks. “So people looked for ways to do with what they had.”
Popular urawaza include picking up broken glass from the kitchen floor with a slice of bread, or placing houseplants on a water-soaked diaper to keep them watered during a vacation trip.
Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing misbehaving gadgets with supplies as simple as paper and adhesive tape. Some, like Mr. Azar’s plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they work, or whether they really work at all. But many tech home remedies can be explained by a little science.
Cellphone Losing Charge
If your cellphone loses its battery charge too quickly while idle in your pocket, part of the problem may be that your pocket is too warm.
“Cellphone batteries do indeed last a bit longer if kept cool,” says Isidor Buchanan, editor of the Battery University Web site. The 98.6-degree body heat of a human, transmitted through a cloth pocket to a cellphone inside, is enough to speed up chemical processes inside the phone’s battery. That makes it run down faster. To keep the phone cooler, carry it in your purse or on your belt.
This same method can be used to preserve your battery should you find yourself away from home without your charger. Turn off the phone and put it in the hotel refrigerator overnight to slow the battery’s natural tendency to lose its charge.
Remote Car Key
Suppose your remote car door opener does not have the range to reach your car across the parking lot. Hold the metal key part of your key fob against your chin, then push the unlock button. The trick turns your head into an antenna, says Tim Pozar, a Silicon Valley radio engineer.
Mr. Pozar explains, “You are capacitively coupling the fob to your head. With all the fluids in your head it ends up being a nice conductor. Not a great one, but it works.” Using your head can extend the key’s wireless range by a few car lengths.
Dry Ink Cartridge
If your printer’s ink cartridge runs dry near the end of an important print job, remove the cartridge and run a hair dryer on it for two to three minutes. Then place the cartridge back into the printer and try again while it is still warm.
“The heat from the hair dryer heats the thick ink, and helps it to flow through the tiny nozzles in the cartridge,” says Alex Cox, a software engineer in Seattle. “When the cartridge is almost dead, those nozzles are often nearly clogged with dried ink, so helping the ink to flow will let more ink out of the nozzles.” The hair dryer trick can squeeze a few more pages out of a cartridge after the printer declares it is empty.
Cellphone in the Toilet
It could happen to anyone: you dropped your cellphone in the toilet. Take the battery out immediately, to prevent electrical short circuits from frying your phone’s fragile internals. Then, wipe the phone gently with a towel, and shove it into a jar full of uncooked rice.
It works for the same reason you may keep few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt dry. Rice has a high chemical affinity for water — that means the molecules in the rice have a nearly magnetic attraction for water molecules, which will be soaked up into the rice rather than beading up inside the phone.
It is a low-tech version of the “Do Not Eat” desiccant packets that may have been packed in the box the phone came in, to keep moisture away from the circuitry during shipping and storage.
Longer Wi-Fi Reach
If your home Wi-Fi router doesn’t reach the other end of the house, don’t rush out to buy more wireless gear to stretch your network. Instead, build a six-inch-high passive radio wave reflector from kitchen items, like an aluminum cookie sheet.
Follow the instructions at freeantennas.com/projects/template. Place the completed reflector — a small, curved piece of metal that reflects radio waves just like a satellite TV dish — behind your Wi-Fi router. It focuses the router’s energy in one direction — toward the other end of the house — rather than letting it dissipate its strength in a full circle. No cables, no batteries, no technical knowledge required. Yet it can easily double the range of your network.
Dirty Discs
You need to clean a skipping DVD or CD, but as a bachelor you don’t have any sissy cleaning fluids? Soak a washcloth with vodka or mouthwash.
Alcohol is a powerful solvent, perfectly capable of dissolving fingerprints and grime on the surface of a disc. A $5 bottle of Listerine in your medicine cabinet may do the job as effectively as a $75 bottle of DVD cleaning fluid. Also, swabbing your copy of “Lost Weekend” with Stoli instead of fussing with a Discwasher kit is a lot more manly.
Too Much Flash
If your cellphone’s built-in camera flash is much too bright, washing out photos, tape a small piece of paper over the flash. Experiment with different colors and thicknesses of paper to tone down the flash from superbright white to a more pleasing glow for evening photos.
Crashed Hard Drive
If — no, make that when — your PC’s hard drive crashes and can’t be read, don’t be too quick to throw it out. Stick it in the freezer overnight.
“The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery technique for some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems,” writes Fred Langa on his Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by worn parts that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data from the drive. Lowering the drive’s temperature causes its metal and plastic internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of the freezer, and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to expand again.
That may help free up binding parts, Mr. Langa explains, or at least let a failing electrical component remain within specs long enough for you to recover your essential data.
That’s the spirit of folk remedies: They may or may not work, but what have you got to lose?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/technology/personaltech/19basics.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&no_interstitial
Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems
By PAUL BOUTIN
Published: February 18, 2009
BEHIND the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swipes a customer’s credit card to ring up Turkish cigarettes. The store’s card reader fails to scan the card’s magnetic strip. Azar swipes again, and again. No luck.
As customers begin to queue, he reaches beneath the counter for a black plastic bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and swipes it again. Success. The sale is rung up.
“I don’t know how it works, it just does,” says Mr. Azar, who learned the trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the store’s card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick works. But it’s one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered, often out of desperation, and shared.
Today’s shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks. “In postwar Japan, the economy wasn’t doing so great, so you couldn’t get everyday-use items like household cleaners,” says Lisa Katayama, author of “Urawaza,” a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks. “So people looked for ways to do with what they had.”
Popular urawaza include picking up broken glass from the kitchen floor with a slice of bread, or placing houseplants on a water-soaked diaper to keep them watered during a vacation trip.
Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing misbehaving gadgets with supplies as simple as paper and adhesive tape. Some, like Mr. Azar’s plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they work, or whether they really work at all. But many tech home remedies can be explained by a little science.
Cellphone Losing Charge
If your cellphone loses its battery charge too quickly while idle in your pocket, part of the problem may be that your pocket is too warm.
“Cellphone batteries do indeed last a bit longer if kept cool,” says Isidor Buchanan, editor of the Battery University Web site. The 98.6-degree body heat of a human, transmitted through a cloth pocket to a cellphone inside, is enough to speed up chemical processes inside the phone’s battery. That makes it run down faster. To keep the phone cooler, carry it in your purse or on your belt.
This same method can be used to preserve your battery should you find yourself away from home without your charger. Turn off the phone and put it in the hotel refrigerator overnight to slow the battery’s natural tendency to lose its charge.
Remote Car Key
Suppose your remote car door opener does not have the range to reach your car across the parking lot. Hold the metal key part of your key fob against your chin, then push the unlock button. The trick turns your head into an antenna, says Tim Pozar, a Silicon Valley radio engineer.
Mr. Pozar explains, “You are capacitively coupling the fob to your head. With all the fluids in your head it ends up being a nice conductor. Not a great one, but it works.” Using your head can extend the key’s wireless range by a few car lengths.
Dry Ink Cartridge
If your printer’s ink cartridge runs dry near the end of an important print job, remove the cartridge and run a hair dryer on it for two to three minutes. Then place the cartridge back into the printer and try again while it is still warm.
“The heat from the hair dryer heats the thick ink, and helps it to flow through the tiny nozzles in the cartridge,” says Alex Cox, a software engineer in Seattle. “When the cartridge is almost dead, those nozzles are often nearly clogged with dried ink, so helping the ink to flow will let more ink out of the nozzles.” The hair dryer trick can squeeze a few more pages out of a cartridge after the printer declares it is empty.
Cellphone in the Toilet
It could happen to anyone: you dropped your cellphone in the toilet. Take the battery out immediately, to prevent electrical short circuits from frying your phone’s fragile internals. Then, wipe the phone gently with a towel, and shove it into a jar full of uncooked rice.
It works for the same reason you may keep few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt dry. Rice has a high chemical affinity for water — that means the molecules in the rice have a nearly magnetic attraction for water molecules, which will be soaked up into the rice rather than beading up inside the phone.
It is a low-tech version of the “Do Not Eat” desiccant packets that may have been packed in the box the phone came in, to keep moisture away from the circuitry during shipping and storage.
Longer Wi-Fi Reach
If your home Wi-Fi router doesn’t reach the other end of the house, don’t rush out to buy more wireless gear to stretch your network. Instead, build a six-inch-high passive radio wave reflector from kitchen items, like an aluminum cookie sheet.
Follow the instructions at freeantennas.com/projects/template. Place the completed reflector — a small, curved piece of metal that reflects radio waves just like a satellite TV dish — behind your Wi-Fi router. It focuses the router’s energy in one direction — toward the other end of the house — rather than letting it dissipate its strength in a full circle. No cables, no batteries, no technical knowledge required. Yet it can easily double the range of your network.
Dirty Discs
You need to clean a skipping DVD or CD, but as a bachelor you don’t have any sissy cleaning fluids? Soak a washcloth with vodka or mouthwash.
Alcohol is a powerful solvent, perfectly capable of dissolving fingerprints and grime on the surface of a disc. A $5 bottle of Listerine in your medicine cabinet may do the job as effectively as a $75 bottle of DVD cleaning fluid. Also, swabbing your copy of “Lost Weekend” with Stoli instead of fussing with a Discwasher kit is a lot more manly.
Too Much Flash
If your cellphone’s built-in camera flash is much too bright, washing out photos, tape a small piece of paper over the flash. Experiment with different colors and thicknesses of paper to tone down the flash from superbright white to a more pleasing glow for evening photos.
Crashed Hard Drive
If — no, make that when — your PC’s hard drive crashes and can’t be read, don’t be too quick to throw it out. Stick it in the freezer overnight.
“The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery technique for some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems,” writes Fred Langa on his Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by worn parts that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data from the drive. Lowering the drive’s temperature causes its metal and plastic internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of the freezer, and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to expand again.
That may help free up binding parts, Mr. Langa explains, or at least let a failing electrical component remain within specs long enough for you to recover your essential data.
That’s the spirit of folk remedies: They may or may not work, but what have you got to lose?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Not Sure What to Think of This
Lukas Rossi has offered JD a place to stay, and all this talk about JD being the "former lead singer of INXS" and his "former band mates", it's all implying that there is no more INXS. I don't know what to think anymore. Someone mentioned something about Andrew working with Michael Johns. I don't even think I know who that is! If INXS are really retiring, there is going to be a huge void in the music industry. It was INXS that got me interested in music in the first place! Modern music sucks though! And if INXS are going out of business, I'll just have to find another hobby. I guess the chances of listening to any new music is out. I don't like modern music and I have yet to see a modern band I like as well as I love INXS. And I'd hate to think I've lost my Groucho and my favorite band all in the same decade!! Not fair!!!
Anyway, now Lukas Rossi is getting into the act. He wants to help JD. It seems nice and innocent enough. However, I don't like Rossi. Somehow I don't trust him. But here is what he has to say:
*****************EDIT TO ADD*********************
I just woke up from a nap. I know this is totally unrelated. But I had a dream that I did an interview with Tim over the phone, and one of the questions I asked him was "What do you think about the future of INXS and what JD is saying about you?" or something to that effect. Well, in the dream, he didn't give me an answer and he muttered some cuss words and hung up the phone. Not sure what that possibly means, but it made me wake up a little bit scared.
Anyway, now Lukas Rossi is getting into the act. He wants to help JD. It seems nice and innocent enough. However, I don't like Rossi. Somehow I don't trust him. But here is what he has to say:
*****************EDIT TO ADD*********************
I just woke up from a nap. I know this is totally unrelated. But I had a dream that I did an interview with Tim over the phone, and one of the questions I asked him was "What do you think about the future of INXS and what JD is saying about you?" or something to that effect. Well, in the dream, he didn't give me an answer and he muttered some cuss words and hung up the phone. Not sure what that possibly means, but it made me wake up a little bit scared.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
And Then I Saw This
Woa! Just as I had finished typing my last article and posted it up with the link to JD's interview on Canadian radio, I came across this and now I am not even sure what to think! It had me breaking out in cold sweats! This is an article about INXS maybe about to call it quits. Oh NO!! I cannot see that!! What about the 80-something songs Andrew spent the last 10 years working on? Won't they ever be released? And here I was looking foreward to at least another 10 years with INXS.
Well, here's the article. They will be making their announcement in a couple of weeks. Notice there is mention of JD saying INXS ditched him because of his cocaine use.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25079157-5012327,00.html
INXS considering to call it quits on the bad after 22 years
February 20, 2009 12:00am
AFTER 22 years, 11 albums, numerous hits and thousands of shows, the five original members of legendary Aussie rock group INXS are considering their future and could well be poised to call it a day.
Following news the band has dumped its latest lead singer JD Fortune, The Daily Telegraph can reveal a major announcement about INXS's future will made in the next few weeks.
I was on drugs, admits FortuneINXS singer sacked, living in car
Band members Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, Andrew Farriss and Garry Beers have already extended a 12-month break by two months and seem reluctant to regroup.
"The members are scattered all around the globe at the moment,'' long-time band spokeswoman Chrissy Camp said yesterday.
"But I have tracked one of them down and he's told me they will be putting out a statement about their future in the next couple of weeks.''
Camp would not comment on whether this meant that the band would seek a new singer - the fourth frontman since the November 1997 death of Michael Hutchence - or part ways for good.
The band kept secret last year's dumping of Fortune - not even Camp knew.
The Canadian joined in 2005 after winning the Rockstar: INXS US reality series.
Fortune broke the news on Canadian television on Wednesday, saying he was left flat broke and living in a car after spending all his earnings on an unreleased solo album.
He also said he abused cocaine while on a two-year tour with INXS.
He said although he had given it up, it partly motivated the band to sack him.
Fortune is, however, still listed as the singer on the INXS website.
Well, here's the article. They will be making their announcement in a couple of weeks. Notice there is mention of JD saying INXS ditched him because of his cocaine use.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25079157-5012327,00.html
INXS considering to call it quits on the bad after 22 years
February 20, 2009 12:00am
AFTER 22 years, 11 albums, numerous hits and thousands of shows, the five original members of legendary Aussie rock group INXS are considering their future and could well be poised to call it a day.
Following news the band has dumped its latest lead singer JD Fortune, The Daily Telegraph can reveal a major announcement about INXS's future will made in the next few weeks.
I was on drugs, admits FortuneINXS singer sacked, living in car
Band members Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, Andrew Farriss and Garry Beers have already extended a 12-month break by two months and seem reluctant to regroup.
"The members are scattered all around the globe at the moment,'' long-time band spokeswoman Chrissy Camp said yesterday.
"But I have tracked one of them down and he's told me they will be putting out a statement about their future in the next couple of weeks.''
Camp would not comment on whether this meant that the band would seek a new singer - the fourth frontman since the November 1997 death of Michael Hutchence - or part ways for good.
The band kept secret last year's dumping of Fortune - not even Camp knew.
The Canadian joined in 2005 after winning the Rockstar: INXS US reality series.
Fortune broke the news on Canadian television on Wednesday, saying he was left flat broke and living in a car after spending all his earnings on an unreleased solo album.
He also said he abused cocaine while on a two-year tour with INXS.
He said although he had given it up, it partly motivated the band to sack him.
Fortune is, however, still listed as the singer on the INXS website.
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