I’ve got Apple’s new in-ear buds buried deep in my head right now, testing them out with Rush’s Snakes & Arrows album. Admittedly a poor choice of music for a headphone test, as Rush has gotten into the habit of mixing their albums very bass heavy since the early 90’s, but it does point out something very interesting about these earbuds: They’re flat! As in that’s good!

Even with Geddy Lee’s beastly bass lines and Neil Peart’s metal-inspired double-kicking, the bass on these headphones does not devastate like it usually does with other in-ear headphones. My old Sony in-ears were really big on bass, to the point where I tended to turn on the Bass-Reducer setting in the iPod’s Equalizer menu when using them. Not the case here.

If you’re the type who just wants a big, flesh-rending bass response, you’re going to be underwhelmed. These earbuds are clearly not designed for it. Even I was expecting more bass when I plugged them in and was, for the briefest moment, disappointed. But the more I use them, the more I appreciate that Apple has focused on balance here. Mids could be a little crisper (Lifeson’s getting a little lost, but only a little), but trebels are bright and basses are appropriately restrained.

But, for the people out there whose equalizers keep looking like this: (,,,,,,++++*****), you’ll finally be able to flatten that out and enjoy a clean, balanced sound without any fiddling.

One final note: I’ve found that I need to use a bit more force getting a good seal in my ear from these than I’m used to. If the bass sounds so low that you think something is wrong, push the earbuds in a little more.

Worth $79 for audio pricks like me. Not worth $79 for pimp daddies.

Entertainment, Music, Opinion Add Comment »

I think I know what the next episode of Half Life 2 will be.

First, we must bear in mind that we know that Valve is working on Portal 2 right now.

We also know that, at the end of Episode 2, Alyx and Gordon are planning to travel to the Borealis, a research vessel owned by Aperture Science that mysteriously vanished into thin air long ago, taking all hands and part of the dry dock with it. We can safely assume that this was some sort of Portal technology accident.

Said Portal technology is probably still on the Borealis. Alyx and Gordon will most definitely encounter it when they get there, quite possibly in the form of a prototype of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.

I must conclude that the next episode of Half Life 2 is Portal 2.

Half Life 2 – Episode 3: Portal 2

You heard it here first.

Miscellany, Opinion Add Comment »

Advice bloggers take note: I know you mean well.

People look to you for guidance, and you give them the tips they crave. This one wants to start running and can’t seem to get into the habit: 6 Steps to Starting a Jogging Regimen. This one wants to lost weight but keeps slipping: 10 Tips to Get You to Stick to Your Diet. This one wants to get into freelancing but doesn’t have the energy to learn how: 8 Things You Need to Do to Start Your Freelancing Career. Tips and steps. Tips and steps.

But readers, you do not need tips. You’ve read them already, on multiple blogs, and you still have problems. Clearly, the list of tips is not the right path. What you need is a healthy dose of perspective. You need to know the real hurdle between yourself and a better life.

Here is the root cause of all of your life’s problems: There is something wrong with you and you need to change.

That crunch you just heard is the sound of my feed subscribers all clicking “Mark As Read” simultaneously.

This is not what you want to hear, and it is not what the PR guy in me wants to tell you, but it is what you need to understand. Tips are a good place to start, but the time of self-help pandering has to end eventually. You have the information, you know what you have to do. If things still do not go your way, that is because you are the problem and you have not yet changed.

Given that knowledge, you now face a choice.

#1: See the problem, and know that it cannot be fixed. This is completely true. You cannot change. All hope is lost.

#2: See the problem, and recognize it for what it really is: an opportunity. This is completely true. Where there are personal flaws, there is a road by which your life can improve.

Throughout all of the problems in your life, the one thing each disaster has in common is you. Change yourself, and you can change your life.

Opinion, Self Help Add Comment »