Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2010/09/10

Yep, it's once again time for the up-beat break that will annoy the crap out of your boss, cubicle neighbour, mom, or all of the above. This week I branch off from the metal theme to the absolutely wonderful universe of maestro Frank Zappa. A little background on the Black Page: the tune was originally composed as a drum solo to challenge Zappa's then drummer, Terry Bozzio. He then came up with the melody that was played along with the drum solo. As Zappa himself said a lot of people couldn't approach the song's "statistical density in its basic form", so he gave the tune a lot more swing and turned it into the Black Page Part II, The Easy Teenage New York Version. In the 80's Zappa added some reggae elements, culminating in the 1988 version I've posted here. Another anecdote about the Black Page involves drummer Vinnie Colaiuta shortly after he joined Zappa's band. During a session, Vinnie played the solo and did something most regular drummers can't even think about: without missing a beat, Vinnie pushed his glasses on his nose, grabbed a piece of sushi, and kept playing the near-impossible tune. Terry Bozzio, who was present at the session, apparently walked out in disbelief! After this video is done I encourage you to watch the original Black Page as played by Terry.

On the EVE front: after half a week and a petition, AMC leadership has now passed from Letrange to Cathrianne, and ChaosStorm is now out of the alliance, though it is set so blue it's almost black! So what does the future hold for us? Well, if we want to stay an alliance one thing is certain: we have to recruit. AMC has a strong industrial background and can basically build anything, even capitals if push comes to shove. It should be noted that though there is a lot of emphasis on industry and mining, especially in the colonized W-space systems, carebear activities can turn into The PvP in the blink of an eye. All of our pilots have learned the hard way that crying and whining about a ship death is just not acceptable. Not only that, but most of our essentially carebear pilots can turn into bloody-thirsty hunters if the occasion presents itself. But AMC is not all carebear.

We at MAPU are PvP minded; we do have some non-PvP activities in order to stay afloat in decent ships and mods, but since most of us have access to L4 agents, or W-space sites if we ask nicely enough, ISK is not really an issue. We also do some exploration sites in dangerous space, because there's nothing like flying dangerous :) For now there are only a few of us that are active, but we hope to get some more pilots to start fielding bigger gangs. We are currently stationed in Gerbold, on the eastern side of Heimatar, with easy access to three Null-sec regions: Etherium Reach, Great Wildlands and Geminate. For solo PvP or small gang action we have clones in the Everyshore region where we have access to many Low-sec hot spots, and not too far away from Null-sec Syndicate. We are not looking for pilots with a specific amount of Skill Points, or that fly specific ship types. We are looking for pilots from pure n00bs who want to learn the ways of the PvP to veterans who are active but want to play casually. If you are looking for clockwork ops or military rule, MAPU is not the corp for you. If you are in another corp but know of people who are starting out in EVE and would be too young SP-wise for your outfit, by all means send them our way! For more information or an interview convo, contact Unzer, Havegun Willtravel or myself, Cozmik R5, in-game.

So that's pretty much it for now. The weekend is about to start, and about damn time too !!!

Fly hard

o7

Edit: as of this morning, Cozmik has achieved Heavy Assault Cruiser V. I can now field the Perfect Vaga... ok not quite perfect but all gunnery, navigation and ship related skills are now maxed :)

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour

Once again it is time to crank up the volume to 11 and annoy all forms of neighbours. I've been a Metallica fan since basically Day One, and even though the band was never the same after bassist Cliff Burton's death, the band endured through all the hardships, criticism, therapy, etc. I personally think that the addition of Robert Trujillo was exactly what the band needed as a kick in the ass.

On the EVE front: MAPU operations are starting to get under way, ships are starting to pop (both our enemies' and our own), and morale is on the rise. This being a parental weekend it might get a bit quieter for me so I'll use what playing time I have to make ISK. Tuesday night I'll be jumping back to PvP HQ and by the next MTL EVE Meet I expect to kill and lose lots of shipping tonnage >:)

Until next time, fly loud.

o7

First op in MAPU

As you may have noticed in the upper right-hand corner, it now says that Cozmik R5 is now a member of Mobile Alcohol Processing Units, a corp headed by a few Montreal region based players, and more Montreal players will be on the way soon, and a recruitment campaign will be worked on so we can form a true PvP corp. Our goal is very simple: we like to blow shit up, or get our shit blown up in at least a valiant attempt, and we don't want to bog ourselves down with Sov bullshit. For now we have a Hi-sec HQ sitting very close to three Null-sec regions as well as a lot of Low-sec areas. I'm still a bit keen on giving away the specifics because 1- our recruitment plan hasn't been formed yet, 2- there are possibilities of a move to "that crazy place called Curse", and 3- I'm not a director yet. No I'm not begging, kicking and screaming "plz plz plz make me a director NOW!!!111". If the MAPU brass wants to give me the roles, I'll do the job to the best of my habilities; after all, in LCSC I was an Alliance level director, and doing a bit of diplo work is actually kinda fun. But anyway, all in good time.

So yesterday after logging on I get together with corpmate Havegun Willtravel for a bit of Low-sec The PvP; Gun was already in the Sinq-Laison region so I joined him there. Flying relatively cheap T2-fit T1 cruisers, we have no qualms about throwing caution to the four winds and getting into David vs Goliath type fights. We start with the Mya-Gerper constellation in Everyshore, which is an old hunting ground for AMC. We didn't stay long because the dinky dead-end constellation is completely empty. So we start moving towards the Sinq-Laison Low-sec areas, and don't have to travel too far to see some action. And who better to give some The PvP than our very well known CSM chairlady, Mynxee! Of course, fighting 2 Hurricanes with a Vexor and a Stabber is kind of suicidal, but that stops us about as much as ambient air stops a speeding bullet. So as we land we primary Mynxee's buddy, Dame Death, who is already a -10 outlaw (Mynxee isn't, yet). This probably didn't help us because the 2 'Canes were differently fit; Mynxee's was AC fit, Dame's was arty fit. When I landed on the grid I had no problems sticking close to Dame and started doing a good number on the 'Canes huge shield buffer, but she was slowly pulling away from Gun who noticed this too late. So his weapons were starting to have less and less effect; he had been doing a good job tanking Mynxee but when Dame's 720s got into optimal it was all over. Knowing I was on my way down I overloaded the top rack in a vain attempt to break thru Dame's shields, which I barely managed to do but too little too late. If Gun had noticed the Cane trying to get some distance and stuck to it, things might have gone differently. But still, as 2v2 fights go this was a fun one, even if we bit off more than we could chew.

We then reshipped to what Havegun had available in stations nearby, which was a Myrmidon and a Rifter, but the only ships we saw worth fighting was another Myrm (who had just made mince-meat of a noobish Hurricane), and semi-large gate camps. Gun not wanting to lose this particular Myrm, we got back to Hi-sec and I had to call it a night. Gun was lucky enough to find a good 1v1 frig fight that he won just before I logged off.

So now the ice is broken. Too bad I started my MAPU stint with a loss, but as Havegun told me, with all the success we've had before - say like when I rejoined AMC and we killed a Phobos and a Dominix, with my Claw doing top damage on the Domi - this didn't really count. Next time out we should have a couple more pilots with us, and if all goes well we will soon be having what I love the most about EVE: a good skirmish fleet. Damn I have missed this!

Fly with the dagger in your teeth

o7

Mythical 27

This being the second big racing weekend in Montreal, I feel like doing another race related post. No worries, there will be a bit of EVE news at the end :)

In Quebec culture, two elements of sports are venerated almost to the point of religious fanaticism. The first is obvious, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. 100 years of history, 24 Stanley cups, and names like Richard, Lafleur and Roy make sure of that. The second element is Gilles Villeneuve, who is celebrated as one of the greatest of the greats even by his own peers. On that dark saturday morning, the 8th of May 1982, Gilles' 126 C2 was wearing the number that have since become a token of success in racing, at least for us Quebecers: Number 27. I know it sounds stupid, but this number is seen almost as a good luck charm, even after it had been worn in one of the nastiest car crashes ever to occur in Formula One. Here is my little pictorial of the number 27 in Quebec racing history.

The car that started it

In 1982, Gilles Villeneuve was at the top of his game when in Belgium he got a bit too aggressive in qualifying, trying to beat his teammate Didier Pironi, and he hit Jochen Mass's slow-running March on the rear right wheel. The Ferrari's ground effects got unglued from the track and the car litterally took off, tumbled, and ejected Gilles. To this day I still think how awesome it would've been if Gilles had had better luck and survived to do battle with then up-coming Alain Prost, and a couple years later Ayrton Senna. There's your Holy F1 Trinity right there!

Like father, like son

This past May, just before the Indianapolis 500 race, I wrote a post about Jacques Villeneuve winning the race in 1995. Here's another picture of JV's Reynard-Ford, the car that could do 505 miles faster than the others could do 500.

Ferrari 412 T and No. 27... winning combo!

Limousine service provided by Michael Schumacher, no less

Only 2 short weeks after JV had entered racing history, the Canadian Grand Prix was taking place on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. And it is here that Jean Alesi got his only win in his lenghty career. The fact that Alesi was a Ferrari driver, and that Montreal is very well-known for its Tifosi population ensured that the post race celebrations were nothing short of chaotic, with people storming the track as the cars were still on the finishing lap trying to get to the pits. Alesi's car didn't make it to the pits though, running out of gas a few turns after the finish line. Seeing Alesi stranded on the side of the track, a certain Schumi stopped by to offer limousine service for the victory lap, one of the greatest show of sportsmanship I've ever seen from him.

And the future? JV in a Sprint car sporting the Right Number

Why not! Andrew Ranger winning the NASCAR Canandian Tire 100 in Montreal

Although he's never run a full season in NASCAR, Jacques Villeneuve did manage to get in a few races, and not without a certain amount of success. In 2008, in a rain-soaked Montreal NASCAR 200, JV was litterally showing the NASCAR pilots why the track is named after his dad. The extreme weather caused his windshield to fog up during a caution lap and he unfortunately rear-ended another car. The weather was so bad the race had to be cancelled, and victory was given to Canuck racer Ron Fellows. At one point in the race 4 canadians were in the top 5: JV, Fellows, Patrick Carpentier and Andrew Ranger, all 4 making mince-meat of drivers who have never set 4 wheels on a wet track. It should also be known that JV has won in Montreal in 1993 Toyota Atlantic, and though he's hit the Quebec Wall twice he has had some good runs in F1. To come back to NASCAR, last year JV came in 4th at the Montreal race, and other Quebecers have also done good: Patrick Carpentier finished 2nd in 2007's inaugural race, and Andrew Ranger won the 2008 Canadian Tire 100, in none other than a car sporting the mythical Number 27. To get even crazier with this, in 2008 Jacques Villeneuve entered the 24 Hours of LeMans with the Peugeot Team and got 2nd place, beaten only by Audi. Audi's car was sporting the number 2. The Peugeot car, number 7. I tell you, mythical !!!

To tie in with EVE Online, I will admit that as a great fan of Gilles Villeneuve, all my Claw interceptors are called GV27. And I have had some luck with 'em! Speaking of EVE, yesterday was my big night of hauling in preparation for the corp switch, which should be done this coming Sunday. So this is officially my last post as a member of Letrange's ChaosStorm Coporation. It's not like I'm leaving the alliance though so I'll be seeing him around (plus he lives like 15 minutes from my place!). The new corp (which will be announced after all is said and done of course) is starting to concentrate its assets in one place, and soon we should start doing roams and hopefully racking up kills. It's been a long time since I rockn'rolled :))

Remember, speed is everything.

Fly fast.

o7

Post race edit: No. 27 prevailed again as Ranger won the CT 100 once more, and track heir JV got 3rd place in a chaotic 200.

Good job les gars !!!

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour

For those who do not know, my job has this very cool feature about the schedule: I get off at noon on fridays. Yes, hate me please! So I've decided to put my own spin on the weekend opener blog post. Crazy Kinux has various videos, Ga'len has revived WDA's Fail Mail, Roc Weiler has recipes, Kirith has fiction, so all those were taken. So I'll go with my number one passion: music. But I'll warn you straight away, I like my music loud, weird, or both. Once in a while I find something that can make the toughest bullies cry. Some tunes will be classics that everyone know, and others will be more obscure stuff. And once in a while I'll put in something from Quebec's best bands so you can practice your "joual québécois". So grab that cola or beer or whatever drink you fancy, crank up the volume, and annoy the crap out of the neighbours :))

On the EVE front, the changes announced by Letrange and I are getting under way, and now I have a lot of hauling to do. Unfortunately my buddy Si Gong had to put his account on ice a while ago so his Orca can't be used. Oh well, at least I don't have too much distance to cover, for now. The official corp switch isn't quite here yet but things are getting ready.

Until next time, fly loud.

o7