Where The Hell Did You Get That?

Okay, so this afternoon Maise and I had worked out an idea to throw together a hilarious photoshop of D:Angel, Angelcat, and Trent together on their hot air balloon ride that Angelman claims to have won from filling out the survey from the previous post. In our heads it would have been really funny (picture the three of them in this balloon) but tonight my hubby has trumped us.

Hubby is always the prankster and is pretty supportive when it comes to my NIN enthusiasm. Remember a few years ago when he mowed the downward spiral into our back lawn? Yeah, I thought that was cute. But I was not prepared when he came walking through the door tonight with this:


We are now the owners of a 24" x36" (61.0 x 91.4cm for our metric friends) oil portrait of Closer's Bondage Trent, otherwise know to the artist as "Trent. Ooh, baby".

Apparently this is what happens when hubby is left on his own and has time to kill between appointments in Iowa City. He tells me he found it in some consignment shop basement behind an assortment of beer lights and other discarded pictures. For $15 he said he couldn't resist a joke and laughed when it earned him a raised eyebrow from the blue-haired old lady working the register.

I laughed my ass off when I first saw it and have been giggling all night. Not that it isn't a pretty good rendering of dear Trent (much better than anything I could come up with) but what the fuck am I supposed to do with it now? Should I go total fangirl and hang it up with a candle shelf shrine below? Ironically enough it does go with the some of the colors in my recently redecorated "home office". Or should we hold some sort of Places Parallel contest in which this will be the prize? Or should I lug it along with Maise, Ro, and I to the next NIN show we attend, in hopes that we can get The Man to come out and autograph it and then return it to the artist, E.M., as a "Surprise! Guess where this has been?"

Hmm...decisions, decisions.

Would You Like To Take A Survey?

Hello again all. So as our own D:Angel pointed out, an email from Trent has been making its rounds asking NIN fans for a little help via a survey. Apparently I wasn't on the guest list for said email, although, I did find a link to it late last night by other means. A recap of the contents:

Hello everyone.

I'd like to thank everyone for a very successful year so far in the world of Nine Inch Nails. I'm enjoying my couple of weeks off between legs of our Lights In The Sky tour and got to thinking... "wouldn't it be fun to send out a survey to everyone that's shown interest in NIN?" Well, that's not exactly how it went, but regardless - here it is. As we've moved from the familiar world of record labels and BS into the unknown world of doing everything yourself, we've realized it would benefit us and our ability to interact with you if we knew more about what you want, what you like, what you look like naked, etc.I know it's a pain in the ass but we'd truly appreciate it if you'd take a minute and help us out. As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be able to download a video of live performance from this most recent tour (and I know what's going through your little minds right now: "I'll just grab this off a torrent site and not have to fill out the survey!!!" and guess what? You will be able to do just that and BEAT THE SYSTEM!!!! NIN=pwn3d!!!)
BUT
What if we were to select some of those that DO complete the survey and provide them with something really cool? I'm not saying we'll ever get around to it, but if we did maybe something like signed stuff, flying someone to a show somewhere in the world, a magic amulet that makes you invisible, a date with Jeordie White (condoms supplied of course), you
know - something cool. See, you'd miss that opportunity AND be a cheater. Do the right thing - help us out. You'll feel better.

Thank you and I've had too much caffeine this morning,
Trent

Click here to take the survey

Seriously, how cute is [Caffeinated_Trent]?

As Maise mentioned, the survey is really looong. But being the good little fangirl I am, I diligently filled out each and every question. That isn't to say that I didn't have some issues with a few of the inquiries though.

1. Favorite OVERALL Nine Inch Nails song & Favorite LIVE Nine Inch Nails song.

Just one of each? What the hell, man? Favorite overall song was easy since I'm still head over heels for "Lights in the Sky" but picking one favorite live version is damned near impossible. "Burn," "Survivalism," "Mr. Self Destruct," and yes, even "Only" (for the light show as well as the song) have been fantastic the times I've been lucky enough to see them. I think a Top 5 in the live category would have better served those fans who have a hard time whittling this down to one.

2. Have you ever downloaded a Nine Inch Nails release from P2P or other non-retail download service? If so, which ones? (check all that apply)

The short answer to this is "well duh" but even after checking off the options I don't feel that I was able to answer completely honestly since the album "Purest Feeling" is not listed. Come on, Trent. You didn't think we'd forget about that little gem, did you? After all it was "Twist" that lent WearingTheseChains its moniker. And I suppose it wouldn't be relevant to what he's trying to do here but for the record, I also picked up the Option 30 and Exotic Birds albums via Demonoid.com a while back. What can I say? I am a collector. I was glad to see "Closure" listed but what? no "Broken" movie love? Granted, it didn't take me three days of torrenting to download it like "Closure" did but I still feel it's worth an honorable mention.

3. Favorite 3 TV shows? ONE PER BOX

I cringed at this question because, like Maise and her movie selections, I don't feel my choices are up to snuff. How does my watching bad reality TV affect your marketing technique, Trent? Are you going to be appearing on America's Next Top Model anytime soon? Jesus, I hope not but maybe, just maybe, you can be the anti-Tyra Banks and teach the models how to "scowl wit yo eyes".

4. This isn't really a complaint, per se, but I did feel a little naive, or maybe it's just out of touch with the youth these days, that I'd never heard of several of the sites listed for music services, upcoming concerts, or music retailers. I feel shamed for listing my meager sources for finding new music: the nin.com/forums, lollapalooza.com/forums, and for my guilty pleasure dance/pop trash, perezhilton.com. Yeah. I know. But I do plan on trying to redeem myself by checking out these other sites. I'm constantly looking for new music to listen to for the 6.5 minutes it takes me to get to work so if any readers out there have suggestions, please pass them along.

True to his word, upon completion of the novel-length survey, there are two download options for a video filmed at Red Rocks. One of these days I have to catch a show there. It just looks like such an awesome venue.

This video backs up "1,000,000" as my official choice in the Favorite Live Song category. Whether it's being played live or just cranked in the car, this song really gets me pumped up and rearing to go. I'm assuming Trent feels the same way judging from the foot stamping and the I-can't-contain-myself jog he does at about the 1:04 mark. But the synchronized rocking Robin and Justin do immediately after is slightly distracting. First the skipping and now this...do these guys do everything in tandem?

As for Trent's other suggestion that there might be some other cool token of appreciation for those who fill out this survey...well...I'm not going to hold my breath or update my vaccination record for the "date with Jeordie White" prize. While I admire Trent's good intentions, I have a feeling this will go the way of the Ghosts Film Festival. He is a busy guy after all so it's forgivable. Still, I would recommend taking 15 minutes out of your day to fill this out, if for no other reason than it would, in a trickle down method, help support the label-free cause Trent is rallying for.

And if you haven't checked out the new NIN.com then get on it. There are loads of new features including new ways to listen to NIN, forums, profiles, and chat rooms (where band members occasionally show up) . Oh my!

Why It's Impossible for Me to Hate Eddie Vedder...

Jesus H, does everyone feel as frazzled as me? As usual, I've got the two jobs going, and I can't stop reading election coverage, and I've been devoting my time to some exciting creative projects in My Real Life, and I've been volunteering for greyhounds, Barack Obama, and overly expensive, but exciting, gourmet food festivals. But even with all that going on, I haven't forgotten you, Loyal and Long-Suffering Places Parallel readers.

So I thought I'd take a moment to explain why I can't hate Eddie Vedder, as much as I'd like to. Here are the reasons I wouldn't like him, if I had a choice:

1) Looks unwashed.
2) Mumbles when he sings slooooooooow dirges.
3) Tends to get preachy onstage.
4) My Worst Fucking Enemy--I mean my Fucking NEMESIS--in college LOVED him.

But here's the reason that it's impossible for me to hate him:



Any man who's a Cubs fan is all right by me.

Perhaps--just maybe--2008 can be our year. An African American president?* The Cubs winning the World Series for the first time in 100 years? Talk about the audacity of hope...Go Cubs Go!

*I'm going to overlook the fact that Barry is a South-Sider and a fan of that OTHER Chicago baseball franchise that shall go unnamed here.