Music in 2011

     This has been one of the greatest and most anticipated years in music I’ve ever experienced. This year gave me new Big Black Delta, Björk, DJ Shadow, Gorillaz, The Kills, KMFDM, Lamb, Omniflux, PJ Harvey, Puscifer, Saul Williams, Sonoio, UNKLE, War Widow and a new soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. With a few random songs by mostly underground bands like Zola Jesus, Jealov, In the Valley Below, and Corduroi. Oh and the 12 minute song by Massive Attack vs Burial.

     Let’s start with the disappointments: Most disappointing album of 2011 is Let England Shake by PJ Harvey. Björk’s Biophilia was wayyy worse but I expected that. Biophilia pretty much makes me hate all Björk- even the older good stuff. But back to PJ Harvey- she once was a force to be reckoned with. She couldn’t be ignored and was the envy of all other female rockers. But then in 2007 she released White Chalk, which is better than Let England Shake, showing that PJ was over making music to stomp your feet to. And this makes me sad. But before the release she did a few live performances of song “Let England Shake” which featured a “1950’s barber shop sounding” sample that didn’t make the cut on the recorded album. the sample- not the song. The album in general is boring with some moments of pretty wretched vocals (but not like on other PJ H albums where the wretched vocals where awesome and raised goose bumps). Over all, and like Björk, I think PJ Harvey is getting too old for rock ‘n’ roll or good rock ‘n’ roll anyways.
A few other disappointments: This year I discovered Angie Mattson- if her album Skeleton Arm was released this year it would be best album of the year hands down- anyways Angie got together with Jeff Mendel from Sabrose Purr and they created In the Valley Below. The following EP released by them featured the single “Palm Tree” fire which is a really funky amazing song and video to boot but the rest of the EP (4 out of 5) isn’t very good. It’s not wretched but not library worthy. Next is the Saul Williams album Volcanic Sunlight. Nothing on this album stands out as good. The Gorillaz album The Fall was made entirely on Damon Albarn’s iPad during the tour for the last 2010 album… It was released in Dec of 2010 as a free download on the bands website with the physical release coming out in April 2011 so it’s not quite a 2011 album but I discovered it in 2011 so we’re going to go with it. Anyways, it’s essentially an all instrumental album with just a few guest stars making it kinda boring.

     Next lets talk about the albums that made it in the middle (just good) category: first I want to talk about The Kills album Blood Pressures- when they released the first single of the album, “Satellite”, I was so very super excited. Past Kills albums- No Wow and Midnight Bloom- where as Now Wow had only three good songs really but Midnight Bloom featured more electronic music and is brilliant- after hearing “Satellite” I thought Blood Pressures was going to be an orgasmic mix of the two sounds… When I finally bought the album on release day I was very upset and disappointed. I was angry! But after time I calmed down and now I appreciate the album for what it is with a 55% library worthy rating. But for the greatness of the songs “Satellite” and “Future Starts Slow” I’d give the album as a whole a 75%. Plus the 1:14 long song “Wild Charms” with vocals just by Jamie Hince and vintage sound helps that rating as well.
Next is the DJ Shadow album: after his last one I expected horribleness and got something great. Completely unexpected.

     Now I want to talk about a few albums separately without categorizing: BBDLP1- This was my most anticipated album of the year. 3 of the 9 songs where released in 2010 on BBDEP and then 2 others where released sporadically in 2011 before the album release in Oct. And the month before the single “Betamix” was everywhere but not as a download. Anyways I had expected BBDLP1 to feature more original songs then the 3 that had never been heard before the release… Anyways I already had all the Big Black Delta songs that I loved before and the album release really only gave me a few new songs that aren’t all that. So BBDLP1 is a brilliant album by most standards but the anticipation was let down by the lack of more and better unreleased songs. Either way BBDLP1 will go down as one of 2011’s best albums and as a debut that’s pretty fucking cool.
KMFDM- I really only like a few songs off each new KMFDM albums and WTF?! was no exception. Either way it’s always nice when a KMDFM album comes out as you know there will usually be at least one song that’ll get you all powered up.
The Massive Attack vs Burial 2 track EP thing- “Four Walls”, a new song by Massive Attack and Burial which is a 12 minute long weird Arabian sounding beauty and the Burial remix of “Paradise Circus” which is like Burial took “Paradise Circus” and mixed it with “Four Walls”… And it introduced me to Burial, who’s two albums are interesting, slightly boring but interesting and the 2006 debut album with the song “Spaceape feat Spaceape” has become a favorite of mine.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross was pretty much as I expected. A whole shit ton of instrumental songs that sound alike with a few gems like “An Itch” that give you the chills. My one question is: on just about every NIN album is an instrumental song that’s chilling, brilliant and I love but then with the all instrumental NIN album Ghosts and the film scores for The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo never feature instrumentals as good as a NIN album would… Is this Atticus Ross’s fault? The GWTDT also features the Led Zeppelin cover of “Immigrant Song” with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is a very delicious treat and after the song was featured in the short teaser trailer for the movie back in June or May or something like that I have been waiting and waiting to finally own the mp3 to play as I wish. And another bit of awesomeness from the soundtrack is the Bryan Ferry cover of “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” by How To Destroy Angels. The sound was very unexpected but amazing and addictive.
Next is UNKLE’s release of Where Did the Night Fall: Another Night Out. Another Night Out is the mixture of post WDTNF EP’s and b-sides. So not technically a 2011 album but it was released in 2011 and some songs on Another Night Out where new to 2011… Anyways, Another Night Out is awesome. Though it has the feel of b-sides and extras slapped together unlike the continuity sound of most UNKLE albums it’s still great. UNKLE has never let me down and I always early await new music from James Lavelle.
New comers War Widow released their debut self-titled album which is always a great listen. Some songs sound too much a like but all in all I love this album. And with the song “Tear It Up” being a “loved” song they’ve especially have my attention for future releases. They’re also planning on releasing cover song each month- last month being a Sparklehourse cover which they generously emailed me the mp3 for free. That always gives artists bonus points.

     And now for the best albums section: as I’m writing this today, 12/11/2011, Puscifer’s Conditions of My Parole is the big winner of 2011. But we have to wait to see if Mariqueen Reznor’s tweet that new HTDA soon means 2011 or 2012… But I’ll post a new blog for the new HTDA review if it comes out in 2011.
Puscifer: Conditions of My Parole- it has a typical humorous title like most Puscifer albums and when I heard of it’s release I thought “cool- new funny/weird Puscifer songs!”. What I didn’t expect was the seriousness and brilliance of it. With only the title song and “Man Overboard” being silly songs and “Toma” being the only weird song: the rest are serious sounding. With many of the songs like “Tine Monsters”, “Green Valley”, “Horizons” and “Tumbleweed” being beautiful songs with an unplugged feel best listened to in the desert; “Telling Ghosts” and “The Rapture (Fear Is A Mind Killa Mix)” has a kinda A Perfect Circle rock kinda feel to them… Either way COMP only has one song un-library worthy and several songs as “loved” tracks. This album is playable under all circumstances and is an unexpected beautiful treat. I would love to hear more Maynard projects that sound as good as this.
Now down the line of other beautiful 2011 music treats: Lamb 5- when I heard Lamb was releasing a new album 6 years after their last I thought “fuck…”. I expected the worst and got brilliance. Let me explain: when I first started to listen to Lamb my first album was their self-titled debut which was when I was deep into my love of just trip hop music and Lamb was at the top of the list. But as there music progressed it started sounding less trip hop and more electro indy. I was very unimpressed with What Sound? and Between Darkness and Wonder but now when I go back I like more track off the later two than the debut and Fear of Fours. So I didn’t know what to expect except that a lot of my bands I enjoyed sucked more as they got older I just wasn’t excited about 5. But as a collector I got it anyways and was truly amazed! With a 67% library worthy track list and 4 out of 12 songs being “loved” songs it makes the album as an entire a 90% for me. Lamb- keep ‘em coming!
Next we go to new comer Omniflux. I fucking love Omniflux- with just 3 songs released free they are all brilliant, chilling and beautiful. And with a promise of more new free songs before an eventual LP I can tell you right now Omniflux’s LP is one of my most anticipated release of 2012 (along with How To destroy Angels(?) and the rumor of several Massive Attack EP’s here and there…). Mahsa Zargaran also gets bonus points for being awesome when a Facebook post said to pick a number from 1-100 and I picked 37 and won a prize from Mahsa herself- a hand painted picture signed on the back with a message on lovely paper.

     And this is it for my review of 2011 music. All in all I say it was a good year for music and I’m looking forward to next years rumored releases. 

looped thought process.

Why do liberal woman and liberals in general hate conservative woman so much? Liberals will smear, insult and attack strong conservative woman like Palin and Bachman. They hate them. Face it- liberals only want rights for whores and victimized woman. Is it their Christian views that piss them off so much?
And here’s a thought about Christianity- for people that don’t believe any of it and basically think it was created by man then, even without the idea of a Christian God, wouldn’t man create and/or have the same beliefs and ideals as those in the Bible? If it came from man then it was man’s idea and beliefs anyway. I get some of the hatred for Christianity. But what people need now more than ever is tolerance. Christians are known and reported as more likely to donate to charity, keep a clean home and property and self appearance, more likely to obey the laws and etc. etc.
if you’re black, hispanic or white and born in the USA then basically you’re born Christian. This trend is changing but not by much. There are three things that make up your personality: religion, culture and heritage. You can rebel from all of the above but you’d compensate with the idea of another that is foreign to you. either way you’re based on the ideas of one of the three. I think these days most people are made up from their regional culture. which is bad for a society. it’s like incest- too much and things start to deform.
Where I’m from you’re basically born Christian and most people will claim it even though I doubt they really understand or practice what they claim. In NWI culture reigns supreme and my guess is much of America is the same. We get our ideas and beliefs from television more than religion. Have things gotten so bad that Christianity is harder for people to swallow or is Jesus Christ not the superstar that he once was? Has Jesus been D-Listed? I mean I hear and see the people talking about him but what I don’t hear or see is the people practicing him. I’m not Christian but I’ll take a good American Christian over a lazy, greedy, rude nigger-of-any-color any day.
This whole blog was inspired by a recent conversation and post I seen about Michelle Bachmann. The post was by an ultra über wiccan liberal friend. Very woman’s rights but will slam Michelle and Sarah Palin in a second. She hates that they’re Christian and that’s it. If most Republicans where wiccan but still had same policy she’d totally be Republican but since they ain’t she ain’t. The other was a conversation with a gay man who only seems to look up Republican’s views on gay rights. He likes a lot of conservative policy but gay rights come first. This is the same man that “hates fags”. He’s confused that a politician should have no rights expressing a religious view. and he’s upset with what Bachmann or Palin have said about homosexuality so he dislikes them and wouldn’t vote for them. regardless of their policy. But this is reality and that is why the media pushes the subject on politicians. But does it get asked of every Democrat? does it get reported every time a Democrat doesn’t vote for “equal rights” for homosexuals?
and I’m spent.

more than they deserve.

talking budget cuts for the federal government and Obama wants to hike the taxes on the rich. we’re spending too much money and not taking enough in. I’m sorry but I know more people on food stamps that sell those for drugs and alcohol than the spend on food and even more are grossly over paid in food stamps. they’re eating lobster and steak with their 6 million kids and I’m eating store brand food with poor nutritional value. and what about the other forms of welfare for poor-ol’-niggers-of-every-color that can’t seem to get and hold a job and support themselves and their illegitimate family? while our government is cutting them checks people like myself and billions of other are out there working for what they have. while they’re playing video games and eating Doritos we’re working and making something of ourselves and our self respect and dignity. if the budget needs to be cut why don’t we start there? why should rich and successful people have to pay for the poor and lazy? in America everyone has the opportunity to be successful. but many don’t take it. they’re too lazy and depressed with life and we’re feeding and supporting them when they should just be dead. most of the taxes I put in come back to me via tax time. rich people are the ones putting more in and getting less back already. sometimes they don’t even get anything back. so they’re already paying for the poor and the rest of the functions in our government. so why should they pay more? do they deserve to be punished for hard work and integrity? how about those lazy niggers-of-all-colors get off their asses and try a little harder. maybe their contribution to society will help balance the budget and help balance their lives. maybe they’ll learn and feel proud of themselves and take initiative in life to go further and be an independent. I know at times good jobs are hard to find and sometimes it seems like no one is hiring but keep trying. America wasn’t made by a bunch of quitters. the more people making money the more they spend money and the more money is spent the more jobs are created. jobs aren’t created by the government- just the opposite. the government wants to tax and harass the people providing jobs so that people have to fall back on the government for support. now it doesn’t have to be this way, the Republican Party is the right party for creating jobs and giving people their lives and dignity back. because you have no dignity if you’re on welfare or simply living life on someone else’s dime. and quit thinking you deserve anything because you already get more than you deserve.

more of what we’re not allowed

teachers are getting laid off and professors are being paid $100k to tell us we’re all oppressing pieces of shit.
calling our pets, that we’ve bought and paid for, calling them ‘pets’ is insulting. we should instead call them ‘companion animals’. creatures or critters are also very very mean. shame on us.
also this is very bad:
“Phrases such as "sly as a fox, "eat like a pig" or "drunk as a skunk" are all unfair to animals”.
so you cannot call your drunk Uncle a skunk. you’ll burn in hell.
Obama’s lil league of supper smarter-than-us people came up with this. so if we re-elect him he’s going to make it a law that you can’t do that. just joking. but this is serious: Obama's Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein wants animals to be provided with lawyers so they can sue us.
where’s my lawyer so I can sue these jack asses for WASTING MY FUCKING TAX DOLLARS?!
ahem, excuse me.
Yoko Ono- if you fucking sue me for calling you my pet I will break your neck and throw you in the trash can.
you know, I wish I was this smart. I wish I was this sensitive, as the animals, so I cold just be this poor injured little creature that everyone would pity and take care of me. life is so hard and people are so mean. I’m going to live under a rock. like a wild animals, which we can’t say wild animals anymore either because that’s also oppressing. they’re ‘free-living’ you fucking bigots!

drugs / drogen / las drogas / médicaments / 薬

I’m trying to write a blog about drugs and research is so annoying. either you’re getting over exaggerated fasts and side effects or you’re getting hippy “drugs are cool” propaganda.
I wanted to learn about the nation debt according to the war on drugs. the war on drugs and terror are number 5 on the list for the nation debt. I could only then find the liberal remarks that legalizing drugs would end the nation debt. or marijuana, not all drugs. I found a good page and I don’t know about the facts but read it anyways: http://www.facingup.org/smoking-national-debt-financing-our-future-with-legalized-marijuana
basically legalizing marijuana will pay for the war on drugs but nothing else.
and why won’t our dear and kind government legalize marijuana? because it’s the “gate way drug.” I WANT TO STATE RIGHT NOW THAT I DO NOT SMOKE MARIJUANA OR USE IT IN ANY FORM AND I’M AGAINST MARIUJUANA. some people argue that smoking marijuana hasn’t lead to the usage of other drugs. well, I USED to be a ‘stoner’ and yes, marijuana did lead to other drugs. it lead to alcohol use too. In my 20’s I was addicted to cocaine really bad and almost died from it and destroyed my life. after the incident that forced me to get off of it I began drinking and that went on from my mid-20’s till I was 25. and that destroyed every other part of my life that cocaine didn’t. I am now a recovering alcoholic with 1 year and 10 months. I also don’t think many of my other friends with drug problems wouldn’t be where they were or are without the influence of marijuana first. I also think alcohol leads to drug and tobacco use.
obviously I'm not the only one with a record of trying, using and moving on from marijuana to other harder drugs and ruining my life so there’s fact to marijuana being the gate way drug.
plus you have every celebrity under the sun doing and taking about drugs. being arrested for drugs. going to rehab for drugs. but they all look so cool and glamorous. and after they get off drugs their music and acting changes. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is very open about his past drug and alcohol problem and in 2005 talked about his recovery with a new NIN album that kicked as much ass as every other NIN before. then his 2007 album as a sonic trip and all the rest since have been some of his best music while being sober. But Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots gets sober and his music sucks and then he relapses. you have that Dr Dre with The Chronic and his new album that’s supposed to come out… (when?) but it’s called Detox. Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen… the two later ones are a direct message that drugs and alcohol are bad but that’s not what they’re saying and this is our influence. both of our kings died of drugs, Elvis and Michael Jackson. The Beatles were drug addicts. 
drugs are everywhere, just turn on the radio or TV. the anti drug commercials are so cheesy and retarded that they’re worthless. and hippies are claiming that if we legalize marijuana everything in America will be ok. could you imagine? everyone slow, annoying, and stinking? god, I would throw a fucking fit! and then what’s next? legalization of LSD and other not-as-harmful drugs? why not? everyone is ADD or bipolar and we’re all on medication for the defects in our minds. let’s just be the nation of losers on drugs.
maybe, though, the legalization of marijuana will get every piece of shit hooked on cocaine and heroin and maybe, if we’re lucky, they’ll all just over-dose. and you know me, always looking for a way to reduce the population. but then again- we’re all crying about cigarettes killing 5 million per year and how much that costs- well imagine every time Scooter from down the street OD’s on cocaine and we have to rush him to the hospital. that can cause some costly problems for health care. and wait- doesn’t smoking marijuana probably cause lung cancer- the same as cigarettes? and damage DNA to likely increase the risk of cancer? hmmm…

God vs. C&C (again)

this is an article I read that is… retarded but makes a descent point.
“Why do most American presidents place a hand on the Bible to take the oath of office? Secular education has made that a meaningless tradition, but the tradition exists because the Bible is the secret of America’s freedom. Forget the Bible and America will go the way of the first Protestant nation – Nazi Germany”
and
“The cancer at the heart of America’s political economy is cultural. This great nation was built by an ethic – a spirituality that taught citizens to work, earn, save, invest, and use their wealth to serve their neighbors. This biblical ethic has been replaced by secularism’s entitlement culture that teaches people that they have a right to this, that and the other without corresponding obligations to work, save, and serve. This new culture forces the state to take from productive citizens or borrow from other nations and spend it on man-made rights. This corruption of character is destroying the world’s greatest economy, but can democracy allow leaders to go against the voters’ voice?”
-Vishal Mangalwadi is the author of "The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization."

I agree that our nation is lacking ethic- that’s my major point of many of my arguments but I don’t think it has that much to do with the bible. or the lack of bibles. I think it’s a pop culture fight we’re against and I think people are liking the whole ‘live for free’ idea. and our busted economy helps people get away with it. like it’s easier to chill on unemployment or not to have a job when the economy is bad and ‘no one is hiring’.
but to say it all has to do with the bible is just retarded. look at other great nations, like Japan, that aren’t Christian based and are doing great. but he’d argue that Japan always hasn’t been great as if this is proof. and it’s not the point either. the point isn’t that we’re all Christians and do good because to claim every good American is Christian is insulting. I’m a good American and I’m not Christian. I could be better but the bible isn’t going to help me in that regard.
anyways, it’s time for me to be a good American and get ready for work. Yes, Vishal, I’m not Christian and I have a job. ooppps, you didn’t think about that- did ya?

And today

Today I read that Obama wants to increase tax dollars amounts for education and today I initially agreed with Obama. But I haven’t thought all the points out either, which is the point of this blog- to decide where I stand on education in America. Where as Republicans want to cut spending for education. And as anyone with kids knows that education is the most important part of their lives and should be something that we shouldn’t skimp on. And you know, maybe I don’t know much about the whole topic. I know that my mom works for state detention centers for bad kids and those are being sold to private companies and/or closed. and I always hear that schools are behind on technology and books and etc.. But then they’re playing around on Mac computers… 

From what I can figure, school closings are bad news. People lose jobs and bigger class rooms usually equal bigger problems. I heard of schools merging into one and people cry rape and die all over the place- all the worst scenario's are reality, people lose jobs and heads roll. But then, after the dust settles, everything worked out and you hear of the kids with new books and type type typing away on new Mac computers. It turns out that just teachers lost their jobs, which anyone losing their job is regretful but it’s the nature of the beast. I’ve (and if you haven’t then, I mean, you’re retarded) noticed that these days we need less people with the newer technology. Maybe for education it’s the same thing- better technology equals the need for less teachers. and then here’s the question- ours kids are worse than ever now despite the new technology. so is it worth new Mac computers or more teachers? Humans, I think, are always worth more than technology. so maybe we have to ask is that wall projector more important to the education of our children or Mrs. Smiths salary? especially when we all grew up reading off the black board… and I’m to assume if you’re reading this you all turned out ok.
so for elementary and high schools maybe we need to decide if we need more teachers and more schools open or we need new computers and yearly updated books. does Mrs. Smith really needs a projector attached to her laptop to teach in class or the old black board? because to me it seems the real war here is technology vs. teachers. which is better for kids, better and new shit or more teachers? can the compassion of a teacher be replaced with a shinny new something? do our kids need more knowledge of technology in schools or more personal interaction with grown ups and potential hero’s?

another part of the increase of tax spending on education is for Pell Grants. Pell Grants are for low income people, either after they’re 24 and no longer go by their parents income or younger and their parents are poor. lets break this down. I know a lot of people that get Pell Grants for their college education. and two of the a lot that I know use it for education and needed things. the rest sign up for college, show up for the classes until payday and then go buy a bag of coke/weed/meth/heroin/etc. and a bottle or a keg. and of coarse drop out. this is $1,000’s of tax payer dollars going to assholes when Mrs. Smith is losing her job. and it’s not just the people I know from the two small towns it’s people everywhere.  another problem I see is people going into college for jobs that America just doesn’t have. so we’re paying for their expensive college education so they can graduate and not find a job? maybe we should cut off certain degrees with Pell Grants. like, and this is just an example, lil Susie wants to be a teacher but teachers all over America are losing their jobs so lil Susie applies for a Pell Grant and we tell lil Susie “sorry, babe, there’s no jobs for that when you graduate so we’re not giving you a dime” and look- we adverted spending millions this semester on all the lil Susie’s wanting to be a teacher! (so now she works at the strip bar and has a million kids on welfare, ahahahahaha) that joke just kinda contradicted my whole point, ooppps! anyways, back to cracky-mc-crack crack- those people… what do we do? I’m trying to find a solution without involving more government… I guess we should just do a thing where if you pull a stunt like that you better have a doctors note if you want more Pell Grants- my uncle bob was the best man ever and he peaked out and I was so upset and here’s the funeral thing and a thing from my shrink or I fell down the stairs and busted my ass so here’s my doctors note and I’m sorry please don’t bust my ass again… if not then sorry, nigger, you fucked up and better find a way to pay for your own college education.
I see what Obama is trying to do with the Pell Grant thing though- the real students that really want to try and do good are going to school full time and working full time to afford their roach infested apartment in everybody’s favorite ghetto. it’s sad that life has to be this hard but you know- fuck it. this is America, Land of the Free and with freedom comes struggle. those people will end up being stronger and smarter than most and are the kind of people this country used to be full of (it’s full of something now but not anything worth talking about).

the rest of it goes out as grants for ghetto schools and for the education of retards. ghetto schools- honestly they are a major problem but I don’t see how more spending is the answer. unless you spending that on self defense training for the teachers, police at schools, and big brother being up every lil niglets nostril. you know, schools like that are regrettable but it’s not a money problem- it’s a behavioral problem. it extends to the kids parents and the streets and neighborhoods (or “hoods”) in the schools district. it’s a cultural problem. I’ll pay more in taxes if schools like that are getting the best hardcore ass-kickin’ teachers ever- ones that will whoop your nigger ass for misbehaving in the classroom. ones that have hardcore police searching everything and keeping the weapons and drugs and gangs out of school. those schools are ran by violence so maybe violence is needed to install the fear in those kids. maybe the fear of an ass beating by big Bob the police man and by Mrs. Smiths back side of her hand will get these kids to sit down, shut up, and learn.

as for retards- fuck those special people. why are we spending money on them. it’s like catching a STD and taking the medicine for it and then going right back out and fucking the whore that gave it to you.

so, in conclusion, I’m for the increase tax dollars spending on education if and only if it’s spent right. no more Apple Macs- more teachers more schools. No more crack heads cashing in Pell Grants for crack. I’m only on board if it’s stated that these guidelines are going to be followed, which they’re not, so no, Obama, leave my tax dollars alone. the Left have serious problem with caring too much and over looking what’s really going on. they seem to think we need to have the best and newest everything for our kids but all our kids need is discipline and dedicated teachers that care about education. when little Obama grew up his teachers didn’t have all that fancy shit and look- he turned out pretty good. when I grew up our classes where small and we took notes off the chalk board and if we where bad we got in trouble. I got the basics and so did you too probably.