Author Archives: Geof F. Morris

My Thoughts on the 2012 Boston Celtics and the Immediate Future

Posted on by
Reply

Okay, so the Celtics’ 2012 season is done. Congratulations to the Heat, who played well in the fourth and deserved the win. The fellas were just out of gas.

Here’s what I expect will happen for next year:

1. Ray leaves in free agency. He’ll get his ankles fixed by the end of the month, and he’ll rehab through the summer and be ready to be a sniper from outside. Will he come back to Boston? I think this is doubtful, because he’ll get more money elsewhere. The only way he comes back is because …

2. KG signs for below-market value to win another title in Boston. I think he’s fully bought in to being a Celtic. I love that, because I love seeing guys do that. I think KG stays because Rondo and Truth go up to him and say, “Please stay. We’re going to be better next year.” Kevin wants to win another title, and Boston is the best place for his talents.

3. Paul is under contract, and he damn well better end his career a Celtic. 1 If Ray leaves, I think Truth moves out to the SG spot where he can work off of screens and fire daggers when he feels like it, and he’ll also have smaller guards that he can post up with that spin-shake-stepback he has. Just because Paul can play the 3 or the 4 doesn’t mean that he should do it on a regular basis. Paul also has to come into camp something close to game shape. Why does Paul get to move outside?

4. Jeff Green gets signed up to be the 3/4 guy that he was supposed to be after the Perkins trade. He can get 30-40 minutes with a starting bid, playing more inside if you go with a small-ball lineup and hanging on the perimeter the rest of the time. Green was supposed to be a super-sub, but he never got going with that after being traded to Boston. As the draft pick in the Ray Allen deal, it would be fitting for him to come in after Ray leaves.

5. Brandon Bass is clearly the power forward going forward for Boston. Maybe he slides out to the 3 if the Celtics can sign another big, but he’s shown a willingness to bang down low and fight for rebounds. Also, his lack of size really didn’t hurt the Celtics that much. His ability to hit that 15-footer and drain free throws like, well, Ray Allen, makes him a solid contributor. He can go stretches as the primary scorer on the floor, and I don’t think anybody had the idea coming into the year that he could do that. Would I have loved to have David West over him? Yes, but I’m very happy with Bass. His ECF performance was a revelation. He’s all growns up and he’s all growns up!

6. I’ve completely ignored Avery Bradley here, which is a shame, but I’m just not sure what you’re going to get out of him after the shoulder surgery. Can he step in and play SG? Yes, he probably can. Jeff Green may end up being the sixth man if Zilch can come back, drain from outside, and make stops. I’m just honestly not counting on it, which is not a knock on him but is just realism on shoulder surgeries.

7. The bench needs to be flushed away save for Pietrus, Dooling, and Stiemsma. Okay, maybe you keep Daniels around for his ability to be ready to play 15 minutes when Pierce is in foul trouble2, which certainly has a certain value. Rollins, Pavlovic, Wilcox can all go away. Maybe the Purdue kids will thrive in summer league and a full training camp. Can we get JaJuan in a weight room and to a training table? I don’t think he’s got the bulk to be a 4 in this league.

If tonight was the last run for the Big Four, I’m happy that I got to see it. This lineup ran longer than anyone truly expected. This team was one bad game and one bad fourth quarter from their third Finals in five years with three future Hall-of-Famers who were all over 30 in a young man’s league. They’re one torn knee ligament from getting enough rebounds to beat the Lakers in 2010. That this team was so close so often is a testament to how good they are despite their obvious frailties. This season’s team was a lot of fun to watch, and I got to do a lot of it thanks to League Pass Broadband’s support for the AppleTV. I’m still proud of the Celtics, and I probably always will be. I hope the fellas get #18 in 2013.

  1. Do you hear me, Danny? I will flood your INBOX. [↩]
  2. Which he is more as he gets older. I think he’s losing body control on the defensive end. Plus, I think refs are just tired of the antics. Still, nobody draws a foul like Paul. [↩]

The Great CD Preservation Project, c. 2012

Posted on by
Reply

In one form or another, I’ve had an eye towards preserving my CD collection long term since 2003.1 Back then, my process was pretty complicated; now, it’s fairly simple. The principle is pretty simple: get the music off of the CDs while preserving their package and state. I’m okay with CDs only being played a handful of times, as I’m more interested in the packaging and getting all the bits.

Here’s the process:

  1. Scan the release into Delicious Library. This works for purchased CDs only, of course. Concert recordings don’t go in here, as I didn’t pay to take ownership of them. I put things into DL so I can loan them out and know who has what. Also, I have this as a record for insurance purposes.
  2. Check MusicBrainz for the release. Every so often, I have to go and add the release, but I’m an auto-editor.
  3. Rip the CD in Apple Lossless. I’d use FLAC for maximum interoperability, but Apple only uses their lossless format for iTunes, and as I use iTunes Match to move music onto my iDevices, I knuckle under and use their format. I don’t see it going away anytime soon, so I don’t feel like I’m investing time ripping into a format that I won’t use. When I compare this to the 3-4 different lossy encodings I used from 2003-2011, it’s not a big concern.2 Now that I have two large HDD arrays, I really don’t worry about storage space.
  4. Run the rip/encode through MusicBrainz’s Picard tagger.
  5. Add in the highest-quality cover art I can find. I really should be making my own with the scanner I have, but I’m lame.

I’d put in lyrics—and I care about that in a theoretical way—but there’s little practical value in doing so.

That’s where I’m at these days. I don’t see this methodology changing much given that I’m using a stable lossless codec.

  1. Why am I writing this update? I referenced something the other day that referenced the original post. Holy nine years, Batman. [↩]
  2. That I kept moving the target was a big part of the problem. [↩]

Matthew Perryman Jones – Land of the Living

Posted on by
Reply

Let me state this up front: I supported Matthew Perryman Jones’s new record, Land of the Living on Kickstarter. As such, I’ve had it ahead of its street date. I was also asked if I would consider writing a review by promotional people associated with Matthew. Also, I really like Matthew and wish that I could spend more time hanging out with him, because he’s a really cool guy. Alas, I do not live in Nashville.

I have loved Jones’s music since I wore out Throwing Punches in the Dark. It’s the standard by which I judge all of his music; whether or not that’s fair, I don’t really know. Matthew is often backed by a standard guitar-bass-drums-keyboard band, so there is sometimes a risk of him sounding like a dozen other artists. However, his voice is fairly distinctive—in a good way—and he carries the day on his records. He’s classically emotional and introspective, which is something I really appreciate because I’m that way myself.

I want to take this one track by track, because that’s how I’ve listened to it. Please note that my rating system starts with two stars as a baseline.

“Stones from the Riverbed” – This is a good little opener for the record. If you’re not familiar with Jones’s records as a whole and have only heard his music in TV or films, this is going to let you know what it is that he does musically: good words, emotion yet understated until he really needs to pound it. Three stars.

“Poisoning the Well” – I simply love the verses’ melody. The production doesn’t get in the way of the vocals, which I think is important for an artist like Matthew. I love the metaphor of the magistrate poisoning the well. It’s not just there for a rhyme. Four stars because I love the melody.

“I Won’t Let You Down Again” – The chorus really lets that oooo vocal tone Matthew gets in his falsetto run free. The whole track lets him express his range. I’ve just never bought into the words on this one. I’m sure there’s a story behind it, but it didn’t do much for me. Three stars because the vocals are great.

“O, Theo” – I love the layering throughout the whole track, especially at the end with the strings and the female BGVs. This is just fun to listen to even if you’re not tuned into it. Three stars.

“Sleeping With a Stranger” – This song sounds like it’s destined to end up on Grey’s Anatomy or some other steamy primetime show: “Kiss my heart awake / we’re so far away / I’m sleeping with a stranger”. Four stars.

“Waking Up the Dead” – This record needed an up-tempo track, and here it is. The choir is a very nice touch. This is a track about personal redemption, and there is spiritual content here without much religiosity to it. If you don’t like that kind of thing, you may not like this track, but I do, so I’m giving it four stars.

“Keep It on the Inside” – A good song about self-censorship and letting things go. Three stars.

“Canción de la Noche” – “How do you love someone so restless and torn?” That’s a great question. This is one of those classic emotional Jones songs. There’s so much lyrical tension, and it’s supported by the melody and the delivery. For my money, this is the best track on the record. Five stars.

“The Angels Were Singing” – This is a very down-tempo track, so much so that it would be understandable if it lost your interest. As with “Waking Up the Dead”, this has spiritual content, but I’d argue that it’s benignly religious. I haven’t seen liner notes, but I’m pretty darn sure that’s Sandra McCracken on BGVs. “Each tear was a chorus / a sacred reprise” gets me. Four stars.

“Land of the Living” – This is a great closing track. “Oh you cannot love in moderation / you’re dancing with a dead man’s bones / lay your soul on the threshing floor” is the best line on the record, both for its content and the soaring delivery. This one gets five stars as well.

Overall, I give this record 4/5 stars, which is a pretty good rating for me. I’m very glad to have supported this record. Thank you, Matthew, for bringing it to my ears.