Yahoo Domain Renewal Rip

Beware... Yahoo! billed me two weeks early on my domain name. They are supposed to bill annually, if that is how you originally registered the domain. So I called and the guy on the other end said it was another one of those unexplainable computer glitches. Two weeks is not a big deal but it's still a ripoff and it could add up if you had a lot of domains. Intentional? Not sure. But what a great way for Yahoo to earn some extra cash.

Oh, and while I am it, without notice, T-mobile got rid of its loyalty minutes (50 mins.) for longtime customers. So don't count on the minutes anymore. If you do get charged for overages, they will credit you only once.
Just for Fun!

Snoop Dogg Skateboard Company

When he's not coaching football...
This from the Ireland Online:

25/08/2005 - 12:23:17 Hip-hop star Snoop Dogg is venturing into the world of skateboarding, with the launch of the Snoop Dogg Board Company (SDBC).

Hip-hop star Snoop Dogg is venturing into the world of skateboarding, with the launch of the Snoop Dogg Board Company (SDBC).

The rapper's older brother, Bing Worthington Jr, came up with the idea to create the company, which will boast a complete line of long and short skateboards, accessories and backpacks, according to AllHipHop.com.

Duane Pacha, president of Pentagon Distribution, says: "Snoop Dogg's brother, came to us with a vision of bridging these two industries together because there is already so much crossover between skateboarding and the rap/hip-hop market."

Plans are also in the pipeline for SDBC to launch a complete line of high-end
Snoop Dogg luggage and travel bags, which will hit stores in January.

OK Go

This from the latest edition of the Video Static newsletter:

"This video is so uncool that it is unbelievably cool. Not only did OK Go create their own dance routine to "A Million Ways" and practice it until they got it perfect, they actually committed it to tape. And, not only did they tape it, they posted it online and it's now airing on music video channels and shows."

I had to check out OK Go, a Swedish band. Video Static was right, the video is cool and the the song "A Million Ways" is cooler still.

While we're on the subject of cool, Video Static is one of the coolest blogs out there. It tracks video production. This from the blog:

Video Static is the creation and work of Steven J Gottlieb. The site is meant to be the SOURCE for keeping track of music video production. Video commissioners, label executives, executive producers, director reps, directors, managers and even fans can find out what videos are going to be hitting their TV screens next. Also included are the weekly music video adds to the major national channels, music video DVD releases and much more

This week on Video Static, we see that rocker Tommy Lee has finished shooting a video for "Good Times," the themes song to his new reality series on VH-1.

Video Static gives us the director and other fine details:
SHOT: Tommy Lee - Dean Karr, director

artist: Tommy Lee
song: "Good Times"
label: TL Education Services
director(s): Dean Karr
production co: The Mine
The beautiful Tommy Lee, photo by Statia Molewksi

Andy Land

Proving that you never know who you're going to run into on the Internet, here is Andy Land, the blog of a Chicago comedian who is strangely attracted to penguins. He's got them all over his blog and happened to visit me on the day I posted about penguins!

Then there's the manager of one of my favorite rock bands. I sent him a message, thinking no one will read it or a handler will read it and send me back a pat response, but I'm pretty confident that the message back was the real deal.

Yet another time, a member of a now-defunct band, which was one of my faves, saw my post and contacted me. He's now playing in Darby O'Gill.

One of my recent favorite online meetings was Drew Danburry. I blogged about his skateboarding documentary -- he's a musician and a filmmaker -- and he sent me an email to set me straight. Glad he did, cause he ended up sended me his CD, which has rocketed to permanent spin status.

Penguins rock!

oh, I couldn't resist. This photo is from the LA Times "my best shot"
Here's the description:

March of the penguins
David Hurwitz, a rheumatologist from Calabasas, and his wife, Cindy (who is his travel agent), took Orient Lines’ Marco Polo Antarctic cruise ship with 14 friends in January. At Port Lockroy he photographed these Gentoo penguins. “They are very noisy,” he said. “And they don’t smell great either.”

Marilyn Monroe not suicidal but wacky

The Marilyn Monroe transcript printed in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago leaves the impression that Marilyn had zero plans to commit suicide.

In fact, she comes across as nothing more than one of those wacky wealthy celebrity types with not much to worry about except the science of the day, psychology, Freud in particular, orgasms or the lack of in her case, lesbian affairs, her dalliances with men, the joys of enemas, spankings, how she couldn’t tell Bobby it was over, and the way she looked – “My breasts are beginning to sag a bit. ... My waist isn't bad. My ass is what it should be, the best there is. Legs, knees and ankles still shapely. And my feet are not too big. OK, Marilyn, you have it all there. It is decision time.”

She also was fond of the F-word, which was represented throughout the text with ellipses.

She comes across as arrogant during her “free associating” session with a tape recorder “Dear Doctor,” she starts, addressing her psychologist, Ralph Greenson, whom she’s obviously flirting with throughout. She thinks that her idea of free association (a Freudian technique for uncovering memories by letting the patient say whatever pops into their mind) into a recorder is such a good one that she “offers” it to her shrink as a revelation.

“What can I give you. Not money. I know that from me that means nothing to you. Not my body. I know your professional ethics and faithfulness to your wonderful wife make that impossible. What I am going to give you is my idea that will revolutionize psychoanalysis.”

The funny and ironic part about the transcript is that the sexually-charged beauty that she was had to fake her own orgasms until the doctor told her how.

You said there was an obstacle in my mind that prevented me from having an orgasm; that it was something that happened early in my life about which I felt so guilty that I did not deserve to have the greatest pleasure there is; that it had to do with something sexual that was very wrong, but my getting pleasure from it caused my guilt That it was buried in my unconscious. Through analysis we would bring it to my conscious mind where we could get to the guilt and free me to be orgasmic. Well, we sure worked it and got nowhere. I'd go home and cry and vomit from the frustration. Then you said for the orgasm problem we'll try a different approach. That you would tell me how to stimulate myself, that when I did exactly what you told me to do I would have an orgasm and that after I did it to myself and felt what it was, I would have orgasms with lovers. What a difference a word makes. You said I would, not I could. Bless you, Doctor. What you say is gospel to me. By now I've had lots of orgasms. Not only one, but 2 and 3 with a man who takes his time.

And later in the text:

Speaking of Oscars, I would win overwhelmingly if the Academy gave an Oscar for faking orgasms. I have done some of my best acting convincing my partners I was in the throes of ecstasy. If he were alive I'd have Johnny Hyde be the presenter. ...Johnny Hyde was special. He wasn't a lot to look at. A little shrimp. Little shrimp, is that redundant or tautological. I always get them mixed up. Anyway, he only came up to my chin.

But moreover, the transcript shows she had ambitions:

I'll take a year of day and night study of Shakespeare with Lee Strasberg. I'll pay him to work only with me. He said I could do Shakespeare. I'll make him prove it. That will give me the basics Olivier wanted. Then I'll go to Olivier for the help he promised. And I'll pay whatever he wants. Then I'll produce and act in the Marilyn Monroe Shakespeare Film Festival which will put his major plays on film. I'll need you to keep me together for a year or more. I'll pay you to be your only patient. Oh, I made you another present. I have thrown all my ... pills in the toilet. You see how serious I am about this. I've read all of Shakespeare and practiced a lot of lines. I won't have to worry about the scripts. I'll have the greatest script writer who ever lived working for me and I don't have to pay him. Oh, Monroe will have her hand in. I am going to do Juliet first. Don't laugh. What with what make-up, costume and camera can do, my acting will create a Juliet who is 14, an innocent virgin, but whose budding womanhood is fantastically sexy. I've some wonderful ideas for Lady Macbeth and Queen Gertrude. I feel certain I'll win an Oscar for one or more of my Shakespearean women.

She ends:

“What is amazing is I solved my problem just through the free associating I did for you. ...
Well, that's something for you to sleep on, Doctor.
Good Night.”

Read the accompanying stories here. and here.

Paltry purses for Women skateboarders

While one of the best female skateboarders Cara-Beth Burnside earned $2,000 for her victory, Pierre-Luc Gagnon won $50,000 for winning men's skateboarding vert. That's according to a story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
The North County Times wrote the story a few days earlier here.

Las Vegas 100 murals

Las Vegas is keeping its artists busy for a change, commissioning 100 murals throughout the city. Neat idea. Here are some of the works.

On Monday, Las Vegas artist Jerry Misko gets a turn to unveil his mural titled "Chase" at the Cashman Center. Misko, co-owner of Dust Gallery in the Arts District, mostly focuses on neon signs. The acrylic mural is about 80-feet long by 7-feet high and was inspired by the neon signs stored in the adjacent Neon Museum Boneyard.

The Boneyard, one of the many things that make Vegas interesting, is a resting place for the city's old neon signs such as the famous Silver Slipper that used to sit atop the sign at the Silver Slipper hotel.



It is open for tours Tues. through Friday. I knew i forgot to do something in Vegas. Check out some of the restored signs here.
This site has more on Vegas' fabulous signs.

Here's an interesting neon tidbit that not many know. When the University of Las Vegas Nevada put up its new dorms (yes, Las Vegas has a university), they decorated them with pink neon tubing. But the university quickly took it down. It was a bit gaudy, but soooooo Las Vegas.

John Frusciante assists Mars Volta

Dang it!
If you want to see John Frusciante these days, you got to see the Mars Volta.
This from the Rolling Stone:

System of a Down have had an ambitious year, releasing Mezmerize -- the first of their two-part album Mezmerize/Hypnotize, which debuted at Number One -- and touring Europe, as well as playing a guerilla tour of small venues in nine U.S. cities. Considering their bombastic year, which culminates in the release of Hypnotize this fall, System's massive new tour is less of an arena-rock spectacle and more straight-up rock & roll.

Opening for System at the sold-out Long Beach Arena in California were fellow guitar-heavy, counter-culture rockers the Mars Volta, who provided a far more visual show with oversized psychedelic projections. Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez was in fine form after recovering from a stomach ailment that forced the band to cancel its European tour dates earlier this year. And while rumors of an onstage collaboration between Rodriguez-Lopez and System frontman Serj Tankian proved to be just that, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante surprised the audience by guesting on nearly the entire Mars Volta set.

Once System hit the stage, they powered through an hour and a half of material. Although they opened with cuts off of the latest album, the hard-hitting "B.Y.O.B." and "Revenga," System's set list featured several tracks off their eponymous 1998 debut and follow-up, 2001's Toxicity. In contrast to the Mars Volta's environment, System's set was sparse, save for a few plush rugs, minimal L.E.D. projections and a nice long row of Marshall amps. For such a big arena show, the stripped-down set seemed to underscore the sense that this band has nothing to prove.

Read the rest here
The Man

Let the XGames begin

Action sports turn into big money

Razorlight, Up All Night

Look out! This is a review I wrote that first appeared on Blogcritics.org

If you’re the type who likes to find good music before the rest of the crowd, better get to your favorite record shop for Razorlight’s debut CD Up All Night.

The London band is about to make a splash in the U.S., thanks to a car ad. The British hit “Golden Touch” is now prominently heard in a TV ad for the Honda Accord. But unlike the one-hit wonder of Dirty Vegas’ “Days Go By” made popular by a commercial for Mitsubishi, “Golden Touch” isn’t the only hit on this record.

Other bona fide hits include the title “Up All Night,” “Rip it Up,” “To the Sea,” “Rock and Roll Lies,” “Dalston” and “Leave me Alone.” A British friend introduced me to the band, already a smash in the U.K., by way of “Golden Touch” via email. The CD was released last October.

The whole darned CD is a rollicking good time. It's been called "brash garage rock." I would call it my Pacific Coast Highway jam… windows down, music cranked, driving along the coast of Cali. Zen. The CD also will do quite well in your iPod for morning runs or workouts.

This quartet of boyish-looking mates, all in their early 20s, also got some exposure at Live 8 and recently supported U2 in Sweden.

Up All Night is not heavy by any means. It’s Pop to the tenth. “Golden Touch,” for example, is about a beautiful girl who’s got some jealous friends:

But then all they know is how to put you down When you're there, they're your friend But then when you're not around They say, "Oh, she's changed" Oh we know what that means Well it means they're just jealous But they'll never do the things That they wish that they could do so well

“Rip it Up” simply commands: Get on the Dance Floor! Rip it up Girl. That’s what it’s there for!

Yes Sir.

On “Leave Me alone,” the first track, lead singer Johnny Borrell strikes out – screaming Just Leave Me Alone. And you know he's getting sweaty. The song starts with a gentle piano and then leads into one beat, then another on top of that and another on top of that. Three layered driving beats lead to a final question: “What part of that don’t you understand?” Leave Me Alone!

Rounding out the band is drummer Andy Burrows, who gets a major workout on the CD; Swede Björn Ågren on guitar and backing vocals and Carl Dalemo, bass and backing vocals, also from Sweden. Andy is the band’s second drummer. The first one left for “health differences.” Hope that’s not a sign of a quick shot to stardom for this band.

What’s bad about this CD you ask? Nothing really. But if I was being picky I’d say Razorlight likes to spell out words such as L-O-N-D-O-N and L-O-V-E, which reminds me of the Bay City Rollers -- S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night. In my best English accent, "it's a bit corny, but it works for the CD."

The band also ends virtually every song on a manic high but Johnny’s charming English accent and fierce vocals are magnetic. On “To the Sea” Johnny gets himself so worked up that it’s as though he’s crawling along the desert toward the watering hole. He cries out: to …. the ……. Sea taking his last gasps of air. Give that man a drink!

So soon, you might be hearing a catchy tune:

I know a girl with the golden touch She's got enough, she's got too much But I know, you wouldn't mind You could have it all if you wanted You could have it all if it mattered so much

When you do, you’ll see.

Funky Fresh Freddie's Fine Art is Fab

Okay. These paintings may not be the art you want to hang over your fireplace but FFF's would fit fine in your home office, the den, your very cool workplace, the garage, the playroom (do people still have playrooms?)
These works of art are by Funky Fresh Freddie. I think they rock. You can see more on his site but if you don't have an open mind, save yourself the trip. FFF is radical.

Jossip Gossip

My new favorite site... It has news (gossip) about the magazine industry. It's got the lowdown on Nadine Haobsh, the (former) beauty editor at Ladies Home Journal, who was blogging and apparently telling it like it is (or was) on the job, unbeknownst to her bosses. They know now. The NY Post broke the "story."
This from Nadine's site:

It would be an understatement to say that this was the weirdest week of my life. On Tuesday morning, I had a job I loved, a nice salary and was living in blissful oblivion. Flash forward to today, and I've given interviews to the New York Post, Fox 5 News and CNN (are you kidding me??), have a very, very big interview set for tomorrow (until it actually happens, my lips are zipped), have meetings this coming week with multiple book agents and—oh, yeah, that—am quickly approaching the poverty mark. 24/7 ramen: can't wait!

I say it was a publicity ploy (and a good one at that)!!! Nadine is trying to get a book published, now she's all over the news.
Let me say here that I don't and won't blog about my job and that I like my job, thank you very much.
Jossip also had the news today that Jane Pratt of Jane magazine is leaving the magazine she started in Sept. No word on why.

CD Baby

All I did was order a CD... CD Baby was efficient and funny.
Here is my confirmation:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Saturday, July 23rd.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!


Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music

Domino Harvey

An interesting -- and well-written -- story of a privileged girl trying to make her way through life, battling a drug addiction, working as a bounty hunter. Ultimately, you know how this one ends, her funeral was July 1, autopsy pending.
You have to register with the LA Times to read it but it's well worth it.

The Big Pharoah

I heard about this site on NPR today. Insight from Egypt's "The Big Pharoah"

Here's a quote from his site:

"I will tell you something that you ought to never forget. Write this statement on a piece of paper and stick it on your fridge: The sky is the limit with terrorists. If a terrorist in Baghdad found legitimacy in slaughtering over 20 kids who were receiving candy from US soldiers, then another terrorists will find his own "legitimacy" in attacking a target in Cairo, Riyadh, Paris, and London. Don't worry; they have a bag full of "legitimate motivations."

Oh, and while we're at it, yesterday our local newspaper wrote a story about the number of civilians dead in Iraq because of the war. I was surprised they wrote it -- Iraq Body Count's research team is made up of peace advocates. Turns out, Iraq Body Count put out a release and it was covered by the AP and several media outlets.

In short, about 24,000 Iraqi civilians are dead; 37% of those were killed by US-led forces, according to the report.

Here it is:

New analysis of civilian casualties in Iraq: Report unveils comprehensive details

"A Dossier on Civilian Casualties in Iraq, 2003-2005" is the first detailed account of all non-combatants reported killed or wounded during the first two years of the continuing conflict. The report, published by Iraq Body Count in association with Oxford Research Group, is based on comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005.
Findings include:
Who was killed?

* 24,865 civilians were reported killed in the first two years.
* Women and children accounted for almost 20% of all civilian deaths.
* Baghdad alone recorded almost half of all deaths.

When did they die?

* 30% of civilian deaths occurred during the invasion phase before 1 May 2003.
* Post-invasion, the number of civilians killed was almost twice as high in year two (11,351) as in year one (6,215).

Who did the killing?

* US-led forces killed 37% of civilian victims.
* Anti-occupation forces/insurgents killed 9% of civilian victims.
* Post-invasion criminal violence accounted for 36% of all deaths.
* Killings by anti-occupation forces, crime and unknown agents have shown a steady rise over the entire period.

What was the most lethal weaponry?

* Over half (53%) of all civilian deaths involved explosive devices.
* Air strikes caused most (64%) of the explosives deaths.
* Children were disproportionately affected by all explosive devices but most severely by air strikes and unexploded ordnance (including cluster bomblets).

How many were injured?

* At least 42,500 civilians were reported wounded.
* The invasion phase caused 41% of all reported injuries.
* Explosive weaponry caused a higher ratio of injuries to deaths than small arms.
* The highest wounded-to-death ratio incidents occurred during the invasion phase.

Who provided the information?

* Mortuary officials and medics were the most frequently cited witnesses.
* Three press agencies provided over one third of the reports used.
* Iraqi journalists are increasingly central to the reporting work.

Speaking today at the launch of the report in London, Professor John Sloboda, FBA, one of the report's authors said: "The ever-mounting Iraqi death toll is the forgotten cost of the decision to go to war in Iraq. On average, 34 ordinary Iraqis have met violent deaths every day since the invasion of March 2003. Our data show that no sector of Iraqi society has escaped. We sincerely hope that this research will help to inform decision-makers around the world about the real needs of the Iraqi people as they struggle to rebuild their country. It remains a matter of the gravest concern that, nearly two and half years on, neither the US nor the UK governments have begun to systematically measure the impact of their actions in terms of human lives destroyed."

huh?

The Boy Who Didn't Want to be King

This is a poem by Iva, who lives in Serbia and Montenegro. English is not her native language but you wouldn't know by reading it. I thought was beautiful and wanted to share it here.

By Iva
The Boy Who Didn't Want To Be The King

The boy who didn't want to be the king
Dug himself a well by the sea, jumped in it
And drank poison instead of water every day.
He replaced the big world for a nightmare,
Shadows and demons from the other side of his eyelids;
He was begging them to come, he wanted them to take him away.

Where is he?
He's about to die. No one can help him.
Maybe he won't make it until midnight.
What is he doing?
He's melting like snow. Disappearing.
Only the legend seems to be right.

Suddenly, he snapped out of it and he took a look around,
He was scratching the side of well with his nails and climbing up,
And he started breathing life every day.
He replaced the nightmare for a long road home,
The healing hands and friends who were coming back again,
He was begging them to come, for there was a way.

Where is he?
He's coming back. Taking deep breaths.
He's staring at the rainbow after the thunder.
What is he doing?
He's looking at dry branches getting leaves again.
There's life on this side and it's a wonder.

A wide smile, gleam in his eyes and energy,
The prodigal son from the past is an angel today,
And every day he's planting trees and shooting stars.
Wherever he goes, the storm is turning into a breeze,
Sorrow is disappearing and love is crashing the barricades,
And so, every day, he's saving another soul from behind the sadness bars.

Where is he?
He's doing miracles by the speed of light.
He's bringing dreams from the future.
What is he doing?
He's creating. For him, every day is a long jump, a diamond ring;
Yes, that's him, just right, the boy who didn't want to be the king.

Iva is a student and Web designer. You can visit her here

Danny Way Does China

This is from one of ochairball's readers: http://dannydoeschina.com/. You gotta watch these clips even if you hate skateboarding. The jumps are narrated in Chinese -- that's fun. Way is out of his mind.
There's also a Q&A on his site. Here's one of the questions that I'd for sure ask, and his answer:

Q: What are you thinking when you are standing at the top of a ramp before you begin your roll in?

How soon until I can get to the bottom of this thing?! Some people may not believe this, but I am not a fan of heights, and the sooner I can get down from the top in one piece, the better.

Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor learns he can write sober-- an interview from Dimple Records

He Hurt Himself Today
By Gary Graff
June 2005

It's been six years since Nine Inch Nails' last studio effort; suffice it to say, architect Trent Reznor didn't spend all of them making With Teeth. Much of the period after 1999's double album The Fragile was pretty bleak, in fact. Reznor-a Pennsylvania native who started recording under the Nine Inch Nails moniker in 1987-had gone through rehab to overcome substance abuse prior to that behemoth. It proved to be a stopgap measure.

"I wasn't ready to completely believe that I was an addict," Reznor reveals. "So The Fragile comes out, debuts at #1, and I feel that I'm cured, so I start having drinks. We immediately go on tour for a year, and it's the worst year of my life. I almost die several times. By the end of the tour, I come back utterly defeated, spirit broken, soul gone, hating myself. That lasted a couple more months until I finally had enough and did whatever it would take to get better or I was gonna die."

Reznor resolved to take time off in 2001 and returned to rehab with a new mission in mind. "I needed to figure out who I am, what my priorities are, what matters to me, and what doesn't," he explains. He would eventually change residences-from New Orleans to Los Angeles-and ditch his longtime manager and friend John Malm in an effort "to do everything on Earth I can do to stay healthy and get my brain out of the living hell that I'd put it in.

"It was the best move I think I've ever made," Reznor says now. "I spent a couple years learning, listening, realizing I'm not the smartest guy in the world and I'm not the only person in the world, that the world doesn't revolve around me. Maybe I do need other people. Other people actually can have good ideas. Maybe I do need love. Maybe I need help occasionally, and that's okay.

"Mostly I learned that my way wasn't working, so I needed to find a new one."

Reznor worked on music throughout that process of self-discovery, too, but his priority was healing, not recording. He dealt with not only his substance addictions but also their root causes, which included self-esteem alarmingly low for an artist with three multi-platinum albums and a reputation as a leading force in and beyond the industrial rock world.

"I hadn't ever realized how governed by fear I had been up to that point," he explains. "I could walk backstage at a show, into a party-for me-and feel like I don't belong there, or I wasn't good enough to be in that room.

"That had also crept into the studio and the music environment that I thought I was confident in. There was always a nagging self-doubt that was plaguing me."

By the time Reznor started writing in earnest for With Teeth in January 2004 he felt healthy-but there were different kinds of doubts. As he sings on the album, "I think I used to have a purpose/ Then again, it might have been a dream."

"I wasn't sure that I could do it," he explains. "I didn't know if I'd destroyed my brain or could write sober."

He didn't have to worry long. "I started with lyrics and ideas just poured out of me," Reznor recalls. "It was the most creative burst I've probably ever had in my life, and during that time I regained my confidence on a musical level."

With Teeth was written over a period of five months, Reznor says, during which he came up with about 50 concepts for songs, as well as a somewhat convoluted thematic thread for the album-"It had a number of pretentious elements to it," he acknowledges-that was eventually abandoned. Instead, he held on to the best ideas, some of which were recorded with chief Foo Fighter Dave Grohl on drums.

"It all kind of happened at once," Reznor says of the album. "It wasn't any one song that came out that I thought 'Hey, this is really good.' It was just a lot of ideas, and I'd prepared myself that no matter what I did, it was going to be okay and I'd just keep writing more until I was happy.

"When I thought about it, I'd never turned to drugs or alcohol or anything for inspiration. It was always just to try to not feel so bad."

Reznor still vents much of his tortured soul throughout With Teeth, but there are also moments of unconflicted happiness. And of new musical ambitions. The opening track, "All the Love in the World," begins with hushed, foreboding ambience and builds into soulful, almost gospel-style testifying over a buoyant piano pattern.

"I thought it was kind of daring, starting with a track that was probably the least like Nine Inch Nails, but it seemed like the right thing to do," Reznor says. "I realized that the ultimate criteria really should be what it always has been, which is do I like it, and is it great? Do I get goosebumps when I listen to it? Yes? Then, okay, that's what it is.

"I don't remember sessions going like that in the past. They seemed to be a lot more cerebral, a lot more chin-scratching and thinking and discussing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this was just a different feel. I like it a lot better now."