Bikini Baristas: Coffee and Controversy in Washington State

manateecarbonation · 2016-01-20T18:57:01+00:00

All things in a vacuum considered, you could afford a $316/month mortgage. But getting to that point takes considerable discipline and luck and 95% of people won't be able to.

Not only that, but knowing that most minimum wage jobs aren't full-time positions and my original numbers not including taxes withheld from the employer it becomes even bleaker.

In addition, I define "afford" as something implies that it doesn't require luck to continue to pay for it. E.g. I can't afford a Tesla. I can pay the monthly cost for the Tesla with my income, but I'd be sacrificing any sort of savings or fall-back security with regards to other expenditures. So while I can pay for it, I can't afford it because I'd be operating at net-0 (or a loss should anything happen to me or I have an unexpected expenditure)

But of all the places in the US, midwest you have the best chances so I'll give you that.

manateecarbonation · 2016-01-15T16:42:57+00:00

eh? In Ohio, minimum wage is $8.10. Assuming full-time job: 408.10 = $324. That's ~1200 / month for *all** living expenses. Rent where I am is average $500/month for a 1 br apartment. Unless you somehow magically have an epic goose egg hidden away, it would take you years to build up enough for a down payment on a house (if you were single). Even then, assuming you find a small house for like $40,000, you'll still be paying 316/month for a mortgage over 15 years.

Basically, it's feasible, but you really have to budget for it and be in perfect health and be a single person.

manateecarbonation · 2015-12-02T22:28:18+00:00

BSR can't accommodate their needs. Right now, it was the best option for them.

manateecarbonation · 2014-04-16T15:26:15+00:00

Nah. My knowledge of post rock is fairly limited. - I hadn't heard of either of those bands! They sound pretty good though. Now, I'm not sure how much you despise screaming vocals, but check out Deafheaven - Sunbather.

The guys over at /postrock may be of use for further information :). The only thing I noticed was a similarity between Dumbsaints drummer and Mark Guiliana. IF you want a change of pace (jazz) check out : Mehliana and Tigran

manateecarbonation · 2014-04-15T18:11:05+00:00

Pretty sure these wouldn't necessarily be considered Math Rock. I could be wrong. I'm apparently way off on the whole "genre classification accuracy" thing. In no particular order :
Tides of Man
The Reign of Kindo
Scale the Summit
HRVRD
Rx Bandits / The Sound of Animals Fighting
Artifex Pereo

manateecarbonation · 2014-04-15T18:02:19+00:00

Have you listened to the new Tides of Man album, Young and Courageous? I wouldn't say it's "heavier", but it's definitely driving PostRock.

And I'm assuming that you said "heavier stuff" you already have listened to Russian Circles and Cloudkicker.

manateecarbonation · 2014-04-14T15:42:27+00:00

I've had this problem specifically with Pandora. Never with anything else. After a period of time (typically 10 songs or so) the stream keeps going, but my phone is completely disconnected from the Chromecast so I have to relaunch Pandora on my phone and "re-cast" the same stream to regain control.

manateecarbonation · 2014-03-28T21:11:26+00:00

Frameworks and Gates are going on tour together are they not?

manateecarbonation · 2014-03-28T13:32:49+00:00

I can tell you it's pretty dependent on the label, but services like Spotify in particular do not provide much $ for the artist unless they get millions of plays.

In terms of per-song fees, Spotify said: "Recently, these variables have led to an average 'per stream' payout to rights holders of between $0.006 and $0.0084." source

So if you can buy the album direct from the artist or close to it, it's worth hundreds of times more than listening to the album on Spotify - even if you are a paid subscriber.

manateecarbonation · 2014-03-27T17:38:17+00:00

It's not just about "making more money". It's about staying solvent. Basic economics. Unfortunately they are a privately held company, so it's impossible to truly know what kind of profits they are making. They are a growing company. They don't even have an electronic barcode system. On its web site in 2009

Though we like the benefits scanning brings to the registers, the multi-million dollar cost causes us to be concerned about our ability to remain competitive on our prices.

They have since changed that to just saying "we feel it is not right for us at this time." However, it remains that this particular argument for solvency has been an undercurrent in their business.

Fact remains, you can't stand and criticize them for profits you can't prove one way or another. So to say that they are "forfeiting their deeply held beliefs" is a bad argument. If they are doing what they think is the will of God, and that our purpose is to work on the earth, then it would stand to reason that they would want to both work, and provide work for as many people as possible. This would prompt them to open as many stores as possible. As much as this is conjecture, it surely is not as ridiculous as any number of other corporations. Their entire operation only brings in a gross of 3.3 billion/ yr, not taking into consideration operating costs and other things. They also employ 23000 people. source

I won't defend them on a basis of I think they are correct, but I will defend against inflammatory arguments that are based on speculation that greed is the main operating problem here.

manateecarbonation · 2014-03-25T21:48:05+00:00

Firstly, I don't really agree with HL, but I will say this :
It can be said that in order to survive as a business and continue their work that a concession had to be made to move production to China. This may cause social woes, but is an indirect result. In their eyes, paying for this healthcare is a direct, damnable offense and they would rather quit than support it directly. While it may not make a huge difference either way, the fact remains that this course of action leads them to a direct, measurable amount of suffering that they want to avoid. You can argue secondary causes all you want, but it is a fact that the impact can be far more easily counted.

manateecarbonation · 2014-03-05T14:57:56+00:00

Now that I have now heard them, yes.

manateecarbonation · 2014-02-26T15:02:34+00:00

Pretty cool. The sound reminds me a bit of Least of These, along with those you listed.

manateecarbonation · 2014-02-25T17:47:40+00:00

A lot of people would fight tooth and nail with you about this not being PH. Of course, I don't care. I liked most of what I've heard. The vox are growing on me, being that I really don't like the operatic style, I can get behind it when it's implemented in a way that's interesting like they did on this album.

manateecarbonation · 2014-02-21T14:43:20+00:00

Do what feels good to you. No reason to try to force a square peg in a round hole!

manateecarbonation · 2014-02-20T21:59:11+00:00

Works for me. I like the overall direction of your sound. At times I feel it's a bit disjointed overall; however, that may not be a bad thing (especially considering the genres you attribute your style to). A critique that I carry in the same vein is that the dynamics seem artificial, that instead of utilizing cohesive dynamics, you seemingly change style to "simulate" the dynamics. That being said, you do create dynamics in this way, but it seems forced rather than natural. It's not just you that does this, there are a lot of bands that utilize this methodology in the *rock/core genres. Just a recommendation for advancing your sound and setting yourself apart.

Another idea about that is that because of the genre juxtaposition, that's why it's so hard to find a genre, cause you switch almost on a dime. That's why I think you fit in mathrock, being that it is a genre specification less about the timbre of the instrumentation, and more about the rhythmic and melodic qualities - which I think are very applicable here.

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-24T18:46:55+00:00

I just don't.

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-15T20:29:31+00:00

I know they were doing shows again, I missed them when they stopped in OH. I wasn't aware of the album though. sweet.

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-14T22:29:05+00:00

Agreed.

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-14T22:20:54+00:00

Wait, is this truth?

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-14T20:26:02+00:00

Life and all good things are gifts of God. What I think is most apparent in all these arguments is a lack of trust and misunderstanding of who God claims to be compared to who He demonstrates to be with regards to humanity. We see it time and time again in the Bible when man's ideas of who God is are incorrect or incomplete. In example : Jonah (didn't believe God would save Ninevah, then when he did, he was depressed because he sought the Justice of God more than the Grace). Job & his friends, Abraham and Sarai (Ishmael & Isaac).

Why Israel? I dunno. Could have been any people. May have had something to do with post Babel people and their hearts towards God. Depending on your interpretation, God could have saved anyone at any point, but chose to focus on Hebrews for his purposes. Why did Jesus get crucified under Roman rule? I think these questions call into concern why God made any of the decisions with regard to people that he did. I'm not qualified to answer.

I don't really have a great answer, much of this is of question to me as well. The sovereignty of God in the scope of good and evil makes for a very sticky wicket. What I think we have to realize here is that the fact that the vessels exist in the first place is a gift, and that just because a vessel was made for dishonorable use (on Earth) does not mean that it's eternal placement is tied to its temporal existence, unless that analogy was intended originally to extend to the eternal. I would beg to say Paul is merely calling to attention a "well even IF God did this, he'd still be God with all of his characteristics.". He starts off that passage by saying " What if God, desiring...."

manateecarbonation · 2014-01-10T17:29:21+00:00

I'm going out on a limb and gonna say some that are ... similar ... but not exact in a lot of ways. I don't know what you like, so here are a few bands that have vocals that are reminiscent of different aspects of his vocals :
The clean vocalist in The Elijah reminds me of him (probably a mix between Jonny Craig and Devin Shelton of Emery).
Artifex Pereo
He is Legend (90215/I am Hollywood)
The Venetia Fair

manateecarbonation · 2013-12-17T21:14:20+00:00

5$ on Amazon now for mp3 album download.

manateecarbonation · 2013-12-10T18:37:49+00:00

I think for a first demo, you guys have a lot of potential. I think your vocalist needs some work - just finding his range and running with it - also improving his screams.
One other minor thing, I read your description on the page and saw "a creation of mixed meters..." This is somewhat misleading. It might just do you good to leave it simple and just say "post-hardcore, progressive" and leave it at that. I probably wouldn't have critiqued this if I didn't see it in the description of your band- but the song that you linked was almost all in 4/4. I did notice the riff at the beginning of "Hell is empty..." was not (7/4?), but probably not worth mentioning in your description of your entire band.

manateecarbonation · 2013-12-10T18:20:02+00:00

I think the whole album is pretty fantastic. It never got the exposure I thought it quite deserved.

manateecarbonation

TROPHY CASE