GarageBand for Ipad is so impressive. It’s so realistic and so simple to use. Most MIDI software out there are crap ’cause they are challenging and difficult, but GarageBand seems real easy.

In GarageBand, you can create realistic notes and chords however you want them to sound, and it sounds like an actual band playing. I may soon finally get some tunes with drums & bass, and other instruments backing them up.

I keep my songwriting very simple & basic. So it wouldn’t be that difficult for me to be a one man band. I will record my real guitar and vocals into Garage band but the bass & drums would be MIDI.

It’s going to take a while to figure out GarageBand but I’ll get the hang of it. I know there is a way to hook up your guitar & mic into the Ipad, you need some kind of special cables for them. I’ll research into it.

GarageBand have been so popular with musicians for years and I can now see why. It is pretty incredible music software. Better than ProTools I must say.

Kev

I’m glad I had a change of heart with these gadget things. At first, I wasn’t all for them at all, but the Ipad grew on me. I’m becoming addicted to the thing pretty quickly.

I downloaded & installed, the Ibooks app, the Itunes Movie Trailers apps (that way I can keep up to date with the new movie trailers better, that what this is for), GarageBand app and the Shadowgun game app. I also bought and downloaded the Tony Iommi book, “Iron Man” for Ibooks, which I will read after I finish reading a different book I’m reading right now.

I’m VERY impressed with GarageBand. I know that software was very popular for Macintosh, and now it’s available for Ipad. The instruments sounds so real on GarageBand. Plus, I am able to hook up my guitar into the Ipad, but I’ll need to buy a separate Guitar Connect Cable. I can use the Ipad to record and make music with, band back up. For a long time now, I’ve been trying to find good MIDI software to create band back up, and GarageBand is the way to go. I tried, “Band in a Box”, and “Music Creator 5”, but those programs are not that great. “GarageBand” is perfect.

I’m a newbie to this Ipad thing and it’s going to take me a while to get the hang of it. It’s a very handy and useful tool.

As for “This Day In Music” for the blog, I never got around to that today, sorry, I’ll get back to it tomorrow. Just wanted to enjoy the day for myself, obviously.

Kev

…I’m gonna pig out and enjoy myself. Eat whatever I want and see, all day. It won’t hurt to have this once in a while.

The rest of the week though, I’m going to to get back to my strict nutrition and take it off at the gym.

Tonight, I’m having a lobster and other things. A lot of people like to have ham for Christmas dinner, but ham dinners are overrated. Lobster & sea food is the way to go.

Haven’t checked out my new Ipad yet. It’s the 1st Ipad, not the No. 2 that just came out, by the way. I’ll watch my Netflix stuff on my Ipad instead of the PS3 from now on, and I’m going to start buying books on it digitally too. I got to set everything up before I start to use it. I also wanted one so I can blog and facebook when I travel around. I’m late on the Apple gadgets but it’s good to get into it now.

Kev

Edit to add: Oh yeah, one last thing, as soon as I see “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and these new movies on DVD I still need to see, I’ll get right to work on the “Top 15 Best Films of 2011” list. The list should be coming later this week, so stay tuned all. My list may surprise some.

Merry Christmas to all blog readers.

To the longtime readers & supporters/fans, musicians as well, thanks for all the true support you gave me over the years, no matter what happened.

I got music plans for 2012, as I will be coming back with a new demo of originals. I think I’m gonna be keeping my Kev Brock name, ’cause obviously, I mostly well known with that name and people may have a hard time getting used to who I am if I released my stuff under my real birth name, so Kev Brock stays, I guess. I also have plans to get my Kev Brock name trademarked this year so I can have that name forever legally.

It was a good Christmas morning for me. Just got an Ipad as a gift this morning which is what I’m thrilled and excited to have. I’ve always wanted an Ipad for a long time and finally got one. It was quite a surprise, I didn’t think I would actually get it, ever. I also got a few movies on DVD (“Rise of the Planets of the Apes”, “Columbiana” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) and a few other little things.

Hope you’re all having a great Christmas this morning. The blog’s been kind of slow this weekend, spending time doing other things. Happy Holidays all!

Kev

There’s a lot of people starting campaigns on trying to fight, “Cyberbullying”. I know it’s mostly aimed at cyberbullies who make fun of gay people, which lead them to commit suicide. I think cyberbullying of any kind shouldn’t be allowed on the internet at all. Cyberbullying happens with people of all types, not just gays.

I don’t like people being a negative nancy around me. If you’ve noticed, on my blog and facebook, I try my best to be as positive as possible lately. I try to keep everything positive and family/friendly, I try not to be controversial. I’m strict on posting comments in both blog and facebook, because it’s my way of fighting bullying.

Why do people act like an asshole to others online? Usually when people are being nothing but a negative person online, it’s how they usually are in person, in the real world. It’s mostly young teenagers or people in their 20’s writing nasty shit to ya. If you’re getting adults around their 30’s – 50’s writing nasty stuff to ya, they are most likely to be drunks or stupid party animals with nothing better to do in their time.

I know friendly and kind people who actually care when I see them, and I do have people that actually care around me. I don’t fight cyberbullying just for myself, it’s to help others too.

Really though, I can’t blame other websites and message forums for trying to keep them a friendly place. Cyberbullying is on the rise, that’s why. There’s really nothing you can do to stop it. People think they can write nasty shit about ya all they want to ’cause they hide behind freedom of speech and most of them do it anonymously anyway. When you call them out, they think they can get away with it.

I agree that cyberbullying needs to come to an end. I want to be around happy and friendly people. That’s how I run my facebook. Life is short to be around too much negativity, I don’t have the time for it anymore. I’ll admit though, that some of the things I post up sometimes, I deserve the negative backlashes, but hey we’re not perfect, people make mistakes.

I see people in facebook posting up really negative status’s everyday. Look at my facebook page, it’s mostly nothing but positive postings. I don’t want to be remembered as a negative person. Facebook maybe a great way to rant about how you’re depressed or having a bad day but in reality it isn’t, a good idea.

Get the hint, cyberbullying isn’t welcome in my world. I don’t care who you are.

Kev

It seems like a lot of people want to write negative shit and not be supportive of me these days. A lot of times, I just can’t figure out why. Over the years, I’ve never said anything wrong or offensive. I’ve never committed a crime or anything like that. I never really understood the negativity I got over the years. I’m just a simple guy posting on my blog and enjoying life. Playing my guitar, and working out at the gym. I’ve been thinking about this and I’m beginning to figure it out. Like the title of this topic says, they all simply want to be like me and they can’t. People are just mad that I have a lot going on in life, ya know? That’s all it is really.

People have been getting mad at my web presence for years, so I’m pretty used to it. That goes for way back in the old Crumbs website back in the day. I never forget that stuff, I still remember it all like it was yesterday.

I really do think people are just jealous of me, a little bit. They’re just mad ’cause they know that my web presence is pretty popular. They’re mad because I play guitar and write my own music. When I started working out in the gym like a little over 3 years ago, the jealousy kicks in even more, by people making fun of my progress photos.

It’s not just the internet where people are jealous, and not supportive of the things I do in life. People around me in the real world, I get the same thing, everywhere I go. When people on the internet like other musicians and regular music fans, write about me in facebook, twitter or make videos talking about me in youtube, they know they have no reason to do what they do. They do it because they want to be me. When people say that there is nothing to be jealous about, it’s showing your jealousy even more.

With all this being said, I didn’t have to change my internet personality for anybody at all. This is how I am, as a person and human being. I won’t change. I only changed my internet personality a little bit, so I can avoid my blog getting shut down by people, that’s it. I will always be an honest guy and have my own opinions. If I have different opinions than yours, that won’t change either. So you can write all your hateful comments and pull your hair out all you want to, I will always be the same guy.

Although I must admit that some the things that people write about me, can be pretty hurtful, but I learn to get over it. I don’t care about haters, man. They can all jump off a building if they have to.

I’ve been living my life as positive as possible lately, and I’m feeling good. Life is good. Maybe that’s another reason they all come after me ’cause they know that my life is a good one.

Kev

Edit to add: This is why I’m strict on posting comments in this blog, youtube or where ever ’cause simply put, I have a lot of enemies out there. If I left the comments open where everyone at random can post, that would make them want to post hateful comments at me anonymously. I won’t tolerate that. Please try to understand why I’m strict on comment posting.

Every year on my blogs, I always do these Top Best of’s. Ya know, the “Best Movies of 2011” and “Best Music”. I will also do “Best Video Games of 2011” this year.

It’s too early to do that stuff ’cause there are still plenty of movies and music albums that I need to catch up on. The same with video games too.

I will do the “Best Movies” and “Best Music Albums” of 2011, sometime after Christmas. I will at least have them done before the New Year.

There are still a few upcoming movies that I need to see in theater like “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” movie coming out in Dec. I will wait to see those two movies first, then I’ll do the “Best Movies of 2011” list.

So far my favorite no. 1 movie of the year is “Immortals” but that opinion could change when I see “Dragon Tattoo” and “MI: 4”.

Kev

This blog was kind of slow today ’cause I got caught up playing “Batman: Arkham City”, most of my time. It’s already a great game. Better than the first one, “Arkham Asylum”, as I expected. “Arkham City” is more confusing and challenging though, but I’ll get the hang of it and figure things out as I go along.

In other news, some people may wonder when I will ever start writing and making music again. That’s what I’m hoping too. I wonder if I will even pick up a guitar and pen and notebook to start writing new originals again. Songs just come whenever they want to. I guess I haven’t got the motivation and inspiration yet.

So I just started learning cover songs again, hoping that will help get me out of that writers block.

I don’t pick no random release date to release new music like a lot of unsigned bands/artists do around here. I just release new music to the internet right after I write & record the song. Why? Because you’re just a local musician. It’s not like you’re signed to a label or anything, you can release music whenever you want to. I never had the rock star attitude ’cause I know this is just local music.

That’s how I’ve always released music over the years. Just write the songs, record ’em, and throw them out there, so I can get feedback on them. I don’t need to pick an album release date, that’s for people who are signed to big labels.

Just release the music whenever. If I wrote new songs earlier, I would have put up the songs right away but since I didn’t release new songs yet, that means I haven’t written anything. What you see, is what you get.

I’ll try to write some stuff during the Holidays.

Edit to add: On a side note, I plan to go to the movies tomorrow at the mall to check out, “Immortals” with Henry Cavill. I’ll review the film when I get home tomorrow evening.

Kev

Over the years, there have been a lot of people that talk negative shit about Los Angeles. A lot of people accuse the city of being nothing but business & fame. Part of that maybe true, but there is more to L.A., then just business & fame. There’s so much history in Los Angeles that a lot of people don’t realize. All the tourist attractions and landmarks in LA., were something and special, in my opinion. L.A. is not just all about money, you can do things for free.

A few things I can think of that you can do for free in L.A. is to go to the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Park Observatory, you can go to the beaches or you can take a walk through the Hollywood Blvd.

People complain about the traffic and the overcrowding, but yeah, that’s what you’re going to get when you go to a major city like that. People that live in L.A. are used to everything.

I actually enjoyed the Los Angeles visit. If I can ever afford it, I would even move there myself if I wanted to. I could, but the thing is, I don’t plan to move out of state. I’ll always be a NY’er. I’ll never leave my hometown behind. Other people would like to see me move out of the area and move on to bigger things but Greenwich is my home and always will be. I like L.A. and Hollywood, I would certainly go there again sometime in the future. Maybe next Fall in 2012?

I’ll have the L.A./Hollywood footage up this weekend. I didn’t feel like messing with that editing video stuff and wanted to do other things. Been trying to finish the “Dead Island” video game and catching up with some reading. I’ve been reading the “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.

Kev

People seem to enjoy using the internet to say whatever they want about me. People think they can use the internet to rip into me and make fun of me all they want to. Why do people think they can? Because they all claim they have “freedom of speech”. As long as they’re using my name publicly, it gives me the right to respond or to take some action. I usually ignore the negative critics and backlashes, but I only respond if they say things about me that is not even true. People seem to enjoy making nasty tabloids and rumors about me that are not even true. These guys are lucky I can’t afford a lawyer ’cause you betcha I would have settled all this in the court room with no problem.

One thing, people enjoy telling me is that they say I’m a “delusional” person. Maybe, that’s true. Maybe I am a little bit, but to be honest so are a lot of people online. I can sit here and name tons of people that are way more crazier and delusional than me. That includes a lot of bands & musicians out there who think who are rock stars, when they are just unsigned musicians.

Do I have a rock star like hairdo, put on eye liner, have my arms covered with tattoos and do I ever walk around, acting like I’m a talented person? No. I never had that kind of ego at all. There are too many people on here, who think they are so big & popular, like they are some kind of celebrity or something. I’m not a celebrity or a legend or whatever some want to call me.

I’m just a normal and regular human being. If people don’t want to treat me like one, I’m cool with that, but if you have something to say about me, why don’t you say it here, or you can say it to my face. You don’t really need to use the internet to write what you want about people.

I used to do it in the past in my blogs. I used to write about people however I wanted, ’cause I thought it was freedom of speech too, but I don’t do that anymore. I realized it was bad karma and it was getting me in trouble. I had to change the way I use the internet.

I respect people of all types. No matter who they are or what they look like as I said before. Making fun of people because they are different is just wrong and childish. When you do things like that, you’re still like a high school  teenager who forgot to grow up. This isn’t high school anymore. It’s the real world. I like to live a positive and good life and I try to keep it that way the best as possible.

Life is too short to be a negative person, you know. If that’s the kind of person, you want to be, then so be it. One day you’re gonna feel guilty about it. You might regret being a negative person. If you want to be that kind of person, that’s who you’re going to be looked at forever.

The things you guys write about me, think about it. If I saw you in person, do you think I’m going to be friendly and nice about it after something negative you wrote about me online? Hell no. If you weren’t friendly to me online, then I’m not going to be friendly to your face in person. I don’t forget about these things, guys. If I see you as an asshole online, then I’m going to see you as an asshole in person as well. Just something to think about.

So say and think what you want about me, be my guest. I’m not on here to please everyone, I’m always going to be the same guy. Just being me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a free country.

I do have some loyal supporters and true fans on here, so I thank them for their true support. At least they understand me. I’m done talking about myself now. Just wanted to rant about something to get off my chest.

Kev