Only Bimbos Are Distracted by Shiny Things!

Sometimes you need to focus on truly important things!

Made this one for Terri about 2 weeks ago. Its interesting for me, because for once, the title of the caption came to me before I fleshed out the story. When I saw the photo, the title is what came right into my mind, and I knew I had something with a hook. Everything *IN* the picture is shiny or distracting so you know that the bimbo is going to be trapped.

Of course, what sort of person WOULD end up being trapped? I would think it would be most likely an overachiever that usually used their laser beam focus on winning, conquering, and doing it at ruthlessly as possible .. aka your typical businessman alpha male. You can picture that type just talking about women in a degrading fashion, and it wouldn't be out of place for that guy to say out loud, "Only bimbos are distracted by shiny things!"

Of course, that is one of the true ways to be hypnotized, through intense concentration. I think it is why I am not good at falling into trance, especially when its a pre-recorded bit. I can't sit still, and I can't focus on anything too much without wandering off to another topic. Most inductions are just paths that are made to get people to focus on mundane things and somehow misdirect you to focus on exactly what the hypnotist wants you to be thinking about, and then a series of goals they wish to implant. I tend to get behind all of that, because, "make sure to focus on your breathing, in .. and out, breathe in .. and out. Now let your mind drift to ... " dammit, now I am not breathing the way you wanted me too, lets see if I can get back to , "in .. and out." while the recording it prattling on about counting down from 100 to 1 .. and I only get there somewhere around 77, and by then they are giving you something else to do, and I hear a car door outside, and .. I am awake again! So far, the best I can do is possibly fall asleep but it definitely wasn't because the recording told me to do so!

I guess its why I'm better at running an office than I am at doing one specific job. I went to college for Computer Science (specifically programming, big shock eh?) but I don't think I'm made out for generating code 8-14 hours a day. I'd much rather put out "office fires"and keep things moving smoothly by accomplishing 78 different tasks each day, trying not to repeat any of them more than once, or it'll be old hat the second time around. Distractions make my life easier to live.

Anyway, I think the secret to success is to be able to pinpoint and refine a series of actions, and learn to do it better than most anyone else, and that takes focus!

While Iron Maiden's first 4 albums are very good to excellent, they never had complete focus until Powerslave, mostly due to a smattering of band members arriving and leaving, often at the same time. This CD is the first time they'd done two albums in a row with the same group of 5 members, and it shows how well entrenched they are and firing on all cylinders.  The same lineup also produced the double live recording, "Live After Death" on the World Slavery Tour after producing this CD, and I think its the best live album even made.

That being said, this CD does have a loose concept in that most of the songs seem to invoke an epic quest, whether to be the best warrior, fighter pilot, pharaoh, or sailor (Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner) and how perhaps we all fall short. It has a running time of 53 minutes and only 8 songs, so you know they pack in a bunch of dynamically exciting changes to keep the listener on the edge of their seat. Most album's have filler, but other than perhaps a bit of the slow part in ROTAM, everything feels essential and nothing feels forced. I can't think of another piece of music that seems so majestic!

Then in addition to the actual music, you get another wonderful Derek Riggs album cover and back side, which can takes months to decode. That makes it a wondrous desert island album because you can stare at it for a long time and then still find something you hadn't seen before.

And talk about commercial success. This album actually hit the top 40 in America. Back before there was such a thing as Soundscan, It was pretty unheard of for a metal album to have any sort of chart success. It was only a year before that Quiet Riot had hit number one, and that wasn't exactly the same sort of metal that this slab of beef was. If Iron Maiden hadn't put out this album, Metallica would've had at least a few more years of underground experience before they hit it big as well.

Trivia: Iron Maiden was played on the 1st hour of videos that MTV ever broadcast .. the 16th song played .. and the fitth act to have a second song broadcast (Rod Stewart, Reo Speedwagon, Pat Benetar, and Styx being the first four.) All told, they were played FIVE times within the first 200 videos ever played on Music Television.