Post-Graduation Boredom.

Seriously, I thought this whole, “WOOO NOT HAVING TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL EVAAARRRR” thing would be fun.  It’s not.  It’s boring and lame.  Also still looking for a real job.  Freelance writing isn’t really cutting it right now.  The economy does seem to be improving, so that’s a plus.  However, I doubt I’ll be able to move up to Northern Virginia as I wanted to, at least until I can afford it.  Housing up there is fucking expensive.  So I’m thinking of going back to Fred Vegas, because it’s a bit cheaper and at least it’s closer to NoVA than I am here.  Again though, a job is needed.  FFFFFFUUUUU adulthood is lame.

My Bachelor of Arts is pretty awesome though.  I mean, it’s just sitting in a box right now, but some day I’ll display it or something.  Even if a history degree is borderline worthless.

I went on this quest to listen to every song in my iTunes library and I sort of hate myself for being such a music nerd now.  Seriously, I have over 12,000 songs.  On the other hand, I previously had 14,000 and this exercise is helping me to clean out my iTunes.  I had a lot of shit that people gave me, I listened to once, and then promptly forgot about it.  Honestly, if it doesn’t hold my attention enough for me to listen to it at least a few times or even simply remembering what the hell it is, there’s really no point in me keeping it.  I’m like a music hoarder, damn.

I really need to get back into playing guitar, because I sort of miss it.  As of right now XBox and job hunting are sort of ruling my life.  However there was something really pleasing about playing random Radiohead songs and the Super Mario Bros. theme.  Yeah, definitely need to pick one of my 3 guitars that are just sitting there back up.  Seriously even just typing that makes me sad.

Anyway.  Time to go back to doing…nothing.

An Open Letter to Justin Bieber Fans

Dear Bielebers or whatever you kids call yourselves,

You know, one day I was just like you guys.  Except back in my day, we had *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, BBMak and O-Town. 

Yes, back 13 years ago, when many of you were still but a wee infant, or even a fetus or a zygote, I was a squealing fan girl.  I had t-shirts, posters, CDs, the fucking *NSYNC marionettes and fruit snacks (oh yeah, they existed, my friends), everything.  I fought tooth and nail with bitches who dared to make fun of them.  Shit got real more than once, let me tell you.  Sure, I enjoyed some Radiohead or Incubus, but at that age I was far too young to fully appreciate their musicianship and it was usually placed in the “things I’ll put in my 3-CD stereo whilst I sleep” category.  Besides, did Thom Yorke or Brandon Boyd ever bust out some slick dance moves?  Well, Thom does some crazy ass dancing but that is beside my point.

I even had an *NSYNC fan site!  Friends, I’m telling you, it was fucking LEGIT.  Number 8 on a fan site listing on Geocities.  I was on like 5 webrings (do those even exist anymore?).  I learned guitar so I could learn to play these boy band songs and tabbed them out to put onto my website.  INTENSITY.  I breathed, ate, pissed, spat, cried boy bands, *NSYNC in particular.

Now you may ask, “But what did you do about the jerks on the Internet who were mean to them?”  Oh, I flamed.  I ranted.  I unleashed the fury of caps lock.  I compared them to the great men of decades and centuries past.  If I had known about my senior thesis topic back then, I would have compared them to Leonidas and his 300 Spartans without hesitation.

Then, something strange happened.  Radiohead and Incubus and others started to sound more appealing to me.  Perhaps I was turning into an emo kid (read: I was) or my music lessons were allowing me to hear the more intricate aspects of musicians who played actual instruments (not to diss people who don’t, because I listen to plenty who use primarily computer generated music).  I started listening to less and less boy band music until one day it appealed to me no more.  The marionettes were packed away into a box, the shirts were jammed into a far corner of my closet, posters were taken down, Geocities account was deleted (BTW, RIP Geocities, you were a great friend).

Looking back, it was strange to recall myself arguing that I would love *NSYNC “4EVA” and that I’d never stop liking their music.  I remembered talking about how they were the greatest people ever and how talented they were, and was a bit surprised that I had changed.  Now I was one of those people making fun of them, rolling my eyes at my past exploits or pretending that it had never happened at all.

So what does this have to do with Justin Bieber and you?  Well, I’m telling you all this because it will  happen to you.  Believe it or not, 97% of you will cease to care about Justin in 5 years.  I say this as someone who has been there.  All of these attempts to keep Justin on Twitter’s trending topics, to flame anyone who insults him, to declare yourself as his #1 fan will all be completely forgotten.

Am I saying you should stop being Justin Bieber fans?  Hell no, go and have your fun, be young and enjoy whatever you enjoy, and don’t let people take that away from you.  However, if you can, learn to not take everything so seriously.  Honestly, life is much more fun when you can poke fun at yourself and the things you enjoy.  I mean, I told my friend Em we should have a Radiohead party since we’re both big fans.  She replied, “Yeah!  We’ll sit in opposite corners of the room, and avoid making eye contact while Thom Yorke moans about how unloved he is.”  That’s fucking brilliant, my friends, brilliant.  I laughed so hard my ribs ached.  Poking fun at everyone and everything, particularly yourself and things that pertain to yourself, is so much less stressful than fighting everyone.  If you like it, fuck what everyone else thinks.

Hell, I still have my boy band albums on my iPod.  I still listen to it occasionally, mostly to reminisce and to laugh.  BBMak’s CD is still really good, in my opinion.  I mean, you can’t devote a good chunk of your adolescence to something and not still have a soft spot for it later on in life.  But understand that these pop star phenomena happen seemingly every 10 years.  Before *NSYNC and BSB, it was New Kids on the Block.  Before them, it was New Edition.  Before them, Jackson 5.  Before them, The Beatles.  Anyone who was an intense fan girl over these pop stars can probably attest to most of what I write in this post. 

However, don’t become like the Claymates or Glamberts (Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert fans, respectively).  These groups harm the object of their affection far more than they help.  The difference between them and you guys is that you guys are mostly young girls, and therefore it’s much more acceptable for you to lose your shit over a pop star.  No offense, but at the age most of you are it’s not like you have a hell of a lot of other stuff you have to think about and take care of.  You can afford to spend your time on it.  However, if you’re over 30 and dressing up like your favorite star, making t-shirts, arguing over the Internet about them, etc., that’s when it becomes very troublesome.  Please don’t become Frau fans.

Seriously, friends, enjoy it while it lasts.  Just don’t go overboard with it.

 

Yours,

Tinnerz

I am ridiculously sick of papers, so I’m writing about AI fans.

No seriously.  I feel like I’ve done nothing but write papers for the past two weeks.  I’m burned out.  My Anglo-Saxon art paper is total shit right now just because I cannot get it going, or get myself to care.  This is terrible.  Luckily these are only supposed to be rough drafts, because this shit is certainly rough.

Also, the posts on TopIdol about this woman named Holly (latest post here) are really fucking disturbing.  I know people, including myself, enjoy learning about the insane things people do and getting a good laugh out of it (because if I didn’t laugh I’d probably curl up into a ball in a corner and cry that people like this exist).  However, when you think about it, and read about women like this who are even more unstable than most, it really is cause for concern. 

For instance, this Holly stalks every woman seen with David Cook, calling them a bitch, whore, skank, etc.  Just because they are seen with him and happen to have a vagina.  Seriously, what the fuck.  Furthermore, this woman uses a shit ton of sockpuppet accounts to make it seem like there are more people involved in these shenanigans other than just her.  It’s obvious that they’re sockpuppets too, because the writing style is the same, the same spelling errors are made, and when she posts of TopIdol she doesn’t bother to change her IP address.  So basically it’s a woman, a ton of accounts on a message board she started, and a helluva lot of free time.

BUT WHY?  Does she think she’s trying to protect David Cook?  This is what it sounds like from one of her comments on TopIdol.  Can’t remember the exact quote, but it was something to the extent of “we’re trying to protect him from himself.”  That just raises more questions for me.  Why does this woman think that David Cook needs protection? (She’s probably insane.)  What is he doing that is hurting himself?  (Nothing.)  Does she really think there’s a “we” involved in this?  (I wouldn’t be surprised.)

This brings up more points about rabid fans, not just Holly.  Why do so many people get so emotionally attached to celebrities?  They don’t know them personally.  Do they just need something to latch onto, and something about a particular person appeals to them?  Are there issues in their own lives that they’re trying to escape from, and therefore try to live their lives vicariously through these stars?  I really just don’t understand.  Hell, even at my lowest point I was never like, “I MUST MAKE SURE RADIOHEAD IS SUCCESSFUL IN EVERYTHING THEY ARE REMOTELY INVOLVED IN.”  (Nevermind the fact that they’ve been successful for like, 17 years now with little help from me.)  Fuck, the only Radiohead merch I have other than their music is a poster.  I see pictures of women with every magazine Adam Lambert or Clay Aiken or David Cook ever appeared on, dolls they’ve made, t-shirts they’ve bought or made themselves, etc.  You can be a legit fan without completely losing your shit and dignity, people.

And another thing: why come the really off the wall people seem to be older women attached to American Idol contestants?  WTF.  In high school, and even now as a college senior, I only know a few people who actually give a shit about this show.  And those few usually forget about the show once it’s over, though they may still enjoy the music of one or two of the contestants.  Is it the personal light that the show puts on the contestants?  Does that make them more relatable to people who may need a connection such as that?  Still though, it’s not healthy.  This phenomenon also seems to have become more rampant in the past few years, with the exception of Clay Aiken.  Or maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.  I mean, I do feel like there is something happening culturally that affects this, because you can find insane fans of about anyone, but those that stick out the most seem to be AI fans.

But the age thing.  Completely baffling to me.  Why the fuck are so many of these women grown and often with families of their own?  And why are they spending so much time and energy on a celebrity instead of their families, who are right there and may actually need them?  I remember reading on VFTW or Idletard about a woman whose son who was becoming an alcoholic among other problems, blew up at her over her intense Clay Aiken fandom.  She seemed baffled as to why in her post.  It makes me wonder if his problems could have been amplified by the fact that she wasn’t paying much attention to him because she was busy scouring the Internet about Clay.  And many of the husbands have to feel like shit if they don’t like the same person or want to join the fandom.  How many more families are screwed up by this?  I tend to give younger fans a break, because we do tend to latch onto things more as we’re younger, but these obsessive like states usually don’t last too long.  Also, many of them become busy with school or other activities.  They don’t have families to support.  These older women should know better.

If I were a psychology major, this would be the most epic senior thesis ever.  There’s so much weird shit within these fandoms that it’s just mind-boggling.  I’ll probably never be able to understand.  I’ve never known anyone to be so obsessed with something (except maybe Ben and Halo, but he grew out of that 2 years ago because he finally realized that there are much better FPSs out there, thank God).  It’s like a whole different dimension of people for whom these activities are normal, and they cross over into whatever the fuck dimension I’m living in like some Stargate shit and give me epic mind fucks.  That is the only explanation I can come up with.  Stargate. 

Damn my mom completely ruined me for life with the Star Trek/Stargate/MST3K triforce.  Time for class.

Random thoughts of the day.

• Some guy was singing Bel Biv DeVoe's "Poison" outside of my window five minutes ago. And very well, I have to add. I am confused, intrigued, and a bit in love. Thank you, neighbor.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 on Legendary was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I feel slightly disappointed. Or maybe I'm just intensely skilled. Doubtful.
• John Winthrop made me want to pull my eyes out. I had to read a biography of him for one of my classes and holy sweet Moses, that was the most dry, grating thing I've ever experienced. Now the next time I hear someone say "a city on a hill" I'm going to become blind with rage.
• Took a test for my American South class. My test had 40 questions. There were supposed to be 50. My awesome professor, who I've had for 3 classes now, just graded what I had, so I got an A anyway. BOOSH.
• Found that everything is better if you listen to Dethklok whilst doing it. "Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle" is my normal coffee run song, but I didn't recognize the power of the Dethklok. Took the most brutal shower ever last night. Sort of hard to headbang while shaving my legs, and I can't recommend that part.
  
• A friend from high school committed suicide on Monday. Very, very strange. Definitely the last person I'd expect to do that. Hadn't talked to him in at least 3 years, but apparently it went downhill pretty fast. I've not been feeling very well for the past few days, and the emotions that it brought up just made it much worse. Right now I'm just depressed and ill. So many questions that no one can answer. Way too many emotions right now.
• Fall break starts tomorrow, which is good. However, I will be spending most of my time working on assignments so I don't even consider it a break. More like, "extended weekend."
• Reading around Idletard/Vote for the Worst, astounded that fantards still care about any of these contestants, especially Adam Lambert. I never hear a thing about American Idol anymore except when I go on those sites. It's a relief, but it's weird that people think he's a household name and going to be super successful or something. He probably has a better chance than most, but I wouldn't hold my breath. His rabidly insane fans will ruin whatever success he has anyway. The one person I know that actually keeps up with that shit was turned off of Lambert because some frauen kept harassing her about not being a "real fan" because she can maintain an objective view whilst liking someone. A slow clap to you, ladies.
• Apple tech support is awesome and it makes me angry that more companies do not have the same emphasis on customer service.
• Redskins didn't lose on Sunday. I wouldn't call what they did "winning." Jason Campbell made me sad that I own his jersey. Very close to selling it, because he looked fucking terrible. They apparently hired someone to help out the offense, but this guy also calls bingo, so I don't even know. Dan Snyder, I'm looking for employment opportunities when I graduate in May...
• Attempting to watch the news makes me angry and depressed. Already have clinical depression and a short temper, so I read HappyNews.com instead. Because fuck you, mass media.
• Speaking of which, I tried to take a survey about television the other day. It asked me what shows I'd watched in the past week. The only time I turned on the TV was to play video games. The 'x' in the corner of the window was clicked. I don't know if I've watched any TV in the past month.
  
• Trying to catch up with my friend Ben in Xbox Live gamerscore. Gamerscore gets you nothing, but I like swinging my e-penis around. Speaking of Ben, I need a power hug, stat.
  
• About to make myself filet mignon for dinner. Because fuck you, campus dining service. I actually eat healthier now that I make most of my own meals because I know that the meat will be properly cooked and the vegetables won't be smothered in fucking lard. Only in the south...
• Didn't realize how happy MST3K makes me until I watched it for the first time in a few weeks yesterday. Instantly brought my mood up. Thanks guys.
• iTunes is getting a major cleanup over break. I have 13,994 songs. This is a bit insane, and I bet a good bit of those are duplicates. Also I need to stop being a music whore.
• Dear God I really want that filet mignon. Bye.
  

Show Choir: Part of a Series on Bad Ideas

No, I'm not in a show choir. And if I had any desire to be in one, it would have died quickly tonight.

It's Family Weekend here, which means a bunch of performances and exhibitions of "OH LOOK, WE'RE TOTALLY NOT WASTING YOUR MONEY." My roomie from last year and another friend of ours are in orchestra and jazz band, respectively, and both were part of the big musical shindig tonight. I always go to these things because I am a former band geek, I support my friends, and I enjoy live music and I've never seen a bad concert from these guys. So I call up some more of our friends and we get ready to go.

"You realize that between the two, you'll have to sit through show choir, right?" I was told as we headed out into the rain.

A bit of background here: Last year, near the beginning of the term and when my roomie and I were still somewhat awkward around each other, she came in totally ROFL (she was actually on the floor at one point) about show choir. Whatever event she had gone to, she had experienced show choir and it was totally horrendous. According to eyewitness reports the men had on bright blue sparkly shirts and were trying to act ridiculously cool. Roomie and her friend had made the mistake of sitting in the front row and had to hide their faces in their programs because they were laughing so hard.

This year they're supposedly better than the trainwreck last year, but seeing how bad they were tonight I can't imagine it being worse. There were no bright blue sparkly shirts, which was thoroughly disappointing. The ladies had on shirts that had a bit of sequin action around the collar, but nothing completely absurd. The men were boring and just wearing all black. Wardrobe aside, the singing and dancing was absolutely god-awful.

First they did "I Believe" from Spring Awakening. The program said the song was written by Duncan Sheik and as a result I have "Barely Breathing" stuck in my head. Spring Awakening is actually supposed to be a pretty good show, but you wouldn't know it from this performance. It began with them just walking out, but doing what I call the Dance Walk where you step toe-first instead of heel-first. This went on for an entire minute. Then they stood there, with some people in the front sitting down and totally rocking some arm-shelves. Then a jazz box. Then some rainbow arm movements. What I'm getting at is that visually they might as well have just sat the fuck down because watching them wander around seemingly aimlessly was not doing it for me. It would have been nice if, since the dance aspect wasn't there, the singing was good, but it was not. The ladies weren't too bad, and only had a few times when they sounded off. The men, however, were a hot mess. I kept wishing they'd find a key and stick to it, because it sounded like a bunch of cows in a field. But the key was never found, to my bemusement. Finally the song was over, which was good because my ribs were aching already.

Next, "Sing, Sing, Sing." They tried to do swing moves. I was sitting with other swing kids. We cried together. It was an affront to all that is swing. Swing is supposed to be goofy, I know, but goddamn there's a difference between hamming it up and throwing away your dignity. Fuck, you guys. I cut them a bit of slack on the singing, seeing as to how they actually were moving in this song. They of course sounded winded and were dropping out all over the place, which I sort of expect, but you would think that with practice they'd get a bit more used to it. Again, I was too dismayed at the dancing to really pay attention to the singing.

Finally, "I Move On" from Chicago. Oddly enough I've never seen Chicago, and I've done two routines to music from it. Probably should fix that at some point. Anyway, the solo girl was clearly the glue that held this whole thing together. She was this tiny little black girl that had a surprisingly good voice. It was clear why she got the solo. However, some guy also got a solo, but it took me quite some time to figure out who the fuck was singing, since he wasn't prominently displayed like she was. Bad choreography, I think. He sounded like shit compared to her. The dancing was still terrible, so I started looking at the individual performers.

There were a few people who were seriously fucking into it, and then others who looked like they lost a bet and as a result had to join show choir. There was this really tall girl who already stood out, but insisted on making her moves really fucking huge. Close to her was this really short guy who looked like a creeper and threw his whole body into the routine like it was a life or death situation. Looking totally bored was a really tall, lanky black guy, and several brunette girls. Oddly enough, most of the people who were really into it were guys. You'd think that they'd be really concerned about their masculinity with something like this, because there is no way you can look cool doing this shit. I respect that they are comfortable with themselves enough to do this, because I am not.

I half expected some of the older people in the audience to enjoy some cheesy shit like this. However, the group of parents in front of me were laughing as hard as I was. Looking around I saw a healthy mixture of facial expressions: bemused confusion, straight up confusion, incredulous, horrified, totally bemused, laughter, and blank stares. I have never experienced that in any audience before. So I didn't feel so bad giggling uncontrollably, but I still tried to suppress it, just out of respect.

This being my first experience with a show choir of any sort, I had no idea what I was about to watch. I really cannot believe how haughty and arrogant they sounded after the show when we were waiting for our friends to meet up with us. I don't think it's possible to look good while doing that shit. Hell, in swing we know we look retarded and don't even try to pretend that shit is cool. And for the first time ever I honestly have to say that someone else is worse than us. Show choir is just a terrible idea in general. It's awkward to take songs that belong in the context of a full-blown theater show and just throwing in some random choreography. It's also pretty clear that the majority of these people are not dancers, and a good many aren't doing so great as singers either. Putting all of it together, it's only entertaining to the audience for all the wrong reasons.

OWWIE.

Dance shit is going to kill me over the next few weeks. In addition to my modern jazz class, which leaves my body aching like I got hit by a truck and my knees looking like this:

swing dance is getting fucking dangerous. Seriously, there are about 30 ways for me to die in this next routine we're doing. First I'm flying through the air, then I'm fucking plummeting to the floor and hoping my partner catches me by the hands or--in one really scary instance--my fucking neck. OH GOD. I may be agnostic but I have prayed more times this week to not die just yet.

So, Ben Folds concert next monday, the 30th. Expect my full review/fantardgasm sometime soon after. I gave roomie a few songs of his so that she'd get a feel for what to expect, and like I thought she would, she didn't get half of his lyrics. When I explained them, she was like "HOLY SHIT THAT'S CLEVER." Pretty much. Ben Folds is a clever motherfucker.

In Greek we're translating Homer's Iliad from the original Greek and SHIT'S SO FUCKING COOL. I don't think I've ever gotten this excited to do work. What can I say, it's a classic fucking text and I get to do my own translation. Goddamn it's so awesome. Except that Achilles and Agammemnon just need to stop bitching at each other and get shit done. Like some goddamn middle schoolers. And the gods fucking suck. Besides the storyline, the Greek language is just so fucking cool. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't translate well into English, so reading the original text is sometimes just mindblowing.

Enough of my nerdism. It's 1:30 AM and I'm getting silly-minded. Or even more so than usual.

----------------
Now playing: Motörhead - Damage Case

Music Quest!

----------------
Now playing: Animal Collective - Hey LightSo this summer I decided that I didn't like the fact that one band I listened to, The Receiving End of Sirens, had over 6,000 plays, far beyond the #2 Radiohead with about 3,000. (This was because TREOS' first album was the only thing that calmed me down in my 5-panic-attack-a-day era, and I listened to it anytime I had one and while I slept.) So I deleted all the play counts in my iTunage and my last.fm and just started the fuck over.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my iTunes library file decided to suicide by corrupting its data. Thus I had to start it over AGAIN, but this time all my quirkily-named playlists were gone as well. I stared blankly at the lifeless library, with over 8,000 songs, and realized I had to listen to EVERY SINGLE TRACK. Well, I didn't have to, but I'm going to. Also because some shit just got lost and I didn't realize I still had it, so it was a nice surprise. I've deleted some stuff, so I'm down to 7773 tracks, but I've got folders of stuff I haven't added yet because I want to get through some of the older shit first.

How much older shit? 6567 tracks, 21.7 days, 45.58 GB.

Ah, fuck.

Right now I'm getting through all my Animal Collective because I'm in that mood. Then maybe I'll tackle the 181 Radiohead songs. Or 198 Bjork songs. I also just go through shit by shuffling. But goddamn, this sucks. Why did my file have to annhilate itself? I had everything laid out so perfectly! At least my last.fm didn't die too, but shit still sucks.

If this happened to my OCD friend Ben, I can't even imagine the hilarity. He absolutely will not let me change tags on his iTunes, even if it's something like adding the second 'r' to "Blurry." He has a playlist for fucking everything. It is the most intense thing I've experienced, second only to Mark Gormley. THAT'S FUCKING INTENSE.

As I sit here thinking (and procrastinating from reading) I probably should go ahead and add all of that music just sitting there waiting for me and deal with it. I need to stop fucking downloading everything that peaks my interest anyway. It's what I get for being an elitist musical bastard, I suppose.

Good fucking night.


EDIT: Only added about 300 songs. I was expecting much worse.
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Now playing: animal collective - banshee beat

Animal Collective. Or as I know them, Holy Shit, This Is Awesome.

On this day of a new political era in the U.S., one needs the perfect new music to set the mood. My audio drug of choice? The new Animal Collective album, Merriweather Post Pavillion. Just stare at the artwork.


Have your eyes melted yet?

Regardless, I'm already calling this one of the best albums of 2009. Because I mean, who else is putting out an album that I care about? No one that I know of off the top of my head. And it's a proven fact* that the vast majority of the mainstream music is utter shit.

Anyway. "Brothersport," "My Girls," and "Summertime Clothes" are early favorites. This album also seems more accessible, and by that I mean it's not as far out there as some of the others. Sung Tongs is still my favorite album by Animal Collective, but I'd say MPP is a close second at the moment. Also, I will be playing nothing but these dudes all week. They just put a smile on my face everytime I hear them.

Work time. It's only the second week of school, I can't slack off this early in the semester.


*Fact proven by ME. Suck on it, fuckers.

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Now playing: Animal Collective - Slippi

Grammies.

The Grammy categories this year are shit. Therefore, I'm doing it MY way, using my handy iTunes.

Category 1- Record Of The Year
House of Cards - Radiohead
Smoke and Mirrors - The Receiving End of Sirens
Lay Me Back Down - Portugal. The Man
I, The Swan - The Sound of Animals Fighting
Gobbledigook - Sigur Rós

Category 2 - Album Of The Year
In Rainbows - Radiohead
The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi - The Receiving End of Sirens
Censored Colors - Portugal. The Man
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós
Third - Portishead

Category 3 - Song Of The Year
Gobbledigook - Sigur Rós
Mercy - Duffy
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Ilyena - The Mars Volta
House of Cards - Radiohead

Category 4 - Best New Artist
Duffy
Anthony Green
Black Tide
Danger Radio
Chris Sligh

Category 5 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Mercy - Duffy
And no one else.

Category 6 - Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Free Coffee - Ben Folds

Category 7 - Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Party Foul - Danger Radio
Ready, Set, Go - Tokio Hotel

Category 8 - Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds with Regina Spektor
And nothing else.

Category 11 - Best Pop Vocal Album
Rockferry - Duffy
We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things - Jason Mraz
Way to Normal - Ben Folds

Category 12 - Best Dance Recording
Harder Better Faster Stronger - Daft Punk (THIS WASN'T FROM THIS YEAR, IT'S FROM 2001, GRAMMY FUCKS, but Daft Punk is awesome so I'll leave it)
Black & Gold - Sam Sparro
Creator - Santogold

Category 15 - Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
The entirety of Way to Normal - Ben Folds
Babygirl - Anthony Green
Theysay - Josiah Lemming

Category 16 - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
House Of Cards - Radiohead
Lay Me Back Down - Portugal. The Man
Smoke and Mirrors - The Receiving End of Sirens

Category 20 - Best Rock Song
House Of Cards - Radiohead
Shockwave - Black Tide

Category 21 - Best Rock Album
The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi - The Receiving End of Sirens
Censored Colors - Portugal. The Man
The Phantom on the Horizon - The Fall of Troy
The Bedlam in Goliath - The Mars Volta

Category 22 - Best Alternative Music Album
The Hawk is Howling - Mogwai
Attack & Release - The Black Keys
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós
The Ocean and the Sun - The Sound of Animals Fighting

Category 109 - Best Short Form Music Video
House Of Cards - Radiohead
Gobbledigook - Sigur Ros

Category 110 - Best Male Artist Tinnerz Would Totally Do
Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
Rufus Wainwright (if he were straight)
Anthony Green (Circa Survive, The Sound of Animals Fighting)
John Gourley (Portugal. The Man)
Jason Mraz

Category 111 - Worst Thing to Happen to Music
American Idol
Lil' Wayne
Camp Rock
The Jonas Fuckers--I mean, Brothers
Hannah Montana

Category 112 - Best Japanese Album
Zazen Boys 4 - Zazen Boys
Little Grace - Yasushi Yoshida
Uroboros - Dir en grey
Planet Pimp - SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS

Category 113 - Best Group Guaranteed to Confuse Anyone Within Earshot
SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS
Portugal. The Man
Flica
Yasushi Yoshida
The Sound of Animals Fighting

Category 114 - Best Album Cover
Way to Normal - Ben Folds
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós
Zazen Boys 4 - Zazen Boys
Planet Pimp - SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS

Category 115 - Lifetime Holy Shit, You're Awesome Award
Radiohead
Bjork
Ben Folds
Dir en grey



In attempting to put this list together, I've realized I've listened to very few albums from this year. I fail, and I apologize.

Random.

Today I feel random. I'm still sick, and the health center did absolutely nothing for me when I went yesterday. They were like "GOLLY GEE WILLACKERS, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'RE SICK!" No shit! I've only been coughing, sneezing, losing my voice, and headachey, I was sure I was just imagining things. Then my roomie and some of our friends were telling me horror stories of the health center. For instance, they told one girl she needed her tonsils removed. SHE DIDN'T HAVE TONSILS. In another case, our friend had been throwing up for three days and was unable to keep anything down. They asked her if she wanted an antacid.

College healthcare. Not worth a damn thing.

In other news, RADIOHEAD. New video for my favorite song off of In Rainbows.

hello my mind is not functioning at the correct speed at the moment thanks to being in Tokyo but however and here is one of my favourite video things that has ever happened for Reckoner it is, the result of somebody entering a competition to make an animation to one of the tunes on IN RAINbows. on aniboom. you can scroll down dead air space and find all about it.. but anyway

so we asked them whether it was ok to make it the official one we use as it goes with the song so well. they said yes.

and if you're like me and find it hard to find videos on televsion any more, or even turn on the television you can watch right here.

ok now im going to fold some clothes.

Thom

Check out this video: Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon



That Thom Yorke is a silly bitch.

Also, I found some other hilarity on the Intarwebs yesterday while I was moping around feeling sorry for my fail self and eating Wheat Thins (those fuckers are addictive, and they may help reduce the risk of heart disease, FUCK YEAH EVEN THOUGH THAT'S PROBABLY NOT TRUE).


The last one made me laugh so hard sent myself into a coughing fit and nearly vomited. I loved Pinky and the Brain during elementary school, and they were one of the best parts of the Animaniacs, which remains one of my favorite shows. But that's for another post.

And my last exciting news: I'm almost finished with my sweater! YAAAAYY! Except that I'm totally about to run out of yarn. Booooo. It's retarded too, because I only have 11 more rows to do. And I'm going to have to buy an entire skein for (my estimate) 6 rows. Shitsux.

Oh, and our school is having Rocktoberfest again this year. Last year they had illScarlett (whom I love dearly, and I got their autographs and photos taken with them. I also haven't listened to them in months. LOL), The Hint (cliche pop-rock, but not too bad, got pictures with the lead singer who looks freakishly like a friend of mine), and Plain White T's (who I liked before anyone else had heard of them, and then when I forgot about them they suddenly became famous). This year they have The Spill Canvas and The Cab, neither of whom I've heard of but I'm going anyway. The Spill Canvas sounds like it may be some whiny emo shit. Anyone heard of either band?

I'm going to go dance to The Who. Because I have nothing better to do at the moment. I haven't been in the mood for Persian War research, and I apologize.

Music that is severely underrated.

I was thinking about this topic earlier today when I was supposed to be reading Herodotus, and now that I need something to procrastinate from US labor history reading, I'm going to provide all 4 of my loyal readers with...


TINNERZ' ULTRA-AWESOME AND SOMEWHAT BAFFLING MUSIC LIST!!!!!!1!!1!!11
Anyway.

Blues Creation

70's Japanese hard blues rock? FUCK YEAH. This shit makes me dance like my inner whore. Besides, look at how fucking gnarly these dudes look. They could kick your ass and you'd be like, "Holy shit, I got my ass handed to me by some somewhat effeminate 70's Japanese blues rockers." And I have no idea what I'm talking about, so let's move on.

SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS

Sticking with Japan, we have these dudes. They're a jazz band. And they wail. One of their last.fm tags is "death jazz." Fuck yes. My fucking face melted the first time I heard them. Besides, when they have albums entitled "Pimpin" and "Pimp Master," you know you're in for some fucking awesome shit. And check out the cat in the middle. He's like an Asian Don Corleone. He'd wreck your shit.

The Black Keys

And now back to the grand ol' US of A. To Ohio, to be exact, where these two dudes are making the blues hot and spicy, Texas...no wait, I mean, Ohio style. At first I was like, "Wow, this black guy from the south is really good!" Then I realized it was two white guys from Ohio, and was even more impressed. I have serenaded my room mate more songs by The Black Keys than should ever be allowed. But that's what she gets for her goddamn Coldplay.

Portugal. The Man

HOLY GODDAMN I love me some P.TM. Every single album they've put out sounds different, but they still manage to be amazing. They can be all ambient and light, then sound slightly Motown-ish, then go electronic, then go folky AND IT ALL ROCKS MY FACE. It's like sex for the ears.

Free The Robots

Now I normally don't listen to rap or hip-hop. But this shit is good. The samples are amazing and totally unexpected. I swing dance to "Jazzhole" with my friends. It's so damn addictive and definitely gets my blood going. And because it's instrumental, I can study or read without stopping to sing along. I do, however, have to bust a move. Again, I apologize to my room mate.


Part 2 coming soon, as well as more Persian Wars battle history. It's time for work.

Two album reviews.

Portugal. The Man - Uncensored Colors
Best album of 2008.

The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and the Sun
Second best album of 2008.


Discuss.

Perfection.

So I love the band Portugal. The Man really hardcore. So when the lead singer John Gourley posted this on their Myspace, that love increased exponentially. A view of Sarah Palin from Alaskans. I'm reposting the blog in its entirety because it's just so gorgeous. Whether a blog post or a song, these dudes have a way with words.

Palin, Because We Don’t Need It

Here is a story from the younger pages of John Gourley (going by Johnny at the time)…
My first hunting trip.

All through my smaller years, from a boy through to a man, I have known true Alaskans. People who hunted for a living. By "a living" I should be sure to mean "for survival" or "as a necessity… Something along those lines… It was just a part of life growing up here in Alaska. People hunt, people work, people live, and fish and sleep and work and work and work and so on.

One of my earliest memories is also one of the most influential lessons of life in my later years. My first hunting trip.

I must have been around 6 or 7 at the time and the setting is Alaskan winter at my childhood home in the small town of Knik. My parents were both dogsled mushers* and we lived in a house powered by generator alone. (*purely out of the adventure and experience. Not necessarily our main form of travel… though there were some points in my life where it became our most available source of transportation.) Our nearest neighbors were a couple of miles away, give or take. This, again, is not needed in this story but only here for you to understand the place in which the story is set… We happened to be sitting in our living room when, outside our massive picture windows, we spot a moose. I will say, to a young boy, this animal was a giant. I can't honestly tell you in any way how large it actually was, but to my eyes there was and will be nothing bigger. My family and I were sitting around watching it mill about minding its nature and peeling bark from the young birch trees. After a few moments my father turns to me "Hey Johnny, you want to go hunting? You want to go get a moose?" My mind went running. I had never been hunting before. EVERYONE I knew had been hunting and hunted. They had gone out with their fathers and now it was my turn. I nodded my little head and ran to throw on my snowsuit while my dad went to get his gun.


We walked outside in the cold and the snow, him in his bunny boots and winter coat and myself waddling out like a small scale Michelin man to meet our Moose and our dinner for the next few months. I remember the snow being very deep. Realistically, a foot of snow was deep to a small child. For effect and in the spirit of adventure and Alaskan winters I will say it must've been the wildest winter I can remember. Meter upon meter of snow. The naked birch trees blending with the white now, leaving little blotches of black and grey at the knots and branches. There was our moose. We had run right into its path. Right where we wanted to be. My father crouches down to my already shrunken size "Are you ready Johnny? Should we get it?" I again nod my head. My father raises the barrel and looks through the scope. We were less than 20 yards away, if that. He pulls his head away from the scope and looks to me again. "Are you sure? Do you want me to shoot it?" This time I am confused. In my mind I am thinking, "Of course I want you to shoot it! We are hunting! This is what we do, isn't it? My friends have done it and I know you have as well! What are we waiting for?" But again, I nod. The nod was more out of fear of the moose hearing me. Normally I would have spoken my thoughts out loud. At the very least I would have questioned the hesitance. My dad looks through the barrel one last time. He turns off the safety and readies the rifle. He sights the moose and sits there for a moment. All the while I am looking from him to the moose then back to him then back to the moose. I hear the safety come back on and a turn back to see my father lowering the gun and resting it by his side. At this point I am about as confused as a small boy can be. Dad is looking at me and he says, "We're not going to get it." I ask him why. What he said has stuck with me throughout my entire life. "Because we don't need it." We simply stood up and walked back to the house, leaving the moose to its dinner of baby birch.
"Because we don't need it." Possibly the best lesson a man like this could have taught me. He moved up to Alaska in 1970, 2 years after he graduated. He lived in the deep woods in the mountains of Chase. He has run one of the most intense races in the world, The Iditarod, he worked as a potato farmer, lived off of 300$ for an entire year out in these woods… This man is as Alaskan as anyone I know. The lesson he handed to me was a respect of the world we live in. A respect for the animals we live with and the people we deal with. He has traveled around the state working in construction. Building homes for the people and buildings for companies and upon entering these small towns for work always insisted we hire within the community and support their way of life and living, despite what these companies felt to be the most economical. He has handed me so much, all of my family, really.

"Because we don't need it." My mother, Jennifer Gourley, is much the same. While my father was away working she would take care of our dogs and run the house. She would fix the generator when it would break down. She took us to baseball and hockey and gymnastics. She took on foster kids that needed help. Gave them good meals and a family setting. She volunteered as a firefighter when there were forest fires threatening the areas. When Big Lake and Knik were being evacuated. She has since, in the most recent years become a fire fighter, an ambulance driver, a rescue technician, part of the dive rescue team, and Willows firefighter of the year. She is a part of her community.

"Because we don't need it" was something that has been taught to me every day of my life through these amazing people and to watch Sarah Palin get so much attention based on what? 2 years as Governor of the State of Alaska? Or is it based on her time as the mayor of Wasilla? The town of 5,000 at the time.
"Because we don't need it."
We don't need drilling in some of our most beautiful and untouched land. We need to work towards options. We should be investing and working towards clean fuels. We don't need to be draining our planet of every last drop before moving on to the next. Sarah Palin disagrees
We needed votes to add the polar bear to the endangered species list. (I know, I know, that polar bear rug would really bring the room together!). Sarah Palin disagreed
We don't need aerial hunting… Again. We do NOT need this. I don't know of any true Alaskan that feels it is good sport to shoot an animal from a plane. Sarah Palin disagrees
We don't need book burners and censors. Sarah Palin pushed to get the librarian of Wasilla fired when certain books were not removed from the public library. Who else in history has banned books? Not very good company is it?
We don't need more debts. Palin spent 15 million on a new sports center in the valley, leaving the small town of Wasilla, Alaska in debt to the amount of 22 million. (That's 22 million more than the debt she took on when taking on this lovely playtime as mayor.) 15 million just for a new sports center.
We don't need family feuds interfering with duties. I know you feel your ex-brother-in-law was a dick… but trying to get him fired based on this may cause a little trouble. Sarah?
We don't need another vote against gay marriage. This is just standard every day equal rights being overlooked. Sarah Palin disagrees.

We don't need to overlook global warming. Science can now tell us "Yup. That is happening." Not my words, that is science speak. Sarah Palin disagrees.
We don't need a wolf in sheep's clothing… or a sheep in wolves clothing, depending on how you look at it. She has billed her self as this overly average "hockey mom" and it is just not what I see. I see the sport hunter, the censor, choice taker, the revelations reader, and the high school cheerleader. It is endlessly embarrassing to watch people fall all over this idea. This is not my Alaska. The Alaska I know.

What we do need is love and respect for one another and respect for the world we live in.

Long ass week.

So much to say!

Tuesday, my favorite band, The Receiving End of Sirens, broke up. I'm still in a state of shock and depression. Bitches were my anti-anxiety and anti-depressants when I needed them the most. I feel like their music was such a big part of my life, especially the last half of high school when I was really going downhill mentally, and while I was learning to deal with my anxiety problems. So while I'll still love them in whatever they do next, it feels sort of like a chapter of my life is over.

Wednesday, VFTW lost our awesome pick, Amanda Overmeyer. She seemed happy about it though, which is why I wasn't too upset. Plus I know she'll be fine with whatever she decides to do. However, American Idol totally blows now. Best season ever my ass.

I found out today that LiveJournal users are striking for some ridiculously retarded reasons. It reminds me once again of why I got rid of my LJ and the ridiculously stupid drama that the users create. "OH NOES I'M REMOVING U FROM MAH FRIENDS LIST BC U DON'T UPDATE ENOUGH." Seriously, I had that happen at least three times before I decided "screw all of them." Now they're all up in arms because of a technical difficulty ("oh noes I can't have 'slashfic' as one of my interests, PROTEST") and because they decided to get rid of basic accounts, which if I remember correctly were the free accounts without banner ads. Seriously though, LJ users are some of the biggest drama-llamas I've ever seen in my life.

People protested outside of my class last night, which was a lecture about Margaret Sanger, the woman who advocated birth control. These crazy douchebag Christian fundies tried to say that Sanger was a racist. The speaker completely shot down all of their statements, showing how most of the statements they were using were taken completely out of context or simply completely fabricated, and it was beautiful and completely epic. I lol'd so hard. After the lectures they allow the audience to ask questions, and the protestors had nothing to say. Absolutely hilarious.

I met my room mate for next year today and it's definitely going to work out really well. We like a lot of the same things and agree on pretty much everything, so it's going to be a fun year. I was a bit worried at first, but now I think it's pretty fantastic. So yay for that.

MST3K has really brought out the bad movie lover in me, so I'm on a quest to watch some of the most awful movies ever made. The hardest part is finding free copies of them online so I don't have to pay for that shit! Just a few of the movies I need to see: The Blob, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Starcrash. Starcrash basically because apparently it has David Hasslehoff IN SPACE. Like, holy shit. That has to be absolutely amazing.

So I just got caught up on LOST and holy shit, the Jin/Sun episode made me cry so hard. I partially blame PMS, but goddamn what a sad episode. Tore my ass up. It was beautifully done though, and I seriously loved it. That one and the Michael episode restored my love of this show, which you have to admit kind of went downhill in season 3. I'm glad it's picking back up and once again reminding me of how much I love this show and why I was so obsessive over it during the first 2 seasons.

I've decided that I need to order pizza online. LOL. I'm on my period and I really feel like just relaxing this weekend, as this week has been very long and very stressful for me. And I want to try out the online ordering, and I haven't consumed an entire pizza by myself in a long time. It's a good feeling. Haha.

Anyway. I really need to lay down, or something. Cramps really suck. I'm also going to watch some movies tonight, as my roommate is home this week for Easter. Violent movies can now commence! Later.

Radiohead fucking kicks ass.

So, my fandom for Radiohead increases everytime I listen to them now. I just got their new album (and yes I did buy it, giving them 7 U.S. dollars, although I would've given them more if I knew it would be this fucking gnarly) and I love it. Seriously, it's fantastic. I encourage everyone to buy it, or at least download it for free because it's amazing.

Someone on Digg.com gave this astoundingly awesome comment about Radiohead:

This is how I interpret Radiohead's albums and what they've meant with each release.

Pablo Honey - "Hello. We're Radiohead. This song is called Creep"
The Bends - "FUCK OFF, critics. We're not a one hit wonder, assholes. This album proves we're a million times better than that yet-to-come faggot Chris Martin"
Ok Computer - "FUCK OFF, mainstream rock. We're going to produce an electro-computerized-guitar-rock album that blows your fucking mind and sets off the alternative craze for generations to come."
Kid A - "FUCK OFF, commercial success and radio/mtv outlets. We're sick and tired of being so damn glamorized that this album will be so experimental and radio-unfriendly that we're hoping to shed off a bulk of our bullshit fans, and yet it will still kick major fucking ass."
Amensiac - (same as "Kid A" but part 2)
Hail to the Thief - "FUCK OFF, George Bush for stealing the elections. And fuck you if you thought we didn't have it in us to produce a more commercially sound album, again."
In Rainbows - "FUCK OFF, RIAA! This album kicks insane amounts of ass and you will not make a penny off of it, you dirty money-hording grimy lil' bastards."

And THAT, my friends, is why I have so much damn respect for Radiohead.

Pretty much sums up my feelings as well.

Anyway, I only have one class tomorrow, but I need to read a bit before then. Fall break is on Friday, and I'm stoked to go home and play with my gecko. Later.

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Now playing: Radiohead - House Of Cards
via FoxyTunes

Um, ouch?

So something bit my foot about 5 times last night. Seriously, what the fuck? Once is enough, maybe twice if you really hate me. But five freaking times on the same foot? Oh, great, and there's one on my other foot too. I am not tasty or nutritious! Stop trying to eat me! Probably a spider. Ew. (PROTIP: Tinnerz has arachnophobia.)

ANYWAY. This summer I've been reading a lot. So it's time for book reviews! Da da da DAAAA!

Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex
Okay, this book is the perfect book to read when I'm PMSing. It has love, family, self-discovery, everything a hormonal lady such as myself could want. It tells the story of the Stephanides family, narrated by Cal, who is a hermaphrodite and used to be known as Callie. It covers three generations of the family and explains how he came to be who he is now, and it's just absolutely beautiful. I was crying, laughing, scared, surprised...I think I went through every human emotion while reading this book. No wonder it won a Pulitzer Prize, it's fucking amazing. Easily one of the best books I've ever read, and quite possibly my new favorite.

Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
Another new favorite. It's about Amir, an Afghani who grew up wealthy, and his friendship with his servant, Hassan. The story, told over a quarter century, is so powerful that after I finished reading I could only sit there, staring at the wall and thinking to myself, "Motherfucker that was a good ass book." And I don't think that very often. I expected the political aspect of this book to get preachy (with the Taliban and the invading Russian forces and whatnot) but I was pleasantly surprised that it took a backseat to the real story, that of an undying friendship and redemption. Fucking excellent book.

Anyway.

I fixed an old laptop this week, GO ME. I fixed it really ghetto-like with scotch tape and cursing, but fixed it is. Basically I just wanted to get my SimCity 3000 disc out of it and read some of the hilarious Harry Potter fan fiction I had stored on there. It's awesomely bad. However, no one else will ever see that shit, because its just embarrassing. My stories are much better nowadays. Mostly because it's not Harry Potter fan fic. LOL. I can forgive myself though, I was only about 13.

Let's also talk about how Jeff Buckley is God. Call me blasphemous if you please, but Mr. Buckley was fucking awesome. How can you deny the brilliance of "So Real" or "Lover, You Should've Come Over" or "Grace" or his version of "Hallelujiah?" YOU CAN'T. BECAUSE HE'S GOD. If he were still alive today I'd be a total fantard. Hell, he'd probably rule over the known universe. He's that great.

Anyway. I'm going to finish eating my artery-clogging meal from Wendy's and play with people on VFTW. Adios.

----------------
Now playing: Jeff Buckley - Je n'en connais pas la fin
via FoxyTunes

New TREOS CD!!!!!!!

So...I got back from my tax-free shopping (THANKS, VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE!) yesterday to find that I had a package sitting on my desk. What was it? The brand new CD by The Receiving End of Sirens, my favorite band EVAR, three whole days before it actually is released. SCORE. So here is my review, and feel free to listen on their Myspace, since they put the whole album up there.

The Receiving End of Sirens: The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi
Well, I must first state that I have an emotional attachment to their first album, Between the Heart and the Synapse, because it is my musical Xanax. So it's hard to live up to that, and I'm not sure at the moment that I like this one as much as BTHATS. Regardless, it's a solid album, and sorta reminds me of Circa Survive and Saosin. They still have that TREOS sound, but it's only vaguely there, probably because Casey left and has his own band (The Dear Hunter) now. I think at the moment I'm still expecting to hear Casey's voice somewhere, but I just have to listen to TDH now. :( Anyway, I do like the sequencing on this album a lot. Also they use glockenspiels. Like, holy shit. Fuck the cowbell, MOAR GLOCKENSPIEL. Favorite songs so far are "Swallow People Whole," "The Salesman, The Husband, The Lover," "Saturnus" (which I had on my iPod and used to know as "Hemi"), "Wanderers," "The Heir of Empty Breath," and "Pale Blue Dot." Okay, so that's most of the album. So fuck it, I like this shit. LOL. GO BUY IT NOW. Or when it comes out on Tuesday.

And now, photographic love of this CD. Please ignore the Leopard Gecko who refused to move out of the way because he is a camera hog and for some reason likes TREOS.




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Now playing: Alexisonfire - A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Angeles
via FoxyTunes

Moar music reviews!

Bittorrent has been running madly this summer, and now I bring new music reviews! WOO.

Mika: Life In Cartoon Motion
I consider myself to be pretty open when it comes to music. I mean, let's take a gander at my iTunes library: I have everything from Tupac to The Fall of Troy to Kelly Clarkson to Igor Stravinsky. I cover it all, pretty much. So I figured, "Hey, this Mika guy sure is getting a lot of attention. Let's check it out." That decision was probably one of the worst in my life. Honestly, about 10 minutes into the album I wanted to throw myself into traffic. I like happy music, but not this fucking happy. My God, it was horrible. The best way I can convey the horrific sounds I experienced is by mentioning the fact that I had to switch quickly to The Receiving End of Sirens, which as I have mentioned before, is my anti-panic attack drug. Even the mere thought of this shit makes me feel nauseated. So I'm going to move on. If you want to try to listen to that shit, go ahead, but be warned. Mika should be sued for damages.

Portugal. The Man: Church Mouth
Ahhhhh...good music. Portugal The Man is one of those bands I wish I'd discovered sooner. I mean, damn, they're good. I compare it to waking up in the morning and finding that your significant other has made you breakfast in bed. Then you win the lottery. Then a chocolate truck overturns in front of your house and you get all the free chocolate you want. Then you have amazing sex with your significant other. THAT IS WHAT IT IS LIKE LISTENING TO THIS BAND. I can't even chose a favorite song because I've had it on repeat and I don't even know what each song is. I keep on saying, "DAMN this song is AWWWWSUMMM" but I think I'm said that about every song. LOL. So just buy it dammit.


And uh...yeah that's it. LOL. I wish I were less boring.

Music Reviews!

It's been a while since my last post, but not much has been going on. Basically, since I'm not working this summer, I've just been hanging out and doing menial things. I did make a Slytherin scarf because I am a serious nerd, and I wanted something to wear for the last book and the fifth movie in about a month, LOL. Hopefully I'll have pictures and stuff in a couple of days.

Since summer is usually when music I love comes out, and I've bought four albums since I've been home, I want to do a review of them. Drumroll please! First up...


Circa Survive - On Letting Go
Now, I don't think I can explain how much I love Circa Survive. I mean, good God. Don't be fooled by my last.fm charts, because I listen to the CDs, not necessarily on my computer. I think in actuality they overtook TREOS a long time ago! I was ecstatic to walk into Target one day with my mom and see it sitting on one of the music racks. My mother, being the loving mom she is and understanding how much of an audiophile I am (and also seeing that it was only $10, haha) got it for me. It was instantly love. Anthony Green's voice continues to be a gold mine, and yet again proves how much of a beast he is. I think some people will disagree with me, but I think that the band sounds fuller and more melodic than they did on "Juturna," and I like that. My personal favorites are "The Greatest Lie," "The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is in The Dose," "On Letting Go," and "Your Friends Are Gone." But those will probably change in a few days, because that's what usually happens to me.

The Fall of Troy - Manipulator
If possible, I love The Fall of Troy nearly as much as Circa Survive. They're probably the most metal band I listen to, and will probably be one of the few ones I can actually get into. They're so good at combining screaming with melodic choruses and intricate playing. This album is another "OMG it's at my local Target!" CD, and I'm sure glad that I decided to wait before ordering the CD online. The first thing I noticed about this album was that the guys seemed to have calmed down, or something. Amazingly, two of the songs, "Quarter Past" and "Caught Up" almost sound like a different band. They're hardly metal. And they're some of my favorite songs. It just shows that these guys are so versatile and can pull off basically anything they damn well please, and still sound kick ass while doing it. Favorites are "The Dark Trail," "Quarter Past," "Semi-Fiction," "Seattlantis," and "Caught Up."


Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Ahh, Maroon 5 takes me back to the days of eighth grade, when September 11th occurred, I was confused and even more of an obnoxious bitch than I am now. (Honestly, I don't understand why people put up with me back then. I was an atrocious 13 year old!) It was also the year when Maroon 5 started appearing on the scene, and I was one of the first to hear of them, thanks to my Internet music finding skills. I think they were the ones to help pull me out of the meaningless sludge that were boy bands. (I would credit Incubus, since I was a fan of theirs since about 6th grade, but I didn't completely let go of my teenybopperness until about 8th grade.) Then again, if you think about it, Maroon 5 is kinda like a boy band. Shit. Anyway, here I am 5 years later, about to be a sophmore in college, and a much kinder person, throwing back to the 80s with Maroon 5. Seriously, some of this sounds like late 80s-early 90s stuff. I mean, I was expecting a throwback to 2002, not to 1992. Regardless, it's still a fun album. Given that my musical tastes have changed so much over the 5 years that I started being a fan, I can't expect to like this album but so much. It's funny to me that I've had a demo version of "Can't Stop" on my iPod for about 3 years now. The newer version is a tad different, but I still like it. I think that song, along with "Makes Me Wonder," "Little of Your Time," and "Kiwi" are my favorites.


The Dear Hunter - Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading
Anyone who knows me knows the passion and the fierceness of my love for The Receiving End of Sirens. Their debut album, "Between the Heart and the Synapse" got me through heartbreak, the onset of my anxiety/panic disorder, and the pains of leaving high school and becoming an adult--all in the first year I had the album. Not to mention that when I sent them a heartfelt message on Myspace, they replied back. So when Casey left the band, I was devastated for a while. However, he continues making music with his new band The Dear Hunter, and dear GOD is it worth it. I think I'll always kind of think of TDH as an offshoot of TREOS though, since Casey's voice has always been the one that can move me the most. And on this album, it's definitely moving. The five songs that were on the demo album and redone on this one are still golden. The sad thing is, I can't choose favorites for this album because it's so amazing. I'm listening to it right now, and as I start to say, "I like this song" the next one comes on and I'm like, "Dammit I like this one too!" So I love the whole damn thing. It's a wonderful second part to "Act I," which even my parents liked, and that's saying a lot when my parents admit that they like something I listen to.


Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, and also now that I have wireless Internet so I can use my computer and not my parents' shitty one, I'll probably be blogging more throughout the summer. WOO. Check y'all later.