AOTW: mmhmm

I think that is what the album is titled. I am not quite sure really. I am doing this off the top of my head.

It is by the group Relient K. No it isn't a Christian rock album even though the group is/was (i don't know if they still are) a Christian rock band. This was their first album after making huge dough in the Christian scene (i really wonder how that niche works). They wanted to be bigger, so they got with one of those big music companies and release this, a mainstream pop rock album.

I don't think that they would mind me calling it a pop rock album, if they did they should open up their ears more because that's pretty much what you are going to hear. All of the song have a catchy upbeat drive. When you hear it it makes you feel good, it makes you want to sign along, remnants from their Christian rock past. For this many categorize them as the genre, Power pop.

Now realize that I have not listened to this album in over a year. I do not have an ipod to listen to them anymore, in fact I don't think I put that album on my ipod when it was alive. But the song are so catchy that I can still remember parts of it.

'I've be housing all this doubt
And insecurities
I've been trying to get out
You might be the death of me
Even though you don't show it
Your promise is not noticed
Because

I...I got to get out of here...'

I still remember the chorus to that song not really hard to remember, and I probably butchered it a bit, but that just shows how powerful lyrics can be when they are put together with rhythm.

Another song that I like is about thanking one of their girlfriend's ex-boyfriends because as one of the lines says something along the lines of owing it all to him, and the mistakes he made back then. I owe it all to my girl's ex-boyfriend. Oh yes, now I remember. Word spoken so true, in a very poppy, say no to heroin, fashion.

In all it's a pretty good album. Never hearing of them, and just scoping my local library, a great place for new music by the way, I checked it out and it was pretty good. Don't be scared about them being a Christian rock group, none of the songs have any direct message about god or the stereotypic I love god tracks, as this is suppose to be their breakout album. What they do sing about is happy upper music, none of that downer emo stuff.

Hmmhmm: so catchy, you have never listened to it and can still sing along.

The Giving Tree's stump is no more.

It's over. My ipod is dead.

At around the time of 4:00 PM April 24, 2009, after dropping it roughly thirty minutes earlier, the sound had shut down. Having played from it all day, my thoughts were that the align battery had no more calories to burn.

Once in the charger, the dreaded halt to the hard drive spin had sounded. Repeatedly, over and over, the motherboard had tried furiously to get the drive in to a normal rhythm, but to no avail. The cries from its mother go unnoticed. The hard drive lays dead.

December 25, 2004 - April 24, 2009
Last album played: Kaiser Chiefs' Angry Mob

Ipod
12/25/2004 - 4/24/2009
You should have been named youPod for the hours of committed service you provided to me.

May you rest peacefully slowly polluting the soil with lead, nickel, mercury, and cadmium which will one day enter the water supply were I will drink it continuing the cycle of life.

AOTW: Weezer's Red Album

This album is shit. And not shit in a good way. Shit as in bad. It is terrible. I want to think of this as just a bad dream, but every time I go through my mp3 player it's there, looking at me, laughing. Like a genital wort, it may be hidden from public view, you might want to forget about it, but you know it's there, and you hate it and more strongly you hate yourself and the person who gave it to you.

Before this album I considered Weezer to on my mount Rushmore of favorite bands. With albums like pinkerton and the blue album, there was much to love. These were masterpieces created from the creative mind of Rivers Cuomo. I have spent so many hours listening to these tracks, enjoying the language coming from my speakers.

They went on a hiatus then returned in 2001 with the green album. Though short at only twenty eight minutes long, in my view, it was pretty good. Not as great as pink or blue, but met my standards for a good album.

Later Weezer released Maladroit, and then Make Believe. I like Maladroit for the thrash (metal) like guitar ballads, quite off the norm for Weezer.

Make Believe was their return to emotional cries of pain. At this point I felt that they have rebounded, that they were on an upward swing. Make Believe was great, I liked it thoroughly.

Not many people agreed with my view. They thought Weezer is over, dead after '96, they said. I never believed this. I just denied, denied, and denied. But were this album came out, I couldn't deny it anymore. The band i was envious of, what i wanted to be like was gone.

I denied their fall off for so long. Now in hindsight, I see the reason for such a long denial. Many bands suffer for follow up albums declining in quality, but i loved Weezer's albums so much that i could not believe they would fall. I believed that a magnitude of creativity so great as Rivers could not be ran dry, but with the release of the red album, i now see that it is possible. Creativity can run out, it does degrade when you get older, and someday I will become dull and unimaginative.

So why is this aotw when it so horrible that i want to forgot about it? Maybe i am hopeful that Rivers or anyone from the group will read this and see the disappointment a fan has after hearing this album and i hope that they will disprove me, and show that creativity is forever.

The Red Album, the sound of a good friend dying.

Something

Today is thursday. I gots nothing, nothin at all. they keeps on kickin me, and I keeps on kickin back. There aint no metaphors in my statements, it be all literal. they always be kicking me. it hurts. I kick back cause thats the only way to relieve my pain, to give pain to them back. An eye for n'eye, there aint nothing that can't be solved.

I rather be in texas.

I got to do my taxes. Over my years of hearing late night comedy from Leno, Letterman and Conan, on this day they will always, without let down, make jokes on this day about the procrastinating taxpayers of this glorious country. They will repeat the jokes they said last year, the year before, and the year before that. Now it seems that I am in the company of these people who slept in.

I have no objection to pay them. Taxes pay for the services this country provides. Lots do, but taxes are like the honor system. In that we all must pay, for all of our protection. We will pay, and we do.

But in a situation where all people are working in collusion with each other, if they all do not pay taxes. No one can be harmed other then the government. The government can not arrest everyone. There is a limit to their immunity in the sense of freedoms. In this situation the country has no choice but to fail and what ensues is chaos in a land, now lawless.

(response question : but if all people are working in collusion with each other, do they really need government and laws?)

I am feeling hot right now. Not because of my tax situation, but because of the heat from this bus. Also because nothing heats me up more than a shower in a rush.

This is sweat dripping from my forehead. Not from a hard days work, but from the early mornings travel. It this foreshadowing? As the only thing to expect in life is death and taxes. It feels like hell in here.

AOTW: Robbers & Cowards

Album of the week:
Cold war kids - Robbers & Cowards

I don't know how I discovered them. I remember being at home, and finding a CD with the words written, 'Cold War Kid'. I don't know how it got there, I didn't download and burn it to a CD or anything. It just appeared, so I listened to it and now I am writing about it.

Now this album, I like. It's not of traditional rock or alternative. This album uses many off key melodies to produce a sound of chaos and disruption that works so terrifically with the songwriting while fusing it with vocal queues from what you would find in a gospel choir.

What is like about Robbers and Cowards is that it reminds you that problems and self destruction are common among all people. The first track on the album, 'We Used To Vacation' speaks a man's battles with alcohol addiction while trying to be a father.

My favorite song on the album is 'St. John'. Minimalist by today's standards, the group masterfully uses stomps and clamps while the signer whales a voice so remarkable you'd think he was working in a chain gang.

What makes a good album for me is the total collection of songs. They must all complement each other, in a way that you know it was thoughtfully selected in that particular order. That is the same reason I think songs on greatest hits albums do not sound as good as when they were on their original album. A good song is good also because of its supporting cast.

Robbers and Cowards has this quality. I need not hit the skip button once. I can listen to the albums without pause. All tracks have a place in delivering the experience to the listener.


Fyi, the Cold War Kids are playing at The Showbox at The Market on april 22, for anyone that wants to see them in person.

Hate is a very strong word

It seems that people love saying this phrase like they created it or something. Thinking that their so advanced and civil that they are incapable of hate. It's time to knock them off of their high horse. I give you five comebacks to the phrase 'hate is a very strong word'.

1. 'Well, I am a strong person'
The defiant/confrontational comeback.

2. 'Do you not hate the effects of drug addiction?'
The logical comeback.

3. 'I just hate evil'
The self-righteous/circular comeback.

4. 'I don't see it that way, I see hate as a strong combination of letters'
The sarcastic comeback.

5. 'Hate, strong? Aha that bitch could hardly bench 115'
The random broly comeback.

This is just to say

Did you think this was another poem spoof?

It was. I tried. But it seems that I can not be a genuine asshole. That or I just don't have the capacity to do those things. Either way you win mister William Williams, you won't be rolling where ever you are.

national poetry month is april

Do your best to describe everything in respect to a sunrise or sunset. Also make sure you tell everyone they're beautiful but not tell them explicitly.

Not long forgotten

Just when you think things are gone forever, they come back, scratched, scared, kicked and bruised.

As just posted, I had thought that my mp3 player had taken its final breath. But low and behold, as I was messing with it today, it showed signs of life.

What could only be explained most logically by divine intervention. When I pressed the central button this morning, the idyllic symbol had appeared. My mp3 player fell just short of its travel to the light. The god like symbol quickly vanished. Knowing what this meant, I took it to its charging base where it stands comatose but recuperating.

A world without music

Before this week had started I was thinking about a goal. It is a simple one, not one that would require me to do much. My goal was to listen to at least one new album per week. I was thinking, I have plenty of time for music. While traveling to school or work, I have plenty of time for this. Then something happened.

My mp3 player broke. People say that you don't really appreciate things until they're gone. I even say that at times, but what I'm feeling right now is not that. I kind of feel liberated, not needing to bring it with me every morning. I am sure this feeling will pass by the end of the week.

This Morning's Race

I had to run for the bus this morning. It was all set up for me. Today, Thursday is my workout day with only a single class as my obstacle. I climbed out of bed, made coffee, made a sandwich much like a McDonald 's filet o' fish. I watched as Steven Colbert satirizes a former Alaskan senator as a hero, brushed my teeth, looked at the clock and ran.

Already in my work out clothing, first I walk swiftly down the hill. As seconds ticked and ticked, my foot steps became larger and larger. Steps became leaps, then the leaps became an all out sprint. As I reach the crest of the hill, I see people waiting at the finishing line, I now know that the tape did not yet break.

I cruise in to the intersection, hit the button to stop my time, a new record. Green became red, hand becomes a man, and I walk across triumphant.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

How fitting, I don't post an entry on my blog's anniversary. The story of my life. A life that I, myself don't control. Controlled by a system of decisions that must be made in such a way that it satisfies a life not of mine, but of others. That's how life is for me. My desires must be put aside.

It wasn't that I was reluctant to do what I did on Saturday. It was necessary. We must do deeds that must be done.

Something New, AOTW

Album of the week:
Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

I decided to to make a weekly post for an album of the week. This way I can pre write posts for weeks ahead. The album must be somewhat relevant as for some reason I listened/listen to it.

For in initial week, I chose Dashboard Confessional's A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar. Released in 2003, the album is an emotional diary of love, life, and longing.

So in 2003 what was I doing? I found this album after I graduated from hs. I did like it at first? I remember not. I thought of it as the whining of a white college student with an acoustic guitar having way too much time on his hands.

Months later after the initial listening, I went back to it. Paying close attention to the lyrics I realized that what they were singing could be a representation of things I want to say but do not.

So it the actual album of good to listen to? I don't really pay that to the album. The only song I can list from the album is 'Hands Down', the first track off the album which is a good song, I do enjoy it. But after the first track ends I find myself zoning out and thinking of things and scenario through my life. Most of it sounds like the same song, whines from a frustrated young adult set to acoustic rhythm.

It is safe to say that this is most likely their best album. Not that their later albums are terrible, but they do not have that emotional delivery as 'A mark...' You can only be down for so long until you either kill yourself, or pick yourself back up.

Traveling Haiku's

Not a word was said
She looked at me, I, at her
And we both just knew

The car needs a jump
Truck pulls up and pops the hood
Crank, crank, crank, nothing

Sherif watches me
The glass acts as my shield
I pass him slowly

I called her 'tight jeans'
It's not because she wore them
But she made mine tight

Planes line side to side
They'll be going to places
I will never see

A girl studies math
Looks at the triangle there,
Laugh Pythagoras

Haiku's on the bus
Don't have any less meaning
Than ones in limos

Darn

Rhymes with yarn.

I wish I could update more offend. I don't feel busy but I am.

I kind of want to learn how to knit.