Just Waiting For LOST In Review January 31, 2008
Posted by Andrew in LOST, WGA strike.add a comment
Tonight, my favorite show comes back on. It’s been on break for like 8 or 9 months or so, but finally, LOST is back. I love this show. It has such a mystery side to it, like The Mars Volta does. I think I’m drawn to mysteries. The aspect of having to figure something out before it makes sense is really engaging to me.
Anyway, the WGA being on strike this year has really screwed LOST over. The original idea for the rest of LOST was this.
Season 1: 20 something episodes
Season 2: 20 something episodes
Season 3: 20 something episodes split into two halves with a hiatus in between
Season 4: 16 episode half season
Season 5: 16 episode half season
Season 6: 16 episode half season
And then LOST would be over. Tonight, season 4 begins. However, we aren’t going to be getting the 16 episode season that us LOST fans were waiting for. The WGA (Writers Guild of America, fyi) went on strike after only 8 episodes of season 4 were finished. And with no scripts, the producers couldn’t make any more episodes until the strike ended. So, as of now, we are getting a quarter season of LOST this year. Sucks, but hey, it’s still LOST.
Although, there’s a smidgen of hope left. If the WGA stops their picket lines within a few weeks, they may be able to write the rest of the season before our 8 episodes end, and we may get more LOST after all.
Support our writers!
What’s Going On? January 30, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, life.add a comment
I don’t have time to write a lot tonight so here’s a few exciting things happening right now that I’ll cover to a fuller extent later.
- I’m thinking about ideas for writing some kind of poem or prose or something to put up here later.
- I just got done with a 3 day public revival at the Palace Theate where I live. It was an amazing experience and I’ve been starting to read my bible daily again and I feel so much closer to God. It’s great.
- The Bedlam In Goliath came out on Tuesday, like I mentioned before. It’ll take a while for it to sink in, but I might eventually review it on here.
- LOST, my favorite show, comes back on to start it’s 4th season tomorrow. Really excited for this.
- I bought 3 of those CDs I mentioned a few blogs down a few days ago on the internet, and they come in Friday. Gonna be sweet.
I probably left something out, but that’s what’s going on. I’m out for now.
The Bedlam In GOLIATHHHH January 29, 2008
Posted by Andrew in the mars volta, walmart.1 comment so far
Today is a day that I’ve waited for ever since August, when it was announced. Today was the day that the new CD of my favorite band was released. The band? The Mars Volta. The album?
That Thing That Replaced The Handshake And The High Five January 27, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, handshake replacement.add a comment
You know, that thing where a dude like puts his hand out and you think you’re gonna shake his hand and then he starts doing all this crazy stuff with his thumb and you’re like woah man I don’t remember learning this secret handshake. It’s like half handshake half thumb wrestle. I’ll elaborate on this tomorrow, but for now I have to go. Eek.
Doing Your Homework January 26, 2008
Posted by Andrew in daft punk, music, queens of the stone age, review.add a comment
I consider myself a pretty big Daft Punk fan. Not a huge Daft Punk fan, but I have all their albums and I really like them. I finished my collection this Christmas when I got Homework, their debut (and most critically-acclaimed) album. I had high hopes, and for the most part, this album lived up to them, but there’s parts that really rub me the wrong way. I’m going to give a song-by-song review of Homework in this blog, so here’s the tracklist:
- “Daftendirekt” – 2:44
- “WDPK 83.7 FM” – 0:28
- “Revolution 909″ – 5:26
- “Da Funk” – 5:28
- “Phœnix” – 4:55
- “Fresh” – 4:03
- “Around The World” – 7:07
- “Rollin’ & Scratchin’” – 7:26
- “Teachers” – 2:52
- “High Fidelity” – 6:00
- “Rock’n Roll” – 7:32
- “Oh Yeah” – 2:00
- “Burnin’” – 6:53
- “Indo Silver Club” – 4:32
- “Alive” – 5:15
- “Funk Ad” – 0:50
The album starts off with “Daftendirekt,” a play on words from the phrase “Live And Direct,” and it fits. Daftendirekt was recorded live, and it was the intro song to a Daft Punk concert, and very suiting as being the intro song here. I have no idea what he’s saying there, but it’s a good loop. Very good intro to the record.
“WDPK 83.7 FM” is nothing more than a looped sample, but it segueways Daftendirekt very nicely into “Revolution 909.” On its own, I probably wouldn’t like this. But I’m a person that always listens to albums all the way through, so this is a really good transition. I have to give Daft Punk props for giving their songs really great names. They try and put their name in normal things. All radio station call numbers have to start with W. So they just took 3 recognizable letters from “Daft Punk” and put them after a W to make their own radio station. Genius.
The next song is “Revolution 909″ and I really like this song, mostly because of the concept. The song “Revolution 9″ by The Beatles was a huge collage of sound with subliminal messages in it, and the phrase “Paul is dead” being repeated during a recording of people talking. In this song, there’s a lot of noise that comes before the music of this song, and someone yells “suicide” tying in this song to Revolution 9. I like Daft Punk’s references to things. The music of this song is kind of repetitive, but it’s not overly repetitive and has a good sound to it.
“Da Funk,” the next song, uses the title as an excuse to put their name in the titles of songs again. They could’ve said “The Funk,” but isntead they said “Da Funk,” which is what you get if you take the T and the P out of “Daft Punk.” Subtle, but cool. The music in this song is some of the best on the album.
“Phoenix” is kind of a lull. The music is good, and it’s a good song to be playing in the background while you’re working or something, but not a song that I would just put on and jam to.
The next track, “Fresh,” is a lot like Phoenix, but Fresh is very soothing. There’s a sample of the tide coming in and out during the whole thing and the song is very ambient sounding. This is something I would listen to when I want to be relaxed. Not a good standalone song, but good in the context of the album after the rush of Da Funk and Phoenix.
“Around The World” is probably the best song on the album. It’s definitely the most “songful” song on the album. This is one of the sonly songs that I heard BEFORE I got Homework, and I’ve loved it ever since. Really really good song. Very trance-like, just like Fresh before it. The thing that Homework really excels at is making a good flow throughout the album. All the songs seem to be in the “right” order. It’s very fluid.
“Rollin’ & Scratchin’” is one of the two worst songs on the album. I can listen to Homework all the way through, but when I get to Rollin’ & Scratchin’, I almost turn it off. The song is very annoying and displeasing to the ear. It’s creative on how it only uses one note for very long periods of time with no variations, and proves that you CAN make a one note song. But Queens Of The Stone Age already made an amazing one-chord song “You’ve Got A Killer Scene There, Man…” and it really kicks the crud out of this song. I really do not like this song. The end.
“Teachers,” has a very Discovery-esque vocal loop going on in the background, and that’s what makes the song worthwhile for me. The song is Daft Punk paying homage to their inspiration and it consists of naming off DJ’s that got them into the house music scene. Like I said, the background vocals make this song good. When those aren’t going on, it’s a little annoying.
The next song on the record is “High Fidelity.” This is one of the highlights of the album for me because it uses the non-lyrical vocal loop style that was expanded on in Daft Punk’s next album, Discovery. This is a very creative and catchy song.
Next: “Rock & Roll.” This song matches the annoyingness of Rollin’ & Scratchin’. The entire song almost is this strange vinyl scratch noise that sounds like two balloons being rubbed together over and over. This song hurts my ears.
“Oh Yeah” is a song that lives up to it’s name. Almost all the lyrics are “oh yeah.” This is kind of a throwaway song. I don’t think it add anything to the CD, and it’s not a good standalone song either. This is kind of an “in between” song, where you can’t tell if it’s a good song or a bad song. It’s leaning more towards the bad song side, though.
“Burnin’” is an awesome party song. The bassline in this song is really great, it makes the song good for me. Enough said.
“Indo Silver Club” is very dancy, but not really fast enough to be danced to. This song is alright. This is kind of like a dancier, not as catchy version of Burnin’.
“Alive” is the album’s real closer. It’s mostly a collage of percussion and synth. In my opinion, Daft Punk aren’t good at closing albums. They always have really good beginnings, but they always lose steam at the end. This song just proves that point even further. Discovery had a bad ending, and the next album, Human After All, had an awful ending. This one is worse than Discovery’s ending, but not as bad as Human After All.
The technical album closer is “Funk Ad,” or as some like to call it, “knuF aD.” This “song” is just about a minute of Da Funk, played backwards, and it actually doesn’t sound bad. A fun ending, even if it wasn’t really an ending, just more of a last word.
After listening to Homework a lot, I think that it’s almost as good as Daft Punk’s second album, Discovery. It’s pretty close, but Homework has too much filler, where as Discovery is good (almost) all the way through. This is really what Daft Punk is all about though. Discovery is their “weird” album, really.
Score:
3 out of 4 or 7.2 out of 10
What I Am Planning On Spending My Money On (+ Teeth Are Strange Things) January 25, 2008
Posted by Andrew in money, music, observation, teeth, xbox 360.add a comment
I go to my “job” tomorrow, to allow the public to engorge themselves and increase the average weight of America as the snack guy. When you think about it, it’s depressing. I try not to. Instead, I think about what I’ll be buying this year with my income. My first year that I ran the concession stand I bought my current acoustic guitar, and the next year I used the money on a Wii. This year, Christmas was good to me. At first I was at a loss for what to use the money for, but I eventually got some ideas.
One idea was to buy and Xbox 360, which is something I haven’t wanted until recently when I played Bioshock and Rock Band. Then, I looked at the amount of money it costs. $350. Last year I made almost $350. And thinking about all the small things that I want to buy that I didn’t get for christmas, and I knew that if I bought a 360, then I wouldn’t get a chance to buy anything else.
So now my plan is to buy a lot of little things. Games, music, equiptment, things like that. I’ve been working on a list of things that I want to buy but I haven’t counted up the amount of money it will cost so a lot of it might have to come off. Here’s all the CD’s that I’m planning on buying.
Mirrored by Battles
Apollo 18 by They Might Be Giants
Think Tank by Blur
Emergency & I by The Dismemberment Plan
In/Casino/Out by At The Drive-In
Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
The Moon And Antarctica by Modest Mouse
S.C.I.E.N.C.E. by Incubus
The Love Below/Speakerboxxx by Outkast
The College Dropout by KanYe West
Roll On by The Living End
Renegades by Rage Against The Machine
Hopefully these will be a reality pretty soon. I’ll probably have to order a lot offline because music stores don’t stock things like The Dismemberment Plan and The Living End. I hate ordering offline though. You have to pay more, you have to wait longer, and you have to fill in a bunch of stuff, and you have to get mom and dad mad by asking for the credit card. I’d much rather buy things in FYE or somewhere.
+: Teeth Are Strange Things
I noticed while brushing my teeth today that teeth are odd. Today is the first day of my life when I’ve ever touched my teeth and said “wow, these feel like little rocks or something” instead of thinking “wow, these feel like my teeth.” Like they feel separate from myself. I don’t know what I’m saying. Good night.
What Am I Currently Annoyed With January 24, 2008
Posted by Andrew in andrew in latin, annoyance, blogging, laziness, music, myspace, sleep.add a comment
Right now my main annoyance is lazy people. Myself being a person who enjoys a good “doing nothing” from time to time, I may sound a little hypocritical towards myself saying this, but right now I’m just noticing that people are lazier than they should be allowed to be. I’m kind of lazy myself. I’m pretty lazy myself. But, I draw the line when my dad tells me to plug his computer in while sitting right next to the plug. That’s ridiculous.
On another note, I’m back from Travis’ house and I plan on going to bed at about 9 tonight to catch up on my Z’s after going to bed at about 11 for the last week or two. So this should be the last short blog for a while.
But, as an added bonus of reading this blog, here is a link to my music mySpace! Viola! I kind of gave this out yesterday but I never said that I had a few more songs up there. Regardless, go to my music mySpace and check it out.
Copyright 2008 To Washroom Studios January 23, 2008
Posted by Andrew in andrew in latin, cloverfield, computers, friends, music, recording.add a comment
Today was a fun day, because today is the day that me and my friend Travis made our own recording studio in a very small bathroom and actually wrote and recorded some decent songs.
The first song was all me, and it was called “Witch Doctor.” Technically, this song wasn’t recorded in Washroom Studios because I wasn’t exactly in the bathroom when I recorded it, but it was before we had the idea. But still, I wrote and recorded the song all sitting in one place, holding a guitar, having a keyboard in front of me, and a laptop to the side. (And relatively close to the bathroom) The song has a exotic sounding piano part going on in the background that’s all focused around one chord with some variations here and there, then some conga-esque drums kick in to give the song some rhythm. The solos that are over this background part are flute, keyboard-clav, and wah-wah guitar. (Everything but the guitar was made from the keyboard) It was only like a minute and a half, maybe two minutes, but it was fun to make and fun to play. Though I probably couldn’t play it again if I tried. These are always spur of the moment type of things.
Then, Travis came up with the “let’s make a recording studio in the bathroom” idea, so we got excited. The next song was supposed to be an all-Travis song, but we ended up collabo-ing because he needed some help and I wanted in on it. We decided to call the song “Faucetto” because of the environment we we’re in and because of some of the instruments we used. First, we made a drum loop and played that for about a minute and recorded it. This probably wasn’t a good idea because it was hard to work with anything else after recording the drums first. (In my opinion, you should record drums WHILE recording the main instrument, like I did with “Witch Doctor.” I recorded the piano and the drums at the same time.) Travis wanted to put some weird vocals like I did with my ambient Ben-collabo song (you’ll hear about this later), “Distended Tendencies.” So we were trying to make the wierdest vocal effects ever and found some amazing effects on his pedal board that made his beat-boxing sound like a nuclear bomb. It was awesome, so we ran with it. We ended up using tongue clicks over the drums and it sounded like a mad dripping faucet or something. We used the same effects on a running faucet in Travis’ bathtub to increase the effect; it sounded amazing. The coolest thing we recorded, though, was when Travis put effects on the microphone and rubbed the mic against his jeans and it sounded like a turntable scratch. Awesome. The, one thing remained: actual music. The first half of the song was all piano over all those effects that I told you about. Then, after all the effects ended, there was a keyboard rhythm part that went on for a bit by itself, and then guitar and drums kicked in and made a great coda to end the song with. Pretty sweet.
You can listen to “Witch Doctor” and “Faucetto” at my myspace music page, along with some old songs I made called “Real Grace,” “Retrogressive,” and a remake of a The Mars Volta song, which was once called “Cicatriz E.S.P.,” that I renamed as my own to “Cicatrix. Check them all out here:
http://www.myspace.com/andrewinlatin
Good night.
P.S.: I just watched Cloverfield again, and I stand by my score of 3.8 out of 4. Awesome movie.
iFoot January 22, 2008
Posted by Andrew in apple.add a comment
I’ve noticed that Apple products have become the kings of stating the obvious, with all of their Macintosh computers being called iMac, and also being shipped preloaded with all kinds of software with simple titles like iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, and the works. But why is it that their staple product, the iPod, makes no sense? I learned from taking a biology class last semester that Pod is the Latin word for “foot.” So why is it that you look at pictures in iPhoto, complile your music on iTunes, and listen to yout music on your iFoot? Makes no sense to me. Unless they mean “Pod” as in those big egg things that we’re in the 1998 Godzilla movie. In that case, perfect sense.
Sorry about the short blog today, I’ve been wanting to write about that for a while, but always had a lot more to write about. I’m at a friends house for the week, so expect short blogs like this for a while.
I Wish I Was A Little Bit Taller (Photos: III) January 21, 2008
Posted by Andrew in photography.add a comment
“needle me this”
“screech!!”
“perfect score of 500″
“(1, -15)”
“in the face”
“cloverhead”
“overhead”
“greatest cherry cola ever?”
“fresh air!”
“MAX 60 Watt”
Wingolias! January 20, 2008
Posted by Andrew in family, friends, music, school.add a comment
Today was the second real practice of my church’s praise band, I think it’s going really good. Our drummer and bass player have both only been playing their instruments for about a week, but they can both play pretty well already. So promising. I’m really stoked for finished products of our songs. I have some videos of us playing today, I might put them up, I might not, I’ll have to think about it.
But anyways. Today is sunday and tomorrow is MLK day, so I won’t be going to school until tuesday. But this is a special week because my parents are on vacation. So today and tomorrow I’m at my granny’s house just chilling and surfin’ the net and playing guitar and stuff. Then on tuesday I’m going to school and going home with my best friend Travis and staying with him until thursday and I’m dropping all my stuff off at his house tomorrow. Stuff = guitar, laptop, camera, etc. And we’re gonna jam and learn some two-man songs. Maybe try and get some kind of music project going. I dunno. I’ll let you know what turns out.
An Interesting Observation (Not) January 19, 2008
Posted by Andrew in brain anyerism, candy, life.add a comment
PART ONE OF THIS BLOG — 1/19/08 10:11 PM Central Time
Today while working at the ol’ concession stand, I noticed something that I should’ve noticed sometime in my life before right now. Look at this name.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
Now am I the only one who just noticed this? My whole life I thought it was a “Reeses Peanut Butter Cup” and that the name of the candy was Reeses (Pronounced Ree – sees), just like a Hershey is a Hershey or a Rolo is a Rolo. But now I come to realize that the name of the freaking candy is REESE’S, meaning its just some candy that some guy made up back in the 50’s or something and names it after himself. Like Zaxby’s or Puleo’s Grille. It’s like I’m taking crazy pills or something!
Which would mean that Reese, the creator of the candy doesn’t want us pronouncing it REE-SEES like I have for my entire life and everyone else in the world has for their entire life, but actually wants us to pronounce it REES-ES, because its the possessive form of the name Reese. It’s like my whole life has been a lie.
I’m going to do research on this Reese character.
PART TWO OF THIS BLOG — 1/19/08 10:24 P.M. Central Time
Wikipedia Article Explaining This Enigma
So, if you don’t feel the need to click that link (you know you want to), what went down was this. In 1879, Harry Burnett Reese was born (since when is Reese a last name? If Reese were my last name, I’d name my son Ross. Just a thought.), and started making candy in 1928. They weren’t called Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but called Penny Cups, because they sold for a penny each. (And I’m selling them for 75 cents. heh heh heh) They became known as Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups during World War II when they became distributed by none other than
MILTON SNAVELY HERSHEY!
So now the rest of my life is a lie. It’s not called a Hershey bar or a Hersheys Bar, its a Hershey’s Bar. My goodness.
I am making way too big of a deal out of this.
Insert Cloverfield Review Here January 18, 2008
Posted by Andrew in cloverfield, fantabulously stoked, movies, review.add a comment
1/18/08 5:21 P.M. Central Time
Currently, I am fantabulously stoked to go see Cloverfield in 2 hours. When I get back, I’m gonna write a review of it, because I seriously don’t know what to think of this movie other than I’m really excited. So, here goes.
[INSERT CLOVERFIELD REVIEW BELOW]
1/18/08 9:56 P.M. Central Time
I saw Cloverfield, and my impression is this. I loved it. I think Cloverfield is one of the most original and exciting and insane movies I have ever seen, and possibly one of my new favorites.
Think back to when you saw Transformers in the theatre and saw the primere of the “1_18_08″ trailer that didn’t give Cloverfield a name. When you saw that trailer, did you say “Oh my goodness I think I just wet myself” or did you say “What a gay movie! They didn’t even give me a name!”? If you answered yes to the first question, you are going to love Cloverfield just as much as you were hoping you were. It will live up to every expectation you have. If you answered yes to the second question, you’re probably too close-minded about the film already to like it.
For those of you who answered no to both of those questions and didn’t know what to think, I don’t think I can convince you one way or the other. This is a movie that I think you truly have to go to the theatre and watch it for yourself, on the big screen, surround sound, and knowing nothing about it, to decide for yourself whether or not you’re a fan. For those of you know who want to know what I think personally, here’s my spoiler-free review of the movie.
Cloverfield is the single movie that has made me turn to my pal in the theatre and say “holy crap” more times than any movie I have ever seen. Going into the theatre with a few ideas on what I think the monster could be, this movie just slapped me in the face so many times. It’s frightening, it’s exhilarating, it’s interesting, it’s intense. The entire stretch of the movie, you will be racing around in your head trying to get a grasp on what you think is really happening and what you think will happen next.
That’s kind of the effect that the combination of going to see it in the theatre and the home-video camera filming brings to the table. When you’re in that theatre and all you see is a huge screen with sound all around you making noises that are happening literally all around you, while all the time watching through the lens of someone’s home-video camera while they stumble, hide, and run for their lives, it’s a very vicarious feeling. You really feel like you are there, and everything that happens is happening to you.
Because of this effect, the movie has a lot of freak-out moments. For example, [light spoiler ahead] there’s a part of the movie where the camera-holder is getting rescued from New York, and gets in a military helicopter to escape. While flying away, he turns to look out the window, and sees the monster (no, I won’t tell you what it is) walking through New York, destroying things and doing things that monsters do, when a military missile flies through the air and creates a huge bowl of smoke, blocking all view of anything on screen. People in the helicopter cheer and curse with happiness while the camera shakes from clapping. Then, all of a sudden (you knew it wasn’t dead) the monster jumps out of the smoke and grazes the helicopter, sending it spinning down fast into the earth. This is really like 30 seconds of a roller coaster during this moment. You feel like you’re there. It’s amazing.
The downside of this is the fact that there are a few parts of the movie where the frantic-ness of the camera-holder can give you a headache or a stomachache, depending. With me, it wasn’t a big problem, but if you get motion sickness easily or if 3D movies hurt your eyes, you might want to be prepared. (Cloverfield is not in 3D, don’t worry. Just giving an example.)
[Spoilers are over, open your eyes] The story of the movie isn’t much to talk about, and the more interesting parts are shrouded in mystery to let you think about for yourself. Still, with all the excitement going on, you really don’t mind very much. Basically, [no spoilers here, don't worry] this guy named Rob is moving to Japan for a job offer he got, and his best friend Hudson (or Hud, as he’s called) is documenting his going away party and interviewing people about things they’d like to say to Rob before he leaves. Long story short, there’s some kind of freakish earthquake, the power goes in and out, everyone goes outside and sees things going crazy, fire falling from the sky, and things exploding.
The statue of liberty’s head gets knocked off and goes soaring into the middle of a street, and a huge monster starts rampaging over the city and giving birth to smaller creatures to completely annihilate New York for unknown reasons. Rob has to go save his best friend whom he hooked up with recently from a building on the other side of town, where she’s injured, to tell her how he feels about her before he leaves for Japan. And that’s the main premise of the movie. Simple, but the way it’s done is genius.
My only complaints about the movie are three things.
1: There were still lots of unanswered questions at the end of the movie. [spoilers below]
In pure J.J. Abrhams “LOST” style, at the end of the movie, you were satisfied, but then after you get in the car and drive away from the theatre, you think to yourself “oh wait, where did the smoke come from?” “why was the monster attacking in the first place?” and other questions
[spoilers over]
2: Watching the movie at home, on a DVD/Blu Ray/Whateveryouhave, the movie isn’t going to be near as good.
Cloverfield was amazing and shocking in a huge theatre sized screen where you were completely isolated from the rest of the world, and completely living the story of Cloverfield. The same can be said for almost any movie, but I think that home viewing will really detract from the amazing factor of Cloverfield.
3: I loved the ending. But most of the people in the theatre with me did NOT, and I heard quite a few choice words when it ended.
You’re either going to hate the ending or love it. Enough said.
My final thoughts are this: You must go see Cloverfield in the theatre while it’s still there. It’s quite the trip, and you feel like you’re very involved because of the filming technique.
Final word
Rating: 3.8 out of 4 or 9.5 out of 10
Me On Music, Piracy, And Support January 16, 2008
Posted by Andrew in life, morals, music, piracy.add a comment
I had a conversation today with someone about Limewire and illegal music downloads, and I don’t think he got my point. Edmonds (the guy I was talking to) said that all the music on his mp3 player was downloaded illegally. I have probably about a hundred or so single songs that I’ve downloaded from sites like dogpile.com and sonicx.com, but the thing is, for songs like that, I either am in two situations.
1: I’m downloading a single from an artist I’ve never heard before so I can see if I would enjoy their album, or
2: I only like one song by an artist and I don’t want to pay the price of 9.99 for just that song. And don’t even get me started on iTunes. 99 cents for about 2-4 minutes of music is ridiculous. And iTunes won’t even let you download songs that are any longer than that without buying the album, that’s greedy too.
But back to the point, yes, I will download single songs from time to time. There are plenty of songs I have on my iPod that have been downloaded illegally, like “The Answers” by Lemon Sun. Great song, but I don’t think I like their style of music enough to buy 9 dollars worth of their music. Money’s tight, you know?
But there’’s always those band, you know? Those bands who you love everything they put out and you just WANT to support them and pay for their albums so you can have the full experience of listening to their music. Your favorite bands. The bands that no matter how expensive CDs became, you’d still buy their stuff. Good examples of bands like this to me are:
The Mars Volta
Queens Of The Stone Age
Green Day
Incubus
Motion City Soundtrack
Gorillaz
The White Stripes
Wolfmother
Arctic Monkeys
And many more. But bands like that to me make CDs that I have to have the full package to fully enjoy. (Well, with the exception of Gorillaz, because I buy their albums digitally. A digital band goes hand in hand with digital albums.) I want bands like this to continue making music and to succeed, so I buy their stuff. Bands you really love you shouldn’t pirate.
I Really Don’t Have Time To Write A Blog Tonight January 15, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, time.add a comment
Even though I really want to. Sorry. See you tomorrow.
Ride Your Music January 14, 2008
Posted by Andrew in audiosurf, music, the mars volta.add a comment
Everyone within the sound of my typing, go Google, then download and play the free game AudioSurf. I haven’t played it myself yet because I’m in the middle of installing it while I type this, but from what I’ve read and seen, this looks wicked. You’re in like an F-Zero type ship, and you’re driving non-stop through an obstacle course type road, and you can put your own music as the soundtrack to the game. Depending on the beat and rhythm of the music, the obstacle course is different and harder. I really don’t know much else, but I’m really excited to play this. Check it out.
I wonder if the 32 minute track “Cassandra Gemini” by The Mars Volta is fair game? We’ll see soon enough.
Go With The Flow January 13, 2008
Posted by Andrew in music, queens of the stone age, singing, video games, youTube.add a comment
Okay, I said “Queens For The Stone Age” at the beginning. I realize this, and I hate myself for saying it. But they’re probably my second favorite band ever, so don’t worry ’bout it. Also, there we’re lots of subtitles and things that we’re explaining things through the song, but youTube has terrible quality and made them fuzzy looking to where you can’t read them.
File Types Are Gay And I’ll Tell You Why (Oh, And I Posted This Blog At Exactly 12:00 AM On The 12th, So Don’t Let The Date Fool You.) January 13, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, computers, filetypes, hatred, life, photography, queens of the stone age.add a comment
I hate different file types, and especially Apple for making the .MOV video file popular. No one has a mac. Okay, digital camera companies? Nobody. So don’t make your digital cameras take videos in freaking .MOV format, which is near impossible to get to edit on a Windows computer. Here is a chronicling of my epic journey to get videos on my blog every time I want to do it from now on.
1: I take the video, and the video is in .MOV format, unable to be changed on the camera itself.
2: I import the video into the My Videos folder, still as a .MOV
3: The first time I had to do this, I had to search for a good portion of my life to find a free, working converter that would change my .MOV movies to .ANYTHING_ELSE movies.
4: I then can use my .ANYTHING_ELSE movie file in Windows Movie Maker to add titles and edit the video.
5: Then I have to save it as a .WMMP or something project file.
6: Then I have to save that project file as a .WMV file, which FINALLY makes my video youTube friendly, but this video takes forever to save.
7: I upoload to youTube, normally an overnight process.
8: THEN my blog gets the video.
SCREW YOU, .MOV FILES! SCREW YOU!
I’ll be posting my Go With The Flow video tomorrow.
A Glow Of Cents/Sense (Not) January 11, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, family, friends, love, nervousness, party, poetry, queens of the stone age, video games.add a comment
So, I’m really sorry for not blogging yesterday. I guess I broke my all year streak that I was going for. But it really wasn’t my fault. My mom took my computer out of my room before I got a chance to write it, and it turned midnight before I got it back. So, no breaks. That kind of sucks. I’m gonna try and make this an every day thing, though, no exceptions.
Since I didn’t get to blog yesterday, I’ll make it up to you by sharing something more personal. This is probably a bad example to show my writing with, because this is the first time I’ve ever wrote something like this. It’s less poetry and more prose, but not 100% prose. Also, it won’t mean anything to you or translate over to other people well.. Just so you know, don’t try and figure out what it’s about, because it will only make sense to me. I promise. There’s some parts that might apply to life, but for the most part it’s just things that connected in my head at the time. I wrote this without thinking, really. Anyways, this “poem” is called Non-Stop Congeniality, and it’s about a touchy subject for me, I wrote it last night. That’s all you get.
Before I share my “poem,” though, I’m gonna go ahead and tell you what I’ll be writing either today or tomorrow. I went to my friend Michael’s birthday party, and someone brought rock band. (Sweet!) No drums, which was what I wanted, and I wasn’t gonna try guitar cause I suck at all guitar-based games even though I’m a pretty good guitar player, so I sang. It had “Go With The Flow” by Queens Of The Stone Age, one of my favorite bands, ever. They’re really great. But, anyway. I think I did a good job. We got a video of it, although it’s all of the screen. You can still hear me, though. I’m converting the video into a format that youTube will understand right now. So expect that soon. Here you go for today.
NON-STOP CONGENIALITY
by Andrew
I had misplaced my options and became
stuck with this road
I’ve said it before a hundred
times too low
the number written on my arm
will be giving me ghosts
as the red 3 a.m. throws it’s
off-white glow
all the notes that had broke
this promise switch to anew
a greatest miss, a greatest hit
a figure of you
my pen could never erase your
badly-drawn other half of self-portriat
currents run, though my shining
hint lays away from the flow
a water molecule to drench my head in
to break my bed in, to break my bread in
it’s such a long story to be told
through my glass of the future and the present
your arm by your side mocks
the boat doesn’t rock
the paper doesn’t fold, just contrasts
more bold ink down
down down down to the other side
of that perspective shot of
a guitar that I used to write our baby
a lullaby before it became yours
if I’m ranting I’ll stop
if it’s falling I’ll drop
anything for love
oh, anything, anything for love
I have watched the way that it has
gone for years
the feet fear to take
another feat of nature
beast of nature, a kind of lord of the flies
type of nature
carpet cold, story old
story told to your son to your son and your son
the eyes go plop when they chase the
vault, to those who drop
I’m sorry for wasting this page
but now the goldest of ages is dead
a cable cord to plug my voice in
a dead weight to close the empty space
in my arms with
would that risk losing you
untrue, a glow of interactivity
system for your pleasure
pick up the weather
move it someplace else because my
scribble scrabble dibble dabbles
all the way down the
punctured scary evidence
scary slash sad and a thank you
a hello a goodbye an adieu
a french word for tough luck chump
lucky cussing tongue for a few seconds
I’ll take it back and get a refund
when I’m done, oh how I’d refund
anything or love
oh, anything, anything for love
and it’s red
maybe blue
I love
School Is For Fools Pt. II January 9, 2008
Posted by Andrew in friends, fun, school, sickness, teachers.add a comment
Well, the first two days of school have come and passed, and let me tell you, those were some relaxing two days. In my first class, Spanish 2, all of our work is in-class. Sometimes it gets tough, but at least after 1 and a half hours it’s over and you don’t have to worry about it. (I know this because I had the same teacher for Spanish 1 last semester) My second class is photography, and I don’t know a whole lot about it. But what I’ve heard is that there’s not much work there either (I haven’t had any so far), and aside from that, photography is something that I really really like so if I ever do end up getting a lot to do in there, it’ll be great actually. Third period is Advanced Choir, which I recently got moved to being a bass from originally being a tenor. I’m a little upset because of that.. I CAN sing bass a lot better than I can sing tenor, basically because it’s just a lower tenor. There’s no “On Moonlight Bay” low croaking notes to sing. It’s just tenor that doesn’t strain your voice. On the other hand I can also sing tenor pretty well, but I like the minor challenge, and I like the idea of singing tenor more than bass. You don’t see many bass singers in rock bands, right? Also, I have more friends in the tenor section, and one guy in the basses just gets no my nerves a lot…jeez. Oh, well. I’m ranting. Great story about my fourth block class. Here goes.
Last semester I had Algebra 2, which wouldn’t have been nearly as hard if it wouldn’t have been for the teacher. Ms. Thompson is about 5 feet tall, has a heavy phillipino accent, can barely ever get her subject/verb agreement right (making her impossible to talk to) and has absolutely no respect for anyone else. No exaggerating. I promise. Anyway, one day I told her that my mom checked my homework for me, and that my homework was definitely right because my mom used to teach college-level calculus. She took that info to heart and for the rest of the year she thought my mom DID all my homework for me, and wasn’t afraid to let the class know her thoughts. Don’t get any ideas, my mom wouldn’t do my homework for me if I begged. All she did was explain the concept if I didn’t understand anything that Thompson said that day, and check it after I did everything else myself. I actually stood up to Ms. Thompson once, after her really ticking me off, but that’s another story.
But the thing was, everyone in her Algebra 2 class also had her for Honors Geometry next semester. Ouch. So, about half the class dropped out of that one. Their excuse on their class change form was “I don’t understand Ms. Thompson” or something like that, so the school board had to do something. What they did was switch Ms. Thompson to teaching regular Geometry and make the regular Geometry teacher teach Honors Geometry. Soooo… Anyone who had already dropped out of Honors to switch into regular Geometry to avoid Thompson was stuck with her again for another semester, in a class that will give you a lesser credit, and everyone who stayed got an easy teacher and an Honors class. Good deal, I say. I’m in Honors. I still laugh a little just thinking about the look on those kids faces when they saw their new schedule, though.
Oh, and my friends and I have a theory that our new Geometry teacher is a child molester. He just looks the type. Dunno.
I’ll talk about yesterday’s strange sickness sometime, I promise.
Sorry For This Excuse Of A Blog Today, Guys… January 8, 2008
Posted by Andrew in life, nervousness, sickness.add a comment
I’ve never been sick sheerly from being nervous, but I am right now. I’ll elaborate later. Have to go.
School Is For Fools January 7, 2008
Posted by Andrew in life, school.add a comment
I have to go back to school tomorrow, after a long winter break, but this also means that the new semester is beginning! The last semester that I survived was the hardest semester of school in my entire life, and I expect nothing else will be taking the title anytime soon. It was awful. My only semi-easy class was Spanish 1 last semester. And even that I got a “B” in. I’m expecting some “A”s this coming year. My schedule is this.
Spanish 2 (eh.)
Photography (ha!)
Advanced Choir (ha!)
Honors Geometry (eh.)
But there’s no “oh, no” moments, there. So that’s good. I should be breezing through.
A Dose Of Photography (Photos: I) January 6, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, photography.add a comment
I don’t have time to write a blog today, or the clock for today is going to run out and I’ll technically be blogging tomorrow, seeing how it’s 11:55 P.M.. I want to have a blog-a-day for as long as I can keep that up, to keep it interesting in here. So, today I’m going to share 5 photographs with you, some I’m quite proud of. Talk to you tomorrow…
“around the world”
“if I recall correctly…slap organ”
“everybody dance now!”
“tock”
“strike to the head”
Working And Other Things (Just Kidding About The Other Things Part) January 5, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, candy, life, work.add a comment
Every Saturday in January and Febuary, I sell concessions at Upward Basketball, which is a “everyone-plays” basketball franchise (or something) that my old church has picked up on. It’s my thing though, so I don’t have a boss or anything like that. I buy candy and snacks by the barrel-full at Wal mart (which is a store I hate, I’ll elaborate sometime) and sell it at my own discretion. Stick it to the man!
So today was my first day this year (I’ve done this for 3 consecutive years), so that’s why I’m not posting this blog until 6 P.M.. I made a little over $100 today, but I still haven’t paid off my $150 candy charge at Wal mart. You should see the awful looks on those cashiers faces…
As if I’m some deranged fat kid who spends his savings on Nestle’ variety packs? Good grief.
The First Music Blog Of Many January 4, 2008
Posted by Andrew in friends, music, party, the mars volta.1 comment so far
Last night, my friend Ben, his friend Seb, and I had a listening party for the band The Mars Volta, and we listened to almost all of their discography. Trying to describe The Mars Volta is really pointless and won’t convince anyone about their sound, so I’m not going to try. So, here’s my plug: listen to The Mars Volta.Anyway, back to the listening party. What we did was we all got into a group conversation in MSN messenger, then made identical playlists, and started them all at the same time, and listened all the way through, discussing throughout. Now, this playlist was massive. If you want to know how massive, check this out.
So that’s our playlist. 37 tracks, 4 hours, 52 minutes, and 1 second long. We started at 9:30 PM on 03/01/08, and ended roughly at 2:22 AM on 04/01/08. Epic. Very epic. But now I’ve promised myself not to listen to any more Volta until 01/29/08, the day their new album gets released, to get myself stoked for it. I just hope I can make it…Remember how I said this party was with me, Ben, and Seb? Well, Seb is in a band himself, called Fallen Justice, and they’re in Ontario, and he convinced me to put a plug to them in this blog too. Here’s their youTube video of them covering Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” Take it away, boys.One more goody for you. Here’s a track off of The Mars Volta’s upcoming album, The Bedlam In Goliath. The sound quality leaves much to be desired because this is a rip of a music video, but it still really kicks butt. The song is called “Goliath.” Enjoy.
The Wii Claims an Unlikely Victim January 3, 2008
Posted by Andrew in family, fun, video games.add a comment
Yesterday my granny came over and I took my Wii into the living room to show her Wii Sports, and my 2 year old baby sister wanted to play. See for yourself.
All hail Ceasar! January 2, 2008
Posted by Andrew in life, theory, weather.add a comment
It’s snowing! Where I live, this is a very rare occurrence. Seems like we get snow later and later every year. I blame global warming, to a point. But my theory is this: The very first calendar ever invented that resembled the calendar we use today was invented by the Egyptians, then later perfected by the Mayans. Years and years of research went into this calendar, and it’s very close to the one we use now. But then, in 45 BC, Julius Caesar invented Leap Day, which made Leap Year. That much is true. But my theory is that Leap Day is unnecessary, and every fourth year since 45 BC, we’ve put in an extra day that shouldn’t be there, slowly putting us farther and farther away from winter, pushing snow back into spring and maybe eventually summer. Who knows? I know. I feel really philosophical right now, even if that is probably completely wrong.
Blogging? January 1, 2008
Posted by Andrew in blogging, introduction, life.add a comment
Well hey, I’m Andrew, and I’ve decided I didn’t like the way that the blogs in mySpace were so I made this site. I’ll probably use it to talk about music and games and things like that. I play guitar, and I like photography and take a lot of pictures, so maybe I can find a way to get some streaming music in my blogs or have a picture gallery or something. Hopefully soon. Well, I guess this is my first post. Later.
P.S. It’s 2008! Welcome to the future.
