Romeo and Juliet

I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV,
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be.
I can't do everything, but I'd do anything for you.
I can't do anything except be in love with you.
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be.
And all I do is keep the beat and the bad company.
And all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme.
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time.

Juliet, when we made love you used to cry.
I said I love you like the stars above.
I love you 'til I die.
And theres a place for us . . .
You know the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong?
Juliet . . .

Grey Street

Oh, look at how she listens.
She says nothing of what she thinks.
She just goes stumbling through her memories,
Staring out onto Grey Street.
But she thinks, "Hey, how did I come to this?
I've dreamed myself a million times around the world,
But I cant get out of this place."
There's a loneliness inside her,
And she'd do anything to fill it in.
And though its red blood bleeding from her now,
It felt like cold blue ice in her heart
When all the colors mix together to grey.
And it breaks her heart.

You know, she wishes it was different.
She prays to God most every night,
And though she's quite sure he doesn't listen,
There's a tiny hope in her he might.
She says, "I pray, but my prayers,
They fall on deaf ears.
Am I supposed to take it on myself
To get out of this place?"
There's an emptiness inside her,
And she'd do anything to fill it in.
And though it's red blood bleeding from her now,
It felt like cold blue ice in her heart.
She feels like kicking out all the windows,
And setting fire to this life.
She would change everything about her
Using colors bold and bright,
But all the colors mix together to grey.
And it breaks her heart.

New Obsessions

M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes"
Black Kids' Party Traumatic album
The Spill Canvas' "Connect the Dots"
Kira Wiley's "Colors"

And an old obsession reappearing:
The Sundays' Static and Silence album

The Return

I’ve been listening to a lot of pop and rap and radio rock recently (though I think finely mixed with some real substance). I think every once in a while I like to enjoy something in a more shallow fashion; to approach a song and tell myself that it doesn’t have to change my life, alter my perception of the world, tug on my heartstrings, or anything else. It just has to make my head bob. Not everybody can do this. Not everyone can admit they like these songs because sometime around 1998 it became uncool to admit that you listen to the radio or get your musical picks from the space between “The X Effect” and “The Real World”. And that’s fine. Musical taste is a virtue, something I actively look for in friends, girlfriends, random homosexual encounters. But some people, I think, miss out on a lot of fun music simply because it isn’t up to some standard they’ve set for themselves and their auditory canal. And maybe that was me at some point. I’m glad I’ve gotten over it, if so.

So what, exactly, have I been screaming along to in the car, unabashedly? The new Lil’ Wayne, remix or no, really has me going. The song is absolutely ridiculous, but I love Wayne. Best rapper alive. I’ve also been sucked in by this indie pop rock Cartel-sound-a-like We the Kings that make no illusions about being solely about radio-friendly emo ballads targeted at those poor tweens on the back of the middle school bus with the asymmetrical hair and four belts sitting uselessly around their waist (but suspiciously outside of the belt loops, go figure). And it’s great. It doesn’t sound unique. It’s not overly technical or substantial. But it’s got a good melody and a solid rock beat. I would recommend “Check Yes Juliet” if you’re able to leave your musical snobbery elsewhere and want to get in touch with your inner angst-ridden fourteen year old. Having done that, “Skyway Avenue”. Oh, and “It Hurts” from Angels and Airwaves. Because I do what I want.

I still can’t get over the new Weepies album, nor can I get over this song by some total bro named Joshua Radin (featuring the lovely and stellar Ingrid Michaelson) that I managed to hear on Grey’s Anatomy while waiting for LOST to come on, named “Sky”. You should also feel free to check out “Fear You Won’t Fall”. His EP might have something you like outside those two (there are two others to pick from), but those are the highlights for me.

London was great . . . for the first three days. Then I managed to come down with some terrible stomach virus which saw me on the toilet every thirty minutes for about 72 hours, including the ten hour flight home. I’d rather not talk about the depth of depravity that was reached during this time. Recalling the events in even such a fleeting way as to write this paragraph is crippling emotionally. It is safe to say that the plane ride home was one of the worst times of my life, and (though this may be attributed to its recent occurrence, comparatively) may rival my jaw surgery in terms of excruciating pain and “WHY GOD” moments.

I’ve been able to keep my insides relatively intact for the last 48 hours now (with considerable effort), and I’m actually back at work as I write this (for the second day in a row), having actually slept and eaten several-hundred-infinity times more than I did over the weekend. But I am not 100%, and I have plans to see the Doctor on Friday afternoon in hopes that he’ll get everything sorted out permanently. I need to get my energy back prior to my move next weekend so that I can actually pack and get everything ready. I set up my electricity today, which I guess was a step in the right direction. I still need to call the cable guy later this week too. Someone remind me to do that.

I’ve gone on for long enough. I’ll try and throw some pictures up when I get home, or at least, I’ll throw a link up to somewhere on the web where you can go look at them. I’ll save any recounts of my travels and travails until that time.

Edited to Add: I think Cheese Rolling might be my all-time favorite sport to watch. I like to think of it as the Ninja Warrior of England, in that I've only ever seen one man make it completely down the hill without fucking himself up severely.

New Weepies

For all of you who care, the new Weepies album is really, really solid from start to finish.

Favorites include:
1) Orbiting
2) Hideaway
3) Antarctica
4) How You Survived the War
5) Old Coyote
6) Takes So Long

For You

It's been a long two years.
It's time to smile.
We've made it this far, just like you said.
Just like you said we would.

There are no more tears.
We've used them all.
So now we'll rely on our laughter,
And the faith that pain brings joy.

I hope that you can see,
The strength that pulled us through
Is now passed on to me.
No need to worry like you always do.

This far from home. . . .
It doesn't feel as far when I know you're doing well.
The distance is what you make it.

I hope that you can see,
The strength that pulled us through
Is now passed on to me.
No need to worry like you always do.

We must form a band ...

Here are some names to get your creative juices flowing.

Rise

"Rise" by the Robbie Seay Band

If you like that, you can also check out "Love Wins" by the same group.

Take Me Now, Jesus

Flyleaf

Do it.

My Latest Obsession

I heard one of their songs back in early 2006 on MLB 2007's soundtrack and have been waiting for their CD to come out for a long time. It finally came out a week or two ago, and this is a song off that album. Here's a couple more songs:

Wait for You

"Wait for You" by Elliott Yamin

Die All Bats

So Shelley and I went again to see the bats last night. We were convinced that their inadequacy as a performing "troupe" last time was a fluke. We told ourselves that they simply had an off night. Wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have disturbing news. The bats under the Austin Congress Bridge are a hoax perpetrated by Austinites who, as we all know, hate tourists and people that look like they don't really belong in this fine city. Look at Real World, as an extreme example. We broke a guy's face just because. So, they all decided to band together and play a trick on everybody, spreading false stories about the Amazing Bats. Hell, they even set up boats, which upon being paid vast sums of money, will take you to the bridge to see them. If you take one of these boats, you are being swindled.

The video in the post below this one chronicles one man's run through Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" coming soon to Guitar Hero III. The video shows the first and last minute of the song. It's a little hard to see the scorebox, but he managed to five-star it and score over 400,000 points over the course of the seven and a half minute song. I have two points in rehashing the previous post:

1. Wow.
2. Dragonforce, as a band, is incredibly awesome.

I bought their album soon after seeing the video. If you enjoy metal, you will absolutely love this album. They are so technically proficient it scares me. Plus, they sing about brandishing steel, riding light, and fighting demons, all in the name of freeing man from some terrible curse. And then they bring the rock.

Case in point:

Flying over darkened skies the battle will call.
Distant angels crying into the eye of the storm,
And the world falls under the starlight
Shining from heavens below.

Long years of pain and sorrow, searching for more.
Cry for the touch of angels never before,
And the stars fall on the horizon
Onwards and up through the pain.

Ride the wind and fight the demon,
Steel is shining bright.
Standing together forever onwards,
Flames burning strong.
Hot wind in hell of pain and sorrow,
Now and ever onwards.
We stare into the dawn of a new world.

Cry out for the fallen heroes
Lost a time ago.
In your minds they still belong
When the sands of time are gone.

Rise over shadow mountains, blazing with power.
Crossing valleys, endless tears,
In unity we stand.
Far and wide across the land, the victory is ours.
On towards the gates of reason.
Fight for the truth and the freedom.

-- Dragonforce, "Revolution Deathsquad"

Can You Stand the Rain?

"Can You Stand the Rain" by New Edition

Pokémon, The Almost, The Smashing Pumpkins

So I've (obviously) never really gotten into Pokémon. I mean, there was a brief period in middle school where I had to, ahem, "catch 'em all" just like everyone else. But they were a Pog to me, a Beanie Babie, a passing fad. Not to say that I was into Beanie Babies for any amount of time, but my sister was. I think it's safe to say they were a fad, no? For those of you who follow Penny Arcade, as every flag-loving American rightly should (You communist. . . .), you know that Gabriel is quite the aficionado. He even goes the spreadsheet route, keeping track of numerical figures for each of his creatures, performing complex math to determine optimal match-ups. Have I beaten Shenmue (40 hours of playable time) in a single weekend? Yes. I am no stranger to "hardcore gaming". But this sounds ridiculous even to me.

Nevertheless, the esteemed artist of the aforementioned webcomic has an interesting post up chronicling his recent trip to a local Pokétournament. I especially enjoyed his chat with a little girl, probably around 10, also participating in this tournament of kid-nerd-glory.

It was actually really cool to see how much these kids love Pokemon. I've been so into it recently that I think I'd forgotten I should be having fun. With my pages of hand written math and charts of carefully plotted out EV training regiments I actually felt sort of dirty. These little kids were showing me teams comprised not of statistically optimal Pokemon but of their favorites. A little girl talked to me for five minutes about why she loved Kyogre so much. When she asked why I used Rotom I couldn't bring myself to tell her that his ghost/electric type meant he had a lot of immunities while giving him some surprising moves that should allow me to cripple sweepers with status effects but still fight off any Dark types I encounter. "I think he's cute." I explained. She smiled and nodded as though this was the reason she had expected to hear.

I would also like to take the time to do a bit of community service in the form of a brief, informal review of the new Smashing Pumpkins album. What can be said about this latest effort that hasn't already been said about a pile of two week old fecal matter? Number one, it stinks. Number two, it's old. Number three, it's a huge pile of crap. If you were to sprinkle said crap pile with a bit of anti-government sentiment, Billy Corgan's trademark voice and style (redeeming the album at rare times), and Jimmy Carpenters always impressive drumming, you would still be left with a crap pile. But, of course, that crap pile would have tiny specks of gold on it. Or something. What does anti-government sentiment look like when crushed into a powder and sprinkled?

I would also like to conclude with a discussion of what I am currently listening to -and- enjoying. The Almost, with all instruments and vocals (aside from a guest appearance on track 4 by Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate, the oft-thought originator of the "emo" genre, as well as The Fire Theft, both excellent bands . . . He also has a side solo project worth checking out.) performed by my musical idol, the drummer and vocalist from Underoath. If you've ever heard Underoath, one of my favorite bands though doubtfully any of yours due to its screaming and hardcore roots, you'd notice not only his impressive kit work but also the fact that his voice is absolutely incredible (he isn't the screamer, he's the singer), made more so by the fact that he sings as he plays. Having seen him live, I can honestly say its a religious experience. With regard to The Almost, there are good and bad tracks. Track 1, Say This Sooner, and the aforementioned Track 4, I Mostly Copy Other People, are definitely the highpoints. Track 3 is terrible. Just don't. The rest is serviceable, but I think at times it is painfully obvious, evidenced by the generic melodies and really bland overall feeling to it, that his skills are in vocals and drums, not in guitar, bass, melody making. Shelley commented that it reminded her a lot of the stuff we used to listen to in high school. Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day, Brand New. I have no doubt that's why I like the majority of it.

I've also found myself entangled with Architecture in Helsinki's album Fingers Crossed as well as Paramore's two albums, All We Know is Falling and the absolutely incredible must-have (for any lovers of female vocalists and/or indie-pop-rock-emo) Riot!. With regard to Paramore and Riot!, this band totally took me by surprise like no band has done since Copeland or Eisley. I can't seem to get enough. I'm also currently enjoying some Boyz II Men, particularly the ballad entitled "End of the Road", sparked by my unquenchable love for Making the Band 4. I've also been infected by Shop Boyz' "Party Like a Rockstar". Get off me.

Also, in gaming AND music news, apparently there is a rapper named Random who has fashioned an album entitled Mega Ran, which uses old-school Mega Man music as the base for his rhymes. I haven't heard it, or even know where to find it, but rest assured, I will.