Ugh, another band bites the dust. Goodbye Death From Above 1979.

Sigh.....

Music is an expensive addiction to have. I’m sure it’s cheaper than cocaine or beaver tranquilizers or something, but it’s still less than ideal on the monetary front. I’m extremely loyal to bands that have treated me well in the past and will almost always buy any new cd by them (LP, EP, single, whatever) sound-unheard (like sight-unseen, get it?). And whenever there’s a lack of impending sure-things, I’m downloading music by the gig to try and find the next band to get all excited over. If I don’t like it, it gets a one-way ticket to the Recycle Bin and the hunt immediately begins anew – if I enjoy it, the CD either gets immediately added to my Amazon cart or gets put on my “to buy” list (depending on my current funds, or lack thereof), and then I get to work on exploring the rest of the band’s catalogue. It’s a vicious cycle.

One of the latest acquisitions is Rocket From The Crypt. They actually started early 90’s and had at least one fairly big radio hit, On A Rope, but somehow I’d never heard of them – apparently they were quite influential on a number of bands I listen to today, so I decided to check them out. Most of it’s pretty easy listening but goddamn is it catchy. They have a huge back catalogue too, so I have a feeling I’ll be sinking some decent money into these guys over the next couple months. Another new interest is The Bronx, a raw rock n’ roll punk band from CA. I dare anyone to find me a better 2006 chorus line than “I’ve got the hands of history’s stranglers.”

Through it all, I’m building up a pretty nice collection. It’s gonna keep growing with me, and I have a feeling it’ll be really great later in life to be able to go through the collection and revisit different emotions and different times from my life. It’s sad when a band I really like breaks up, like Boysetsfire did yesterday, but I’ll always have their music. Hopefully I’ll also always be able to enjoy it.

R.I.P. Boysetsfire
(1994 - 2006)

Music: Eye On You by Rocket From The Crypt

Commercials are pretty ridiculous these days. Nonsensical beer and car commercials are par for the course, but the ones that actually annoy me are the ones that pretend to talk to me honestly. Take Bob's Furniture - Bob goes on and on about how his furniture is cheaper than all the competitors and how he "squeezes the factories" to get better prices for his "valued customers." Aka, Bob stocks up on the cheap shit that better furniture stores like Jordan's - fuck, even like Bernie & Phil's - won't touch with a 500 foot pole. He buys in bulk from whoever offers it the cheapest, then unloads thousands and thousands of the identical set - he's proud of this fact, he advertises it in every commercial he makes. So if you want the same exact set that thousands of no-taste thrift-conscious WalMart patrons have, get your ass over to Bob's and purchase yourself a nice Bobopedic or whatever the factory had leftover of this week.

One commercial dude that makes me laugh is the guy behind those semi-infomercials for a menagerie of cleaning products - you know, the one that looks like Al, the co-host of Home Improvement, and is always yelling. "You need KABLAM!! Get Extreme with OXYCLEAN!!" He has no volume below 'orgasm yell.' He gets off on this cleaning shit, and he wants you all to do the same. Can you imagine this guy in normal conversation? Or trying to be romantic?

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Believe To Understand

I finished the last of The X-Files this morning. 9 seasons and the movie, all digested in the period between January 28th, 2006 and today. The series had some problems - some pretty uninspired episodes sprinkled throughout, some major doses of corniness and camp, and a strong disposition towards leaving plot points unresolved. But when the series hit its stride, it made for some extremely goddamn captivating storytelling. The highs more than made up for any shortcoming you could attribute to the show.

Man, what am I going to do with all my free time now?

Well I start co-op tomorrow morning so I'm going to get to bed fairly early.

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The Truth Is Out There

I was just watching the news and there was a story about a mother in Blackstone shackling her 13 year old daughter so she couldn't attempt to run away again. No names were given however - stupid anonymity for protection of minors rules, ruining my gossip. Anyone from Bstone know what's up with this?

School this semester is a little crazy. I have about 10 hours of Circuits homework every week, a few hours + lab work and report for Digital Logic Design, and some trivial stuff for Discrete Math. Oh yeah, and Probability & Statistics sucks. It's the exact opposite of intuitive. Not that I question it, it's laws of probability, not something some jerk came up with or anything, it's just extremely unintuitive. Wednesday I have all those classes plus IEEE, an Honors Adjunct, and Intro to Co-op, and I literally have class nonstop from 8 am to 5:40 pm; I hate Wednesday.

When I properly ration my time and get stuff done, life is ok. This school year is starting to draw to a close and there will hopefully be some better living conditions on the horizon. Some concerts coming up, Spring Break coming up, etc. - should be some fun and relaxation somewhere in there.

I'm normally not a big Facebook person but I recently went through the BMR kids and added a bunch of people as friends. Some people look really different than I remembered them. Some look like college is treating them well. Others look like they're doing coke and ODing on mascara. This isn't about anyone in particular, it's just weird looking back at that stuff. It still doesn't feel like high school was a long time ago, but it's starting to really be that way. The reunion is going to be a laugh riot.

Speaking of blasts from the past - The X-Files. I haven't thought about that show in years, but suddenly I'm wicked into it again. All the seasons were released on DVD a long time ago, but they were $100+ a season, which was ridiculous. Admitedly, they came out before there was a big TV-On-DVD market so they didn't know what to charge or whether people would buy it. But all that has changed and they're in the process of doing a re-release. I just bought Season 1 for $30 new and couldn't be happier. When I was a kid I was gay for this show. In like 5th grade, I wanted to BE Fox Mulder. For Halloween, my costume was a full suit, a fake FBI badge, and a handgun-shaped squirtgun that I spray-painted black. I brought this black handgun-shaped squirtgun to SCHOOL and no one blinked. Ah, more innocent times...

Best of 2005

1) Every Time I Die - Gutter Phenomenon
2) A Wilhelm Scream - Ruiner
3) Emanuel - Soundtrack to a Headrush
4) Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
5) I Am The Avalanche - I Am The Avalanche
6) Hell Is For Heroes - Transmit Disrupt
7) Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
8) Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
9) Thrice - Vheissu
10) The Bravery - The Bravery
11) Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
12) Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree
13) Norma Jean - O' God, The Aftermath
14) The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
15) Clutch - Robot Hive / Exodus

The order has changed about 20 times since I first started thinking about this list. The top 2 are absolutes, while the rest can be shuffled in any given order depending on my mood. This list is actually only a small segment of the albums I've purchased this year. There's been a lot of good, along with a few disappointments, but these are the 15 that really stood out to me. Basically, these are 15 outstanding albums.

What does 2006 hold? New Head Automatica, Death From Above 1979, Dillinger Escape Plan, Alexisonfire, Arcade Fire, Lostprophets, Murder By Death, Sparta, and who knows what else.