avatar.

Mind Blown. More Later. But Seriously. Face Melted. Wow.

Christmas: The Results

Christmas is always a great holiday. AND NOT BECAUSE OF THE PRESENTS. But mostly. Anyways, top presents this year: being able to be home with the family for a while, scarf my sister knit me, District 9 + The Hangover, Rodgers jersey, etc. This, however, was a big surprise to me.

I told my mom some bands she could look for at our local record store (InnerSleeve Records) and she found this! Completely blindsided me in a good way. I saw Awesome Color open for Sonic Youth last summer and they were awesome. Lo and behold this record is also awesome. There is a gratuitous amount of awesome going on with this album. Awesome Color. Electric Aborigines. Check it out.

Another Semester Gone: An About-To-Graduate Student Reflects

I have one(!) semester left under my belt. After that, I will be a college grad. I never really imagined this happening, but I am incredibly excited. This past semester has been a very interesting one, to say the least. I've really got my mindset in a future-oriented sense, and that makes me realize a couple of things about this past semester...

1. I've just completed two of the most important classes I will ever take. It's more than that; these two teachers have taught me life lessons. No joke. I am indebted to both Dr. Fay and Dr. Hoffman. I've never seen myself as a 'career' kind of guy, but the two classes these teacher taught made me realize the world is my oyster. Both classes have shown me what to expect and how to overcome different challenges. Dr. Fay was incredibly helpful on a personal level as well. I've never gotten to know my professors during my college career, but it does wonders to hear a person as accomplished as Dr. Fay compliment me. The most important thing that I have taken from her class is to never sell myself short. I love that I've had these experiences, but you know that good can't happen without bad...

2. I've wasted an incredible amount of money on two classes this semester. I won't mention any names, but one of the classes it WASN'T the teachers fault. It was for the other. So, I guess UWEC doesn't have the money to properly staff some of the departments, forcing them to have a college of business teacher try and teach a CJ class that has business elements to it. It seemed like the teacher was just thrown an outline of the course and was told to teach it. I felt bad for the teacher the whole semester, and I wish I could take the class again with a proper professor. The other class was a completely different story. I HAVE NEVER HAD A WORSE PROFESSOR. This is not an understatement. This prof had the entire class against her. When I say entire class, I mean both sections. I have never seen such a vulgar misuse of tenure in my life. She seriously did not care about the student's well-being. All she wanted was to show what objectives she was accomplishing, the bare minimum of the class. Any elaboration or student involvement was silenced quickly. Multiple students sent emails to the department chair yet nothing was done because she has tenure. All I can say is 'Wow'. I pray that I never have to interact with this woman again in my life.

Overall, though, it was a great transitional semester.

This past year has been incredible, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Story Of My Life

And a pretty cool song.

Whitest Kid You Know.

That would be me. Why is that, you ask? Because I have just recently discovered the genius that is The College Dropout.

All I can say is "WOW". Now, I will be the first to say that my taste in rap is probably not that great. But I'll be damned if I can't see perfection in an album. No joke. My so called list of 'perfect albums' is very small, but after hearing this, it has grown by one. I used to think Kanye West was just another rapper with his head so far up his ass that he felt he could do anything. Then I got this album this morning. I have listened to it four times, from beginning to end, just while I was on campus. I'm so angry at myself for waiting five years to listen to this. Kanye can do whatever the hell he wants. Seriously. Anybody who says he's a prick for the whole Taylor Swift thing, listen to this album. I mean, Beyonce DID win video of the year, so he had a point, and Taylor Swift is a plague on country music, BUT this albums justifies everything he will do for the next decade. Oh man. It seriously has everything, and all the songs flow together... Man. I can't describe it. Now I know why my best friend at work loves Kanye so much. Damn.

WHAT THE FUCK. (part 2!)

That's right folks, it's time for part two. I promise, this one is a little more serious. Let's hit it!

WHY IS THIS PERSON STILL IMPORTANT?!?!?! Has everyone gone crazy? I mean, I hear that Sarah Palin could actually run for president in the next election. This is solid evidence that the Republican Party has lost all credibility. No joke. She has proven time and time again that she is an ignorant caricature of an American stereotype. I just don't see what others find so impressive about her, and I consider myself to be very open minded. I try! I try to look past all the stupidity and slip-ups and look at who she really is. But I can't. Maybe all of these radio shock jocks have brainwashed everyone into believing what they say. I get why she has been on the news recently with the book and all, but why are there talks of her being the Republican Party's next presidential candidate??? This might piss some people off, but I strongly believe that if John McCain would have picked a halfway decent VP candidate, the last election could have been a lot closer. But Sarah Palin is a fucking joke. If she continues to be a significant political presence in the coming months, just turn your head this way and join me in saying WHAT THE FUCK.

WHAT THE FUCK. (part 1!)

This is the start of a string of rantings about fucked up things going on in the world today. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, work and school have me by the balls. Anywho, I'm starting off with this:

WHAT THE FUCK. SERIOUSLY.

I'm sorry, I'm all about freedom and equality, and I don't mean to offend any homosexual readers I may have, but this is gayer than eight dudes blowing nine dudes. How did this guy allow this cover. Wow.

The Definition of Work.

Oh man, so I saw "Where The Wild Things Are" the other night, and man was it sad. I was really surprised. I damn near cried at the end. There were some really heart-wrenching parts. Worth seeing, but don't take the kids. They probably wouldn't get it, or get really really depressed from it. But in terms of film-making, it was so cool. The wild things were amazing. Besides being huge monsters, they looked real! I guess the actors wore the costumes and only the faces were digitally constructed. Incredible visuals, to say the least.

So today was a pretty shitty day at work. I mean, I busted my ass the whole day because I was the only warehouse person on duty. That was expected, but the person taking my place called in sick. Tried to get somebody to cover, but it didn't work out. So, I planned on being there the whole night, bell to bell. Then one of my managers made a comment about how having someone in the warehouse isn't important, 'at least it's not someone on the sales floor'. All of this is over the walkie talkies, for everyone to hear. Basically calling my job worthless. Now, it has taken me a long god damn time to find value in my job. I look all over the store for recognition and appreciation by working as hard as I can and being an all around nice guy. Don't get me wrong; I hear good things from the right people all the time. Yet this comment, coming from one of my superiors, REALLY turned me off. It killed me. They later apologized, saying it was a joke aimed at another manager. I'm not a stickler for HR friendly shit or whatever. I can take a good joke at my expense. I really enjoy self-effacing humor, ask anyone that knows me. But when you attack something I TRY to take pride in, that crosses the line. Ugh. Fuck. I'm done ranting.

Rantings

FYI I'm drunk. and kristen stewart is fucking beautiful. so yeah.

anyway, i've just switched internet browsers (nerd alert). i've started using google chrome and i actually notice a difference between this and internet explorer. it's been a week and chrome hasn't crashed on me once. no joke. i mean, chrome has a fucking spell checker built into the browser. you can spell check ANYTHING you type!

in other news, saturday night live isn't funny. IT SHOULD BE, though. for some reason, they have all of these great cast members (bill hader, will forte, andy samberg). the thing is, these three cast members i've listed are great by themselves. the snl writers just must be horrible. i mean, all of these guys have hillarious material, whether it be movies, stand up, or music. hopefully the show gains momentum soon. oh yeah, and kenan thompson isn't that funny anymore. maybe when i was twelve and he was on 'all that', but not anymore. seriously, his comedy style hasn't progressed what so ever. another thing: they have multiple celebrity guest appearances on every show now. are rating that bad that you need other stars besides the host? :(

some dude that fucked me over hard while i was in the dorms is running for homecoming king at my college. this kid knows who he is, and he knows if he tries to get me to vote for him i will give him a piece of my fucking mind. i never forget, buddy. you know who you are.

music you should be listening to: boris w/ merbow "sunbaked snow cave" (psychedelic drone fun times), unwound "leaves turn inside you" (90's post-hardcore noise/alt), the wars of 1812 "status quo ante bellum" (indie rock from minneapolis)

Politics of Hate

As many people know, I'm not a big fan of American politics in general. I don't align myself with any political party and I don't try to pretend that I know and can argue political issues. But I do hold one thing in my heart: Bipartisan politics are destroying this country.

I realize that having two parties makes the political process flow smoother. I agree; with many different parties, a proper majority vote would be impossible. What I disagree with, however, is how polarized our two political parties are. Let me explain: During the Bush administration, Democrats were seen as 'the enemy'. They were 'trying to destroy America'. Many terrible lies were thrown at Democrats. Now, in our current political environment, the tables have turned. Now the Republicans are the enemy. In fact, the Democratic National Committee has lumped people who critique President Obama as 'terrorists'. Here's a link:

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/09/dnc/

This just makes me ask the question that I think of every time someone asks me my political affiliation: What Happened To Being An American? The moderate voice is hushed too many times in American politics. I know there will never be a 'perfect' candidate, yet it seems like people should have more choices to find what works best for them. The mudslinging between both parties has reached epic proportions. I mean, who has the right to call the President a 'Nazi'? I support free speech but really? A Nazi? And what about the congressman standing up and yelling during the President's speech? How can we be leaders of the free world if our own government workings resort to schoolyard taunting?

The rest of the world hates us. Because of one man's mistakes, another must try and prevent all out war. The sooner we unite, the sooner we create a peaceful nation and a peaceful world.

On a side note: President Obama was just as surprised as the rest of America when he recieved the Nobel Peace Prize today. No one has the right to criticize him for recieving the award. For all we know, he could prove to be a great recipient of this award. Or not. Only the future will tell.

Seth McFarlane owns Fox.

Notice anything here? This is Fox's sunday night lineup, or 'Animation Domination' as they call it. Please take a moment and grieve the passing of King of the Hill.

Anyways, three quarters of the shows are all from Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy. Now don't get me wrong, at one time Family Guy was hilarious. Now, he's just getting his wallet fatter with all of these spin-offs. This is fucking ridiculous. Please, Fox, find some new shows that are witty and creative, like the first three seasons of Family Guy. Don't just regurgitate the same animation style, the same jokes, and the same creator over and over and over. Thank God for the Simpsons.

Progression or Regression?

This is what comes to my head while I listen to the new Brand New album, 'Daisy'. This is one of those albums that will definately polarize their fans. The first glance at the album artwork struck me as weird right off the bat. On one hand, 'Daisy' is an incredible departure from their previous work. As musicians this must have been very hard for them because they were great at their style of post-hardcore/rock. Not to say that this album isn't crafted well, however. 'Daisy' is fast, heavy, and angry. They incorporate more noise and distortion into all of their songs, which is awesome in my opinion. Any emo band would love to add this album to their discog. But then there are the fans looking for a follow up to Brand New's last album, 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me'. I'll be honest; at first, I was lumped into that second category. When I heard the aggression and noise in the first song on 'Daisy' (Vices) I thought to myself "Who the fuck is this? I thought I downloaded the new Brand New???". It is that much of a change in their sound. No joke. After listening to it pretty much constantly over the past few days however, I realized what a monster of an album this is.

God damn, is 'Daisy' dark. I thought TDAGARIM was dark but this is just heart-wrenching stuff, and that is what I love about Brand New. This isn't emo, this is beyond that. They are pushing the genre into new territory. Emo as we knew it in the early 2000's is dead. This is the new sound. There are still songs that sound like Brand New (Bed, You Stole, Sink) but the others are heavy hitters. The track that will be hardest for fans will be 'Be Gone', a dark effect-riddled journey into a man's pain. The vocals are so fucked up and I LOVE IT.

This album combines my love for weird and angry music. I'm giving it four confused looks out of five. If you have an open mind and open ears, this album will grow on you. 'Daisy' cements Brand New into that category of bands that will always be evolving on their own terms, like Radiohead, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Beck. The future is bright for Brand New.

Reoccuring Dreams

The other night me and the roommates were watching season 4 of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia". It was the episode where Mac and Charlie fake their deaths, respectively. During the part where Charlie is pulling his teeth out, I made the comment about how I have reoccuring dreams about my teeth falling out.

One of my roommates, a psychology major, told me this might because I subconciously feel that people don't listen to me. For some reason this really hit close to home for me. I realized that for a while now no has really listened to me. Whenever I talk to people, I always feel like they aren't listening just waiting for their turn to talk. Maybe this is why I feel alienated from everyone around me. I mean, I have a few close friends, but it feels like I'm only their friends to help them out, for favors. They might ask me how I'm doing but it's just out of pity or they feel they need to, not that they're genuinely interested. I just need to find my niche. For now, I'll just keep walking.

The Road Is Long... But The Wait Is Longer.

I don't know how many of my readers are fans of an amazing film that came out a couple of years ago called "No Country For Old Men", but if you are you should definatly check out the newest movie based on one of Cormac McCarthy's amazing novels called "The Road". It's a bit of a hard read, but if you have any interest in post-apocalyptic literature this should be high on the list. A movie has been made based on it starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Therron but it hasn't seen mass distribution yet. Right now it's playing at the Toronto Film Festival, one of the many reasons I want to move to Canada. Here's a link:

LINK

I know that it won't be anywhere near as good as No Country but that's because the Cohen brothers are fucking brilliant. But I am nevertheless excited for this movie. Here's the trailer:

TRAILER

P.S. If you haven't heard KiD CuDi's new album, do yourself a favor and get it!!

God, I wish we had cable....

Yeah. New Sunny starts really soon. I think I might have to start coming over to a friends house who has cable...

Secret Machines are bigger than I thought...

So big, in fact, that Jay-Z has ripped off some cover art for his new album. Check it:

Ha... Sweet. Anyways, I'm seeing the Secret Machines for a third time this month. Pretttty fucking psyched, no joke. Playing with Trail of Dead. In honor of that...

Yeah. This concert will be all sorts of epic. Oh, you want more?

FiRsT dAy?!?!?!

Ugh... First day of school left a bad taste in my mouth. Don't worry, I'll post a classic album tomorrow. It's just that I felt like I was going to destroy this year, you know, end college with a bang. The TA thing was on the right path, my job was decent, good friends, etc. Well, the TA thing is all fucked to hell. I'm completely lost with no one to guide me. Without this, I won't get my service learning requirement, which means I won't be able to graduate. Awesome. Then today at work I got knocked down a few pegs. Lately I'd been given a stronger leadership position amongst the new employees, which I thought I was accepting quite well. To be quite honest, I thought it was really cool. Everyone kind of looked to me for advice because they knew that I wouldn't shoot them down like a supervisor or manager. Now that school has started, my schedules all fucked up and I'm back to working by myself and doing little odd jobs again. God, I was really looking forward to all this. This just means I'm going to have to work harder, and prove them all wrong.

Classic Album Of The Week!

OK, so I've tried to start little weekly or monthly things in the past and I really didn't follow through... So I'm going to try this again. But crack down on it. If you're willing to read, I'm willing to post.

Anyways, lets get this show on the road. Every week from now on I want to post a classic album (i.e. 7 to 10 years old) and a small review of it on here, just to spice things up. Hopefully you guys will find something you like or realize how pretentious my music taste can get. Oh well. The first album is one that I've been getting really into lately: Refused's 'The Shape Of Punk To Come: A Chimerical Bombation In 12 Bursts'.

This album is fucking revolutionary. Seriously. Give it a listen. You'll say to yourself "Ben, this sounds like it's just another hardcore punk band." Then I'll tell that it was released in 1998. Yeah. These guys laid out the blueprint for hardcore music back in the late nineties with this album. The title is actually very true. A lot of bands owe Refused so much because of this album. It brought back the idea of punk music being unique in both the sounds and ideaologies. If you can remember, punk in the late nineties consisted of more pop punk radio-friendly stuff like Green Day and Blink 182. This band reminded the underground punk scene that you can still push yourselves musically and idealogically and make it big. Do yourself a favor and grab this album, give it a couple of spins, and smile. Its messages are very relevant these days with the word 'socialism' getting thrown around a lot. As you'll be able to tell, these angry Swedes were very socialist. It sucks that they broke up after a final U.S. Tour. Kind of funny tour name though: Refused Are Fucking Dead. Here's a video for one of the singles from this album, 'New Noise':

25 million??? Really??? Uh, good luck with that...

Next time I'm selling a shitty old car I know to go to Minnesota. I'm not a big sports guy, but this pretty much sums up the whole Brett Farve issue in my book:

Three Strikes, You're Out.

Losing major points in my book. This isn't overreacting, this is an equal and opposite reaction to it all. We won't be the same after this.

Anyways, now that all that is off my chest, I just realized I hadn't posted anything about the Silversun Pickups show. Overall, it was a pretty decent show. I'll be honest: I think the venue took a lot away from the performance. As you'll see in the pictures, SSPU were spread waaaaayy across the stage from each other... it was kind of isolating. Thoughts on the performers themselves: Cage The Elephant sucked. Royally. The whole band just stood in one place while the lead singer ran around and shit. That was cool, but the rest of the band really brought it down. The next band, Manchester Orchestra, was awesome. They played a great set from their new album and converted me into a fan on the spot. Definitly check out their new album 'Mean Everything To Nothing' if you are into indie/emo/grunge. I would have to say Manchesters set was the best of the night. Following them was Silversun Pickups. Like I said earlier, the venue and stage really detracted from the performance. I would have liked to see some more props or something, but it was just a blank screen behind the band. They played a great set but just lacked a certain zazz that I was looking for. All in all, it was a pretty good concert. Picked up some good merch and had fun with some good friends. Enjoy the pics!

OK One More

I'm sorry, but this sketch is the filthiest, most hilarious thing I've ever heard. Here's another:

Patton Oswalt Is One Of The Funniest Men Alive.

So here I am, as usual, blogging random shit because my plans for the night have fallen through. I need to put a smile back on this mug, so I started watching clips of Patton Oswalt, the funniest comedian out there right now in my opinion. His delivery just fits my sense of humor for some reason. Anyways, here's a couple of his sketches for your enjoyment:



I was listening to one of his albums at work one day and I heard this sketch... I thought I was going to get in trouble because I couldn't talk or answer a phone I was laughing so hard. It even had one of my co-workers keeled over laughing:



Enjoy this junk, and I hope your night is more eventful than mine... In a good way, of course.

New Music + Upcoming Concerts = Busy Next Months...

So my goal of seeing as many bands as I could this summer kind of fell through, mainly because of those damn summer festivals! Anyways, the goal has been pushed back into the next coming months. Today I'm going to see Silversun Pickups (yay!), Manchester Orchestra (yay!), and Cage the Elephant (eh.). Then I'm going to see The Mars Volta, which should be pretty sweet, Dinosaur Jr., which WILL ROCK, and Brand New, which should be fucking cool. So yeah, even though it's my senoir year, it looks like I'm going to be traveling a lot. I'll post a couple shots from the Pickups show when I get a chance. Anyways, time for some new music.

One band that I've really been getting into lately is the hardcore punk band Gallows. They've been making quite a stir over in jolly ol' England and have started touring around in the states with Warped Tour. Their album "Orchestra of Wolves" is pretty fucking sweet. These guys have been listening to Black Flag a lot and you can tell in a good way. They blend together some great rythyms and melodies while keeping a savage growl the whole time. Stand-out tracks for me include "Kill The Rythym", "Abandon Ship", "Will Someone Shoot That Fucking Snake", and "Orchestra of Wolves", the title track. The lyrics of "Orchestra" are quite poetic: "Trust me when I say it's non-alcoholic, I don't want you passing out, I want you sucking my dick". Truly the Shakespeares of their time. Anywho, check them out if you're into hardcore stuff. You won't be disapointed.
The other band I've been listening is on the complete other end of the musical spectrum. His name is Chris Garneau, and the album is "El Radio". Now, I have just recently started listening to this guy but it sounds really cool. It's baroque influenced pop with a carnival-like twist. He has a beautiful voice that really gets to you when you listen to it by yourself. The album is divided into four parts: April Showers, Il Fait Chaud (french?), In Autumn, and Winter Songs. Each part consists of three songs. I haven't listened to it enough to pick out standout tracks, but this album will be spinning for a while. It's really relaxing and I have a feeling this guy is going to become pretty big on the indie-rock circles. I'd put money on indie hipsters starting to drop his name in coffee shops very soon.

Wait. Wha... WHAT?!?!? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!?!?!

HOLY FUCK. BIG NEWS PEOPLE. NEW SUPERGROUP IN THE MUSIC WORLD. I'm sorry, let me calm down... Whoo... Breathe... Ok. So I've stumbled upon some mind-blowing news. Apparently, Josh Homme has been secretly putting together a fucking rock and roll supergroup, and I've been in the dark this whole time. Holy shit, is that amazing. Just the fact that this shit hasn't blown up shows how dedicated Homme is to keeping his shit under wraps. ANYWAYS, the band is called Them Crooked Vultures and consists of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones (bassist from Led Zepplin). They will be debuting at a Lollapalooza afterparty this Sunday. Guys, this could be monumentaly epic. I feel like this is going to catapult Josh Homme into legendary status. I mean, he's a fucking badass now, but I feel like it's only musicians who respect him. This will put him into rock icon status for sure. Here are some links with more info. I'll keep you guys posted as it all goes down.

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=135&csid2=844&fid1=40294

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=135&csid2=844&fid1=40324

pic of band name, album name, release date, and members:

This looks very legit to me, folks. I don't think they are fucking around.

(school girl squealing ensues)

Is That Me?

Yeah, here's a silly video of Andrew W.K. on Conan O'Brien. This is basically me when I'm out in da club, hollering at thaw shawties.



And now you see why I never get laid.

Big Trouble in Little Minneapolis?!?!

Oh man... Wow. That's all I have to say about the Sonic Youth show. That picture on the left sums it up pretty well. It definately helped out the mood A LOT. I was sort of afraid I was gonna be late, but it turned out that I got there right on time and found a great parking spot too. The last time I went to a concert at First Avenue I ended up parking four or five blocks away... Yeah. Stupid mistake on my part. Anyways, the concert was fucking incredible. Before the show even started they were playing Big Trouble in Little China on the screen in front of the stage which killed time fast. They guys I met hadn't seen it before, so I made them promise me they would rent it.The opening band, Awesome Color, was perfect for a SY crowd. They were like a punkabily noise blues mashup... Definatly check them out. After that, Sonic Youth destroyed an incredible set. I mean, they basically played the whole Eternal album. Plus, they made me shit my pants when they busted out Silver Rocket and (I've Got A) Catholic Block. Playing stuff from Sister AND Daydream Nation???? Pure bliss. The last encore was a heavy rendition of Death Valley '69, which to be honest I had never heard before that. All around, it was nucking futs. Ended up driving home, riding the adrenaline high, and staying up until five thirty that morning. Epic night, to say the least. Can't wait for Dinosaur Jr. in October!

Is It Eight O'Clock Yet??

No? Fuck. Longest six hours of my life. Seriously. I'm finally going on a mini vacation for the night to the cities to go see Sonic Youth play and it's gonna be AMAZING. I need this soooooooooo bad. Hopefully this will be the catalyst to get me back into normal Ben mode. Plus, after this concert, I get to go home for a couple of days and whatnot. I found that all I have to do is keep myself busy and it's all good. But seriously, this show is going to blow my mind. I really can't wait. I'm so antsy that I'm sitting here trying to kill time with a blog post. I mean, come on! Somehow two and a half hours need to go by... I'm thinking about just trying to sleep or something. Already have my shit together: proper number of cd's, energy drinks for the ride back, the fuggin ticket, directions, money for merch, etc... part of me almost wants to head out now, just to get out of eau claire. I would, but I'm flying solo on this one and I don't know the city that well. Fuck it, I'm going. I'll post some pics later tomorow when I get back jajajajaja

Dark Night Of The Soul

New music time! And let me tell you, this one is a doozy, in my opinion. It's entitled "Dark Night Of The Soul", a collaboration between Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, and David Lynch. Now before you get all excited, David Lynch didn't have too much to do with the music, he mainly controlled the visual aspect of the band. Anyways, this is a really different type of album. It's all collaborations with different singers while Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse composed the music. At first I was a little worried, because the only Danger Mouse I've really listened to was his remix of Jay-Z's Black Album and his work in Gnarls Barkley. I was definatly pleasantly surprised. It's a wispy, dark, folky trip down a bleak higway. Some stand out tracks include 'Jaykub' featuring Jason Lytle of Granddaddy, 'Little Girl' featuring Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, and 'Insane Lullaby' featuring James Mercer of The Shins. The album is actually not available for purchase (which rules because what I am trying to say is that it's free!!!) so you can download it off any music site or use this link to download a .zip file of the cd : http://www.sendspace.com/file/6r0032 Seriously, if you are into trippy acoustirock definatly give this a spin!

Strange Days and Stranger Nights

I'll be honest. I've been in a funk for a while. Pretty much ever since that last mentioning of a funk. Don't know what it's gonna take to beat this one, but I'm sure it won't be quiet. This is the kind of mood that you have to beat in a loud way, the worst way. This mood has me sitting in my room, burning some incense, listening to slowdive, and wondering where I fucked up. What got me here, what comes next, yadda yadda yadda. I've tried taking certain steps and I thought that would be it. Nope.

Anyways, on the brighter side of things, I've just started watching True Blood and it's actually pretty good. The first episode left me a little wary because how intense the characters are, but after a few more episodes it grew on me and know I'm a little addicted. When I say the characters are intense, boy do I mean intense. They get toned down after the first few, but shit. I was instantly annoyed with how angry they made Tara, the main characters best friend. And the gay short-cook Lafayette seemed like a parody of every gay stereotype. Once you get a better feel for the characters though, it gets really really good. Almost every episode ends with a massive cliff hanger so it keeps you wanting more, like any good show. I remember back in Nip/Tuck's heyday I would get soooo pissed that I had to wait a whole week for the next episode. Besides that, I'm running out of distractions. We laid down a couple tasty jams this week, me being myself, Chris, and Matt. It's actually really fun playing with a bass player, cause I've only played with guitar dominating the mix. Hopefully more cool shit will come from this.

I don't normally say this, because I know that no one (including myself) wants to hear some little shit kid whine about his life on a blog, but something needs to change. I'm so fucking ready to do whatever I have to do, I just wish I knew what my problem was.

David Cross' new show!!!

Whoa, a double post??? Two in one day?!?!?!? Am I just that desperate for attention!?!?! HAHAHA no. This is beyond me or you. David Cross is writing and starring in a new television series featuring Will Arnett and Spike Jonze. How could it get any better??? The kicker is that it's for a British network. DAMN YOU ENGLAND!!! Stealing our comedy gold... Actually, the series will probably run a lot longer that it would here in the states. Check out the link, tell me if you find out anything more:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/06/22/david-cross-creates-uk-television-comedy-with-spike-jonze-and-will-arnett/

Some Like It Hot...

but this has gotten out of control. Holy shit has it been a hot one. The past couple of days have just been hot as hell. Everything is muggy and sticky, and you drink twelve glasses of water yet only piss twice. Yeah, its getting intense. Anyways, the past two days have been pretty strange for me. One of those "Ben, you need to get your shit together" kind of realizations. I don't know what it is, but I've really been out of it. I feel like I need to hole up in my room for a week and pop back out. Who knows.

Anyways, I started listening to some new tunes. Pretty cool stuff, actually. The first band is called Pelican. They're a post-rock/metal band in the vein of Isis or Mogwai. Not as heavy as Isis and not as theatrical as Mogwai, but actually pretty cool. The album I've been listening to is "The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw". You can listen to a couple of the tracks for free http://www.last.fm/music/Pelican/The+Fire+in+Our+Throats+Will+Beckon+the+Thaw . The other band I've been getting into recently is Thrice, specifically the album "Vheissu". It's sweet experimental post-hardcore stuff. I actually like it a lot more than the first album I heard from them, but I do have a penchant for the strange experimental sounds. Listen to the whole album for free again http://www.last.fm/music/Thrice/Vheissu . Yeah, its a little emo-y, but hey. I've been in that kind of mood. In fact, if you want to now exactly how my mood has been, listen to Pete Yorn's "musicforthemorningafter" http://www.last.fm/music/Pete+Yorn/musicforthemorningafter . Yeah. Plus that's just a really, really good album. I'm not big into the acoustirock but damn. This guy can write a tune.

Popular Music Is Dead, Long Live Popular Music.

Interesting title, huh? Well, I've beening stewing on some thoughts about music as a whole lately and a couple of things have been brought to my attention. First, the idea of "popular music" has been nulified. The constant expansion and reinvention of music has destroyed any hope of returning to a place were popular music is actually music. What I mean is, look at Rolling Stone. This magazine has been in the shitter for a while, but it has really been craptastic lately. Adam Lambert is on the cover, marker a "return of rock" to American Idol. Really??? Adam Lambert is bringing rock music to American Idol???

Another quick side note: leave glam to the professionals, kids. Go watch some old David Bowie concert footage or some New York Dolls. Don't spread eyeliner all over your face and come out, thinking it will make you legit. I don't care if you're gay or straight, Mr. Lambert, you still suck. Sorry. And what about Bono being on the cover of Rolling Stone with eyeliner??? Jesus, talk about an old man trying to stay relevant: "Look at me, I'm hip, I'm cool!... Right??... Please buy my album?..."

Another point I need to make pertains again to American Idol. The fact that this show dictates the Billboard Top Ten is another piece of evidence of a dying industry. This show isn't about finding talent, it's a popularity contest. Once a person starts being popular, then the ball starts rolling, talent or not.

Now look at indie, the last big 'alternative' music movement. In all honesty, indie has become gentrified and manufactured, just like grunge before it. Hipster clothing is on the runways and Pitchfork is losing credibility. I thought that the freak folk movement would save indie, but that has also died. Devandra Banhart is dating celebrities and Animal Collective has turned into an electronica band. Don't get me wrong, the new AC ablum is fucking incredible. I'm just saying 'indie' isn't indie anymore.

We are now entering a time we hit back in the late nineties ala rap metal and the reinvention of pop. I amused that the next big thing would be dance music, but artists like Lady Gaga are killing that dream as we speak. Read the RS interview of Gaga to see what I mean.

So where do we go from here? No one knows. The music selling industry is dead. Any hopes of making lots of money are retarded. Music will revert back to it's oldest purposes: entertainment and catharsis. We will find that popular music hits a lull and mediocrity will reign supreme for a long time. I'll be honest: we need another pop revival like the boy/girl bands of the 90's brought us. At least the blind hope of the American Dream was with us at that time. Good night, and good luck.

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Green Day is the new My Chemical Romance.

OH how the mighty have fallen. Seriously, look at the new Green Day album cover. It looks exactly like artwork from My Chemical Romance. I really can't believe that Green Day has completely changed. I mean, they fucking released a CD that sounds like their old stuff but they released under a different name?!?!?! I haven't heard the Foxboro Hot Tubs album, but it's on my list. I'm just really disapointed in how blatantly commercial they have become. This isn't a rant about bands becoming 'mainstream', this is a rant about a legitimately good band manufacturing an image to sell more albums. 'Green Day' has now become as much of a brand that My Chemical Romance is. At least we now know exactly how to sell out. Billie Joe Armstrong: Fuck you. You sir, are officially a tool. I saw a picture of Foxboro Hot Tubs performing, and they looked exactly like the old Green Day we all grew up with. For a good laugh, check out this interview on the Colbert Report and try to argue that these guys aren't tools HERE. I genuinely liked this band for a long time. I mean, FUCK! Dookie and Nimrod are great albums! They played excellent punk/pop and never did anything but be themselves. Well, some might argue that this is the band maturing. It isn't. If they were maturing, this wouldn't be such a rip-off of another successful band. Ugh, I'm tired of complaining.

Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops

So here starts my ambitious project, starting with an album that I feel really strongly about. This album got mixed reviews, and I'll be honest: at first, I didn't really like it. But as with a lot of great albums, this one is a grower. And the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me. The first time I really saw the album for what it's worth was when I was driving back from my friend Max's. We had jammed and hung out that night and I headed out in the early morning. It was about ten-ish, so the sun was out but it was cloudy and sort of raining. I was driving along, and 'Alone, Jealous, and Stoned' came on. Everything was perfect: the music was soothing, the trees and grass were all wet with rain, and I will never forget that moment. After listening intently a couple more times, I realized that this album describes every single relationship I've had, from the recent breakup story behind 'Alone, Jealous, and Stoned' to the struggle of unreturned love in 'I Want To Know'. I looked at the band's description of the album, and their lead singer, Brandon Curtis, wrote something to the effect of that he tried to capture the moment after you say something horrible to the people you love and you realize that you can never take it back. Wow. Here's a live video of 'Lightning Blue Eyes': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfy5iAydBWI I can honestly say, though, that this is in my top five albums of all time. This album is an album of change for the band. It has changed my life, for sure.

Start of A New Series

So, I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been busy, what can I say? While driving home with one of my best friends on Thursday I got a brilliant idea. I'm going to review and tell stories about specific albums that have made an impact on my life. Since this album inspired it, the first ablum will be the Secret Machines' Ten Silver Drops. Get psyched, cause this is gonna be intense. Hopefully I will get one done everything other week, but we'll see. I want to aim high.

Sam Raimi Returns To Horror???

So this past week has been veerrrryyyy interesting. Just one hell of a roller coaster. Anyways, with the weather looking nice and my head clearing up, things look to be getting better. Big parties going on last night, both neighbors were getting into it. Pretty fun, except for the fact that ever since my birthday I haven't been a big drinker :(. I really don't know why, but I haven't been able to drink as much as I used too. Makes me feel old. Speaking of feeling old, I had a conversation with my supervisor at work about age and how she had her first kid at 22. Jesus! I couldn't imagine being a father right now. Then yesterday afternoon the roommates and I went over to Carson Park to throw the football around, and we ended up near the playground. I looked around and saw all of the parents, and freaked out because a lot of them didn't look very older than us. I remember back in high school, being jealous of all the seniors and shit because they were old... Now, everyone that's older than us usually have kids! Growing old is getting old, seriously.

Anyways, I was bumming around the internets watching movie trailers and I stumbled upon this one. It's called "Drag You To Hell" and it's being written and directed by Sam Raimi, or Evil Dead and Spiderman fame. From the looks of it, it looks to be a great throwback to his old Evil Dead movies. I'm actually pretty psyched. Here's the IMDB profile, definately check the trailer out: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127180/

Plus the new Wolverine movie is coming out soon, and Deadpool is in it. Fuck, that will be cool. I mean, Deadpool? Awesome. Ryan Reynolds? Actually one of my favorite actors. Deadpool played by Ryan Reynolds? Insanely awesome. You guys have a great weekend, I'm thinking of posting something deep soon so keep your ears to the ground.

Chasing Passion

Here I am again, trying to work on a paper, but distracting myself with the blog. As of right now, I'm knee deep in another soc theory paper and it's going a lot better than I expected. Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about things going on around me; mainly relationship stuff. This isn't a 'woe is me, i'm alone' post though. What I see around me is that the happiest people I know are all passionate about something (usually another person). Now, this passion manifests itself in different ways, whether it be getting in huge fights, crying because they're far away, or making sacrifices for that person. It got me to start thinking about what I'm passionate about, and I realized that it's creativity. When a person says they are happiest when they are with someone, I'm that way when I'm doing something creative, whether it be making music, looking at art, or taking pictures. I just need to find that passion in another person. Someone who can bring out that creativity in me, someone who can push me outside my boundaries. It's just hard when you see the goal and want to get straight to it. Passion takes time. You only find passion quickly in very rare cases. It's those cases that hurt the most, but they have the most passion. A double edged sword, just like everything else in life. As a person who seems to enjoy extremes, I see how I set myself up to get hurt. I love that rush, but the fall hurts a lot. After you fall, you can't be afraid of that passion. You have to learn to enjoy it.

Cool Movie

So. Life has been treating me pretty good right now :). I've been dong the school thing, the work thing, etc etc. This morning while I was getting ready for class, I stumbled upon the trailer for the new Where The Wild Things Are movie, directed by Spike Jonze.

HOLY SHIT DOES THIS LOOK GOOD. In all honesty, this movie looks like something I could really get into. Some people thought that Tim Burton should have directed it, but I think he would have butchered it. Don't get me wrong, Tim Burton's a decent director, but his style seems so manufactured now. Anywho, here's the link for the WTWTR trailer. Enjoy!

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3413574425/

In other news, I think my mustache is going to go into hibernation for a while. I'm getting a little bored with it and think it would score some points with my friend if i got rid of it :). Plus I always like to change something about my appearance every once and a while. The mustache is getting a little stagnant.

CT Scan Art

This was really, really cool. Apparently some artisit decided to take CT scans of every day objects and print off the pictures. The New York Times did an article on it, and here is a link to the pictures. Some of them are sweet, but the McDonalds ones kind of creep me out : http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/03/23/science/032409-Scan_index.html

Enjoy!

P.S. I found this crazy picture of a dog:

Trippin' balls yet? lol

Spring Break + Recording Aspirations

Oh man! Spring Break 2009 whoooooo!!.... Hahaha, not really. I've been enjoying this time off. Everyone else is off in exotic locales, while I'm stuck here in the Eau C. Went home for a couple of days and got shitty with my parents on Monday, which was interesting (as always). It was good to be home, though. Went and visited some old friends, got to jam a little, and dominated my drumset for a good 4 hours each day. Again, it was awesome. Kind of makes coming back to Eau Claire really sucky. I mean, REALLY sucky. All I want right now is to play some music, but I can't because of this god damn small house. Oh well. So I'm gonna start trying to jam and record some shit with a dude from work which is pretty awesome. All we need are some mics... I bought a mixer on Sunday and it's really good. I just love playing with the knobs and shit... mixing my PC and my iPod, weird shit like that. Makes me want to buy some monitors and start having dance parties at my place... Hm... Good summer idea :). Nothing is better than beer and dancing. Speaking of which, I hope this summer doesn't suck like the last one. I mean, last summer FUCKING SUCKED. Really, the only way this summer could be worse is if people started dying. I don't think that's gonna happen. Anyways, expect some music to be posted on here. I have a mixer, so I'm gonna record, damnit. No Matter What.

P.S. Got some really good advice from my dad this weekend about bad experiences. He told me "Don't get over it. Get through it." Then we did a Jagerbomb. God, my parents are cool.

Post-Concert Madness

Holy shit was that concert epic. The whole day was pretty intense, actually. First, I started off the morning with a slight hangover at 8:30 am so I could start getting ready. After getting pissed at my computer because my blank cd's are SHIT (Don't Buy Memorex), Mitch got back to Eau Claire so we headed out. After some intense driving, we found the Triple rock and decided we needed to find something to do. Well, we didn't. We got coffee and walked around for an hour or so. Yeah, good fun. So then we decided to drive around and try to find something. That did not end well. We got sort of lost, and because I just looooove driving around in big cities, I actually had a mild panic attack. Luckily we found our way back to the Triple Rock, so we had some lunch and I got a much needed beer. The bartender there was super friendly and gave us directions to all the record stores in the area, so we drove over to the Electric Fetus and I scored some sweet electronica/trip hop records. Then we waited forever for the show to start. Then first opening band was pretty cool, sort of and indie rock outfit like Trail of Dead called Midnight Masses. The girl on rythym guitar was beautiful. I am now a believer in love at first sight. I think she was Asian... Anywho, dance punk is alive and well in LA, apparently. The next band, Funeral Party, was some really intense dance punk. The break downs were cool but the bodies of the actual songs got to be repetitive. Then we got to the good stuff. Trail of Dead was AMAZING. They got so intense, it was brilliant. They opened with Giants Causeway and ran straight into Isis Unveiled... Oh man. They played Will You Smile Again For Me, Homage, Relative Ways, Fields Of Coal... What a great set. The encore was Caterwaul, and it blew the fucking house down. The singer jumped out into the crowd and ran all the way to the back of the venue. Needless to say, it was quite rocking. I still have ringing in my ears. :)

Concert! Escapism!

Oh man it has been a looong time since I've posted anything... Sorry about that, folks. Anyways, today me and my homeboy Mitch are driving to the cities to god see ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and I'm soooooooo psyched. I honestly haven't gotten this excited for a concert in a whiel... I mean, I'm sure it won't be as great as the Secret Machines concert, but this should be monumentally epic. Plus I might score some tickets to go see a Jane's Addiction reunion with NiN, which would be awesome. (Minor side note: the girl who cuts my hair invited me, and I've had a very large crush on her for a loooong time lol) I heard somewhere that NiN might be breaking up for a while, so it would be a great chance to see them live before that. I love this feeling though, of looking forward to stuff. Really this is what keeps me going. The past couple days I've forgotten all that I have to look forward to and let me tell you: It got ugly. It's never good when that damned "everyone around me is in great relationships but me, I'm gonna be alone forever" monster rears his ugly head. But hey, I made it through like any other time. So here's to looking forward, never living in the past, and using music to escape from reality!

P.S. This concert might fuck me: I have to work at 6am tomorow. And daylight savings time ends tomorow. So really, I have to work at 5am. Whoooooooo!

P.P.S. I'll post my most epic picture on here tomorow after the concert, so you can all enjoy the monstrosity that is a rock concert.

More papers!! Yay!

Oh man. So, for you that live in Eau Claire, isn't this snow bullshit??? I remember at this time yesterday I was walking around outside enjoying the weather. I believe it was around 4o degrees. Now, I'm back in the library, working on a paper, when I look out the window and see a friggin blizzard. That's really shitty, if you ask me. I can't wait for spring/summer. I can't play my drums, I can't skate, I can't bike... God, I forgot how much I hate winter. Anyways, this paper is actually pretty fun to write. This whole post is because I wanted to share this sentance in my paper (I'm a nerd, I know):

If everyone controlled their means of production and the products of those means, there would be no class struggle henceforth no one would have power. That is the idea of the Communist Revolution.

Doesn't that sound like it came from a textbook??? God damn I are smart.

P.S. After much thought, I think I've self diagnosed myself as bi-polar or manic-depressive. Does anyone know anything about getting tested for something like that? It hasn't been too big of an issue for me, but for some reason it's been acting up. Just a thought.

Homework Sucks.

So I'm sitting here, in the library, trying to write a paper (it's going very well) while Andrew is working on homework also (aka Max Dirt Bike) and I realized that I haven't posted anything really interesting in a while. So, here you go. It's a clip of Chris Pennie playing the Dillinger Escape Plan song "Panasonic Youth". This guy's an amazing drummer... I get shivers right at 1:06 where he starts laying on the ride... Awesome. I've been trying to play just that part whenever I get the chance to play my drums and its just such a fun beat. God I miss my drums. Anyways, enjoy the clip. And if anyone has any thoughts on the social construction of gender, feel free to help me with this damn paper :)

New Store + Choke

So a new store has opened up in downtown Eau Claire and it's really, really cool. Of course, I'm speaking of Tangled Up In Hue, located kiddie corner to Acoustic Cafe. This place is really classy. They're what you would call a "hippy" store, I guess, but more oriented to a casual/educated crowd. No big anti-war, anti-corporation signs here. And it doesn't smell like really strong incense all the time. Really nice environment. Anyways, they do a lot of custom glass blowing which I love. All sorts of beads, jars, and smoking accessories are made three feet from where they are displayed. My sister would go crazy over this place. I haven't gotten a chance to see anyone actually make anything yet, but I'm sure it's really cool. I bought this little jar there and now I keep my coffee money in it :). Some of the stuff was a little pricey, but honestly, I'd rather spend more money at a local shop than a chain. I'll be the first to say it: this place blows Trucker's Union out of the water.

I bought the movie Choke today. It was actually pretty good. Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the book. I didn't think it was one of Chuck Palahniuk's stronger books. The movie did a really good job, though. The message kind of changed and it ended kind of abruptley, but it was worth the buy. Plus Kelly MacDonald was in it and I have a very large crush on her. Seriously. She's beautiful. Anywho, yeah it was a decent movie. I'd give it 3/5 or 7/10, depending what kind of scale you like. AND Important Things is on in 20 minutes!!! My night is going well.

P.S. I wrote this little short story thing today in class while I was bored, I might post it later. I'm not really sure... gotta revise it.

Reflections on Valentines Day

Hahaha. This is what always happens to me when I meet girls... besides the whole going crazy part. Anyways, yesterday was Valentines day. Now, a lot of people either love this holiday or they hate it, usually because of their relationships or lack of. I've always been indifferent towards it, but for some reason this year was different. I 'celebrated' it by going home for the day and hanging out with my family. My sister and I had a really good conversation about my future and the issue of my singleness was brought up. I realized that a lot of people think they need to be in relationships to be happy, and I'm not one of those people. One day I know I'll find 'the one' or whatever, but I think my attitude towards relationships will make that even more special. I'm not the kind of person that defines themselves as "so-and-so's boyfriend". I know some people that do that and it really kind of sucks. But the reality of it is that I have all the love I need right now. I have a great family, great friends, and (hopefully) a great future laying ahead of me. So if you're still feeling glum about being single on Valentines Day, remind yourself of the things you love and the people you love. If you get caught up in trying to find your significant other, your going to miss out on the rest of your life.

NERD ALERT

Oh man. Sham-Wows are great. So I recently gained membership to an invite-only torrent community, and man does it feel good. I don't know why, but just knowing that I have access to a shit load of music makes me happy. Even though I don't think I'll be downloading too much. I already have a new load that I have to listen to. Anyways, getting the damn torrents to work was hard. I had to do all this computer networking stuff and it got really frusturating. Luckily, the guides were really helpful and I finally got it to work! I had to forward ports and set up static ips... it was the most computer work I've done in a while. I felt like king nerd of geek mountain. Total uber l337 style, sucka! (I hate myself, sometimes.) I'll leave you all with some advice: Go get the This Will Destroy You album Young Mountain. It's awesome.

THE FUTURE (according to the movie Doomsday)

Allright. Again, I have avoided my homework by doing something VERY constructive: watching the movie Doomsday with my roommates. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's nothing great but it was a lot better than reading for my 100 level class. Anywho, in the movie this post-apocalyptic city divides into two groups: Mad Max style techno punks and a medevil feudal society. Now, me and my friend Mitch were debating which group we would belong to. A feudal society would be cool, you know, knights and shit. Lving in a castle would be pretty kick ass, and I've always yearned to be a self-sufficent farmer. BUT the techno punks had a huuuuge advantage: they had a gimp. I mean full blown "Bring out the gimp" gimp, leather and all. Who wouldn't want that??? Sign me up.

Oh yeah. Grammys last night. Um... congrats Kings of Leon, Lil' Wayne, Mars Volta... I would've really like Hot Chip to have won the Best Dance record. I mean, Daft Punk is cool but a little bland for me. And why the fuck were AC/DC nominated for a Grammy???? They've been putting out the same record over and over for years... Seriously. They should stop recording. It all sounds the same.

What else can I whine about?? Hm... nothing right now. Make sure everyone watches Demetri Martin's new show on Wednesday, that looks good. Stay classy.

Sorry Sociology, MTV has a new sunday night lineup

Yep. So instead of doing my soc readings, I decided to check out MTV's new sunday night lineup. I was really psyched for Rob Dyrdek's new show, and it didn't disapoint. Talk about living the dream: a huge warehouse filled with all sorts of crazy shit and millions of dollars to blow on more crazy shit. God, I am jealous. Plus he ditched the mini horse for a new puppy ->

Definately think when I get my own place I'm gonna buy a bulldog.

Anywho, Rob's new show is tight. The College Humor show was alright. I didn't really expect much, but it looks like it could get better. Right now I'm finishing Nitro Circus and that is pretty bad ass. It's like Jack-Ass but with Travis Pastrana's wallet. The slip-n-bleed looked like something me and my friends would try. I'm not really sure about this How's Your News. It opened with a Silversun Pickups song, so I guess I'll give it a try. See you tomorow when I complain about the Grammys!

First blog!?!?!

Wow. So this is what all the internet hipster kids are doing. Pretty exciting. Well, let me start off with some bad news I found out today: the college music service Ruckus is shut down. This really sucks. Seriously. Ruckus was the only semi-legit way I would get my music... And I really don't want to go back to torrents. Shitty. I mean, check out what the actual site says and tell me you wouldn't be pissed.

On another note, Lily Allen's new disk drops tomorow here in the states. I haven't heard anything about it yet, but I'm a little nervous. She seems like the kind of artist who has one really good debut album but on the next one she "tries to find her own voice". No thank you, I like the stark sarcastic Lily Allen. If she goes soft I'm gonna be a little pissed. But really, it won't matter because I won't be able to get the album because Ruckus is down!!! :(

This is going to be a little funny.

Halloween avatar,,,