Wayward Thought: Of Unreleased Albums and School

If you know me, then you know I love music. And if you know I love music you know I love Streetlight Manifesto. They are, bar none, my favorite band. Their hyperactive music combined with somewhat dark lyrics is a thrill to my soul.

I wish I was as talented as Tomas Kalnocky is. If I ever become a musician (which I doubt) it will either be because of him or Tommy Emmanuel.

I just noticed they are both Toms...

Wow.

Oh well.

Anyway, Streetlight Manifesto has a new album coming out "soon" called 99 Songs Of Revolution. They said they have it done and it is nearing release, but they haven't released any more info than that.

Supposedly it is going to be a cover album. Which will rock.

Because that means their version of Hell will be on it and the original is one of my favorite songs ever. If only they would do a cover of The Ghost Of Stephen Foster...

God I want them to hurry up. I doubt it isn't going to happen until the Warped Tour ends though.

Bummer.

Though I plan to see them up in Chicago because why not?


I know what you are thinking: "tacos." But besides that, why make a post about 1 album that isn't out yet? How about another?

The Protomen.

One of the most unique bands ever.

They took the story of Mega Man, warped it into something dark and dismal, then made a rock opera about it.

And friends, it is AMAZING.

Their first album detailed the rise and fall of Protoman, then the inspired battle of Megaman.

Their second album, "Act II" is going to be FUCKING EPIC.

Because for their second album they are splicing some good ole 80's music into the formula (for some of the songs. Father Of Death is an exception).


And I'll be damned if it isn't an orgasm of music.

Unlike SM's album, a few songs from "Act II" have been revealed.

Father Of Death

Breaking Out

The Hounds (live)

Light Up The Night

Release date is September 8, 2009. The war begins then my friends.

That's 2 weeks from today.

Epic album is epic.


So yep there's the post in a nutshe...

Wayward Thought: Of Unreleased Albums and School

Oh yea, school.

My last semester (maybe ever, hopefully ever) starts today. Wish me luck.

My on campus classes don't start until tomorrow (3 classes, back to back to back, 9 to 4) but I started doing my online class today.

Woot...

Wayward Thought: Of Piercings and Idiots

First off, let me inform you that nothing in particular is setting off this rant.

I just need to get a few things off my back.

First off:

PEOPLE, PAY ATTENTION.

FACIAL PIERCINGS ARE STUPID.

There, I said it.

No, I don't care if it is a matter of pleasing yourself aesthetically. No, I don't care if it is to make sex more fun. They are stupid and you are stupid if you think they aren't.

A friend of mine has what she calls "fangs." Two piercings either side of her bottom lip. Yep, idiotic.

Several friends of mine have their eyebrow pierced. Sure, that's idiotic.

People with one side of their lip pierced drives me nutty because no only is it idiotic, it isn't symmetrical.

Monroe piercings (or whatever they are called) are second in idiotiness only to the tiny little nub nose piercing.

Seriously, I have seen far too many beautiful faces ruined by a little metal dot on their nose.

WHY?

WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SHOVE THAT IN YOUR NOSE?

IT DOESN'T LOOK NICE. IT ISN'T ATTRACTIVE. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS SOMETHING ON YOUR NOSE THAT DESPERATELY NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.

FUCK THAT SHIT. PULL THAT SHIT OUT OF YOUR NOSE OR VOLUNTEER TO HAVE IT PULLED OUT BY ME.

Body piercings are the same thing: idiotic.

Far too many greats breasts RUINED by nipple piercings.

And naval piercings.

They make no sense whatsoever, at all.

"Look at my belly button. It is shiny!"

Fuck you. Die in a fire so our species will be stronger.

The only piercings I don't find to be mindfuckingly dumb are ear piercings. That does NOT include people who get gaping HOLES in their ears. They are just as stupid as the rest of you piercing loving gits.


One more thing:

Pull up your pants.

Wayward Thought: Of Foot Injuries and Heart Burn

I feel like telling all *counting* 2 of you the crap happening to me right now.

My feet hate me, as does my throat.

I'll start with what has my toes on them.

A few...however long it has been, I went with a friend to Holiday World. Not only did I then figure out that I dislike amusement parks, or at least going to ones with friends who decide "LET'S GO ON ALL THE ROLLER COASTERS 23462346089457609827435609872304958723045 TIMES!" because I hate roller coasters, I also banged up my right big toe.

Anyway, at Holiday World, there is a water park. Yay fun happy go lucky time! We go on this 3 person rafty thingy that was fun. Then we decide to go on the water slide next to it. Fine. There was 3 of us, the slide was a tandem slide.

I went alone :(

Anyway, the slide was actually 3 slides; a fairly straight one, a kinda curvy one, and a really loopy one. I pick the straight one because I have bad luck. Yes Matthew, good choice.

I careen through this slide and rocketed out, skimming on the top of the water. I nick a kid to my right and see this little girl standing in the water right in front of me. She couldn't have been more than 6. I see her and try to stop. How did I stop?

I slam my right foot down through the water really hard.

I end up hitting her pretty hard with the innertube. She was fine, thank goodness, but 10 minutes later, after my friends have gone through the slide again, my toe starts to hurt. There wasn't a step to get out of the pool, but just a slope. Jammed my toe.

And that was the SECOND THING WE DID.

I walked around the rest of the day with a jammed toe. I suppose that kinda bummed me out for the rest of the day. I had to walk around and pretty much wait for my friends because they only wanted to ride the roller coasters. Considering I am scared shitless by heights, I hope they appreciate that I rode ONE with them.

That was that whole day. Drive there, injure myself within an hour, ride one roller coaster because nobody wants to do what I would enjoy at least ONCE, then sit around and wait for everyone, then drive home. I used my time wisely and won a giant Skrat plushy for my friend (because hey, she was pretty awesome at that point) but instead, I have said giant Skrat doll sitting above me in my bookshelf.

It's pretty said to say that the highlight of a day spent at an amusement park is discovering bubble gum fudge.

Anyway, the toe still hurts. Not bad enough to worry me, just noticeable.

That is half the foot fun.

Two weeks ago, I am at karate class and we are doing some light sparring (in which we don't actually hit eachother). Sensei tells us kicks only, so we do kicks only. I throw a pretty squirrely left spinning side kick and it catches my sparring partner right on the point of the elbow. He is surprised it hit him but is unhurt. I collapse.

I drag myself off the mat to nurse my wound. It hurts a lot then I get my dose of adrenaline and get back up. As soon as we start again, a shard of wood from a broken board cuts the skin on the bottom of the big toe of the same foot I hit enough so that when I step back, it would drag the flap of skin and open the wound.

Great.

So when we do some actual sparring, I throw on a sock (which I thought was pretty clever) and get at it.

I get home that night and there is a nice big bruise on my foot. Yay.

Now the bruise is gone but my foot still hurts a bit. Sometimes it hurts enough to think I broke my foot, sometimes its like "yea, I hit that a while ago."

So each foot hurts. My life is a parade of joy and happyness.

Oh yea, I think I have acid reflux. Burps give my heart burn now.

Burps.

BURPS.

BURPS.

Wayward Thought: Of Love and Such

I wonder...every time I start going down the path of a certain relationship I get to a point where the path splits.

The first time I was walking along happily but the path split unexpectedly and I ended up falling off a cliff. The cliff fall was fun, but didn't last long. And I got sick, not from the cliff or the fall, but I got sick all the same.

Once I recovered, I found the path again. That time, however, I came to a split that would have me go in one of 3 directions. Instead of just picking one, I was cautious and just sat on my ass.

Now, only 1 of those paths exist and I have been walking, maybe even running down it. However, it has come to a T and I don't know what to do.

In one direction it is mostly flat and "unexciting" but I can see far down the path and I would love to waltz down it merrily. In the other direction, there are lots of things to climb, vault, build, destroy. Right off the bat it looks fun, but I can't see far at all down that path.

I know not what to do. I am stuck at this intersection and it seems that I keep on going down one path then running back and going down the other a little bit then again and again and again.

And I am tired from all the running.

Wayward Thought: Of Audiosurf and 8 Bit Music

Today's going to be a double post. I have 2 things on my mind, video games and women.

IT'S GONNA BE BIG!

Video games first. Because, it shouldn't be the other way around in real life so it is going to be as such here.

The video game in question is Audiosurf. (I got it off steam).

Audiosurf is kinda like what would happen if Guitar Hero and a roller coaster had hot entertainment sex. You pick a ship (there are about 10 ships, each with different playing styles) pick a song, Audiosurf turns it into a track, then you race along that track picking up colored blocks to get points.

It sounds simple, and it is. But let me tell you something; picking up colored blocks at 2352598745 beats per minute whilst headbanging to Strapping Young Lad is very fun.

Seriously, the speed at which some songs go is insane. See, the game doesn't just create a random track. The track undulates and flows with the song. Each bass kick is a little bump in the track. Mellow parts of the song rise up, intense parts of the song fall down. Blue denotes mellow beats, and it goes up to red for intense beats.

So when I tell you that I have found a musician whose music is mostly downhill and mostly red, I assure you his songs are insane.

And free.

RushJet1.

Mostly 8 bit music with some covers. Some songs, which I will list in a recommended list later this post, are so much fun. And it's just moving left or right picking up colored blocks!

There is a small catch. Apparently I am one of a select few who thought that listening to RushJet1 while playing Audiosurf would be a good idea and so far I have become the defacto champ for most of the songs I have played. Only because I was the first. Here or there his songs may have scores, but more often then not, it's me.

So, until more people play his songs, we really can't tell who is good or who isn't.

But holy crap, his music is FREE.

FREE. I.E. you don't have to pay for it.

How is that NOT incentive to play them?

Well, Audiosurf isn't free. But I got it and 9 other games for 30 bucks so I won't be complaining. (thanks Steam!)

For sake of the post, I downloaded a video recorder and played a few RushJet1 songs in Audiosurf for ya.

Here is Aerial Assault, which is all red and orange. In the video, I beat my high score even though I didn't get the Clean or Stealth bonuses. Also, at the beginning of the video, if you pay attention, it says I am already playing the song. This is because when I tried to record it the first time, it automatically started the song after loading. I didn't have a chance to start the recorder so I stopped, reset, then played it again.

Watch more videos of Audiosurf

Here is Overdrive! (Easter Egg Mode) which is actually harder than Aerial Assault, and my favorite song to play so far. There are odd sound glitches. They are NOT part of the song, but artifacts in the recording.

Watch more videos of Audiosurf

So yea. Audiosurf is 20 bucks and worth it. Also, RushJet1's music is free and worth more than that.

You know what to do.


Recommended songs: (some of these I know are awesome but I haven't played yet)

• Aerial Assault (the song I said was only orange and red)
  
• Almost There
• Cuzzazzy
• Deep Space Dance
• Haunted Dance
• Insurrection
• Konami's Moon Base
• Konamized
• Luminosity and Viscosity
• Overdrive! (and Overdrive! Easter Egg Mode)
• Secrets and Lies
• Tetritechno (and Tetritekno)
• The Final Conflict
• Out Of Reach
• Boss 9
• Math Party

The Wayward Review - Andrew Bird's "Noble Beast"

From today on, I shall be reviewing one piece of media, such as a cd, a movie, a book, so on and what not, and putting it on here for the rest of you good folks to read.

Format is going to be pretty easy to follow. General info about the album, then details in each track, then what I think of the album in general.

First off, is a cd.

"Noble Beast" by Andrew Bird

For those of you who do not know who Bird is, I am no surprised. Though a very successful indy musician, a majority of people only concern themselves with what they see on TV. Though Bird has performed twice on Letterman (both are on YouTube), I am still the only person I know besides the owner of the music store in my hometown who even knows of Bird's existence.

That's a damn shame. Lurking in Bird is a profound musical soul. A soul that doesn't hinder itself with being afraid to make music that is a bit odd. Bird's use of layers and looping is, as I put it, "quirky." He's like a male, American, more acoustic Bjork. Trust me when I say that connection will come up again.

And he is one hell of a whistler.

Notable tracks:

Oh No
The opening track for the album starts out whimsically, with a guitar and some strings in the back. Then he starts whistling and a charming song begins to play itself out. This song shows perfectly how odd Bird's lyrics are. Even though he sings clearly and not quickly, you probably won't be able to follow his lyrics because they can be really bizarre, and this song is a perfect example. It probably won't matter though, because this song is so charming that you just won't mind. A light romp though Bird's creative mind, this song is a good opener to the album.

Masterswarm
I'll be honest, when I first got this album, I didn't much care for this song. The first minute is oddly unbearable. But after that minute, holy god, this song bursts at the seams with awesomeness. Again, you won't be able to tell what the hell Bird is talking about here but again you probably won't care. Like Oh No, this song (after the first minute) is incredibly charming. There is a lot of layered elements going on here but it all fits together. I feel this song would be a lot better without the first minute, which just seems like an awkward excuse to use alternating acoustic guitar riffs.

Fitz and Dizzyspells
Of the Bird albums I have, I have noticed that each album needs the high tempo "dance" song. This is that song. From the get go, this song bombards you with energy. I can't not at least tap my foot to this song, which means bad things when driving, but I digress. Just like most of his songs, there are tons of layers and lots of stuff going on, but somehow Bird is able to make it all fit together. A very good song, I have no real complaints about it.

Effigy
This song shows how great a violinist Bird is. It also shows how skilled he is at layering the instruments that he plays. This song is a bit schizophrenic. It starts out with violins, then switches to guitar for some unknown reason around the 1 minute mark. I really would have preferred him sticking with violins, but the song pulls it off. This song is very soft and gentile. It isn't quick at all. Very calming, this song makes for good reading music.

Tenuousness
The first song off the album I actually heard (the pro wrestler Bryan Danielson had set it as his MySpace profile song). The song starts off with at least 3 layers of Bird plucking away on his violin and it is quite beautiful. When he starts signing, it is quite apparent that this is a song that focuses on the lyrics. It starts off fine enough, then gets odd damned fast and I love it. I love driving while listening to this song. Something about it just makes me want to travel.

Not A Robot, But A Ghost
I mentioned a similarity between Bird and Bjork earlier. This is where the connection is most apparent. This song starts out sounding similar to Bjork's I Miss You. The difference is that I Miss You is done mostly electronically, whereas this song is mostly acoustic. This song is so different than the rest of his songs that it turns out to be a perfect Andrew Bird song. Words cannot say how awesome this song really is. The only problem with this song is the end, ie, it happens.

Anonanimal
This song starts out slowly and builds on itself at nearly every step. Bird's soft lyrics here make no sense but are lovely never the less. A very gentile and beautiful song, I love to read while listening to this song.

Souverian
Like Anonanimal, this song starts out slowly, but builds on itself a lot slower, but not to as many layers. Also, the sudden interruption by the piano is pleasing to the ears. An amazingly soft song, this is yet another reading song.


As for notable tracks, that is about it. That isn't all the tracks, but those are the ones I like the most. All in all, this is a good album. For someone uninitiated with Bird, I would recommend listening to "The Mysterious Production of Eggs" first, but this album is just as good. As I mentioned for most of the songs, I love reading while listening to this album. It is very calming and I find I can actually pay attention to the book longer while listening to Bird's music. That isn't to say that the music is forgettable or unremarkable, they just put me in a mood to do something relaxing.

Rating:
4 out of 5 stars.

Best Track:
Not A Ghost, But A Robot definitely.

Omnitheism

Just for the hell of it, I shall start out this wonderous blog out with something that I have posted on YouTube: my religion.

What I believe in is Omnitheism.

For those of you who do not know what Omnitheism is, here is the definition:

Noun

omnitheism

1. The belief that all religions contain a core recognition of the same God.
2. The belief that every entity is a God.

Taken from Wiktionary.

Simply put, I believe every god exists, and I have my very own reasons for believing that.

Before I get to what exactly I believe, let me first explain what led me to the conclusion.

American Gods.

The book, American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. It's a fantastic book, and I read it at the time because I was a big fan of Gaiman's. Now I'm a whore for Orson Scott Card, but that is just me liking an author here or there, nothing to do with faith. Sorry, I digress.

American Gods is not a religious text like the Bible or the Koran. It is just a novel about gods. A common theme in Gaiman's books is that all gods exist and they exist because people believe they do.

The book itself is about the Nordic god Odin and his attempts to save humanity (and the other gods) from a war with newer gods. The concept is that humanity has relied on technology like TV, cell phones, and the internet to the point that humans worship them. In worshipping them, humans diefy them. At that point, what is believed to have power suddenly has it, and such amazing things as televisions become gods. Because America has relied on those techological "beigns" for so long, they are called American Gods (hence the name of the story).

I would say that I can't tell you how much sense that made to me, but here you are, reading exactly that. And it did, it made more sense to me than a lot of things. It sure as hell made more sense to me than a virgin giving birth to GOD.

So that is why I believe what I believe, now lets cut the "why" out of that.

Here is what I believe, in a nut shell.

1. All gods that people believe in exist.
2. Believing a god exists makes it exist.
3. All gods give an untangible power to those who believe in them. In return, people have a stronger belief in the god, which feeds said god.
4. The fewer believers a god has, the weaker the god. A god ceases to exist when nobody believes they do.

That's it, really. Let's go through each point in detail now.

All gods that people believe in exist. My reasoning for this is actually number 3. The "power" that I speak of is like a mental strength. Hope, integrity, tenacity, whatever it may be, it cannot be measured and has really no physical manifestation. It is easily observable that people who have faith have a certain mental quality that those with less or no faith don't have. That "power" has to be coming from somewhere. It is my belief that said power is coming from the god that whomever believes in. That is the main reason that I came to believe it. I can only think of one other source for this power, but it seems unlikely and I will get to that later.

As far as number 2, it should be easy to explain if you have read through this entire post so far. There is only one catch I can think of and that is that many people can believe in many different gods, well known or not. Think about it though, you probably haven't heard of any gods that only one or two people believe in. You have only heard of the gods that large groups of people believed in. They are more powerful and more well known. If one person believes a god into existence and only one person believes that they exist, that god isn't powerful at all.

Number 3, well, I explained that partly with number 1. The missing part is the act of believing and what it does for the god. Simple. Person believes in god, god gives "power" to person, person believes in god more, god gives "power" to person, etc etc. Another link in that chain could be that the person could get more people to believe in the god, making the god even stronger and able to give more "power."

Number 4 can actually be observed, kind of. This will also explore the REASON that people believe in gods. Take elemental gods for example. Ancient people looked to water, fire, wind, earth, and saw what they did not understand. How does that work, what can it do, etc etc, they thought that something supernatural existed in the elements. They believed that fire had power, then fire became a god. However, as we have developed scientifically we have grown to know how they work. Because we now KNOW what and how they are, we don't believe that they have power, and as such, they lose that power.

That is why I think people believe in gods in general, to help understand what they can't understand. It's obvious, once you think about it. We have such amazing knowledge about the world now that the only thing we have no scientific ideas about is the afterlife.

Of the 3 major religions, what do they deal with?

The afterlife.

That's why I think Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are so popular, because they help people "understand" what will happen after they die since, scientifically, we can't say what happens.

So there you go, that's why I believe what I believe.

An interesting point that I have come across is that since I believe all gods exist, I can't pick one over another.

But wait but wait, I mentioned a catch in what I believe.

True, and there is a catch. If I have no god to call my own, where do I get the "power" from (if I get it)? Maybe some unknown god gives it to me, maybe not.

What if the power that we get from gods actually comes from our brain, subconsciously making us feel a mental strength in order to cope with thinking that all mighty man in the sky exists?

Guess what that means.

It means that what I willingly admit that what I believe may be wrong.





There we go. There is my first epic blog on this site. Look forward to other Wayward posts, as I will explore other concepts in my life, like my comfy chair. Tis comfy mmmmmm.

Go forth now, live your life, believe in what you want to believe in. Just don't be a dick about it, please.