QUOTE OF THE DAY, VIA HENRY ROLLINS

Sometimes, watching Vh1 really pays off.
I am sitting in front of a huge television, watching the One Hit Wonders countdown, avoiding everything I have to do, and Rollins comes to bless me with this nugget of wisdom that only he can dispense.



The other HR of hardcore on The Cardigans' "Lovefool":
"When you see a pretty girl singing, 'Say that you love me,' you want to like it; when does that ever happen in your wretched life?"

Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Just Living

Warning: rambling about positivity and the awesomeness of life enclosed; if you're tired of reading the same thing over and over, go read Stuff White People Like and think about me.

I'm sitting in a study room in the basement of the library at school, updating my blog from my old laptop. Flashback much? I've been working on this huge presentation that I have to make at 9:30 tonight pretty much non-stop since yesterday. Group projects are fun.

Anyways, this is the first time I've been able to get on the internet on my old computer in a few months. The man has shut down the old internet on my side of campus and I can't get access, but I figure since I'm sitting here for another hour with nothing much to do, I can at least post something I've been meaning to for about four months.

Ted Leo's 2007 album, Living With the Living, was one of my favorites of the year, however, I mentioned that the album needed a shower and a shave, so to speak. A few edits, rearrangings and additions later, I came up with Just Living, a perfect version of Living With the Living (along with the bonus Mo' Living EP), that reflected both Ted's genius pop scientist songwriting as well as the songs that he played most live. This album has been sitting on my computer, waiting to be uploaded and posted about since the beginning of the year. It was only today that everything worked out in its favor.

This week is going to be excruciating; today I have a huge presentation that's worth 25% of my final grade and I'm fairly sure I'm going to do terribly because of an incompetent group. Thursday, I have another group presentation for a different class, which I haven't even thought about, a huge history midterm and an art project due; the one saving grace is that once all of that is over, I will officially be on break. I leave campus at 7pm to go home, get a haircut, and leave the first half of my sixth semester behind. It certainly has been a difficult one.

It was a bit ironic that everything happened like this today. I met with a few group members to edit the Powerpoint presentation that we're going to have to give later and I'm planning on meeting the rest of the group in about an hour to test it all out. While I was sitting here, thinking about all the things I've missed about this laptop and all the things its seen, I saw the Ted Leo album, just asking to be posted. It made me think more and more about the past and the message of the album.

Living With the Living is really about losing. There are moments of optimism, but they're often overshadowed. Whether it be oppression of a government that doesn't care or being bested by your own demons; it's an album about losing. The version that I've created is literally about "just living;" it's about fighting to survive and winning. It's a constant reminder to never give up.

I feel as though Ted Leo's intention was never to release an album that was so heavily pessimistic, but it just turned out that way, and that's why he put out the extra EP with brighter moments. The version I've compiled is not only superior musically, but really has a sense of urgency rather than sadness; of course, there are going to be darker moments, just like with anything, but in the end, it really should be about coming home at the end of the day and being able to sleep at night.

One moment that got pushed to the b-sides was Ted's cover of "Rappaport's Testament (I Never Gave Up)." For those of you who don't know the reference, check this. Ted's version is so defiantly positive, that it serves as a great centerpiece.

One of the greatest moments comes at the end of Just Living, with the song "La Costa Brava." The first few times I heard the song, I didn't quite get it, mostly because I was trying to take it in all at once and also because it wasn't originally at the end of the album. This was meant to be the centerpiece of the album, however, I feel like the open ended optimism it leaves you with gives it the merits of any of the best album closers out there. Enclosed are some of the greatest lines I've ever heard: "Everyone needs a Sunday somedays/everyone needs to take some time away/so come on home from the frontlines, baby/you know you've done more in your time than there was supposed to have been/a little time out could turn your head around/a little time out could lift us out of this mess we're in.../everyone gets to feeling weak/but if everyone gets a week and change their pace/you travel west 'til you hit Girona/I'll travel east out of Barcelona/and I'll meet you halfway/one day and night on La Costa Brava/we'll forget the fright and remember why we wanna be brave/and that there's something to save."

I've been feeling like I've been getting beat, but now that I've uncovered this album and all the feelings it evokes, I feel as though I'm going to be able to make it through this week and my life for a little while.

I love and miss you all too much. I have next week off, so come see me or call me.

*EDIT: I forgot to renumber the tracks in iTunes. My bad.
Here's the tracklisting:

1. Nothing Much to Say
2. The Sons of Cain
3. Colleen
4. Rappaport's Testament: I Never Gave Up
5. Already Too Late?
6. Who Do You Love?
7. Some Beginner's Mind
8. Old Souls Know
9. Living With the Living
10. La Costa Brava

Just Living

Appreciating gay culture.

You know this:


Do you remember this?


What happened there? Is it just that there's only a temporary interest in all things "gay"? There's only one thing I know and that's the fact that there is only one option in this situation:

Farewell to No Depression and Depression

This week, it was announced that No Depression magazine would end its publishing run. No Depression helped to launch the careers of bands like Wilco, the Old 97s and Whiskeytown and further the alt.country genre.

I never really read No Depression in its glory days (the late 90s), but I know that if it didn't exist, my life would be a little bit more bleak.

On that note, I would also like to bid farewell to depression. These last few weeks certainly have been the longest test of my life, but I know that things are going to get better. This isn't to say that the next few weeks are going to be easy, but I know that I will be rewarded for my patience.

Anyways, here's alt.country. Full entry to come.

The Pipettes and the recreation of everything you've known to be true.

I haven't had many moments recently. Usually, I'm fighting mindlessly against the tide, and yet recently, I feel like I'm stuck in some barren, desolate hell of nothingness, where there are no waves pushing me back towards the shore. I'm having a hard time getting the words on the page, both literally and figuratively. Sometimes, it's because I'm uncertain and I doubt myself, but a lot of the time, it's just that I'm having an extremely hard time getting my head in the game.

Over the past few weeks, a lot of strange things have happened. I think those things have carried over into the other parts of my life and that's what's giving me all this damn trouble, but that almost seems too easy.

As this has all been happening, I've also had a big project in my art class. We're using Photoshop to create a collage of a space, either imagined or conceptual. Of course, since I've been listening to tons of "Concrete Jungle" and "Ghost Town," I decided that I was going to rebuild a skyline, piece by piece. So far, it's been going okay:



but, there's just something about it that's mundane. Of course, the idea is to portray urban life in a very gray manner, but it's more than just that. My collage is just boring. There's very little in it that's visually interesting. Most of what's going on is at the very bottom and I'm having trouble playing with perspective with the components.

I'd been sitting here for an hour, just trying to drop shadow until something happened, when it occurred to me. I should be trying to recreate things in a more unconventional manner. It may come as a surprise to many of you, but I'm not a very unconventional thinker. Over the next few days, I'm going to be looking for photos, items to scan, magazines, books, etc. of things that could possibly play as stand-ins for the buildings in my skyline.

When you're recreating life in this manner, subconsciously, you want to recreate it as closely to reality as possible. I lied a little before when I said that there was no struggle; I've been grappling with changing the way I think, partially because of this class, but also because of everything that's been going on in my life. Things are changing constantly and when it seems like nothing else could possibly change, they keep getting more and more strange. I've had to look at things in a new way, though this isn't to say that it's been a negative experience. I don't know whether it's fear of losing the original image in our minds that prevents us from creative deconstruction or not, but I think it has a lot to do with ownership. I have no problems destroying something I've created and building it back up in a different way, but when it comes to something that I can't call "my own," I shrink back. It has very little to do with creativity.

There are a lot of different things that provoked this outburst: the art project, the Specials, the emptiness. The strangest thing brought this all together. Right as I came up with the idea to reconstruct the skyline with stand-ins for buildings, the song on my iPod changed to a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" by the Pipettes. If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm sort of obsessed with good covers and tributes. This is a great recreation, even though it's fairly true to the original and it's also a live cut. As I listened to that and realized everything that it was and was not, I realized that these things were all small metaphors for my life now. I've really taken what I had before and deconstructed it, then built it back up into what I wanted it to be. Though I complain all too much about the emptiness or the struggle or whatever, I'm really beginning to realize that I've built something I can really be proud of, something I wouldn't be ashamed to put on the wall for everyone to see.

"I Think We're Alone Now"

Another album that will make the year end list: The Mae Shi

Now, as of two years ago, I hated the Mae Shi. I'd seen them live a few times and they were pretty bad. Admittedly, the one time I really saw them was opening up for Ozma, but still, they were bad. As time went on, I became increasingly aware of their deep involvement with the Smell, which made me see them differently than any other "bad" band. They were obnoxious just because they could be. About a year and a half ago, I heard that the band had lost two of its founding members (including their singer) and had replaced them and were in the process of recording a new album.

Tracks started to wander out onto the blogosphere, and they were very good, but it wasn't until I saw the attached video that I actually fell in love.

Last week, their new album, HLLLYH, appeared on the blogosphere in its entirety. I've listened to it about 20 times since then and I love different things about it each time I hear it. The synth sounds are perfectly engineered, just on the edge of distorting wildly, the drums are huge and the multitracked vocals are so impressive in the way that they're stacked. It's obvious that the vocals on this album are a huge part, but they don't take focus away from the instruments.

Now, I was about to post the full album for your consumption, but since I know everyone who reads this blog, you will know that I mean this when I say it: go out and see the Mae Shi live and buy their album directly from them. You know that, for the most part, I advocate stealing as much music as possible, however, this is one of those times that you just HAVE to support the band. Here's why (part of a statement from the Mae Shi's bio):

”This is our story, and we invite you to come along. It's about self-improvement and trying to live life at the top of your lungs, living life rightly, respecting others, making something you're proud of, and trying to sort out all the static and figuring out what matters. It's about trying to forge that third way, that way everyone said it couldn't be done. We do this in basements and backyards and in fancy clubs we don't even feel comfortable in. We do this in living rooms and bathrooms and bedrooms and wherever the sound sounds best. We do this with ten dollar keyboards and Olvera Street guitars and with light-reactive synths we built ourselves. We do this with broken cymbals and busted speakers. We do this the first thing when we wake up. We do this after a hard day at work, when it's the only solace and life seems to be a constant source of frustration. We do this on weekends. We do this all the time.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.

In defense of Ron Paul.

This entry is a side note, seeing as I need to defend myself a bit here. I'll try not to talk too much politics from here out, but I feel this had to be said.

In the past few weeks, I've taken a lot of heat from my liberal friends for not absolutely hating Ron Paul. I've never really been able to explain my love for him until the Florida primary.

I guess my initial curiosity for the now famous Libertarian was piqued by people like Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert, who adored the man. It was so strange to me that such famous liberals would be interested in a second tier Republican candidate, who was personable enough, but barely garnered enough attention and funding to make it into half of the primaries. He was obviously someone who got into the race to make noise and he did just that. Also, I think I liked that he was basically half Keebler Elf and half Vulcan:


+


As time went on and I started to learn more about his policies, I became disenchanted, realizing just how libertarian he really was. This man wants to murder the IRS and public education in favor of the private sector ruling everything. At first, it doesn't sound so bad. Who really wants to pay taxes? We all realize that we need to pay taxes, but when you get your paycheck with almost a third taken out, it stings. Once you really stop to think about what sizing down the government would mean, the situation gets a little scarier.

Anyways, as I grew more wary of Dr. Paul, I grew more interested in just studying him. He was what made the Republican debates enjoyable to watch. Watching the Democratic debates depressed me; it seemed ridiculous to watch the same debate over and over. Watching Hillary attack "the black man," only to hear him come back with some sound byte about "uniting America" or "change" while being overly polite to John Edwards, who had no chance to get in a word edgewise, was depressing. The Republicans were all clawing at one another, while basically saying the same things. They debated over technicalities in laws and votes, while skirting many of the greater issues. Ron Paul, on the other hand, was in a constant state of panic during the debates. Each of his answers came out in a tone that suggested, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? WHY DON'T YOU GET IT?" I can understand how this resonated with people disenchanted with the party.

As many of you have asked about, I am a moderate, as listed on facebook. I am a registered democrat, however I still may swing on certain issues, depending on the situation. This cycle, I was looking forward to voting for the most presidential candidate in the race, John Edwards, but he couldn't beat a few bad news cycles and the first viable woman and African American candidates. Why, then, would I defend Ron Paul, you might ask. I defend Ron Paul because I realize what he was trying to do.

There are candidates who get into the race to raise issues and keep everyone else honest. Ron Paul took this to a whole new level. I realize that he didn't do this intentionally, mostly because he must have known that he wouldn't have even gotten this far. In his responses during the debates, he may have seemed to be a little crazy, always using that distressed tone, but people heard what he was saying. The other candidates would laugh off his responses, but more often than not, he made them look plain ridiculous. In one of the earliest debates, he came straight out and proved Rudy Giuliani wrong, saying that he should "read a book from time to time." This is the reason I really love Ron Paul.

As you know, Giuliani decided to drop out after the Florida primary because he played his cards wrong, however I submit to you that it was a mismanagement of his campaign coupled with the success of Ron Paul's strategy that forced Rudy out.

Think back to two years ago. The only Republican candidate that was starting his campaign was Rudy, and it looked like he had a very good chance of being elected. Though it was not all positive, he had so much exposure and face recognition outside of New York between 9/11 and his appearances on Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. He was building his name from the time he took office and he did a good job. I always thought of him as the Arnold of the east; a closeted moderate who could steal any office he wanted out from under our noses. If you think about how terrible Giuliani's policies would have been in the White House, it is really terrifying to think that there was a time when he was a viable candidate. Once the other candidates started announcing, Rudy's odds took a hit, but he was still the frontrunner. Even John McCain, one of the most beloved moderates, was trailing him at one point. I mean, how many people outside of New England have heard of Mitt Romney?

Back to Ron Paul; I personally don't agree with his domestic policy initiatives (I know, there weren't any besides "eliminating bureaucracy"), but his foreign policy was headed in the right direction (I'm not an isolationist, but I am for leaving people alone when we're obviously just going to ruin their lives) and I liked that. This, coupled with those calculated sound bytes, is what really pushed him forward in fundraising and visibility. He wasn't too good to speak to anyone and really seemed to make an effort to reach out to those demographics that Republicans thought were useless to them (young people, libertarians, and even Democrats). As time went on, Ron Paul started coming in ahead of many viable candidates in primaries and to this day has outlasted not only Rudy, but Fred Thompson ("the next Reagan?"). His being in the campaign not only kept the other candidates honest, but really made many people realize just how ridiculous Rudy Giuliani would have been as president.

In short, thank God for Ron Paul. If it weren't for him, we could have had a punchline for a president.

A word from the proprietor.

Instead of working today, I decided to come home last night. I went to see Nellie McKay at Fingerprints in Long Beach and she was wonderful.

This morning, I got up far too early and decided, in a sleepy haze, that I should add links in the sidebar. If you look at the top of the right sidebar, you'll notice a link to your blog, since I know you are my only possible readers.

The video, you ask? It's the video for the new Mountain Goats single, "Sax Rohmer #1." This is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of the first quarter. This is the first year that a Mountain Goats album will make it on to my year end list, which is exciting for me.