I really want this semester to end. Every teacher decides it would be in their best interest to pile shit on their students the last couple weeks. Unfortunately Teacher A apparently doesn’t know that Teacher B did this, nor do they know that Teacher C did it as well. Bah.
Guillermo Del Toro has been confirmed as the director for the two Hobbit movies. I think that’s absolutely awesome. Peter Jackson would have been great, of course, but I can’t think of any other director that I would rather take the helm since Jackson was out.
Maybe I’ll post some more when I have all that free time during the summer. I have a wedding to attend in June, and possibly a Cyndi Lauper/B-52’s concert as well. Early July will see myself off to Maine for a week. I’m looking forward to relaxing before school starts up again.
Don’t you love it when you stumble upon a song you’ve never heard before and it’s the greatest thing ever created? I just did that moments ago:
The song is called “A Different Story” by German singer Peter Schilling. Now I’ve known about good old Peter for awhile, he was the one who did the one hit wonder “Major Tom” which I’ve always loved. I don’t know how I’ve missed this song. In my years of listening and loving 80s music I somehow managed to miss this gem. But now I have it. And I’m listening to it. And all is grand. This shit right here is the reason I love 80s music so much. It’s just way too awesome.
Yes. Finally. My Siouxsie Sioux cherry was popped this past Saturday… and it was fucking EPIC.
I’ve missed my past two chances to see Siouxsie live. The first being a reuinion show of Siouxsie and the Banshees in 2002, while I was in Saudi Arabia. The second being an ‘evening with Siouxsie’ featuring Banshees songs and songs from her side project with her (then) husband Budgie, The Creatures. I had math class that I felt I couldn’t afford to miss. To this day I still can’t tell if my priorities are fantastic or retarded. When I heard that she was touring for her first solo album (at the age of 50!) I emailed Joey and told him he’s going. He had no choice. It was kind of pricey with the ticket master charges tacked on but totally worth every penny. We got to the venue around 8:30 or so since the tickets claimed it started at 9. This ended up not being the case and she didn’t take the stage until 10. It was a relatively long wait and I started getting pissed until this:
It started. The lights dimmed, the screen went up. The band took to their instruments and then eventually she walked out. Good God did she look fantastic. It completely blew my mind. I don’t have many friends that understand my fascination with this woman and her music, but being able to finally see her in the flesh was an experience. Her mic was fucked during the first song, although it got better towards the end of it. Subsequent songs sounded fantastic - she still has it. Even though her voice has dropped considerably. Her new material is more catered to this change, but she played 4 Banshees songs that sounded fantastic. Hong Kong Garden(which she announced is now 30 years old, released as a single in 1978), Night Shift, Nicotine Stain and Dear Prudence (yes, it’s a Beatles cover). Here is a short clip of the Dear Prudence performance:
Here is a video of “About to Happen”. You can see how fabulous she looks. I apologize for the video, as the cameraman decided it would be fun to sing along. Apparently he does this will all his videos after browsing his collection. Regardless - Awesome.
All together, it was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better show. I started to get a little teary eyed at one point, and I’m not kidding. I don’t do shit like that, but now I can somewhat understand videos of little girls crying for the Beatles. Well, they went a little overboard. I don’t preach Siouxsie to others, as she’s an acquired taste - but to me it doesn’t get better than this.
My whole weekend was a lot of fun. I went up to the city Friday evening so we could go out for Tim’s Birthday. We ate at some Texas BBQ esque/Whiskey bar place in Brooklyn. Meat, Meat and more Meat. Ribs, Brisket, Pulled Pork, Sausage and baked beans that had more meat chunks than beans. Excellent. Afterwards we went to a bowling alley for some more drinkage. In fact, the majority of my weekend was drinking which is alright with me. The Subway system is absolutely retarded and I missed my original bus on the way home so I had to sit around for 2 hours at Port Authority. Oh well, not enough to bring me down from my high.
I’m done dick dancing and I’m on a new workout/eating regime. It’s been a week, but I’ve done… decently I suppose. I went out to eat twice and I need to cut that shit out. I know you can find at least one thing that’s semi healthy when you eat out, but the temptation is too much - I don’t have the will power. Avoiding it all together would be a better bet. I had Egg Beaters and Tuna for dinner, along with a banana and strawberry yogurt. Yum.
I’m going to head over to Andrea’s soon to play Rock Band. They just announced that they’re working on licensing some Journey songs, which would make my life complete. They have 200 downloadable songs in the pipeline for 2008. Needless to say, Harmonix (the creator) is going to be sticking their grubby paws into my wallet for quite awhile.
I’m trying to sell my Sony PSP so I can buy a Sony PSP. Well, the newer, smaller, nicer one. Someone is interested and offered $100, but I’ll find out tomorrow if the deal will be sealed. The new one will cost $160, so I’ll essentially be paying $60 for a smaller frame and some other extras (TV-Out, etc). Not a bad deal. Much better than any douchebag that actually purchased the new Macbook Air. $1800 - $3000 for a laptop that is smaller than any other but has less power, lacks an optical drive and does not have a user replaceable battery? Way to go Apple.
Still enjoying my vacation which consists of doing absolutely nothing. I took my car into the dealership yesterday to get some routine maintenance done, as well as check out some other things. Lo and behold the total bill will be around $1000. I needed new tires (which is true) and new brake thingers (which is true). I’d be pissed, but considering the car is 5 years old and I haven’t pumped really any money into maintenance at all yet I don’t think it’s too bad.
I’ve seen Juno and Sweeney Todd recently. Both movies were fantastic and I highly recommend checking both out. Juno went from a very small release to being #2 in the box office right now, so it looks like it’s on it’s way to being this years Little Miss Sunshine (I think Juno is better). Sweeney Todd was fantastic, and I’m not saying that because I’m a Burton/Depp fag (both have had their ups and downs). Yes, Burton recycles the same cast again - but they fucking sing! and do it well! It shows what a talented bunch these actors really are. Adding Alan Rickman to the mix just makes it all the better. They’re by no means professional singers, but they really do a fine job. Even if you don’t like musicals I suggest you check it out. Plus there’s buckets of blood which should satiate the juvenile in everyone.
This video made me laugh out loud. A lot. It’s a fake interview with Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad, Juno). Check it out.
I still can’t get rid of the shit comments. Damn you wordpress.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday. Mine was really enjoyable. I went to New Jersey to visit my father and his side of the family and had a good dinner. Back home I got to see a lot of friends and play the shit out of Rock Band. I received a lot of Christmas cash and a remote starter kit for my car. I had to go to Best Buy and get in installed, but the check engine light in my car keeps going on so I want to get that fixed first. I submitted a service request through their website a week ago and still haven’t gotten a reply. Way to do business with me Lehigh Valley Hyundai! Alli got me a Harry Potter Slytherin scarf while Joey gave me two awesome CDs (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Alphaville).
I made Dean’s List again in school, albeit barely. I did a lot better than I was expecting. 4 A’s and a C+ in Economics, but that class can go eat shit. I managed a 3.57 GPA for the semester while Dean’s List requires a 3.5. Next semester should be a little more low key. Another IST class that will blow (programming in like 4 different languages), German II, Business Writing and some odd music class that counts as some odd credit that I forget. I have at least two years left, but only a year left on my GI Bill. This makes me sad. The GI Bill part I mean.
Wordpress is being a bitch and wont let me delete spam comments. So if you want to click a link claiming to see Paris Hilton in the bath, be my guest.
Hope everyone has a delicious New Years. I will get drunk and play more Rock Band. Sounds grand to me.
Brandon kindly informed me that I need to update my blog more. So here it is.
This week is finals week. I have an American History and German 1 final on Wednesday, and an Economics and IST 301 final on Thursday. All four are bound to suck, but at least the two on Thursday are not cumulative. The real kick in the balls is that The Sounds are playing a show in NYC on Thursday and I can’t go :( Oh how amazing it would be. I guess I’ll just have to catch them next time. I have tickets to see Siouxsie in February so I guess that’s all that matters.
In other news Madonna has been named as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee for 2008, her first year of eligibility. The Beastie Boys and Donna Summer didn’t make the cut apparently, instead they let in John Mellencamp. I still think the whole thing is a joke until they induct Heart and Blondie. What the hell are they thinking.
I went with my Mom and Geoff to go see The Golden Compass the other day. I have to say I actually really enjoyed it. It was much better than I was expecting, but I guess I had rather low expectations from reading so many mixed reviews. I don’t know why all these religious groups are all up in arms, any atheist message isn’t nearly as in your face compared to the Christian undertones of The Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve read however that they really toned them down compared to the books. I only had one issue with the film. In the story peoples souls are actually manifested as animal sidekicks called “demons”. These demons are the only animals you see in the movie. At one point they’re travelling through the snow and decide to set up a camp for the night. All the huts at this camp were made out of animal hide. Now, did these people kill and skin other peoples demons for this hide? Or are there other animals that are not demons out there? They never explained it, and it bothered me. Alli said this was a very Vegan thing to say after I told her. Bah.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving (assuming you celebrate it). I had a week off of school, so I can’t bitch at all.
Unless we bring up the topic of someone stealing shit from my car. In my driveway. That kind of pissed me off. Alli and I were taking my Rock Band game over to Sean’s when I noticed that the front visor was down, my ashtray was open, the head unit to my stereo was sitting in the front seat and the center console was open. They took about $17 that was in the center console and stole my ashtray full of change (although I find the ashtray itself in the neighbors yard the next day). I couldn’t understand who it could have been considering I’m living out in bumblefuck. My sister brought up the idea that it was most likely a runaway kid from Kids Peace down the road (Kids Peace is an establishment for needy/fuckedup/abused children or whatever).
Hope everyone had a fun Halloween. Mine started out relatively shitty. I had to work and was being rushed around. We had plans to attend a party at our friends house in Palmerton and I had no costume, and no intention of really getting one. We went to one of those seasonal costume warehouses and I couldn’t find a damn thing - plus I hate spending money on something that I’ll wear once. I was about to leave with nothing and just say fuck it, when Morgan picked out a $12 Benjamin Franklin “disguise” kit. I went for it and it ended up being pretty awesome. I had no costume to go along with it, but I think it made it all the better. By the time we got to the party and I had a couple drinks I was feeling much better about my holiday. There was a ton of great food, flowing beverage, and it was really nice to hang out with some friends and catch up with old ones. I got pretty hammered too, although I don’t think I made an ass out of myself, at least my friends wont tell me to my face.
I just finished watching “The Ice Storm” which I had partially seen a long time ago. First off, the cast is amazing. Tobey Macguire, Elijah Wood, Christina Ricci, Joan Allen, Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Wow. Secondly it was done by Ang Lee, who so far as really impressed me with his work (sans Hulk, but we’ll ignore that one). The whole story is about the downfall of two suburban Connecticut families in the 70’s. Really excellent, I even got a little teary eyed.
Yesterday I was browsing YouTube looking for any new videos from Siouxsie Sioux’s solo album, and I found this live version of “Here Comes The Day”:
She’s 50 now. 30 years in the music business, and this is her first solo album. She looks and sounds absolutely fantastic. I love her solo album. I mean it’s great to hear some new material, and now she can cater to her new vocals. Her voice has dropped considerably since she was in the Banshees, and you can really tell when she sings some of their older songs. She just can’t hit the high notes anymore - but here she sounds great. I really hope she goes on a tour in the US.
I have an Economics and a Calculus test tomorrow. I have an IST project that needs to be handed in tomorrow. I’m also not over being sick, as my head hurts and my nose is running like a bitch. This kind of sucks.
At least I have Heart to keep me company. What about love, Heart? WHAT ABOUT IT?