My 100th post, hooray.

I was playing Warcraft earlier and checked my map only to notice there are tons of places I've yet to even see.

So me and my trusty steed went on an adventure to uncharted (for me, anyway) lands. Here we are posing for a photo near the burning steppes.



I rode around exploring all the sections of the map avoiding enemies who were a lot stronger than me until I ran into this fellow:


At which point I got the fuck out of dodge as he was a level 60 elite and was fixing to chase me around the entire map.
And then the servers had to reset, which is the only reason I'm posting any of this.

It was fun though, the game world is so huge it's fun to just ride around sometimes.

In other news I found out that Matt Good has been playing Advertising on police cars at live shows and I am PRAYING I get to hear it when I see him live. That would make my fucking night.

Seriously. And not an acoustic version (even though it's great) I want the full 7 minute epic done in live form.

My life would pretty much be complete at that point.

The devil is in the details

It's 3 AM and I just woke up from the strangest sleep of my life.

I crawled into bed around 6 because I had what I can only describe as the worst headache of my life. It was just constant sort of numbing pain.

I guess sleep was the cure, I feel a bit better now, just slightly out of it.

Right before I fell asleep I was having all kinds of thoughts about how my life is passing me by. I can't count the number of times I've slept my ass of instead of staying awake and being part of this wonderful world.

My social life, which has never really been all that grand, has taken an even bigger hit in the last few months.
Now, if you know me, you would also know that this isn't the type of thing that would really bother me. I enjoy my time alone as much as anything.

It's just that sometimes you've got to wonder.

I can't recall the last time Ryan, Trevor and I did something together.

I guess that's part of being stuck on a stupid fucking schedule, but still, it kind of bothers me at times.

When I was writing this in my head, there were plenty of other statements I was going to throw in that made a lot of sense...But the reality is my head is so unclear right now that I couldn't throw them all together if I tried.

So I'm going to play warcraft.

"I hated to drag you out of bed at this time of night. You'll soon see why I did"

I watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers just a few minutes ago.



What a great film.

Sure, it's old (1956) but I was seriously entertained. Plenty of older films are just pure cheese, especially these days, but this one was different.

there is a whole lot more to it than just an alien invasion theme. It's much more subtle, more about human beings, paranoia and conformity.

It wasn't scary in the least, but it was damn fun to watch and lacked a lot of the cheesy B-movie crap you might think it would have (even though I sometimes eat that shit up).

It was simple in that there were no flashy effects or big name actors...Just a well written and acted script, as well as some REAL awesome camera work/angles later on in the movie.

I think this movie is gonna make me go on a 1950's film kick, back when sci-fi was original and cool.

Holy shit am I tired.

Just a month and a few days longer...

Rooms

Well, I grabbed my copy of In a coma today and I'm really enjoying it.

I have to say, though, all it does it make me want a new (real) Matthew Good Album. The three new unreleased tracks are such a tease, they are easily the best of the whole bundle.

Loser Anthems is useless to me.

The acoustic re-workings (rooms) are awesome especially Tripoli and Truffle Pigs, but some songs just aren't suited to that type of playing, I've decided. They might be great if the tempo was kept the same, but they are all much slower and deliberate which seems to kill the atmosphere of a lot of them, or at least requires a different mind-set when listening.

I'm not really complaining, because they sound excellent...But I just want more new material than anything else.

When I was ripping the CD's to my computer I selected only the new songs, which felt weird, but so much of it was just doubles.

I think this would be the best thing in the world if I was a new fan, but as it stands over half of the content on the discs is useless to me.

Still worth buying? Absolutely, as I said the new songs are worth it alone (for a hardcore fan like myself, anyway) and the DVD is just bonus icing on the cake.

Ryan and I also tried to change the oil in his car...THAT was a gong show. Oh well, at least we got his firewire shit up and running.

He better make some cool movies, now.

19

It's very nice outside right now. The sun is shining, but it isn't obnoxious since there is a cool, steady breeze and the air in general seems to be at a perfect temperature.

I got Limblifter's first album today, thus completing my collection.

I also got the album "at the soundless dawn" by a band called "Red Sparowes" it's awesome sounding instrumental rock.

I could describe it myself, but I think part of the quote on the sticker it came with (a excerpt from a review) is pretty accurate:

"Red Sparowes is epic without bombast, heavy without a single bar-chord riff and eviscerating without any clearly audible vocals...It's an orchestral wall of sound that is equally as entrancing as it is unnerving"

Very good stuff so far.

I've nothing else to go on about, except that I'm glad I get two nights off from work. Time to catch up on some sleep and be especially lazy.

Revolution, indeed.

Nintendo finally showed off the controller for their next gen console:


My first response: "so I have to play games with a fucking remote control, now?"

But then I did my reading.

The thing is pretty awesome sounding. It detects motion (kinda like a computer mouse, only it also detects depth as well as tilt) pretty cool, and some of the ideas and developer comments are pretty amazing.

Think of using it in a first person shooter for instance. The thumb stick would be used to move, while the "remote" looking part would be used to look around/aim. Pretty incredible, and it's supposed to be nice and accurate/sensitive.

Also, the bottom part is used to plug in "expansions" the analog stick is just one of them. They could, ultimately expand the base controller to be ANYTHING, and that is also pretty damn exciting.

I think Nintendo has done it...Innovate even farther than we thought. I reserve my final judgment until I can hold the thing and play with it, but I think those with an open mind and imagination are going crazy right now.

I am.

I was gonna go into a lot of depth here, but I figure it would bore most people to death, so I'll save it for later when we are back in action.

since I don't feel like editing.

I ended up going to get the damn CD after I listened to their older stuff and remembering how fucking great they are.

I'm listening to it right now, and it's blowing me away.

Fuck these guys are amazing.

So, the new Sigur Rós album comes out today.

I can't really bring myself to leave the house and be amongst the people of the world, so I ordered it from Amazon.

Knowing me, It'll be a spur of the moment thing and I'll be speeding into HMV later to search for it anyway, though HMV tends to not have a lot of the stuff I've wanted lately, so I'll probably remain here.

I got a cd yesterday. "Finally we are no one" by Múm, who also, like Sigur Rós, come from Iceland. It's wonderful music, very dreamy and spaced out type stuff. Just what I need.

Speaking of Iceland, I've had the urge to visit for a few years now. I've told my mom a few times and she always asks "Iceland? why Iceland?" and I have no real idea.

I mean, I've seen pictures, and the land surely is beautiful beyond all comprehension as is the language, history and so on... but still. I'm not sure what it is...

And yet, it seems like the type of place I'd go, just to vist... and then end up staying. I think maybe people are just drawn to places for different reasons.

I could leave this behind.

Sitting.

I've been reading all the comic strips on this site The last couple days and I have to say it's pretty awesome.

Some of them are just silly things that make you smile or sort of shake your head, but there are a lot that have made me laugh out loud, real hard. Some of the shit is just SO random, it's hard not to.

Such as these little gems:






okay, so it's clearly not for everyone, but goddamn some of it is hilarious.

Check it out.

RAWK.

I picked up my guitar for the first time in months.

I had to literally dust it off (see below).

Trevor sent me a sample of something he wanted done in bass form so he could maybe mix it into one of his songs. Luckily my new computer came equipped with some decent programs that make recording a breeze.

What isn't a breeze, however, is playing even the most simple of melodies. Seriously, it's pretty frustrating for me. I snagged my sisters guitar and could play it pretty easily, but on the bass, well, that's a whole other story.

Makes me wonder if I'm going about something the wrong way. Though I think it's just the setup of the instruments...that, and I have zero experience wih guitars of any sort...but I'm getting there.

I played for a decent amount of time...Enough to make my fingers sore, so I'm quitting for the day.

It's cool though, amongst the frustration is something that is genuinely addicting. Trying to make it sound JUST right, or just goofing around and freestyling.

I think I'll be plucking away a lot more in the future.


(Old dusty, out of retirement)

fucking apple products.

On a postitive note I finally figured out how to get my old itunes library file and playcounts onto my new computer.
It was a lot more frustrating than it should have been, due to the directories being different and Itunes being a bitch

. I had to change every file location manually...for 1800+ songs.

Anyway...I looked at my top 25 most played and it surprised me, here's the top 10, anyway:

1. Roygbiv- Boards of Canada (48 plays)
2. Stanley Kubrick- Mogwai
3. Get Money- Limblifter
4. Tracy- Mogwai
5. Back to the motor League- Propagandhi
6. Copper and stars- Planes Mistaken for stars
7. Sine Wave- Mogwai
8. Leveless- Planes Mistake for stars
9. Some Red Handed Sleight Of Hand- Cursive
10. Retreat! Retreat!- 65daysofstatic

The only Matthew Good songs in all the 25 were "While we were hunting rabbits", "Alert Status Red" and "21st century living", which is odd.
I think it's mostly cause that's pretty much all I listen to while driving (or used to), so when i'm at home, I change it up.

the more you know!

Bad week.

This work week of mine has been complete shite so far. The job in general has just been pissing me off, demanding time when I don't feel like giving it.

It happens, suppose.

I didn't think anything could top Saturday in terms of being bad, but last night was even worse, there were about 6 people working, so pretty much nothing got done.

which is shitty, but the worst had yet to happen.

With about 5 minutes left on my shift I was using a pallet jack to move (large, heavy) pallets of stock and ran over the back of my foot.

...Now, when I say "ran over" I mean it sort of caught the back of my heel and went a little up and over the side of my ankle/foot. I had to actually kneel/lay down and physically remove my foot from underneath the goddamn pallet.

The way my foot looked made it seem like my ankle was broken pretty bad, but I guess it looked a lot worse than it really was.

but, believe me when I tell you, it was the most painful thing I've ever felt.

I told my boss who did nothing but laugh. (the fucking wanker that he is), so I walked it off as best I could and finished what I was doing.

It feels much worse now than it did before, I don't think it's broken...I'm no doctor, but common knowledge tells me it would be impossible or even more painful to walk than it is right now, so...I guess I'll be shuffling about and in pain for the next little while.

The thought of not going to work tonight crossed my mind, but it's a holiday and I want the time and a half wage. So I figure I'll just limp around like useless fuck and take their money.

Take that, bitches.

Yes, yes! Music!

A few days ago I was browsing the websites of a few of my favourite bands and came across this:


Which happens to be one of my favourite "bands" (really, it's two guys from Scotland producing some of the coolest and strangest electronic/ambient music ever) I am super excited, as it has come out of nowhere for me and I thought they were pretty much done.

That, along with new Matthew Good on September 20th and a new Sigur Ros album coming out very soon makes me very happy.

But wait, there is more!

I got my G7 Welcoming Committiee newsletter this morning and found out the new MOTHER FUCKING PROPAGANDHI ALBUM is coming out on October 18th, it is titled "Potemkin City Limits" and, holy fuck, it is about time.

"Three visibly aging trainables, clearly in the wrong line of work and quite seriously on the verge of suicide, make a recording of their private thoughts set to music for distribution to the general public. New laments, meditations and extrapolations from people who just cannot believe they have to be here."

Oh man.

Listen to the song "Die Jugend Marschiert" here. It rocks. Hard.