The music or the misery?

New York Times the other day had a huge story on how HD technology is hurting the porn industry because HD porn shows enough detail to make the female talent look a tad short of perfect. Swear to God, the article cites razor burn as the #1 culprit in HD-related ugliness. Seriously, this made page 1 in the NYT business section. I don't see how the fuck that could possibly apply to anyone's life outside of the realm of "lulz, porn."

Right now, the album making the rounds in my iPod is not Fall Out Boy, but Lunch for the Sky by Socratic. God, what a great CD. I'm surprised these guys haven't gotten bigger, but then, that's what I said about Just Surrender and Cartel, who have been enjoying a great deal of success recently (maybe the latter more than the former). Socratic is "piano pop," with the obligatory "post-emo/pop-punk influence."

Lunch for the Sky opens beautifully, with the appropriately-titled "Theme From Your Mother's Garden". Slow piano at first, builds into a beautiful climax of guitars, drums, and piano all playing off of each other, and leads into the second song on the CD, "Alexandria as our Lens," one of the best tracks on the CD. Well written, and includes the line "Hey all you screamo, what's the deal when any talent you lack is covered by the fact that you can scream out really loud?" Sure, I agree with the sentiment, but seems really out-of-place in such a serious song.

The rest of the CD is very diverse, though I can't say it's a collection of different genres. There's just a good mix of faster and slower songs; Socratic doesn't do slow songs well; "Too Late, Too Soon" doesn't really impress. "We Burn Houses" starts slow, and it works well - but once the whole band joins in and makes it all come together, it's great. The lyrics are brilliant, though the vocals get kind of weird at times - again, Socratic doesn't do slow songs, although their usual fare isn't anything close to the kind of bubblegum pop you'd get from, say, Cartel, but the piano doesn't slow it down to the point of Something Corporate. It's just strange to hear these beautiful arrangements followed by a simpler, more typical pop-punk piece.

One of my favorite songs off this album is "Lunch for the Sky." God, so upbeat, and the lyrics are amazing. Some of the songs off this CD aren't that great, but the lyrics rarely fail to impress. There's just times when it seems like Socratic could have been more creative, could have made the instruments play off of each other a little better.

I think this is a great album, the kind that you really need to pay attention to, although there's a few great songs on there that would be great mindless summertime singalongs. Check out their purevolume and listen to Alexandria and the title track.

Bad music.

First Impressions: Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High

This CD continues Fall Out Boy's departure from the old pop-punk style of Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and Take This To Your Grave. I, personally, liked TTTYG a lot better than Cork Tree, but that's just me. I think my problem with Cork Tree really just stems from a few terrible songs, but whatever. It's good to see the band is growing, I guess. Infinity seems to be more inspired, musically, and the lyrics are "deeper" than your typical Fall Out Boy fare, but the singer sounds even more like he has a mouth full of marbles. I really think he didn't see his full potential here.

Nonetheless, the CD starts out strong with a quick nod to Jay-Z on the track "Thriller", which certainly grabs one's attention. It's not the strongest song on the album, but I can't think of a better way to lead into the CD. The third song, the album's first single, is "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race." I don't think it's representative of the sound of the rest of the album. Lyrically, I like it, and yeah, it can get stuck in my head, but I think there's better songs on the album to make a single of.

The song "Hum Hallelujah" sounds closer to older Fall Out Boy, the chorus especially, but because of that it's not very mindblowing. Following it is "Golden," a slower piano song with gorgeous lyrics. It's putting me to sleep right now, but I really like that song. "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" is probably my favorite off the CD. It sounds like what I'd expect Fall Out Boy to sound like, maybe a step back to Cork Tree, it's a really lively song.

The latter half of the CD, I think, shows best the direction Fall Out Boy is evolving in. A little harder, certainly not TTTYG, but still fruity and poppy enough to make you go, "Yeah, that's Fall Out Boy" and roll your eyes condescendingly. When I say "harder," though, I mean in the sense that hopefully people will stop drawing comparisons to PANIC! at the Disco. The only really stand-out songs on the rest of the album are "(After)life of the Party," another slow song, and "Bang the Doldrums," which is so catchy and well-written I can't stand it.

Bottom line, I rank this CD above Evening Out and Cork Tree, but below TTTYG. Harder, maybe a little deeper, not quite as poppy but still very lively. The CD reasonably diverse in terms of sound, and it's certainly not the album of the year, but I still like this one a lot.

Also, internet music retailers consider selling unrestricted MP3s. This is great news. I hope that we can continue stepping away from having DRM built into everything, because frankly, DRM is a huge pain in the ass and usually it's being used for anti-competitive reasons rather than copy-protection reasons. Either way, with DRM, the consumer has everything to lose.

Typical.

I think it's weird that all of those astrological signs or personality profiles or whatever fit me perfectly. And you'd say, "They're just vague things that fit everyone!" But then I look through the others and they don't seem to fit. Luck of the draw, I guess.

The Dragon: would be right to say that people born in the year of the dragon have a natural charisma and are certainly gifted with power and luck. It is unlikely for them to escape unnoticed from a party or to take second place in a competition. The dragon person has an active mind and shows an unfeigned interest in the world around him/her. This person is also self-confident enough to know how to create a necessary impression. Because they are larger than life themselves, dragon people like to do everything on a grand scale. They are egotistical and ambitious, almost to the point of megalomania, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. A person born in this year wears the crown of destiny, and is capable of great achievements if he or she knows how to harness his or her tremendous energy, intelligence and talent. While these people enjoy being the center of attention, they also have a brave and charitable side to their personality. If a dragon's friend faces a problem or dilemma, he or she will be there to offer help, and when others leave the field of battle the dragon takes a step forward to solve the problem with authority and dignity. Dragons set a high standard of actions for themselves as well as for other people and are surprised when others cannot cope with a task; they are so carried away by the process that they fail to see other people's weaknesses.

ENFP: ENFPs are initiators of change who are keenly perceptive of possibilities, and who energize and stimulate through their contagious enthusiasm. They prefer the start-up phase of a project or relationship, and are tireless in the pursuit of new-found interests. ENFPs are able to anticipate the needs of others and to offer them needed help and appreciation. They bring zest, joy, liveliness, and fun to all aspects of their lives. They are at their best in situations that are fluid and changing, and that allow them to express their creativity and use their charisma.

Gemini: Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a confident, energetic, suave, adventurous, enthusiastic, fair, passionate, and pioneering character but one which is also prone to selfishness, introversion, boastfulness, intolerance, impulsiveness, and impatience.

This is the weather.

My favorite thing about meteorology class is that it's fifteen minutes away, so I get fifteen minutes to think about how much I fucking hate weather while I walk, through snow, to class. Goddamnit. I'd ride the bus, but through grade school and part of high school I developed a deep hatred for busses. See, there was this kid on my bus that I thought was a douchebag. His mom was the bus driver. We'd have to sit in the freezing fucking bus outside their house and wait for the fucker because he couldn't wake himself up in the morning. Asshole.

Could we not?

God, it's so nice to be back, but I could do without all of these... classes. Theatre class looks like it's going to be so much fucking fun, however, much like hooking up with a girl with bad breath, I won't get to enjoy it. Because it's at nine in the fucking morning. The rest of my classes I feel fairly indifferent towards, though I feel Comm 100 is probably going to be a whole hell of a lot more boring than I thought it would be. On the other hand, though, survey lecture classes usually are.

My main gripe with living here is the absolute lack of a fucking music scene. Apparently, to all of the brorape fratboys around here who think "John Mayer is like, totally a musical genius, dude, his music is so deep, and it's about things I can like, really relate to," music is nothing more than entertainment for drunks, which is why all of the shows are 21+. A fact which pisses me off to no end. This is a town of 40,000, I know there's more people around here who are passionate enough about music to enjoy it for what it is. We're few and far between, yeah, but we stick out like sore thumbs; Just look for the kids in black band hoodies instead of polo shirts.

Friday 1/19: Roustabout! @ Chronic Town (Hookah Lounge). The Bullet Parade, The Brother Kite, The Disconnect. $5, Doors 9P, All Ages.

Welcome home.

So, tomorrow I'm going back to PSU and I cannot fucking wait. Honestly, I used to love this town, more than anyone else, because all of my friends hate it here and I don't blame them. I still love the town to death, though I think it's currently in the process of killing itself at the moment (YOUTH CURFEW? Are you serious? It doesn't even affect me and I hate it). Still, there's something about Penn State. Like the fact that I'm never bored there, EVER. Even if I'm just sitting around my room, I can always dick around my roommates or stuff the Jewish kids downstairs into garbage cans, or fuck, just walk around campus looking at shit.

Speaking of walking around, what the fuck is going on with this weather? It's way the fuck too hot out to be mid-January. I, personally, blame Global Warming. Also, I fucking love it. I fully support national Plastic Bag Burning Day, a day where everyone will be required to burn plastic bags, tires, Styrofoam, and anything in an aerosol can. Melting ice caps be damned, I like the tropical fucking weather, and it makes more sense to me to just ruin the atmosphere instead of actually move somewhere warm.

Upcoming: ECON 002, SPAN 002, METEO 003, THEA 102, COMM 100. Due to I FUCKING HATE SCHEDULING MY GODDAMN CLASSES HOW THE FUCK DID EVERY CLASS I WANT FILL BEFORE I WAS EVEN ELIGIBLE TO REGISTER, only one of those classes has to do with my major, though fortunately the rest are good, solid GenEd classes, so at least I'm not wasting any time. Still, it pisses me off that I'm basically a semester behind everyone else. Nonetheless, I have to wake my ass up at 8:30 every day to haul myself to THEA 102, but that won't be bad because I'll probably enjoy the class. I've heard the Meteorology teacher is a huge asshole, so I'll probably get along with him.

Upcoming: 2/10 Cartel, BOYS LIKE GIRLS, Cobra Starship @ Mr. Small's
2/22 Taking Back Sunday, UnderOath, Armor for Sleep @ Bryce Jordan Center

So this is the new year?

Everything that I hated about 2006 happened at the end of it, so I'm just going to tack that bullshit onto 2007 instead. Therefore: 2006 was a fantastic year, 2007 started off shitty and, I presume, will continue to be shitty. More on the topic needs not be said, except that I'm a pessimist.

MySpace is the Pet Rock of our generation. Imagine your parents or grandparents or whoever telling you, "Oh yeah, we all had pet rocks. They'd like, come in this box, right? And they'd have a name and you'd walk it and everything, except it was a pet rock! I don't know, we all thought it was really cool." And then your storyteller gazes off into the distance, a dead silence cast over the scene, a feeling of longing for the good old days when kids had respect for their elders and if you wanted milk, you walked your ass to the store and bought it, none of this online credit card interweb preorder bullshit. Computers make everything so much more complicated.

Scoff now, though. In fifty years, you'll be Skyping with your morbidly obese grand-clones, sitting around an e-fire, telling boring stories that nobody wants to hear. In all honestly, they'll be waiting for you to shut the fuck up because they know that after the story, you'll send them e-treats or something. You'll say, "Yeah, I had a MySpace. It was really cool, the way you could find and "add" your friends. Then you could send messages and keep in touch with people you see every day anyway! And you could see their pictures too, and you'd post comments about them, and then you'd put up your away message and go hang out with that very same person fifteen minutes later. And sometimes you'd be MySpace friends with people you had never met and will never meet! And there was really no point to THAT, but they'd be on your list and if you were a girl they'd creep you out from time to time, and tell you to visit their rape-dungeon in North Carolina. Gosh, those days were so much fun."

More than anything, I don't ever want to be boring.