Bad Religion: an update

So, after giving a few spins on the BR album (hey, a hard drive spins, doesn't it?) I can get a better grasp of what to say. Having heard pretty much all of their albums one way or another, New Maps of Hell is indeed something of a divergence and sounds something a bit more like late Pennywise or even (dare I say it) Sum 41 (ooo-er! That hurt!). The sound they have is "fuller" if that's a word. In albums like Suffer and Generator, they were clearly punk albums.Somewhat lo-fi (but still better than a lot of punk bands), and just... you know they didn't really try with the production side. NMOH, and the last two don't suffer (har!) from that. As I said, BR's time with Atlantic really helped them with their sound, despite all the hate that's been going around against their Atlantic records.

Onto the juicy part: the songs. Again, no song-by-song because that's not my thing.

My two favourite songs would be Grains of Wrath and New Dark Ages. Those two really exemplify THE BR sound. Lots of harmonies (aka the oozin' aahs), simple catchy melodies, and the topic material is the standard BR attitude towards religion and thinking. They'd sound awesome when stripped down to acoustic, because like many BR songs, they're folk-influenced and generally composed on acoustic. Easily the most memorable songs from this album.

Some of the songs are eerily similar to earlier BR songs. "Scrutiny" sounds like "Prove It" from Process of Belief, for example. Also, some songs' intros don't match the songs. The intro from "Prodigal Son" sounds a lot like some sort of depressing power metal intro, but the song is all poppy and happy-sounding.

In any case, I hope this gives you a better picture of the new album.

Finally, a true update! New Bad Religion album

I'm finally updating! There's too much I want to update about, so I'll focus on one topic:

Bad Religion's new album, New Maps of Hell

Hell yeah. While their last two albums, Process of Belief and Empire Strikes First, could be a throwback to their golden age (Suffer, Against The Grain), this one has more of their Atlantic era. It's poppier, fist-pumpier, and has more vague interpretations. Also, unlike Empire, they aren't as focused on current affairs, as much as Graffin's style of making generalizatons and odd referemces (one song is about a book, rather than anything a punk band would write about).

I'm not a music reviewer, so I don't know what would be appropriate to write.

Now for those who have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, BR is a punk band that's been around since 1980. To put them in a nutshell, they're an issues-based, but semi-philosophical agnostic punk band whose music is more folk-based. Yep, try playing a number of BR songs in acoustic or piano and they all translate really well. They also use big words in their choruses making sing-alongers all tongue-tied.

Strangely, despite their agnostic views and despite the songwriters' beliefs (atheist), I've gotten more about God than most books I've read in the whole Christian book industry.

In any case, I won't do a song-by-song analysis since i have no clue what the hell I'm talking about. As a whole, the album flows better than many of their earlier stuff. True, much of their favourite songs come from 1989-1992, but the flow isn't as good. It's after they went over to Atlantic (1993-1994) that the flow started to pick up. By the time Process came around, it was good.

And finally, let no one say these guys are losing energy because of their age (40+). Age is not a factor at all.

Just decided to update. Nothing important, yet.

Hey y'all. Just updating them blog for th' sake o' updatin', ayup.

Too tired to think of something meaningful or world-changing at the moment (HA!)

Summer was here, now gone.

So y'all, miss me? No? Good, because I don't care either. I still love you all. I didn't disappear, or drop off from the face of the earth, or anything like that. I bet y'all'r wondering What did I do between my last real blog post and now. Lessee... school. A few hangouts and stuff... and movies.

This summer is weird in that more lesser-known (but excellent) movies are making it to large theatres. Crash, Murderball, It's All Gone Pete Tong, and The Constant Gardener were truly excellent movies. I can't say the same for this summer's action movies: ie. most were totally uninteresting, but some were ok.

And I wrecked my shoulder last month. Strained a tendon when I fell headfirst on my head and shoulders. I wsas wearingn a helmet, so my head was fine. My shoulder wasn't. A note to all: Wear the damn helmet. Your brain will thank you.

I have a wonderfully uneventful life, eh? That's what you think.

More stuff to come later (such as band recommendations, and other nice and deep stuff).


PS
Here's to America's colours, the colours that never run (cookie to which movie homage that is from).

New words.. recognized!!

I'm alive, I'm alive. Don't worry folks, as bad as things may get at times (not that they get too bad), I won't leave you.

I sometimes have discussions about language and its dynamic properties... namely neologisms. They're things that some people cannot stand. People will act as if the sky going to fall, and humans will turn into slobbering sex-crazed animals that can't "get some." Well... I think they suck. A lot. And they're wrong.

To rub it in the face, here is a list of top-10 non-dictionary words. http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/favorite.htm

Finally, people from a dictionary company recognize that language is DYNAMIC!! (OK, so the OED has done this for years now) and not static.

I use a number of words on that list, as well as words that I made up on my own. I don't feel dumb, or sex-crazed, or whatever.

It even applies to low-vocabulary languages (average high-level vocab is no more than 10,000 spoken words, 4000-6000 written words) like Chinese, which, for all the supposed monolithicness of it, can change very rapidly without losing the Chinese-ness.

Language is not a monolithic idea. If it was, we'd be constantly decrying, depending on how far we go back, the:
a. Spliittng of Indo-European
b. Influx of Semitic influences
c. Further splitting of post-split Indo-European
d. Further influx of "autochthonous" languages, especially in Greece, Italy, India, and Northern Europe. (words like "keel" and "sheep.")
...
...
aa. Influx of Latin into Brythonic Gaelic
ab. Transformation of Latin
ac. Influx of Saxon and Angle into Latin and Celtic
...
bb. Influx of Norman into Anglo-Saxon
...
...
dd. Convergence of barious dialects of Middle English into a more uniform English
...
ff. New Internet-lingo.

and so on ad nauseam. It's endliess. Get a life.

Grammar nazis suck too. They love to change the topic by pointing out grammatical mistakes. But... I love them anyways. I want them to have my babies.

Of Shoes, Bands, Lesbians, Beer, Wrong Exam Times, and Mr. T

This is gonna be a helluva assortment of topics, so get ready for a joyride!

Alrighty, so.. first item on the agenda is shoes, bands, and lesbians. I was at the Arts County Fair (ACF) with a bunch of friends or friends of friends. I agree with Mike's comments (read em here: http://mikeworth.blogspot.com/2005/04/acf-aka-throw-shoes-at-stage-festival.html), but I wanted to add a few things. Yes, Matt Good rocked. The sing-along factor was awesome, as well as the moshing factor (I was in the middle of it, getting pushed and pushing others). Stabilo really stuck out by being just a cool bunch of people. Their covers of Let It Be and No Woman No Cry really stuck out as being something cool to do. A few side notes, though.

Side note 1: When the beer sucks, drink the cider. For $3, I think it's a good deal. And it was cold, not warm. Sure it's a wussy-seeming drink but hey, bad tasting beer, or somewhat ok tasting cider? You pick.

Side Note 2 (pertaining to lesbians and drunk girls): Drunk girls are hilarious. From my high(ly,) drunken observations, they fall into 4 categories.
1. The girls come to and freak the hell out. Like, panicking. This was when I decided to lend a helping hand and yank them out of the mosh pit, because they were that badly freaked out.

2. They turn into lesbians. A good view is had by all.

3. They maul other girls and use em as poles for poledancing routines. Again, a good view is had by all.

4. They do stupid stunts and/or act like desperately in need of sex. This happened to me on New Year's, when this blonde girl grabs my head and starts making out with me. I managed to beat her back (figuratively). One girl kissed my friend's head at the ACF. Another one started stripping (as in, truly bottomless). I very VERY quickly turned around, because she wasn't all that to look at (as a very generous comment), and because of the "HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING??" factor. She also was drunk, or actually mentally handicapped.

Side note 3: Stupid people suck. A lot. Throwing shoes at the lead singer is a great way to show love, ain't it? Especially when that love is reciprocated with a threat to up and leave. Then we can REALLY feel the love tonight, eh? Stupid lame-ass retards.

Side note 4: Pot is bad. Don't do it. Second-hand pot in large amounts WILL get you unwillingly stoned. Couple that with beer and cider and you're a candidate for a good hangover.


My second item is beer. Hoegaarden rocks. That is all.
Seriously, as a wannabe beer snob, if there ain't no good beer, don't drink the beer. Drink the alternative. Even if the alternative is some fruity-ass drink that only a girl, or a flamboyantly gay/effeminate guy would dare to drink.


Third Item: Wrong Exam Times suck. Almost like getting screwed in the wrong hole (I'm straiight, so there wouldn't really be an entry point anyways).

So I got my exam times wrong. Instead of spposedly being on the 11th and 18th, they're actually on the 11th and 12th. One exam I think I can blow by easily and get at least a decent mark. The other one, the one on the 11th... well... If I pass, it'll be a frickign miracle. Seriously. This test is gonna be hard. The material is hard. I am so screwed.


Fourth Item: Mr. T rocks even more now. Before, his stint on the A-Team was cool enough, now... check this link out:
Link here

Click the link on the first post, and read the rest of the posts. Absolute Comedy Gold. Mr. T, we love you. You and your too-short camo shorts. You and your non-singing chanting. The MILFs. Ah yes, the 80s suck even more now. The department store ads were bad enough.

Sleep Deprivation, Closet (BD)S&M Habits, and Essays

So.. after a week's worth of force-writing, brainstorming, literate hackery, and much more thigns, I finally have finished not only a 15-page social science research proposal (excluding appendices and bibliography, I also revised my Bipartisanship paper. Goes to show how much willpower I have, and although none of you may know this, that willpower was dredged up from the deepest reaches of my soul. In the end? Finished on time, but I'm suffering from sleep deprivation now. I have now logged >40 hours without sleep. The reward? I'm frickigjn done. Until May. I do not wish to be reminded of this, so shut up peoples if you don't want a good curbstomping.

As promised, I have posted the Bipartisanship paper, and as a bonus, the proposal is also now online. DO NOT FRICKING PLAGIARIZE. DO NOT FRICKING USE SENTENCES. YOU, Mr. Jackass Thief, will be the one that will suffer; not me. No, I do not have to intervene for a metaphysical curbstomping to occur. Your prof will gladly do so on my behalf.

Without further ado, here they are.
1. How Language Can Encourage Extreme Bipartisanship - Don't mind the actual title, or the Draft part.

2. Proposal For Research Regarding The Effect of Media Portrayal of Religion In Media on People - This one is a real monster, and a hard read to boot. Not your standard paper format, so Arts students may find this a challenge at first.

So, enjoy. Have fun. Criticize if you want, for all the good that will do (they've been handed in).