New theme is up. Not from scratch but it will do for a few weeks/months/years/whenever I get around to making one from scratch.
Comments?
PS - New theme appears to not work right in IE7. Oh well. Can’t win them all can we?
This is my cheap-o dinner for tonight. I was too lazy to leave campus tonight.
I’m gonna write a review for something later this week. Probably.
Quick review of 3:10 to Yuma - Good though a little slow.
Quick review of Good Luck Chuck - Good and funny.
Really quickly, I’d like to say Happy Birthday to John Myung (of Dream Theater), Niel Diamond, and myself.
Gonna watch the Stars whoop up on the Sabres tonight.
P.S. Born on this day, now dead: John Belushi.
Look. I’m a Apple fanboy. Mostly. iPods rock my world (I have three and have owned three others as well). I’ve owned a Mac Mini (G4 version), a 12″ iBook (also G4), and still own a first revision MacBook. I love OS X and I like their hardware. Mostly. I was rather disappointed by the MacBook Air announcement today. Why on earth does Apple assume that I want a really thin laptop but keep the large (to me) footprint of the standard MacBook? I would love a UMPC size Mac laptop. This is not a solution. The best solution still remains to be a 12″ PowerBook. Maybe the average person shopping for a $2k Mac doesn’t want a smaller screen and smaller footprint at the sacrifice of a little thicker notebook. There are a few things they got right with the Air though. The lack of an optical drive is great for a smaller laptop. The 2GB standard on the RAM is nice too. The option (albeit a ridiculously expensive one) for a solid-state disk is good step into the future. Now I’ll admit, I would trade my current machine for one if given the option, but I won’t pay the price difference between a new Air and what I’d get on eBay for my MacBook. I guess my next purchase will still have to be a fully loaded 12″ PowerBook.
Let me start off by stating that I have been dining at Chili’s Bar and Grill (is it even called that anymore?) since as far back as I can remember. I absolutely love the food and atmosphere. Mostly the food though. When I was a bit younger they had a great dish with penne pasta and marinara sauce. Two things I love. Today’s Chili’s serves a similar dish with penne pasta, cheese sauce, grilled chicken and chile pepper. One of the greatest dishes in history. Yummy stuff. Usually I find that the service at Chili’s is only slightly above the average, which in my opinion, is rather low. Now I still go, mostly for the food obviously, but because the atmosphere is great. Now since the remodeling at many (if not all) restaurants, I’ve found that the decor is not a good as it was but it’s still pretty good. Bright colors and a friendly, fun (insert good synonym for atmosphere as I can’t come up with one right now.)
P.S. Best salsa at a chain restaurant ever. Period.
P.P.S. Chipotle’s hot salsa is a very close second.
P.P.P.S. The above picture is the out of pocket cost at my last trip to Chili’s. I thought a receipt for $0.24 was funny.
After listening to the first two self-titled albums today I’ve decided that I love Days of the New. Post grunge that’s acoustically driven into you is what they are all about. Lead singer Travis Meeks’ vocals are in the vein of Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley and Seven Mary Three’s Jason Ross. Deep dark tones keep me engaged in their music. Worth a listen if you are into anything like Alice in Chains’ acoustic sets and/or Seven Mary Three.
First of all I am Jake’s little sister, Emily. Hi. Anyways…
Relienk K’s album Mhmm has numerous references to God in them but they aren’t right out in your face. There are also numerous references to women and finding love or losing it. The song “High of 75″ talks about a guy who is depressed and how the sun and his girl makes him happy. The song “Be My Escape” is about God’s love for us and his ability to make anything right. Their music has a very rock and punk, and slightly pop sound. My favorite song by far, “Which to Bury; Us or the Hatchet?” is a perfect example of that. The song “Let it All Out” is very slow and calming, showing their pop side. The song “This Week the Trend” talks about the common stupid things that people do, like backstabbing all of your friends. The song “Life After Death and Taxes (Failure II)” talks about having a life, in heaven if you chose God as your savior, after death.
Overall this album is great. The variety of different styles of music is pleasing. The voice of Matt Thiessen is very soothing and very amazing. I highly recommend listening to Relient K if you are into this style of music.
Alright, this has to be one of the hardest films to watch. Very disturbing subject matter here. For those that are not aware: this film is about a fourteen year old girl that suspects a 32 year old man of being a pedophile. Naturally, being an awfully bright and talented young child, she decides to expose him for what he truly is. Ellen Page plays Hayley, the bright, charming teen opposite Patrick Wilson as Jeff, the seemingly innocent photographer. Page’s performance was really solid. Having just seen Juno twice, I can tell you that I really do enjoy her acting. The film overall seemed a tad bit long but it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Check it out if you can handle it; it’s worth a view.
Overall this album by the trip-hop-esque trio, 8mm, is a soothing way to spend 46:45. Singer Juliette Beavan’s vocals are strong and powerful yet quiet enough that you can easily relax to the point where only your subconscious is really hearing her sing. Some have hailed them as a cross between Massive Attack and Portishead. I’d say they aren’t far off, and while being a fan of those two bands as well I can definitely say that 8mm is a far better listen than either of them.
Favorite cut of the album is “Give It Up” It’s basically Massive Attack’s “Angel” but with Juliette singing and different lyrics.
Rap-Metal seeks to fuse the most aggressive elements of hardcore rap and heavy metal, and became an extremely popular variation of alternative metal during the late ’90s. With few exceptions, rap-metal is far and away the domain of white musicians coming to the form from the metal side of the equation. Prior to the initial emergence of rap-metal, there had been several successful fusions of rap with hard rock guitar — Run-D.M.C.’s collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of the latter’s “Walk This Way,” the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill — but the true birth of rap-metal was Anthrax’s comic 1987 single “I’m the Man,” which combined a heavy guitar riff (actually the melody of “Hava Nagila”) with full-fledged, surprisingly competent rapping. Funk-metal outfits like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More dabbled in the style, but the intense hardcore tone commonly associated with ’90s rap-metal was established by another Anthrax record, a 1991 remake of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” that featured members of PE itself. Some metal bands had come to associate hardcore rap with the street-tough urban attitude they wanted to project, and after “Bring the Noise,” they suddenly found it possible to experiment with fusing the two. Many of these efforts focused not on the linguistic and rhythmic complexity of rap, but on the cathartic intensity that could be achieved by sort of shout-rapping the lyrics instead of singing them. In spite of projects like 1993’s much-hyped Judgment Night soundtrack — which featured all-star teamings of artists from the rap and rock worlds — crossover collaborations faded as the ’90s wore on. At the same time, rap-metal began to draw influences from alternative metal — specifically, bands like Helmet, White Zombie, and Tool, who relied on crushingly heavy sonic textures more than catchy songwriting or immediately memorable riffs. The thick sound and the lack of melodic emphasis fit rap-metal’s concerns perfectly. With the exception of Rage Against the Machine’s angry left-wing politics, most rap-metal bands during the mid- to late ’90s blended an ultra-aggressive, testosterone-heavy theatricality with either juvenile humor or an introspective angst learned through alternative metal; the vocalists drew from hip-hop MC traditions in varying degrees. Some alt-metal bands, spearheaded by Korn, incorporated hip-hop beats into their music, but full-fledged rap-metal always featured a rapper as frontman. Limp Bizkit became rap-metal’s most popular band during the late ’90s.
Courtesy of allmusic.com