Way back when during my early years of high school, I was became friendly with a group of kids I met at acting camp. When I say group, I mean a set of girls, one of whom I really, really wanted to sleep with. This never happened (though she did date one of my friends for two months). These two girls did not like anything that was popular, with the exception of Harry Potter and Twilight (which was cool because these were books and obviously no one likes to read anymore therefore making it edgy.) Desperately wanting to fit in (or at the very least touch this girl's breasts) I adapted my own tastes to match theirs. I threw away my Eminem cds for Incubus.
As I got older, I realized that a lot of people have this idea that it somehow makes you cooler to like obscure shit. Now Incubus isn't exactly obscure and these girls were morons but there was a key lesson I got out of this; people judge you based on the music you like.
Example:
Linkin Park
Description: Nu Metal that mixes angry screaming with angsty rapping.
What it says about you: Likes anime, video games and may wish life was a lot more difficult than it actually is.
Sample Lyric:
The sacrifice is never knowing
Why I never walked away
Why I played myself this way
Now I see your testing me pushes me away
Jeff Buckley
Description: Folksy-rocksy dude with good voice makes okay sales, dies tragically, becomes legend.
What it says: Desperately needs people to think they are deep.
Lyric Examples:
My fading voice sings of love,
But she cries to the clicking of time.
Oh, time. Wait in the fire...
Lady GaGa
Description: Struggling but talented jazz musician creates alter-ego, becomes popular via ridiculous costumes, absurdly catchy hooks, and rumors of having both a vagina AND a penis.
What it says about you: Trendy and probably a little bi-curious.
Lyric example:
Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah!
Roma-Roma-ma-ah!
Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance
Nickelback
Description: That one rock band that thinks using sex euphemisms you wouldn't have used as a 5th grader makes them clever and gritty.
What it says about you: Virgin.
Sample Lyric:
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
Oasis
Description: Drug addled British Brothers blatantly rip-off the Beatles, win over millions.
What it says About You: Lacks ambition and wants to be reassured that this is okay. Total pussy.
Lyric Example:
In their minds their minds
But I'll have my way
In my own time
I'll have my say
My star will shine
Cos you see me I got my Magic Pie.
The Killers
Description: Four guys from Vegas attempt to revive Duran-Duran, combining Synthesizers with ambiguously homosexual lyrics.
What it says: May or may not like it in the butt.
Lyric Example:
On the mats with the boys, you think you're alone
With the pain that you drain from love
In a car with a girl, promise me she's not your world
Cause Andy, you're a star
Assbangers Anonymous
Description: Handsome vocalists attempt to add humor to killer beats. Hilarity ensues like half the time.
What it says: Friends with the guys that are making this. Questionable taste/sense of humor.
Lyric example:
You best watch your cabinets cause I'm fucking your China
And keep your pants zipped or I'll fuck your vagina
I hope your ass aint for sale cause I fuck like a rhino
And watch your ass if you're pale cause I'll fuck an albino
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Does This Really Need A Title?
Snow day allowed me to finish up most of the work I had. Thank God. I'm not entirely sure what I would've done without that.
Academic updates are really boring.
Academic updates are really boring.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Life And Death Of American Journalism: Not As Exciting As It Sounds (which isn't saying much)
Saw some reporters who wrote a book called The Life And Death Of American Journalism. As the name suggests, said book is about how completely screwed American journalism is. Their solution? Subsidize! Just have the government pay for everything. Thirty billion dollars a year is all we need. And it'll save journalism. Yeah! That sounds like it'd be giving the government too much power? Well, maybe they should. Capitalism is what got us into this mess!
Ug... They were nice enough. I even interviewed one of them after but I really can't stand going to stuff like this. I probably should care more about it since technically speaking this is the profession that I'm going into but I really just don't have any interest in politics or economics. Never have, never will. I've got a nice little 750 word essay to write on the thing too, just to rub salt in the wound. Its kind of sad because I've got like six pages of notes but I don't actually remember half of them ever being said. I am starting to suspect that being a reporter kind of sucks.
In related news, 100 Bullets is every bit as enjoyable as Preacher.
Ug... They were nice enough. I even interviewed one of them after but I really can't stand going to stuff like this. I probably should care more about it since technically speaking this is the profession that I'm going into but I really just don't have any interest in politics or economics. Never have, never will. I've got a nice little 750 word essay to write on the thing too, just to rub salt in the wound. Its kind of sad because I've got like six pages of notes but I don't actually remember half of them ever being said. I am starting to suspect that being a reporter kind of sucks.
In related news, 100 Bullets is every bit as enjoyable as Preacher.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
I Am A Busy Man
Two weeks into the semester and I am already overworked. This was expected but I'm still not happy with it. Here's the run down of what I'm taking.
Linguistics 101: Language has never been my thing. This is no exception. The lab is just as bad though at least the TA for that is entertaining. The actual professor is unspeakably tedious. Its one of those lectures where you just jot down everything that appears on the board, so at least I get lots of reading done.
Journalism 300: Junior writing course. There are only like 13 other people in it which is good but the workload dwarfs pretty much everything and we actually have to go out and interview people. It'll be interesting but it makes it really difficult to be lazy.
Criticism of Media: Not as hippy-dippy as it sounds; the name for the class probably should have been "Journalism Is Changing And You Guys Are Fucked Unless You Adapt And Learn How To Use The Internet". The professor is very charismatic and apparently was a news anchor in Chicago for a while. Also has a heavy workload, though there aren't any size specifications on essays which is pretty nice.
Greek Mythology: This is a Gen-Ed. The teacher looks a little bit like a walrus and sounds like Rex the Dinosaur from Toy Story. He's pretty compelling though and probably legally insane. Good class.
Biology of Social Issues: Better than it sounds. Apparently, DDT wiped out malaria in Europe and America as well as killing boatloads of birds of prey. That's pretty much been the whole class so far, but I did not know that illegal pesticides had any benefits outside of making it easier to grow crops. Neat!
Aside from that its business as usual. Almost done with Snow Falling On Cedars. Will start 100 Bullets after that which looks promising.
Started working out again. Remembered why I stopped doing it, but I've kind of got to. Baseball season's gonna start soon and I really don't want to have to get in shape on the fly again.
On that note...
Linguistics 101: Language has never been my thing. This is no exception. The lab is just as bad though at least the TA for that is entertaining. The actual professor is unspeakably tedious. Its one of those lectures where you just jot down everything that appears on the board, so at least I get lots of reading done.
Journalism 300: Junior writing course. There are only like 13 other people in it which is good but the workload dwarfs pretty much everything and we actually have to go out and interview people. It'll be interesting but it makes it really difficult to be lazy.
Criticism of Media: Not as hippy-dippy as it sounds; the name for the class probably should have been "Journalism Is Changing And You Guys Are Fucked Unless You Adapt And Learn How To Use The Internet". The professor is very charismatic and apparently was a news anchor in Chicago for a while. Also has a heavy workload, though there aren't any size specifications on essays which is pretty nice.
Greek Mythology: This is a Gen-Ed. The teacher looks a little bit like a walrus and sounds like Rex the Dinosaur from Toy Story. He's pretty compelling though and probably legally insane. Good class.
Biology of Social Issues: Better than it sounds. Apparently, DDT wiped out malaria in Europe and America as well as killing boatloads of birds of prey. That's pretty much been the whole class so far, but I did not know that illegal pesticides had any benefits outside of making it easier to grow crops. Neat!
Aside from that its business as usual. Almost done with Snow Falling On Cedars. Will start 100 Bullets after that which looks promising.
Started working out again. Remembered why I stopped doing it, but I've kind of got to. Baseball season's gonna start soon and I really don't want to have to get in shape on the fly again.
On that note...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
What I Did On My Winter Vacation
I went to Mexico. There I:
-Got a leather jacket
-Went to a mummy museum (which was spooooooky)
-Ate a whole lot of steak
I will write more on this later when I have pictures and the attention span.
Other than that I:
-Learned my dad is a total badass. No seriously. He slipped on some ice behind his store very late at night. Upon landing he found that his ankle had swollen to ridiculous proportions and he could not put any weight on it. His cell phone had also been broken from the fall. It was pitch black and freezing cold. He could have been in legitimate danger but rather than just whimper in pain, or curl up in a ball and hope for someone to stumble upon him, he put his phone back together and called both 911 and my mother. Turned out he both dislocated and broke his ankle. Which leads me to my next bullet.
-Learned how to fry an egg (I am not kidding). I'd never actually done this before. Immediately after getting back from Mexico, my Mom left and I had to take care of my Dad till she came back. He is a fan of Salami and Eggs and grew tired of the steak or hamburgers I was making. I also baked a lot of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies.
-Was involved in a horrifically stupid love triangle involving a girl I used to sort-of-but-not-really date and a probable alcoholic who has since gotten the nickname "Human Waterfall".
Alright this one might actually require some further explanation, so for those of you into drama and/or gossip, buckle your seat belts cause this shit is about to get... Well... Actually, its about to get kind of awkward.
I'm one of those people that doesn't really notice a problem until it can't be ignored. You know, a stereotypical American. My friend Waffle (I'm using a nickname because I think some of the few people that read this blog may actually know him) has a serious drinking problem. I did not realize this until he got drunk at a party and tried to pick fight with me over my lack of interest in talking about a girl that he is dating that I used to kind-of-be-in-a-relationship-only-not-really with (to simplify things greatly. Needless to say, I hadn't been on speaking terms with her for months at the time that this happened. Trust me, you don't want to hear about this).
Anyway, at some point he passed out with his shoes on so of course anyone who could get their hands on a writing utensil drew on him. He woke up a few hours later and then, 98 percent of his body covered in ink, proceeded to climb halfway up the stairs, pull out his junk, and start leaking everywhere. Everywhere. It was kind of like that sprinkler your Mom would set up on the front lawn during the summer (possibly because you were too poor to have a pool) only instead of running through it, you were running away. This lasted for five minutes. People were counting. I'm not kidding. It was a spectacle. It was the longest piss in the history of modern man.
He went on to punch a friend of mine in the face a grand total of three times while trying to get to me. Said friend wouldn't let me (or anyone else there) retaliate because (and I quote) "He's too drunk to know any better." Waffle then attempted to steal someone's car to drive home. When this plan failed miserably due to an inability to turn a doorknob, he started crying, occasionally stopping to shoot death glares in my general direction. I left the room at this point because, let's face it, what the fuck are you supposed to do in a situation like that?
Eventually, the same friend that got hit in the face three times convinced me to talked to him. For some reason, probably guilt over him getting hit in the face, I complied. This was a really bad idea, though some really good lines came out of it. Some examples:
Waffle on Me and women:
"Eddie, when I look at you I see a man who has been forsaken by women!"
Waffle responding to my indifference towards him sleeping with Girl-I-Sort-Of-Dated-But-Not-Really:
"All you care about it sex, Eddie! You don't know what real love is. But I do!"
Waffle on my relationship with Girl-I-Sort-Of-Dated-But-Not-Really:
"She was really pissed when she realized you defriended her. Why can't you just admit that you still love her?!"
Waffle after I, realizing there was no other way out of the predicament, swallowed my pride, lied through my teeth, and said I was still in love with her (and was mad at him for "stealing her from me") and promised to "fucking kill him" if he ever did anything to hurt her:
*ridiculously-uncomfortable-thirty-second-pause*
"That's all I needed to hear."
And then he walked into the garage and passed out. I have not seen him since, though I did get the single most forced apology ever from him two days later, essentially amounting to "I was drunk and don't remember what happened, therefore it didn't."
Moving on, I also:
-Turned 20
-Replayed the first disk of Final Fantasy VII
-Rediscovered the greatness of Oregon Trail
-Realized that it wasn't my Wii that was broken but the power cord for it
-Also realized how much of a pain in the ass it is to replace these
-Saw Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Idiocracy, The Book of Eli, Twilight and New Moon. More to come on the last two.
-Started a book called Snow Falling On Cedars, which so far has a very unique plot and is extremely well-written but in one of those ways where it takes a long freaking time to read.
-Got a leather jacket
-Went to a mummy museum (which was spooooooky)
-Ate a whole lot of steak
I will write more on this later when I have pictures and the attention span.
Other than that I:
-Learned my dad is a total badass. No seriously. He slipped on some ice behind his store very late at night. Upon landing he found that his ankle had swollen to ridiculous proportions and he could not put any weight on it. His cell phone had also been broken from the fall. It was pitch black and freezing cold. He could have been in legitimate danger but rather than just whimper in pain, or curl up in a ball and hope for someone to stumble upon him, he put his phone back together and called both 911 and my mother. Turned out he both dislocated and broke his ankle. Which leads me to my next bullet.
-Learned how to fry an egg (I am not kidding). I'd never actually done this before. Immediately after getting back from Mexico, my Mom left and I had to take care of my Dad till she came back. He is a fan of Salami and Eggs and grew tired of the steak or hamburgers I was making. I also baked a lot of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies.
-Was involved in a horrifically stupid love triangle involving a girl I used to sort-of-but-not-really date and a probable alcoholic who has since gotten the nickname "Human Waterfall".
Alright this one might actually require some further explanation, so for those of you into drama and/or gossip, buckle your seat belts cause this shit is about to get... Well... Actually, its about to get kind of awkward.
I'm one of those people that doesn't really notice a problem until it can't be ignored. You know, a stereotypical American. My friend Waffle (I'm using a nickname because I think some of the few people that read this blog may actually know him) has a serious drinking problem. I did not realize this until he got drunk at a party and tried to pick fight with me over my lack of interest in talking about a girl that he is dating that I used to kind-of-be-in-a-relationship-only-not-really with (to simplify things greatly. Needless to say, I hadn't been on speaking terms with her for months at the time that this happened. Trust me, you don't want to hear about this).
Anyway, at some point he passed out with his shoes on so of course anyone who could get their hands on a writing utensil drew on him. He woke up a few hours later and then, 98 percent of his body covered in ink, proceeded to climb halfway up the stairs, pull out his junk, and start leaking everywhere. Everywhere. It was kind of like that sprinkler your Mom would set up on the front lawn during the summer (possibly because you were too poor to have a pool) only instead of running through it, you were running away. This lasted for five minutes. People were counting. I'm not kidding. It was a spectacle. It was the longest piss in the history of modern man.
He went on to punch a friend of mine in the face a grand total of three times while trying to get to me. Said friend wouldn't let me (or anyone else there) retaliate because (and I quote) "He's too drunk to know any better." Waffle then attempted to steal someone's car to drive home. When this plan failed miserably due to an inability to turn a doorknob, he started crying, occasionally stopping to shoot death glares in my general direction. I left the room at this point because, let's face it, what the fuck are you supposed to do in a situation like that?
Eventually, the same friend that got hit in the face three times convinced me to talked to him. For some reason, probably guilt over him getting hit in the face, I complied. This was a really bad idea, though some really good lines came out of it. Some examples:
Waffle on Me and women:
"Eddie, when I look at you I see a man who has been forsaken by women!"
Waffle responding to my indifference towards him sleeping with Girl-I-Sort-Of-Dated-But-Not-Really:
"All you care about it sex, Eddie! You don't know what real love is. But I do!"
Waffle on my relationship with Girl-I-Sort-Of-Dated-But-Not-Really:
"She was really pissed when she realized you defriended her. Why can't you just admit that you still love her?!"
Waffle after I, realizing there was no other way out of the predicament, swallowed my pride, lied through my teeth, and said I was still in love with her (and was mad at him for "stealing her from me") and promised to "fucking kill him" if he ever did anything to hurt her:
*ridiculously-uncomfortable-thirty-second-pause*
"That's all I needed to hear."
And then he walked into the garage and passed out. I have not seen him since, though I did get the single most forced apology ever from him two days later, essentially amounting to "I was drunk and don't remember what happened, therefore it didn't."
Moving on, I also:
-Turned 20
-Replayed the first disk of Final Fantasy VII
-Rediscovered the greatness of Oregon Trail
-Realized that it wasn't my Wii that was broken but the power cord for it
-Also realized how much of a pain in the ass it is to replace these
-Saw Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Idiocracy, The Book of Eli, Twilight and New Moon. More to come on the last two.
-Started a book called Snow Falling On Cedars, which so far has a very unique plot and is extremely well-written but in one of those ways where it takes a long freaking time to read.
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