This is becoming more and more routine. Every four days. Like clock work for the past couple of posts. This week was ridiculously good. Bad new to begin with but good news at the end. ‘Nuff’ said about all that. I think this one of the vary rare weekend posts. So there wont be much to report on the Greg making merry front. However I had a good time tonight hangs in Potomac with friends (Nando and Skippy). Long and crazy discussions ranging from the mildly inappropriate to the illegal in every sense. I’ve been saying for years that I need a stenographer to record the things that come out of our mouths when over caffeinated, for posterity’s sake alone. At the moment I am sipping a lovely Killian’s Irish Red and waiting for my laundry to be done. In case any of my readers were curious.
School starts up on the 6th, which will be nice. A little structure in what has lately been an overly chaotic life. Work and school should be taking up most of my time from then on out, but I hope to get down to St. Mary’s as much as possible, by way of Fredrick of course (what’s 450 miles a weekend among friends). Also hoping to see a lot more of the Baltimore kids. So that’s were the plans are at the moment for the next couple months, a lot of buckling down and hopefully good weekends.
On the pop culture front, which I seem to be posting a lot about lately, I recently watched a great show. The pilot for Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. And yes unfortunately that’s the real name (though I believe its primarily being called just Studio 60). It’s the new Aaron Sorkin project. For those who don’t know Sorkin wrote The West Wing (Seasons 1-4), Sports Night and probably most notably A Few Good Men. He is with out a doubt the best writer in television. Story, character, pacing. Everything seems to flow smoothly and when you add in his penchant for dealing with current events, it’s honestly moving at times. His new show takes a look behind the scenes at a show very similar to SNL. I wont say much about the pot which is quite good but the opening sequence is some of the most blunt and honest commentary on the state of television today that I have every heard. With the cast including Amanda Pete, Bradley Whitford (a West Wing alum), and Mathew Perry, it should prove to be just as good an ensemble cast as the West Wing was. The show premiers this fall. I got lucky and had a friend with nexflicks so I could see the early release. If you wont take my word for it after I made my Mom watch it (and she refuses to watch T.V. shows), she said that she was hooked and wouldn’t miss an episode.
Okay, so I’ve been watching a lot of FX lately and cant help but feel as if I am missing out huge on not watching Nip/Tuck. The show seems overly soapish (not that for me that’s a bad thing) but the promos make it seem like round-breaking television. I hate it when this happens, because trust me this is not the first time. Every time I look in TV Guide and see the listing for Lost I feel this pang of regret that I haven’t been addicted since the beginning. And the same thing happens with Grey’s Anatomy. Huge success and yet I don’t watch. The only two show I can really claim to have gotten in on the round floor of were 24 (I have only missed four episodes in four years) and, I am ashamed to admit…The O.C. I gave up on it at the end of Season 2 however it sucked me back in to see Marissa die and Ryan carry her off to Hallelujah which was the first song that they ever played when it was apparent that they would be together (granted one by Buckley and the other by Heap). Alright so I am a girl…whatever. I watch 24 too! I think I may have stumbled on my format that I was in search of a couple of posts back. Mike is the Music Jerk, and I shall be TV Geek…
This is purely a spur of the moment thing but I like it…changes may be to come
Stay tuned!
Ha ha…appropriate.
Saturday, August 26
Tuesday, August 22
C'mon, C'mon
Well what a three day weekend. Friday I went up to Fredrick at the last minute to go see Snakes On A Plane. This movie could not be accused of false advertising. There were snakes, planes and Sam Jackson screaming his head off and gettin’ damn tiered of the reptilian passengers. It was fun and a better movie than I thought it would be going in. Half the fun was the twelve of us yelling and screaming through most of the flick.
Saturday was house-sitting at Sue’s. The dog was entertaining as usual, he ran into a few wall and chased his tail for about three hours. I stayed up all night and watched the first season of “Rescue Me” and the first season of “Weeds”. I have to say Rescue is one of my new favorite shows. The entire show is well written (unusual in the current TV landscape) and has storylines that are actually fresh and interesting on a regular basis (while occasionally bordering on the soap-opera side of things). Denis Leary’s character is always in turns hilarious and depressing in the worst ways (or best depending on how you like it). “Weeds” was also a lot of fun. The theme song is horrible something that doesn’t usually bother me, but this one is truly heinous. The show is based around a widow how turns to dealing weed in suburban California to make ends meet. It is funny for the most part and thoroughly odd, Kevin Nealon makes the show however as the city councilmen how can’t get through a day without a puff or ten. I’ll rent the second season as soon as it comes out at the end of the year if only because the last episode of the first has some great allusions to The Godfather.
Monday was spent looking everywhere for the second season of “Rescue Me” and hanging out with Nando at a 24 hour Dunkin’ Doughnuts which was fun, we both want to frequent it at about 3am for the people watching. The rest of the week will be work, work, work. Hopefully this will be a weekend of scotch and Baltimore or something along those lines. Anyway NFA party on the 2cd is in the not too distant future and I can’t wait. Should be a blow out…
Listening to: I'll Be Your Man by The Black Keys and Hugs for Boys by Braid
Rescue Me- 10:00pm Tuesdays on FX
Weeds- 10:00pm Mondays on Showtime
(For those interested)
Saturday was house-sitting at Sue’s. The dog was entertaining as usual, he ran into a few wall and chased his tail for about three hours. I stayed up all night and watched the first season of “Rescue Me” and the first season of “Weeds”. I have to say Rescue is one of my new favorite shows. The entire show is well written (unusual in the current TV landscape) and has storylines that are actually fresh and interesting on a regular basis (while occasionally bordering on the soap-opera side of things). Denis Leary’s character is always in turns hilarious and depressing in the worst ways (or best depending on how you like it). “Weeds” was also a lot of fun. The theme song is horrible something that doesn’t usually bother me, but this one is truly heinous. The show is based around a widow how turns to dealing weed in suburban California to make ends meet. It is funny for the most part and thoroughly odd, Kevin Nealon makes the show however as the city councilmen how can’t get through a day without a puff or ten. I’ll rent the second season as soon as it comes out at the end of the year if only because the last episode of the first has some great allusions to The Godfather.
Monday was spent looking everywhere for the second season of “Rescue Me” and hanging out with Nando at a 24 hour Dunkin’ Doughnuts which was fun, we both want to frequent it at about 3am for the people watching. The rest of the week will be work, work, work. Hopefully this will be a weekend of scotch and Baltimore or something along those lines. Anyway NFA party on the 2cd is in the not too distant future and I can’t wait. Should be a blow out…
Listening to: I'll Be Your Man by The Black Keys and Hugs for Boys by Braid
Rescue Me- 10:00pm Tuesdays on FX
Weeds- 10:00pm Mondays on Showtime
(For those interested)
Friday, August 18
Leaders Of Men
Now on to what everyone has been awaiting on baited breath for. Joy Division. You’ve already gotten a bit of what I wanted to say. So here is the rest. Mike has said that Joy Division is really only relevant today because they spawned New Order and lyrically. Content and not delivery. I’ll address that first. With the popularity of Bloc Party and others (Wolf Parade, Art Brut) one cant help but think of the minimalist synth lines that dominated the early eighties underground scene. And Mike would be right about lyrical delivery there. These bands sound more like Sumner than Curtis, however the sound that paved the way for this re-emergence of the post-punk sound (New York’s sixth or seventh Renaissance, not including Danny’s) was indeed inflected with Curtis’ off beat delivery. Think Interpol (Stella was A Diver, Obstacle 1), some of the Strokes demo stuff and even one or two tracks from the White Stripes Elephant when Jack White manages to stop being a nasally bastard. Alright even if you don’t buy that argument you’ll have to give me this one. Goth is founded heavily on the lyrical delivery, content and musicianship of Joy Division. Mike sort of claims it for New Order but if you listen to a band like VNV Nation or Kulture Culture arguable two of the more popular bands in goth. If you don’t hear the ghost of Ian in those voices then I think your crazy.
Now to turn to Hannet. This guy basically made Joy Division. He was the one who organized the bands sound and gave them an actual work ethic. His use of the Moog and the ADMS gave the entire Closer album, along with every Peel session they ever did actual weight. The distancing techniques that he used (recording not only the individual instruments but the cords themselves alone), was almost imperceptible but somehow important for the ethos of the band I think. Without him they would have stayed a band like Warsaw, which was only a cheap knock-off of the Sex Pistols when you come right down to it. Digital was the first thing Hannet did and it completely changed the sound not only of the area (making the Manchester scene), but of the band itself. Some will argue t was Tony Wilson but he only played the stuff on his TV show, Hanntet made the music. From then on Curtis knew what he wanted. Alright now to rag on New Order. Sort of. Basically the band gets kind of ruined for me when they take over half of Factory. I don’t know why but it ends up seeming so disingenuous compared to Joy Division how endured Wilson and his McLaren-like shenanigans. Granted music need to change; post punk was stale and the only thing really happening was no wave, even that was getting a bit hacky. Still there is something about Truth off of their first album Movement that pisses me off. Pop is pop and its commercial but they were just ripping off their old sounds and Sumner was trying to sound like Curtis so desperately at points its just kind of sad. I’m glad they found New York. If they didn’t I have a feeling every in Manchester would have strung them up. Thank god for power lies and corruption. Another Movement and I think even Mark Smith would have beaten them up, not that he has a problem with getting in fights or anything. Alright that’s enough I thought it might have been a bit better and I don’t think I really defened my point very well but its all just opinion anyway. I comes down to weather you think New Order could have happened without Joy Division. And f you feel history and influnces are more important then the organic growth that happens in a long lived band like New Order.
Listening to the Game’s Documentary oddly enough.
And yes Mike I get some of this from that book I read…
Now to turn to Hannet. This guy basically made Joy Division. He was the one who organized the bands sound and gave them an actual work ethic. His use of the Moog and the ADMS gave the entire Closer album, along with every Peel session they ever did actual weight. The distancing techniques that he used (recording not only the individual instruments but the cords themselves alone), was almost imperceptible but somehow important for the ethos of the band I think. Without him they would have stayed a band like Warsaw, which was only a cheap knock-off of the Sex Pistols when you come right down to it. Digital was the first thing Hannet did and it completely changed the sound not only of the area (making the Manchester scene), but of the band itself. Some will argue t was Tony Wilson but he only played the stuff on his TV show, Hanntet made the music. From then on Curtis knew what he wanted. Alright now to rag on New Order. Sort of. Basically the band gets kind of ruined for me when they take over half of Factory. I don’t know why but it ends up seeming so disingenuous compared to Joy Division how endured Wilson and his McLaren-like shenanigans. Granted music need to change; post punk was stale and the only thing really happening was no wave, even that was getting a bit hacky. Still there is something about Truth off of their first album Movement that pisses me off. Pop is pop and its commercial but they were just ripping off their old sounds and Sumner was trying to sound like Curtis so desperately at points its just kind of sad. I’m glad they found New York. If they didn’t I have a feeling every in Manchester would have strung them up. Thank god for power lies and corruption. Another Movement and I think even Mark Smith would have beaten them up, not that he has a problem with getting in fights or anything. Alright that’s enough I thought it might have been a bit better and I don’t think I really defened my point very well but its all just opinion anyway. I comes down to weather you think New Order could have happened without Joy Division. And f you feel history and influnces are more important then the organic growth that happens in a long lived band like New Order.
Listening to the Game’s Documentary oddly enough.
And yes Mike I get some of this from that book I read…
Monday, August 14
Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)
So I was watching MTV2’s Elite 8 and VH1’s Top 20, you know just flipping back and forth. There are some thoroughly crazy videos out these days. To run down the list: The first one I saw was the new Ok Go Single. The Video consisted of the four band members doing some ridiculous choreography on a series of treadmills. Watch this…its not a great song or anything but the treadmill dancing is worth it alone. The second was the new Pharell video. Of course it had the usual Rap excess but he brought it to a whole new level when he pours Crystal over his cornflakes…also I think the obligatorily “video vixens” might have been Alicia Keys and Ashanti. Does the new Justin Timberlake single bug the crap out of anyone else. I didn’t hate the first album or anything it was good pop, but damn the last minute of the song makes me want to rip my ears oof and give them to a deaf kid, then force him to listen to it as a cruel joke. The last and most ridiculous might be lost on most of you but trust me if you worked in Tower records of any length of time or are sixteen this will blow you minds. It was off the Snakes on a plan soundtrack. So you know its going to at least be an entertaining video but the artist in it were some of the brightest up and coming names in the indie-pop world. The lead singer for the Sounds, the lead singer for Midtown (I think) the lead singer for The Academy Is and the lead singer for The Gym Class Heroes. There is also a cameo if I don’t miss my guess from somebody in Fall Out Boy. Not the singer but maybe the bassist…I’m not sure. How they got all these guys in one song is insane. Oh wait I forgot…its SNAKES ON A MOTHERFUCKING PLANE! The song is not very good but hey whatever right. And yes Sam Jackson makes a cameo. Did I mention that the project is called Cobra Starship and the name of the song is Snakes On a Plane (Bring It)…And really; don’t think less of me for knowing this, I was subjected to this music day in and day out for five months at Tower. That and some of the stuff is catchy.
I’ve been working on my argument for the whole Joy Division v. New Order debate and I haven’t quite finished so that will be the next post. I want to sort of have that as a stand alone type thing. Anyway I apologize to Mike for totally stealing his format for the past two posts…that will hopefully stop soon.
In other news I have stated a second blog. Not that I can keep this one up. Its going to be a sort of art/philosophy thing. Both Mike and Shah have their own DAMO things and I wanted to be able to talk about art without the necessary absurdity that follows with DAMO.
I think I might…might be moving out soon due to some school stuff that I’ll go into later or not. But yeah anyone who is looking for a gainfully employed roommate let me know. I have a few options at the moment but nothing is definite yet. Not even the moving part.
I’ve been working on my argument for the whole Joy Division v. New Order debate and I haven’t quite finished so that will be the next post. I want to sort of have that as a stand alone type thing. Anyway I apologize to Mike for totally stealing his format for the past two posts…that will hopefully stop soon.
In other news I have stated a second blog. Not that I can keep this one up. Its going to be a sort of art/philosophy thing. Both Mike and Shah have their own DAMO things and I wanted to be able to talk about art without the necessary absurdity that follows with DAMO.
I think I might…might be moving out soon due to some school stuff that I’ll go into later or not. But yeah anyone who is looking for a gainfully employed roommate let me know. I have a few options at the moment but nothing is definite yet. Not even the moving part.
Thursday, August 10
Closer
A couple of things I want to talk about in this post. So bare with me:
1.)After the exam on Monday I may be headed up to the Green Mountain State to see an old friend, Drew. If I can get the money together, I’m hoping to leave early Thursday and be back either late Sunday or early Monday. Vermont is apparently cool (temperature wise) and quite beautiful. Added bonus: The Canadian border is only 10 miles away. Drinking age in Canada: like 4 or something.
2.) I found an old gift certificate to Best Buy the other night and went to go use it. As I perused the isles of electronic goodness, I finally narrowed my choices down to two CDs. The first was the new AFI release with a ridiculously bad name “Decemberunderground,” or “Show our Bones” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Both are apparently quite good from what I hear and both are a bit on the main stream side so I couldn’t decide for like a half hour. In the end I flipped a coin and got the AFI. I listened to it through in the car on the way back and I sort of liked it. It was different enough from Sing the Sorrow their last album but retained enough of the essence of what mad them popular in the first place. To those of you out there who are now thinking that I’m a stereotypical AFi fan note this; I have a normal relationship with my parents for the most part and I haven’t shopped at Hot Topic since I was sixteen. I do however think that AFI is an interesting pop band with a talented singer (as long as he doesn’t scream like a sparrow being eaten alive by Orson Wells. Miss Murder the single at the moments is probably the worst track on the CD, which is saying something because its not that bad of a song. The rest sort of blends together in the end, however the there are a few stand outs. Love Like Winter is nicely Stark, if lyrically bereft of any meaning and Summer Shudder is rousing. I wouldn’t say it makes me want to do things in the same way that Move Along by All American Rejects does but close. (Mike will be one of the few to understand but that’s okay. Anyway there is little buyer’s remorse for this one. However I am interested to hear the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
3.) As some of you may know Mike and I have a little running argument about which band is better Joy Division or New Order. While entirely futile and imbecilic, it is fun so I thought I would share some of my arguments on the topic with the readers at large. Joy division typifies the movement of post punk (almost as bad a name as emo) more than another band. You could say the New Order has the better sales, that PiL had the Name (Johnny Rotten), That Devo and Pere Ubu were around before but the core of what the movement was about had its most creditable start in Manchester. It was a city in decline. A former industrial juggernaut that at that point 1979-1982 was in such a wretched state, it could not help but breed the dissonant and alienating sound that Joy Division mastered. When you hear a song like Atrocity Exhibition you can feel the alienation the space and aimlessness that was abundant in the youth of the day. The music itself not just the lyrics give off that presence.
Alright I have to get back to work but this was part one of many in my argument…
1.)After the exam on Monday I may be headed up to the Green Mountain State to see an old friend, Drew. If I can get the money together, I’m hoping to leave early Thursday and be back either late Sunday or early Monday. Vermont is apparently cool (temperature wise) and quite beautiful. Added bonus: The Canadian border is only 10 miles away. Drinking age in Canada: like 4 or something.
2.) I found an old gift certificate to Best Buy the other night and went to go use it. As I perused the isles of electronic goodness, I finally narrowed my choices down to two CDs. The first was the new AFI release with a ridiculously bad name “Decemberunderground,” or “Show our Bones” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Both are apparently quite good from what I hear and both are a bit on the main stream side so I couldn’t decide for like a half hour. In the end I flipped a coin and got the AFI. I listened to it through in the car on the way back and I sort of liked it. It was different enough from Sing the Sorrow their last album but retained enough of the essence of what mad them popular in the first place. To those of you out there who are now thinking that I’m a stereotypical AFi fan note this; I have a normal relationship with my parents for the most part and I haven’t shopped at Hot Topic since I was sixteen. I do however think that AFI is an interesting pop band with a talented singer (as long as he doesn’t scream like a sparrow being eaten alive by Orson Wells. Miss Murder the single at the moments is probably the worst track on the CD, which is saying something because its not that bad of a song. The rest sort of blends together in the end, however the there are a few stand outs. Love Like Winter is nicely Stark, if lyrically bereft of any meaning and Summer Shudder is rousing. I wouldn’t say it makes me want to do things in the same way that Move Along by All American Rejects does but close. (Mike will be one of the few to understand but that’s okay. Anyway there is little buyer’s remorse for this one. However I am interested to hear the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
3.) As some of you may know Mike and I have a little running argument about which band is better Joy Division or New Order. While entirely futile and imbecilic, it is fun so I thought I would share some of my arguments on the topic with the readers at large. Joy division typifies the movement of post punk (almost as bad a name as emo) more than another band. You could say the New Order has the better sales, that PiL had the Name (Johnny Rotten), That Devo and Pere Ubu were around before but the core of what the movement was about had its most creditable start in Manchester. It was a city in decline. A former industrial juggernaut that at that point 1979-1982 was in such a wretched state, it could not help but breed the dissonant and alienating sound that Joy Division mastered. When you hear a song like Atrocity Exhibition you can feel the alienation the space and aimlessness that was abundant in the youth of the day. The music itself not just the lyrics give off that presence.
Alright I have to get back to work but this was part one of many in my argument…
Monday, August 7
Nietzsche
What a great weekend. Thursday I hung out with Panos and his girlfriend Indera at their place and listened to music and stuff. Friday I went into work early and left accordingly. I headed up to Fredrick around 1 and meet up with Mike to play video gamed until people go off work. Dave, Mike, Ricardo and myself went over to the mirage to smoke some hookah. Two of Mike’s friends from Baltimore came with us, Dustin and Aaron. A good time was had. We went up to Baltimore after to Dustin’s place and spent the remainder of the weekend celebrating the Lush’s Birthday. Which included: the inaugural bog wraith, watch too much L word, eating crappy pizza, and not sleeping at all on Saturday night. Yesterday as I was driving back to Fredrick we got lost on 95 twice and I sort of fell asleep. When mike asked me about a light in my car I blamed it on Angelina Jolie for some reason and went back to slumber land. All in all a weekend to remember. This week is going to be rough with a crap load of work and my last week of school. Anyway hopefully this weekend will involve a lot more sleep.
Listening to nothing because I forgot my iPod…
Listening to nothing because I forgot my iPod…
Tuesday, August 1
Delusions of Mediocrity
It seems that I just haven’t been able to keep this blog updated. I only posted once in the entire month of July. Well this is the third time I have said this I think but I’ll try to do this much more regularly, for my three readers out there. Well Session two of my summer courses is half over, and has been a lot of fun. Astronomy is interesting and our teacher is a hilarious. It’s been fun. Work is getting heavier though. With a night class it’s a little rough, but I am enjoying what I do (today at least). Socially I haven’t been doing that much. Just hanging out with friends and stuff. Carey came down a few weeks ago and I went up to Fredrick a while back then ended up drunk as fuck in College Park. Both were fun. Otherwise the only other thing I’ve been doing is house sitting for a friend of my mom’s. The house was really nice with the expanded cable, the dog was a bit weird (deaf and kind of blind) though. It was a nice break from the parents and all but it killed my going out capability. Anywho more to follow, I am having this grandiose idea that I want to give this blog a format, and not just an occasional update on my life. I’m thinking pop culture related but I have to figure out what exactly. Well that’s all for now, expect to see more of this in the near future, and I not bug me about it at will.
Listening to Untitled 3 by Dove Yellow Swans and Imagine by A Perfect Circle (Ah the weirdness of iPod Shuffle).
On a side note the title of this post is not a song, I just like the phrase. I just googled it and apparently it is a blog and a Magic: The Gathering card but has no significance in music…anyway.
Listening to Untitled 3 by Dove Yellow Swans and Imagine by A Perfect Circle (Ah the weirdness of iPod Shuffle).
On a side note the title of this post is not a song, I just like the phrase. I just googled it and apparently it is a blog and a Magic: The Gathering card but has no significance in music…anyway.
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