Saturday, June 11, 2011

Music

So I had some spare time today, and decided to catalogue some music.  So here's the list of important things in my iTunes.  Basically it's either bands/artists that I would actively say I'm a fan of, or bands/artists that I listen to at least somewhat-regularly.

Oh, and I haven't undertaken the task of being more specific with a lot of the genres - especially in my very very vague 'Metal/hardcore' catagory.


10,000 Maniacs Alternative
Anberlin Alternative
Billy Corgan Alternative
Cake Alternative
Chris Cornell Alternative
Cobbler Alternative
Dashboard Confessional Alternative
Embrace Alternative
Further Seems Forever Alternative
Guster Alternative
Hoobastank Alternative
Incubus Alternative
Jars of Clay Alternative
Jimmie's Chicken Shack Alternative
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Alternative
Kings of Leon Alternative
Lifehouse Alternative
Lucerin Blue Alternative
Monday In London Alternative
Morningwood Alternative
Pearl Jam Alternative
Queens of the Stone Age Alternative
R.E.M. Alternative
Spin Doctors Alternative
Sublime Alternative
Switchfoot Alternative
Taking Back Sunday Alternative
The Academy Is... Alternative
The Almost Alternative
The Apex Theory (now Mt. Helium) Alternative
The Juliana Theory Alternative
Three Dog Night Alternative
Weezer Alternative
A Perfect Circle Alternative > art rock
Radiohead Alternative > art rock
The Smashing Pumpkins Alternative > art rock
Thom Yorke Alternative > art rock
Zwan Alternative > art rock
Morphine Alternative > jazz fusion
Electric Six Alternative > new wave
Coheed & Cambria Alternative > progressive
Muse Alternative > progressive
Phish Alternative > psychedelia
The Flaming Lips Alternative > psychedelia
Tiger Army Alternative > punk
The O.C. Supertones Alternative > ska
Jeff Buckley Alternative, folk
Dave Horton/Novus/Old Machines (haha) Alternative, hard rock
Gorillaz Alternative, hip-hop
Eve 6 Alternative, pop
Panic! At the Disco Alternative, pop
Paramore Alternative, pop
Say Anything Alternative, pop
The Shins Alternative, pop
Yellowcard Alternative, pop
Morrissey Alternative, pop rock
The Smiths Alternative, pop rock
Five Iron Frenzy Alternative, ska
Alison Krauss & Union Station Bluegrass, folk
Christopher O'Riley Classical, Instrumental
Twelve Girls Band Classical, Instrumental
Taylor Swift Country, pop
Aphex Twin Electronica
Daft Punk Electronica
Dieselboy Electronica > drum & bass
Serart Experimental rock
Madison Greene Folk
Neil Young Folk
Mumford & Sons Folk rock
Tom Waits Folk rock
Ben Harper (& the Innocent Criminals) Folk, alternative
City & Colour Folk, alternative
Jake Shimabukuro Folk, jazz
Bob Dylan (& the Band) Folk, rock
Grateful Dead Folk, rock
Iron & Wine Folk, rock
Bootsy's Rubber Band Funk
Fishbone Funk
George Clinton (& the Parliament Funkadelic) Funk
30 Seconds to Mars Hard rock
Bush Hard rock
Chevelle Hard rock
Dead Poetic Hard rock
Deftones Hard rock
H.I.M. Hard rock
Stabbing Westward Hard rock > industrial
1000 Clowns Hip-hop
B.o.B. Hip-hop
Blackalicious Hip-hop
Bruno Mars Hip-hop
Busta Rhymes Hip-hop
DMX Hip-hop
Eminem Hip-hop
Gym Class Heroes Hip-hop
Kanye West Hip-hop
Lil' Jon Hip-hop
LL Cool J Hip-hop
Ludacris Hip-hop
Lupe Fiasco Hip-hop
Mac Miller Hip-hop
Master P Hip-hop
Mo Thugs (Family) Hip-hop
Mystikal Hip-hop
N.W.A. Hip-hop
Outkast Hip-hop
The Streets Hip-hop
Timbaland Hip-hop
TLC Hip-hop
Travie Mccoy Hip-hop
Tupac Shakur (2Pac) Hip-hop
Twista Hip-hop
Warren G Hip-hop
Wyclef Jean Hip-hop
Cee-lo Hip-hop > neo-soul
Common Hip-hop > neo-soul
Gnarls Barkley Hip-hop > neo-soul
Mos Def Hip-hop > neo-soul
The Roots Hip-hop > neo-soul
N.E.R.D. Hip-hop, alternative
Craig David Hip-hop, R&B
Drake Hip-hop, R&B
Jamie Foxx Hip-hop, R&B
John Legend Hip-hop, R&B
Ne-Yo Hip-hop, R&B
Usher Hip-hop, R&B
Sean Paul Hip-hop, reggae
Animal Collective Indie
Arcade Fire Indie
Bad Books Indie
Band of Horses Indie
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution Indie
Battles Indie
Belle & Sebastian Indie
Black Kids Indie
Broken Bells Indie
Broken Social Scene Indie
Circa Survive Indie
Craig Owens Indie
Deerhoof Indie
Dressy Bessy Indie
Fun. Indie
Jenny Reeve Indie
Klaxons Indie
MGMT Indie
Minus the Bear Indie
of Montreal Indie
Pedro the Lion Indie
Rilo Kiley Indie
Silversun Pickups Indie
Sufjan Stevens Indie
Tattle Tale Indie
The Bravery Indie
The Divine Comedy Indie
The Domesticated Indie
The Good Life Indie
The Murmurs Indie
The Pierces Indie
The Temper Trap Indie
The Violet Burning Indie
The xx Indie
Tony Bullard Indie
Travis Indie
Twothirtyeight Indie
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Indie
Hot Chip Indie > electronica
Psalters Indie > folk punk
Chairlift Indie > pop
Cinematic Sunrise Indie > pop
Eisley Indie > pop
Element 101 Indie > pop
Florence + The Machine Indie > pop
Pomplamoose Indie > pop
Reverie Sound Revue Indie > pop
Tegan and Sara Indie > pop
The Early November Indie > pop
The Format Indie > pop
The Ting Tings Indie > pop
Under the Influence of Giants Indie > pop
Do Make Say Think Indie > post-rock
Explosions in the Sky Indie > post-rock
Godspeed You Black Emperor! Indie > post-rock
Mogwai Indie > post-rock
Sigur Ros Indie > post-rock
The Polyphonic Spree Indie > psychedelia
AWOLNATION Indie, alternative
Brandtson Indie, alternative
Cool Hand Luke Indie, alternative
Copeland Indie, alternative
Death Cab for Cutie Indie, alternative
Dustin Kensrue Indie, alternative
Eels Indie, alternative
Jimmy Eat World Indie, alternative
Mae Indie, alternative
Manchester Orchestra Indie, alternative
Modest Mouse Indie, alternative
Moros Eros Indie, alternative
Mute Math Indie, alternative
Big Sir Indie, electronica
Cursive Indie, post-hardcore
Miles Davis Jazz
Nina Simone Jazz
Thelonious Monk Jazz
Holy Blood Metal > black, celtic
Dragonforce Metal > power
Galneryus Metal > power, japanese
Syu (of Galneryus) Metal > power, japanese
Dream Theater Metal > power, progressive
Queensryche Metal > progressive
Tool Metal > progressive
A Skylit Drive Metal/hardcore
Alesana Metal/hardcore
Alexisonfire Metal/hardcore
Arch Enemy Metal/hardcore
As Blood Runs Black Metal/hardcore
As I Lay Dying Metal/hardcore
Atreyu Metal/hardcore
August Burns Red Metal/hardcore
Beauty to Ashes Metal/hardcore
Becoming the Archetype Metal/hardcore
Before Their Eyes Metal/hardcore
Beloved (US) Metal/hardcore
Blindside Metal/hardcore
Bring Me the Horizon Metal/hardcore
Cadaveria Metal/hardcore
Chiodos Metal/hardcore
D.R.U.G.S. (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows) Metal/hardcore
Dance Gavin Dance Metal/hardcore
Demon Hunter Metal/hardcore
Destroy the Runner Metal/hardcore
Dimmu Borgir Metal/hardcore
East West Metal/hardcore
Emarosa Metal/hardcore
Emery Metal/hardcore
Enter Shakari Metal/hardcore
Escape the Fate Metal/hardcore
Extol Metal/hardcore
Finch Metal/hardcore
From Autumn to Ashes Metal/hardcore
Haste the Day Metal/hardcore
He Is Legend Metal/hardcore
Hopesfall Metal/hardcore
I Killed the Prom Queen Metal/hardcore
In Flames Metal/hardcore
Isles & Glaciers Metal/hardcore
Iwrestledabearonce Metal/hardcore
Kekal Metal/hardcore
Killswitch Engage Metal/hardcore
Krallice Metal/hardcore
likeDavid Metal/hardcore
Living Sacrifice Metal/hardcore
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster Metal/hardcore
My Chemical Romance Metal/hardcore
Narcissus Metal/hardcore
Nightwish Metal/hardcore
Nodes of Ranvier Metal/hardcore
Norma Jean/Luti-kriss Metal/hardcore
Of Mice & Men Metal/hardcore
Oh, Sleeper Metal/hardcore
Opeth Metal/hardcore
Pantera Metal/hardcore
Pierce the Veil Metal/hardcore
Poison the Well Metal/hardcore
Project 86 Metal/hardcore
Remission Metal/hardcore
Scary Kids Scaring Kids Metal/hardcore
Serj Tankian Metal/hardcore
Showbread Metal/hardcore
Silverstein Metal/hardcore
Sky Eats Airplane Metal/hardcore
Soilwork Metal/hardcore
Spoken Metal/hardcore
System of a Down Metal/hardcore
The Agony Scene Metal/hardcore
The Beautiful Mistake Metal/hardcore
The Bled Metal/hardcore
The Number 12 Looks Like You Metal/hardcore
The Used Metal/hardcore
The Word Alive Metal/hardcore
Training for Utopia Metal/hardcore
Underoath Metal/hardcore
Virgin Black Metal/hardcore
Zao Metal/hardcore
Beanbag Metal/hardcore (later alternative)
Embodyment Metal/hardcore (later alternative)
Rites of Spring Metal/hardcore > emo (original usage)
Rise Against Metal/hardcore > hardcore punk
Ministry Metal/hardcore > industrial
mewithoutYou Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Receiving End of Sirens Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Saosin Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
The Cinematic Orchestra Indie > post-rock
Thursday Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Thrice Metal/hardcore > post-punk
(hed) P.E. Metal/hardcore > rap-metal
Flight of the Conchords Musical comedy
Stephen Lynch Musical comedy
Tenacious D Musical comedy
3Oh!3 Pop
Avril Lavigne Pop
Ben Folds (Five) Pop
Cobra Starship Pop
Fall Out Boy Pop
George Michael Pop
Hall & Oates Pop
Jason Mraz Pop
Katy Perry Pop
Ke$ha Pop
Lily Allen Pop
Metro Station Pop
No Doubt Pop
Owl City Pop
Scissor Sisters Pop
The Cure Pop
The Higher Pop
The Hush Sound Pop
The Killers Pop
Shiny Toy Guns Pop > electronica
Tears for Fears Pop rock
Barenaked Ladies Pop, alternative
Clinic Pop, alternative
Counting Crows Pop, alternative
Maroon 5 Pop, alternative
AFI Pop, punk
Dogwood Pop, punk
Against Me! Punk
The Buzzcocks Punk
The Clash Punk
Jesse Powell R&B
Justin Timberlake R&B
Prince R&B
Bob Marley (& the Wailers) Reggae
Matisyahu Reggae
Bruce Springsteen Rock
Creedence Clearwater Revival Rock
Fleetwood Mac Rock
Jefferson Airplane/Starship Rock
Jimi Hendrix (Experience) Rock
Led Zeppelin Rock
Pink Floyd Rock
Styx Rock
The Beatles Rock
The Black Keys Rock
The Doors Rock
The Rolling Stones Rock
The Who Rock
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Rock
Frank Zappa Rock > progressive
The Mars Volta Rock > progressive
The Moody Blues Rock > progressive
Uriah Heep Rock > progressive
Depeche Mode Rock, electronica
Elvis Costello (& the Attractions) Rock, punk, indie
Billy Paul Soul
Jonny Craig Soul, alternative
Earth, Wind, & Fire Soul, funk
Joss Stone Soul, R&B

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Truth

I used to have things to say.  I used to write; blogs, poetry, letters, words.  I'm out of words.  Literally.  Everything is just empty.  And as much as I'd love to say it's because this happened or that happened or because my childhood had this or that...  there isn't a reason.  It's just the overbearing realization that everything is meaningless.  Maybe there is substance to be had out there for the lucky few, but for most of us we're just floating in a stream of nothingness.  Brief moments of amusement aside, there is neither any sense of happiness that I've experienced nor anything to lead me to believe that any such sensation truly exists.  And at the end of it all, I'm frustrated.  I'm frustrated that ten years ago I was touched by something larger than myself and that now I can not deny the existence of the God of the Bible because that means that my only true means of escape has effectively been stolen from me.  Not looking for sympathy, not looking for anything.  I don't expect there to be substance, but I guess there's still a tiny part of me that foolishly hopes that in writing this I'll at least feel some sense of relief or lessening of my burden.  I guess I haven't completely learned better yet.  I'll have to work on that.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

We're having our first "real" snow of the season right now.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Children.

I think that if you have more than three children, you are being a irresponsible human being, and potentially a liability to the world.  The obvious exception here of course being multiple children births (such as quintuplets and whatnot) - excluding the women/couples who supposedly take treatment to increase their chances of multiple children births.  Related note, I think all of the various hundred TV shows about people with tons of kids are equally disgusting and irresponsible.  I'd say I'm sorry about feeling that way, but I'm not.  It really is irresponsible, and really exemplifies the selfish attitude of today.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Famous People Who Play(ed) D&D.

I didn't write this list up, but I've heard most of the names thrown around in D&D circles, so I have no trouble believing that it's accurate.


1. Stephen Colbert (also went to Gen Con (a dnd/comic/roleplaying convention))
2. Vin Diesel (Wrote the introduction to a book about DnD)
3. Mike Myers
4. Dwayne Johnson AKA The Rock
5. Matt Groening
6. Dame Judy Dench (Introduced to the game by Vin Diesal)
7. Jenny McCarthy
8. Glenn Danzig
9. Edwin McCain (Not sure if he still does but did when he was a kid)
10. Wil Wheaton (played on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Still plays to this day)
11. Daryl Hannah
12. Robin Williams (Plays both the Online DnD Game and the Tabletop one)
13. Lexa Doig AKA Rommie and the computer AI from Andromeda
14. Ben Aflac (Forced to play by Kevin Smith on a set once and fell in love. Prefers to play Wizards over fighters.)
15. Matt Damon (Forced to play by Kevin Smith on a set once and fell in love. Prefers to play Fighters over Wizards.)
16. Matthew Lillard (Said so on G4's attack of the show then stole all of thier D&D Minatures Models)
17. Jon Stewart (He also sneaks sutile D&D jokes into his show that only us D&D nerds get to laugh at.)
18. Jim Breuer
19. Brian Warner AKA Marilyn Manson
20. John Carmack and a good portion of the original id Software crew (Some of the characters and story elements in Quake were based off of D&D session iirc)
21. Sebastian Bengtsson
22. Joakim Bengtsson
23. Robert P. Olsson
24. Björn-Erik Karlsson
25. Daniel Antonsson
26. Tommy Karlsson
27. Kevin Smith
28. Eddie Izzard
29. Johnny Vaughn
30. Michael Greco
31. Dave Gorman
32. Charles Manson (He actually ran a game in prision! That is to say until California banned the running of Tabletop RPGs in prison.(This might actually be just a rumor but I don't mind))
33. Scott Edgar (Found the actual quotes! "I also play Dungeons and Dragons with my mates, which everyone reckons is tragic, but I reckon is heaps of fun.")
34. Jon Favreau (Another one with a quote! "I'm a very lazy person by nature. I have to be really engaged, and then I go straight from lazy to obsessive. I couldn't study chemistry, but I could memorize all the books for Dungeons and Dragons. It was ridiculous.")
35. Curt Schilling from, I think, the Red Sox or at least use to be.
36. Todd Pratt from, I think, the Braves or at least use to be.
37. Jimmy Wales (One of the starters of Wikipedia)
38. Jacques Villeneuve (Use to drive race cars. Ironicly he prefers to play Monks in D&D which move faster then all other characters)
39. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer and, it is rumored at least, the rest of the band.
40. Everyone in Marcy's Playground (They even wrote a song called "A Cloak of Elvenkind" Which is a Major Magical Item in Dungeons and Dragons)
41. Everyone in Flashlight Brown (They even wrote a song called "Ready to Roll" which references 20-Sided Dice and A LOT of other D&D related things)
42. Gary Gygax (He was famous enough to play a character on Futurama(himself) so I put him on the list)
43. Seth Greene (Even made a Robot Chicken episode that refenerced THAC0 which was part of the Advance DND (or 2nd Edition) rule set)
44. Trey Parker
45. Matt Stone
46. Patton Oswalt (even talked the Reno 911 guys into doing a DnD part on the show. It was very funny)
47. Stephen King (And certain things from dnd are referenced in The Dark Tower series)
48. Steve Rune Lundin AKA Steven Erikson
49. Joss Whedon (Director of Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
50. Jack Black (He also references DND in the song "Wonderboy")
The following people stole DnD stuff from the teen choice awards. I included pictures when I could find them:
51. Ryan Cabrera
52. Nick Cannon
53. Jon Heder
54. Jesse McCartney (http://i5.tinypic.com/477z19v.jpg)
55. David Boreanaz
56. Lauren Graham (http://i4.tinypic.com/2uhq1dk.jpg)
57. Hulk Hogan (http://i7.tinypic.com/2mzlevt.jpg)
58. Metallica (At least they played Call of Cthulhu and Dungeon and Dragons before Hetfield went into rehab)
59. Conan O'Brian (Use to play at least. He has mentioned it on his show)
60. Darby Conley (though he is C-List at best)
61. Andrew W.K.
62. The band Amon Amarth (Can I get a Wha wha from all my metalheads?)
63. My Chemical Romance (They played with Thrice during the Vans Warp Tour. My Chemical Romance's lead singer Gerard Way plays a Half-Elf Ranger)
64. Thrice (Played with My Chemical Romance during the Vans Warp Tour.)
65. Alice Cooper Played D&D (And even replayed the events of a game on an episode of That 70's Show)
66. Some/All of Barenaked Ladies
67. Raymond E Feist (He Actually uses a self created world in his books that was originally created for his Dungeons and Dragons game back home)
68. Kari Byron (Played DnD and has thought about getting Adam and Jaime to play with her.)
69. Brian Posehn
70. Jason Mewes (Though when asked about it he says "DND IS FOR FAGGOTS" then turns to Kevin Smith and starts laughing)
71. Robert Jordan (And his sons which he taught how to play)
72. Weird Al Yankovic
73. Mastodon's Drum Brann Dailor
74. Neil Fallon and MAYBE the other members of Clutch (They even wrote an unreleased song called 24 Earth Years which mentioned playing AD&D back in the day)
75. David X. Cohen (In David's piece in the 30 year D&D hardback book, he says he never had time to play during Futurama, but most the writers did, and they kept D&D books in the office as "referrence" material.(He did get to play while working on The Simpsons though))
76. Alexis Cruz (He also LARPs. HAHAHA Nerd)
77. David Cross (He also mentions a group of comedians he plays with but wouldnt name them.)
78. Billy Crystal (He also plays 40K With Robin Williams)
79. R.A. Salvatore (Though I guess he would have too)
80. Some of the members of Dragonforce (And DND themes have worked their way into Dragonforce songs over and over)
81. David Duchovney (actually mentioned it on Conan O'Brien not too long ago)
82. The band Dayglo Abortions (Even wrote a song about it called Dragons)
83. Donald Faison (He plays Monks)
84. Insane Clown Posse
85. Emilio Estévez

Monday, March 8, 2010

I woke up a couple days ago. Things were different. Maybe better.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Oui, j'ai le grand poulet de un cheval.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Storyteller.

I write songs. Frequently in fact. Many of them are actually good - quite good to be honest. But you see, the problem is that I do not actually write them. The most common place I put these songs together is in the shower. Typically they start as a sort of stream-of-consciousness bit of nonsense thought I engage in while waking up, but eventually a thought here or a line there will stick out and I'll spend the rest of the shower refining, polishing, and eventually singing that little piece into a full song (or at least the majority of one). It's a fun mindless activity that helps me keep my mind stimulated and off of the various other pressures and disappointments that could otherwise occupy my thoughts. Unfortunately though, I almost never actually write the lyrics down or otherwise record them, so an hour or two later I find myself humming an otherwise unfamiliar tune with only broken fragments in place where lyrics once fit. Yesterday morning I wrote a song in the shower that wasn't just good, it was utterly epic. I had the lyrics, the vocal arrangement, even the vast majority of the instrumentation down perfectly... but as I write this today, all that remains is a couple of lines (and only estimations of what they once were) and the general melody of the chorus. It's very, very frustrating.

....maybe if I can ever learn to stand the sound of my own voice, I'll pick up one of those portable voice recorders to remedy the situation.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Culinary Discovery

So inspired by Alton Brown and his some-what scary weight loss, I decided to try some canned sardines. Turns out, sardines are pretty damn tasty. They're basically like really good canned tuna. Boring post, I know. But still.

Friday, January 1, 2010