Microsoft is racist.

Why are there no black emoticons on msn messenger?

Awaiting the hour of reprisal

F yeah! It's Friday afternoon and I'm done with all of my classes for the week and I can relax now... Oh that's right, I've got a test in every one of my classes (even my Bio Lab) with the exception of College writing (but I've got two papers in that class nextweek) next week. What ev'. That's life.

Some reason to celebrate...
MPR along with the Walker Art Center are putting on "Rock the Garden" on June 21st featuring Andrew Bird, The New Pornographers, Cloud Cult, and Bon Iver. It's only 35 bucks (I'm not a member of NPR (Yet)which would have taken 5 bucks of)and hell, I love Andrew Bird and am excited to check out the other bands.

Guess who else is coming to Minnesota. Trent Fuckin Reznor, that's who! NIN is coming to the target center on my birthday, August 2nd, and I'm willing to dish out a pretty healthy amout of money to see them. If it's anything like the Beside You in Time DVD It'll be fuckin' nuts and I'll probably have my mind blown, but that's okay. I'm ready

One last reason to celebrate... Caption Contest! 20 more Stiche Dollars at stake this time. Make me proud.


EDIT: So yeah I just found out today that As I Lay Dying is coming to Fargo May 6th (4 days after my last final) and was wondering if anybody would be down to go with me if they're done with their school year.

Sorry Cameron

Aspire pt. 4

Alright, no more Mr. nice Stiche. It's about damn time I start adding Aspire photos other than myself and for the rest of the week (at least two more times) I'm going to be doing photos of people other than myself. Deal wif it.




Caption Contest with 20 Stiche dollars at stake this time.

ps. sorry Tom.

Don't Believe What You Read

The line between being uterly relaxed and being bored as fuck is often times an unclear one. Since returning home for Easter break, I've managed to watch the entire Die Hard series as well as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. There is little doubt in my mind that I am more relaxed now that I have been since Christmas break, but last night something strange happened. I got bored. It might have been that I was watching Die Hard 2: Die Harder (in my opinion the worst of the films) or that I just wasn't digging it, tough saying. So With that said, I'll do a quick roundup of stuff I've found while messing around these past few days...

Speaking of Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg is set to play Montgomery Scott or "Scotty" in the new Star Trek adaptation Directed by J.J. Abrams. I've never been a Star Trek guy, but Simon Pegg is pretty much the best thing to come out of England since Nick Frost. Who knows, I might see this.

Max Cavalera has a new album coming out and I'm excited as hell. Max Cavalera was the lead guitarist and singer to the 80's Thrash metal band "Sepultura" who along with Metallica and Megadeth, created Thrash. Just to give you an idea of how badass this guy is, he removes the bottom two strings from his guitar (the thin guys) because he has no use for them in his riffs. That's fuckin' badass if you ask me. As far as hard rock goes in my personal experiences, all of the hard rock I listen to comes from Thrash in one form or another. That said I've been a huge fan of Max Cavalera's first band Sepultura as well as his second major band Soulfly. Well, last night I was watching something that I probably shouldn't have been considering it's Easter weekend; headbanger's ball. In between videos there was an interview being conducted with Cavalera and he was premoting his new band "Cavalera Conspiracy" which puts him back together with his brother Igor Cavalera who was the origional drummer to Sepultura. Their first album "Inflikted" comes out Tuesday and there is no way in hell I'm not going to get it. Fuck yeah.

I found this video the other day and I'm not sure if I like it for the right reasons or for the wrong ones. It's fun to see just when the little guy realizes that something isn't quite right, just check out it's legs.


One last thing while I'm at it...

How The Hell Did That Happen?

Conc college decided to give us Thursday, Friday, and Monday off as part of Easter break and I thought to myself "F-Yeah", but it's Thursday night and I'm already bored as hell. I wish I could say that I had something to do but that's just not the case. I've got about 20 minutes of Spanish homework and I don't want to blow that all away just yet. So, I've been spending the night reflecting on just how much time I've wasted in my life and it's starting to add up. Could be worse though...

I still remember the first time I found out about Line Rider. It was at Dirk Krog's house at around 3:30 in the morning and I'm pretty sure he was wearing just a blanket. Good times.


I just picked up "Alive 2007" by Daft Punk earlier today and it's a thoroughly enjoyable album. I had no idea that live electronica could be so good but then again it's two crazy ass Parisians dressed up in robot suits. The album throws two songs together at a time and I love it. I'd say that if anybody likes Daft Punk even a little bit or if they want an album to huff to, this would be a nice pick.

Oh, Metal Gear Solid IV is coming out in June. I'm excited for that to come out in ways that this post can't even begin to show.

The Avenue Ass Blaster

Stich pooped on the side walk on st. paddys day.

Divine Intervention

Well, The quarter finals are done for the battle of the bands. It's had it's highs and lows, but for better or for worse, it was Stiche-esq. That's not to say that nothing else has happened in that time and I'll give a quick recap of some of my experiences since I began the contest of death.



If anyone would like to take any of the semi-finals ( I don't know how much more I can pull out of my ass) please let me know in the comment of this post if you want to take it and trust me there is no standard or status-quo that has to be met. Just do whatever you feel is deserving of the battle and it'll make it on the blog.

Tuesday afternoon while studying my ass off for a bunch of test that I had been for about a week, I saw something that was quite remarkable. I usually do most of my studying in an annex above our dining center and on this particular occasion I saw something I though I never would in my life. Some dude (I have no idea who he is and I had never seen him so I'll give him the name of Renaldo) named Renaldo was sitting about halfway up a flight of stairs using a Rubik's cube. I use the term "use" in a very loose sense. It was more like he was slapping this Rubik's cube around the bathroom of a 12 dollar a night motel two blocks off of the main drag in town. I watched Renaldo for no more than 3 minutes and in that 3 minutes he managed to solve the Rubik's cube 4 times. In order to make sure that it wasn't just Renaldo doing some major cheating he had one of his buddies re-set the cube after every completion. It was sweet.

I found out that three of my favorite bands (The Offspring, Muse, and Metallica (Come on, you can't say that you're not still excited for every release they make)) are all releasing albums this summer so I'm pumped for all of them. Word on the street (from Mathew Bellamy) the new album is dancier so whatev' I'll take it.

I'm not sure if this is old news or new news, but Chris Singleton joined the bandwagon and released his album for free online. I had never heard of Chris Singleton before he made news that he released an album for free. Ever since Radiohead did this, there have been a lot of followers. I know that right now it's not much more than just the fad and a publicity stunt to get some free press and as far as I'm concerned it's alright.

Up until Chris Singleton, I saw this as a lame ass attempt to get some free press and I saw nothing worthy in this method. I've changed my mind. I had never heard of Chris Singleton until he made news with his free album. With this free press, I had the itch to get some free music just to check it out( I forgot how hard it is to not pirate music (1 month sober for pirating)). Since I've heard his album Twisted City , I've managed to really dig his music. It's relaxed music from an Irishman and for the most part I really don't like this style of music. This album changed my view on pop-rock (it kills me to use it, but that's what it is) and this album manages to grow on me. I recommend anybody to check this album out for free at this link. After I got the album for free and liked it so much, I gave them 10 bucks in their donation jar. It was the first time I paid for a free album ( I didn't pay jack shit for In Rainbows).

Jeff Buckley's rendition of "Hallelujah" managed to hit number one on the digital downloads charts. This is the first time that Jeff Buckley (R.I.P.) has managed to hit number one on any chart and I guess better late than never. In my opinion, this track is his Magnum Opus and it's fitting that this is his first number one even though it would have been better if it was sooner.

Oh, and as a side note I'm pretty sure that Jesus (pronounced Hey Zuse) loves me, because last night I was at the best party I've been to in months and all of the sudden the popo came. Thing was that I had a feeling. 20 minutes before this point in time I had a gut feeling that I had to get the fuck out of this amazing party and I listened to my intuition for once (as opposed to all the times it's been "Quit drinking, you're killing me) (me as in my body/liver/brain/filtering systems). I decieded to walk back to the dorm and about 20 minutes later I got a call from a drunken, distressed Cobber talking about how the cops were at the house and he didn't want a minor.

This was a defining moment in my life because it was the first time I actually listened to my intuitoin (and actually had intuition). I'll thank Jesus ( I say again Hey Zuse) for not letting me get a minor. Nuff' Said.

Funny thing about this post is that it is a sober post. How 'bout that?

Stiche dollars go to the first person to let me know how many "()" I used in this post.

Quads. Part 4 of 4

Round 1

As I Lay Dying vs. Black Label Society



All five members of As I Lay Dying show up to the Battle of the Bands arena (the vacant lot behind Super America) about 10 minutes early by mistake because traffic was lighter than expected. The Christian metal-core group, though heavily tattooed, are viewed as an underdog due to their Christian roots and their love thy brother mentality, but they appear to be ready for the job at hand. After waiting around for just over an hour, Zakk Wylde shows up by himself with his signature guitar INSERT GUITAR and half empty bottle of Johnny Walker Black label in hand. He’s clearly shit tanked. From his stammering, we’re able to deduce that he is being followed by “the feds” and he’s gotta’ wrap this up quick. When asked where his band is he keeps repeating “fuckin’ feds, man”.



Just as the rules are agreed upon the members of As I Lay Dying decide to put in a quick prayer for good luck and safety. Zakk must have mistaken their prayers for fighting words and in a drunken rage he breaks the bottle of Johnny Walker on the second member of AILD’s face he connects with. In the confusion that followed Zakk took a thrown rock about the size of at large grapefruit to the small of his back which appeared to only sober him up enough to remember he was fighting for keeps. He soon walked over to the three remaining members of AILD and with a small shiv fashioned from what was left of Ozzy’s credibility went into slice and dice mode. As the singer of As I Lay Dying was lying on the ground dying from 14 stab wounds, Zakk rose victorious and staggered back to the taxi that had brought him.

We still haven’t heard from the rest of BLS...

WINNER - Black Label Society

Round 1

Psychostick vs. Nuclear Balloon Arrows


This truly is a fight of the unknowns in more ways than one. Psychostick, bamf’s from Phoenix are known for their original mix of comedy and metal-core (and even released a Christmas album) in a way that the earth has never seen before. They may make you laugh with their lyrics, but from what they’ve been saying on message boards they’re ready to make NBA never laugh again. This is not to say that Nuclear balloon Arrows are something to be messed around with though. If there is one thing that the Brainerd lakes area is known for other than meth and 3 dollar prostitutes, it’s their avant-garde comedy album scene which has been fronted by NBA for years now. Though multiple lineup changes have taken place due to a loss of interest, too much schoolwork, and becoming babies daddies, NBA has been helmed by the one two dynamic duo of Max Kuehn and Kurt Hukriede. The location for today’s fight is the middle of the Atacama Desert.

True to their word, the entire band of Psychostick (all 5 of them) show up tanked to the battlefield of sand and well,… more sand. They seem to be living out their songs “Beer” and “The Jagermeister Love Song” and they when I say tanked, I’m being generous. At best, each member will make it about 3 or 4 steps before falling over. Yeah, that bad. However, NBA show up 10 minutes late to the festival of doom which happens to be just enough time to sober everyone up. Because it has never rained in the Atacama desert, Psychostick’s constant falling down allowed the sand to absorb all of the Alcohol in their bloodstream (Science dude, trust me). Only Max and Kurt show up to this rumble and they seem to be just fine with that. Just as the fight begins Max starts throwing around diss’ and spitting hot fire in a way that only the Globetrotters have been able to master. From this constant and painful reticule, The singer of Psychostick, Rawrb, loses his will to live and runs neck first into a machete that Kurt had somehow anticipated he would need (teamwork I’m guessing) and was at the time holding out. Needless to say, the other members of Psychostick are freaked out. Instead of running away, the members of Psychostick decide to bring the heat. Joshua "The J" Key and Alex "Shmalex" Preiss pull out ball peen hammers while the two remaining members, Jimmy Grant and Jake whip out bandanas soaked in chloroform. Joshua and Alex start winding up for a crushing blow in Kurt when out of the darkness (I forgot to say this takes place at midnight), Josh Johnson, riding a glorious white horse comes outta the abyss and promptly crushes those two bitches to death under a ton of horse hoof. I would like to say that they died quickly but I don’t want to lie to you guys. It was horrible, they were conscious the whole time and all you could hear was a sound that resembled when angels cry. Seeing this, Jimmy Grant decides that he is alright being a coward and decides to book it into the distance, but Kurt sees what’s coming and throws the machete boomerang style slicing him in two (it’s a big machete) and on the rebound catching him one more time just for the fuck of it. Cold blooded. Jake, the last member of Psychostick to breath air on god’s earth decides to make his death painless and starts a huffin’ on that chloroform rag and within seconds he’s out. The English language cannot describe the death he suffered, but I’m sure if I learned how to speak Klingon, I could, but I’m not going to.

WINNER – Nuclear Balloon Arrows

Puff Puff Sprint

No Questions, just click it

Quads. Part 3 of 4

Round 1
Bob Dylan vs. Nine Inch Nails




Two men, each kings of their genres (folk and industrial rock) are ready for fight for their lives today. Bob Dylan, who’s raspy voiced songs has been anthems for generations of people, has seen it all and done it all… everything except kill a man for sport. The bloodlust is shared by Trent Reznor who is the only permanent member, and until recently, only writer for the band Nine Inch Nails. Even though both musicians are often accompanied by backing members either in the studio or on concert, this will be a good old fashioned one on one fight. The location for today’s fight is a quiet library on a Sunday afternoon.

Bob Dylan shows up an hour and a half early because he managed to make really good time on the highway by managing to avoid most of the traffic using a Tom Tom. As he is waiting, he takes out an old acoustic guitar and plays some of his better known songs in the corner of the library and within minutes a crowd of about 30 have gathered and listen to the music being played. Reznor arrives right on time and without an entourage, enters through the side door. The two musicians meet and shake hands while words of luck and praise are passed to one another. A bell tower rings in the distance… its killing time. Bob makes the first move as he darts in with an old bat used by one of his roadies for “hippie crushing” and instead of landing a hit on his intended target, Reznor’s face, he connects with his shoulder. Normally such a blow wouldn’t do too much, but because it is a hippie crusher Trent falls to his knees in agony. Reznor has been singing sad, sad songs that are angst filled for years which allows him to simply regain his composure and rises to his feet. Trent grabs an encyclopedia on Film and television from the reference area and sends it flying across the library smoking Bob in the stomach. From the looks of Bob’s face, it friggin’ hurts like hell as the words of Pulp Fiction and Arrested Development crush his duodenum and part of his pancreas. However, this 66 year old isn’t going out with a whimper and with a look of intimidation that would make most men soil themselves he promptly grabs the encyclopedia and eats it. Yep, he eats it. Reznor is dumbfounded and deservingly so. “Did he just eat a fucking book?” is heard from beside a periodical shelf by an onlooker. Trent in a panicked horror reaches into his back pocket and pulls out an old rusty razorblade (zing!) and starts making defensive slashes thought the air in an attempt to stave off Dylan, who Popeye style, got jacked all of the sudden. Dylan grabs the blade out of the air in mid-swing and with a zeal only known to someone who can play the harmonica and guitar at the same time slices Trent in 17 different places.
WINNER – Bob Dylan

Round 1
Radiohead vs. Silversun Pickups



Silversun Pickups are a four-piece indie rock band from the city of Los Angeles. They are most defiantly a band on the rise and their success in the music business is just coming to fruition. Their success in the act of murder however, has yet to be seen but from the looks of them, they look quite confident. None of them are known so much for being especially badass or willing to fashion a shiv out of a keyboard and some fishing line, but that’s beside the point. Silversun Pickups are here to surprise the killing community and they don’t plan on going home losers (which brings up the question, will their bodies make it home if they lose, or will they be taken by onlookers and sold on eBay… time will tell). Radiohead, need no introduction. The location for today’s brawl is in Alaska, on the abandoned government base Shadow Moses.

The fighters enter the ruins of the compound with one thing on all their minds… blood. Luckily, the conditions are quite nice today and the possibilities of hypothermia or frost bite are slim. That said, there is little chance that that is the biggest worry on anybody’s mind today. As the bands line up in the middle to shake hands, Radiohead, being the Englishmen that they are, psych out their opponents and pull out from their pockets freshly deep-fried fish and chips and throw it into the members of SSPU’s eyes. Momentary blindness overtakes the members of SSPU and in the short time span needed to remove fish residue from their face Radiohead have already put their second phase into motion. In 20 seconds time Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke managed to assemble part of the wreckage of Metal Gear Rex’s rail gun which is turned on vocalist Brian Aubert and Bassist Nikki Monninger. All that’s left after the fired shot is a little bit of wasted potential which is promptly scraped from the shoes of Ed O’Brien and Colin Greenwood as they advance on the other members of SSPU. Instead of facing the god-awful death that would have came at the hands of Radiohead, remaining members Joe Lester and Christopher Guanlao decide to take their own lives by jumping into the icy water of the Pacific.

The cold doesn’t take them nearly as fast as they were planning and by that time the rest of Metal Gear Rex had been reassembled and they are promptly wiped form the face of the earth. Fin.

WINNER - Radiohead

A New Beginning

275 (including playoffs)
74
75

This weekend I like to think that I grew up a little bit.
The streak is done.

I've got a bunch of tests coming up this next week along with a few papers so I took a step back and thought if I really had to party. I started out the weekend by instead of pre-gaming, studying. No joke. I studied my ass off Friday night.
Woke up on Saturday and did it all over again with the exception of an hour long Call of Duty 4 break and naps (12 ish). Saturday night came along and nothing happened. I've had some great times along my odyssey of Beam and Stones and I wouldn't trade them for the world, but it's done.

Whatev, at least I beat Ken Jennings.



p.s. PSYCH!!!!

Quads. Part 2 of 4

Round 1
Queens of the Stone Age vs. The Offspring




Two bands hailing from California are ready to brawl tonight. Queens of the Stone Age, led by Josh Homme, are the kings of the desert with their music being influenced quite heavily by drugs and to a lesser degree, a love of music are ready to throw some shit down. On the flipside The Offspring, who are known for their pop-punk prowess and infections singles, come from Huntington beach and though aging, appear to be in decent shape considering they’ve been touring nonstop for the past 18 years. The location of tonight’s fight is a methadone clinic in the south side of Philly.

As the bell ring for the battle to begin, it is quite clear that Homme and company are battling a wicked hangover from a night of partying that would make any 12 step program cry. That fact seems to be regardless as Homme takes the first swing to get the fighting started and lands a solid blow on guitarist Noodles (that’s his name). As the oldest member of the Offspring, time has clearly had it’s way with his now frail body and the act of a haymaker essentially knocks him the fuck out. As the other members of the Offspring see his unconscious body hit the ground, they quickly grab a handful of centrum silver and swallow the bastards in a hasty effort to avoid any broken bones. As they’re doing this the bassist from each band Greg K. from the Offspring and Michael Shuman from QOTSA grab some of the heroin addicts needles as they enter the clinic and start knife fighting with dirty, dirty junkie needles. It’s a sight for the ages. As this is happening the members of QOTSA aren’t having any of this and quickly pounce on the opportunity, by blocking all of the sources of water, which in effect leaves the Offspring with a throat full of bad tasting pills. After 3 minutes of needle fights and the coverings of the centrum silver dissolving, the Offspring are clearly in trouble. Bassist Greg K. has received multiple dirty stabs to the abdomen and his arms contracting a slurry of diseases, most not known to man. New drummer Pete Parada is starting to overdose and suffocate from all the vitamins lodged in his throat and he promptly passes out turning a shade of blue reminiscent of internet links INSERT LINK. Offspring singer Dexter Holland won’t go down without a fight and comes out swinging. The lifetime of touring, partying, and power cords end up being his ultimate downfall. As he is taking his final swing at Homme, his heart explodes from exhaustion and the fight ends in a whimper. The junkies make quick work of all of their shoes and wallets as is the way of nature and the way of life.

WINNER - Queens of the Stone Age


Round 1
The Killers vs. Muse



The question for this fight is who will win; A band that had strong British influences early in their career, or A band that is strait outta’ the U.K.? Muse isn’t too worried about being down one man, because they don’t give a shit. As for The Killers, they believe that their experiences in and around the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas is all they need to come out on top. One thing is for sure… There will be a winner of the synth’s one by the end of this contest. The location for this fight chosen is Red Square as it is neutral ground. Plus it’s pretty friggin’ epic having a fight next to the Kremlin.

Right before the fight begins, a few words are exchanged between the drummers about their mothers which acts as the sounding bell for doom. Dave Keuning, The guitarist of the Killers, and Dominic Howard, drummer for Muse, start the scuffle with a combination of drum stick gouging and attempted strangulation. Across the square a child cries. Due to Matthew Bellamy’s years of playing piano, he has developed dexterity far beyond anyone else at the fight and he implements that into some sick ass knife tricks. While one member of the Killers, Bassist Mark Stoermer, is busy watching the knife he doesn’t notice the knife somehow made it into his neck and he takes a swan dive onto the streets of red square. Now that red square is a little redder. By now the fight has gone on for roughly a half hour and both bands are quite tired (or in the case of Stroermer, dead) so they decide to take a five minute break to “catch their breaths”. As they’re all waiting around for something to happen Bellamy rigged up a small grenade from a stack of index cards, an apple, and a drop of child’s tear. By the time the members of The Killers realize what’s going on, it’s too late. To be honest, there was nothing left of them other than their memory after the street sweepers finished their work.


WINNER - Muse

Storytellers for the Ages

Man, if you guys don't already listen to National Public Radio, you need to start.


Minnesota native Garrison Keillor has a ridiculous gift for the monologue, and there's not a lot that makes me smile more than his stories on "A Prairie Home Companion."


Ira Glass likewise brightens my day with delightfully informative non-fiction and insightful fiction pieces compiled in "This American Life."

I don't usually have a radio available to me to listen to the programs I really like; fortunately, however, these two programs, as well as numerous others including "Car Talk," are available as podcasts (well, "The News From Lake Wobegon" segment from "A Prairie Home Companion" is available).Whatever political persuasions you hold dear, everyone should get some enjoyment (and dare I say balanced news stories) from NPR.

And if public radio's reputation is just too goddamn "Democratic" for your ass: fuck y'all.

Quads. Part 1 of 4

Round 1
Lamb of God vs. Rage Against the Machine


Without much fanfare Lamb of God arrive from their plane ride from Virginia just before Rage Against the Machine from the opposite direction on this lonely stretch of highway somewhere in Iowa. The odds are in and they are at a dead heat; Rage is known for their extremely energetic live shows and activism, whereas LoG is known for instigating the “Wall of Death” at their concerts quite often. The Wall of death is essentially when two groups of people run at each other at a dead ass sprint kinda like Braveheart but without any swords and people get f'd up. Anyways, Rage is followed by their large group of fans that much to the disdain of Zach de la Rocha, are carrying large signs with phrases like “Don’t be calm like a bomb” and “Rollin down Rodeo with a shotgun”. They're excited.

With the large influx of people (about 45) the police are alerted to the throw down and show up in full force. They immediately fire several rounds of teargas into the arena which manages to disperse most of the crowd right away. As the members of Rage gather for another round of fighting they find that the members of LoG are laying motionless on the ground. After a quick check of their vital signs, it is determined that they are all dead. After a quick check on Wikipedia on someones blackberry, it is discovered that they all happened to be deathly allergic to teargas. Weak…


WINNER - Rage Against the Machine.




Round 1
Andrew Bird vs. Death From Above 1979



This battle was quite hard to facilitate to be honest. Death From Above 1979 have been broken up for about two years and they haven’t been on the best of terms since that time. Thankfully Canada is a big country without very many people so they’ve been able to avoid each other until this moment in time (power trip for me). As it is a two on one fight, the members of DFA1979, Jesse F. Keller and Sebastian Grainger, agree to fight with one leg tied to each other in the style of a three legged race. The location of the fight today is on a drifting glacier in the mid Atlantic because, hey, why not.

Just as the fight begins, Andrew Bird makes a quick lunge to the shoulder of Keller in an attempt to knock him off balance and onto the ice. Didn’t work. Grainger grabs the hair of the stunned Bird and throws him to the ground with a deafening thud. Trust me, it was deafening. As Andrew is shaking out the cobwebs the duo from Canada start to advance on the downed singer-songwriter in an attempt to end the match as quickly as possible, but their lack of communication is becoming apparent. They can’t seem to find any rhythm while trying to walk over due to their legs being tied together and this quickly escalatdes to name calling and then shoving. All hell breaks loose and they completely forget that they are even fighting another human being and begin beating the piss out of each other. I mean bad. Soon they both decide that the other persons neck looked a little lonely so each went for a death-grab of each others throats. After a minute and a half of this they both pass out from lack of oxygen and Andrew Bird gingerly slides their passed out bodies into the water.


WINNER - Andrew Bird.

Scythian Empire

I personally enjoy bandwagons. Sports teams (patriots), drinks (Caribou Lou), and now selling music for dirt cheap or free on the internet are all of the bandwagons that have been popular in recent months. I enjoyed the Patriot bandwagon because I finally saw them crushed in the Superbowl, Caribou Lou because in recent months Josh bought a shit ton of 151, and cheap or free albums because I don't dig piracy anymore.

When I was checking out the music news on Sputnik (it's a great music site, check it out) this morning I saw some great news. Nine Inch Nails decided to not really tell anybody until yesterday that they wanted to release a whole new double album, called "Ghosts" on the internet until April when a physical copy comes around. It's a double album containing 36 tracks that are all instrumental. Some of my favorite tracks on past NIN albums have been his instrumentals so needless to say I was stoked as hell.

He even put on the first quarter of the album for free online for people to check out. From there, I was able to order the entire album for the low low price of only $5 bucks. F to the Yeah. They also offered a physical copy for 10 bucks, a deluxe edition for $75 bucks, and a Ultra-Deluxe edition for $300. I'm sticking with the five dollar purchase, because the Ultra-Deluxe would take just under half of my bank account and bury its face in a puddle of milk

Just a heads up though, the server at nin.com is swamped all to hell and I wouldn't recommend downloading it there until a few days pass because it's slow as hell. They're selling it on Amazon.com for the same cheap ass price and The Pirate Bay is hosting the free section on their website (I guess Trent agreed to that, but I'd imagine the rest of it is on there by now).

If anyone would like to contribute to the Battle of The Bands, just let me know and you can do whatever you like in the second round. I'll post the first round in a couple of instalments and if you feel you're up to it, get in on the fightin' writin'

Battle Royale

Who loves Battle of the Bands? I sure do. There is nothing like seeing a group of people who may be tone deaf or who can barely play the bass give it hell and try their best to make some money or get some recording time at a studio. As with all Battle of the Bands there are those who don’t know their shit and crash and burn in front of a crowd of 75, but there is also always the people who actually can sing or have progressed past power cords.

As much as I love them, there is something that I’ve never truly been able to come to terms with: the name. When I first heard of a Battle of the Bands when I was a small boy, I had visions of musicians wildly throwing their guitars through the air or singers running the other band’s roadies down with a tour bus. Now that it is March, I think I can finally live out this fantasy of mine.

March Madness is right around the corner so brackets are everywhere and I’m creating a 16 band tournament of single elimination (more than likely by death, kinda like celebrity death match but with less detail) from four genres including; Alternative, Metal, Under the Radar, and Wild Cards. I’m going to try to finish all of this by the end of March, but we’ll see where motivation takes me.

The bands...

ALTERNATIVE -
The Killers
Muse
Radiohead
Silversun pickups

METAL -
As I Lay Dying
Black Label Society
Lamb of God
Rage Against the Machine

UNDER THE RADAR -
Andrew Bird
Death From Above 1979
Nuclear Balloon Arrows
Psychostick

WILD CARD -
Bob Dylan
Nine Inch Nails
The Offspring
Queens of the Stone Age


I’ve set them up in alphabetical order to be fair, but other than that they’re all at my mercy (fuck yeah, power trip). I haven’t decided who will win yet for any of the fights so I’ll try to keep everything in check.

Feel free to pick the winners of at least the championship round and who knows, you might win some Stiche Dollars.

Dr. Girlfriend

Spring break has come to an end for me and yet again I'm reminded of just how much I love sleeping. My average wake up time was probably around 11:30 in the morning which I can definitely live with.

Highlights:

Seeing No Country For Old Men for a second time. I was really able to just take in how beautiful the film actually is.

Going to Nick Anderson's house and see it nearly torn to shreds. Karma

I managed to pick up some really good albums with 50 bucks of late Christmas money from Iowa. Muse's "Origin of Symmetry" is a gem of an album. I had already picked up Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations which I love, so when I got Origin of Symmetry I knew I was in for a treat. I also bought Queens of The Stone Age's "Rated R" and I was really impressed with it. The opening track "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" sets up the album for greatness but after the first half the album kinda drags on. Oh well, It finally rounded out my QOTSA collection so it was worth it. Check out the video for Feel Good Hit of the Summer, it's pretty damn awesome and low-budget.



Another good thing about this past week is I've been able to re-discover classics like The Venture Bros. and Harvey Birdman. God I missed them so.


I think this comic is how I want my funeral to go. That or just pack it full of strippers.


While I'm at it I'll throw this photo on too. Don't remember where or when I found this picture, but it's funny to me.


Man I need structure back in my life