Closer

I do believe that I must be coming down with something because, for some inexplicable reason, on Friday night I willingly watched a Julia Roberts movie.  On top of that, I actually enjoyed it… a good amount… and thought Roberts did a great job with her part.  Yes, I now know what it must be like to be crazy.  And in this state of insanity, I thought very heavily about this movie, Closer, and realized that it very accurately portrays three distinct and different chapters of relationships as they are in our current society.

It used to be, back in the days of Saved by the Bell, after school specials, and romantic comedies that people would date, encounter some problems, work them out, and then everything would be wonderful.  Our characters would live happily ever after completely dismissing everything that had previously happened.  I always thought, and I suppose still do to some degree, that relationships would always work that way.

As I grew up I saw relationships that my friends were in get… complicated, much more complicated than the glorified Hollywood romantic comedies made relationships seem.  Then I saw relationships fail.  I saw the hurt, the misery, the prolonged love, the longing, and all of the other complex emotions that came with the fallout of a failed relationship.

Even later, I saw some failed relationships work themselves out and come back together, each with their own unique results.  Some ended up more messed up than before while others became idealistically sound.  It was never a guarantee that things would work out, and that’s assuming the people in the broken relationship ever gave it a second chance.  Most of the time the people involved would often just let their hate, hurt, and misery build up, forever putting a wall between two people that had previously loved one another.

So how does Closer fit into this?  It just so happens to bring to light the darker, more realistic side of today’s relationships.  No longer is the dating world as simple as it used to be (or that I imagine it was).  Fidelity is no longer a rule, but more of a suggestion.  Love isn’t forever, but is something very fleeting that must be held on to with everything you have lest you lose it.  Then again, falling back in love seems just as easy as falling out.  Relationships have become cold.

Now I’m not saying that I subscribe to the concepts I have brought up, but I do realize that what I believe is really quite far from how things actually happen.  I try to believe in the perfect relationship, in love that will last forever, and in fidelity above everything else, but the older I get the harder it is to keep hope alive.  It’s not gone, don’t worry, but sometimes it’s overshadowed by the moral decay on display in today’s current dating scene.

Just like I used to think that being an adult would be so easy, I also thought relationships would just magically work.  Thing is, as I grew up I found out life wasn’t easy, and the more I’ve dealt with relationships the more I’ve realized they are more complicated than I could have ever expected.  The many layers of psychology that go into every interaction you have with someone can drive someone nuts if they try to examine all of them, which I sometimes find myself doing, but only because I crave knowledge and I also don’t want to get hurt.

Throughout Closer’s runtime, you can see the layers of complexity building up around each of the characters and their respective relationships with those in their lives. There were parts of the movie that were hard to watch, not for the usual reasons such as blood, guts, strong sexual content, or grotesque language, but because of the emotional outpouring of some of the characters—the heartbreak, heartache, and evil things that can be done in the name of love or revenge.

Closer gives you a look at the darker side of today’s relationships and, in my opinion, the realistic side of today’s dating environment.  Cheating, lying, jealousy, revenge, power plays, distrust, and secrecy—so much of what makes up today’s relationships, and so much of why I’m always afraid of being hurt.  It’s a crazy dating world out there, so if you find something wonderful, go with it.  Chances are you might never find something as good ever again.  Conversely, when you are hurt be careful not to get hurt again, but don’t be too cautious that you can never give anyone a chance.  It’s a precarious balance that is often hard to find, but one that is essential to finding relationship happiness.

Buy My Comics!

I've been going through my massive comic book collection in some of my spare time and I've decided that over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be offloading a bunch of them onto ebay for everyone out in cyberspace to bid on and buy. I figured that a lot of these I'll never read. Some I don't know why I bought in the first place. Others I read and just have no real reason to hold onto them. Any way you look at it, though, I am going to be listing a bunch of comic auctions over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking my ebay profile to see what I have up. Currently I have a bunch of 90's Marvel comic listings up. They may not be the most valuable comics in the world, but some of them were decent reads. Anyways, just thought I'd pimp my auctions here for those of you who might be interested.

My auctions!

Can You Hear Me?

I was rummaging around through some old documents on one of my thumb drives and I came across some old poetry. A lot of it was pretty much crap and I wonder why I deleted it, but some of it sparked memories I haven't thought about in a long time. And, oddly, one poem that I wrote for a friend of mine who died during my junior year of college can now just as easily apply to how I feel in the aftermath of my great grandmother's death this last year. So, anyways, here's what I'm talking about. It's nothing too good, but it did stir up a lot of emotions I'd thought I'd left behind.

Your face is there in my dreams
Haunting me from the great beyond
You know how much I miss you
So many tears I cried when you left
I never got to tell you farewell
I wanted to say it while you could still hear me
But I waited too long
Everything else seemed so important
You would always be there
I never thought you’d leave me so young
If only I had another day
To tell you how much you meant to me
And how much love I had for you
I’m so sorry I couldn’t do it earlier
When I could see you eye to eye
But please hear me now
As I cry to you a tearful goodbye

Because Dancing Robots Rule

I saw this video a long time ago and loved it. I found it again while trying to keep myself amused this morning between proofing documents. The concept of Transformers break dancing just plain rocks to me. If I were a giant robot the first thing I would do, other than smash Tokyo (come on, you can't NOT smash Tokyo if you're a giant robot) would be to learn how to break dance.

What I would love to see now is a combination of this video and the episode of Robot Chicken where Voltron gets served by some gelatinous green villain that carries a boom box with him throughout space as he attacks unaware spaceships. Voltron vs. Optimus Prime in a dance off to end all giant robot dance offs.

You know, speaking of Transformers and Voltron I wonder which was copying which when you compare Voltron to, say, the Destructicons. They both stem from the same concept--take a bunch of smaller robots (or tiger robots for Voltron) and combine them into a larger, more bitchin' robot. Hold on, I'll find out...

...ok, after some extensive research (thank you Google), it turns out that Voltron first started airing in September of 1984 while the Transformers started airing in October of 1984. Now I know that the Destructicons didn't come into play in the Transformers galaxy until at least the second season, so it's pretty much apparent that the Transformers stole the idea from Voltron (which no doubt stole the idea from some other show that came out before I was born and, thus, know nothing about).

With that said, I still think the Destructicons would totally beat the living bejesus out of Voltron, even though he has that kick ass, yet totally wonky looking, sword. I'll always remember the Destructicons transformed into Devastator ripping into the Autobot base in the movie and how totally bad ass they were.

Now if it was a dance off between the two, I know Voltron would have way better moves than Devastator. He's just too big and clunky. It would be like a robot Vin Diesel dancing against a robot Christopher Lambert. Robot Lambert would win every time.

Dwindling Traffic

Well, as you can see from the above chart, traffic through to my site has been on a sharp down swing. Thinking about it, though, that’s not unexpected. Over the last couple of weeks I was so busy with work and dealing with other issues, I haven’t had time to really put up any good content. A few small smatterings complaining about work, a couple cd reviews, and a story or two just don’t cut it if you want to keep visitors returning.

I might not lose reader’s who use RSS to keep up on what I do, as I know that I keep up on all of the blogs that I read by just keeping their RSS feed active in my aggregator, so even if the blog only updates once a week or even less, I will still always be alerted of new content and don’t have to visit the site until.

For people that don’t use RSS and just surf sites on a regular basis to catch new content, a lack of anything new will quickly lead to a site getting removed from the regular visitation rotation, and potentially from the bookmarks list altogether. I think that this is what has probably happened to this site over the last couple of weeks.

On the other hand, the number of people who keep up on this site via RSS is slowly growing, which is good. I think it’s a lot hard to lose a reader who uses RSS to keep up with your site than a traditional reader. So in an attempt to keep what readers I have left entertained, I’ll try to keep the content flowing now that I have a little bit of a lull at work. I’m sure my workload will pick up again soon, but until then, I’ll make the most of my free time that I can.

Spontaneous Allergies

In my lifetime, I’ve never been found to have any allergies and I’ve never felt like I’ve had any type of allergic reaction to anything.  That being said, is it possible to just spontaneously develop allergies, and in the same realm of though, can they just spontaneously disappear?

The reason I’m wondering this is because all this week I’ve had a somewhat runny nose and my eyes have been as dry as the Sahara, as well as more bloodshot than… something that’s really bloodshot.

Truth be told, my eyes do have a habit of getting bloodshot for no apparent reason and then miraculously healing themselves a few hours later.  I attribute it to having sensitive eyes.  I’m making that assumption because any amount of dust or smoke will make my eyes hurt and tear up quite quickly.  This is one of the main reason I’m glad they implemented the smoking ban at all of the bars and clubs in Minneapolis—I can finally go to concerts without feeling like my face was going to unceremoniously eject my eyeballs from their sockets to end the pain they were causing.

Now as I think back over this week, nothing has really been different.  I get up, go to work, work out, hang out at my house, and do the regular things, but for some reason this week my eyes felt the need to torture me.  One of my co-workers asked if I had allergies and I said no.  She told me that it’s not impossible to develop allergies at any time.  But would they come on this quick?  I kind of doubt it.  Especially since this morning my eyes appear to be back to normal.

In conclusion, my eyes were really a big pain in my face this week and made keeping them open for prolonged periods of time a whole lot of not fun.  Thankfully they’re back to normal, but I’m still really weirded out as to why they got all funky all of the sudden, for no apparent reason.  Frickin’ eyeballs.

Allele - Point of Origin CD Review

About a month ago Cold released their latest offering, A Different Kind of Pain, which showed the band progressing very strongly in a mellow direction when compared to their previous efforts. The edgier and heavier elements of their sound that was previously a big part of their unique brand of grunge, sludge, nu metal had disappeared and been replaced by a more introspective and tender demeanor. No doubt this pissed off some fans, and validly so -- even though they were making great music, it wasn’t what some fans were looking for. To those disgruntled fans, as well as emotional metal fans, I implore you to go give Allele’s Point of Origin a listen.

Part of the reason, I believe, that Allele sound a lot like Cold is the fact that their lead guitarist is none other than Kelly Hayes, Cold’s previous lead guitarist. Haynes isn’t the only member coming into Allele from a big name band, though. Guitarist Lane Maverick used to be with the oft pretentious metal unit Otep. Fortunately, none of that pretentiousness carried over into Allele.

Now I would be lying if I told you that Point of Origin didn’t feel very strongly Cold inspired, but depending upon who you are and what your feelings are towards Cold’s back catalog, this could be either a very good or very bad thing. In many respects, this is a good thing. The grungy side of the radio friendly metal genre has had very few participants as of late, and none of them have been very strong. Recent efforts by Seether and Smile Empty Soul have had a hard time capturing the market and in their wake, Allele has the potential to show that it is possible to make a good, gritty metal disc in today’s heavily saturated metalcore and emo market.

What Allele brings to the table, that many of their contemporaries do not, is the ability to create a radio friendly sound without totally selling out to the clichés inherent with creating that type of music. All of the songs do follow a basic verse/chorus/bridge format, as well as conform to many of the conventions of the genre, but within those boundaries they excel at what they do. Catchiness is key for this genre and Allele definitely are that.

Sure, there are a few weak songs here and there that straddle the line of being boring or sounding too much like other songs on the cd (or other aforementioned bands), but that is not unexpected. On the other hand, songs such as the leadoff track, “Fake”, as well as “Closer to Habit” and “Immune” show that it is possible to create thought out, interesting, and listenable songs all within the confines of the genre the band has chosen to be a part of.

It’s relatively easy to take one listen to a band that is a part of the radio friendly rock/metal genre, dismiss it as subpar, and move on, but often in doing so you will miss out on a band that does what they do well, and that’s exactly what Allele is -- a band that does what they do well. They know their place, they know their boundaries, and they excel at what they do.

What a Meeting That Would Be

Gary: For tomorrow's meeting the dress is business casual, as that is what was specified by the people we will be meeting with.

Me: So, business casual = jeans and a death metal t-shirt, right?

Karl: No, for you it’s leather pants and no shirt.

Gary: ...You at least need to go with a shirt, preferably mesh or fish net.

Me: Good call, then my chest shaving won't go to waste.

Ramallah - Kill a Celebrity CD Review

Before this review really gets underway, I would like to present you with the first line of lyrics spat out at the listener on Ramallah’s disc Kill a Celebrity. I do this because I believe that your overall enjoyment of this cd will definitely vary based upon your reaction to what you read below… so read away (and pretend it’s being screamed at you in a distorted, murky hardcore voice):

“I’d love to detonate a car bomb at the goings of your precious MTV, and put some sarin gas in the central AC at the VMA’s, and watch those beautiful faces turn ashen grrraaaaaaaayyy.”

And with those words spit out, the rest of the band jumps into the song and tries their hardest to pummel you with an intro breakdown that I’m sure is the best thing ever (in their minds). Thick, grating power chords thunder over some deep drumming and bass… just like almost every “heavy” song that came out in the late 90’s. Just from this first song, it’s easily apparent that Ramallah is using music as tool to further their agenda rather than using an agenda to help in making creative, deep music. This might sound like a bad thing… well, ok, it definitely does sound like a bad thing, but that’s only because it is.

With such over the top lyrics like those above, song titles like “Shock and Awe”, “Drink the Kool-Aid”, and “Oscar Cotton”, and the simplicity found in most of the songs, it’s hard to view this band as anything more than a novelty that will only appeal to the dimmest of the hardcore crowd. With that said, I can see a ton of 16 year old kids who “hate the system”, “want to fuck the government”, and “would like to kill a celebrity” cranking this cd as loud as the tiny factory speakers in their 1987 Nova will go, with the windows rolled down, looking angrily at every passerby, hating the world.

There are many reasons why only 16 year old, pretty stupid, hardcore kids will get into this cd, such as that the scenester hardcore kids won’t touch this disc with a 10 foot long pair of girl pants because of songs like “A Day in the Life” that sound like a bad mix of Nickelback, synthesized melodic vocals, and a bouncy pop beat (with a little hardcore too, I guess). The radio rock kids won’t touch it because it’s too “hard”. The metal kids won’t touch it because, even though the guitars have a metallic overtone to them, they’re still all following simplistic hardcore chord progressions with a bunch of breakdowns thrown in, which will bore metal kids who want shredding. Seriously, there really isn’t a market outside of stupid, pissed off, 16 year olds for this band. Hopefully they realize this and give this demographic the hard sell. If not, they shouldn’t plan on selling a lot of cds.

Part of me wanted to like this band because they were just a simple hardcore band with bad tough guy lyrics that I could throw on when I watch the presidential addresses on mute, but then there was the other part of me, the part that realized songs like “Bye-Bye”, with its hardcore-lite style, and all of the other songs with lyrics that made me want to laugh out loud, was something I couldn’t listen to with a straight face or seriously recommend to anyone as anything more than a “listen to this, it’s great (in a bad way)” disc that’s worth spinning once or twice.

I will definitely recommend this cd to everyone, however, if Ramallah actually follows through on their cd title. The world would be such a better place without the likes of Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez, Billy Bob Thornton, Ashton Kutcher, and all of the other ass clowns that should never have become famous. I’ll be here waiting, Ramallah… start the throat slashing whenever you feel ready.

Dress Me Up

I’m trying to figure out what I want to be for Halloween this year.  I’m drawing a blank on what would be a good idea, and I really want to have a cool costume this year.  In the past I haven’t deviated too much from my usual dressing up as a girl costume.  In the last few years the only time I didn’t go as a girl was when I went as The Crow.

As I’m watching Monday Night Football, I’m attempting to think of some good ideas and I’ve thought of a couple actually, but I don’t know how feasible some of them are (or how much I really want to dress in the appropriate gear to sell the costume).  Anyways, here are some of my ideas so far.  You might notice a cartoon theme throughout and that’s intentional.  I thought being a cartoon character might be fun. What do you think?

--He-Man: Could easily do the costume, but I’m not sure I want to be dressed in such a small amount of fabric.  I don’t think I’m in good enough shape or self confident enough to do it.
--Danger Mouse: I don’t know if I’d be able to make a mouse head, but I could do the white pants, shoes, shirt, red belt, and eye patch.
--Inspector Gadget: This could be fun. I’m trying to figure out what would be a good gadget, though.  Maybe the helicopter blades that come out of the hat?
--Rick Hunter (from Robotech): I loved this cartoon as a kid, but I think making the costume might be a little hard.  It might be fun to try, though.
--Captain Murphy (from Sealab 2021):  It might be hard to find a bright blue uniform…

Anyways, those are a few of my initial ideas.  If you have any good suggestions or know of anyone that would want to help me make a costume let me know.  I want to avoid simply dressing up like a girl yet again this year.