Currently Listening All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone By Explosions in the Sky see related

Explosions in the Sky's new album

I have to say that I'm thoroughly impressed.  Many people grew to know Explosions once they released the soundtrack to Friday Night Lights.  But they've been around much longer than that.  And overall, I think they're older stuff, although somewhat touching, was too immature as well as too thin.  More specifically, the melodies and harmonies themselves were soothing to the ear, but the execution of those melodies and harmonies didn't bring out the full potential.  Some of the quality of the guitars were weak, and you could hear some offsets in the recording.  The drums were loud, but not full in sound.  Sometimes, even the tuning between instruments were skewed, so potentially pleasing melodies were shattered due to notes off key.

But in this new album, it wasn't their song writing skills that made me feel they have grown as a band.  The melodies and song structures are definitely the exclusive Explosions style, which has always been high-grade.  It was the execution and production.  They really brought out the full luster of all the instruments melding together into a single harmonious element.  The sound is rich and thick with sound that wholesomely fills the ear.  Nothing is left out.

The only nag I still have with the band is their use of drums.  Although the timbre is of much higher quality, the actual beats are lacking.  Maybe I'm looking too much for a crazy drum sound like in Mice Parade or Appleseed Cast, but with a band this good, I think in order for them to be absolutely, indubitably, undoubtedly spectacular, they need to move further than a simple systematic "bass snare bass snare bass snare," or "bass snare-roll" or whatever.  They are better than that.

Anyways, I know this is a band we can all relate to ever since their rise in popularity and inrease in social awareness, so if your one of the many growing fans, definitely pick this one up.  This album (all of a sudden i miss everyone) and Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place are my two favorites.

Currently Reading Fight Club: A Novel By Chuck Palahniuk see related

It's been a while

yes indeed

it seems as though ive found other...more ful-filling means of writing what i want to say

but i kinda missed the whole xanga thing...and so i'll give it another try haha

lately....i've been doing much much much more reading....and ever since this past year....i've really grown fond of writing and its powerful potential

just recently i picked up fight club....which is so good of a book....i aready declare it better than most other books i will eventually read

i've also been hooked on poetry...but not the robert frost shit that rhymes and stuff (not saying rhyme is incompetent and childish...i am just personally not a fan).....im talkin like.....real poetry...like...poetry....straight up hahaha......especially written by these fine gentlemen:

1. Tom Sleigh
2. Tony Hoagland
3. Allen Ginsberg
4. Donald Hall

these 4 men have inspired me on so many different levels.....its a concept thats hard to grasp at simple first glance

but yea it's been an interesting turn in my life....but not a full like 180 kinda turn....the more slight-right-onto-a-ramp kinda turn....cuz i've always been interested in writing.....like writing scripts or writing short stories or writing songs (yea that last one doesn't really count but whatever)....but i hated reading....so now it's like i've finaly fit that last little piece left

it's kinda like....a conversation

before i was obnoxious and stubborn.....just talking about what i wanted to talk about as if the world revolved around me.....but i wasn't listening to what anyone else had to say...and thus....my thinking was limited and closed.....

of course....it could still have been unique and exclusive....but theres so much higher lvls my opinion could reach after listening to others

so now that i've discovered reading....i've begun to listen to others....listen to the written word

it's a beautiful thing...and i'll probably just post up some hand-picked poems that i really like....werd

but until then....thats all folks

Currently Listening Obrigado Saudade By Mice Parade see related

40 days...

     40 nights...

no dota

no fast food

no soda

none of that!

for 40 days

            and 40 nights

CAN HE DO IT!!!

Currently Reading White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1946-2006 By Donald Hall see related

i just realized how utterly juvenile my last entry was.....

ranting over and over using similar adjectives with no change in structure

using blatant caps at the end with no improvement on articulation

oh well...that is the past

but ne wayz....here is a poem that i found....i feel it's probably one of the best poems i've read from him (Donald Hall) so far....mainly because its very pertinent to me and my beliefs :

The Man in the Dead Machine

High on a slope in New Guinea
the Grumman Hellcat
lodges among bright vines
as thick as arms.  In nineteen forty-three,
the clenched hand of a pilot
glided it here
where no one has ever been.

In the cockpit the helmeted
skeleton sits
upright, held
by dry sinews at neck
and shoulder, and by webbing
that straps the pelvic cross
to the cracked
leather of the seat, and the breastbone
to the canvas cover
of the parachute

Or say that the shrapnel
missed me, I flew
back to the carrier, and every morning
take the train, my pale
hands on a black case, and sit
upright, held
by the firm webbing.

i would talk about what i think it means...but i'm wondering what u guys would think first.....lets hear it!

Currently Listening The Trial of St. Orange By Shalabi Effect see related

so i'm currently taking this introduction to poetry class....and so far it is exactly one of the kinds of classes that i have been expecting / looking for out of college.....that straight up artsy fartsy kind of class that just delves deep into a set of stanzas and tears it apart....finding a novel-level length of a meaning behind only a couple of lines

just today.....our teacher made it mandatory to attend a poetry reading session by some poet who was stopping by UMD....and i gave out a disappointed grunt at how it ruined my day's flow since it was set at 4:30

however....when i got there.....the guy was freaking awesome.....and in a matter of 45 minutes of story telling and poetry reading.....i was deeply inspired

the guys name is Donald Hall who is apparently one of the most renowned poets of all time....right on up there with others such as Frost....Hawthorne....and Poe....and he kix ass!!!......he is straight up awesome.....cuz he has an extremely deep attachment to profound emotions and feelings.....as well as a light-hearted sense of humor

and now...i wanna be a poet....or a writer....or something freaking awesome like that! XD....of course that would be alongside my music career woot!.....and its interesting because...i kinda get the feeling that poetry is like the indie of literature....what is it with things that are indie being so freaking doobularly awesome?.....GOSH!!!

ne wayz time for some college studies oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

later i'll be postin up some donald hall poems OH YEA U KNOW IT CUZ I GOT MY SOURCES BABY!!!!

GOT HIS BOOK WITH HUNDREDS OF POEMS OH YEAAAA AND EVEN GOT IT SIGNED OH YEA BABY U WISH U WERE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MUAHAHAHA