I've discovered this band recently. The sounds they make are amazing. I'd recommend getting their album The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, with some really good quality headphones, and reading or doing something relaxing. It's like a massage for the sides of your head.
Damien
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
What a load of bullshit (rant)
So today while I was eating some leftovers, I decided to watch some TV for the 15 minutes that it takes to eat leftovers. When I turned on the TV (which I don't do very often) I found the office, which was almost over. When it ended, the next show on was called The Insider. Apparently The Insider is the porch where intellect crawls to die at the end of its life of ball licking and poo sniffing.
So without getting too namey (because I don't know their names), one of the personalities is Star Jones. Already this show is off to a bad start. But there's 3 other people and they're all about as brain dead as Star is.
The only reason I watched more than 5 seconds and changed it is because they started off talking about Obama and Palin, and as I don't really watch TV I don't know much about the current shitstorm in American politics (I just safely assume that there is always a shitstorm)
Apparently Palin is commenting that she thinks Obama is doing a 4/10 job, and she managed to write a book in between giving birth to hundreds of children because shes a moron (reference, the first 10 minutes of the movie Idiocracy). I'd like to point out that Sarah Palin did a 0/10 job getting voted in, which is the first job her and Obama had, and he passed with flying colors. What a fucking tool factory.
Anyways I mention all this because the assclowns clinging to Star Jones' celebrity status with dear life started talking about whether or not Obama did the right thing when he responded to Sarah. Obviously it doesn't matter, but they managed to drag this topic around like first class assholes.
And then the next topic they brought up was whether or not People magazine made the right decision voting Johnny Depp the worlds sexiest man. How do you live with yourself debating shit like this?
I don't understand celebrity! I don't get it! How can people be so goddamn vapid and deranged! I don't get how you can live with yourself, following people around like this, disputing every little detail of THEIR lives, ignoring your own. Who gives a fuck if Angelina passes out, or when Farrah Fawcett dies! Angelina is a retard with an incredible body who is an amazing actress, but picks the SHITTIEST movies to star in. She hasn't made a good movie since 'Girl, Interrupted', and before that her only good movies were Original Sin and Gia, and almost purely because she got naked a lot in both. What else has she done that's worth watching? Mr and Mrs Smith? Tomb Raider? Gone in 60 Seconds???
What really gets me about all this, is how people are so used to, and perpetrate, double talk. People will talk about their lives, but compare it to people they don't know. They berate celebrities for making poor decisions, and then stuff their faces with McDonalds. They complain about celebrity crash diets, or ridiculous weight gain, but can't deal with their own. Diets aren't even proven to work, at all! They're used in emergency health situations! Why do people buy into this bullshit? Is nobody honest anymore?
I have friends who would rather wait 15 minutes for a bus to go down the street than make the 8 minute walk it takes to get there because they're tired. This is the world we live in. Fucked.
So without getting too namey (because I don't know their names), one of the personalities is Star Jones. Already this show is off to a bad start. But there's 3 other people and they're all about as brain dead as Star is.
The only reason I watched more than 5 seconds and changed it is because they started off talking about Obama and Palin, and as I don't really watch TV I don't know much about the current shitstorm in American politics (I just safely assume that there is always a shitstorm)
Apparently Palin is commenting that she thinks Obama is doing a 4/10 job, and she managed to write a book in between giving birth to hundreds of children because shes a moron (reference, the first 10 minutes of the movie Idiocracy). I'd like to point out that Sarah Palin did a 0/10 job getting voted in, which is the first job her and Obama had, and he passed with flying colors. What a fucking tool factory.
Anyways I mention all this because the assclowns clinging to Star Jones' celebrity status with dear life started talking about whether or not Obama did the right thing when he responded to Sarah. Obviously it doesn't matter, but they managed to drag this topic around like first class assholes.
And then the next topic they brought up was whether or not People magazine made the right decision voting Johnny Depp the worlds sexiest man. How do you live with yourself debating shit like this?
I don't understand celebrity! I don't get it! How can people be so goddamn vapid and deranged! I don't get how you can live with yourself, following people around like this, disputing every little detail of THEIR lives, ignoring your own. Who gives a fuck if Angelina passes out, or when Farrah Fawcett dies! Angelina is a retard with an incredible body who is an amazing actress, but picks the SHITTIEST movies to star in. She hasn't made a good movie since 'Girl, Interrupted', and before that her only good movies were Original Sin and Gia, and almost purely because she got naked a lot in both. What else has she done that's worth watching? Mr and Mrs Smith? Tomb Raider? Gone in 60 Seconds???
What really gets me about all this, is how people are so used to, and perpetrate, double talk. People will talk about their lives, but compare it to people they don't know. They berate celebrities for making poor decisions, and then stuff their faces with McDonalds. They complain about celebrity crash diets, or ridiculous weight gain, but can't deal with their own. Diets aren't even proven to work, at all! They're used in emergency health situations! Why do people buy into this bullshit? Is nobody honest anymore?
I have friends who would rather wait 15 minutes for a bus to go down the street than make the 8 minute walk it takes to get there because they're tired. This is the world we live in. Fucked.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Music to relax by (rant)
It's November 2nd, and I am in the library at Kwantlen. This is my first semester back to school, and I'm finding it easier to adjust. First of all, everyone is younger than me: so this time around I know what kind of bullshit to expect from my fellow students. Second of all, I feel like the 5 years I spent not in school have motivated me to learn about things I've always wanted to know. Example: I have always been interested in my family's history, of which a quarter is Russian and mysterious, so I'm taking a history course and writing a rather lengthy paper on the Bolshevik-Russian revolution (the reason for my grandmother being in Canada). I've always thought of myself as a good/creative writer, but always received bad marks in English classes, so I'm in a 'catch-up' English class, relearning the basics of structure. Finally, I always end up in situations where people ask me for advice, so I'm in a Psych class trying to understand why we think the way we do. I feel like I'm leaving all my old habits behind me.
One of the things I'm taking with me from high-school, however, is my constant need to listen to music while working, and I feel like my musical taste has refined to actually help with that. In the past, especially during high-school, my taste leaned more towards slightly abrasive, maybe angst-y alternative rock. I can fully remember a time when I could honestly tell people that Incubus was one of my favorite bands, that Pearl Jam was one of the greatest live bands ever, and that System of a Down was the most creative metal band ever. To some that may be true, but listen to the fucking music I was listening to while working on homework. Abrasive shit when my brain should be thinking freely.
So I'm discovering little pieces of what helps me to relax, and think without restraint. Music without lyrics is a good start: when people are talking, I can't read. So I'm discovering over and over again that I love ambient music.
This all traces back to the moment I discovered that music was my primary interest in life. I have a pretty terrible sleeping issue, it's probably some sort of disorder; anyways, I don't know how to relax and go to bed. I'm one of those ADD kids raised on ritelin, so I've got some relaxation issues. I'm drawn to melody and mood in a song more-so than the energy of it. Coldplay released Rush of Blood to the Head at the end of a period where i was only sleeping 4 hours a night for a month, and one day I listened to the album while all fucked up from lack of sleep. That was pretty much it, sad to say it was a Coldplay album that did it.
Not like it's a bad album or anything... I just can't stand 'Coldplay today'.
Anyways after that I really got into albums that... envelope you in their ambiance, mood, and melody. Albums that make you zone out and just wander through your mind. Soon I had discovered Bjork's 'Homogenic', Sigur Ros' untitled, Broken Social Scene's 'You Forgot it in People', Godspeed and their various amazing albums, and what I consider to be my alltime favorite album still to this day, Radiohead's 'Kid A'.
And relaxing is resulting in all of my shit getting done. Instrumental music, ambient music, or music with an emphasis on melody and mood. That's what gets me, really. Right now I'm listening to William Basinski, a record producer who put together a series of 4 albums of ambiance called 'The Disintegration Loops vol I-IV'. They're just ambient loops compiled on magnetic tape that he had made in the 90's; recently he tried to transfer them over to a digital format, but in the transfer the tapes started to disintegrate. He looped each tape until it was completely disintegrated, and recorded that as tracks for the album. What results are 4 discs, with tracks that range from 8-40 minutes in length, of the same short loop, playing over and over, disintegrating with every repeat.
Do you ever get part of a song stuck in your head? Listening to this takes it's place, and is kind of comforting when you're trying to read.
One of the things I'm taking with me from high-school, however, is my constant need to listen to music while working, and I feel like my musical taste has refined to actually help with that. In the past, especially during high-school, my taste leaned more towards slightly abrasive, maybe angst-y alternative rock. I can fully remember a time when I could honestly tell people that Incubus was one of my favorite bands, that Pearl Jam was one of the greatest live bands ever, and that System of a Down was the most creative metal band ever. To some that may be true, but listen to the fucking music I was listening to while working on homework. Abrasive shit when my brain should be thinking freely.
So I'm discovering little pieces of what helps me to relax, and think without restraint. Music without lyrics is a good start: when people are talking, I can't read. So I'm discovering over and over again that I love ambient music.
This all traces back to the moment I discovered that music was my primary interest in life. I have a pretty terrible sleeping issue, it's probably some sort of disorder; anyways, I don't know how to relax and go to bed. I'm one of those ADD kids raised on ritelin, so I've got some relaxation issues. I'm drawn to melody and mood in a song more-so than the energy of it. Coldplay released Rush of Blood to the Head at the end of a period where i was only sleeping 4 hours a night for a month, and one day I listened to the album while all fucked up from lack of sleep. That was pretty much it, sad to say it was a Coldplay album that did it.
Not like it's a bad album or anything... I just can't stand 'Coldplay today'.
Anyways after that I really got into albums that... envelope you in their ambiance, mood, and melody. Albums that make you zone out and just wander through your mind. Soon I had discovered Bjork's 'Homogenic', Sigur Ros' untitled, Broken Social Scene's 'You Forgot it in People', Godspeed and their various amazing albums, and what I consider to be my alltime favorite album still to this day, Radiohead's 'Kid A'.
And relaxing is resulting in all of my shit getting done. Instrumental music, ambient music, or music with an emphasis on melody and mood. That's what gets me, really. Right now I'm listening to William Basinski, a record producer who put together a series of 4 albums of ambiance called 'The Disintegration Loops vol I-IV'. They're just ambient loops compiled on magnetic tape that he had made in the 90's; recently he tried to transfer them over to a digital format, but in the transfer the tapes started to disintegrate. He looped each tape until it was completely disintegrated, and recorded that as tracks for the album. What results are 4 discs, with tracks that range from 8-40 minutes in length, of the same short loop, playing over and over, disintegrating with every repeat.
Do you ever get part of a song stuck in your head? Listening to this takes it's place, and is kind of comforting when you're trying to read.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Just fer the record
Just to kick things off, for those two of my friends who check this out because I got drunk and told them to check it out a week from now, I'm going to write as if there actually is someone that I'm talking to. No, I don't actually believe there is an audience of people just waiting to hear what I have to say, although there should be.
I'm a fairly random guy, or at least I think I am. That sentence alone has two almost-opposite statements about myself in it, so I'll just proceed with me being random. I get random thoughts, I have random humor that nobody seems to find funny but myself, and then there's lot's of random observations about my surroundings. Just as an example, you know how women used to carry children around in a cloth sling before baby carriers? I saw a dude who was about 5'4" carrying one of those little dogs in one of those things. I immediately interrupted my buddy, pointed at the unfortunate soul, and said "DUDE, that guys wife chose the dog, the sling, and I'm pretty sure his clothes for the day".
It's not really that funny, and maybe a little chauvinistic, but this is where I'm going to collect it. That is all.
Damien
I'm a fairly random guy, or at least I think I am. That sentence alone has two almost-opposite statements about myself in it, so I'll just proceed with me being random. I get random thoughts, I have random humor that nobody seems to find funny but myself, and then there's lot's of random observations about my surroundings. Just as an example, you know how women used to carry children around in a cloth sling before baby carriers? I saw a dude who was about 5'4" carrying one of those little dogs in one of those things. I immediately interrupted my buddy, pointed at the unfortunate soul, and said "DUDE, that guys wife chose the dog, the sling, and I'm pretty sure his clothes for the day".
It's not really that funny, and maybe a little chauvinistic, but this is where I'm going to collect it. That is all.
Damien
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