the digital meal

(After typing and rereading this blog entry, I noticed how each paragraph was a separate, single, digestible portion of thought. It led me to think, "Wow, if I could eat any part of the internet right now, I'd definitely wanna eat this blog entry. So, I've labeled each paragraph as a course of my digital meal. A word of advice regarding meals - don't make the meal if you can't buy the groceries yourself.)

(to start, an appetizer)
Another note about contemporary music, Louis XIV has a single called "Air Traffic Control" that's getting some major airplay on Sirius 21 - Alt Nation. When I first heard Louis XIV (pronounced Louie the Fourteenth) I thought this band sounded similar to most other Brit-Punk/Alternative bands. I guess they do a lot of work with their vocals to sound different, because it was only today that I found out they hail from San Diego. Air Traffic Control sort of reminds me of Radiohead's "Karma Police", so maybe that's why I had assumed they were from across the pond. Regardless, Air Traffic Control is definitely worth a listen, especially if you were into Karma Police. Louis XIV's song isn't quite as dark as Radiohead's, but it shades well. I'd definitely like to hear more from Mr. 14th.

(napkin the hands/face)
Alright. Enough about music.

(bring on the first course)
This weekend puts me at IUP for two days to participate in an Ultimate Frisbee tourney with the Cal U team. Unlike the previous two tournaments, the weather for this event seems to be cooperating. That means when Monday rolls around, I'll have something else to write about instead of bitching about how rain ruined yet another set of weekend plans.

(toughin' out the second course w/ side salad)
On the college front, there's only a few more weeks of class left in the semester and I'm kind of sad to see it go. I've programmed myself to operate at full collegiate learning capacity on Mondays and Thursdays, and losing that over the summer will no doubt cause me all kinds of grief during the first few weeks of the fall semester. And although I'm only taking two classes, I'm doing quite well in them, so replicating the results from the Spring will be my main goal when Fall finally arrives. I really did enjoy my first semester as a graduate student. Learning something that I have little experience with keeps me interested while the university's mandate of a "B average" in prerequisite classes has me sharply focused. Really, I haven't been this focused on my studies since my sophomore year in high school.

(make room for the third course)
Yesterday, I got into twittering. (You can see my twitter updates to the right --->) I'm not entirely sure what kind of benefits this service will add to my digital life, but I'm willing to give anything a try. Twitter seems like a "Facebook Status" website that was blown way out of proportion. The authors of many blogs I frequent use it fairly often, though. Maybe this will help me connect with them. Maybe it will fall by the wayside.

(and dessert)
Oh, and how about those Pens!!?!?!
Go.
Pens.

music notes

Just a few music-related thoughts for your Metallica Wednesday. (Time to hit your Metallica playlist, hard!)

First, has anybody noticed how tight Avenged Sevenfold's guitar licks are? They seriously are taking me back to the days when Metallica was rocking my world with explosive guitar riffs. Their song - "Critical Acclaim" has an amazing intro where both guitars mirror one another. Its awesome.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm a fan of Panic at the Disco. I thoroughly enjoyed their "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" album and even though their newest disc "Pretty. Odd." deviates from their original sound, I still enjoy it. This album sounds much more light-hearted and fun than their first.

I'm not so sure what's going on with Deathcab for Cutie. I haven't had the opportunity to listen to their entire new disc - "Narrow Stairs" - but I did manage to hear their first single and it's definitely not what I expected. "I Will Possess Your Heart" doesn't follow the typical, witty, poetic style of lyrics that are on the Transatlanticism or Plans albums. They've been very open about how they weren't going for the same sound from their last two albums. I'm not saying its a bad thing, yet. I'm just not used to Deathcab sounding like this. Maybe it'll be a good change?

A few days ago, I was reading Weezer's official website and they're being deceptively concrete about their upcoming album. They've recently confirmed the drop date of the album (6/24) but they're being slightly coy about the remaining details. Word on the street is that the album will be their third self titled album, this time the color theme being red - becoming known as "The Red Album". I've always said that Weezer's best songs came from their "color" albums (save a few from Pinkerton, which was kind of like a color album, right?) so I'm definitely looking forward to this release. At least Weezer has confirmed their first single "Pork & Beans" which was written as a result of Rivers' becoming pissed off over a meeting where he was told write songs differently. I hear that we're going to be getting Pork & Beans airplay in little under a week. I can't wait to hear it!

Unrelated to music, but just as important - the Pens can sweep the Sens tonight with a win. GO PENS!@!#@!