Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The Amazing Race 8: Family Edition
I don't think I've ever told my TV to shut up more than I have tonight. I think I hate everybody on the damn show, but it's so hard to tell when there's 40 different people to keep track of. Some interesting tidbits so far:
The token black family was introduced as "The Black Family" (Black is the family name, but it was still funny).
The family who lost their husband/father in an accident at a race track when he was hit by a car lost control of a buggy and just about ran over the mother.
Those little kids singing "She'll be coming around the mountain..." drove me nuts.
Some great quotes:
"Pennsylvania is a state I think."
"Doesn't anyone wish we had a handicapped kid so we could get a better parking spot?"
The team of pink-wearing blondes makes my ears hurt. Their typical conversation goes as follows:
Blonde #1: "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech."
Blonde #2: "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee---"
Interrupted by Blonde #3 with the ever so informative: "Sqwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak."
Then #4 would chime in with: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Then they all start yelling and screaming...and they won the first leg...my ears are bleeding.
The token black family was introduced as "The Black Family" (Black is the family name, but it was still funny).
The family who lost their husband/father in an accident at a race track when he was hit by a car lost control of a buggy and just about ran over the mother.
Those little kids singing "She'll be coming around the mountain..." drove me nuts.
Some great quotes:
"Pennsylvania is a state I think."
"Doesn't anyone wish we had a handicapped kid so we could get a better parking spot?"
The team of pink-wearing blondes makes my ears hurt. Their typical conversation goes as follows:
Blonde #1: "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech."
Blonde #2: "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee---"
Interrupted by Blonde #3 with the ever so informative: "Sqwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak."
Then #4 would chime in with: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Then they all start yelling and screaming...and they won the first leg...my ears are bleeding.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Random Internet Stuff
I have no idea what this is supposed to be, but it's catchy.
Declaration of Revocation
About driving. <- this one is pure genius. For the programmers in the group.
Politics Explained
(CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.)
Cool Geography Game
Well, I've successfully wasted an hour of my day.
----------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: I've found some more
Why Can't I Own A Canadian?
Shirt Folding (I want to learn how to do this)
Declaration of Revocation
About driving. <- this one is pure genius. For the programmers in the group.
Politics Explained
(CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.)
Cool Geography Game
Well, I've successfully wasted an hour of my day.
----------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: I've found some more
Why Can't I Own A Canadian?
Shirt Folding (I want to learn how to do this)
Saturday, September 03, 2005
OLP: Healthy In Paranoid Times
I've been listening to this album for the last few days, though not quite as insanely as I have done with previous OLP albums. It's a quality album, with no drop in the strength of the music anywhere. It's probably their most complete album since Happiness. It's a more mellow OLP with a bit more simplicity in the lyrics, but it's still conveys emotion.
Angels/Losing/Sleep: The chorus to this song has two words repeating over and over, yet it's brilliantly done. There's a neat little guitar riff that pops up through the song, it's an effect I can't really describe, but it's a neat sound.
Will The Future Blame Us: Destined to be the next great OLP hit in my opinion. I hope they choose this as the next single, it'll be a smash. It has the radio friendly feel of "Innocent" and "Life", but it's a better, more complete song.
Picture: The guitar lick that carries this song is simple yet catchy. Raine hits a note during the second chorus that's absolute perfection. It's a little bland lyrically, but the vocals are strong. It's also begging for a better guitar solo in the bridge, hopefully they do it live.
Where Are You: The first single off the album. It's good, but it's missing something. The little guitar licks in the background really pick it up, but I miss the chorus of the demo version I heard. It's still a good driving/singalong song.
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: I'm rather dense when it comes to lyrics, but I'm quite sure this is a knock at George Bush and his war in Iraq. Raine had a visit to Iraq during the making of the album. It's one of the best songs on the album, it has a distinctive feel, and it breaks into this killer riff that's completely unexpected yet very cool. It's nice to hear some classic falsettos too. Another song that's begging for a wicked solo during the bridge.
Love And Trust: This song has a great feel to it. It's almost ambient in the verses, yet the chorus is really engaging. Another song about the state of the world today. I'm digging this song more and more every time I hear it.
Boy: Strong U2 vibe from this song, I keep expecting "With or Without You" to break out. Great vocal range in the song, Raine doesn't use the deep part of his voice enough. Very uplifiting and inspiriational song.
Apology: Another mellow track. It's got haunting vocals, strong guitar, a just-hard-enough drum line, and just a great vibe to it. I'd expect a song like this from Incubus, but OLP do a fantastic job with it. This might be the best song on the album, but I can't decide.
The World On A String: The first time I heard this song, I was like "What the hell?". The opening guitar riff is so anti-OLP. It's this cheery, bouncy kinda sound. I get the vision of the band dancing around rainbows with goofy grins on their face. The chorus kicks it up a bit, and the bridge is very catchy. It's a catchy song overall, it's just that it's so different from anything else I've heard from OLP. But it's a good different.
Don't Stop: Very strong guitar in this song. The song doesn't do anything to stand out from the rest of the album, but it's a good song. The bridge/instrumental is strong, and it's where the album title comes from.
Walking In Circles: My other early favourite from the album. I like everything about this song. Bass, guitar, drums, and vocals all mesh perfectly. The verse builds up nicely to the chorus, which is the best part of the song. The "Cirrrr-cles" part is chilling.
Al Genina (Leave A Light On): A song about Raine's trip to Darfur. It's just him and a guitar, very mellow, very passionate, very powerful. My only complaint is that it's too short.
Overall I really dig this album. I have a feeling that this might be up there with Happiness as their best work yet, but it's too early. Quite a step from their last album which, despite it's commercial success, isn't as popular among traditional OLP fans. It's a completely new sound from them, and I think this is what Gravity was trying to be but never acheived.
Angels/Losing/Sleep: The chorus to this song has two words repeating over and over, yet it's brilliantly done. There's a neat little guitar riff that pops up through the song, it's an effect I can't really describe, but it's a neat sound.
Will The Future Blame Us: Destined to be the next great OLP hit in my opinion. I hope they choose this as the next single, it'll be a smash. It has the radio friendly feel of "Innocent" and "Life", but it's a better, more complete song.
Picture: The guitar lick that carries this song is simple yet catchy. Raine hits a note during the second chorus that's absolute perfection. It's a little bland lyrically, but the vocals are strong. It's also begging for a better guitar solo in the bridge, hopefully they do it live.
Where Are You: The first single off the album. It's good, but it's missing something. The little guitar licks in the background really pick it up, but I miss the chorus of the demo version I heard. It's still a good driving/singalong song.
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: I'm rather dense when it comes to lyrics, but I'm quite sure this is a knock at George Bush and his war in Iraq. Raine had a visit to Iraq during the making of the album. It's one of the best songs on the album, it has a distinctive feel, and it breaks into this killer riff that's completely unexpected yet very cool. It's nice to hear some classic falsettos too. Another song that's begging for a wicked solo during the bridge.
Love And Trust: This song has a great feel to it. It's almost ambient in the verses, yet the chorus is really engaging. Another song about the state of the world today. I'm digging this song more and more every time I hear it.
Boy: Strong U2 vibe from this song, I keep expecting "With or Without You" to break out. Great vocal range in the song, Raine doesn't use the deep part of his voice enough. Very uplifiting and inspiriational song.
Apology: Another mellow track. It's got haunting vocals, strong guitar, a just-hard-enough drum line, and just a great vibe to it. I'd expect a song like this from Incubus, but OLP do a fantastic job with it. This might be the best song on the album, but I can't decide.
The World On A String: The first time I heard this song, I was like "What the hell?". The opening guitar riff is so anti-OLP. It's this cheery, bouncy kinda sound. I get the vision of the band dancing around rainbows with goofy grins on their face. The chorus kicks it up a bit, and the bridge is very catchy. It's a catchy song overall, it's just that it's so different from anything else I've heard from OLP. But it's a good different.
Don't Stop: Very strong guitar in this song. The song doesn't do anything to stand out from the rest of the album, but it's a good song. The bridge/instrumental is strong, and it's where the album title comes from.
Walking In Circles: My other early favourite from the album. I like everything about this song. Bass, guitar, drums, and vocals all mesh perfectly. The verse builds up nicely to the chorus, which is the best part of the song. The "Cirrrr-cles" part is chilling.
Al Genina (Leave A Light On): A song about Raine's trip to Darfur. It's just him and a guitar, very mellow, very passionate, very powerful. My only complaint is that it's too short.
Overall I really dig this album. I have a feeling that this might be up there with Happiness as their best work yet, but it's too early. Quite a step from their last album which, despite it's commercial success, isn't as popular among traditional OLP fans. It's a completely new sound from them, and I think this is what Gravity was trying to be but never acheived.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Hurricane Katrina
This storm seems to be bringing out the best and worst of the human population. People are donating money, supplies, time, and even empty rooms in their homes to help out, yet snipers are trying to shoot patients being evacuated from hospitals and parts of New Orleans are off limits because people are getting raped. First off, this is a case where martial law is appropriate. If someone is looting, law enforcement should tell them to stop once, and if they don't, shoot them. I'm not talking about people stealing food and water, but someone taking a TV from WalMart has no sympathy from me.
Besides, I don't think the looters are thinking this through. TV's work better when there's electricity to run them and houses to put them in. I understand that people are frustrated, and I would be too, but help needs to be organized. If you drop supplies into an area with thousands of people in it, you'll have violence and rioting in seconds.
The thing that bothers me the most about this, is that state officials have apparantly been pushing for stronger levees around the city for the last few years. Apparantly their complaints fell on deaf ears.
As far as gas prices, Sara's blog put things into perspective, so I won't touch that one.
The other thing that's pissed me off is the politicking that has been going on today. I saw a leader from the black community on a stage saying "The government didn't respond fast enough. Aid agencies weren't organized. This was completely unacceptable...but this is no time to place blame." I've never heard so much hypocrisy crammed into ten seconds quickly enough. People are trying to push this as a race issue, and that's their perogative, but this isn't the time. We're going to be experiencing fallout from this for the next year, and there'll be plenty of time to place blame.
Right now, it's about helping people.
Besides, I don't think the looters are thinking this through. TV's work better when there's electricity to run them and houses to put them in. I understand that people are frustrated, and I would be too, but help needs to be organized. If you drop supplies into an area with thousands of people in it, you'll have violence and rioting in seconds.
The thing that bothers me the most about this, is that state officials have apparantly been pushing for stronger levees around the city for the last few years. Apparantly their complaints fell on deaf ears.
As far as gas prices, Sara's blog put things into perspective, so I won't touch that one.
The other thing that's pissed me off is the politicking that has been going on today. I saw a leader from the black community on a stage saying "The government didn't respond fast enough. Aid agencies weren't organized. This was completely unacceptable...but this is no time to place blame." I've never heard so much hypocrisy crammed into ten seconds quickly enough. People are trying to push this as a race issue, and that's their perogative, but this isn't the time. We're going to be experiencing fallout from this for the next year, and there'll be plenty of time to place blame.
Right now, it's about helping people.
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