Monday, March 27, 2006

Racing on a faultline

All right, before I get into the amazingness that was the MuteMath show last night, let me begin by making the blanket statement that being at a concert by yourself is not nearly as fun as if you're with people. That's all I'm gonna say on that.

Now, to the show. Doors were supposed to open at 6:30, actually opened at 7, and the show started around 7:45. One of my biggest pet peeves proceeded to take place: 3 opening acts, two of which were unadvertised. Uber lame. The first one was a Nashville band, Call Me Mister, who were surprisingly good for an opener to the opener to the opener. Next came The Futurists, who were overall pretty painful to listen to and had this attitude of "Hey, we're from Albuquerque, NM, and we're playing with MuteMath in Nashville, so we can do whatever we want." Seriously, it was on each of their faces. At the end of their set, the drummer threw a stick into the crowd, and whoever caught it threw it back at him! It hit him too, it was amazing. That should tell you how much everyone liked them.

The main opener was Working Title, a band with one too many guitars, but weren't terrible to listen to, and I can see why MuteMath has them on the whole tour. Enough of that though, cause around 10, MM hit the stage.

They opened with "Chaos", from their new LP, a great way to get going. Their drummer came out wrapping duck tape around his head, which made him look like a mental patient, and it totally fit him, because that guy was sick. Seriously, some of the most ridiculous drumming I've ever heard/seen. The followed Chaos with "Typical", again from the new LP, which included Paul Meany jumping off the keys of his keyboard to make these chords that somehow fit the song. They kept going like this throughout the night, with Paul switching from keyboard to keytar to percussion and back. They were all over the stage playing different stuff. Other songs I remember from the night are "Control", "Peculiar People" (during which Paul threw his wife into the crowd to surf with a vide camera), "Stare at the Sun", "Plan B" "Noticed", "Without It", and "Picture". So, basically, they played everything off the new album (except Stall Out, which is one my favorites) and a few off the old. All of these songs were connected by these amazing jam sessions that were dang sweet. At one point, Paul took the cover off his keyboard (It's more than a keyboard though, I don't know the real name, but it has strings and everything) and jumped up and down on the strings to make the chords. Unreal. They closed the night with "Break the Same", which rocked real hard, and led to a percussion solo that involved the drummer standing on top of Paul's keyboard-thing, with the top still off, and Paul's stool tipped over on top it too, and playing rhythms on the stool, a mic stand, and a warped metal disc while Paul beat away on a bass drum and the guitar player sent the same note through a distorter and the bass player played a high hat or something. It was amazing. For the encore they played "Reset", the instrumental from the EP that was, again, ridiculous, sick, etc...

Probably the only thing I didn't like about the show was the crowd mood. I could tell that everyone liked the music, and the applause at the end of the show definitely represented that, but hardly anyone got into it. There were times when I wanted to just jump around during a chorus or something, and I look around and maybe four people have the same idea. And I wasn't about to start doing it by myself, as I was by myself and had no one to do it with. So I stood there, trying so hard not to just start flying all over the place.

In conclusion, if MuteMath is ever playing anywhere within an hour of you, go to the show; it is like looking into the face of God and seeing Him smiling back at you, saying, "You are my most wondrous creation."

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Hope is snatched from the jaws of despair!

So last night (Friday), Exit/In (the club where the MuteMath show is supposed to be tomorrow) had an Eisley concert and was promptly shut down by the fire marshall for having too many people or something like that. Anyway, the end result is the show has been moved to City Hall, a larger club, which means there is still a chance that I can get a ticket for this sold-out show! It's so glorious, I can hardly stand it!

Saturday, March 25, 2006

When will the Madness end?

If there's one thing I've learned over the last two weeks, it's to never invite people who know little to nothing about sports to be in your March Madness pool. They will undoubtedly pick better at random or based on mascots than you will using actual sports knowledge. This is how I'm in 7th out of the 8 people in my facebook pool.

Can I just say that facebook has yet to add a stupid feature since I've joined? Each one is very useful in its own way. I'm still not a fan of the whole "poking" thing. Kinda creeps me out.

I've decided that I'm not sure I have the concentration to write a full out book. Even if it was fiction, I would get started and never finish. At least not while I'm in school, because the smallest disruption would shift my focus for long enough that it wouldn't appear important anymore. Maybe I'll write one of those "Collective essays of..." books. I could write on any number of random things, call them essays, and compile them into one text. If anyone has any suggestions for chapter topics, let me know. Make them random, relevant, ridiculous. Anything.

You should check out a blog, postsecret.blogspot.com. People crate home-made postcards in which they anonymously reveal a secret about themselves, then mail them to an address in Massachusettes, and this guy posts the best ones each week. I think it's supposed to be a way to help suicidal people deal with problems or something like that. There was an interesting stat on there, that for every murder in the US there are 2 suicides. Not something you hear about all the time. Anyway, check it out.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Questions from a mind without structure

1. When did the mohawk come back?

Seriously, I've seen over a half dozen people in the last week sporting either a faux- or full out mohawk. I think maybe the more important question here is why? Do these people think they actually look good with it? Are they just trying to be all anti-establishment and crap? I don't understand!

2. Why do I like cold weather?

This week has been somewhat akin to a MN March in Nashville, with temps hardly ever getting over 50 and most nights being below freezing. And I loved every minute of it.

3. Is it possible for Natalie Portman to not look amazingly good?

She shaved her fricking head in V for Vendetta and still was gorgeous! V for Vendetta, by the way, is an excellent flick. I think it's the second film I've seen in theaters this calendar year (I won't discuss the first because it was that disappointing), and I'm almost tempted to see it again this weekend. But, there's also the new Denzel movie, "The Inside Man", which has a lot of potential too. Mostly, I can't wait for May to come, when I will be graced with MI:3, X3, and The da Vinci Code. If that's not scrumtrulescent, I'm not sure what is.

4. Why do I have a sum total of no motivation for class at this time?

Could it be that I'm getting bored with school? Quite possibly. My classes appear to be rather smooth sailing the rest of the way through, and that's just fine by me. I'll be spending the time that I wouldn't have spent working anyway if I did have homework on trying to find a job for the summer and then a place to live once that's set. If that doesn't come together by the end of April. I guess I'm back in B-town for at least part of the summer, and probably all. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

5. Is it possible for Norah Jones to not sound amazingly good?

She released an album with a band called "The Little Willies" last week, and it's basically a country album. Now, I'm generally against that sort of thing, but Norah sounds amazing on the entire disc. I think she could do a gangsta rap EP and still sound incredible. Just something about that voice.

6. What is the most profound thing I've herad this week?

This one has an actual answer. We were bowling on Tuesday and Ryan decided that it's much more difficult to hit just one pin than it is to hit not one pin. And then everything in the world made sense.

7. Why the frick does the MuteMath show on Sunday have to be sold out?

There's no good answer here. Maybe I should be asking why I have a problem paying an extra $2 to buy my tickets early online. That's where the real problem is. And frankly, I think it's highway robbery. Seriously, if Exit/In just did all of their online ticket orders in-house, it would save them a ton of hassle and they would get a greater amount of the profits without having to pay off Ticketmaster or something lame like that. That's probably too obvious a solution though.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Return of the long-winded travelogue-ist

All right, here goes.

First, I tallied up the results from the Oscar competition, and the final score was:
Wanninger - 20/24, 171 pts
Parker - 14/24, 115 pts
Me - 10/24, 92 pts

So congrats Wanninger, that's some impressive picking. I can take some mild pride in being the only one to pick Crash for Best Picture, so I guess there's some solice in that.

Now, on to Florida. The trip started Friday morning with Ryan, Jon, and me departing in my car around 6 AM. We drove until about 4, and planned on continuing until we reached my aunt and uncle's place, but my brakes started being stupid. By 4, it was really 5 cuz we were in EST, so most places were closing or didn't have time to fix in that night. Thus, we ended up spending the night in Ocala, FL, at a ridiculously overpriced Days Inn because we were too tired to try and find another place.

Saturday morning we took the car to the Ford dealer to get fixed, mainly because they could get us in right away and would most likely have the parts on hand. So, after a couple hours of waiting, I was told that both my front and rear brakes were pretty much screwed, so we waited another 3 hours while they fixed it and then were off to the Gulf! The best things to come from this experience:
1. We ate at a really good barbecue place while we waited. If you're ever in Ocala, visit Tommy's BBQ. Good stuff.
2. Ryan and Jon were great the whole time and I was able to not get too intensely stressed in the situation.

The house in Bonita Springs was amazing! Not huge, but definitely big enough for us to hang out in, and there was a screen-covered pool/patio in the back that was glorious, especially in the evenings. We spent Sunday chilling at the house and at a public beach just south of Ft. Meyers, then picked Tim up from the airport. The Oscars came on, and we caught most of them, and then I headed out to pick up my aunt and uncle from the airport around midnight.

Monday, like all our days, began really chill. We decided to go canoeing in this river/marsh thing that runs through the housing community, and survived without getting eaten by any gators, although Tim and Ryan did their best. After about 2 and a half hours out there we headed over to an outlet mall, where I proceeded to buy nothing.

Both Ryan and I had been to Sanibel Island in Florida before, so we decided it'd be cool to hang out up there for a day. Thus, Tuseday was spent riding rental bikes around the island and through a wildlife refuge that looked remarkably similar to the marsh we canoed through. Then we stuck to the beach for several hours and headed back in. The traffic getting off the island was so bad that the other three got out at one point and walked up to the Dairy Queen and were on their way back to the car with the ice cream before I passed it.

A really random thing happened in that I found out my cousin Rachel was on spring break with a few of her friends at the same time, and they were staying about 10 minutes from our place! So they all came over Tuesday night to watch Harry Potter 4. The guys did a great job with that, being that Rachel and I talked for most of the time and left them to fend for themselves with the three girls she came down with. Lots of "So, you guys go to Wheaton, huh?" conversations commenced. I would apologize for it, but I'm not sorry for it at all, because I got to see my cousin, and thats all that really mattered at the time.

Wednesday we went to the private beach owned by the housing community, which was pretty sweet, and we hung out there until sundown, when the pontoon had to take us off the island and back to the mainland.

By Thursday we were all pretty tired, so we spent the day hanging out at the house. I won an afternoon Monopoly game basically because I stayed interested longer than the other guys. We also went to the Goodwill Superstore, where I almost bought a yellow sport coat that was just a tiny bit too small, but I did end up with a t-shirt that says "Honorary Oooompa Loompa" (And yes, there are 4 "o"'s in this version of Oompa). Not a bad haul.

Friday was the last hurrah, so we went to Bonita Beach and layed out for about 4 hours. I did my best to keep sun screen on, but I forgot to get my knees and the top of my feet, so they basically fried. It's ok though, I'm feeling better now and I got ahead in my reading for third-year writing.

Saturday was very uneventful driving back. Really the most exciting thing that happened the whole time is that I now have a DJ name: DJ Tanner. The rest of the guys became DJ Ibouti, DJ Embe, and DJ Palindrome (Ryan, Tim, and Jon, repsectively).

All in all, a great trip, super relaxing, and now I'm ready for the last two months of classes. Today was a great way to start that out, as I found out that the test I really and truly thought I got at least a C- on in marketing before break turned out to be a 91, and I can bring it up to a 97 with extra credit corrections. I'm lovin it!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

The Return

Well I'm back in Nashville after a great week in Bonita Springs, FL! Way too tired right now to try and write it all out, but for now just know it was mostly relaxing and always fun. I will try and get the Oscar game tallied sometime tomorrow, so that will get done. But just thought I'd let y'all know I am not dead, and I survived with moderate burnage. Good times had by all.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

And the damage comes to...

31 pages
8,926 words
43,265 characters (no spaces)
117 paragraphs
697 lines
1 finished group paper

Sweet.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

T minus 18 hours and counting...

Have you ever tried to take essays from 5 different people and combine them into one 30-page essay? Cuz that's what I'm doing right now, and it sucks. Especially since I need to finish off most of my portion of the writing. I've edited and compiled 23 pages together. Now it's my turn for the last 7, and it needs to happen sometime between now and 4:30 tomorrow, along with a marketing test and finance quiz and attending 2 other classes in the morning. I can stay up late though because after tomorrow I get a week and a half off, so I can catch up on sleep in Florida. Glorious.