Yeah, It's That Time of the Year Again...

Since it's that time of the year again. Of course getting dressed up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating is certainly one way to get into the festivities (or one could also just go see Rocky Horror at midnight. Maybe like at the Oriental in Milwaukee, just a thought). Then of course for the less motivate few, there is the AMC and their “AMC Fear Fest.” Sure AMC Fear Fest doesn't have the greatest marathons just replaying the Halloween series over and over again (except for something reason unbeknownst to be, is that they seem to skip the second film). Of course it would be nice, once in awhile, to see a Béla Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr. or Boris Karloff films. Now Béla Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. films are the correct portrayal of vampires and werewolves contrary to what Stephenie Meyers would like you to believe, tehe. Curious though, I wonder if Béla Lugosi really though of Boris Karloff like what was portrayed in Ed Wood. Or, any movie that Vincent Price stars in. Anyways when set in their normal setting each antagonists fares pretty well, but what if they were place and pitted against another in a “bread and circuses”?

She a bookworm for any Paul Sheldon novel (well maybe just the ones that involve the character Misery) and the other one is “a smart big fish.” Given, that these two surprisingly had a confrontation with one another, but if Annie Wilkes and Jaws had met. Who would come out on top? Well from the best of my knowledge Jaws spends most of its' time in the water; if not all. And sure, Jaws can go under with three barrels (ooo; very impressive), and muches beach goers and swimmers. Annie Wilkes has the training of a nurse and certainly does have her way of pwning Paul Sheldon. Whether that be in the book (cutting his foot off and slicing his thumb) or the movie (making his ankle bend in ways that ankles just shouldn't bend). Oh; and Wilkes can take a typewriter to the head. Not entirely positive, but I'm almost pretty sure sharks don't have ankles, feet, or thumbs, so no help there for Wilkes. Good news, sharks don't own or use typewriters. Hmm... It's a gamble but I'm still going with the Kathy Bates portrayed character to take down the “oversized sardine.”

Next up the loveable rabies-infected family dog and the mask wearing, and the Canadian comedian name sharing (sounds the same, but spelled different), kitchen knife enthusiast. Yep, that's right; Michael Myers and Cujo are in a hostile augment that can be only solved with some old-fashion “fisticuffs.” Now to put it bluntly, Michael Myers is a trekkie. So as a devoted trekkie wearing his favorite Captain Kirk mask while doing what he does best on Halloween. And has the ability to created a horcrux (of course this is a stretch). I only came to this conclusion, with the fourth installment of Halloween as my evidence, where he had placed a piece of his soul into his niece, Jamie Lloyd. On the other hand Cujo is a lot less complex than Myers. Cujo's story is pretty straight forward; a dog with rabies. Unlike Myers, Cujo's motive is very much less family related and attack just about whoever. And I'd like to add, that Cujo is a trooper, being that he can be bashed in the head many times over and over again, and still walk away “unscathed” on all fours. One could say that's same for Myers, but I've learned that if one could pin him; say between a fallen tree and a burning van, that could possibly end him. Myers was pinned pretty good and ain't go nowhere. And considering that Cujo isn't a family member of Myers. I think it's pretty safe to say I'd put my money on the sick puppy.

And finally a sweet little angel, who happens to be demonic possessed with a mouth like a sailor named Regan MacNeil and Leatherface were locked in a room together, which would come out first? Given that Regan has the ability to have her head do a 360 and can make projectile -barf green. Sure it's not the same as being pistol-whipped with a hotdog, still it's pretty bad. Leatherface does like his chainsaw and wearing a mask (assuming that he made himself). Sadly, he can only make pig sounds, while Regan has a deep male voice (and at other times, can speak backwards and sometimes in perfect Italian). I will say this about Leatherface; he does have two thing over other antagonist, respecting his elders and being able to perform an interpretative dance (well at least I consider it to be an interpretative dance). Indeed; Leatherface does perform an interpretative dance with his chainsaw at the end of the film. Leather appears to be mortal; well Regan has Lucifer on her side. Got to go with the projectile-barfer with the sailor mouth (only assuming she isn't tied to the bed and still possessed).

I almost forgot, however this is going to be off topic. It's not a big deal; just think of it as Halloween III, tehe. Anyways re-discovered MGMT and how legit they are this weekend. The day following Halloween this year the Beach Boys' SMiLE is finally going to be officially released. So both are pretty good deals there.

Oh MediaMonkey (or Dusty), Why?

This weekend was chocked full of friends returning home from their respected schools. Best part is, is that all had gotten to stay for the weekend, so good deal there. Well, except for Dusty, who could only stay til 4 on Saturday, and needed to get back to where ever Whitewater is. Anyway, on Saturday after brunch, Cody needed a documentary for his film class. So, Cody, Cathi, Dusty, and I went to the library (the others didn't really want to or were busy). Of course, I had an ulterior motive for being there. Of course, it was expanding my musical horizons or getting music in FLAC. Cody searched for one of the documentaries off of his list. He had found Food, Inc. and ripped onto his laptop. While he was doing that; I had gone off in search of CDs. Coming back with a nice stack of them. Now, Dusty was all worried that I wasn't going to finish in time. Since he had to leave by 4 in the afternoon and time was of the essence. I had used the MediaMonkey instead of MusicBee (MediaMonkey rips CDs faster than MusicBee).


So Dusty, being the nice person that he is (or really just wanted to leave the library and get back to Whitewater. Who knows?), had volunteered to rip them all. Showing him (I assumed he was listening) that one simply hits the "Rip selected Audio CD to hard ware" button and then hit the "OK" button. Simple enough or so I thought. So, I could get my exercise in-addition too returning the CDs to their appropriate homes. Now everyone knows that Dusty isn't the greatest with technology. I had know this, and yet I thought nothing of it, because of the simplicity of the matter.


Now it's not entirely Dusty's fault; he did rip the CDs. However only to a certain point. That 'certain point' being only the first track of every album. Hmm I have yet to figure out how he did that... (though I have multiple theories). I suppose MediaMonkey could have shared some fault as the user. MediaMonkey compare to the more popular iTunes; is that it isn't as straight forward as it could be. As iTunes goes, one would just pop in the disc and imports them as so. And MediaMonkey, one must go through steps to achieve the same goal. So, I suppose the technology, the music programs, could be at some fault here. Or I could go as far to make the argument that iTunes has spoiled the user by making everything seem easier than it really is. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Well probably not; however making it simple isn't always the best.


Finding (and then losing) 20 or so treasures such as: The White Stripes, Brian Wilson, Wilco, Tom Waits, The Beau Brummels, Bob Dylan, The Band, Ry Cooder, The Black Crowes, The Raconteurs, Jakob Dylan, Arcade Fire and The Decemberists, oh well. I guess it wasn't entirely a lose (though it was); got two of Dylan's electric albums (that were complete): Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home in FLAC. Oh well, looks like I get to go back to the library.



Eventually we had watched Food, Inc. and we actually did learn from it. Believe it or not, but I had noticed that the director did used some rhetorical choices to get the point across about the food industry. And eventually Cathi had arrived and it was time to watch the 1970 version of The Wizard of Gore (since Halloween is coming up and Cathi just loves blood and gore, tehe). At the end Cody, Phil, and I had a good laugh. I don' think Cathi enjoyed as much, oh well. Isn't that just a shame?

Rocky Horror!!! :D

Originally, I had the idea for this blog to be like this...
     I had faced a conundrum this weekend. You see, I had recently went down to UWM for Saturday night and Sunday morning, where I visited a friend; Cody. So far, this isn't the conundrum. This is just leading up to the conundrum. Anyways, visiting Cody wasn't the entire reason I was in Milwaukee. Well maybe it was? Nevertheless the main reason for my trek to Milwaukee was The Rocky Horror Picture Show (as seen to the right). Now being Richard and all. One must first know that Richard likes The Rocky Horror Picture Show, yet Richard doesn't like glitter (And yes, I know I'm writing in third person. I thought it is an added effect, but who knows?). Therefore with that being said; Richard shouldn't like Rocky Horror, due to the fact that there is glitter. And yet he does like it despite the fact that of glitter.
     ... Then I thought that wouldn't be too fun to talk about (Plus I didn't have to worry about any glitter, so good deal there). Far too much logic for a Sunday night. So I rather talked about the experience, itself.


Sure, I dressed up for the occasion; having my nails painted (which were approved by a frequent Rocky Horror goer). Dressed in fishnets (which I was complimented on, quote: they we're "Fancy" or maybe it was "Classy." Either or they were both still compliments), a black skirt, two unmatched socks, a Hello Kitty shirt, and a red feather boa. Sadly, I wasn't up for the challenge of walking in heels. So I just wore pink-plaid, shoelace-less, knock-off Converse. So you know, I was looking good. Now, being that I was a virgin. I didn't really know what was to be expected, as a virgin. Standing in line I was marked with a 'V,' in red lipstick, on my forehead. As well other virgins standing in line. Don't think that's all a virgin has to do on their first time. However this is as far as I will tell; I don't want to spoil it for any other would-be virgins. 


Beyond the virgin part, I basically had an idea of what was going to go down. Such as knowing what J-A-N-E-T spells, the items that were to be thrown at the screen (except they didn't use hot dogs, but oh well), and that other movie-goers shouting their own "commentary" during the movie. One gets to join in doing the "Time Warp," just remember it's a jump to the left and a step to the right. Certainly experiencing it live is really just an experience. You see that their is a live cast acting out the whole film as it was playing on. So it was pretty sweet.


If any thing that I have learned, it probably would be that fishnets aren't to comfortable. Well I mean they aren't too comfortable while crawling on all fours. Yeah; after that my knees hurt. Another thing would be, that rice does get everywhere. It really does get stuck in hair; I'm still picking them out and still finding more elsewhere. This was certainly an enjoyable experience involving transvestism and I think I will be going down there again for the Halloween weekend showing. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be bringing more along with me from Sheboygan. Oh, I almost forgot. I lost my shoes in Milwaukee... (Don't worry, I have an idea where they might be).

Hmm...

I honestly got nothing for this blog post... So yeah, I'm just going to be a bit random (or not), enjoy. The weekend was pretty sweet for the most part, well the weather was certainly amazing for being that it's during the month of October and all. With that being said, it was also the perfect opportunity to get some sketches, gesture drawings, done for Uebelherr's class. Nothing too complex just simple things, trees and/or flowers, but made of hundreds of lines that are varying length and value.  


Friday afternoon, imported CDs that I had borrowed from the school's library earlier that day. The music was ranging from early as Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Minnie, and Woody Guthrie to bit-closer-to-modern-times as Ramones, Sex Pistols, and the soundtrack from Woodstock. So you know, nothing but the good stuff. Had fun on the Spotify and through that I had found out that Jay-Z's The Black Album is certainly and surprisingly palatable, didn't know that. Downloaded A Tree with Roots, bootleg of a more complete version of The Basement Tapes. So good deal there. Also listening to the Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" just has a strange feeling that it, would be a perfect song for Captain Beefheart to sing, but that's just me.


Was used as a pawn in my sister's game, of getting Paranormal Activity 2, it was surprisingly what I had assumed it to be.., from Family Video. Apparently, you have to be 18 or older in order to rent it, who knew? The journey to Family Video wasn't all a lost. I had surprisingly found Nowhere Boy, a bio-pic about John Lennon's early life. Incidentally this coincides with what would have been Lennon's 71st birthday. The movie was good, I enjoyed it. Learned that John Lennon called his Aunt every weekend for the rest of his life. 


New Saturday Night Live, Ben Stiller hosted and Foster the People were musical guests. Foster the People had played their radio hit "Pumped Up Kicks," which by the way isn't  about killing people. And a lesser known song... um I think it was "Houdini," but I can't really be too sure.  As I was being distracted by the appearance of Kenny G. Yeah, Kenny G was there... I just had to question Foster the People now, after a stun like that. Highlights about SNL were the recurring Weekend Update's New York Correspondent, Stefon. Stefon would report on where ourist, who are looking for a nice vacation could go. Which for him, were nothing New York's hottest clubs. And another would've been the Underground Festival, where their festival was just as nightmarish as Stefon's clubs. But of course they both were a knee slapper.


And I had also learned that nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell. Thanks for pointing that out Zimmerman. It just might be true.

Album Reviews - September

During this past month, I had the opportunity to listen almost 30 albums (Thanks to Spotify, my own vinyl collection, and other unnamed sources). And yet for some reason I feel that this is lacking in someway, oh well. The album reviews are as follow (note, not all of them listed): 

Winners
Cripple Crow (2005) - Devendra Banhart - This double album has the sound of early Tyrannosaurus Rex mixed with the Incredible String Band. In doing so it gives it that 60s psych-folk sound, which is a refreshment of other mainstream genres of the time. One thing, that I didn't see coming was that he sang a couple of songs in Spanish (that was different). On another note Devendra Banhart does have the sound of Marc Bolan in his voice, that's just crazy. Favorite tracks "Lazy Butterfly," "The Beatles," and "Chinese Children."
Mellow Gold (1994) – Beck - I can't believe I haven't listen to this before. Beck crossing and re-inventing genres, simply amazing. This certainly was a treat. Having witty surrealistic lyrics doesn't hurt either. Favorite Tracks "Loser," "Soul Suckin' Jerk," "Sweet Sunshine," "Beercan," and "Nitemare Hippy Girl."
Out to Hunch (1986) - Hasil Adkins – If country was more like this. I would feel a lot safer at night. Favorite tracks "No More Hot Hogs," "Chicken Walk," "Can't Help It Blues," "Hot Dog Baby," "Teenie Weenie Waddy Kiss," and "Truly Ruly."


Losers
Born to Run (1975) - Bruce Springsteen - This was nothing more than a piss stain. And that's me being nice. Here's a tip for the saxophonist, who really needs to learn more than just six notes (only repeating them over and over, and being quite loud about it, just isn't to cool). I mean really listen to some Coltrane or Parker, and learn something. Only good thing about this was Jim Steinman made a much better album for Meat Loaf to sing. Favorite track “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” (only bearable track).
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) - Kanye West - Liking the use of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man." This album actually tricked me, having me to believe it was legit . For the first six tracks, it would have been great. But after those tracks, the album loses its' mojo. Making it confusing and tasteless. Favorite tracks "Dark Fantasy," "Power," and "All of the Lights."
Blowin' Your Mind! (1967) - Van Morrison - Sure the album has "Brown Eyed Girl," but beyond that it's really not that great. I never actually thought I would have ever said that about a Van Morrison album, but I guess it happens. Well, I will put it like this, for a Van Morrison album there is very little to no creative input, unlike his is future albums. Favorite tracks "Brown Eyed Girl," "He Ain't Give You None," and "T.B. Sheets." (On a side note, everything after this album up to Veedon Fleece is genius).
It's Not Killing Me (1969) - Michael Bloomfield – Sure being Mike Bloomfield, you do have something going for you, being a kick ass guitarist. But singing isn't one of them. Much of the problem is Bloomfield's singing, it's all over the place. Due to this, this his guitar playing suffers. In a strange way this could be seen as a domino effect for the blues guitarist, never really achieving the same fame as he previously had. Favorite tracks 'It's Not Killing Me,” and “Next Time You See Me.” 


Others

Common Faults (2008) - The Silent Comedy - This albums has potential of actually being something as well as the band. Being that The Silent Comedy is a relativity "new" band. They have the sound of Mumford and Sons mixed with a dash of Wolfmother. The band switches genres between hard rocking electric blues to folk rock throughout most of the album, and sometimes combines the two. Not saying that's a bad thing, but the listener can at times feel lost. Favorite tracks “'49,” “Poison,” “The Well,” “Bartholomew,” “Tightrope,” “Moonshine,” and “Gasoline.”

Opus Lengthemus (1989) – Poopshovel - This little treasure hails from Madison, Wisconsin. That within itself is pretty neat. Being that this is their debut album and not knowing who they are or what they sounded like was something. For some reason I had this false idea that they would have the sound of the Dead Kennedys, however that wasn't the case. They were punk (in someway) and metal. Oh, they also include jazz (they have a trumpet player in the band, that was something). Favorite tracks “African Bees,” “Sausage,” and “Ouija Board.”
So Jealous (2004) - Tegan and Sara - The album started out slow, but when it hit the third or fourth track the album really took off. This Canadian folk duo real caught my attention, because at quick glance album cover looks like Steely Dan's Aja. So I just had to listen to it. They certainly are bringing back the New Wave genre, that's apparent throughout the album. Favorite tracks “I Know I Know I Know,” “Where Does the Good Go,” “Downtown,” and “I Won't Be Left,” and “Walking with a Ghost”

High Society (2007) - The Silver Seas - The Silver Seas are the American answer the Mumford and Sons, mixed with some blue-eyed white soul. Enough said. Favorite tracks “The Country Life,” “Ms. November,” and “Catch Your Own Train.”

Riot on an Empty Street (2004) - Kings of Convenience - This could be the Norwegian Indie-Folk duo's best album, well at least so far. Having a Simon & Garfunkel-esque to their music, so nothing can go wrong with that. The album overall has a nice vibe to it. Favorite tracks "Homesick," "Misread," "Know How," "Sorry or Please," "I'd Rather Dance With You," and "Gold in the Air of Summer."

The Cat and the Cobra (1999) - Les Savy Fav - This album wasn't really burned into my memory. So I'm guessing that it was pretty average then, if I don't remember it. Oops. I think the album was either suppose to be alternative or indie, or a possible combination of them both. Or it was just noise.