Oh well..

So I got bored with this blog rather quickly... Really, I blame twitter.

Anyways, I feel like maybe I'd be more inclined to update if it was more focused. But rather than trying to focus this blog, I just started over.

Presenting, "One Good Thing About Music", where I will post album reviews, concert reviews, tour announcements, and other music thoughts and news.

http://1-good-thing.blogspot.com

TigerTigerTiger Woods, Y'all!

Haven't updated this thing in forever, probably for lack of decent ideas. But I got this hat today that I've been wanting for a while now...



I kinda wanted the black one more, but white is a good summer hat color, and I have a lot of black hats already. Good stuff though... Tiger is the man.

Sorry

This twitter thing is too easy... hence why I never post here. I'll get back to it sooner or later.

I should do more music and movie reviews. Maybe TV..? Who knows.

My Top 20 Albums of 2008

Okay, so maybe there are a lot more than 20... oh well.

1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends 10/10
2. Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold 9/10
3. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night 10/10
4. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound 10/10
5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend 9/10
6. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 9.5/10
7. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... 9.5/10
8. Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static 9/10
9. The Killers - Day & Age 8.5/10
10. Portishead - Third 9/10
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11. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular 9/10
12. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs 9/10
13. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. 9/10
14. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals 9/10
15. Zox - Line in the Sand 9/10
16. Fall Out Boy - Folie a Deux 8.5/10
17. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel 9/10
18. Bloc Party - Intimacy 8.5/10
19. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours 9/10
20. Fennesz - Black Sea 9/10
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21. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak 8/10
22. Santogold - Santogold 8.5/10
23. Q-Tip - The Renaissance 8.5/10
24. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely 8.5/10
25. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges 8.5/10
26. Common - Universal Mind Control 8.5/10
27. Jedi Mind Tricks - A History Of Violence 8.5/10
28. Ben Folds - Way To Normal 8/10
29. Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt 8.5/10
30. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement 8.5/10
31. John Legend - Evolver 8/10
32. 88-Keys - The Death of Adam 8.5/10
33. The Roots - Rising Down 8/10
34. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark 8.5/10
35. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath ?/10
36. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed 8.5/10
37. Dr. Dog - Fate 8.5/10
38. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul 8.5/10
39. Ratatat - LP3 8.5/10
40. Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns 8.5/10
41. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 8.5/10
42. Akrobatik - Absolute Value 8.5/10
43. OAR - All Sides 8/10
44. Murs - Murs for President 8.5/10
45. Nas - Untitled 8/10
46. NERD - Seeing Sounds 8/10
47. Metallica - Death Magnetic 8/10
48. Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger 7.5/10
49. eMC - The Show 8/10
50. Ice Cube - Raw Footage 7.5/10
51. The Game - LAX 8/10
52. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple 8/10
53. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive 8/10
54. The Faint - Fasciinatiion 7.5/10
55. Termanology - Politics as Usual 7.5/10
56. Immortal Technique - The 3rd World 7.5/10
57. Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman - The Fabled City 7/10
58. Illa J - Yancey Boys 7/10
59. TV on the Radio - Dear Science 8/10
60. Ludacris - Theater of the Mind 7/10
61. Glasvegas - Glasvegas 6/10
62. Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy 7/10
63. LL Cool J - Exit 13 6.5/10

Top 10 Concerts I've Ever Been To

I thought this would be fun to do... There are a lot of things to consider when trying to compare shows to one another. Shows like Kanye and RHCP have amazing production value because they're big budget acts that can afford to have huge lighting displays and screens on their tours, while smaller bands can't afford that stuff. But that shouldn't be held against the smaller bands. Also, there is the overall performance: how long the show was, has well the act performed, etc. Finally, there is the personal x-factor. The overall experience and memories you have when you think about a show.

1. Dispatch: Zimbabwe (7/13/07)
Madison Sq Garden, NYC
Dispatch's reunion concert is my #1 because of the x-factor. Radiohead put on the best show I have ever seen, but Dispatch was my favorite concert. I took the trip with a group of my best friends to NYC for the night, and was 3rd row at MSG. How can you beat that?!

2. Radiohead (8/13/08)
Grizzly Bear; Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

3. Coldplay (10/29/08)
Duffy; TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA

4. The Roots (3/13/07)
Lupe Fiasco; Avalon, Boston, MA

5. Zox (11/27/04)
State Radio; Lupo's, Providence, RI

6. Atmosphere (10/12/05)
POS, Blueprint; Lupo's, Providence, RI

7. Jack Johnson (8/6/08)
Rogue Wave, Neil Halstead; Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

8. Dave Matthews Band (8/1/07)
Xavier Rudd; Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

9. Jurassic 5 (5/6/05)
Lupo's, Providence, RI

10. Kanye West (7/10/07)
Common, Lupe Fiasco; Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT

Honorable Mentions/Runners Up:

11. The Who (10/24/08); Inward Eye; TD Banknorth Garden
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers (10/2/06); The Mars Volta; TD Banknorth Garden
13. Dispatch (7/31/04); The Hatch Shell, Boston
14. Rock The Bells: Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, MF Doom, Felt/Atmosphere, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Eligh & Grouch, Rahzel, Supernatural (7/29/07); Randall's Island, NYC
15. Guster (11/12/05); Matt Pond PA; Lupo's
16. Gym Class Heroes (2/17/07); Rx Bandits, POS, K-Os; The Avalon
17. Immortal Technique (4/1/07); Poison Pen, Akir; Middle East Downstairs
18. OAR (10/6/05); Dunkin Donuts Center

Mountain Dew Christmas Tree!!!

This is one of the coolest things EVER!!!
(click the picture to see it full-sized)

(Thanks to Eth. on kL for showing me the pictures)

Bad Larry Reunion Show

So last night was the Bad Larry reunion show after 3 years of not playing together... I was so excited about this show, even though I thought it would've been better at the Living Room over Thanksgiving when everyone was home, like it was originally scheduled for. But what are you gonna do... They are the best band to ever come out of Cranston, RI and they put on awesome shows, this was my 6th time seeing them.

Show was awesome! I was about 3 or 4 people from the stage, right in front of the horn section, which is my favorite part. They played great, everything seemed to go off without a hitch. The only problem for me was that it went by so fast. I really hope these guys get together again and play another show, even if its a few years from now.

With the number of concerts I go to, I kind of look for new and exciting things to do or take away from a show. For a while now, my goal has been to catch a drumstick thats thrown into the crowd at the end of a band's set. Bad Larry gave me the perfect opportunity, being so close and all. The drumsticks were thrown out into the crowd, and one was coming right at me. I was taller than most of the people around me, stuck my hand up, and should have had it... but I blew it. Rather than hit me in the soft part of my hand just above my thumb, it bounced right off the hard bone/joint at the base of my pointer finger. It hurt, too. I'm still bitter.

Anyways, here are some pictures I took with my phone. Keep in mind it's a camera phone so they aren't the best quality. If you click it you can see the full size version.

Random

I haven't posted anything in a while, and I don't really have anything to post at the moment... but felt like it was necessary to "check in".

Posts Coming Soon:
"Top 10 Concerts I've Been To", "Favorite Albums of 2008", and more...

Everyone should check out 2 comic strip sites that are updated almost daily... xkcd.com and explosm.net
Both sites had funny ones up today, which I will copy below:
(click to enlarge)

New Albums

Jedi Mind Tricks - A History of Violence 8.5/10
Brand new album from JMT that marks the return of Jus Allah to the group after a 3 album absence. The production was awesome. Usually I'm the one saying that production only hurts a record if it becomes distractingly bad, but this album is proof that great production can also really strengthen an album. Really complex beats with samples and a lot of strings, coming from DJ Stoupe, and sometimes accompanying scratches by DJ Kwestion. Vinnie Paz sounded great on the album. Lots of passion, great rhyming, and some serious topics. It was good to hear Jus Allah back, but his verses were actually forgettable, for the most part. Although I feel he is still important to the group for balance purposes. My only problem is that the best songs are the first, "Deathbed Doctrine", and last, "Death Messiah". While I enjoyed everything in between, I think the flow of the album could have been better. Great album though, definitely glad I checked it out.

88-Keys - The Death of Adam 8.5/10
At first I didn't like the album. But after I was done listening to it, I thought about it for 10 or 15 minutes and realized the genius. I hadn't just listened to an album, I had just listened to a movie. I initially thought the narration between songs was lame, but now I realize how important it was to the story. The beats were very well produced, which was kind of the meat of the album, I think. The lyrics/verses/guest appearances were all good, but nothing special. They did their part to tell a piece of the story. But rather than think of it as an album, like I did originally, you have to think of it as an audio movie. I can honestly see a real movie play before me as I listen to it. You know the whole plot and each scene and even some of the dialogue, and could elaborate from there. Someone should make this movie; it would either be great or terrible. So I'd say its a decent album, musically, but the ingenuity, creativity, and pure genius behind the concept really make it special. I'd love to see something like this about a more serious topic.

The Killers - Day & Age 9/10
Okay. I'm two listens deep, and to be honest I think I need more. But I'll give it a shot anyways. I had slightly different expectations going in, so the first listen threw me off-balance which is why I needed to go back. I was surprised to not hear any Guitar Hero worthy anthems like "When You Were Young". I was expecting the album to be more loud and dance-inducing. However, I didn't hold that against it. I went back and re-listened, knowing what I was getting into, and it resulted in a more enjoyable experience, not to say that the first listen wasn't. The songs are great, both instrumentally and lyrically. Brandon's voice sounds more crisp and clear than it has on any previous work. I think the "experimental" tracks where they tried to do something completely different, like "Joy Ride" and "This Is Your Life", sound a little out of place at first, but I liked them even more the second time around. I think the album is going to really grow on me and I'll end up loving it more than I do now. The only tracks that I don't really feel at the moment are "Dustland Fairytale" and "I Can't Stay". I feel like the most powerful tracks are the first 4 and the last (10th), leaving you wanting a little more "umph" in the middle, even though I love middle tracks like "Neon Tiger" and "This Is Your Life". The bonus tracks, "A Crippling Blow" and "Forget About What I Said", seem to be the louder more anthem-sounding tracks that I was looking for in the album, leaving me unsure of why they didn't want to include them. Overall, the shortcomings are little compared to the quality of all the positives. I had trouble choosing between an 8.5 and 9, but I can tell that this is the type of album that gets better with each listen, so I went for the higher of the two.

Quantum of Solace

So last night I went to the midnight showing of the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. Being the shortest Bond movie in the franchise, and being described as "action-packed" had me worried, going in, that it would strip the charm and humor of Bond and turn him into an action hero.
Unfortunately, I was right. I'll give it a 7/10.
(As an action movie: 8/10 ; Bond movie: 6/10)

The movie was good and bad. It was what I expected going into it. If I hadn't read reviews beforehand, my hopes would've been much higher and I would've given it a much lower score. They kind of made it too much of an action movie, and not enough of a Bond movie. There wasn't really any charm and suave-ness, it was just almost all action and killing. It was entertaining, but just not in the way a Bond movie should be. Also, there was no signature gun barrel sequence at the beginning of the movie; they put it at the very end. Now it took me a while to get over the fact that they had cut out signature phrases like "Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken Not Stirred", but I knew they did that months ago so it was okay. Regardless, some things shouldn't change, and the gun barrel sequence is one of them. What was the point of taking it out? It was a terrible decision. Which leads me to the next thing, the opening song and opening credit sequence both sucked. Kind of a letdown there, too. While Judi Dench is always great as M, I was trying to figure out why all of her agents/assistants weren't calling her "M" but something that sounded like either "Ma'am" or "Mum". Why did the director/writers/producers try to change so much of the conventions that make Bond movies Bond movies? What are they trying to prove? I just don't get it. With all that said, it was still fun to watch and really entertaining... some really cool action scenes.

However, there were other issues that weren't related to Bond movies specifically. The camera-work was really bad to the point of being distracting during action scenes. They were all shot way too close up, with almost no wider shots. The cameras were too shaky, sometimes losing the characters from the frame. In the first two action sequences in the movie, it was hard to tell at times who Bond was and who the bad guy was, which is really distracting. When you cut to a new shot or angle in a movie, its supposed to be done so that the viewer doesnt even notice. I noticed. There were way too many cuts, which, combined with the shaky camera and close angle, really made it hard to follow. People were surprised when the length of the film was announced. At 1:40 it is the shortest Bond film ever, but to me it felt like it ran long.

Daniel Craig is excellent. I don't want to take anything away from him. He's a great Bond, I just hope that they can put him in another good Bond movie before he gets too old. All of the acting, actually, I thought was pretty good. It's the writers' and director's fault, here, for making a bad Bond movie. It was almost like they were torn, because there are certain scenes that are SO Bond and really help make the movie, like an homage to Goldfinger that I won't spoil for anyone.

So overall, I was disappointed... I'm hoping that when they make a few more and show the progression of Bond from being new, rebellious and killing people to being more classy, this movie will fit in well. Although, at the end of Casino Royale it appeared as if he was evolving into the classy Bond we know in the very last scene. It was almost like they threw that out the window and made him rugged and vengeful all over again. So we'll see what happens next, I hope they realize what they did wrong and make a real Bond movie next time.