01.28.07

Music Review - Blackfield - Blackfield II

Posted in Music Reviews at 12:09 pm

In England, there lives a man who writes, performs, and produces some of the most beautiful music in this world. And practically nobody will ever even hear it.

That man’s name is Steven Wilson.

Heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, Wilson has been producing music for over 20 years. His most popular works are with Porcupine Tree, Wilson’s progressive rock band. Porcupine Tree’s latest albums have come under more influence from the realm of metal; his blending of the two genres is wonderfully unique.

Despite my love for Porcupine Tree, I prefer Wilson’s side-project, Blackfield. In Blackfield, Wilson teams up with Aviv Geffen to create a more pop-oriented style of progressive music, and the tandem’s chemistry is immediately addictive.

Before I continue, I’d like you to go to my MySpace page and listen to the Blackfield MP3 on the playlist (it is currently on the top on auto-play). This is the intro song to Blackfield II.

In February of 2007, Blackfield will release their second album, Blackfield II, three years after their original self-titled album. After just a few listens to this 42 minute long masterpiece, I can already guarantee that this will be in the Top 5 of 2007.

While I was in high school, I listened to a lot of Swedish death metal (I still do). But my brother once asked me, “What do you listen to when you want to chill out?” It took me nearly a decade to find the respond to that question, Nick, and the answer is Blackfield.

Blackfield II might have a bit of pop in it, but the underlying tones are melodically depressing. Wilson’s time-tested methodologies of contemplation and evaluation conjure fantastic mood music. However dark the album may get, though, I cannot allow Blackfield to do anything but make me happier. I find it greatly satisfying knowing that there’s music so atmospherically beautiful out there, and that I have discovered it, never to let it go. (Note: on the left is an image of the cover of the original Blackfield album)

The album gets better and better with every listen. At times I feel that I have disserviced Blackfield by putting the track “Once” all alone on my MySpace playlist. This album can’t be broken down into songs – one of Wilson’s greatest strengths is his ability to make an entire album flow together as if it’s one epic song, only to shift like subtle changes of seasons.

The blend of smooth vocals, electric guitars, and keyboards provide a great foundation for a rollercoaster of an album. Every song has its ups and downs, and I find it impossible to get bored with it. I do, however, get lost in this album in ways that I don’t experience too often. Before I know it, I’ve been sitting here for 42 minutes doing absolutely nothing and the only thing I can remember is that I was listening to some really damned good music.

Whether you’re a metalhead looking for an afternoon chill album or a mellow user of psychedelic drugs, I urge you to listen as well. The album will be available in the states in March of 2007, and in Europe in February. It can be found here at amazon.com, and be sure to check out the video preview of Blackfield II on blackfield.org.

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01.26.07

A Few More Things…

Posted in Life, The Universe, and Everything at 12:08 am

Earlier, I wrote a blog entry about what I’ll miss about Austin. I forgot two so VERY important things that I have to add a new entry:

1. Skirts with cowboy boots. HOT. It’s awesome, I hope this catches on everywhere. Enough said.
2. Y’ALL. I must say, I have fallen in love with the use of y’all. It’s so much more fun and easy to say than “you guys” . :”You guys” is awkward and lame, but Y’all has so many good uses:

   “How’re y’all doin?”
   “It was nice coming to y’alls house”
   “Fuck y’all I’m from Texas”

   And so on. So I plan on bringing y’all with me from Texas, even if people thing I’m a moron when I say it in the city. And I hope the ladies bring the boots and skirts.

3. The hard-working attitudes of Texans (and Ohioans, for that matter). More on this later.

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01.20.07

I Can’t Cry

Posted in HUMILIATIONS, Life, The Universe, and Everything at 9:29 pm

It’s been a bit over a month since my LASIK surgery, so I thought I’d share an update.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t that great. The swelling in my left eye went down, so that part’s good.

However, my eyes are not producing tears well, and my tear film is basically awful. This means that my eyes are dry and dirty, which makes the vision blurrier. My left eye (the dominant one) is the worst. The problem is that cutting that flap severs the nerves, so my eyes can’t send the signal to my brain that they need some juice. On an offtopic note, my liver sent messages to my brain for years during college begging for water and alcohol-free liquids, which also went ignored.

The first thing we tried doing was putting temporary plugs in my tear drains on the bottom. This would block 80% of my eyes’ drainage. It didn’t work. I am still going to consider getting some permanent plugs because I’m sure it didn’t hurt.

Next, I was put on a prescription eye drop called Restasis for about two weeks. It is finally slowly starting to kick in, so we’ll see how it goes.

Moving to LA has also not helped the eye situation. This is essentially a desert climate, only near the ocean, so I’ve been dryer than sawdust. For two weeks I’ve been drinking gallons of water, only to remain thirsty and simply pee it right back out. This transition from humid Austin to dry LA has not been pleasant, but I’m slowly adjusting. I guess it’s been dryer here than usual too.

When I do get some tears going (from hot food or watching chick flicks [j/k]), my vision is incredible. But by the end of the day, my eyes are tired and my vision is bad. Especially if I’m drinking even a little, which dehydrates me. I have confidence that when my tears get going, I’ll be happy.

So at this point, I must say that I wish I had not gotten this surgery. Hey, we all make mistakes, and I’m not one to lie to myself. I ask myself, “Were contacts really THAT bad?” And the answer is “no”. I also realized that my eyes got very dry with contacts too, and I should have done something about that earlier on.

Despite being a computer geek, I’m typically a laggard when it comes to toys and gadgets. I think I did the surgery a bit too early in its “technology adoption curve.” I would put LASIK right at the later part of the Visionary segment in this chart, adopted from the fantastic book Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Normally I don’t use products this early because I don’t want to deal with the BS involved (my long-time usage of Linux is obviously a major exception), so why did I jump on this so early? I would say that if you’re more of a laggard like me, wait until they don’t have to cut your flap open and you can be out and 95% recovered within an hour.

So ladies, if you wanna break my heart and shatter it into pieces, please do so now, because for at least a little while longer, I can’t cry!

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01.14.07

Early Season Review: 24, Episodes 1-4 (NO SPOILERS)

Posted in TV at 10:56 pm

After 7 months of waiting, the first two installments of Fox’s hit series “24″ will finally be released to the world tonight. Due to my devastating good looks and personality, I have already made connections rather high up in Hollywood, and have secured the first four episodes of the thrilling action series.

Led by Jack Bauer and our friends at the Los Angeles CTU (Counter-Terrorist Unit) must again fight our Middle-Eastern pals who find it more important to destroy all of America rather than to lead meaningful and happy lives. We find out through the previews that Jack has been exchanged back to the United States by the Republic of China. Terrorists who have taken the country under a siege of suicide bombing attacks are demanding Jack be sacrificed in order to obtain critical information to stop the attacks.

I will not give away any details to the shows. Normally, it really wouldn’t matter because 24 has become so formulaic that you could predict everything from the start. For instance, let’s recap some of the formula:

• Jack returns from some type of hiatus in which he must overcome physical, mental, and personal issues in order to perform his job,
• CTU will have an insider and get compromised, often due to the fact that it is protected by mall security,
• A foul-smelling love plot will permeate early on in the season and fester the entire time throughout,
• It only takes 15 minutes to drive ANYWHERE in Los Angeles county (this is even more ridiculous now that I live here),
• CTU will have a high-ranking female individual who is a weak and embarrassing leader, but will also be rather pleasing to the eye,
• Someone from “Division” will come to replace CTU due to their incompetence, but will only bring more incompetence,
• A civilian family will be brought into the mix and have some sort of tremendous impact,
• Jack will go crazy and stop following protocol (often with a quality interrogation scene or two),
• The Nation’s leaders won’t listen to Jack because he’s gone crazy, only to realize he was right when it’s too late,
• All blonde-haired characters will be indestructible (Jack, Chloe, Audrey, Kim), while brunettes deal with a much higher mortality rate,
• Someone dies in the CTU hospital room,
• Jack will scream “DAMNIT!” and it will be awesome.

I’m not complaining though, because the formula is a good one, the action is great, and Kiefer Sutherland is incredible. It’s post-911 action/drama and I love it.

Moving on to this season, you can already tell that you will see some of the above formulaic traits. However, I’ll tell you this – this is NOT going to be your typical 24 season. If you think the show jumped the shark after its outlandish 5th season, then come on back aboard, because this one looks intense, and above all else, different.

Jack is different, as he’s been through a lot in China. The leadership is different, having learned from old mistakes and having a new President. The enemy is different, because there are multiple fronts. And finally, Chloe is different – she just looks hotter and is losing her charismatic attitude.

You will see things that have not happened in previous 24s. You will see Jack do things that he’s never done, and things done to Jack that haven’t been done before (i.e. he actually doesn’t beat the ever-living shit out of someone in one altercation, but don’t worry, that person will still die).

These new twists, along with others, make 24 extremely promising. Watch the first four episodes and tell me you aren’t absolutely hooked. Because I am, and now I have to wait a month to see any more.

Enjoy, and Rest In Peace Edgar (Seasons 2-5, pictured above)
-berto

PS: Bonus material – www.bauercount.com – read about every one of Jack’s kills in all episodes. Looking at the Episode 6 data may spoil it for you.

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01.10.07

HUMILIATION

Posted in HUMILIATIONS, Travels at 11:20 pm

On Sunday, my friend Joe and I drove from LA to Phoenix, for the National Championship. After dropping Joe off, I picked up Jeremy and Allison at the airport. Kirby came a couple of hours later, and it was great seeing everyone.

Our late-weekend beatdown began quite quickly as we tried to go out in Glendale, only to get turned around due to the bars closing at midnight. All of the good events were far off in Scottsdale, so we just turned in and drank at the hotel and caught up.

Gameday was fun, despite being on a Monday. We went to a tailgate quickly, and saw that the ticket market was unreasonably expensive ($1300 for a ticket? No thanks..) so Jer and I gave up that idea real quickly and decided to get sloshed all day long. We succeeded.

We arrived at the big party in their shopping center, and began the Budweiser onslaught. Good times were had, it was a bit too loud and a bit too crowded. Allison headed out to get her Florida student ticket, but we kept drinking.

It was my first time seeing Josh and Gina for a long time, so it was great partying with them. We also bumped into Kate, Marisa, D. Smith, Silverman, and lil Steph, which was cool.

The game was as horrible for me as it was for you. It’s almost funny how unprepared and humiliated Tressel had this team. I don’t need to write any more about it… every one else has said it all.

After that, we were pretty chill, had some more drinks, and now I’m in the car with Joe on the way back home.

All props to Florida’s team and Urban Meyer. But I gotta tell you, Florida fans have to be the lamest bunch of ducks I’ve ever seen. I’m glad there weren’t any problems though, it seems that things were rather peaceful. Now this isn’t sour grapes, I give their team respect, but the lameness was just unbelievable:

The Florida cheers are retarded. “Orange!… Blue!…. Orange!… Blue!”. Real creative — and that is one of the better ones. That Florida chomp looks ridiculous. The clothing, the hairstyles, the constant references to gator bait. You have got to be kidding me. I know I’m not the most stylish person (nor is Ohio State in general.. we have plenty of issues too) but please shoot a hole in my head if you ever see me wearing a pair of khakis that have little team logos embroidered all over them. Or if I grow Donald Trump hair, which I saw on at least 3 guys. Or if I pop my collar. Are you people serious?

Anyway, it was a fun weekend, but could have obviously been better. Good seeing everyone, we’ll need to figure out what games in 07 we’ll get together for! I’ll have pics up later.

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