The Day of Black Sun 

04-25-2007, 12:25pm (EDT)

Desert Island Discs

I have always thought the practice of listing one's "desert island discs" is a great idea. Done correctly, such a list not only serves as a good ice-breaker for sharing and discussing listening preferences, but it also tells you a lot about a person well beyond the boundaries of music. Here is my desert island discs list (as well as a window into my soul) in all its glory.

04-16-2007, 7:35am (EDT)

Let 'em cry

I have decided that I need to avoid talking to other parents about the issue of whether or not to let infants cry themselves to sleep. Sarah and I don't believe in this, but it seems that a rather strong majority of parents think this is the way to go. That doesn't bug me -- to each his own -- but what does bother me is when the cry-it-out parents "defend" their positions by claiming it is the "hardest thing they've ever had to do." Hard? Really? Hey, I didn't ask these folks if it "hurt their feelings." Of course it hurt and it should. I would hope that any good parent would feel badly for ignoring her/his infant's screams for help (especially because the child is too young to understand the lesson). But difficult? Feelings of guilt aside, how hard is it to let a crying child to scream for 15-20 minutes straight for two or three consecutive nights? Compare that to the effort of losing days of sleep for the first year trying to nurture an infant into good sleep habits. Heck, an infant/toddler will cry for longer than 20 minutes just because of teething pain. Bet that 1 hour spent doing cry-it-out doesn't sound so terrible now. Let's be honest here: the cry-it-out method is used so often because it requires minimal exertion and it gets immediate results.

04-14-2007, 7:02am (EDT)

Cats are the best

I have always been a cat person, and they seem to like me as much I like them. Now dogs and I, on the other hand, don't get along too well. I have been attacked by dogs on more than a couple occasions, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have always wondered if my issues with dogs is somehow related to my cat affinity. Anyhow, I suppose I was always destined to be a cat person. When I was just an infant, one of the neighborhood cats gave birth to a single female kitten, and the mother cat abandoned her offspring not long afterward. My mother took in the sickly little calico, naming her Liberty, and nursed her to health. I too was pretty sickly at the time, and as my mom likes to say, she carried two baskets around with her, one for me and one for Liberty, feeding me with a bottle and her with a eye-dropper. Well, Liberty grew up to be quite the healthy outdoor, mouse-catching feline -- she even managed to survive into her 20's -- but she was never very friendly with other cats or people. However, we were always buddies despite her anti-social tendencies. Even after I left home, she never forgot who I was and never hesitated to curl up next to me when I came to visit. She was a great cat and I'll always remember her.

04-04-2007, 12:32pm (EDT)

YouTube Giddiness

I could give props to YouTube until I'm blue in the face, but there's no need for that, everyone is already doing it for me. Simply put, YouTube is just a great gathering place for *legally* sharing underground music and art/film. Copyright issues aside, it has got to be one of the best things the internet has ever created. So far, my favorite YouTube activity has been watching videos for some of my favorite bands from the past, many of which I never got to see in first run. In particular, I got a real kick out of seeing a very early, raw live performance of "She's My Friend" by The Catherine Wheel--one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands. To paraphrase one of the submitted comments for this video: Wow. I know I love a band when I can watch old, grainy footage of them I've never seen before and get all giddy like I'm a kid again.

"She My Friend" (live)
 

Other suggested YouTubes of The Catherine Wheel:
 

"Crank"

"Black Metallic" (audio only)

"Eat My Dust You Insensitive F***"

"Sparks Are Gonna Fly"

04-01-2007, 7:10am (EDT)

Infinity on High

So I finally got to listen to Fall Out Boy's latest offering, and it is quite good. But I have to admit, I approached this album with a lot of doubt. I haven't particularly liked the first two singles ("This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" and "Carpel Tunnel of Love"), but the rest of the album more than makes up for these tracks. Although Fall Out Boy is usually at its best when cranking the volume, Infinity on High offers up some surprisingly quality moments at the quieter end of the spectrum. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised--regardless of the noise level and the vocals and the instrumentation, bassist Wentz has proven himself to be a solid songwriter. Grade: A-.

03-28-2007, 2:20pm (EDT)

Smells Like Interpretive Dance

The music of Nirvana is being turned into a theatre production. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

03-24-2007, 7:03am (EDT)

The Great Alarm Clock Scare

One of my favorite memories from college is the "animosity" between my third-year roommate and my alarm clock. Now to understand why this is funny, you need to know a little something about my roomie. He was (and still is, I'm sure) quite the martial arts bad a**, and consquently, he doesn't fear any man. In fact, he doesn't fear much at all, except for bugs (phobia)--some would say he has a borderline unhealthy lack of fear toward injury and death. Anyhow, I generally had an early schedule throughout college, while he had typical late-morning, early afternoon classes that allowed him to stay up late and sleep in without missing anything. We slept on bunk beds, with me on the top bunk. I owned this fairly old alarm clock that I had set to "buzz," and the sound that constituted the buzz, well, while I can't really describe it completely, I must admit it was quite loud compared to most similar alarm clocks and it really was not a pleasant sound. Still, not a big deal for most people, but I suppose my roomie wasn't most people. I remember the first morning my alarm went off--although I couldn't see my roomie on the bottom bunk, it was easy to figure out what happened just by listening--he jerked awake and simultaneously cursed "S***!" really loud while his limbs flailed about, striking the walls and bed, and he also smacked the underside of my bunk with his head. I felt bad at first, but after I realized that he wasn't causing/sustaining any permanent damage, the sadistic side of me got a few laughs out of the situtation. I remember that this continued for about a week, and then one day, I realized that I didn't hear my roomie scream the usual curse. I peered down at him, and saw him laying absolutely still with eyes wide open in fear and surprise. He then noticed that I was there, and then I exclaimed loudly, "S***!"

03-22-2007, 1:58pm (EDT)

J5 disbanding

Jurassic 5 is calling it quits. Ugh... there goes another one.

03-16-2007, 8:30am (EDT)

"Who wants to live forever...?"

There is a rumor floating around that Green Day will appear in the upcoming The Simpsons movie, and that they will perhaps contribute to the soundtrack as well. Very cool. The Simpsons has become such an icon of Generation X satirical humor and liberal America in general--if true, this will certainly ensure the band's immortality, figuratively speaking, of course.

03-12-2007, 12:18pm (EDT)

Wedding Song Lyrics

I am beginning to wonder whether anyone really listens to the words of a song anymore. Take music at weddings for example. I understand that different people interpret songs differently, and that sometimes people choose certain songs for their wedding because they want to make those songs part of their special day for whatever reason. That's understandable. However, I have been a guest at several [semi-traditional western-world Christian] weddings where critical moments of the wedding or reception featured pop songs that are clearly about breaking up or death, no ambiguity about it [song titles have been omitted to protect the innocent]. Yikes! I can't imagine for a moment that any of these folks would've done that if they really knew the lyrics.