Brand New Brand New

The next Brand New album is out in a few days but they've got the full CD on Myspace right now. It's a bit of a different sound but I think it'll be a fucking badass addition to their already incredible arsenal of music. If you liked songs like Limousine and Luca then you'll really like this new album. On the other side, the new Taking Back Sunday album is either coming out or is already out. It sounds like good ole TBS, nothing seems really experimental in their sound. I'll get back to it once I give it a solid week's worth of a listen.

I Used To Believe

This is a great website for those of you who haven't lost your inner child. It is a collection of things people used to believe as young children. Most are very funny but some are truly amazing in that I remember believing with all my heart some of the same things. For instance when I was five years old I believed that Disney World was actually up in the clouds because the logo had the castle on clouds and I had to take a plane to get there. The site is full of beliefs like this. It's very cool to see that I wasn't alone in some of my odd beliefs as a child. Check it out, you can even add in your own for others to see.

Some of the front page examples:

"My sisters used to believe that banks were simply where you got money from; if you're out of money, you simply to go the bank and get more. My father would once in a while complain about something being too expensive, and my sisters would tell him not to worry as the bank has plenty of money available for everybody. We told them it was not so... they finally believed us when they were about 12."

"Iused to believe that if people swallowed orange seeds, they would grow in their stomachs and very soon branches would come out of their ears. It happened that one day I accidently swallowed one. I remembered running to my Mom and asking her to take me to a doctor. At that time she told me that we should wait until the branches were visible and then she would hire a gardener to tend me! So I waited patiently for weeks. After some time,I decided that the orange seed I accidently swallowed was a bad seed."

Tomorrow Marks 64 Years Since Hiroshima

It's weird to think Hiroshima was that long ago. Here are some pictures of the before and aftermath of the events on that fateful day. To think that people are capable of inflicting that much destruction on one another is a horrific realization. It was said that around 70,000 people were killed instantly and about that same amount during the aftermath. I'm sure I'll never even meet that many people in my whole life. Yet we were able to kill that many in the blink of an eye. I hope, for the sake of us all, that these types of events never transpire again. Here are some photos from an article on Boston.com

Before
After

Color WWI Photos

I didn't realize this would hit me as hard as it did. For some reason or another, old black and white photos don't seem as real to me so I can easily possess a sort of disconnect from those pictured. With these colored photos however, I find myself looking through the eyes of someone who was there. I think the fact that these photos now look like something I could see actually happening with my own eyes is what stirs up a sort of heavy emotional response to a war that is barely covered in grammar school. The uniforms almost look like costumes for a play when I see them in grainy black and white pictures. Seeing them here, full of life and emotion is a rare spectacle.















More Pictures

South Park Memo to MPAA

I just found a memo from Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park, regarding the MPAA's suggested cuts to the South Park Movie. First off, this was a hysterical memo but secondly it directly shows the double standard of the MPAA and big industry movies. When an independent film like Kirby Dick's This Film is Not Yet Rated, the MPAA gave no notes on how to bring it down to an R rating. I just really liked this memo for it's professionalism regarding the hilariously crude subject matter.

Here is the Actual Memo

Control Room

Wow.... Talk about seeing things from the other side. The documentary Control Room is a point of view from the Arab news station Al Jazeera regarding the start of the war in Iraq. This film shows what these people went through to cover this war and the danger they faced from opposing factions including America. When watching the screaming Iraqi people condemning America for their actions, we get to see the whole picture and not just something that strikes fear in us. We see, in this film, the reason for the anger and frustration and understand why many people have become so anti-American. Seeing the way America was dealing with this situation was saddening. I was never a fan of the Bush administration but now I am even more sickened by their actions. If you still have no idea why so many people in the Middle East despise America, see this film to gain some much needed perspective.

Bobby McFerrin Is Brilliant

This was a very cool exercise I just came across the other day. I had heard of similar happenings with audience participation but this really caught my attention. It just makes me realize that people are very alike in so many ways and if one person can tap into that, then there's a wealth of control over the situation. This was all in good fun but it was funny to see that almost everyone in the audience participated perfectly and it wasn't even a musical convention. Have a look see.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

A Giant *#@! You To Record Labels

I just read an article about a band called Advance Patrol that put up it's newest album on a file sharing website called ThePirateBay. This website has come under fire for hosting peer to peer file sharing servers where people can freely download music and television. Record labels used Advance Patrol's previous album as a direct example of file sharing without asking if they could use the band in their case. This retaliation has been hailed by many because the band is sticking up for its fans. The band said that as long as people are listening to their album, they're happy. The music industry is already heading downhill and mounting these kinds of suits is not going to help them in the slightest. It's just nice to see the bands siding with the real people who help them make a passion into a career.

Here's the original article.

America (The Book)

I had read this book a number of years ago and was just recently perusing through my bookshelf and came across it again. If you're a fan of The Daily Show or Jon Stewart, this book is a must read. It is a cleverly written satirical take on the standard American history text book. The book really does read very similar to the text books we had to read throughout grammar school and highlights some of the political faux pas of the past century. The best part is that it has some legitimate explanatory skills in regards to our nation's government. It outlines the branches of government and the concepts of lobbying, election endorsements and the role of the media. It's a very quick read and is easily picked up and flipped to any page for some great material and unexpected learning. Check it out, just be careful of page 99.

MMORPG Awareness

So if anyone is a gamer who enjoys games like Zelda or Role Playing games like Final Fantasy they are probably aware of the game genre known as the MMORPG. Massive Multi-player Online Roleplaying Games or MMOs for short, can be a cool online way to play fun games and socialize with friends who are playing. Unfortunately this type of game carries a very heavy side effect for those with addictive personalities. Unlike a normal game like Halo, MMOs rarely end. Most don't have a final boss or a finished storyline and this can be very dangerous. Many gamers are conditioned to work towards their goal of beating a game; with MMOs however, there is no endgame. There is always better equipment to obtain, more monsters to fight, and more achievements to earn. The problem with this is that many people will forgo time spent with friends and family to play these games. It is also scary because the amount of hours you put into the game is a sort of bragging right within the game. So if you call in sick to work and play for 14 hours that day, people inside the game will applaud your dedication and you will earn more and more honor and respect for your numerous hours. I was heavily involved in an MMO called Guild Wars. It had everything I wanted in a game and it never ended. It was too good to be true. At one period of time I was playing 10-12 hours a day. This went on for about a year before a lot of my friends and family finally approached me and helped me snap out of it. I hadn't even realized I was that addicted. I didn't eat meals with my family, I didn't go out with friends, I didn't even finish most of my classes each day. When I wasn't playing, I was thinking about playing and about what else I needed to get in the game to make myself better. It consumed me entirely. I see this mentality a lot with the very popular game called World of Warcraft or WoW. With WoW, there is such a phenomenally deep series of character choices that someone could play for a year and still find out exponentially more gameplay they haven't yet experienced. I am just putting out a word of warning from someone who has been there. Moderation is key or else these games do have the ability to take over your whole social life and you may not even see it coming.

Here are some more articles on this issue that is still very much under the radar:

Addiction Research

MMOs Anonymous

First Hand

The Onion

I'm sure many people out there have heard of The Onion but for everyone else, I just had to share. This web site is a crude farce of everyday news. Yes there is questionable language and text but nothing NC-17. It has a very Nation Lampoon feel to it. It has actually been around since the late eighties and makes fun of pretty much anything and anyone it deems worthy. If you have a slightly twisted sense of humor and feel a bit bored with regular news, I highly suggest you head on over to The Onion for a new style of news.

Oh and P.S. They're doing a stint about having sold the company to China. So most news stories will revolve around how much better China is than anywhere else.

RIP WBCN

I just heard the other day that "The Rock of Boston WBCN" is shutting down on standard radio. I was a huge fan of the station and didn't even realize it was heading in this direction. So it turns out that WEEI or one of the sports stations is making a foray into FM radio and took 98.5. Mix 98.5 will now be moving to 104.1, replacing WBCN. One of my favorite elements of the show, Toucher and Rich, will still be airing on the new sports station 98.5. WBCN goes off the air in mid August. For those of you with an HD radio, WBCN will still be aired but only in HD unavailable to regular radio listeners. If you want to read more here's the story from the horse's mouth:

WBCN switch.

Home

LA was a phenomenal trip. The weather was perfect and the people were great. Truth be told we spent 4 out of the 5 days in Santa Monica which has a promenade with amazing restaurants and shops. Almost everyday we found ourselves at the beach and walking around Venice. On the day we went into the valley and the heart of LA, it was about 80 degrees in Santa Monica which meant it was roughly 100 degrees in the valley. My brother joked that we would be able to feel the heat hit us like a punch in the face. He was correct. Once we passed through the mountains down into the valley you could instantly feel the air change and the heat was intense. We were in a convertible and it felt like we were cooking in an oven. My brother's place was in Studio City which is walking distance from CBS Studios. He had a great apartment and a really nice neighborhood. We ended up walking to his friends house to see a movie and the whole walk was like we were in a Brady Bunch episode. The trip was a really fun time with lots of sun and copious drinking. If you go to California, make sure you spend a little time in Santa Monica, it's a really great experience.

The Groundlings

Last night I caught a Groundlings show in Hollywood. It's an unbelievable improv comedy show that started the careers of many big comedians such as Will Ferrell, Michael McDonald, Sheri Oteri and a whole lot more. If anybody ever finds themselves out in the west coast, seeing one of these shows is a must. My sides were hurting only after a few skits. We were lucky that night too because Wendi McLendon-Covey was in the cast that night. Wendi was a main character on Reno 911 for a number of seasons. The whole night was a laugh riot and afterward we were lucky enough to go out for drinks with one of the long time writers and member of the show, Damon Jones. Just a great night through and through.

Counting Down The Hours

In 24 hours I'll be hopping a plane to Los Angeles for a week. I'm heading out to visit my brother and catch some underground improv comedy shows. I hear a lot of the guys in many big shows like Reno 911 and some big viral web videos got their start in this troop. It's called The Groundlings and I guess they're hilarious. My brother also works at CBS studios so we'll be able to get in and see the lot which will be badass. I have tentative plans to move out to L.A. at the end of this year so it'll be a good preview to see what it might be like. I'll keep everyone updated as to how it goes. I just hope I don't allow myself to sign on when I'm three sheets to the wind after a night out. Either way, there will most likely be some interesting posts.

Zen Habits

It was suggested to me by a friend to check out a site called Zen Habits. This site has some really great little life pointers that can help you through some rough patches or even if you're just looking to boost the positivity in your life.
Not everything here will pertain to every person who browses through it, but I've picked through the lessons and ideas and found some that really help me out when I find myself in a bit of a muddy mood.
It is also great for creativity. If you're finding yourself suffering from major writer's block, some of these articles can really help you break out of that.


Here is an article to start with that I find myself frequently checking back on to make sure I'm keeping up with the big points made here. It's called "20 Thing I Wish I Had Known When I Was Starting Out In Life."

Outfoxed

Outfoxed is a terrific film that showcases the idea that people will believe whatever they see in the media. It is unbelievable to think that this network can so blatantly lie and distort the truth; it is more unbelievable, however, that the American public will take this reporting as cannon and complete fact. Yes FOX News is a deceitful and bias partisan view on politics, but we as a nation also have ourselves to blame for not taking the initiative to double check their "facts" and voice our concern for the lack of "Fair and Balanced" reporting that FOX so terrifically ignores. I highly suggest this film to anyone who wants to open their eyes to what is really going on behind the scenes. And if you enjoyed this film I also suggest the documentary Iraq for Sale and pay particular attention to the segment about the group known as Blackwater. I had previously never heard of them but it is a very scary reality.

Reincarnation

This is a video I found a few weeks ago that reaffirmed a number of beliefs I have about the nature of our souls on this planet. Of course this kind of subject matter does not interest everyone and there will always be skeptics but this particular story really caught me.

It's about a young boy named James who can vividly remember his past life as a fighter pilot in WWII. Names, dates and places all match up to the story of the man who was shot down and killed at the age of 21.

Part 1



Part 2




This case isn't the only one. I personally knew a family who had a little daughter named Kaitlin who had not closed that "door". In one instance she was wrapping a Christmas gift and curling the ribbon with a pair of scissors for the twirled ribbon effect and Lisa, her mother, asked her where she learned that trick, the young girl replied that her mother had taught her how to do it. Lisa then said to Kaitlin that she had never taught her that. Kaitlin then casually replied "No not you, my other mommy, my mommy from before." This is only one of the many interesting conversations that revealed hints of Kaitlin's past life. Unfortunately as she grew older she could remember less and less until nowadays she has nearly zero recollection.

The Four Agreements

I've come across a phenomenal book called "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It it basically a guide on how to find happiness in any given situation in your life. The actual four agreements are as follows:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions: Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Granted, these are not the easiest things to practice in my everyday life but when I can really commit myself to them it honestly makes a world of difference.