M E M O R Y L E S S N E S S

november is national novel writing month. liz and i are both participating. it’s fun. 50000 word novel in 30 days. aww yeah!

this past weekend, we went to see Saw. pretty good, kind of disturbing, kind of corny (at rare times). worth seeing. cary elwes is the man. it’s his best movie since Robin Hood: Men in Tights. okay, maybe not. i’m not sure what all he’s been in since then, actually.

that was saturday. on friday, we drove into downtown houston to see Dope play, along with Motograter and, uhh, Twisted Method. Dope kicked ass, as usual. lots of new songs, from their forthcoming album. started off the set with “Pig Society,” which rocks and was quite fitting given the upcoming (on saturday, it was still upcoming) election. “stick the politicians and politics in prison.” indeed.

the previous weekend, we made a whirlwind trip to austin. okay, maybe not quite a whirlwind. liz picked me up from work on from work and we drove to austin for the Beastie Boys show that night. unfortunately, we ended up missing most of Talib Kweli’s opening set. but that’s okay, the B-Boys were amazing. better, even, than the last time i saw them. aww yeah. most old songs were played. good stuff, man, good stuff.

after the show, we met up with liz’s friend amy and her husband justin. we went back to their place, had a few beers, and liz and i crashed on their futon at about 4am. we left at about 11am or so and made the drive back to h-town. fast trip, but fun.

that day, we took a nap and then headed to the Alamo Draft House to see The Grudge (blah) and Evil Dead 2 (hooray!).

and that was that. good weekends, both. yes indeed.

this is a ranting comment i just posted in ashley’s journal. she posted something about albums that remind you of happy times when you listen to them all the way through. i thought of one, which led me to a rant about baboon albums. here goes:

“this is a bit of a rant, so please forgive me. i’m actually going to post this comment as an entry in my journal, just because it came out a lot longer than i’d planned.

Secret Robot Control by Baboon…i bought that album immediately after being dumped (back in 1997), and it helped me a lot. i had purchased their Numb E.P. right before said dumping, and it really helped, too. i was just getting into it, because it was cool, and the band rocks live…then the dumping occurred, and i started to actually pay attention to the lyrics, particularly to “Why’d You Say Die?” can’t hear that song without thinking about that time. but yes, Secret Robot Control is amazing…i guess the memories it brings back aren’t that great…but it did help me get through the bad ones, so i think of it quite fondly. and actually, some of the songs (“Nation of Twos”) is way more applicable to me now then it was when i first heard it. at that time, i thought it was too damn happy (though it’s really just hopeful), but not it’s probably my favorite song on the album (though you still can’t go wrong with “Bring Me the Head of Jack Skinner”).

Actually, every Baboon album brings back some memories for me. i bought their first record after i already had Secret Robot Control (their only “major” label disc - on the same label as Creed, their album came out about the same time as Creed hit, so they lost their backing and eventually their contract, since their stuff wasn’t third-rate Pearl Jam-inspired drivel). anyway, Face Down in Turpentine, though it was older when i got it, helped me a bit, too. it reminds me of driving to and from work one summer (1998), since it was all i had in my car at that point. the song “Sucker” (from that album) also helped me through my next instance of being dumped.

their super-E.P., We Sing and Play reminds me of fond memories, though it was also a hard time. i got it when i lived in san angelo and was driving to lubbock every weekend to see liz. good times (the weekends), bad times (the weeks). great album/E.P.

their live album, A Bum Note and a Bead of Sweat, reminds me of happier times, simply because when i listened to it incessantly, things were good (and still are). it was cool because most of the songs were the same as the ones on their earlier records (since that’s how live albums usually work), but i was much happier this time around, hearing the same songs. i could think, “wow, this used to depress the hell out of me…not anymore, though.” it’s another one that reminds me of driving to and from work one summer (2001).

Something Good is Going to Happen to You, their latest album, also reminds me of happy times that are still going on. the album is definitely happier than their earlier work, so i can relate to it more. steev of 1997-1998 could relate to the older stuff, steev of 2002-2004 can relate to their new stuff. probably because the band members are happier themselves, what with marriages and children and whatnot. their emotional development seems to have gone in the same direction (and, interestingly, at approximately the same rate) as mine.

again, sorry for the length of this. how’s it going, ashley?”

yes. ranting comment-turned-post. other albums, when listened to the whole way through (e.g. Sublime’s 40 oz. to Freedom) remind me of happy times…certain songs also make me want to hear a whole album…i’m sure i’m not the only one.

why am i posting this? i don’t know. it’s my journal, so nyah.

post about this weekend forthcoming.

baboon, the greatest band of our’s (or any) time, has put a new video on its website. the video (YouTube version) is for “Evil,” a rockin’ song from their latest album (Something Good is Going to Happen to You), which is amazingly great (see below). download the video (you might want to use internet explorer; all you get with netscape is a page of garbage-text), show all of your friends, and then RUN OUT AND BUY THIS ALBUM.

seriously, it rocks balls. YOU WILL BUY IT NOW. YOU WILL GIVE IT A LISTEN. i’ve been meaning to write about it for a while, so here you go. it’s mellower at times than previous baboon records, but that’s okay. it’s still got power. and soul. i cannot say enough good things about this album, nor can i recommend it enough. seriously.

and if that’s not enough for you, here’s a colossal waste of time, courtesy of jaffo. despite being a waste of time, it’s just so damn fun.

i bought the new Fantômas album the other day, and i’m finally getting around to listening to it. it’s bizarre, but pretty good. it’s called “Delìrivm Còrdia.” the liner notes are nothing but a bunch of pictures of surgeries. close-ups. and there’s only one track on the CD. it’s 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 16 seconds long. it’s either called “Svrgical Sovnd Specimens from the Mvsevm of Skin” or “Like the Svrgeon the Composer Slashes Open the Body of His Fellow Man Removes His Eyes Empties His Abdomen of Organs Hangs Him on a Hook Holding Vp to the Light All of the Body’s Palpitating Treasvres Sending a Bvrst of Light into Its Innermost Depths.” no real songs, just a bunch of different noises and instrumental-type-things interspersed with medical sounds (doctors being paged, beeping machines, scraping sounds, etc.) strangely enough, i’m really enjoying it, though i think i like “The Director’s Cut” better. this album reminds me more of their first (self-titled album). hrm.

today, i went to the eye doctor. it was FUN. okay, maybe not. but that’s okay. monday night, at about 10pm, my glasses decided to break. one of the arms broke off. weird shit. anyway, i went today to get new ones. yes. i’d been planning to call this week because i needed new glasses anyway. weird timing. yeah. i also got new lenses for my old-ass prescription sunglasses and i got contact lenses, too. quite an expensive day, all in the name of steev being able to see. worth it, i guess. it’s weird to be able to see without glasses on. someday, i might like to get laser vision correction. but i’m a little skeptical about it. they perform it at my eye doctor’s office, but the doctor wears glasses. that seems a little odd…he’s confident enough to recommend it for other people, but not to get it done for himself.

yes. monday was, of course, domestics. i think it’s working out well with mick. if you’ve heard us this semester, let me know what you think. we went on a few minutes early because the one of the regular hosts of the show before our’s was/is in the hospital and the other host was going to see her. substituting for the sick host was brian (aka fiddles, though i have no idea why people call him that, so i call him brian), a high school classmate of mine. ‘twas good to see him, he’s a swell guy. he’s apparently back from the navy. you can see him in this photo from 1997.

aww yeah.

one of my classes is pretty cool. the other one is not so cool. in fact, it sucks. but that’s okay. the professor really bothers me…i can’t quite figure out why, but he just seems too odd or something. (the fact that when i asked him for help in understanding the material on the recent homework, he told me to “go through the readings and work out the examples and see if you can figure it out.” what the fuck did he think i’d been doing before i asked him?) he uses incorrect grammar, also. that’s forgivable, i think, if the person is not a native english speaker, but this guy is. he does it in the written notes as well as in his lectures. for instance, “stimuli” is plural. he seems to know that sometimes, since he sometimes uses “stimulus,” but other times he refers to a “stimuli.” also, he mentioned pavlov’s dogs and he kept using the word “salivatating.” that’s not a word. it’s “salivating.” alas.

blargle.

you should all run out to your favorite music retailer (or bounce on over to amazon or something) and buy ‘Deltron 3030.’ this is the coolest goddamn thing i’ve ever heard.

‘in the year 3030, everybody wants to be an M.C.’

word word word.