One Year Ago Today

... I quit smoking.

Still think about them often, but it's getting a little easier to manage it. Anyway you cut it, this has been a crazy past year, and here's to hoping the next is even crazier! To everyone who goaded me then supported me throughout this (and quitting coffee - at least in my move to decaf tea... and my starting to work out on a regular basis) my thanks:)

I'm gonna try to keep this streak going for longer than than the one I spent smoking...

-P

Steve Niles, Earthquake #1, loads of awesome

Hi team!

So there's a lot of new stuff to cover, though it may be on hold till i get some pictures. Needless to say two large events happened in the last 48 hrs or so. First off, we just had an earthquake which was really weird!?!?! I was sitting at my desk and then my equilibruim just went down the crapper and it was sorta confusing. It lasted about a minute and was done, but i was shaken up (for lack of a better term). Here's to hoping my apartment aint in shambles :)

Now on to the really important thing. I MET STEVE NILES!!!!!!!!! The dude who wrote 30 days of night, criminal macabre, etc. I was buying a book at comicon and turned around and was like "oh.... shite.... that's him!!" So Evan forced me to not run away and then i got my picture taken with him. But, me being the foolish fanboy that i am, got a hold of the camera to take his and Evan's pic and i couldn't stop shaking! so weird, but the craziest adrenaline rush, and to top it all off, He is a super cool guy :) he was really patient with my foolishness and talked briefly with us about writing. one of the top 5 moments of my life, as i sit and try to imagine them now. so here i am blabbering about it again (sorry).

anyway, yes i am a completely dorky fanboy and i love it. hopefully if i meet him again i can actually talk like a normal human, but who knows. so... there's the skinny for now. my mind is runnin all over the place b/c of these two awesome things that happened, but rest assured i will be adding more to this in the near future. and hopefully some awesome comicon pics as well. hope you're all well.

-havoc

on the verge of something ....

First, thanks Evan for yet another interesting/classy/all-around bad-assed character piece. I guess the stripe around the ear is emulating my own growing patch of silver madness (though i tend to be somewhat egotistical in thinking the world revolves around me). hey whatever. i kid. still yet, i'd take this character over any stereotypical sculpture (note: it's titled theGiver007 and my other reference was the Thinker).

okay, so i've been at work too long today and tend to rambling. anyway, as i was given theGiver007 today, i would like to give my thanks to all of you (reading this or in my thoughts) for everything. you've been integral to my growth as a person, and while i haven't reached my desired pinacles yet, i will only ever have a chance by standing on the shoulders of Giants like you all. while sometimes life overwhelms and takes and takes and takes, its the subtle nod/smile/artificial-steam-driven-arm (aka faith) that validates all our efforts. and as i begin to get saccharine, i will admit one last thing (i think). i admire the hell out of each and every one of you, and i hope to continue to pale in the shadow of each of your greatness! peas out and have a great holiday/weekend/et al!

-the ever aging pet

zOMbiesG

somehow they had disappeared before, but they make their steamy, triumphant return here again! courtesy of a fine artiste, visionary, and all around xenophobe (only the extra terrestrial ones): E.W. Miller Esq. DDS PHd the XXIInd and his cohort in all crimes that are passionately legal, the BOGIE! enjoy

audiology pt. 2

so there's more to be heard, and i find myself with the time to do just that, so without ado: (oh yeah, in case you didn't get it before, the links to their sites should be slightly greyer, so click away and take a listen!)

Jamie Lidell
Jim
Oookay, throwback album! can't really pin who i think he sounds like, but its got a definite motown feel and its from a brittish dude?! yeah, i heard this first on the online radio thingie, cuz i can, and im really into it. some of the beats are infectuous, like a locomotive pushin through a track with a fun horn section and pop-y vocals. a definite good buy for a change of pace.
track 2 check: Hurricane

Nine Inch Nails
The Slip
****FREE***** yeah this one is great for the zero cost factor. download away and check it out. it feels like a best of reimagining, ranging in sounds from the fragile to with teeth, and a little downward spiral mixed in. overall, a bit poppier than i had expected, especially after year zero, but decidedly good. overall, i have been a fan of his works lately. he's pushing boundaries in the music industry and i think its a good kick in the arse for them. beyond that, it still has the aggression/angst/release that trent has mastered in the last couple decades.
track 2 check: Head Down (or the video for discipline on the website, which is hillarious)

Portishead
Third
I've been waiting for a while for these kats to come back, and thank god they did. If you have their live in nyc album, it feels most like that, the live thump and such. you also get a glimpse into beth's (lead singer) personal choices with a ukulele ballad, im sorta eh on that one thou. this is great hypnotic music, almost mathematic in its configuration, which is significantly offset by the lullaby-like vocals. get this album, that's all i got.
track 2 check: we carry on

She & Him
Volume One
So, i'll get this out there, i gots a little crush on zooey. but mind you that didn't influence my opinion on this (that much). take yourself back into the 40s with a sorta snap your fingers pop anthem or two. the vocals are nostalgic to say the least (i'm thinking of the one golden girls episode when the ladies do their do-wop war bonds song... and before you start giving me crap, i grew up on that show so shut up!). :) overall, this album is simplistic in all aspects. i think that's what makes it so good. it'll be one of those things when you'll listen to a track and you'll get shivers from remembering a time when you had ice cream in the summer at your grandparents' house's front porch right before you went out to catch fireflys in mason jars. yeah, i like that image!
track 2 check: Sweet Darlin' (written with jason schwartzman, if i remember correctly)

So i think that's about all of the stuff lately. of side note, i got a hold of the iron man soundtrack and it's really good background music. nice mood and such.

One more thing: Big Ups to Duane on Mario Kart Wii. Thank you! totally fun with the wheel?! didn't expect that, but this is another great one in the series.

Beyond that, give me some ideas for new music to check out. i'm digging all the new voices i've been lucky enough to hear lately and would love more. take care of yourselves!

-p

Optiology verse 1

This time around i need to tell you about two really solid films, so let's get to it:

The Fall

Okay, first off, if you've seen The Cell you have a good idea of what this visually will be like. same director (Tarsem), and no J LO, so it's gotta be a winner from right there, right? well, disregarding that, this film is fantastic! literally the story is alive with color. but why? you may ask. well that ties directly in with the plot.

Basic premise, a little girl fell while picking oranges in a grove with her family (around WWI). She goes to a hospital. In the hospital she meets a guy in the older persons area and he starts telling her a story... i can't say more because i don't want to give anything away.

It's effin amazing! Plain and simple, a great fairy tale. I easily put it in the ranks of Labrynth, the Dark Crystal, and Princess Bride(the classics before Harry Potter changed the face of fantasy). The little girl is fantastic and sincere in every scene you see her in (and when she enters the fantasy, it's epic). then there's the main dude. his story in the real world is a little, uh, simple/trite, but it fits the character. Meanwhile, his fantasy version is utterly Inego Montoya.

So yeah, the abbreviated version there it is. I know this hasn't gotten a wide release yet, but please see it when it comes around. Really worth it.

Death Note (the animated series)
So, my buddy Kiwi first turned me on to this, and it was rant and rave, and honestly i didn't believe him. it sounded cool, but i wasn't in an anime mood at the time. well, fast forward a couple months/states and someone from work lent me the entire series (fan subtitled).

I marathoned it!

The plot (as much as i want to give away) is that an intelligent high school kid finds a notebook one day at school. The notebook is actually from a Death God and any name written in it (as well as thinking of the person's face) that person will die. There are a ton of other rules involved (you can write the method of death, otherwise they will have heart attack) and that is part of what made it so great in my mind. it was a fully fleshed out universe with its own set of laws! So I ask you, what would you do if you found that notebook?

Anyways, I also have found one of my favorite detective-type characters in Light, the totally weird detective/pseudo-protagonist. Now, i know there is plenty of room to judge the anime tropes/conventions that are glaring in this, but it was so much fun to see who was going to plot what on whom next. So, with every instance of a really deft move in the cat&mouse game, you'd have a full explanation on how and why it would have to work.


so there you go. two things you should definitely check out given the opportunity. i think i'm getting some more artwork from the boys later on next week, so check back for that. i'm also hoping for another audiology and maybe another short story, but we'll see how the tides take us. otherwise, enjoy the weekend!

-pet

audiology pt.1

Yeah so today im gonna go over a little of new music. ive been constantly having my cd player running lately because i think these are all good additions to the collection. so as to not waste time:

new and noteworthy (part 1):
I AM X
the alternative
This one i had heard a little before online and sorta dug, i was searching for more info on the next sneaker pimps album at the time. then i sat and gave it a chance. well, now i can't stop! infectious beats with nice plays on timing, though the lyrics are weird ("after every party i die" ?). looking beyond that, i put this into the background and fore ground listening categories.
track of mention: bring me back a dog

Murder by Death
red of tooth and nail
&
il boca al lupo
I first saw them opening for Clutch, and was completely surprised when i took them seriously (cuz i thought the bearded fury was supposta be on then and they weren't!). My instant reaction was: think J.Cash with deeper southern beats and an electric cello. that's an understatement. a whole lot of the man in black's influence here (il boca...) but a cleaner sound has come about (Red...) and you can see the band's growth. definitely worth a listen.
tracks of mention: sometimes the line walks you (in boca...), comin' home (red...)

Atmosphere
if life gives you lemons, you paint that shit gold
I've been a fan since my sis n bro-in-law got me into them. self-depricating hip hop at its finest with all the mysogeny you can handle. the beats here are getting much more influenced by jazz, or at least the awesome live band accompanyment ATMOS has had over the last couple of years (props to Brian McLeod... dude, you're rad, and will be missed if i get the chance to see these dudes - side note, Brian's back with Mason Jennings, so that new band should be worth checking out). add to all of this that this album is supposedly not about slug's life, and it makes me want to listen even more.
track of mention: shoulda known

so that's what i got this time around. needless to say, i have more music than you can shake a stick at that i've been listening to lately. maybe i'll do some more of these opinion sections or whatnaught, who knows! that, and maybe elaborate on this stuff too. anyways, these three bands are all worth checkin out, so yeah. beyond that, go pens

-pet