Post-Rock Type Entry #2: The Summertime Blues

"So what's happening?"
Right now I'm at a mixed balls of emotion from a great high (from the concert that I'll elaborate later) and the big low (life's outlook, upcoming exam). Starting to feel tired as it's late here, but I'll try to pull off this journal entry I wanted to get off my chest before I head to bed tonight.

"Getting schooled in the summertime."
I'm currently taking Accounting 12: Intermediate Accounting II over the summer because I did not want to fall benhind and also that the class was not offered during for the fall semester (thanks Temple). The main problem I'm having with the class is the accelerated pace of covering through the material. The first exam will concist of chapters 15, 16, and part of 17. So far, I think I've got most of the material, but there's still much more I have to sure up on, especially with the "definitions/concepts" portion of the test. He expects us to know the what common stock, preferred stock, dividends do. Ugh. I'm going have to put in some mad hours tomorrow if I'm going to survive the first onslaught. At least I'm rest assured that the final exam is NOT cumulative, if SEPTA doesn't fail me.

"Haven't seen you in a long time! What's up?"
During the time back at school, I've caught up with Sam (whom I've already met earlier with our diner dinner), Clay, Brian, Samir, and Jeff (my old Stat professor). Sam, Clay, and Samir are attending classes, Brian didn't get accepted at two jobs he applied for and failed his driver's license test, and Jeff failed a critical exam to progress toward his Ph.D in Statistics in Temple. He said he's going to try the exam again (it can only be taken in June) again, and if he fails again he's done trying to reach his Ph.D in Temple.

"We're not on the same page here, are we?"
Well, the new president of the Accounting Professional Society wanted me to change and update the APS site. Well the problem is that the only way I can change the website directly is through the office computer. The other problem is to get the keys from her. We had a couple of e-mails exchanged, and a phone call. I might have to call her tomorrow to see if she "placed" the keys somewhere on campus so I can work on the site a bit. Ugh, she'll probably hate the way how the website looks after I put my stuff on it.

"We simply don't like you, and we don't care what you guys think."
Everyone was shaken and saddened by the London terrorist attack that occurred last week or so. Another wave of violence to make a message. I don't think this is the last of them, I think we'll be facing more in more major cities. No one will notice when or where, but it's bound to happen. I believe the current battle held in Iraq is actually increasing tensions between us and the insurgents. They're still attacking (aka suicide bombing) into our forces everyday. I want to hope there's some glimmer of hope, but considering the history of mankind, that'll never occur.

"Taking a bite off of Apple."
Yeah, my iPod... I loved the thing, till you get problems with it. I was lucky to survive the water spillage onto to it, but this one looks like it's unfixable by hand. The LCD display screen does not work anymore, but the iPod still works. So now it's more like the iPod Shuffle, no idea what song you're picking. Since we already tinkered with the iPod, our warrenty is voided, and other sites are pricing $150-$200 to replace the screen itself. Well, screw that. So looks like the iPod is done for the most part. I have resorted back the the previous way of listening to music, the CD player.

"25 cents to connect, fool!"
My uncle, who has already given me my Sony Vaio laptop computer and my now defunct iPod, has now given me a brand new cell phone. It's an LG MM-535 provided by Sprint. (I know the quote is from T-Mobile, I just wanted a quote that sorta relates.) This is what it looks like. It's still the same phone number (267-994-0060), but it has yet to receive calls to it yet. I hope I keep this phone intact, unlike how my laptop and iPod have fared so far. Man I must suck at maintain technology stuff.

"You watch that 'cartoon' stuff?"
Thanks to my summer class, I'll never catch up to whatever my bro's downloading and watching. He's not venturing off to watching a few episodes of different animes to see if he initially like them or not. He's got this one simply titled Club-to-Death Angel where the main character really like this boy, but if he does something that she doesn't like, she beats him dead. A second later, she brings him back to life. Talk about S&M... He's also got a few other ones, but I don't know what they're called. At least I'm keeping up with new episodes of Bleach each week. I like the anime series, but it's going so many things going on. It was focusing on Ichigo's fight with Kenpachi, but there's also the thing over the death of one squad captain, the other two (glasses and girl) in the area, and other things. The next one will be episode #41, and it looks like it'll go past two seasons (#52). The new season of Full Metal Panic is up and running too, but I have yet to see the first season and it's spinoff comedy series yet. Man it sucks to be in college sometimes.

I've also kept up with the animes shown on Saturday Adult Swim. I still can't get over the dub with Samurai Champloo, and S-cry-ed has yet to impress me. But I'm really enjoying Paranoia Agent, even though it's getting s**tty ratings. I really like all the crazy psychological problems that each person and episode presents (episode 3 reminded me a lot with Fight Club), has a solid English dub, great art and animation throughout.

Fans of Voices of a Distant Star should check up with The Place Promised in Our Early Days, since it's done by the same person. I haven't seen it yet, but hopefully I'll get to it.

Incest is nasty. Ignoring all the hentai series, the only anime I've seen that had anything to do with incest was Angel Santuary. But that was only 3 episodes long, consider one that concentrates it for a whopping 13 episodes? There is one, and it's call Koi Kaze, and it's getting mostly rave reviews despite it's suggestive subject. Anime is surely using it's freedom of expression.

"Dungen better the Pixies? You're kidding me?!?"
I attended the Dungen concert last night at the First Unitarian Church and boy did they BLOW MY MIND AWAY. I initially thought it was going to be more of a calm, laid-back performance like The Good Life concert, but I was totally off from the first song they played. All the members rocked the hell out of their instruments, the vocalist had tons of energy, dancing around and playing with various insturments and the crowd was just as great and energetic as the band themselves. I had a guy next to me dancing around crazy, but I didn't mind since the band was just kicking so much ass up on stage. After they were done playing, the vocalist came down and shook the crowd's hands. I shook his hand and told him that I was glad they came to Philly and hope they come back here soon. He was also posing for pictures and signed one person's copy of their first album. I purchased their newly pressed CDs with a bonus disc and then went back completely dazed and amazed by their performance. Oh, their album should be in stores on August 2nd, and would recommend it to anyone.

With respect to the Pixies, but having the entire band playing their hearts out, in a smaller and more intimate venue, and just as equally energetic and great crowd just made the Dungen concert much more entertaining than the Pixies concert.

The opening bands were just as great. Favorite Sons played a pretty cool set, the vocalist sounding at time Lou Reed and other times Frank Black. Endless Boogie was a interesting band, a county/blues/psycholdelic/jam band with a great groovy drum and bass rhythm with a consistent rhythm guitar and nice licks from the lead guitarist.

I also made two acquaintances at the concert from wearing the Comets on Fire t-shirt to the show. Both of them were wondering how well Comets on Fire played and I said they played pretty well. Chris (I believe that's the guy's name) was a HUGE Animal Collective fan and talked with Allison on reactions of the bands playing there. It was cool talking with them at the time.


"If I had my own radio station, I would play material from these albums."
NOTE: The follow albums I've suggesting is what I've received for this year, doesn't matter when the album was actually released.

"Those who like it simple, but yet complex." (FOLK)
Animal Collective - Here Comes the Indian
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs [Weird stuff, but these albums will grow on you if you let it sink into you.]
Devandra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith [Very acoustic, but packs a very heavy punch.]
Elliott Smith - XO [His music expanded into a full band production, but still maintains a great his great songwriting and playing skills. Music sounds a lot more fuller here.]
Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender [Don't get the vocals get to you on this one.]
Sufjan Stevens - Welcome to Michigan: The Great Lake State [Some great stuff here, but can get tiresome to listen to with some very lengthy and slow moving tracks.]

"We do it mostly with technology." (ELECTRONICA)
Boards of Canada - Music Has a Right for Children [A highly regarded electronica album thoughout the indie world.]
Junior Boys - Last Exit
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us [Could be a great soundtrack to a night action film.]
Manitoba (now known as Caribou) - Up in Flames [Crazy psychodelic stuff.]

"We feel for you." (INDIE POP)
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now [Awesome old school, Motown-ish throwback material.]
The Arcade Fire - Funeral [Good album, but too highly regarded with critics.]
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Mirah - C'mon Miracle
Tilly and the Wall - Wild Like Children [No drums here for this great pop album, they use tap dancers for percussion!]

"Though we're old, we can still kick some ass." (CLASSIC STUFF)
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks [My personal favorite of the Bob Dylan stuff I received from my friend.]
Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan - New Morning
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
The Velvet Underground - Loaded [Their most accessible and mainstream-ish album, but it still stands up with their avant-garde stuff from their first two albums.]

"Tuning it to make it better." (INDIE ROCK)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness [A quiet, dark but yet heavily packed album.]
Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral [Think of a very aggressive and psycholdelic CCR-ish sound.]
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutoffs
The Decemberists - Her Majesty [A great historic, art sounding rock music.]
Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt [Another crazy psychodelic rock record.]
The Good Life - Album of the Year [If you like Cursive and Bright Eyes, this band will fit right in.]
Les Savy Fav - 3/5
Les Savy Fav - Inches
The Polysics - Polysics or Die!!! [The Japanese version of The Hives.]
Silver Jews - Bright Flight
Sleater-Kinney - Call the Doctor
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods [Women can make kick ass, in-your-face hard rock records as well.]
Spoon - Gimme Fiction [If these doesn't make your body move, something is wrong with you.]
Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth [Malkmus goes a little crazy with this effort.]
Wilco - Being There [Bringing a new face with the country sound.]
Wilco - Summerteeth
The Wrens - The Meadowlands

"Patience is a virtue." (POST-ROCK)
Explosions in the Sky - How Strange, Innocence
Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kaneda EP
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Slint - Spiderland [Awesome songs, a very dark and mellowish atmosphere, like the soft/loud things they pull off thoughout the album.]

"We don't really fit in with anyone here." (OTHER STUFF)
Beck - Odelay [Another album that I think is very entertaining, but don't see the full greatness about it.]
The Books - The Lemon of Pink
The Books - Thought for Food [Playing insturments over a bunch of random voice chats, very unique.]
Deerhoof - Apple O' [Jagged song structures, Asian woman's vocals, weird but cool.]
The Fiery Furnaces - EP [A crazy all over the place attack from this impressive bro-sis duo.]
The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbard's Bark [A more rugged, folk sound, but still crazy and explosive.]
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem [The perfect record to dance to, if you like to dance.]
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire [Slowcore, sure. But very emotional and heart-felt too.]
Melt Banana - Scratch or Stitch [Some f**ked up short onslaughts with a very high pitched vocalist.]
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup [Think of The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin done in a more jazzy way.]
TV on the Radio - Young Liars EP [Features an awesome cover of The Pixies "Mr. Grieves."]
Fooly Cooly Soundtrack 3 [Rock and Roll straight up.]

That is all.