The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Through marathon reading sessions the last few nights, I have finished Watership Down. Damn, what a great book. I don’t really read often anymore, now that I have internets and can afford most if not all the games I want (both a blessing and a curse) but when I do, it’s nice to get the pleasure of reading such a cute but strong and fun piece of literature. If you’re the reading type, and you haven’t read it, you really should. I’ll loan you my copy or whatnot. Just be prepared for hardcore bunny action.
It does make me wish there was something like it to follow it up with, though… I had a bit of a discussion with Brer about it the other day, I think, and he couldn’t think of anything sort of… directly like it. Certainly not Adams’ other novels. I’m sure he’d know, too, since he does reading often… like… too often perhaps. Well, okay, not too often. At least he finishes all the books he gets, I suppose. Heh.
Anyway, happy St. Sneaky Pete’s Day, everyone… hope you have a lot of fun drinking or whatever. Me, my whole plan consists of putting on a green shirt in a few minutes and then it’s the day as per usual.

I’m almost there, dammit… I can do this one now, and then I’m almost there! Here’s ringworm’s mix.

Listening Time Volume 17 – ringworm’s mix

1. Indie Rockin’ by Common Rotation: I think these guys opened for a TMBG concert I went to once… I remember the name… I don’t remember really liking them or anything, though? This isn’t too bad, though? It’s got a bit of energy to it. Yeah, it’s pretty nice. It’s not going to become my favorite song or anything anytime soon, but it’s nice. It’s like… a song I wouldn’t skip if I was listening to the whole CD, but wouldn’t pick out on its own? Does that even make sense? It’s also a song I’d buy for Rock Band just because, you know, it’s alright, and more Rock Band content is always good. Anyway, it’s a decent start to the CD, but it’s over now.

2. North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem: Some woodblock? Rockin’ the woodblock? Fuck yeah? Uh huh huh huh? Maybe that’s like… a keyboard woodblock… yeah, I don’t know about this singer…? But I’m not sure. Like, he’s not making me angry or annoying me, but I just don’t know about his speaky half-singy style… okay, now that it sort of broke in the background, that’s a little better. Yeah… yeah, I think I can dig it. Yeah, it’s about the same overall reaction to the last track… it’s nice enough, it’s getting me going a little, but it’s not going to become my favorite song anytime soon. I have a feeling I might love something else by this band, though, if I heard it. Ooh, what is that, some scatting there? I’m all for that sort of some. NORTH AH MERI KA! That’s what this song is like. Heh.

3. Party For the Fight to Write by Atmosphere: Okay, this is sounding like a rap song here at the start… yep, I’m right. They just have a sound, you know? Mmm, not bad, though… yeah… “Bring your own agenda and embrace your flaws” I’m down with that. Thumbs up for that. It is just sort of another rap song about rap songs… they’re so self-referential… but yeah, this is pretty fun, I suppose… no worries… I do wonder why, though… I was so against rap yesterday… I wonder how my mood is different today, or if this song really is just more friendly to my sensibilities… who knows. Okay, we’re just going to repeat this part a couple ten times or something as an ending? Well, alrighty then.

4. Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) by Incubus: Heh, well, that’s an appealing little riff… some drums… okay, yeah… yeah… okay… still building… more and more… and now there’s a lot of tambourine and singing… huh… yeah, I think I like this… the guitar is just fun stuff, you know? Maybe? Maybe you know? It’s… yeah… maybe I’m just like super-agreeable this morning, I have no idea… or maybe I just like this mix so far, four songs into it. Heh. I guess I shouldn’t be so negative, it’s not like that isn’t an option. Oooh, saxophone. Yeah, nice! Very nice! Ant. E. Grav. Ah. Tee. Awwwww yeaaaaaaaaaaah.

5. Games You Play by Splashdown: Launch conditions? I’m glad all of them are pretty good… I was worried about that launch… okay, that’s a rapping kinda beat… but that’s just singing… and female vocals, too! I wasn’t expecting that! Oh yeah, that’s… yeahyeah… that’s really pleasant, too… again, I feel like I’d really like a different track by this artist, but this one is pretty good too. Yeah, see, this “EveRY OPoSItion” part is a lot of fun. I like that. Oh, it’s went in a different direction for the bridge. Then again, I guess that’s sort of the definition of a bridge, huh? Oh, it was short and it went back to it. Okay. Set you free from the games you play it’s over!

6. Footsteps by Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam? Doesn’t sound very delicious on toast or an English muffin. Oh man, no, this is… no. The slow acoustic and that vocalist… with the odd something to his voice… that’s not really what I’m wanting. Is it going to pick up? I really doubt it. Yeah, this is just like… one of those slow songs I just hate because they’re slow… Man, the disc was batting a thousand before that. Or something. Yeah, this song makes me not want to listen and want to focus on the fact that I am crazy hungry at the moment… maybe I should get some breakfalunch or something. But no, I’m doing CD now. After CD. Oh, hey, there’s the song title. Pictures on my desk, it was you, so… let’s finish the song then. It has been established. Alright. There we go.

7. The Flag by Barenaked Ladies: Barenaked Ladies continues to have not impressed me. Will this song do differently? The opening says that no, I will feel the same about it as other songs by them. Yeah, this is trying to be slow and important and emotionalish and it’s… just not doing it for me. That doesn’t do anything for me. My prejudices kick in and tell me NOOO! But that’s just me, I guess… nobody has won the war, though, so that’s kinda sad, I guess. But just, you know, don’t go to war. That’d be a good idea or a good plan. But then again, it isn’t a war, it’s a relationship thing. Like war? Shocking. Well, here’s the bridge… and it’s about birdies and angles, I guess. Or angels. Angles or Angels. One of those. If it’s an angle, I hope it’s an 180 degree angle. Those are fun. Of the flag of the flag of the flag… and over.

8. Fake Empire by The National: Piano… sort of upbeat piano… Yeah, not really upbeat piano… it’s a piano and singing song… oh, there’s the title! But yeah, another slow song. Sometimes I feel like I am missing a lot with my pointless prejudices, but eh, it’s just what I like. I like what I like. That’s how it is. Hmm, that drum seems to be building towards something… oh yeah! That’s better! Much more exciting. A lot more fun. I don’t know if it saves it overall, or if I like it overall, but that makes it a little better to listen to the rest… then again, maybe it’s going to go back down after this instrumental part to how it was before…? I don’t know, that seems like a normal musical move… but man, we got horns and all sorts of stuff. Neat. And we’re done, I suppose.

9. That’s Just What You Are by Aimee Mann: Aimee Mann is a gender confusing name… but oh, it’s a female. Neat. But yeah, we got the sort of… standard acoustic guitar rhythm back there… and there’s some piano… is it going to break it down… after this refrain-y part…? Nah, it’s not. Yeah, it just kinda is, isn’t it? There’s some vocals in the background, though, so that’s nice, I guess. There’s the title repeated twice… yeah, it’s okay, but oh man, it’s going to go on forever, isn’t it? It’s not even halfway done. Mann, Aimee Mann. What are you up to? Instrumental break… and now we’re back to the song, and it’s the same stuff… and there’s the title twice… three times! Yeah, I wonder if the rest of the mix will keep going down this road or go back to where it started… I liked where it started, I’m not really digging this part so much. Although I guess i can see, at least a little, the similarities between the two halves. Sort of halves. Whatever. Okay, this one’s over.

10. Electricity, Electricity by Goodness: Female whispers… oh… huh… this is… this is potential… this is a cover, isn’t it? I feel like I’ve heard this song by someone else. Or at least that repeated title part is based on something else… but eh, I don’t know enough to tell you. And now they’re explaining how a generator works. Yeah, this is like… school house rock stuff, isn’t it? Heh. Rock on then, this gets my seal of approval. It’s not necessarily the most fun song to listen to, though, but I can be fully behind it WOAH screaming! Well, um, okay. Hope nobody got shocked. Too badly. And we’re doing a lot of guitar noodling (is that the technical term) to the end, here. Yeah, again, glad this song exists, but it wasn’t really all that whatever for me.

11. No Regrets by Aesop Rock: Uh oh, a lot of talking about Lucy. What did Lucy ever do? Okay, so that’s rapping there. Yeah, it… no, it’s not just my morning mood, I don’t like this one too much, I don’t think. Man, I wish I understood my sort of… rules for enjoying rappy stuff, cause I really don’t have anything I can clearly say… there’s a refrain there… with some counting… yeah, I dunno… I don’t really feel the want to keep listening to this… oh man, it keeps going… it’s like only half done… there’s a lot of talk about dreams, I hear… and there’s someone dying… that Lucy person… yeah, I just… not for me. This isn’t a song for me.

12. Jacksonville by Sufjan Stevens: Sufjan Stevens is an Essner band… my friend Essner… which means I can probably listen to this but very likely won’t like… “love” it. Some banjo stuff there? I like banjo stuff. Then again, doesn’t all his songs have that? Maybe? I could be insane. Insaneish.  Well, it’s good to know he’s not afraid… and doesn’t care about the captain… yeah, again, I don’t think this is a song for me… it’s too slow. I just hate slow songs, don’t you know… but it is kinda catchy, which I can appreciate. It’s not catchy.midi, but.. (sorry, inside joke.) Yeah, there’s some horns… horns are nice… it’s a nice song! It’s definitely a nice song. It’s just not a song I can get behind and really get into a groove with, you know? Oh Sufjan, you have at least enough song to give it, oh, two more tries at least. You don’t have to just give it one more. But, you know, if the spirit doesn’t change, maybe it’s not worth it. I dunno. Yeah, and here’s an instrumental part and then we have a little repetition at the end? Oh, no, it’s something else, only it’s got like… backup singers. And fast tambourineing. Is that how you spell that? Oh well, it’s a made up word, who cares.

13. Paper Bag by Fiona Apple: Okay, we got drumming. Got a drum beat down. Got some female vocals going. Got that down. It’s slow and lazy feeling… the singing is kinda fun… she’s got some energy, but the song itself doesn’t have energy, perse… her singing is definitely the focus, and I can dig that, but I don’t know about the song as a whole… there’s some piano… the piano helps a bit. Yeah, it’s catchy and enjoyable… it’s a good song. Yeah. Yeah. I can. Yeah. Not bad.

14. Avatar by Universal Hall Pass: Last song. Universal Hall Pass is a pretty good name. Uh oh, quiet creepy-ish piano… female vocals… who are divining my future… any way the cards fall… I can dig that… cards are good… oh, wait, it’s speeding up a little… like going down a hill… is it… is it going to break it down? Is it going to? No? No. Doesn’t seem that way. Okay, it’s doing this same downhill building thing again… oh man, this is a long song, I just noticed… and now we’re into some sort of piano thingamajig here… and now there’s talk about flying off to nowhere… man, I will do my best to sit this one out, but I really want to stop… Ooh, it’s building… and building… and building… faster… stronger… more… building… adding some nice drums… more… building more…! Just keep on building! Or just stop completely. Oh, now we got some synth stuff going on… well, okay… it’s building more… it’s louder… her voice is more upfront… man, what’s gong on, mann? I don’t know where the tragic chorus is! I’d like to know! And now there’s quiet… or some wind noise… lots of quiet… are we doing secret track shenanigans? Lots of quiet…. not even halfway through this track yet, and lots of quiet… Yep… quiet… yep… silence… yep… should I fast-forward to see if there’s something else? I’ll listen to the quiet, I guess… Okay, here’s a guitar. Man, hidden tracks are so lame.

14. Hidden Song: Okay, so there’s acoustic guitar and the singing similar to the last song… Oh, there’s some  male backup vocals this time… the song seems to keep referring to the number 18, so maybe that’s the title of the song… 18 a life to go? Is that what they’re saying? Fuck, I dunno. Courtship with a gun, huh? Eh… yeah, these lyrics are doing nothing for me, and the music is doing little for me… was this worth sitting through the silence? I would say not. 18 in life to go? In? Is that it? I dunno. Blew that child away… and yet, if I had left the “away” off of there, it would have been an extra horrible thing to sing about, now wouldn’t it? Think about that for awhile. Or don’t. Because it’s disturbing. Why am I writing about this? I guess because I don’t like this song and so I’m distracting myself since I’m easily distracted. Distractions! Oh, the song is about over. Good, then I can get some food. I HUNGER.

All in all, this CD started really strong, and then went into stuff I didn’t like there at the end… also, hidden tracks are lame and artists should stop doing them.
Only Brickroad’s left to go! Maybe I’ll do two in one day! You never know! But probably not.

Well, I’m probably not going to get all of them done this break like I had hoped, but I’ll get the majority done, at least, dammit! Here’s Stephen’s mix.

Punctuality
A Very Poorly Titled Mix

1. Steve Biko (Stir it Up) by A Tribe Called Quest: Okay, we got some… off horns starting this out… and some rapping, I see… okay, here’s a more normal beat here… well, normal for rappy stuffs, anyway. Well, as far as I know about rap stuff. It doesn’t really seem to be doing anything, though? Just forward and the same and forward. The weird horns had potential. They should have done more stuff with weird horns. What are they saying, though, I wonder… my mind isn’t catching it… oh, here’s those horns again… for a bridge of some sort, I suppose. Hey, I heard the band name… “So much going on, people laughin’ people dyin’…” is that right? I don’t know, I like rap when it does things, I think. But there’s so much rap whose whole point is “I am rapping.” and that’s all they say and that’s all the point… and it’s just thing… oh, it’s over.

2. Forlani by Burnt By the Sun: Well, there’s definately some guitar… just in one ear… oh, now we have both and some drums… huh. Well, at least it’s nice and upbeat. But what is it going to do with it? Just keep doing this thing the whole time? Oh, it’s going to slow down and growl and scream at me, huh? Well, that’s disappointing. The guitar part itself has potential, but it could use some break it down and then into something based on it that’s more fun instead of just kinda slowing it down and having the guy all screamy and stuff. Yeah, those vocals aren’t doing anything for me, and it seems to me to be kind of a waste of what started as an interesting guitar part but now is just kinda… nothing. Well, at least it’s over.

3. Crystal Mountain by Death: Oooh, that’s kinda video-game-y in it’s sound there… oh, and there’s some more of that kind of singing, huh? Well, at least they’re being a little more interesting with the guitars I suppose. There really is something about how the guitar sounds that reminds me of classic video game soundtrack and stuff, although I can’t really tell you why. Huh. But yeah, I bet the singer is saying something, but I have a hard time caring when he’s singing like that… sometimes it works for me? But often it’s sort of as a counterpoint to something else, not as everything. Yeah, it keeps sorta changing it up and then going back to before with the screamy growly… And yeah, that one guitar… something about the sound of it must remind me of something from my youth… whatever voice… is that what they call it with guitars? whatever voice they put on it. Eh, whatevers. It’s… it’s okay. I would prefer the vocals not being like that, and when I zoom in on the lyrics, it’s kinda lame. But I could listen to this in the background and not really pay attention to it and not be angry? So that’s nice, I guess.

4. That Right Ain’t Shit by The Books: Independent? Independent? Okay… There’s some piano and some weird guitar so far… don’t know what it’s going to do… oh, that’s a weird noise… is that done by guitar? I like it, though… and the little interesting percussions… yeah, it’s building to something… don’t let me down, song! Oh, it stopped building… just more instrumental… I guess it being instrumental would be fine. It’s kinda cute and fun. Of course, the title suggests otherwise, I suppose, but that’s how it sounds to me. Yeah, this is pretty nice, unless it screws something up right at the end or something, which I doubt… yeah, that’s nice mood music. Oh, here’s somebody talking… but not in a bad way, I guess… I didn’t catch what she said… oh well, song over. That was nice.

5. Squeeze Me Macaroni by Mr. Bungle: Woah woah woah woah. That’s quick. That’s… woah. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Yeah! That’s awesome! Heh. Silly and awesome! Oh, it got slower there for a second… oh, it’s being very random. I can appreciate random, but I would prefer less complete stopping of the music… but man, that’s fun. That’s fun! Yes yes! Man, I think I need to check this band out. I’ve heard of them before from other people on the board… Man, that’s just fun shit! Heh heh heh… and now there’s a lot of grunting and stuff going on… and some whispering… but yeah, I could get behind more random shit like this. Heh, get me something stupid like this for Rock Band, too. I’d buy it. I’d download it. Well, it’s nice to know they came to party. Cause, you know, they are definitely doing that. Man, that was fun shit.

6. Dearg Doom by The Lord Weird Slough Feg: Okay, we got some drums… and some guitars… ticka ticka ticka ticka… what? What kind of lyrics are these…? Oh my goodness. That’s… no. No no no. Well, they’re not getting screamed at me, but… hm… These lyrics are taking themselves too seriously, I think… well, for such lyrics to be accepted by me, they almost need to be ironic or laughing at themselves… well, okay “100 heads are so much better than 1,” that could be a good path to go, but I don’t think they’re going there. The music itself isn’t really drawing me in either… it’s the same little guitar riff over and over… and it’s a very short sort of pattern… I don’t know. Eh, it was really mediocre to me…

7. Meat Grinder by Madvillian (MF Doom + Mad Lib): This is a rap song, right? Okay, listening to it already it tells me it probably is. Something is under the bed… oh, and then it just disappeared and started another song, apparently. Okay, there’s the rapping… and there’s the meat grinding that was talked about. See, at least this one has lyrics that’s trying to be something else… I’m not catching them all, though… it’s sort of that quick pace that makes me jealous that I can’t do that… I mean, I probably could if I practiced, I guess… this is obviously pretty practiced, I’d think. I don’t know. See, I don’t know… you almost have to use the voice as the percussion sorta thing and then build a song around that rhythm or something… oh, it’s over quick.

8. Diana by Comus: That’s… that’s starting really weird… okay, so weird little vocals… and a repeating thing in a background… I doubt this song is going to change, either… they’re doing some sort of like… sheep baaaaaah thing as they sing. It’s weird. Odd. Strange. One of those. Yeah, this… well, this certainly is a different unique sort of sound. So that’s always nice to have, I guess… but it’s not really a sound I want anything to do with. I can agree with its existence, I suppose. Oh, it’s picked up the pace, I see… huh… huh huh… I like these quick bongo drummy things here… those are nice… a nice quick pace, yeahyeah… and we’re back to normal singing… yeah, I just don’t know, you know? It keeps going and going… it’s getting close to outstaying its welcome in my book, but it is about over with. Yeah, and now we’re just into weird instrumentals until the end, then? Ah, a fade out. Okay.

9. Blue in Green by Miles Davis: Some piano… light piano… slow piano… and there’s some horn… trumpet? Trombone? Now I wish I knew more about Miles Davis so I could pick that out. Cornet? I bet it’s a Cornet. Those are weird. Sousaphone? No, those are big… anyway, yeah, this song is trying for a slow depressing kind of feeling which automatically makes me sort of hate it on principal… exciting upbeat music, mann! That’s what I want! But I suppose it’s pleasant enough, and is succeeding at what it’s wanting to be… a little piano sorta drum horn… thing… see, now that sounds more like a saxaphone… was I just crazy in the beginning? I could have been. I am known to be crazy in the beginning as well as in the middle and at the end, from time to time… Yeah, it just keeps on going and I keep on not liking it on principal… keeps on going… yep… keeps and keeps on going…

10. Hip Hop by Mos Def: Okay, here’s some more rapping… I can actually picture Mos Def because of trailers for that one movie… and that’s definitely his voice… huh… yeah, lots of talking about himself… I just don’t know why that’s appealing to anyone but the guy singing it, you know? You could so easily apply this sort of style to something more… interesting? It just sort of flips a switch that says “this song is about nothing but self-congratulation” even if it isn’t… but I’m weird. I don’t know. Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock… Rock. Rock. Or something. Yeah, it just keeps going, doesn’t it? I mean, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, it’s not that long a song. it’s just… I don’t know. Man, I have such trouble connecting to so much of this.

11. The Mercury Craze by Subtle: That’s like… oh woah… that’s… yeah… heh… “Oh no!” Oh, I’m liking this so far… don’t let me down, song! Keep this shit up! Come on, build, build, build… make the refrain something awesome when you break into it… that’s all I need… come on come on come on…! Oh… well, that wasn’t what I wanting at all. “Be. El. Be. El.” Eh. Yeah, now it’s doing weird in a stupid way here in the middle… and now it’s back to where it was when I was digging it… man, this song is fairly good, but it was so close… it’s going to break into more of that weird shit before it’s done, I know. See, it’s built up a little more at this point, and it’s a lot of fun, but I know soon it’s just going to be all stupid again and cut out all the fun I’m having with this part. See? See. There it is. Or not… maybe it’s just weird slow instrumental part… or… slow instrumental part to the end of the song…? It faded out and faded back into something else that’s… what? Well, um… okay…

12. Apparitions by Matthew Good Band: Uh oh… acoustic guitar and soft male vocalist… this isn’t looking good for my own personal enjoyment… Then again, stuff like “Matthew Good Band” is kind of a giveaway of sorts, isn’t it? So yeah, it’s just another one of these songs, which are never like… bad? It’s not going to make me angry or want to hurt myself or something. But it’s so… standard. So… common… so… not at all what I would listen to. Perhaps what Essner would listen to, but not what I would listen to… well, you know, outside of this sort of thing where the point is to try and listen to everything… oh man, it’s not even halfway over… oh man. Okay, so let’s see what the lyrics are about, I guess… lose the world from the comfort of your living room tell me are we leaving soon… um, well, okay… that’s not like… bad? That could be something good… and now he’s just going to say “Apparitions” like four times. Or three times, sorry, miscounted. Now here’s the bridge… some more powerful guitar than the rest of the song… Yeah, this song isn’t for me… but it’s slowing to a stop… and it’s back to just the lone guitar… and… Nah nah nah… over. Okay.

13. Gaia by Devin Townsend: Starting off with a little energy… like that… like that… but will it go somewhere with it? That’s always the problem. Okay, male vocalist, singing about a woman… guitars sort of eating his voice… his voice treated somehow to sound different… yeah, I can barely make out what he’s saying… Yeah, it’s got some energy, but it’s not infecting me with it… wait, was that some screamy I heard there for a second…? I suppose we’ll see if it comes back… I mean, it’s got some keyboards and stuff, which I always like, but it’s just… I don’t know. I don’t want to sing along with this song or anything, you know? I guess that’s a key part of liking a song for me, wanting to sing along with it… oh, there’s definitely a screamy part there… and we’re into a bridge or something… instrumental part… the song is only half over… his could be bad… the  song could be like… all guitar solo… yeah, it’s looking like it… more and more instrumental stuff… and more… and more and more… oh, wait, his voice is kinda coming back… but it’s more just kinda background noise… and one sustained note….! And now we’re back into the song, I guess. Maybe. We’re thinking about getting back to the song. Okay, now we’re back to the song, but I can hear the vocalist even less clearly over the guitar now… obviously, he is not important to this song, which makes me wonder why the vocals are there to begin with. Okay, we’re building towards and end maybe… and… and… and… end. Okay.

14. Where the Wild Roses Grow by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Some violins and strings, I see… female vocalist? Okay, so we’re talking slow song here, aren’t we… yeah… oh, here’s a sorta deep male voice… is this the legendary Nick Cave? Or not really legendary. I don’t know. I’ll just throw a master ball anyway… and yeah, so here’s a slow violin-y love song, I guess… I suppose it’s fine enough… it’s got the deep singing, which is… it is. I don’t feel like I’m buying the romance though… it’s just a story, which is fine, I suppose, but there’s no actual romance in it. I guess we have at least one more verse left, huh? But yeah, this is all… ballad-y…? Is that the right word? I think so. There’s nothing bad with that, I suppose. Oh, okay, so there’s murder now? Well, alright then. That makes the tone make more sense, I suppose. Uh oh! Switched to past tense! And the end.

15. Primordial by The Coffin Ships: The Coffin Ships, eh? That’s an interesting band name. This guitar part isn’t interesting me yet, though. Here’s some energetic drums here… more and more… and let’s just keep repeating this over and over for awhile longer… wonder how long we can keep that up… okay, and now we got some more guitar and then we’re going to repeat that for at least that long aren’t we? Oh, okay, a little less, I guess. Switching it up a little more… is there even going to be singing in this? We’re sort of passing the point where the vocalist should come in… I suppose it would work a little better as an instrumental, actually… though man, it’s all long and shit, isn’t it? Yeah, I guess we have these different verse parts… I don’t know, it’s not… it would be okay if something else was happening, but nothing else is happening. What? There is singing? After all that shite? I wouldn’t have believed it. These vocals don’t seem like anything to wait through all of that other stuff for, though… and now they’re gone again… man… and back again… I’m sorry, but the idea that there is another half of this song I still have to listen to is breaking my spirits. I’m moving on.

16. Body of an American by The Pogues: Okay, we got the flute-y Irish-y stuff here… and it’s building to be more like that… and it is like that. It’s all slow marching-style, huh? Something like that. Oh… oh, now it’s picking up a little more… okay, so it’s a goodbye farewell… thing… isn’t all of these songs like this sort of? It certainly seems that way, in any case… Anyway, it’s built up kinda nicely and fun. It’s a song like this… what else can I say about it? I don’t know anything else to say about it. And now it’s all slowing down… but there’s still a lot of song left to go… so I assume it’s going to pick up and do the refrain again at the end… or… maybe it is going to be like this all the way to the end… yeah, now it’s fading out… I guess it is. Well, huh.

Yeah, so, there was a lot of this CD I didn’t like, but Squeeze Me Macaroni was neat, at the very least, and will be added to my collection.

So, through… means… I checked out Bunnies and Burrows. This is just such a good idea. I’m only halfway through Watership Down… I’m going to try to finish it before break is up by reading it before bed. But it’s just a really good, really fun novel, and the idea of role-playing in that universe really entertained me. Bunnies and Burrows, though, just seems bogged down with trying to adapt little rabbits to rules written for super-humans. I wanted a lot more guidance as to what kind of world they live in and such, and there is some of that, but most of it is just GURPS shite. I mean, Brer says I should have expected that, but it can still annoy me, right? I would still play a game of it in a heartbeat, though… though maybe I’m just sort of seduced by the idea of being a storyteller rabbit and making up tales of El-ahrairah on the fly. Who knows.

So I did my taxes today, and I owe like $170 bucks. This has filled me with very mixed reactions due to the reasons why I owe that money, but I suppose I’ll be quiet. I want relaxation, not constant fighting, during my time left in this house, and for all I have, it’s the least I can do. It is still a bummer to think that that is probably all of my birthday money, though. Anyway, I guess I was constructive today, since I got that done, so huzzah!

Smash Brothers Brawl continues to be amazing, and the online play is pretty great too. Yes, Voice Chat would have put it above and beyond and made it COMPLETELY FUCKING AWESOME instead of just awesome, but it all works really well. Lag is most noticed when picking up items. The games are either completely unplayable or basically perfect, and I’ve mostly had perfect games. The ability to add in local players to fill out the foursome is also greatly appreciated. Jonathan and I did that yesterday. It was neat. The game is neat. I’m getting really good with Pokemon Trainer. I need to think of some more creative taunts.

Like Marble Madness? Or… marble physics games in general? (Is that a genre? I guess it sort of it. I see a lot of them.) Go to Instant Action, make an account, and enjoy Marble Blast Online for free. It’s all of Marble Blast Ultra from XBLA, only, you know, free. And in your browser. So go play it an have fun. I did.

Shiren the Wanderer is very good, but I suck too much at it. I get the appeal of Rougelikes, I really do, but give me a baby Rougelike where I can keep my experience and push through via grinding if I get stuck any day. Seriously. I hear there’s another Pokemon Mystery Dungeon coming out in April. I might pick it up. I hope I can be a Vulpix or some other Pokemon I like, though, because being an Eevee in the last game was kinda horrible, since Eevees learn nothing in the way of moves. I also hope the Kangaskahn warehouse lady is back, because I found what little dialog she had endearing. I think that’s where I picked up my urge to use the word “hon” from.

Tommorow: Being Completely Fucking Lazy, Brer wants me to watch The Wall with him, so I guess that too.

Okay, so let’s keep this sort of thing sort of going, eh? Eh?
Oh no, there’s french words I’m too lazy to type with the correct accents… sorry, french people!
Oh, and MCBanjoMike put additional information about these songs… here. So I dunno, if you’re actually interested enough to read this liveblog, you might be interested enough to actually know something about these songs, and then you would click that link, you see?
Maybe?
Well, here we go, then.

Listening Time Volume 16: Trad 101

1. Nil ‘na La by Solas: Yeah, there’s definitely Irish…ness… there. I didn’t look at the supplemental materials before I started. Is that bad? Oh well, that’s not normally how I roll. It’s supplemental, I should look at it after if I feel the need to. Anyway, yeah, this is like… if someone made an Indie movie set in Ireland, this is the sort of music that would be playing in the background during the credits or something as the main characters… I dunno… bike through a town in the opening sequence or something. It’s pleasant enough to the ear, certainly. The girl singer has a really pretty voice, certainly. It doesn’t really get me into it… oh, and it’s over.

2. Temisti-Me by Ni sarpe, ni branche: Some fiddlin’… some more of the similar type of stuff, huh? Or maybe it’s not and I’m an idiot, who knows… there’s percussion that sounds like dance-stomping stuff, but I bet it isn’t… I don’t know offhand how you’d make that sort of… slapping on your legs, that’s how you’d do it. Man, I’m dense sometimes. Well, I’m guessing at this point this is an instrumental piece, which is kinda sad because, like I said, the girl in the last one had a nice voice. Oh, what? A guitar of some sort? Are we, dare I say it, about to break it down here in this folk song? …no, no it doesn’t seem like we are. It’s just more of the same with that new rhythm underneath it. Heh, that guitar does add something, though… yeah, it’s all kind of fun. Would never picture me ever listening to it? But it’s fun. Stuff like this, as I’m sure I’ll keep saying if this disc gives me more music like this, is perfect to put in the background of something… a game, a movie… and make me appreciate it like that to clearly set a mood, but I’m just not going to seek it out otherwise. Yeah, it keeps going and going with the same thing… oh, okay, now it’s done.

3. The Sporting Pitchfork/The Diplodocus/Charlie Mulvihill’s by Alan & John Kelly: Okay, what instrument is that playing. I mean, I guess a flute? I don’t know, it sounds different. I mean, I don’t have a lot of idea. Yeah, this is more and more of the same, I suppose, although like… the first one was like the beginning of the second one, and the end of the second one was like the guitar in this first part… and now we went into a different part with a different instrument again. Man, I suck at naming instruments today. I swear sometimes I’m kinda okay at it. I wonder when it changed was when the song name changed, since I’ve been given 3 song names. But the base stuff seems pretty much the exact same, doesn’t it? I dunno. Yeah, I guess that was probably the change, cause there’s a very obvious change and we’re a little shy of 2/3rds done with the song… It’s all cute nice little stuff, but nothing with some meat on it, you know? It’s all kinda light. Lightish? Lightesque? Maybe sort of light? Twilight? Eh, who knows. Song OVAR.

4. Le bedeau de St-David by Les Charbonniers de l’enfer: Oh, there’s singing. A choir of sorts. Okay, so we got one leading voice and a choir behind him repeating what he says… whatever the hell he’s saying, of course. Man, you’d never believe I had two years of French by how so very little I know. Yeah, this isn’t very… musical? Not that it’s working against it, so much. It’s just got a beat… Like a march thing… or a… what’s it called… those March back and forth things… call and reponse things… Brer would know… if he reads this, I’m sure he’ll tell me… heh…

5.The Banks of the Sweet Vildee by Dervish: Okay, I’m digging that starting part. It’s got that folk-y feeling, but it had a more something for it… but now it’s back to business as usual. Still a chance they could break it down… no, past the point of breaking it down. Oh well. This girl, I don’t really dig her voice. Maybe it’s the heavy accent though. She just sounds weird. Man, I guess that’s bad to say about someone’s accent, huh? But it’s less singing and more like… super-accent. I’m only catching like the random words in it too… there was a “Green” there… I keep hearing some “my love”s… I dunno. “She wept more…” I give up. Oh, wait, there’s the title! I heard the title! I don’t know, it was certainly more upbeat and more… full…? But it didn’t do much for me at all.

6. Mornings at Bonny Doon/Palm Sunday by Andre Marchand & Grey Larson: Okay, just some guitar… quiet little guitar… sneaky guitar… Oh maaan, this is like… put me to sleep music… Do I have enough caffeine to make it through this song if this keeps up? Also, it’s not put me to sleep music in a bad way, it’s… lullaby kind of music, I mean. And there’s some soft sneaking woodwinds of some kind sneaking in there sneakily… Okay, so… we’re… maybe near the middle… so maybe it’ll change over… but with a name like Palm Sunday, I guess I’m not expecting much… or maybe it’ll be like Jesus Christ Superstar. HO SANNA HEY SANNA SANNA SANNA HO SANNA HEY SANNA HO SANNA! Oh, well, it is picking up a bit, isn’t it? Basically, the flutething and the guitar are switching places. Now the flute is in front and the guitar is in back. That’s neat, I suppose. This isn’t going to put me to sleep, but it’s still not really enthralling, though. It’s still very light and out there… wanting to hover over me or away from me instead of infect me and engage me. That’s what I like my music to do. Yeah.

7. Beehive by Flook: Flook is a pretty good name. Oooh, starting out fast… potential… Oh yeah, we got some drums… we might have a winner here… keep on building, thing… break out hard and really make it happen! Or… bring in another flute. I guess that’s just what this kind of music always uses, huh? Still, that guitar stuff is really kind of infectious. Makes you tap your foot along with it with it’s fast rhythm action. Now we got like dueling flutes or something. Oh woah, we switched it up and brought it to another level here! Yeah, that’s nice… yeah, this is getting close to music I would listen to. That’s energizing. I like that. Oh yeah, even more! Very, very nice. And now we brought it to just the guitars building… and building… and building…! What are you planning, guitars? Oh, just to have the flutes break it down a different way, I see. Yeah, this is folkish music I would listen to on occasion. I could see this being a favorite track on a video game soundtrack or something. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thumbs up for that one. I think I’ll probably make Brer listen to this one…

8. The Newport Lass/Frances Aucoin/Astro’s Rough Day by Kieran O’Hare: And coming off of that last one, we’re back to more normal fare. Ah well, I suppose it’s sort of… unavoidable? I would guess. I mean, obviously BanjoMike has a much, much better idea of what is out there. But yeah, this is just normal stuff. It’s upbeat and nice, and a bit fuller than other selections, but it doesn’t engage me like Beehive did. Maybe the other two song parts will? I don’t know. It seems to be building more but not changing at all… and the song is over halfway over… I guess the first and second sections are like… the same thing? Okay, so here’s definitely a different song… A better melody than the first one. It goes down lower and does things with itself… yeah… but still, not doing a whole lot for me.

9. Intro by Swap: I assume this and the next track are connectedish. Ooh, neato. Heh. Silly little blippy-ness. I wasn’t expecting blippy keyboards on this CD at all. And that’s it.

10. Robert by Swap: Hey! This isn’t blippy at all! But it’s the same rhythm, of course. It’s got that nice little beat to it… where it like skips a beat and then catches up real fast? I don’t know what to call it offhand. I suck like that. Oh, there’s like… scat vocals here. Zo Doodle dawdle dum… Yeah, I don’t know how much they’re adding, really. But at least it’s a little different, so I can respect that, I suppose. And now back to just the instruments… la dee da… Yeah, that… yeah. It’s over now. Huh.

11. Good Drying by Shooglenifty: If a band with a name as amazing as “Shooglenifty” lets me down, I’m going to be sad. Just telling you. We’re starting out fast, that’s a good sign… and that little “bump” shows promise… hm… hmmmmm… come on, song, break it down… do it…! Aww, I don’t think it’s going to… Wait…! No, it didn’t… wait… okay, we got some more gutiarish stuff and some drums now… okay, yeah, we’re getting there… building more and more… and more… and more… yeah, sure, let’s just keep on doing that, huh? More drums. Also a scratching noise. Build build build. I guess that’s all the song is going to do for the whole song. Okay, now the song has changed, but the energy level hasn’t, like I was hoping after all that building… this isn’t really what I was wanting. Boo! Be better, Shooglenifty! I mean, I guess you’re good at what you do, but do something I want! All well. Oh woah, there was some drums and now it’s upped the energy a little with some weird new thing here. That’s cool. Yeah, it’s alright. Yep yep. I can approve.

12. The Humours of Bally Manus/Gortnamona by Siobhan Peoples & Murty Ryan: And we’re back to more normal stuff again. Again, as I should expect. But man, “Siobhan Peoples” is quite a name, isn’t it? Or is it a band name? I guess it could be a band name. Yeah, this first part isn’t too humorous, really. It just is, mostly. Yeah, more and more… this stuff is really starting to all sort of blend together for me, I’m sorry to say… Yeah, if this changed in the middle, I didn’t even notice it… oops?

13. Home/Gray Spey/Lucy Campbell by Bohola: Oh, singing… male singing… slow male singing. Uh oh. And about love, too… oh my. Yeah, I… yeah… not… yeah. Okay, well, here’s some more people singing, I suppose. But this “Home” is pretty eh. And it keeps going and going… and going… another verse… Oh, okay, it’s speeding up or something… but I bet it’s probably fooling me… lulling me into a false sense of security… I guess this is Gray Spey. It’s just more of the same. Par for the course. But at least it’s not aiming to put me to sleep, which is nice. I guess this is different, so this is Lucy Campbell? I was expecting more vocals for the last part. But I guess they’re not doing that. Which is… kind of weird and silly to me, but I don’t know. I just have a thing about songs that do a little singing and then go into long instrumentals. I feel gypped. I like a good vocal track. Oh well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It’s all basically over now. And now it is over.

14. Le coq d’Inde by Les chauffeurs a pieds: The Drivers of Walking…? Or something like that? My french sucks ass. Seriously, 2 years, remember jack shit. I’ve always been horrible at languages, I live so, so much in English. Okay, so we got some singing I can’t understand… and it’s very call and response with the choir, which I suppose is fairly standardish… well, okay, in parts… and now we got a fiddle solo. And back to singing. And… yeah, I don’t know. It’s very repetitive. Especially since I can’t perceive the lyrics to tell if they’re something different. The sound is pretty well exactly the same. Again, I guess a lot of songs are like that… but… I don’t know. The start of the verses are so, so exactly the same and kinda annoying. I don’t know. Oh well, it’s over now.

15. Gan Ainm/The Tap Room/The Yellow Cow by Enda Scahill: Okay, we got some fast guitar. That’s nice. Do we have singing? Oh no! We have banjo! Nice! Banjos are nice. That is a Banjo, right? I’m going to feel really stupid if that’s not a banjo. Yeah, that’s nice and upbeat. The guitar-y-ness is just keeping the beat all fast in the background while it’s all “look at how well I can play banjo, if this is truly a banjo!” I mean, I guess that’s a lot of it. But it’s a lot more musical than, say, most Rokkin’ guitar solos which are just ridiculous and stupid in my opinion. So I’m not going to compare this to that, really. Even though I’m sure some of those really fast sections of notes are probably fairly hard to play. That quick back and forth. I mean, I’d probably miss them in Guitar Hero, so I’m sure they’re tons harder in actuality. Oh, wait, this was three songs too. I didn’t really notice the change here either. Well, so it goes, I guess. The end. There’s… a lot of silence at the end. Oh well.

16. There’s the Day by Cathal McConnell: Cathal is a man’s name?!? Well, alrighty then! Just a capalla? I can dig it. Well, I could dig it. Except it isn’t very impressive or musical or cool. Just some talking vaguely in rhythm and going uuuuuuup and then doooown… which is… I don’t know. That’s not all that great to listen to, is it? I mean, I guess someone obviously likes it. BanjoMike obviously likes it to some extent to send it to me. I guess I should be listening to the lyrcis, eh? Since it’s like… all the song has? And yet, it doesn’t make me want to… so I’m not, really… I mean, the refrain is like “It’s not the day, it is the day, there’s a day maybe but it’s not a day I don’t think but it’s a day.” Yeah I don’t like this at all, really.

Well, that was definitely a new experience. Beehive gets Thumbs Up! The rest gets all kinda blurred together in my head for the most part. But so it goes!

So part of my plan for this week is to catch the fuck up on these, so let’s get started on 1 of 5, shall we?

Listening Time Vol. 15
Violent Vixen

1. Opening Act – Ugly Duckling: Some talking, I see… some frisking… frisky… There’s some nice piano all cutely… or… okay… and now it’s started and… I… no… yeah, I don’t know. There’s some xylophone, I see… but yeah, this singing is… yeah, what…? What should I even say about it. It’s trying to be playful, I suppose, but it’s not… very good…? I mean, I don’t know. It’s got this back and forth talksinging over the little cute stuff and I just. Yeah. Bleh. Oh, it’s got a lot more to go still, too… oh man. This is an inauspicious start.

2. Please Forgive Me – David Gray: Okay this… wait… Oh gods, this is a Kohl’s song… a song that plays at work that I hear over and over and over and over and over and over and over… oh no no no. Okay, so, yeah, I am going to hate this no matter what because of that, so all comments on this song are pretty moot. Sorry about that. Man, I know all the lyrics and everything… Bleh, I’m not doing very good on this mix so far.

3. Never There – Cake: Now okay, here’s a song I like. Cake is pretty good stuff, for the most part. Never There is a pretty good song overall, too, although I prefer things like… like… Carbon Monoxide… Neeeeeeeever there… you’re neeeeeever there! You’re never, ever, ever, ever there. Ever there. But yeah, I like Cake. They’re upbeat, and they got the brass stuff which is always fun. And the vibraslap! There was some right there! Nice!

4. Crutch – Matchbox Twenty: I’ve heard of these people, but I know like nothing about them, besides, I guess, they enjoy being lit on fire. Oh, that… that’s a weird sort of thing, isn’t it? Oh, it’s skipping… what… I guess the CD has a problem. But okay, it’s gone now… it’s got this weird sort of echo-y stuff in the background. I do kinda like the quick-talking stuff… but this refrain is not really… the vocalist is singing in a… well, reminding me of country sort of way. Couldn’t tell you exactly what makes me say that, though. Well, it’s how he says “I don’t wanna be the!” That’s what gives me that idea… but yeah, this is listen-able, but I’m not excited about it.

5. Cold As Ice – Foreigner: Like the belt, right? I’m willing to sacrifice our love? I don’t really love you, Foreigner. I never did. Hey, I take some advice… sometimes… so I guess it’s got that piano thing in the background unchanged for the whole song, huh? Those are some serious ooohs and aaaaahs there. And now we’re to the solo bridge thingamajig… I don’t know, I want to say the song doesn’t really reflect the lyrics. The lyrics would seem to suggest something that’s either angry of depressed, and this song is neither of those. But yeah, this song certainly has background singers, huh? And a slow fade… yeah… huh.

6. Pardon Me – Incubus: My ex-girlfriend really liked Incubus… I remember listening to their CDs while I drove her around. I can’t say I remember anything in particular, though. This song isn’t really ringing a bell, anyway. So if I had to take a guess at this part of the CD, Violentvixen has a thing for that kinda quick talk-singing over music, because a lot of these songs have things like that in it. It’s kinda fun at times. Oh, here come a bunch of scratching. Scratchscratch talkfast. But yeah… “Pardon Me While I Burst Into Flames.” Really? I don’t know, on one hand I can see that phrase being applied very effectively and neatly, but I don’t feel like this song is, because that refrain has an element of drama to it. It would have to be a sort of devoid of that. Much less dramatic sarcastic and much more… completely meaning it and it being more symbolic. I dunno. Anyway, I guess the song is ending with this reverb stuff.

7. You Make Me Completely Miserable – Filter: “You Make Me Come…” Way to start out dirty, song. This song is slower… I do hope it doesn’t keep up that sort of thing for the whole song… with the Dun Dun Duuun… Duhduhduhduhduhduhduhduh… well, okay, it’s sorta different in this refrain, I guess. Yeah, this song, sadly, is much cleaner than the beginning of the song would suggest. False advertising! But then again, I guess I did know the title beforehand, huh? Yeah, I dunno, this song is doing nothing for me. The little trick with the not the whole title singing thing is kinda… nothing to me. Oh, it ended abruptly.

8. The Drama King – Everclear: Everclear song number 1. I am already questionable on the vocalist… eh, nevermind, it’s not… yeah, it’ll be okay. So, okay, when I focus in on the lyrics, I kinda dislike the song? They aren’t doing much to me. They feel kinda generic. But when I just listen to the song song and try not to zero in on the lyrics like I normally do, it’s not too bad. It would work in the background without annoying me or anything, you know? I don’t know. There’s a strong possibility, I think, that I just dislike this song and will like other songs by this band. We will see if that holds when I get to the other one, huh?

9. Title and Registration – Death Cab for Cutie: I’ve heard of these people, but I know nothing about them besides that their name sounds familiar. Okay, male vocalist… I was sort of thinking maybe female by the name, but cool, cool. He’s got a sort of distinctive sound in a good way, so that’s nice. Yeah, it’s… it’s nice, but it’s not got… it’s got some energy, but it doesn’t use it. The singer doesn’t have any, although he sounds nice… ooh, I like that xylophone or bells or whatever here in this bridge… yeah, I’m left conflicted. I’m enjoying the song, but my natural hate of slowness is pushing against it. Huh.

10. Hang On – Guster: I like Guster’s faster stuff, certainly. Uninteresting factoid: me and my friends have an inside joke about Guster’s Maracas Player and his great maraca solos. Yeah, okay, it’s this song. It’s very listen-able, and enjoyable, certainly. But it’s never a song I put into my own playlists. It’s more something one of my friends would put on and I would sort of nod in agreement to. So yeah, a fine piece of music, I suppose. Hang on… hang on… I think there’s… yes, there’s another song coming up… I think I’ll blog it.

11. Square One (Live) – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Don’t know much about them, besides the fact that I read a short story about them once and probably missed a lot. Whoo~! The Crowd! Whoo~! But yeah, goodness, this is like serious slow acoustic sort of stuff here, which is… not really my area… oh, here’s a backup singer. A Dark Victory, huh? That would be a good name for a Magic card… Dark Victory… 3BB, Sorcery, Destroy Target Creature, you lose 3 life. Or something. It would probably be cheaper than that. But yeah, this song isn’t much for me. I think I said that. I think one could tell that with my mind drifting. Yeah.

12. Devil’s Dance Floor – Flogging Molly: There’s some drum sticks going on there… and now some flute-y stuff… Yeah, it’s this band, right? Yeah, it’s this one. I suppose there’s definitely a call for this kinda music, huh? That… blend? Blending? It is kind of infectious, isn’t it? It’s almost like… all drums, though. I mean, I guess there’s other things going on, but the drums is what I’m taking out of it, mostly. Is that weird? It’s just obviously the most powerful part. Drums with that flue thing over it. Yeah. Yeah.

13. Feeling Good – Muse: This is that one band again with the song and the music video I’m supposed to think is awesome but I don’t think is awesome. Quiet keyboarding and singing… okay… new life for him… that’s nice… oh, okay, and now here come the guitars. But the tempo didn’t pick up at all like I was hoping. This is unfortunate. Yeah, I think I “get” this song, but I don’t really… I’m not really enjoying it. I approve of its existence in the world, though. It can continue to exist. Okay, so now he’s singing up high and going all Ooooooooooh! Ooo Ooooooooh! Or something. And I guess it’s going to do that until the end or something? Well, alright then, go ahead and do that, thing…

14. The Old Apartment – Barenaked Ladies: Okay, so… something about an Old Apartment… and they live there in the past time. Okay, so, he is asking why someone is making the place better in every way… which I guess I can understand in some things, but he’s not explaining things very well in this case. I mean, “Why did you plaster up the hole in the door?” Seriously? Anyone would do that. Changing the color of the walls, you have more of a case, I suppose. Changing the locks on the door is also a stupid thing to complain about… I don’t know, basically, I don’t like the vocalist because of all that weird stuff, and it feels like that is all the song has going for it. It’s “like this guy and listen to him.” And I don’t like him.

15. Insomniac – Straight No Chaser: Oh my, A Capella, huh? Intense. I can dig it. Although this doesn’t seem like a very… exciting song. More of a standard song instead of the fun of doing something a little more different and fun with it or whatever. I don’t know, love songs just seem so… that’s what A capella songs are about and stuff and things and stuff, you know? Then again, I suppose MOST music is about such things, so I guess I don’t have a very good case, huh? Also, the fact that the background people keep singing “Jim My Jim My Jimmy Jimmy” makes me wonder weird things. Certainly a more romantic song than the title suggests to me, though.

16. Do You Realize?? – The Flaming Lips: More Flaming Lips, eh? And they counted for me. And then started playing… I didn’t hear two question marks when they sang it. They need to make it more interrogative!  Realize realize realize… Well, that’s kind of a depressing thought. It thought this was going to be a romance song. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, it fooled me at the beginning. It’s a “make the most out of life” song. But yeah, it… yeah. Nothing for me here, really. It’s sweet enough, I suppose.

17. The Good Witch of the North – Everclear: Everclear song number two! Aww, it wasted it’s chance to “Break it down” there. The lyrics are sweet, though. Really sweet. I can support the lyrics. It’s never bad to have sappy overly emotional love songs that know they are. This one knows it is. It’s not like… trying to be deep. It’s just like “no, seriously, I love you, and I’m trying to tell you.” I am all about that. That’s the only way to write love poetry, at least, you know? Because others are in love, love is not like this… awesome rare awe-inspiring thing… and yet, at the same time, it is. So you have to admit your love isn’t special, but then say strongly that its there in your tone… and this one does it. Bravo.

18. The Mixed Tape by Jack’s Mannequin: The last song… the band name makes me think of Jack Mangan. Because it’s Jack Mmmmmmmmmm. Well, this one seems picked for last due to the name, huh? It’s a bit more upbeat than a lot of this CD, but it’s not doing anything for me. Also, I guess it is about a mix tape, isn’t it? But it’s… I don’t know. It’s not saying that to me? Even though I guess the lyrics are about that and I can’t deny it. It… I don’t know. I don’t buy this guy’s emotion. Unlike the last song, where I totally bought it. See, and there’s like some… ego there “I swear this mix could sink the sun.” also read as “I am so awesome and perfect for you.” The end.

And that’s it. Final thoughts: Most of the songs were listen-able. There was a lot of romantic attempts, most of them I didn’t buy except the second to last track, which got me. That was strong. Yes.

So here’s some game design thoughts based on my discussion of DnD with Brer where I didn’t get my points across at all. (through not fault of his, I just… I don’t know. I’m so speaking from the heart more than from the brain sometimes with this stuff. It feels right this way, and I can’t tell you why sort of situation.)
One of the things I’ve been thinking about with DnD is the whole… complexity issue. As I was sitting there playing Neverwinter Nights 2, which I’m sure it already dumbed down some, I was feeling so clueless as to the system. Things would happen and I would just die and I would be staring at the screen wondering what the hell just happened. The problem is that to play DnD at all, you need to know the intricacies of higher-level play.
Now, consider many other games I play. For one, KoL. There is, most definitely, a high-level game in KoL, one of people trying to pull the best times and ascend with the least number of turns. Because I pay attention, like the game, and read stuff about the game, I know a lot, although probably not all, of these tricks. I never use them, though. I never worry about the quality of booze I’m drinking or if this skill I’m perming is actually going to cut down my number of turns. I just drink something to play more and pick a skill I think is fun. Seriously, if I was going for speed, the skills I have permed right now are completely wrong. From that perspective, me not having Pastamastery, Advanced Saucecrafting, and Advanced Cocktailcrafting is criminal. Double-fisted Skull Smashing does not help from that perspective. But dual-wielding is fun, so I picked that one up. I can play the game at a level less than high and still get enjoyment out of it.
I’ll also make an example of Magic. There is obviously a high-level game of Magic, and I feel like I know a thing or two about how I would try to put together a high-level deck if I really want to. But I never want to. Those decks are boring to me, because they’re all about efficiency. I don’t get to do cool, retarded tricks and shit with them. So I build my silly little Johnny decks, and if they work well, awesome, and if not, I still have fun trying to pull off my little weird things. Hell, someone can play the game really simply as a game of people smashing monsters into each other, and it works just fine that way.
The point is, I don’t have to have a knowledge of high-level mechanics to enjoy these games. In DnD, I feel like I can’t. In Mask of the Betrayer, there is so much shit going on in a combat that I have no idea what half of it is, and that half is important. That half is all these buffs and debuffs that are keeping me from stabbing people in the face with my spear. I don’t know what they are or how to deal with them. Things just happen so quick. I suppose part of that is me needing to pause the game more, but… it just bothers me that it’s designed like that. It’s set up to create a sort of elitist structure.

There are other things, too, that bother me, but these I feel are more just decisions and I feel are more on the “personal preference” side of things, so I’m letting you know I’m not presenting them as fact.
One is all these calculations. I really don’t get the appeal. There is such a wide variety of roles and outcomes and factors in the game, and it just seems ridiculous to me. If I attack a monster in Arkham Horror, I look at my will and pick up that many dice, then look at the modifier and subtract that many die, then roll for a horror check. If I get a 5 or a 6, I don’t take sanity loss. Then I pick up dice equal to my Fight + my weapons – the modifier on the monster, and roll. If I get enough 5 or 6s to equal his life, I win. If not, I take damage and have to attack again. Now, there is a bit of calculation involved, sure, but it’s all with the number of dice, something you can physically sort of sort out. You can pick up five dice that equals your will and then put two back on the table for the modifier. It’s simple stuff. And to me, there is nothing there that is less thrilling than rolling something with complex calculations of damage resistance and this and that in DnD. The thrill comes from throwing the dice and not knowing what will come up? Will you have an overwhelming success? Barely edge by? A crushing defeat? You don’t need complex calculations to get that thrill. It’s basically built-in to the mechanics of dice-rolling. So why do all the crazy stuff with many different sided die? I really don’t know.
Another thing is the fact that the more I learn about this game, the less about actually role-playing this game is. The appeal of tabletop RPGs is, for me, to sit down with a lot of friends and improv and act out a character. I guess I was pretty strongly affected by Kill Puppies for Satan and all of his thoughts on RPGs in general. That’s the experience I want if I’m going to sit down and play, and DnD is completely not going to give that to me. Or if it is, I’m probably going to be ignoring a lot of what makes DnD what it is. DnD is all those calculations and complex damage models. That just seems so boring. I want a computer to do that (to which you say “But you have Neverwinter Nights 2 to do all that for you!” to which I say “Well, yeah… that’s why I bought it. Other factors kept me from liking it, though.”)

Anyway, these are just some thoughts I wanted to get out of my head… please let me know what you think of them, if you’d like. It’s time to clean up and go to lunch now, though.

So I bought this game on a whim, and it has me entranced. It’s a download-only PC game, and you can buy it on Steam… they’ve got a website here.
Basically, what this game is is a weird combination of both music rhythm games and falling-block puzzle games. You load the game up, and you insert a favorite MP3 or whatever. It reads like every file format ever, and even just CDs. Then you pick a mode. They call them characters, but each one plays different enough that it’s basically a different mode. There are hardcore point modes where it’s all about being the best and having like these crazy fucking reflexes to score these huge combos… or you can just play the fun silly ones like I do. I play “Vegas,” which has a random shuffle instead of any sort of skill-based way to take care of your blocks. I also play a lot of “Mono-pro,” which takes the game away from puzzler aspects and makes it more of a… reflex dodging game where you have to grab colored blocks and dodge grey blocks, trying to build up a multiplier.
Every level is made by the computer based on the music itself. So like… if you play that song a second time, it’s going to be the same thing? And if anyone else plays that song, it will be the same thing. The levels it creates actually do a really great job of syncing to the music. The blocks themselves make sense based on what’s going on, but what normally gets me is how much sense the hills and turns on the little race track that is the level work with the song. Like… if it’s got a fast thumping beat, there’ll be all these little hills, and the little ship will bounce up and down constantly… well, here’s a silly example of someone playing a level on Mono. You’ll get the idea, I think.
Finally, you have scoreboards created for any song you play. If it’s popular, you can compete against the world! If it’s not, you can just compete against a few random fans of that song and yourself or your friends. The fact that it tracks all this leaderboard data in their own servers for any song you might plug in is pretty damn awesome, in my opinion. It doesn’t work perfectly, since it’s based on the Song ID stuff in the tracks. If you changed yours to make it a little different for some reason, you’ll be on a scoreboard by yourself. But for the most part, it works great. And if you don’t want to sit around, wishing that someone would play your favorite song so you can show off your high score, they have a selection of Indie tracks on an “Audiosurf Radio” tab where everyone has access, and thus competition will be, which is a smart idea. Hopefully those tracks will change on a weekly or biweekly basis, but it’s too early to tell now. I won’t use it anyway, but I appreciate it being there. Really, though, there are obviously a decent number of people playing there. I found mostly full leaderboards for things like Albuquerque by Weird Al, which is 11 minutes and 24 seconds worth of dedication to play through. It was fun, though. There were also pretty decently-sized leaderboards for pieces of the Persona 3 soundtrack.
The point is, this game is definitely fun. It would seem like a great way to listen to a new CD, or just waste a few minutes with your favorite songs when you get that “music game” itch, knowing it’ll always HAVE your favorite songs available. Not to mention the price is right at 10 bucks. If you like music games, you should probably give this one a go. It’s a good time!

Do you like Poker?
Your answer to that question is irrelevant to this game.

Do you like Puzzle League/Tetris Attack/Panel De Pon?
If the answer is yes, and you have a 360, you must play Poker Smash.

Take the blocks from Puzzle League. Associate each color with a playing card from 10-A. Put an additional suit on each block. That’s Poker Smash. All your normal puzzle league moves work just like normal, but in addition to your normal clears, you can also make various Poker hands, like Full Houses, Flushes, and Straights, in order to clear blocks for even bigger points than usual.
The controls work really well. Normally, controls would be kind of… pointless to talk about in a puzzle game like this, but the two-stick scheme they use is intuitive and lets them do some neat things. Basically, you move the cursor with the left stick, and slide the tiles with the right. This lets them do things you can’t do in puzzle league because of you having to tap to flip things, like dragging tiles past groups of tiles that would normally trigger a clear to use them somewhere else.
Other welcome changes include a Bullet Time meter which you can activate at any time by pulling the right trigger. I find it easy to forget, but if you spot a way to get an extra chain out of what you’re doing, holding down that trigger can help you make it happen. It recharges over time. You can also place bombs with the A button. You start with five, and a meter charges up to replace bombs you’ve used as you clear titles. The bombs will basically destroy the tile you put them on, letting you easily set up 2x’s Chains and get you out of sticky situations. It also freezes the scroll while the bomb’s fuse is going off, so you can use that to set up some additional clears. Both of these make the game a little easier earlier on, but once you get up to the fast, insane speeds, you’ll welcome these additional tools that give you more to think about. They connect with the game flawlessly.
The game comes with all the standard features for this stuff: A full Puzzle Mode, both Timed and Endless score attack modes, and full multiplayer for up to 4 people on Xbox Live, or two people split screen. There is also a little store you can buy skins to use in the game, and set up “custom playlists” of skins for the game to cycle through, so it only uses your favorites. It all works great. And it’s only 800 Microsoft Bucks. That’s $10. Considering the number of times I have bought copies of Puzzle League for $30 dollars over the years, that’s a steal.
One other thing I wanted to mention was the cleverness of one achievement I worked for and got today. There’s an achievement called “Self-restraint” that calls for you to go from speed 1 to speed 7 without making anything but 3 Combos. (They call them 3 of a Kinds, because of the poker theme, of course) This was really quite difficult, and really made me look at the game in a completely different way than I normally do. This is an example of a “Good Achievement” in my book.

I was about to skip this game, because I have little love of Poker. All the talk on 1up Yours made me decide to download the demo and try it. I bought it immediately after playing for like 5 minutes. If you like Puzzle League, this purchase is seriously a no-brainer. If you like puzzlers, why don’t you play Puzzle League? Also, you should try Poker Smash. It gets my crazy awesome seal of crazy awesome blogging approval.

This almost hurts me to say.

Culdcept Saga sucks.

Now, maybe it’s great with a few people online you’d like to just chat with, and you can flip around some settings to adjust game length. But as a single player experience it is GOD AWFUL. I’m stuck on the fifth map, and I can’t beat it. And it’s not the difficulty that’s bothering me, especially because you get new cards even for losing. No, it is the game length. It is way the fuck too long. Most games again the computer can easily take 2 hours, especially with multiple computer opponents like the map I’m on. During these two hours, at any moment, you can be subjected to the Risk problem. (I guess I’m trying to coin that as a thing, because I do find myself referring to it all the time.) What I mean by this is, you can be struck a blow from which it is clear you will never recover, no matter how well you play from that point on. In most games, knowing you’re going to lose wouldn’t be too much of a problem. You’d just restart the scenario and try again, yes? But this is a card game. You need to finish matches so you can get access to new cards to improve yourself. Skill will only get you so far. You need to improve your deck, too. So you need to actually let someone finish the match, but you can easily be dealt this blow an hour into the match, with at least another hour to go before the end. And I know I’m not over-exaggerating the whole “Now I have lost” point in the games, either, because every time something happens to me that makes me think that, I can no longer do anything. They take the one property I was banking on keeping for the whole match and built it up big, and then it’s gone, and I no longer have the cash to make one to replace it and the dice are unlikely to be lucky enough to me to let me retake it. I’m dead. And then I play on and on in a game I don’t care about because I already lost it just to get 3 cards and then try again. Add this to the fact that you have to watch slow and long battle animations over and over again, as well as every animation of every action your opponents take, and you can see how it would become annoying.
Now I could take one of these things, just because of my love of card games. I can take arduous, overly long Mario-party-esque animations for a deep card game. I could finish up games that I lose in the middle of them if I had some way to zip through all the bullshit at that point. But I don’t. And so I find myself not wanting to play it.
This game desperately needs a limiting factor. There needs to be some sort of escalation to make the games end quicker. Every X turns, all the toll values need to go up by 10%, maybe. I don’t know, just something, Or if they don’t want to go with an elegant solution, a simple turn limit would help things quite a bit. Also, having smaller boards. The first level has a tiny board that is just perfect for me and another player. I can play that. But I think I get weaker cards just for beating that level over and over. However, the map quickly gets too big, and the score goal keeps going up. I don’t want that. At the same time, without that, the game has a lot less variety, so I don’t know what to do. But someone should have made a decision that “Games of Culdcept are an hour” or maybe even half an hour, and then tweaked the mechanics to make that happen.
I hope to gods the online play has a turn limit option to make it playable. I haven’t checked yet. I also hope that I get cards after finishing an online match. Because I’ll be honest, I’m pretty well done with the single player. I hope to play the game with my Talking Time friends sometime, because it would be fun with friends and a limit set up. But gods, I’ve pretty well had enough of it at this point. And that saddens me. Because I love card games, and I’ve heard so much about this series. But I just really can’t play it.