On E-Cookies and Such

I'm disappointed in the number of people who tried to get my e-cookie (nobody tried to get my e-cookie). The answer was: I don't have a goddamn New Years Resolution. New Years Resolutions are fucking stupid. It's not the practice of making goals that I'm against; shit, the only way I EVER get anything done is by sitting down and setting a goal for myself. My beef is with the nature of the "New Years Resolution". In my experience, a New Years Resolution is a sweeping, general idea for some kind of vague "self-improvement". And that's completely moronic. It just gives people yet another way to feel self-righteous. "Oh, my New Years Resolution is to lose weight. I'm such a good person because I'm all healthy and shit." Boo. Most people have enough outlets for self-righteousness assholery anyway.

With all that in mind, I'm going to take this opportunity to shamelessly pimp my band and our hilarious new vlog post. Go. Watch it. Laugh hysterically. Listen to our music. Tell your billionaire record-company-executive friends.

Thank God That's Over

I fucking hate the Christmas Season. I hate the stupid sweaters, the tacky decorations, and most of all, the terrible music. It's all too goddamn major and/or Jesus-y. I'm not into that shit. I'm all for a little bit of "perky" every once and a while (see: the Flaming Lips), but when it's mixed in with the schlocky, the tacky, and the overplayed, it becomes utterly unbearable. The only Christmas music that comes close to being bearable is the stuff Elvis did in the 50s and Handel's Messiah, which, shock and awe, is actually for Easter. And that Elvis stuff gets old quick. Still, there is one aspect of Christmas that my selfish, consumerist, proto-libertarian self does enjoy: the free shit. And boy did I get some nice loot this year. Money, iPhone, new goddamn bass, wah pedal, some interesting books; put it all together and I made out like a goddamn bandit.

But that's enough about everyones favorite bastion of consumerism. It's 2010, and I'll give you a whole e-cookie if you can figure out what my resolution was. I feel like I should talk about the past year or something. About how 2009 was some kind of "Year of the X" or how "Event Y" will shape 2010. The thing is, I don't see much that's significant about this year. I turned 18, Obama "fixed" the economy, Avenged Sevenfold's drummer died, Republicans were morons, Democrats were morons, and life just kind of went on. Next year, I'll turn 19, politicians will still be morons, and I don't know what the fuck the economy will do. But that's not important. It's 2010, bitches. Pour yourself a goddamn beer, you survived.

Peace out, bitches.

Cafeteria Food

It kind of sucks. Especially when your vegan. Which is why I'm pretty fucking happy that my mother dearest is coming out to Boston to see my final performances at Berklee. I'm definitely gonna have to figure out what the fuck I'm going to do if (hopefully when) I go here for college. I'm probably going to try and find a way to cook at home, but I don't know how possible that'll be, especially if I get a dorm without any kind of kitchen area.

I feel like I should try and sum up the Berklee experience in this post, but it's not even really finished. I've learned so much, I love this town, and I love this school. I've got some serious work to do, but I think I could really thrive here. I feel like I'm better at college than I am at high school. I don't know how many other people are like that, but it just feels so much better when I can arrange my own life; I feel like I can get a lot more done.

Anyway, I've got to shower and shave and make it look like I've been keeping up with myself while I'm up here.

Peace out bitches.

What the Fuck, Muse?

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of Muse. So it truly pains me to say that their latest song, United States of Eurasia, is utter shit. It's bloated, cheesy, and sounds like a badly executed tribute to Queen. I'm really hoping that this isn't representative of what the new album is going to be like; I like the much better when they took their influence from Radiohead as opposed to Queen.

A lot of people have taken a shit on Muse in the past for wearing their influences on their sleeves. I can understand where they're coming from with that, but I've always felt that they managed to still make everything their own in the past. Despite the constant comparisons between Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke, I've always felt that he's had his own voice; the only real comparison is the frequent use of falsetto that both singers employ, and, let's face it, everybody uses falsetto.

I really hope that Matt Bellamy was on crack or SOMETHING while he wrote this and that the rest of the album is less Queen-tribute-band and more Muse, but given what I've read in interviews, I'm really not expecting much out of the Resistance.

Peace out, bitches.

(Note: I actually like Queen, but I listen to Muse for MUSE, ya know?)

Sometimes it Sucks to be Southern

In the south, I'm not that southern. I listen mostly to alternative rock and electronica, I don't have much of an accent, and except for the southern rock/country band I play bass for, I really don't do anything particularly stereotypical.

Yet, for some reason, people seem to assume that because I come from below the Mason-Dixon line, I'm some kind of inbred hick who sits on his porch plucking his banjo between NASCAR races. When introducing myself to someone, they (seriously) asked if I played steel string guitar. Another person asked me if I rode a horse to school. I probably should've told them to fuck off, but I'm a big fan of the whole "not alienating people you've just met" thing, so instead I just laughed it off.

I don't know what people read these days, but from the way these people talk about it, you'd think that south was entirely made up of rednecks and racists. It's ridiculous.

With that in mind, the southern "us vs them" attitude I've seen a lot around my hometown probably isn't helping the case. The number of confederate flags one sees driving down your average North Carolina highway probably doesn't help either. For some people, you'd think the Civil War never ended.

I guess my overall point is that while yes, there are some dumbass southerners, people up here need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that in fact, life just really isn't that different down south.

Peace out bitches.

Manhood?

Howdy.

The hiatus has mostly been due to laziness, but for the past week I've actually had a legit excuse due to my computer getting fucked over by the elements. See, I've been at a summer music program hosted by Berklee School of Music. The first night I got here, I put all my shit in my room, set up my laptop on the generic desk given to each student here, then left to go meet people and the like. The desk I've got here happens to be situated under a window, which I left open, since it has a tendency to get hot as balls in a room with four windows and no air conditioning. That night, it rained. On my computer, iPod, and PSP. The iPod and PSP were totally fine, but my computer was fried. Fortunately, Apple makes awesome shit, so a week later, once everything dried out, everything was fine, hence the whole "holy shit there's a blog post" thing.

Anyway, last night me and my roommate somehow got on the topic of manhood. As in the age-old question of "at what point does a boy become a man?" Now me, in all my libertarian glory, laid out my usual response of "when he is really and truly independent; that is, he's paying his own bills, buying his own food, and generally supporting himself." My roommate, offended, said "so you're saying I'm not a man?", to which I responded, "yeah, but neither am I."

Now, my roommate is a pretty smart dude who also happens to be Canadian, which may have contributed to his rebuttal, in which he asked me if I thought that a person supported by his government was not a man. This actually got to me. Having had a little time to think about it, I came to the conclusion that no, in fact, someone supported by his government is not, in my eyes, a full-fledged man. That is not to say that one dependent on his government is a mere boy, but I still think that one who is dependent on his government lacks that essential element on independence.

But what about married men? Old motherfuckers? Does someone have to be completely independent to be a "man"? Must a man be an island?

I don't think so. I think my revised definition of a man depends more on the idea that a man should have the means and ability to be totally independent, but does not necessarily have to be supporting himself. A man living with a partner who helps keep up the household is still a man, so long as he is not totally dependent on that partner for his well being.

Also, like most philosophical arguments, the whole "when does a boy become a man" argument is actually pretty stupid and in reality, I think it's better just to get on with your shit and stop worrying about everything.

Which, in itself, is a philosophy. Fuck.

Peace out bitches.

Motivation?

As of yesterday, I have this massive urge to become better.  I have absolutely no idea why.  I just feel like I need to know more, to listen to more music, to dress better, to be in better shape, to write more prolifically, play bass more effectively, and to have absolute confidence that I am better than the person next to me.

It's not as though I need to be the best at anything, and I still don't feel like I should subscribe to someone else's standard for how good I should be.  Grades, expectations, and promotions aren't what I'm looking for, it's a sense of inner betterment which is what I feel as though I should look for.  It seems like so much of society is based on impressing somebody else; get good grades in high school so you can get into a good college, build other peoples expectations so they will think better of you, work hard so you can impress your boss to get that promotion.

The more I think about it, the less respect I have for those who devote their lives to this kind of "make them happy" mentality.  They all seem to think that sucking up to the right person will make them better, but in reality all they accomplish is making the person above them feel a little more self-righteous.  It's ridiculous.  I think we should all live on our own terms, not on the terms that have been given to us.

Gods dammit am I turning into Thoreau?

Peace out bitches.