Happy New Year

I'm not really feeling too inspired today so this one'll be short. Enjoy tonight's excuse to get drunk and unruly, and I hope that your hangover is tolerable tomorrow.

The Walkmen - In the New Year (From You & Me)
Buck-O-Nine - Irish Drinking Song (From Songs in the Key of Bree)


Buy 'em up:
Gigantic
Taang!

Satanism

Today's post was inspired by this excellent video, which if you know me I've probably already forced you to watch. For the optimal Satanic experience, if you haven't seen this video before, you should view it before perusing today's selections. Enjoy, and remember to be on guard for wickedness at all times.



The Mountain Goats - The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton (From All Hail West Texas)
The Mountain Goats - Satanic Messiah (From Satanic Messiah EP)
Funion - The Night the Devil Took Rathgar by Storm (From Wombat in the Reading Room, Badger in the Stove)
Colin Meloy - Devil's Elbow (From Colin Meloy Sings Live!)
Neil Young - Devil's Sidewalk (From Greendale)
Black Sabbath - N.I.B. (From Black Sabbath)

Buy 'em up:
Emperor Jones
Satanic Messiah Website
Funion Myspace
Kill Rock Stars
Warner Bros.

The War of Northern Aggression, Part 4

For want of any better concepts at this time, I am posting yet another installment...

Dolorean - Violence in the Snowy Fields (From Violence in the Snowy Fields)
Blood shows up pretty well on snow.

The Fainting Fansies - Volunteer Army (From The Red Shed)
At the start of the war, the Northern Army was comprised largely of volunteers--by the middle of the war the North was increasingly reliant on conscription.

The Go! Team - We Just Won't Be Defeated (From Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
The Go! Team--kindred spirits with Panic! At the Disco, if only because of their love of the exclamation point mid-name. I guess this could be the North's fight song?

Willy Mason - Fear No Pain (From Where the Humans Eat)
Religious conviction helped men on both sides go into battle with less apprehension of death, and this song kind of sums that up.

The Avett Brothers - Die Die Die
The title says it all, I think. Plus, the Avett Brothers are from North Carolina.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Army Bound (Demo)
I like this version better than the one that appeared on Living With the Living, but that might just be me. Either way, it's good.

Buy 'em up:
Yep Roc
The Fainting Fansies Myspace
Columbia
Virgin
Ramseur Records
Touch and Go

The Halls are Decked, the Boughs are Hollied

I have a hard time believing that it's Christmas tomorrow, it certainly doesn't feel like it to me...and yet, I am surrounded by abundant reminders that it is indeed that time of the year once again. Thus, I will supply you a non-militaristic installment of music for the blog. I do have to say to my Jewish friends that I would have liked to put up a Hanukkah-themed post as well, but unfortunately I lack a sufficient number of relevant selections. Perhaps one day when my music collection has grown more voluminous I'll make up for this transgression.

So, here are some tunes. A merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, fun-filled Festivus, and joyous Kwanzaa to all, and to all a good night.

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas (From Etiquette)
It's a downer, but it's awesome.

Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy (From In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
It's a downer, and not really relevant until the very end, but still awesome.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy (From Greatest Hits, Vol. 2)
It's no "Amish Paradise," but when I was ten, the images of bloodshed, destruction, and venison this song evoked seemed pretty cool.

Sufjan Stevens - Sister Winter (From Peace: Vol. 5)
A song that slowly builds to an apex of holiday epicness, as only Sufjan can do it.

Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone - Baby, It's Cold Outside (From Elf: Music From The Major Motion Picture)
Elf is a mehhh film, but Zooey Deschanel has a very nice voice.

Modest Mouse - Jesus Christ Was an Only Child (From The Lonesome Crowded West)
Isaac Brock, putting the Christ back in Christmas!

Everclear - Santa Monica (From Sparkle and Fade)
Ok, this is a stretch. But a clever pun, no?

Buy 'em up:
Tomlab
Merge
Amazon.com (Because Scotti Bros. went belly-up years ago)
Asthmatic Kitty
Up Records
Capitol

The War of Northern Aggression, Part 3

My classes on the South and on the Civil War may be over, but the inventory of songs that I have amassed which are vaguely related to them is not. So, I have returned with yet another installment of the epic series on the Civil War, where I make far-fetched connections between songs and the great conflict which pitted brother against brother.

I decided that considering the month in which we presently find ourselves, today was as good as any for a Decemberists double-shot.

The Decemberists - The Soldiering Life (From Her Majesty)

Being a soldier in the Civil War was not exactly a fun time. Rations were often meager, disease ran rampant, and if you were seriously injured, there was no anesthesia for when they lopped off your limbs. However, the spirit of camaraderie exhibited in this song often rang true.

And you
My brother in arms
I'd rather I'd lose my legs
Than let you come to harm

Personally, if I were a soldier in the Civil War I'd much prefer to keep my legs, but I'm a selfish bastard so take that with a grain of salt. Or a bite of saltpork.

The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives (From Picaresque)

I already went on a rant about military wives in my last post in this series, so I suppose I stole this post's thunder in that regard. It doesn't matter though, because this is an excellent song. Plus, Colin Meloy's math skills never cease to amaze.

Buy 'em up:
Kill Rock Stars

Done?

It's 8:30 in the morning and I just recently completed an epic all-nighter writing a final paper on The Boondock Saints which directly followed a rigorous final exam yesterday afternoon. But considering I pounded a NOS and a Rock Star overnight, I'm not going to sleep right away. I'd just assume stay up all day as if I slept last night, excepting the fact that it's pretty difficult to keep my eyes focused.

So...all this pertains to the blog in that now I'll actually have ample opportunities to update it over the next couple of weeks. Should be a good time.

There's more music coming, I swear

I'm presently tied up with end-of-the-semester academic stuff. But in about a week the semester will be over and I'll be posting much more regularly over holiday break, in large part because I will probably not have anything better to do. I'm leaning towards making this more of a straightforward mp3 blog, but we shall see. In the meantime, check out these links:

Kid Omega (blog of my main musical focus)

Funion (Myspace page of my side project)

The War of Northern Aggression, Part 2

The pangs of guilt I feel for having not updated my blog have led me away from my studies (which ironically enough at the moment consists of reading a book called The Confederate War) to bring you, loyal reader, a second installment of the ongoing series of songs with a fratricidal flourish...so with no further gilding the lily and absolutely no adieu whatsoever I give you some additional selections.

The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (From The Band)

There is no stretch to be made while explaining this song's relevance to the topic put forth--it's just a straight-up tale of the Civil War from a Confederate perspective.

Josh Ritter - Girl in the War (From The Animal Years)

It is worth noting that women disguised as men saw combat for both the Union and Confederacy during the war. Women's contributions on the home front also should not be overlooked. Even if they were simply whining in letters to their husbands, whilst their husbands were dodging bullets and living on hardtack and saltpork, they served to persuade their men to reenlist so as not to have to deal with their incessant jabbering on about nothing. How's that for an impact?

Buy 'em up:
Capitol
V2

The War of Northern Aggression, Part 1

This semester (being an American History major) I'm taking a class on the Civil War, referred to by many of our Southern brethren as "The War of Northern Aggression." My roommate has repeatedly asked that I one day in class refer to the war in said Southern manner, as of yet I have failed to follow through on this request, tempting as it may be.

So on a somewhat related note, last week I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea to compile all the songs I have that can be connected to The War of Northern Aggression and compile them into a playlist. More recently, I thought "why not post some selections from this amalgam of songs on my blog and thus flirt with making this something like a proper mp3 blog?"

Since I went down to New York last weekend to see The Mountain Goats play (which, by the way, was friggin sweet), I thought it would be fitting to start with some relevant selections from John Darnielle's vast catalogue. Doubtless there will be further installments in this series of songs. Hope you enjoy this fusion of awesome tunes and American History.

The Mountain Goats - Jeff Davis County Blues (From All Hail West Texas)

Jefferson Davis was, of course, the President of The Confederate States of America. Apparently, they also named a county in Texas after him.

The Mountain Goats - Going to Georgia (From Zopilote Machine)

Who could forget Union general William Tecumseh Sherman's (who by the way, was one mean, angry, ragged dude) March Through Georgia in 1864, burning Atlanta, not to mention laying waste to whatever is 40 miles from Atlanta.

Buy 'em up:
Emperor Jones
3 Beads of Sweat

So I'm not moving to Canada...

Part of me still isn't sure whether last night really happened or if I'm the victim of some massive cosmic joke, but thank God Obama won. After the past eight years of lies and incompetence, Obama could pull a Jimmy Carter over the next four and still be a marked improvement.

Because I will do almost anything to avoid attending to my studies...

So it's already been a couple weeks since my last post, which doesn't seem at all possible, and yet it is. This evening it started snowing, which drove home the point for me that before I know it the semester will be over. Being busy does tend to make the weeks pass pretty regularly I guess. A lot of note has happened in the gap between entries, and although perhaps it would be wiser for me to spread the content of this post out over multiple ones for the sake of updating more frequently, the temptation to say everything at once is simply too great. So:

- Kid Omega (my band) played a show at the VFW in Walpole, MA last Friday. There were some pretty awesome people there and it was a fun time for sure to get out of Worcester for a little bit. It was a great experience and hopefully we can get some more shows soon...which leads me to my next entry...

- When attempting to book shows, it is advantageous for one to have several songs put to tape of halfway-decent quality. So, for this and other reasons, this upcoming weekend we intend to do some recording that takes place outside of the confines of our room. You know, with electrically powered instruments and stuff. Pretty exciting, I know. And once we have some new recordings, we can post them on Myspace, last.fm, etc. too for y'all who care to listen. Looking forward to it.

- I can't wait for the election to be over and done with, so long as it turns out the way I'm hoping it to. If not, I'm liable to pack up my things and move to Canada. I hear that Ottawa's the London to Montreal's Paris...

The Greatest Game of All of Time

Though you wouldn't know it by my previous post, I'm not one for shameless plugs. However, once again I cannot help myself--for you see, in recent weeks I have been all-consumed by a computer game that I have come to recognize (and I most assuredly will end up taking some flak for this) as the greatest that I have ever had the pleasure of playing.

The game is Pinch Hitter 2. I have not played the original, but I'm sure it was also ballin'.

It can be found here. I have been a Tetris lover ever since my Windows 3.1 machine came preloaded with it way back in '93, but other than the likelihood that I will probably develop carpel tunnel playing Pinch Hitter, it is very much in the same league as Tetris.

Not that this game is without fault (some hits are inexplicably turned into outs), but it sure is a great way to waste your precious days.

Odds and Ends

I know I've been terrible at updating this blog regularly but I find myself generally busy of late and typically devoid of much inspiration. I just moved into my new accommodations for the year and they are a definite upgrade. At long last my band has found housing under one roof. Let the creative juices flow 24/7! "What band?" you may ask. This band:

Kid Omega: The Myspace
Kid Omega: The Last.fm Page
Kid Omega: The Blog

That was some shameless self promotion, no? Hey, I've got to put something here. Plus, I'm really psyched about this year music-wise. Check out our pages if you want.

Moving Pictures

Due to the nature of my summer work, as well as the terrible weather of late in these parts, I've been watching an awful lot of movies recently. So, for anyone who happens upon this blog, here are quick reviews of some of these films (and no, I haven't yet seen The Dark Knight, though I should at long last be seeing it tomorrow).

The Onion Movie

This film lacks any real plot, but that's okay. For anyone who has been on The Onion website and checked out their fake news programs, essentially this film is an hour and twenty minutes of these fake news reports served back-to-back-to-back. There are some good laughs here, but also a fair share of misses. The inclusion of Broken Lizard's Erik Stolhanske (most easily recognizable as Rabbit from Super Troopers) doesn't really do anything to buoy the film. I came into this film with high expectations, but wound up feeling a bit let down in the end. 6/10

The Darjeeling Limited

This is a delightfully weird film. Watching three brothers dealing with many issues--both individual and collective--trying to coexist on a trip halfway around the world is highly entertaining. This film isn't exactly an upper, yet I came out of it in an inordinately good mood, probably because it helped reaffirm the fact that my life could definitely be more of a mess. It's basically the Royal Tenenbaums with less depressing scenery. 8/10

License to Wed

I knew that this was going to be bad, but I watched it against my better judgment anyway, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, with the irrational hopes that it would not sour my taste for the medium of moving pictures forever. I made it through twenty minutes of this dribble before I could take no more and had to stop. All I have to say is: the inclusion of demonic robotic faux-infants are a recipe for disaster (and casting Wanda Sykes is an automatic strike against a film in my book). Why John Krasinski, why? 1/10

At long last, a song

When I started this blog a month ago, I promised I would be posting some original songs/recordings. The day has finally come for me to follow through on that promise.

The song isn't really about Rainn Wilson or his character Dwight Schrute for that matter. I just liked how the phrase sounded (anyone who has known me for a reasonable length of time has quickly come to the realization that 99.9 percent of my thought processes consist of random word association and punnery, and this title is certainly no exception).

Hope you enjoy.

Rainn Wilson Stopped the Drought

July, July!

Apparently the Decemberists are in the midst of recording their next LP. I can't wait.

Hunter Thompson and '72 versus '08

I returned from my trip to Canada a few days ago. While I was up there, I had a chance to read Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. Most people associate Thompson with his magnum opus Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and not so surprisingly his epic drug habits.

On the Campaign Trail is not simply a quasi-factual run down of drug-crazed exploits (although that is certainly an entertaining element of the book). In fact, the book provides some very insightful political analysis, made all the more impressive by the fact that Thompson had not covered politics at length prior to the '72 presidential campaign.

One thing that I found interesting about the book was the parallels that can be drawn between the '72 campaign and this year's contest. George McGovern is Barack Obama: the anti-war Democrat from the far left of the party who begins the primary season as an underdog but who is vaulted to forefront by an impressive grassroots movement, and ultimately secures the nomination. Richard Nixon is John McCain: the Republican who stubbornly does not see the quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from a failed and wasteful conflict (Vietnam is Iraq) as a priority. The two contests are not completely identical--Nixon was an incumbent, and a bit more conservative than McCain--but the parallels between the campaigns are important to note.

Democrats should hope that this year's election is not a carbon copy of 1972, because McGovern was beaten by Nixon, and beaten badly. He ran into trouble by alienating many of his original supporters in the mad dash to the middle, backsliding on previous statements while pandering to conservative Democrats and Republicans, and making a disastrous choice of running mate (who turned out to have some severe mental illnesses). Obama should be very careful, then, in his own move to the center as he attempts to gain the support of independents and Republicans. Friends of mine have already expressed displeasure with his recent pledged support of faith-based organizations. I would argue that government investment in preexisting organizations, be they faith-based or not, will help fight poverty (thank you John Edwards) more effectively and cheaply than creating all-new, separate institutions. This of course then unravels into a whole separation of church and state question, which I'm not going to go into detail about here.

If poverty in this country can be fought more effectively through government support of faith-based organizations, then shouldn't we focus on the ends and not get caught up on the means?

Hiatus

Since I will be in the great northern wilderness for the next week, where there is no such thing as the interweb, I will not be updating the blog during this time. I'll try to be more diligent at doing so upon my return--and hopefully I'll be able to get some audio up in the next few weeks.

What's the song?

My summer job affords me a lot of free time, which should explain the following offering. The poorly-drawn sketches below offer some lyrical clues. Can you name the song?

Pilot

Welcome to my foray into the world of blogging. Expect a hodgepodge of photos, drawings, music (recordings and reviews), and random anecdotes to appear here sporadically in the weeks and months ahead.

PS: The page layout may be subject to dramatic shifts in appearance for a while--at least until I find a format I like.

PPS: The banner at the top was created using Acorn, a simple (and most importantly, free) image editing program for Mac. You can get it here.