Naked Logic

The show tonight at Backbooth was simply amazing. I think this was definitely one of the best nights of my life. I had originally planned on just going by myself, since I didn't think anyone else I knew would be interested in going. As it turned out, I was wrong, and my sister Christina, Adam, my brother, and my friend Mikey and Dougie came with me (although it was later discovered that Mikey had never listened to the band beforehand).

When we got there, there was a small line with an equally small wait, with the only unusual incident being a joke from a homeless man, which turned out to be less of a joke and more of a plea for "donations". There was a small poster that advertised Morning Teleportation playing that night and when I paid for my ticket and asked if I could keep it, I was told it was fine as long as it was still there.

The venue was really nice; there was the bar in the front, and then in the other room a nice venue with a bar seating and even a balcony. I opted to stand in between to be closer to the stage. We ended up waiting an hour before the first band played, Coyote Theory. In the mean time, I bought a Morning Teleportation shirt, which Paul sold to me personally. They were just chillin' with us before the show and I got to meet them and get them all to sign my shirt, which made my evening. I was also really surprised at how quite Tiger's voice was. I guessed he must have been saving it for the show.

When Coyote Theory finally played, it turned out to be pretty good. The bassist in particular caught my attention because of his obvious talent. He switched off halfway to play the drums and then the guitar. The band was local, and it turned out that most of the people who came to the show showed up for them as the room was promptly reduced by half once they finished.

After them, Nicos Gun played. Nicos Gun had been touring with Morning Teleportation for the last three weeks, and they were really good. Me and Dougie were really close to the stage, so to be honest, it was so loud I don't think I accurately heard what they sounded like. Still, I felt like they were awesome, and apparently they were. The lead guitarist/singer was shredding on his guitar during an awesome solo, and at one point he dropped his pick. It landed right in front of me, and when I picked it up to give it to him, I saw that he had already procured another one and let me keep it. Pretty dang cool. Afterward, we met with him as he was walking around and he talked about what it was like touring, coming from Philadelphia. He was surprised at the layout of Orlando, but we explained that he was in the downtown area and that there was no residential area there. He said it was a lot like Chicago.

Finally came the moment I had been waiting for; Morning Teleportation. They were awesome. Having already met with them, it was amazing to see them perform, knowing them as people and from listening to their studio sound. It was pretty cool to have them play a song that I recognized form listening to a thousand times. Most of the people in the audience were singing along to the lyrics and jamming to the music. When they finished we had to leave pretty quickly, since our parking ticket had expired half an hour ago and Mikey was afraid he'd get a ticket. On our way out, we got one last chat with the drummer of the band. I also grabbed the poster out front.

Coming home, smelling like smoke and beer, pick in my pocket and poster in hand, I felt exhausted from the whole experience. For the first live show I'd ever been to, it was pretty damn good.

I first heard of this band through a Facebook post from Cage The Elephant. Apparently the two bands are close and Cage The Elephant was helping promote this new band. I followed the link and found this amazing music video full of fantastic visuals, brilliant colors, and psychedelic music.

Instantly, I fell in love with it. Normally I wouldn't go for the fast-paced style that is psychedelic rock, but Expanding Anyway offered something more melodic than that. It didn't fall into just another wall of sound like a lot of other songs have a tendency to do. It keeps it lively by mixing it up throughout the song, until the big finale at the end. That's actually my favorite part of the song, where he vocalizes his "la-la"s and everyone gets up and dances. Including me.

This band is still pretty small, but eventually I'm sure it will get the recognition that it deserves. They're coming to Orlando on the 29th, so I'm pretty excited to see them play. I'd love to see them perform Expanding Anyway live.

Take a good long look at the album cover. This may just be one of the greatest albums ever recorded. That I've listened to so far. The Ghost Inside is one of my most favorite songs ever, a title granted to a covetous few. So far I have about three songs that I could listen to forever. This is one of them.

The rest of the album is also very good, but I absolutely love The Ghost Inside. Also after listening to this, I decided that if theres one person I could meet in my lifetime, it'd be James Mercer. His lyrical deft and musical genius will forever haunt me.

I found out somebody else I knew had a blog. It's weird. It seems like since I've started, I've been more hypersensitive to any news pertaining to blogs. Seeing as Mormons are commanded to keep a record of their life, I don't think that I should be surprised at all the people I've discovered with blogs.

I'm pretty certain that I'm keeping this blog for that same reason. I haven't looked back in so long. But I think thats mostly because there hasn't been anything behind me that I've wanted to see. Like touring an orphanage; nothing to see there.

Ok, while that may have been a little brutal, I think its not that unreasonable to compare my past to an orphanage.

A lot of the blogs that I've seen have been pretty superficial, a point that I'll desperately try not to digress to. I want to keep a record of what was going on through my head at this point in time, for each post that I do. I want to look back and see the person speaking to the reader in the future. I am writing to myself.  This is who this blog is for.

Not The Kid by Communist Daughter My first encounter with Communist Daughter, although I have a feeling it won't be my last. A song Dougie recommended to me. I thought it was pretty good at first, but it wasn't until I took another look at the lyrics that I appreciated it a lot more. I don't know that I'll be able to stop listening to this song now. It reminds me of how I think I should feel about my youth.

Minecraft is a wonderful game. It was my friend who really introduced me to the artist behind it's ambient music, C418. While some of the songs are weird and outright disturbing, I've found that the ones that are calm and soothing are great to listen to while programming, reading, or doing whatever. Here's where C418 has so graciously gathered the best of his work in one convenient location for you to enjoy. Not to mention how stunning that graphic is. Really I love that image.

Tautou - Brand New by rockzombie2 A nice little song thats perfect for being depressed or getting you depressed, as the case may be. I stumbled on this while playing a flash game called One Chance. It was a deep, provocative scene where your wife commits suicide. I find myself attracted to this song when I'm feeling passive and lethargic. I can attest to the effectiveness of this song as a sleep inducer.

Before I went to see Battle: LA, I was told by my friend's dad how horrible this movie was. "I could've waited till it came out on DVD. It totally wasn't what the trailers showed it to be." And he was right about one thing: It wasn't exactly what the trailers had made it seem to be. If you've seen the trailer, you're probably jumping up and down excited to see a whole bunch of epic action sequences with aliens and explosions. Don't worry. You'll get that, and more.

I think the point that the trailer misleads people at (as is usually the case with such movies) is that it makes it out to be this epic action movie. In reality, it delivered a lot more content than a plain old alien-shoot-em-up movie could by focusing on a smaller scale of the alien invasion of Los Angeles. I thought the time alloted for the movie was managed very well. There definitely seemed to be a lot of scenes that had to happen in the movie, yet it consistently maintained a good pace and flow so it felt natural and added to its believability. I think the movie covered roughly a 24 hour time period.

For those of you who enjoyed Saving Private Ryan, the story line for Battle: LA was very similar to that, since it followed a key character, who was not by all means perfect, but had a mission to accomplish and wasn't the sort to let anything deter him from it. Battle: LA was about the character drama, with a believable interactions between the characters whose genuine emotion I can only compare to The Walking Dead comics. Unlike showing the stress a zombie apocalypse places on a person, it focuses on how the alien invasion affected a small squad of marines. They're tasked with rescuing a small group of survivors bunkered down in a police station. The story becomes a lot more intriguing as complications arrive and they engage in small skirmishes with the aliens.

I found out later that the directer's aim behind the movie was to make the most "realistic" alien invasion movie to date. And I have to admit, those were my exact words when describing the film I just saw to some one. The directer said he wanted the film to be shot the same way a YouTube video is captured, so you'll see a lot of hand-held camera action going on (especially at the beginning of the movie). Thats not the only thing that makes it seem realistic, though. The guns used in the movie seem so "real". Each bullet fired is accounted for, ammo is a real problem that has to be accounted for, and each encounter with the aliens seems pretty realistic, if not a little favorable for the small squad.

Before I even walked out of the theater, I knew that this was hands-down the best alien movie, I'd ever seen (replacing District 9 as my top favorite). I think the only way that people wouldn't like this movie is the same way they didn't like District 9; it just wasn't what they wanted from an alien movie. Its as though even though there is an alien invasion going on, you can tell it's not the focus of the story: the focus is on the people who live through that event. I had no regret paying to see this in theaters and the next day, I had the urge to see it again -- something that rarely ever happens to me.

Honestly, I don't know what the big thing about blogs has been all about. Other than the aforementioned reason as to why I started this blog (which looking back at again, yes, I did roll my eyes at and laughed about as well, after seeing how deliciously ADD it sounded) it seems that the only other reason why people start blogging is because they are either traveling, have a family, or loves to garden. Other than that, thats all I can come up with. Unless you count "ranting" as a reason. Which I will.

As to my future, I'm going to college soon (four months) and I have a lot of stuff to get done before that time. Here's a list mainly for my use to keep track of it all:

• Turn 18
• Finish merit badges for my Eagle
• Apply for housing
• Apply for scholarships
• Apply for internship/job
• Call Wade
• Go to Megacon
• Skydive
• Finish that art project
• Read Atlas Shrugged

Today was Pi day. My Calculus teacher is awesome. She definitely went all out for Pi day. Where she got a jersey numbered 3.14 is beyond me, but I loved it. The only girl I know who gets excited over numbers.

Another new thing I've gotten into is this; I've found songs that I liked edited so it's just the vocals. What I usually find appealing in a band is the singer's voice, so naturally this seems like a perfect way for me to enjoy a song. The guy's logo at the beginning and end of the video is annoying.

Another little treasure I found in the dead of the night, although I never admit that when I tell someone of my discovery. The discovery seems to be more intimate, and songs like these usually hold more sentimental value to me, since it always brings back good memories.

Simple Math by Manchester Orchestra I have to admit, I first found out about Manchester Orchestra because a girl I knew liked Bad Books, their singer's side project. But I like them.

I never was one to keep a journal. growing up, I was always encouraged to do so, but I was too paranoid to try. I've always believed that my mind was the only safe sanctuary I have, so why risk the security of my thoughts, if I could simply reflect on them in my own head?

Either way, I never was the sentimental type. Thats something I quickly discovered about myself. I don't own very many possessions. I usually notice different types of people, and one of the ways I categorize them is by past, present and future. I know people who live in the past, and people who only concern themselves with the present. me, I think the best type of people are the ones who are grounded in the present and look towards the future.

So while I never did write down my thoughts, I've always wanted to. I believe expressing ones self is naturally therapeutic. The thing about doing this though, is that that I'll inevitably look back and roll my eyes at everything I've posted.