Sunday, November 21, 2010

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)


Alright. I guess I used to be a pretty avid harry potter fan. I've read all of the books at least twice. I just read the 7th book a couple weeks ago, and I admit, as I opened the cover, I had the opinion that I had grown out of Harry Potter. But, alas, I fucking loved the book.  Read it in like a day and a half.  It really is very decent writing. Props to Rowling.

Now, the movie, specifically the most recent release, will receive no such props.

Is it just me, or did Daniel Radcliffe fail to inspire any emotional authenticity for anyone else? I literally laughed when *SPOILER* Dobby died, purely because of the acting.  Also, someone should tell the actors to speak more slowly. I read the books, so I could deduce what was being said at most times, but I do not doubt that after numerous, hastily-voiced lines the majority of American audiences were looking at each other quizzically saying "What?" I'm not hating on british accents, but realize that people unfamiliar with the accents are relying solely on dialogue to understand what's happening.


Okay, but to give a review of the movie itself, it was very disappointing. I'm not going to go into the whole "the book was sooooo much better" issue, but it truly did seem that the director/screenwriter had never read the book. As I said earlier, the acting was lacking. And what the FUCK was with the Hermione/Harry dancing scene? That was almost as uncomfortable as the Juno creepy old man/pregnant teenager dance scene. But at least the Juno scene served a purpose of telling us more about the characters (namely how sketchy that guy was). The HP version was totally arbitrary and completely unnecessary.

Finally, this movie was essentially a fluff-piece that leads up to the second part of the 7th movie. I only paid 6 bucks for it, so I wasn't too pissed. But I'm glad I didn't go wait in line for hours for the midnight premiere like so many of my harry potter crazed friends.


TL;DR version: Acting sucked, nothing. fucking. happened., creepy dance scene, book was better neener-neener.

P.S. Daniel Radcliffe's totally coming out the closet sometime in the next five years.  I bet he didn't even pop a chubby with Emma's legs right next to him.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Sick Music Blog

Hey guys, I wanted to share this blog I frequent.  The dude has a tendency to post some pretty sick songs.

If you like dubstep, chill hip-hop, sick beats, check this out for sure.

here's the link: ThisSongIsSick Blog

Enjoy.

Random comic:

Monday, October 25, 2010

the hell? When did Linkin Park get awesome?




I mean, I loved them when I was thirteen, but they've been dead to me for years.  Especially after "Minutes to Midnight".

Nice to hear an actually decent tune from them.  Enjoy.

Randall Munroe is a genius.

Alt Text: "And what about all the people who won't be able to join the community because they're terrible at making helpful and constructive co-- ... oh."




Friday, October 22, 2010

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

So if you haven't heard about the Rally to Restore Sanity yet, here you go: rallytorestoresanity.com

I really want to go to this thing.  Too bad I live almost 10 hours away..

But I've loved keeping up with this shit.  It's refreshing.  It might have comedic overtones, but this is getting serious coverage.  Stewart and Colbert know what they're doing, too.  I'd say they're sincerely interested in trying to change the way politics works, or at least toning it down a bit.



By the way.  Oprah was on the Daily Show.  nbd or anything. Oprah-Daily Show Clip

Obama's scheduled to appear on the Show the 27th.  You know, still nbd. "Pres. Obama Scheduled to Appear on Daily Show"

So, if you're in the vicinity of D.C., I encourage you to go to this.

Alright, feedback is appreciated!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Learning Piano to Get Laid


Bo Burnham - Words Words Words

Alright, so I loved Bo Burnham back in the day.  You actually had to think about his songs to get the depth he was going for.  Yeah, that "depth" was eventually discovering the complex puns he used for "vagina" but dammit, it's good shit.

Now he's out with his second album.  I just listened to it.  It's a little awkward in the beginning, but there's some good material on here.

My personal favorite as of now is "Art is Dead".  It's the first time I've ever heard some real honesty from this dude.  You can tell that wasn't an act.

Here's the torrent for the album: Bo Burnham's Words Words Words (btjunkie)

I suggest you listen.  If you don't want to listen to all of it, just start at "A Prayer/How Do We Fix Africa?".

But alright, here's his new "single".  Enjoy.


Saturday, October 16, 2010

Back from College Visits

Okay guys, sorry I've been away for so long.  I've been on a college trip this past week/end.  Yeah, I'm a lowly pre-frosh.

Which I guess leads me to the question, what college do you go to?  Do you like it?

I've been visiting places like Washington University in St.Louis, UPenn, Miami University (Ohio), Johns Hopkins.. etc etc.

I'm hoping to major in Business/Finance.. maybe minor in Comp. Sci..


But yeah, I just visited Wash U in St.Louis this weekend.  Pretty damn nice school.  Got to hang with some old friends who go there.  I can't wait for college.  I'll be getting back into the groove of posting and browsing others' blogs.  See you around.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Youtube Vid Update

Hey guys, sorry I haven't made a new post in a few days.  Busy weekend.


Here's a few random youtube videos I think are pretty awesome:





Friday, October 8, 2010

SINKS.

Time to post some mother effin' sinks.












I am so turned on right now. Uh, I mean, which was your favorite?

Hemp Tycoon Game + Na Palm Track

Haha so this is like the farmville for stoners.

It's pretty fun, but a slow-paced game. At level 5, You have to wait anywhere between 30sec. and 12 hours for your hemp to grow. Just something fun to do if you're on your computer every day. Which we are, so.. why not?

Enjoy.

Here's the link: Hemp Tycoon

 On another note...

Here's some of that Na Palm I was talking about in some earlier posts:

Get It In (ft. Kendall) by Na Palm

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Fun Flash Game + Sick Dubstep

Give Up, Robot 2 (THIS IS THE LINK TO THE FLASH GAME WOOOOOOOOO!!!! )

Here's a  very entertaining flash game from adultswim.com.  I've already wasted quite a few hours on this puppy.

ALSO, here's a sick dubstep tune to listen to while you play:



EDIT: You know what, HAVE ANOTHER!



Hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Video of Me Covering "Pearl of the Stars" by Coheed & Cambria




Alright, this is from a while back actually.  Like last winter.  It's one of the few recordings I've made of myself playing and singing.  I just learned it right before I made this, so it's a little sketch, but I hope you like it.

I'm gonna try to force myself to practice singing and playing more.. I've been learning other Coheed songs actually.  I love their acoustic stuff.  Well, ALL their stuff, but I love their acoustic stuff because it's usually in my register of singing.  And I love the emotion.

But let me know what you think!

Liquid Mountaineering


See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

This is somewhat old (like 3 or 4 months), but I figured I'd share.  I love how they put all this together.

You HAVE to try this for yourself!!  I believe in you. :)

Jackass For Girls - CollegeHumor


See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I lol'd at the "Sex with a big dick after not having sex for a long time" one.

Hope you enjoy.  I frequent CollegeHumor quite a lot, so I figured I'd share a video or two on 
occasion.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Sick Remixes

Here's a couple more favorite remixes.

Science of Fear (Mistabishi Remix) - The Temper Trap

Kids (Consequences Remix) - MGMT and Star Salzman

(EDIT: I'm just gonna tack this song on: Fireflies (Marlow Remix)   I dunno..I like it.  Has all the original vocals, with a totally dubstepified beat.  Interesting track. )


Sorry I'm making all these tiny posts.  Don't forget to check out my previous posts for other sick songs as wel!

Let me know what you think!

Massive Dubstep Track

Mistabishi - White Collar Grime


This is for all the filthy dubstep lovers.  This is such a fucking MASSIVE track.  I hope you have the headphones/subs to do this track justice.  If you jizz every time you hear a sick drop, you're gonna need a tissue.

Turn up the bass and enjoy, my dirty little dubfans.

Sick Tune

Grooveshark: Guitar Sound (Tam Mix) - Ronald Jenkees

Give this mother a listen.  Very unique track.  I love cranking this one whenever I'm driving, really gives my speakers a workout.

Let me know what you think.

Derp. Here are some .gifs.

What have we learned?

Science!

Such grace.

I love the one that stands up taller.

Exhibit one: Potheads.




I seriously want that dude's hair in the last one. (the one on the left.)

Btw, how do you pronounce .gif?  I usually just say Jiff.  Oh well.  Enjoy!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

What I Want For Christmas

So I found out what I want for Christmas.  Or at least what I'll probably buy with the Christmas money..

An Epiphone Sheraton II.



So beautiful.

My buddy actually has one of these, so I've had the pleasure of playing one of these babies.  They sound great.  Really full, soulful sound, but can kick out some serious edge too.  My tastes are pretty cross-genre, so I like to have a guitar that can sound great regardless of the amount of distortion you're using.  One thing that I do like about this guitar is the fact that it's like the best of both worlds (lol miley cyrus) between the solid body and hollow body classes of guitars.  Hollow bodies can have issues with some serious feedback, and solid bodies lack the reverb/wholesome sound that hollow bodies have.  Luckily, the Sheraton is a semi-hollow body.  Meaning, it has minimal feedback issues and still retains the strong, full sound.

I first found my infatuation with this guitar when I saw Silversun Pickups play live in Atlanta this summer.  Awesome band, and they create such amazing sounds.  Brian Aubert, the guitarist, is simply incredible in how he elicits such tones and textures out of his Sheraton.

Bottom line, however, is that this guitar is sexy as hell.

Let me know what you guys think!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

More Walls

I have hundreds of walls I could share here, so I figured I'd post some more.  I'll try to keep them unique and interesting.  Enjoy!


 
 


Great Math Homework Help Website

 Math Help Forum

Hey guys, this website is an AWESOME homework tool that has been pretty much invaluable to me throughout some of my advanced math classes.  Just ask these guys anything and they'll usually tell you exactly what you need to know in order for you to grasp a concept that you've been struggling to wrap your mind around.


There's one thing you should know about this website in that, since it sucks deciphering stuff like "a^3 / square root of 21 + 7sin(theta)", they use a thing called LaTex (pronounced: lay-tech).  This is just a very simple, code-oriented way of clearly displaying Math symbols and equations exactly as you would write them down on paper.

Here's the basics of the LaTex you'll need to know for the forum:

To start off, just know that you'll have to wrap your LaTex code in tags like so: [math]"your code here"[/math].  The "post message" form on the forum even has a shortcut button where you just highlight all your code, then click the button, and it will automatically wrap everything in these tags.

Here's a nice, basic reference sheet to familiarize yourself with:

Alright, so it's basically telling you all the stuff you'll need to know for most basic arithmetic and trig.

Stuff like a^2 will give you a to the 2nd power.. \sqrt{4} will give you the square root of four.. \sin will give you the symbol for sin.. \frac{2}{3} to give 2 over 3.. etc.  Pretty basic stuff.

So using our example from earlier...  "(a^3 / square root of 21) + 7sin(theta)" would be coded as \frac{a^3}{\sqrt{21}} + \sin\theta"  I also just learned you could do other roots like 3 to the 4th root: \sqrt[4]{3}.  You learn something new everyday.

While this might look intimidating at first, it's seriously not.  Just learn by trial and error, click on other people's LaTex to see how they coded it, and you'll be using LaTex without even thinking about it soon.  (And honestly, you don't NEED to use LaTex to ask a question.  I just find it so much clearer and easier.  Ask a few questions just the normal way, then after you see how useful this site is, maybe start picking up LaTex.)


So now that you're well on your way to mastering the nuances of LaTex, you're ready to start getting some free, comprehensive math help.  Actually, even if you don't help, I suggest you to lurk the forum every once in a while anyway.  I might need you to explain some Calc to me!

The NEW Single Greatest Song of All Time



Thought I'd give credit where credit is due.  This may be old news, but I stumbled upon this song in my itunes library a minute ago.  Ol' Astley's still kicking, Internet.  This song is legitimately great.  So catchy.  It'll be stuck in my head the next few days for sure.  Enjoy!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Review



Alright, just got home from the theater!  Went to eat with some friends after seeing Legend of the Guardians, and the phrase of the evening was "visual masterpiece."  This movie was one of the most beautiful things I've seen on the silver screen in a looong time.

I saw it in 3D.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that it's only offered in 3D.. that's how it was at this particular theater anyway.  But the extra few bucks was not wasted at all.

In addition to the visual aspect, something I pretty much anticipated, I was pleasantly surprised with a quite intriguing storyline.  While the seasoned movie-goer could feel a bit like he was watching Lord of the Rings with an all-owl cast (maybe just because the lead character was voiced by Elijah Wood), I think that they did a good job of keeping the viewer interested.

One complaint I did have was the fact that Hugo Weaving, owner of one of the COOLEST voices ever, was barely in this movie.  He was only in the first ten minutes or so.. and a little at the end.  A little disappointing, personally, but not a detrimental factor to the overall movie.

My favorite scene (no spoilers) was where the main owl, Sauron (spl? also, LoTR ref?),was flying through the typhoon with drops of water pelting his insanely detailed feathers (see below).. serious goosebumps right there.

Summary: Goosebump-inspiring, visually incredible movie about my new favorite animal of the avian variety.  I give it an 8/10 only because I think the story is a little cliche, but ultimately very satisfying.  I definitely recommend.

Wallpapers

So I really want to make this blog about anything and everything.  So I'm going to give you five or so of my favorite wallpapers.  Hope you like them.






Random Music. AND WONDERFUL NEWS

 There's the Na Palm shirt I was talking about a couple posts back.  This dude knows marketing.


Before I share some sick tracks with you guys.  I have great news.  like seriously GREAT NEWS.  I just registered my cell phone to this blog.  ERGO, I can now post here at any time I WANT.  I already can't wait to share with you guys how much I loved Legend of the Guardians: The motherf***ing Owls of Ga'hoole after I get out of the theater tonight.  Good sh*t.


(I really don't know if I can get penalized for swearing on this blog.. can I?  Please tell me, I hate bleeping out sh*t.)

Okay, here's some sick house/rave music.
song - artist

Bass Head - Bassnectar
A Girl I Know - Sabrepulse
Gold Dust (Flux Pavillion Remix) - DJ Fresh
Science of Fear (Mistabishi Remix) - The Temper Trap
Kids (Consequences Remix) - MGMT and Star Salzman
A Millie (Remix) - Excision and DatsiK
Hide & Seek (Autopilot Remix) - Imogen Heap
Hot Like Sauce - Pretty Lights (kind of house-y hip hop)

Okay, I'm digressing away from house towards hip-hop.  Hope you don't mind.
Don't Mind if I Do - Mac Miller
This Plane - Wiz Khalifa
Nikes On My Feet - Mac Miller
Joy & Misery - Hoodie Allen

Random Song of the Day:
Starring - Freelance Whales (very electro-indie.  fun fact: the guitars in the beginning sound like whales.)

Stereotypical Music Post

Alright, so I have this shiny new blog and I want to post more... So I figured I'd go with the usual "Here's what I listen to.  You'd better like it too." post.  Enjoy :)

I'd say my main musical tastes are firmly rooted in rock/indie rock.  I grew up on Rush.  F*** yeah.  I'm a drummer (who also plays guitar) so Neil Peart was my idol growing up.  A lot of people don't really get what Rush is all about.. so I'm gonna suggest just a few songs that seriously rock. (And not in the "old person" sense of the word.) Btw, to listen to these, I suggest just typing them into grooveshark dot com.  Seriously awesome website.  and research orbit downloader and how to use it with grooveshark.  that's all i'm gonna say. :)

Sick Rush Songs:
La Villa Strangiato - I have to start with this.  If you appreciate guitar, check out this solo.  EPIC.
Driven - Very Bass-oriented song.  Try to get the Different Stages Live version.  Sweet bass solo.
Analog Kid - Just a fun-sounding song.
I'm gonna end with Natural Science.  Just a great summary of Rush.  8 minutes of rock.  What else could you want?

Okay, now that Rush is out of the way, I do have *new* music taste as well.  In fact, I don't really listen to Rush that often anymore, but I still think everyone should be aware of how great they are.  And they are still my favorite live band.

Actually, I think I'm gonna share my newer music in a new post.  So let me know what you think of the Rush songs!

<3

What's up, Internets?

You ready for me to thrust my large, throbbing, salty opinions down your throats?

So this is my first blog.  WOOO.  I'll try to make it a good one.  I'll probably talk about things like my life, my taste in music, movies, random youtube videos, and this week's installment of that award-winning documentary of six people's quest for love and meaning. Oh yeah, Jersey Shore is what it's called.  I encourage you to comment, call me out on spelling mistakes, share your own opinion..

By the way, if you're wondering, I named this blog after a song by The Thermals.  Great song.

Right now, though, I'm listening to Get It In - Na Palm.  Yeah, listening to this guy makes me feel like a total douchebag, but I LOVE IT.  I actually downloaded the whole mixtape from this dude.  Even bought his shirt: http://tiny.cc/m8nma .  I'm slowly turning into a total doucher..  Excuse me while I go listen to some of my beloved Silversun Pickups to try and counteract this.

Love you guys.  Follow me!