I decided today that I really don't like it when people use the phrase "you owe it to yourself". How can you owe yourself something, and how does another person know when you do? You can't lend yourself money, the same you can't owe yourself money. There's a reason why there is only an "I owe you", and not an "I owe I". It sounds dumb, doesn't it? Yes it does. I think the only people that can actually owe themselves something are people with split personalities. It's like there are two people, so it's understandable if one personality can owe the other a favor. If and when the unlikely and seemingly impossible event in which I actually manage to owe myself something, I'm guessing that I won't need another person to tell me so.

Mark

It snowed here this weekend and I stayed cooped up in my apartment, looking out the window for most of it. I finally decided to get some fresh air and talk a little walk for some dinner. It was about 10:00, therefore a late dinner. The streets were relatively empty, except for a few people whose feet crunched through the snow. The cool part about my little journey was how bright it was. The moon reflected off the fresh snow, and seemingly lit the whole town. Even though the sun had gown down several hours before, it seemed as though it was peeking out of the sky somewhere to give me night vision. I usually hate the snow and cold weather, but for about an hour, I loved it.

Mark

I'm home for a few days and decided to make my first trip in a while to the Quaker Brudge Mall in New Jersey. I kept hearing about all the sales and expected to see thousands of people dragging bags of merchandise behind them as they trudged through the cooridors. Srangely, although not completely surprising, nobody seemed to be buying anything. I bought a pair of shoes and felt as though I did my little part to "stimulate" the economy. It sure was weird being in a place of commerce, with very little actual commerce taking place.

On another note, how come food courts are always so hard to find? I've been in at least 20 malls in my life and without fail, the food court is always located in some third dimension of the mall.  That Auntie Anne lady sure can make a pretzel...if you can find her.

Mark

 

It's been quite an awesome year in music. Here's a list of my top ten albums of 2008

 

1. Soulfly – Conquer

2. Bleeding Through – Declaration

3. Metallica – Death Magnetic

4. Unearth – The March

5. Trivium – Shogun

6. Slipknot – All Hope Is Gone

7. Kingdom of Sorrow – Kingdom of Sorrow

8. Opeth – Watershed

9.  Amon Amarth – Twilight Of The Thunder God

10. Children of Bodom – Blooddrunk

 

Favorite Songs of 2008

 

1. Unearth "My Will Be Done"

2. Bleeding Through "Orange County Blonde And Blue"

3. One Day As A Lion - "Wild International"

4. Trivium - "Kirisute Gomen"

5. Bury Your Dead "Fever Dream"

6. Soulfly "Blood Fire War Hate"

7. Metallica "Cyanide"

8. Busta Rhymes featuring Linkin Park "We Made It"

9. Opeth "Porcelain Heart"

10. Slipknot "All Hope Is Gone"

 

Album that sounded especially good this year, even though it came out a long time ago

 

At The Gates – Slaughter of the Soul

Few things in this world make me happier than a good water fountain. There are a few components that go into a solid a solid refreshment stand.

 

1. The water must come out at a reasonable height, but not too high or too low. You don't want to get shot in the face with water, but you also don't want your mouth to make contact with the fountain, while taking a sip. The water should also make a nice ark and be easy to get into the rhythm of the water flow.

 

2. The water must be cold. This is an obvious one, but it often goes overlooked. Water can however, be too cold. When I used to go to Hebrew school on Sundays, the water fountain was so cold tat it hurt my teeth. It felt like drinking nails, because it was so chill factor spiked into my mouth whenever I took a sip.

 

3. The button or knob must be clean and easy to use. No one should have to get all germy and dirty just because they want a drink of water. When I was in college, I knew where every good water fountain on campus was. It was a lot like Seinfeld's George Costanza knowing where to find the best public bathrooms in New York city. The best fountain on the Carbondale campus of Southern Illinois University. It was located in a building full of classrooms. It was hands free. A drinker could walk up to it and not have to touch anything, but still leave satisfied and with a belly full of watery goodness.

 

Mark

I was watching Jeopardy today, and noticed the changed the theme song. The melody and tempos of the actual song are essentially the same, but they updated it with some effects and added what appears to be a drum track. I for one am shocked that this wasn't a bigger news story. Jeopardy is the foundation for the entire universe. How was this change of a theme song not on the font page of every newspaper in the country? Election, shmelection, this is the real news! I grew up watching Jeopardy, and continue watching to this day. Some sort of warning would have been nice, before changing the soundtrack… to the world

 

Mark

I think it's ironic that we Americans celebrate Labor Day by taking the day off. If are celebrating labor, shouldn't we be laboring? The only people that are really laboring, are the ones in charge of grilling all of the delicious food that is consumed. On Thanksgiving we celebrate all that we are thankful for, we don't celebrate all of life's disapointments. That's what Festivus is for.

I think the name of the holiday should be switched to Leisure Day.

Mark

This past weekend, I went to my first Philadelphia Phillies game in nearly ten years. It wasn't the time lapse that felt weird, but rather the location. My childhood was spent going to games at the concrete slab that was Veterans Stadium. Nearly a decade had passed. I had lived in Missouri, Illinois, and now New York. I was re-visiting my childhood.  How was I supposed to just slip right into the new stadium without a hitch? It felt dirty, almost wrong being at a Phillies game, not surrounded by the layers upon layers of multi-colored seats. Maybe it was me who changed. Perhaps the new stadium symbolized the progression of time and space, and that's what made me feel so strange.

 

More than likely, the awkward feeling came from seeing Manny Ramirez in a Dodgers uniform...

 

Mark

 

I haven't written a new blog in a while, mainly because there isn't a whole lot to report on. It's a very warm Sunday afternoon, and I feel like doing a little writing, so let's get to it.

 

For whatever reason, Sunday seems to be the day in which I update my i-tunes library, and in turn, transfer it all over to my i-pod. I find a strange sense of peace in picking out songs and albums to put on my computer. Maybe it's because my external hard drive can fit an insane amount of music, and I know that I will probably never fill it up. It's very cathartic to build up my library of music. I imagine it's the seem feeling a music director gets when starting a new radio station

 

One of these days, I'll make a mind-numbingly long list of all the music I own, but for now, here's what I added today.

                                                           

Albums

The Roots - Things Fall Apart

Wu-Tang Clan - The W

Soulfly - Soulfly

Soulfly - 3

 

Songs

Genghis Tron - "Board Up The House"

The Black Dahlia Murder - "Nocturnal"

Busta Rhymes Featuring Linkin Park - "We Made It"

In Flames - "The Mirror's Truth"

Scars on Broadway - "They Say"

Opeth - "Porcelain Heart"

 

Maybe it's a sign, maybe I should read the lyrcis to see what it means, either way it's very strange.

A few days ago, I finally sat down and watched the Metallica documentary, "Some Kind Of Monster". That's when it began

I had a fairly busy today and there was one constant. It seemed as though wherever I went and whatever happened, I kept on hearing songs from the classic Metallica album"...And Justice For All." I had my i-pod on shuffle and she (I like to thing it's a lady) decided to play several songs from the album. As I roamed around New York this afternoon, I heard and saw Metallica references. Tonight I wanted to listen to some tunes, but didn't feel like putting in a CD. I decided to turn my TV onto the Music Choice metal station. I also realized that  Not surprisingly the song that was playing was the nine minute plus, title track. This is all pretty random considering the album came out almost 20 years ago. What could it all mean?!

Mark

PS - Yeah, I still like some of the songs on St. Anger