Rough Draft

Blink-182

I picked up the new Blink-182 album last weekend, and have been enjoying it ever since. Although Tom and Travis's side project Box Car Racer may never release another album, you can definitely hear Box Car Racer influences on the new Blink CD. Gone is the toilet humor from some (not all) of their previous tracks and in is its place are songs a lot more about life. The CD comes with 6 music videos (made just for the CD) of various songs. One of my favorite things about the CD is in the booklet, along with the lyrics, the band members comment about each of the songs. They offer insight into the lyrics, how the songs were recorded, what instruments were used, etc. All very interesting stuff.

Eagles vs Saints

The Eagles won their sixth straight game on Sunday and moved to 8-3 on the year by beating the Saints 33-20. Once again the game wasn't on in Cleveland, but it sounds like McNabb played well and Brian Westbrook continues to be a crucial part of the Eagles' offense. The Eagles play the Panthers (also 8-3) this coming Sunday and the following week have their most crucial game of the season against Dallas. The game against Dallas will likely determine the winner of the NFC East.

Games of All Kinds

Erik's Question of the Day asks: Do you play games? If so, what kind?

There's actually been several game's I've been playing lately, several of which I have been meaning to post about, so this gives me the perfect excuse.

Living in a college dorm, a very large majority of my gaming comes in the form of multiplayer video games. The last couple of weeks, there has been an insane amount of Dr. Mario played on our media PC. On Halloween night, Dr. Mario was played for over 6 hours straight by a group of about 8 of us. This past weekend though, we were looking for some 4 player gaming, so we reconnected Jeff's Dreamcast and played San Francisco Rush 2049 and Bust a Move 4.

As far as single player video games go, I started Xenosaga over the summer, but have yet to finish it. I also recently purchased Jak II. It's a really fun platformer, but I haven't really had time to play it much.

Outside of video games, I've been playing a fair amount of cards with people. Jacob, Lynn, and I play Pinochle at least a couple times a week. The couple times we have actually been able to find a fourth player, we've played a variant of Pinochle called 15. They also recently taught me a game called Raising Levels. It's another 4 player game, but takes a lot of time. Last year, several of us played Euchre a fair amount, though we haven't played much of that this year. However, last Saturday, Chris and I played in the Euchre Euphoria tournament. We made it to the second round before being eliminated.

Some other games we've played, usually on weekend nights, include Scattergories, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit and Catch Phrase. Last weekend, Chris, Dana, and I played Simpsons Trivia which was a lot of fun (and also prompted us to watch a couple episodes that had a couple questions about them during the game).

The last game I'll mention is one I've played at home a lot with my parents and grandparents, Rummikub. It seems to be our classic family-get-together game. I have a copy of it here at school and we played it a couple times last year. it's a fun game.

So there you have it, a short listing of games that keep my friends and I entertained.

Eagles vs Giants

The game wasn't shown on TV here in Cleveland today, but I'm happy to report the Eagles beat the Giants 28-10. McNabb had over 300 yards passing, Brian Westbrook had 3 touchdowns, and Pro Bowl cornerback Brian Dawkins played his first game since he got injured in Week 1. From what I read on ESPN.com the Eagles played a very solid game. The Cowboys were shutout by the Patriots today, so the Eagles and Cowboys are now tied for first place in the NFC East. If the Eagles play the rest of the season the way they played today, they have a very good chance of being the number one seed in the NFC for the second straight season. How many people thought that would even be possible, after the Eagles' dismal 0-2 start?

Thrice and Thursday: Live at the Apple Store

It's Tuesday, which means new music was added to the iTunes Music Store. Among the many tracks added to the store today is the live performances by Thrice and Thursday from the Apple retail stores. Four songs by Thrice and five by Thursday are combined on a single album. All songs were performed acoustically and sound great. You can really feel the emotion of the singers on every track. The songs are from each band's newest albums, except for This Side of Brightness by Thursday which was on their first CD, Waiting.

On a side note, the iTunes Music Store was Time Magazine's Coolest Invention of 2003. I have to say I agree. I mean, how cool is it that I purchased the CD this morning before going to class and within a couple minutes was on my way to class, listening to it on my iPod.

Punk Reminiscing

Mike's love of Deja Entendu prompted him to list some of the albums that he heard that got him into this style of music. Since Mike was the one who got me into punk, I figured I would list some of the first albums punk albums.

The summer of my sophomore year, I was talking to Mike on AIM on day and he sent me a couple mp3s by The Get Up Kids, and a couple by a band called A New Found Glory. Shortly after that I had ordered Something to Write Home About and Red Letter Day by The Get Up Kids and Nothing Gold Can Stay by A New Found Glory. Those are all excellent albums, all three of which I still go back and listen to quick frequently.

Mike also introduced me to AbsolutePunk.net which has become my most frequently visited website. It is a wonderful place to find out about amazing new punk and indie bands.

Mike and I spent much of our freshman year of college finding live performances and other rare mp3s on Napster and sending them back and forth to each other. That was much fun.

One band I want to mention that Mike introduced me to is LWL. They were a pop-punk band from New Jersey and their album Quarter Life Crisis is probably one of my favorite, but often forgotten albums. I listened to it a lot freshman year, and my roomate and I seemed to constantly have Emone and Rubberband stuck in our heads. The band broke up a few years ago, so their album often gets lost as music collection grows, but when I remember it and listen to it, I'm reminded of what a fun pop-punk album it is. And one classic moment involving LWL was last summer when a bunch of us went to New York City, and Mike came up for a day. We ended up going in Toys R Us, and we both start singing LWL's Pop Punk Kid, which is of course set to the tune of the Toys R Us Kid song.

My sophomore year of college I met Sarah, and found out she had the same tastes in music that I did. The first clue I had was her complimenting my A New Found Glory shirt. We've introduced each other to numerous bands. She definitely knows a lot more indie bands than I do and got me interested in bands such as Cake, Death Cab for Cutie (Ben Gibbard is a lyrical genius), Jets to Brazil, Lifehouse, and Switchfoot.

Sarah was the first person I met at CWRU that had actually heard of even half of the bands I had songs by. Meeting Sarah also led to attending my first concert and many, many, many more after that. Of course they are all listed on my Concert Page. The first concert I went to (New Found Glory, Something Corporate, Finch, Further Seems Forever) is still my favorite concert. Even though I did end up paying $100 for a ticket, it was well worth it. The band line up for that concert was amazing, it introduced me to Further Seems Forever (who I really want to see again), and all 4 bands put on excellent live shows.

This post ended up being much longer than I expected, but what can I say, music is a large part of my life. I love finding out about new bands, listening to an album for the first time, finding albums that I listen to over and over again, finding the meaning behind the song writer's lyrics, applying my own meaning to a song, and as the slogan for AbsolutePunk.net says, "Music mends broken hearts."

Deja Entendu

Mike has been praising Brand New's album Deja Entendu recently and I just wanted to echo his thoughts here. It's among the best album's I've ever listened to and is just an amazing piece of work. It took Mike a while to get into it. He had listened to their previous album My Favorite Weapon when it came out, and Deja Entendu is a much different sound. I had only heard the song Jude Law and a Semester Abroad before Deja Entendu, so I didn't have any expectations for what the album would sound like.

The first couple times I listened to it, I really enjoyed and a couple tracks really stood out: Sic Transit Gloria, Ok I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't, and Quiet Things. Lately though, I've been listening to the entire album on an almost daily basis. Mike and i agree, it somehow just gets better with each listen. The final song on the album, Play Crack the Sky, is quickly becoming another favorite. From that song: "What they call love is a risk, cause you will always get hit out of nowhere by some wave and end up on your own."

So if you have a chance, give Deja Entendu a listen and see what you think.

I'd also like to add that about a month after I purchased Deja Entendu, I also picked up My Favorite Weapon. I've also quite enjoyed that album. In my opinion, Deja Entendu is a much deeper album, but My Favorite Weapon is definitely fun to listen to.

Eagles vs Packers

Another week, another 2nd half come from behind victory for the Eagles. McNabb's touchdown pass to Todd Pinkston in the final minute of the game gave the Eagles the 17-14 victory. Overall, a sloppy game by both teams, perhaps partially due to the cold rainy weather they were playing in. The Packers fumbled at least 5 times, though the Eagles only recovered it once. Once again the Eagles' offense was far from spectacular, but they came together when they needed to. The way they are playing now, I wouldn't predict a third straight trip to the NFC championship game, but they should be able to win the NFC East.

War All the Time

I've mentioned the band Thursday in passing a few times, but I've been listening to their album War All the Time quite a bit lately, and decided to write a full entry about them.

Upon first hearing the album's title, War All the Time, and seeing song titles such as Marches and Maneuvers and This Song Brought to You By a Falling Bomb, it's hard to expect the album to be anything except a political commentary about the situation in Iraq and the "War on Terror" in general. However, it turns out the album is not about that at all, and rather about growing up and comparing romantic relationships to war.

War All the Time is lyrically one of the best albums of the year. The lead singer Geoff Rickly writes all the song lyrics, so the songs are based on his own personal experiences and the way in which he has dealt with the adversities he has faced in his life.

My favorite tracks are Signals Over the Air, Division St., and War All the Time. Though I know this type of music does not appeal to everyone, I highly recommend anyone reading this to give this album at least a couple listens.

Eagles vs Falcons

The Eagles beat the Falcons 23-16 last Sunday and are just one game behind Dallas for first place in the NFC East. The game wasn't televised here in Cleveland, so I don't have any commentary about the game. The Eagles play the Packers on Monday night and if both teams play to their potential, it should be a fun game to watch.