Made Out of Babies, The Ruiner     Year:  2008     Click here for the artist's site       When I first got my hands on Made Out of Babies' sophomore effort, Coward , I couldn't say enough good about it. I loved (and continue to love) that album. I still think it's one of the most frightening records I've ever heard. It's brutal, it's ugly, it's engaging, and it's scary. I can remember thinking to myself, There's...

It's been heartening to see the response on my last Spain post, ' Does anyone even care '.  It's made me smile.  Really it has. Thanks to sister Cedarbird, brother BlueDev, ForeverSerenity, DynaMaso, CharlesCS, little-whip, RoyLevosh, uDigItTheMost, InBloom, momijiki, mikeb1954, skybright, Ockham'sRazor, asaxygirl, and everyone else who's trudged through those wordy, fat, ugly posts.  I enjoyed posting them, and it was always a pleasure to read the comments. But I'm tire...

Is anyone even reading my Spain stories anymore?  I know there are a few (a very few) stalwarts, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth the effort. -- 29 May 2008.  7:54pm. We sat there, the two of us, for the better part of the afternoon.  I should have been studying, but what can I say? Sometimes you just have to neglect stuff like that in lieu of more pressing concerns. The sand was warm on my toes, the sun beating down on me, reddening my straw...

NASCAR is a Yankee invention to keep the South placated; they will never rise again. -- Here's an idea - if you're going to sing along in an ugly voice to a crappy song, why don't you at least make sure you know the words, stupid? Your mom called, Pervy.  She hates you as much as I do and hopes you get robbed when you're in Morocco. -- Sometimes I wish I could make people understand The Mars Volta, because no one seems to.  Yes, they're overwhelming, and they m...

Ugh. I haven't gotten my visa yet, because of stupid complications with the school and the Christmas holiday. It's got me seriously stressed out - I can't sleep, I can't eat, I feel sick to my stomach all the time, and my quality of life isn't that great right now, consequently. And I'm going to feel this way until I get the visa, because everything is riding on that damned thing. If I don't have it, I'm screwed. I'll lose my scholarships, because I won't be going to school this semest...

Just non-thinking (posting without reading, editing, etc. first), since it's almost more fun that way - ---- A god (small "g") who would automatically damn his children without any hope of redemption is an asshole. (Thus the small "g".) A God who truly loves his children would provide a way for EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of them to come back to him. Whether they do or not is up to them, but it doesn't change the fact that the opportunity is there for everyone. Thoughts to the contrary ...

No hay ninguna cosa, ninguna razón que me hace no querer ir a España. Había una cosa, pero ya esto se acabó. Hace mucho, me enamoré de mi mejor amiga, pero nunca le dije nada, como el estúpido que soy. Pero tengo buenas razones por las cuales no dije nada - siempre tenía novio ella, de hecho ¿qué pude decir? Mantengo - absolutamente nada. Ella tuvo tiempos buenos con él, y tiempos malos. Y estuve allá como amigo siempre, pase lo que pase. Salió ella en una misión para la iglesia, y...

Friday and that. Sitting at work, listening to the incomparable voice of Maria Christensen, thinking about the homework that's due this weekend that I have yet to start. I'm gonna play my guitar when I get home. I'm actually going to eat lunch today; I'm thinking an Arby's sub is in my future. Friday and that. I want a seven-string guitar. I want a mandolin. But I have to save my money for Spain. So . . . no new instruments. (Besides, I have eight stringed things. You'...

Ya que estoy en la escuela otra vez, no he tenido tiempo de pensar sobre nada. Así es la vida, por supuesta, pero no quiere decir que me gusta esta situación . . . Pero, tengo algunas noticias que quiero compartir con vosotros. A todos los que dicen que el bachillerato en español no sirve de nada: Largaos. Id al diablo, y jodeos. Y NO ME IMPORTAN UN PITO. A todos los que tratan de forzar su supuesta “cristianismo” en los demás: Callaos. Quitad la madera de vuestro fregado ojo a...

Back from Hawai'i. What a miserable thing, coming back to civilization after more than a week of pleasurable playtime, a whole nine days of not having to think about work, the looming school semester . . . ANYTHING AT ALL. A week to enjoy a totally new and unexplored (for me at least) place, a tropical paradise filled with green valleys, majestic mountains, painfully clear blue waters, and plenty to see, hear, eat, try, and experience. And now we present . . . the drudgery. Welcome ...

(This is going to sound like an unfriendly rant if you don't read the article here first. And yeah, it's not going to be very friendly, but oh well.) So my little sister just walked in, and I told her, "Hey! I've just been branded non-Christian and been told to have fun in Hell!" She looked at me, eyes wide and incredulous, and said, "Umm . . . why?" I answered, "Because I didn't find it offensive that they opened the senate with a prayer by a Hindu cleric the other day!" Her ...

So I'm sitting here at work, and my phone buzzes, "Message for you, sir!" (Yeah, it's from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when the guy gets shot in the chest with the arrow.) I pick it up. It's from this girl. A girl that's, sure, my friend, but it's not like I see her (or that I want to see her) as anything else. She's nice, but I'm just not into her like that. I like girls a little more . . . erudite? . . . than that. But so it says, "I'm free!" I answer, "From what?" "...

People are loud. They persist in yelling, talking at the top of their lungs, and shouting into screens and at each other. And on stupid cell phones. Sometimes I just want to throw my cellphone in the garbage disposal and enjoy watching it get eaten by the spinning metal blades. -- Doctor Who for the win. Especially the new Series Two. David Tennant is my favorite Doctor ever. Hard to believe that anyone would ever take Tom Baker's place as the coolest Doc ever. But hey – the (gee...

What's with all these crappy drivers? Here I am, driving for my job, and you have to be all slow. Come on, guys, I'm on a schedule – if you're not passing, get out of the “passing lane”. That's what the stupid left lane is, people – for passing. Shut up and move. -- All work and no play makes Jack an asshole. -- Green Carnation is the exact band I needed right now. It's great metal, and it rocks plenty hard. But it's not as morose, melancholic, and solitary as the doom metal...