The Boondock Saints 3: Saints Preserve Us

Nothing in the world is more important than this movie. Well, the dark tower movie maybe, but as of now, we're talking about the saints.

Troy (Duffy, the writer/director) had written 10 scripts between boondock saints 1 and it's sequel, and wanted to focus on making some other movies before returning to the boondock saints.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but I hear he's a pain in the ass to work with. How much of a pain? Well, in a 12 year career he's made 2 movies. Hopefully he just sits down and does this new saints film, and then branches out.

I had a lot I was gonna say, but it just sounds like shit talking, so I'm out!

Better to burn out bright I guess...

If you haven't heard yet, this is a sad day for anyone who doesn't suck. After receiving yet another slew of bad reviews from people who aren't smart enough to walk a dog for a living, kevin smith officially announced he will only be directing one more movie. Ever.

It sounds like it's gonna be sick, and hopefully he pulls out all the stops and fills it with easter eggs for all the die hard fans.

On a completely unrelated note, I have a brand new song I'm itching to try out on a crowd. I don't know what to name it, but it's a pretty personal song for me. I tried to stray away from insider references and inside jokes, and not use metaphors. I'm not sure how well that worked out.

Also, its the first song I ever wrote specifically to be an acoustic song. I feel like my writing has gone in a different direction. Its not that "douchebag college kid who thinks because he owns a guitar that people want to see him play it at parties", and it's not the usual "apathetically going through the motions".

Its hard to pinpoint the genre of music I'm writing, for me at least. When you listen to it, you will (hopefully) just hear my band. You (hopefully) won't hear gaslight, millencolin, weezer, brand new, etc etc. That's the problem for me. When I hear a song I wrote, I can remember where I first heard and subsequently emulated someone elses playing style.

I'm truly not sure if anyone else hears it the way I do, but Jerry used to reassure me that I didn't rip anyone off. It's weird to not have him there for my insecurties, but that's what the song is about. It's about Jerry finally being fed up with the bullshit I've been slinging for years, and how I'm really not mad at him for it. I don't blame him!

The offensive joke I had to delete

I had to backspace and alter a joke I made on fb, and afterwards I realized that censoring yourself is worse than offending someone. (That's actually the reasoning I use for a lot of shit.)

Alright, so the setup is that vuze is going to take 12 weeks to download something that should take 3hours tops. It used to work really well, but all of a sudden it just wouldn't work, and it made my computer freeze 4 times in a row last night on startup.

"Look, vuze, its not that I don't like you. Its just that you have the work ethic of a 16 year old girl, and you make my computer slower than a jehova's witness chick."

See, its not even that offensive (or funny for that matter).

I since got utorrent, and guess how long the download took. 2 hours and 55 minutes. Fuck you, vuze, you piece of shit. Oh who am I kidding, I still love you girl.

Work, music, and whatever else you don't want to hear me go on about

Man, the best chorus I've ever heard has to be "old haunts" off the gaslight anthem's "american slang" album.

I've always been drawn to the chorus of a song more so than any other aspect, as I assume is true of 99% of all listeners. There's really no reason to have a sweet set of verses if your chorus is gonna be as bad as sheena easton's "morning train".

I've referenced "morning train" (my baby takes the morning train... etc etc) quite a lot throughout my life, and I feel I need to clear something up. That song is like feta cheese. It's by far the worst ever, but it's so bad that you have to pop your head in every once in a while to make sure it's still as bad as you remember.

The thing is, I actually developed a taste for feta now. If my musical taste ever adjusts itself to morning train, I'm gonna throw myself headfirst down a flight of stairs. If you ever see me flying down a set of stairs superman style, you know why.

Well, either that or uncle phil got pissed and threw me out.

Movies

I've been trying to remember (or understand) where my weird obsession with movies came from, and I've been largely unsuccessful. I did, however, make a mental list of my favorite movies growing up.

I'm not gonna lie, 99% of this is embarassing.

0-4 years old:
-Lady and the tramp. I've seen that shit over a thousand times, and it still captivates me. I know it shouldn't, but it's some sort of psychological thing. I can sit still and watch it without realizing I'm doing it. Weird...

-howard the duck

5-10:
-return of the jedi
- Back to the future 2
-Die hard with a vengence
-the crow
-lethal weapon 2


10-15
-Beverly hills cop 3. I'm not kidding.
-memento
-dogma
-jay and silent bob strike back

16-19:

- the matrix 1 and 2 (fuck revolutions. that movie is turrible.)
-batman begins
-mallrats
-clerks
-the big lebowski
-walk the line

20-current:
-gone baby gone
-the dark knight
-inception

I'm not listing everything, obviously, but the only trend I can see is an increase in obsession with chris nolan movies. I never would have called chris nolan as the reason I got into movies. I would have honestly thought it would have been george lucas or kevin smith. I guess it was really kevin smith. I don't know.

All I know is I haven't seen beverly hills cop 3 in a long time, and I'm psyched on that.

Wait, I play music?

In true fashion, the blog I started to keep my own memory straight as to where I currently am in the recording process has become my opinion factory.

You know where I am in the recording process? Me either. I haven't done a single fucking thing since I started this shit. I have, however, heard a LOT of new music this year. It's really been one of those experiences where you're writing and writing and writing, then you hear what someone else has written, and you don't want to even think about the songs you wrote.

For instance, the first time I heard The Gaslight Anthem's "American Slang" record, I stopped writing music for like... well, I heard it last april and this is January now.

Seriously, I'm gonna try to find the link to Gaslight's alternate version of Boxer real fast. Actually, no I'm not. If you're interested you'll search it out. Be sure you've heard the album version of "Boxer" though first. It's a 100% different song!

Speaking of the gaslight anthem, my 59' sound record skips during the title track. I'm pretty bummed about that, and it might make me take another year off from writing music.

There's something in the water down there

Man, I can't stop listening to the artificial hearts' new track "Victoria". I loved that song when it was first conceived, and they've done nothing but improve it.

Find more artists like The Artificial Hearts at Myspace Music

There's something in the water in Rockford, and if you could bottle it and sell it, you'd make a fortune.

Don't really try that though. City water tends to be filled with human feces.

Some clarification

I feel I need to clarify that I'm not heartless. The yogi video I posted is REALLY funny IF you've seen "the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford".

Which, by the way, is a sweet Casey Affleck/Brad Pitt movie. One of those dudes is the most under rated actor in hollywood, and the other one is Brad Pitt.

Gleetards

I hate glee, man. That show is just plain bad. Its worse than the real housewives, which should win an award for being terrible. I know we're about 18 months away from the dark tower tv show, but come on. We shouldn't have to wait for shows to stop sucking.

Speaking of good upcoming tv shows, dennis lehane (shutter island, mystic river, and gone baby gone) is writing a new show for fx. So that should be sweeter than sugar.

I'll leave you with one of the funniest videos I've seen in the past year, courtesy of funny or die. It's the alternate ending for the yogi bear movie, and it's hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=X4-2cEt0hh8

Monday

This is turning out to be one of the worst days ever. And one of the best, kinda. I start my new job today which is sweet, but I need to document the bad shit. In the past hour:

-Woke up from a dream that I had throat cancer

-sat in my favorite chair, only to find a spider on me (I have severe arachnophobia)

-Went into the bedroom to find that marshall pissed on the sheets we bought last night

-Went to smoke a cigarette to calm down, and found I only have 2 cigarettes left from the 2 cartons I recently got

There was more, but I give up. Monday, fuck you. That's my point. Fuck you, Monday. You suck.

"People" watching

Man, I talk a lot of shit about southridge. You'd think I would have even the smallest shred of respect for my home town mall, but I don't. This place is a shit hole.

I'm 99% sure this place gives its frequent customers downs syndrome. Either that or there's some sort of convention.

The man in black fled across the desert...

...and the gunslinger followed.

I just found out that Ron Howard wants the role of Roland Deschain (the dark tower series) to be played by Javier Bardem (the bad guy in no country for old men). I was immediately outraged, and was about to denounce my faith in this series working out. I was always onboard the Viggo Mortenson or Hugh Jackman (or Hugh Laurie) for Roland train.

Then I saw a picture of just Javier's face, and that was it for me. Fuck whatever I thought about his body type being wrong, or his nationality being incongruent with Roland's. Fuck it, Javier is the man for the job.

However, I'm not gonna be broken hearted if they go for their current second choice, which is Viggo Mortenson.

Can I call it or what?

They mean the world to me

Alright, I'm gonna attempt to tackle a topic that's rather near and dear to me. In the past few years, I've had an ever growing infatuation with a band from New Jersey. In this entry, I will attempt to describe the reasons behind that obsession, and by the end, if you're not a fan yet, hopefully you will have the motivation to get out from beneath the rock you call a home and check out my alltime favorite band.

I'm speaking, of course, about The Gaslight Anthem.

Now, in no particular order, here is the first reason to give these boys a chance. Brian Fallon (vocals, guitar) is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. I have never in my life heard him say anything bad about another band, which is really hard to accomplish. Before him, I thought it was impossible.

The band hangs out with the fans every night after the show. Seriously. You don't see metallica doing that.

Every song they have released is good. This is because they are great musicians, but also because they write about 45-50 songs before they go into the studio. They then take only the 10 best, and use those on the album. They throw the rest out.

It's impossible to define them into a single genre. Haters love to pidgeon hole them as "springsteen punk", but haters hate. That's all they do.

Speaking of Bruce Springsteen, he is as big of a Gaslight fan as I am. When the guy you have "ripped off" ( as the haters say) publicly becomes one of your biggest fans, it's safe to say you're doing something right.

Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) is also an outspoken advocate of the gaslight anthem. He has said he would leave taking back Sunday to join them.

Alex Rosamilia is the best lead guitar player ever. He doesn't play any guitar solos, but instead layers amazing riffs over the entirety of the songs.

Every member of the band is top notch at what they do, which is really never the case. Alex Levine is a great bass player, and Benny Horowitz makes drumming interesting.

To add to all this, they have been hailed by rolling stone magazine as the best live performing band currently playing anywhere in the world. They have spot on performances, and every time I see them they've somehow gotten better.



So there you go. If you haven't really checked them out, here's a few songs to give a try.

The 59' Sound
We Came To Dance
Say I Won't (recognize)
We Did It When We Were Young
She Loves You

The fighter

So I started watching the fighter last night, and its a sweet movie. I didn't finish it, but I saw a hilarious couple of "action" shots.

Christian Bale's character is hanging out in a place he shouldn't be, and his mom shows up. To avoid getting in trouble, he jumps out a second story window. Several times.

And she watches him do it. I'm laughing while I'm typing this. I know I'm probably the only person in the world laughing about this movie, but its something you gotta laugh at.

Let's see, what else is new? Oh, I've been practicing a lot. I'm not sure exactly how this music thing is gonna work out, seeing as the only band member left is me.

Yeah, Jerry left. I'm bummed, but I really don't blame him. You can only watch a train wreck for so long before you realize you should look away.

Now I'm kinda down, so I'm gonna get back to practicing. Maybe some recording.

One hundred percent

With a grand total of 350+ hours since october 19th, I have 100% completed fallout new vegas tonight. It is by far the largest game I have ever played.

The only other game I have done that with is the elder scrolls IV:Oblivion. That one took 150 hours.

I tried to do it on fallout 3, but gave up after...I feel like a nerd... 1,000+ hours. Seriously. One thousand hours. Well, recorded hours. I'm pretty sure it was closer to 1,500 to be completely honest.

I understand why I have yet to record a full length album now.

Get used to it

Isn't it weird how things that used to terrify you can become so commonplace? I'm not going to be more specific, because the action to which I refer is legally in a rather gray area.

Still, the action used to terrify me, and now I do it naturally and effortlessly. I'm actually good at it.

Let's get physical

Wow, so its official. I have physical withdrawl symptoms from alcohol now. The last thing I want to do is get out of bed today, but I've got a pretty big day.

I'm leaving now to get my ritalin refilled, and then I have an interview. I'm gonna need the luck of the irish today.

Ugly elvis is a sore loser

Man, I'm at potowatomi with my girlfriend and she is actually wayyyy up. I, on the other hand, am way down.

I came here to teach baby about hot (read the previous post), but baby is hot tonight. Ugly elvis on the other hand...he may be 100% Irish, but the luck of the irish took the night off.

The worst part? I feel like I could win her money back three fold. Still. Maybe the internal/external stimulant barrier has been broken. Maybe hell has frozen over. Who knows.

I wanted to teach the love of my life to be a better person, but she taught me YET ANOTHER lesson. Great. Apparently I have nothing to contribute to anybody ever.

At least I still know my way around six strings =)

Back to the money pits

We're going back to the casino. My better half has a problem with cash. It burns holes in her pockets.

Despite my best attempts, that money is gonna hit the floor one way or another. Do I fight her now and be the bad guy for holding her back, or go through with it and be the bad guy for not making her leave while she's up?

It's a difficult choice, but I know that when I put my mind to it, no one can talk that bottle out of my hand.

When I was 2, I saw a candle. My mom let me touch it, and I learned what hot is. I stopped touching candles after that.

I guess, sometimes, you gotta let baby touch the candle.

The next show is gonna be sweet!

I was just donated some sweet lighting effects for the next upcoming show, and I'm psyched. I think it's gonna be sweet.

I'm gonna play acoustic, but don't let the lack of a band fool you, this is gonna be the best show I've ever played. The set is gonna be the longest I've ever played, but its not gonna exceed 30-35 minutes. It will comprise of the best of my new songs with the best of our old songs.

Sweet! Happy new years boys and girls!

Happy New Years!

Happy new years to everyone and anyone reading this. From the ugly elvis to your computer screen, I hope 2011 is better for you than 2010.

If 2010 was great, then just sit down and shut up and let 2011 wrap its awesomeness around you. If 2010 sucked, welcome to the club. I personally don't have to do much to make this year better, last year was turrible. Cleveland brown says its turrible, and I agree.

Turrible.