...the only road I've ever been down...'

Sorry I haven't had a good blog for almost a week, but I've got other stuff to do. The funny part is that it isn't even school taking up time. It's everything else I do.

The problem here is I don't have much to talk about. No new music purchases, no new movies (although I plan on adding Burn After Reading to the Reviewtastic blog), no new video games. In fact all I've been thinking about is volleyball recently. I've been helping a friend start up his club career, working on mine (now that I made it the quest to be a starter begins), practicing at the beach, and I'm starting my work on my vertical jump back up tomorrow after taking a break for tryouts. By the way, my progress is incredible. In 3.5 weeks my vertical jump is up 3", to 33" standing and up to 36" running on a good day. I'm well on my way to that 40" I've been wanting. And my assistant coach is awesome as I expected. He's cool, has that insane 42 or 44" vert, and tells me that I'll get there in not too long.

Speaking of volleyball, I'll mention something. Upon first look, volleyball looks like a really calm, laid back sport. It has positions and everything like all sports, but it doesn't seem like there's too much internal complication that is hard to understand. It doesn't look like the fastest sport and it definitely doesn't draw the biggest crowds, and the fans aren't hardcore like football or baseball, just excited. But on the court, there is an intensity, speed, and teamwork that is unmatched. I've played all the huge sports that look more exciting and they are fun, but they aren't as intense. It looks like it's just 2 or 6 (depending on type) guys or girls doing the simple bump, set, and spike, but there' a lot more depth. What looks like it's not too fast moves at lightning speed on the court, and adrenaline is an essential part in pulling through. You exhaust yourself, you scream, you have to be constantly communicating, the heat between the two teams can only be seen from on the court, everyone is incredibly seperated from the world. The playing is faster than it looks, your reflexxes have to work in a millisecond if you want to be successful. The intensity is indescribable. You can feek it on the court. It's one of the fastest paced games you can find in actuality. You're constantly moving, sprinting, jumping, and the players never stand still, and when they do, they end up with a ball hurdling at them at 60 mph, which you may hav to dive for. Everyone gets so in the moment it's unbelievable.

I'm not overexaggerating, it really has that much of a different feel on the court. It looks less involved from the stands, but on the court it's as intense as any other sport.

And by the way, the season hasn't even officially started and I'm already figuring out where I'm going to put my Gold medal from Junior Olympics :P. If not that, SIlver at least then. All the Puerto Rican teams start losing at this age because they're too short, and they're defense doesn't cover their height enough.

Junior Olympics are in Atlanta again, as they were in 2007. That city was not hot and unsafe, but more exciting than two Salt Lake Cities combined. It has Coca Cola World, complete with a massive tasting room with hundreds of different sodas and a cup of each to try if you want (you get a tasting cup and go around the vending machines), they're organized by continents, with one room of all the world's Coke flavors. I prefer Pepsi, but it's undoubtable that Coca-Cola rocks something else.

I'm getting ahead of myself thinking of JOs, I've still gotta dominate he early tournaments and then high school. I'll work out a place to put the trophy from the SCVA Invitational later on :D.

Enough about volleyball, none of you care too much I expect. I bet you want me to do well and are happy when I do, but you don't play nor are you an avid fan of volleyball so I guess I'll move on.

I may not have any new purchases, but I've got one album I'm itching for.

I literally never go a day without listening to "Harder, Better, Faster Stronger." I brought my iPod to school and blasted it in the locker room and started dancing (after I headbanged while listening to Dinosaur Jr.), and Daft Punk just gives me that "You know what, fukc everything, I'm gonna do what I want right now," feeling. It lets me pretend I'm the only person on the planet and that's a pretty great feeling. And I can do the main part of "Daft Hands,' sadly :lol:. Really want this album.

I credit my enjoyment of this electronic album to the fact that "Kid A"'s very electro-rock sound (very electronic, but not purely, used guitars almost every song and the vocals distinctly indicate rock) eased me into traditional electronic. "Accelerator" sounds like a wicked song and "One More Time" is a fantastic club-esque song.

I'll get it if I can soon, but I've got some other things to check out, not music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaS-1TTYdPA

Looks like a very unique and fun game. The idea is unheard of and I'm definitely grabbing this game first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GTr3yofaK8

I loved the original Wario Land, and Wario Land 3 was only better. With the 2-D gaming genre vanishing, it's nice to see an old favorite making a comeback on the Wii. Looks to be a very fun game, but I''ll definitely get de Blob first.

And it won't be out for a while, but I've got get me this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmkZpXZ0G8A (continuing the proud Sonic tradition of crappy songs)

I think we can all agree that every new 3-D Sonic game has sucked, with the exception of Sonic and the Secret Rings which was fun, but strayed too far from the beloved ****c storyline.

However, this one looks much different. It looks like Sonic Rush, the only good thing to come out of Sonic recently (a 2-D side scroller for the DS), which gives me a bright look on it. The graphics look stunning from the videos I've seen, and I can't wait to see Weresonic. It's what I call a 3-2-D game, meaning the graphics are techniclly 3-D, but the game is a side scroller and, for the most part, involves no depth movements, except turning and occasional rail grinding. Should turn out to be Sonic's revival game. Looks great.

While Sonic Unleashed isn't a Wii exclusive game, it looks like Nintendo is a pretty nice set of games lined up to hold me off for a while. The new Legend of Zelda was confirmed in July, and they say they are under way in making it. I'm beyond excited for this. I can't wait to see what the Wiis full potential for Zelda graphics is. The more recent games seem to have better and better graphics so I'll see what a game that wasn't originally for Gamecube can do. And see how the controls work.

EDIT: I bought a Virtual Console game just to entertain me for the time being.

Super Mario RPG

So far, it's a great bit of quality gaming. It's like the original Paper Mario games, but they aren't the paper characters, and the atmosphere is more fun. The turn-based fighting is something I really wish the last game would have still had. Great RPG, and at what I've heard is 20 hours ofgameplay tha's just the right amount of time to pass. Not too hard or easy, but the strategy is fun. It'll keep me busy. I'm definitely sucked in.

As you can see I'm just rambling on, nothing really to talk about. Well, I'll post something funny that happened at school.

I was waiting in line outside at school today, continuing my Monday/Friday tradition of ordering a Pick Up Stix meal for $3.50, with a Gatorade and a cookie.

A friend of mine and his girlfriend walk up to me because she wants to get a Chik-Fil-A sandwich from the same place. So I let her hop in with me and cut the rest of the line (which was long). My friend already had one, so he eats and savors it while she's watching him. She gets pissed.hungry and says,

"You have one, I hate you, I want one in my mouth right now."

There was an awkward silence followed by a burst of laughter and him telling everyone what she said. Strange moment, but made the line wait worthwhile. If you dont understand you need help with your sexual lingo :P.

Anyway, I'm gonna head to the beach again tomorrow (as if that's special for me :roll:), coach my friend like I always do, and maybe get some other people down. Last time we had the aforementionedboyfriend and girlfriend down and she just layed on him and we told them to stop making love. hen we thought they were making out in the girl's bathroom so I yelled in a strange voice "Stop making out in the female restroom!" and everyone nearby looked at the bathroom. Turned out she was leaving and they were down the street where we were headed. Crazy me :P.

In case you didn't see or I didn't rub it in enough, I got my Weezer floor tickets to The Forum in the mail yesterday. Should be awesome I'm gonna get my way to the front to cheer on the old stuff and some "Red" and "Green" stuff, and then heckle 'em like hell during "Make Believe" songs. I'm working on what to say.

And not even a month later I'm itching to see Radiohead live again. Can't wait at all.

That's all I got really. Boring week, just got through it. The worst part is that I had homework for school so it sucked away my time after school, but it was so little that I ended up with plenty of time later and nothing to do. I really need sleep, so I should hit the hay. Problem is there's no hay in my house or anywhere nearby. Oh well, going to sleep is the next best option.

...the best you can, the best you can is good enough..." I'm not thinking about a title too hard.

I just wanted to announce something important to me and not so important to you, probably.

I MADE SCVC 15QS, MY NUMBER 1 PICK FOR VOLLEYBALL CLUBS!!!!!

Usually, you have to wait for a phone call, but today, the coach (the one who coaches USC) just huddled us all up outside and told us we made the team, and gave us his plans for the year. I've gotten a strange position that is as good as what I wanted. Instead of being a typical opposite hitter, I'll be an outside hitter, so I can pass, and then switch to the right side, where an opposite hits, when I'm in the front row.

That's all I needed to announce. Comments are appreciated here.

...the clocks, a whisper woke him up..."

Wow, that long without a blog may seem like nothing at all, but for me, that was a pretty long blog-drought. I blog once every other day, sometimes every day, and occasionally two times a day with small blogs, but whatever.

First things first, I've listened to all the albums I need for the Reviewtastic blog, but I still need to see a lot of movies. Besides, Shadow keeps saying he might come on less often for a while and Elmis isn't even here (the one who actually wanted to know what I thought of some). And the more reviews the better, so just hold on.

Now, I've been playing Okami continually for over a week, and just beat it today. I had to skip the second to last cutscene to go somewhere, but I went back and beat the final boss again so I could see it, and I'm pissed I missed it the first time because it was undoubtedly the best cutscene I've ever seen. And back on track, I played it almost non-stop and have come to the conclusion that I don't know what's better, this or Ocarina of Time.

Well, it's just the nostalgia factor, I just played Okami, so it'll die down a little, but it's definitely at leats my second favorite game ever. It was absolutely flawless. I can't say a bad thing about it. The idea was so magnificently unique, the graphics were breathtaking, the story was the best I've seen, the fighting was incredible, the bosses were perfect, the dialogue was at times hilarious and at times beautiful, and Issun was basically an improved Navi who had more to do with the story (and less annoying). Most importantly, the ending was emotional, touching, and awe inspiring. It was so emotional, I even felt a tear in my eye. I mean a video game putting a tear in your eye? That's pretty amazing. And I'm not alone. I've heard people say they completely cried. It was beautiful.

I'll give an elaborate review in the Reviewtastic blog, but to put it short it is an absolute must buy. I might immediate replay it. It climbs and climbs, gets better and better (like I said earlier, it continues to), and finishes in an epic climax. I'm still ecstatic about it. The final boss never gets old either. Most bosses have one weakness that you exploit over and over, and the only thing that seperates it from the other bosses is that it needs more damage to kill. Yami (the final boss), had 4 forms in the first part, and one final one, all with the same weak point, but completely different strategies and attacks to kill them. Nothing was near the same, except maaybe the first and final, but they were still different experiences.

Wow, I think I will play it again.

But, the new game I'm looking at is:

I'm not 100% sure about this. Gamespot's been saying their time with it was very fun and the game was unique. It sounds like it has a lot of potential, but I'll have to see it to believe it. Nintendo better have a wave of amazing games about to hit me in the next two years (new Zelda anyone?) or I might forget about the games and just buy an XBOX 360. Although Okami being ported to the Wii made up for a years lack of big titles (more than made up for it really, best game for the Wii), I need to see some new stuff. There's no doubt the next Legend of Zelda will be a masterpiece unless they really flop it. Why? Well, in Twilight Princess, the graphics were incredible, and that wasn't Zelda's full Wii potential because although the Wii wasn't all about improving graphics, it undoubtedly did, and I'm sure whatever they have planned for graphics, cel-shaded or realistic, will be amazing. So far in the series,the plot has never in my experience disappointed me. Ocarina of Time, being the prequel to everything, is my very favorite plot, and Wind Waker has second. Both were fantastic games (Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever, as I'm sure you recall, well, now tied with Okami for the time being), and I expect the next to be nothing less. Also, although I liked the controls in Twilight Princess, they felt tacked on to the Wii version, after the game had been developed for Gamecube. I'm guessing the sword moves will be much more precise (spin it around quickly for spin attack instead of shaking, swing up or down to indicate what you want to do without pressing a button), the bow and arrow will involve more motion than just pointing, maybe even pulling the nunchuk back and jerking forward to shoot it. I'm looking forward to it. de Blob could could be a great new franchise, but I still want some new familiar-name games.

And if anybody tries to hold me to saying I might forget about the Wii games and get a 360, don't count on it, you know I'm a Nintendo fanboy, can't convince me otherwise.

Enough about games, a little bit about high school. Ever since 6th grade all I've heard is "High school will be the worst time of your life," "It will be such a change," "Going from a school with less than 1,000 people to one with 2,500 will be hard." You know what. THAT IS FUKCING BULLSH!T What are they thinking? It's better than middle school. Having more people doesn't make a difference when the school is four times as big! I ran into more people per 100 square feet at middle school than at high school. Geometry owns Algebra in every way. The teacher's cooler, the work's easier (I aced my first quiz and there's no HW quizzes), and it takes 30 minutes a night instead of two to three hours. I can use a calculator now too. My ****s are.

1. Geography (easy as hell, the teacher's awesome, really laid back, the work's easy, and we don't even have to spell or use grammar correctly as long as we get the message across)

2. Geometry (shape's, lines, points, and planes beat numbers and quadratic equations any day)

3. P.E. (will be volleyball come Winter and Spring, ironic there's no Summer program considering volleyball is the most successful sport at Mira Costa, but P.E.'s pretty fun actually)

4. Biology (nothing new really, just like 7th grade, very easy, not much work)

5. Music Appreciation (they have a ****for this since when now? The teacher's cool, we just talk about music and write about it, except I have to give a 3 minute report about a partner's music tastes and what it says about them, but my partner said I can make stuff up about her if I want, and she might be having a party and our whole ****could come, and as a joke on the ****listen to a bunch of different types of music, accompanied by alcohol, that would be cool. Anyways, the ****is easy, and we may even get to go to concerts with the ****

6. English (again, a cool teacher, really a simple subject, although I got a B on my first thing which pissed me off, but he said he would grade extremely hard on the first assignment to give you room to improve on things, and only one person in the whole Freshman ****got an A, so I'm fine with that, plus I thought my essay was terrible in the first place, but it was timed, pretty effortless)

7. Go home :P!!!!!!!!!!

Back to P.E., we have what me and a few guys have deemed, the funniest guy ever, in our **** He's hilarious. First day of school, we had to sit around in the gym, and for some reason music started playing. He went out in front of everyone, without permission obviously, and started mock-breakdancing. A few days later we're supposed to be walking a lap for some reason, then go to the kickball field. He had other ideas. He starts sprinting, runs on to the football field, and dives. He does this over and over. He then tries to jump the fence (not really), then found a dirt hill, dived into it, yelled "It's fukcing World War 2!". He picked up a giant dirt rock, threw it and yelled "Grenade!" Next day he walks into the locker room whistling some song, and when he gets to his locker, starts banging on it with his fist and singing. He stopped, started loudly singing, and yelled "C'mon everybody!" He's randomly hilarious. He acted like Babe Ruth during kickball when he was up, kicked two fouls, and then kicked it into a bunch of trees. He's like a walking joke. And yes, he's trying to, and it works unlike with most people. During roll call, he pulled his pants up to make it look like he was wearing a sumo wrestler diaper and jumped up when his name was called. Even the teacher burst out laughing. I'm looking forward to volleyball, but it'll be said when I don't have a ****with him anymore :lol:. I knew he was funny because he went to my middle school, but it's a riot. I might occasionally mention his shenanigans on here.

And in P.E. there's a junior who mostly likes some music I hate, like My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday, but he likes Weezer. He sings in a band and wants to cover "Say It Ain't So", and I'm thinking of offering to play lead in a recording of that. Would be cool. And at Mira Costa I'm finding more people who like Radiohead and share my other musical tastes, so I could get a band in the works.

Onto music, I bought some albums at F.Y.E.. In fact, I bought four.

"Marquee Moon" by Television

"Stop Making Sense" by Talking Heads

"Pink Flag" by Wire

"Weezer (Red Album)" by Weezer

I won't give details on each, saving it for the Reviewtastic blog, but I'll leak that none scored lower than a 6. None of them necessarily got a 6 (maybe though), or even a 6.5, maybe not even a 7 or 7.5, but they all got at least generally positive reviews. You'll see the details later.

It's club volleyball season time again. I've got a lot of tryouts coming up, and I'm hoping to make thebest team I can. Here's the names, logos, and ranking of which club is my priority.

1. SCVC, tryouts on Tuesday

2. MB Surf I ALREADY MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Riptides tryouts next weekend (I have no interest in playing for the, but if I had to, I guess I would)

I've played for SCVC the last three years and the 15s team next year will be phenomenal. If I make it (which I'm fairly certain I will, exlanation in a second), I can bet I'll have a Junior Olympics medal to boot by the end of next year)

The reason I'm very sure I'll make SCVC's team next year is simple. I was the next in line for the 1s team last year. I go to Mira Costa along with most kids from my middle school and everyone from MBMS (Manhattan Beach Middle School) as well. However, the ones who went to American Martyrs, a Catholic school, went to Loyola, also a Catholic school. The coach for volleyball at Loyola is coaching a team for MB Surf. Two of the players will likely go there because staying on SCVC would be a bad move politically for them at high school. If two people leave, and I'm next in line, I'll make it. It also helps that one of the players was allowed to play 14s last year because he was still in 8th grade, but has to play 16s this year. That's three people possibly out of the way, and one definitely. If new people come along, with equal skill as me (no newcomers at the camp were better, most were pretty bad in fact), I'd get a boost having been loyal to them for three years, and even sticking to them through a year of not making the 1s team. I'm almost guaranteed a spot. I want to be an Opposite hitter (right side hitter), but another player is likely to get that spot, so I'm basically trying out to be an Outside hitter (what I was last year, left side hitter, I'm good at it). If I don't get one of those spots, I use to be a libero (back row only, but constantly playing), so I have great defensive skills, as well as a wicked jump float and jump serve, so at very least I'd be a defensive specialist, just serve and play defense, initially, and then prove my hitting. Things look good for me right now.

And the God awful coach I had from my 12s and 13s years is no longer the assistant!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! Instead, who do I get? Only one of my idols in volleyball (I've never mentioned him)!!!! Juan Figueroa, who's been a two time All-American (second team I think, which is still incredible), is one of my idols because he's 6'0" tall (tiny for a hitter) and has a 44" vertical jump, something you well know I aspire to have (my current 32" is impressive at my age, things look bright for my vertical). The other coach will now be playing football at USC because he got ascholarship off it. But now I get a fukcing awesome coach and assistant coach. And I get a bette chance at the team. Wow. It looks REALLY good right now. We'll see how it works out.

...the days go by, water flowing underground..." Best New Wave band/song ever.

I had an immense blog yesterday, all ready, and my internet fukcing freezes. Normally Firefox would restore it, but of course the one itme I actually need it to restore something, it fukcs up. That's two in a row getting screwed. Neither of them even had to do with tv.com. Wow.

I'll try and make this just as detailed, maybe shorter.

First off, less than a week from seeing Radiohead I'm this close t scoring General Admission floor tickets to see Weezer, and I'll buy some tickets to see Mudhoney in November. I mention Weezer to make Shadow jealous because he's a bigger fan than me, yet I get killer seats to see them and he doesn't. Sorry buddy, I win again. Guess that's one good thing about America, every band comes here. Anyway, some live pictures to make some people more envious.

Oh right, and if I get floor tickets, I'm gonna heckle Rivers if they play "Beverly Hills" or most anything from "Make Believe". From what I've heard, "The Green Album" is good, and "The Red Album" is...well good too. Neither close to the original eponymous or "Pinkerton", but good nonetheless. "Maladroit" I have no idea. And this is at The Great Western Forum, where I saw The Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of my favorite venues (favorite is Hollywood Bowl).

Now Mudhoney

Both should be awesome.

And Shadow, I could visit you by the way. Some churh is raising money to go on a "mission" to "spread the word" in New Zealand, so I could sign up the week before, go, say I'm gonna tell you and then just go mess around. Probably not, but I could. My mom's been saying a bunch of sh!t about needing to go to church. But, my mom would figure out why anyway and would never be caught dead letting me meet someone I met on the internet. Just filling space up here.

And I haven't talked politics much for a while, but I have to discuss the major topic right now. That would be running mates.

First off, Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden. Joe Biden was one of my favorites, maybe second to Obama in democratic nominees. I really don't think Obama could have picked any better really I mean, the guy's got over 35 years in the senate, as much foreign policy experience as anyone, the ability to swing a few electoral votes over to Obama, and really, just has a charm to him. He was born in Pennsylvania, so this could put PA in stone for Obama, who already has a sufficient lead in state polls, and swing him Delaware, nearly guaranteeing him the White House. Excellent choice. His experience makes up for any problems Obama had, and with him advising Obama on foreign policy, what could really go wrong?

Now, John McCain's shocking pick, Sarah Palin. First things first, she looks more suited for a librarian's desk than an office in the White House. Second, John McCain's whole big sh!t this whole time, what has kept him within grasp of victory was the whole "Obama has almost no experience," deal. Now he picks a 40 something year old woman who has been governor of Alaska, the third least populated state in the country, for less than two years, and before that, had been a mayor for a town with a population of 9,000. Wow, that's a big resume. I could fit it on the back of my hand. Pathetic for someone in the vice presidential running. The problem Obama's had this whole time, is although many people find that change would be great, some people feel we aren't ready for a woman or black man. Well looky here, McCain cuts off yet another advantage with Palin. Sure, it will guarantee him Alaska, but he was already strongly expected to. It gains him nothing. McCain thinks that by putting a woman on the ticket, he'll get disgruntled Clinton supporters. The fact is though, all the Clinton supporters conservative enough to go to McCain have already gone, the ones who were most pissed off will sit out, the ones who are liberal went to Obama, and the ones McCain already had, that were moderate, will flee due to Palin's extreme right wing stance. The fact of the mater is: McCain is desperate. It may not be by much, but he has won two polls this whole Summer, one faulty one proper, the electoral vote projections all show him losing (some by a little, some by a lot), he's just not projected to win. McCain decided to take about the worst possible choice, over hundreds of other who could have helped. Sure, this shock stole the attention from the DNC, an accomplishment I recognize, but it's negative attention for the most part. If I had a dollar for every time I've read "This is the day McCain lost the election," I could buy a new guitar. And I agree. McCain has shot himself in the foot numerous times during this general election campaign. His backfiring ads, not remembering how many houses he has, calling Obama out of touch despite having a net worth 40 times as much as Obama's, Obama $1.3 million, McCain $40 million (his wife's is 100 times as much as well). I know he's losing democrats because while I've always strongly supported Obama, I had resoect for McCain. Guess what? He lost my respect this year, with good reason. And look up the Keaton Five, it might change your view on McCain. And Palin is part of a gvernment scandal, she abused her power.

Now, after reading this, look at these two pictures.

Obama is young and healthful. He has almost no chance of dying in office, and has no serious medical conditions. Now look at McCain. He's struggled with cancer 4 times throughout his life, and is 7 ears away from the average life expectancy. Chances of him dying in office? Very high, about 50%.

Now say Obama died for some reason. Joe Biden would become president. We'd still have a great president, and although I'd be in shock, I would rest easy about our president.

Now, say McCain died, which is 50 times more likely. I would lose sleep worrying about having Palin as president. We'd have a person in charge of 300 million people, who prior, was governor of a state with less than 700,000 people for not even two years, and had been a mayor for a town with 9,000 people. Not so easing is it?

It's not just woman, but some moderate McCain supporters, as well as more liberal ones will turn to Obama because of Palin's extreme conservative views. McCain's advantage was that not many people are racist to white males, but blacks are still persecuted a bit. I can almst guarantee you there are as many sexists in this country as racists, so McCain lost that. No matter what you look at, he pretty much lost the election for himself by doing this. And when they break the news of Palin being corrupt, it'll be McGovern all over again (McCain, McGovern, see :P).

Whatever, even if none of this happens, Biden will destroy Palin in debates anyway. And Obama debating McCain won't even be a debate, more like a funeral, complete with a BURIAL.

Feel free to argue, especially hp so I can prove you know nothing about politics. By the way, I don't think you've heard a thing Obama's said since December. You saying idiotic things like "(He) will change what?", maybe you should check in to see if he has any plans revealed now, which he actually does at this point.

Off the political stuff, I resumed playing Okami. The game's just too good. I think it's one of my five favorite games. The graphics are beautiful, and the fighiting is magnificent.

Ninetails and Orochi are two of the bets bosses ever too.

Can't find a Ninetails picture :(

I'm not giving a promised date for the reviewtastic blog because I don't know when it will be. "Pink Flag" came in and I'm picking it up tomorrow, and my step-dad gave me $20 for some strange reason (mainly he was half drunk, and I supported his four man volleyball team at a tournament all day when I could be doing other stuff, I guess), so that combined to what I already have, I can get "Stop Making Sense" by Talking Heads, "Marquee Moon" by Television, "The Green Album" by Weezer, and "Discovery" by Daft Punk as well. I need to see some movies I promised for the reviews, and I'll need to let these albums sink in, but it'll come soon enough.

Nothing else to talk about...maybe a little but I'm sick of typing and thinking. Go home.

...she tastes like the real thing..." Obvious song for reasons that should be obvious.

I had a reaaaaaaaaaaaaly long review I spent over an hour on this morning, but I was too stupid to plug my computer in, and it died on me, and I lost it. This'll be shorter because I actually want to sleep (I don't care what anyone says, sleep is the fukcing best).

First off, the day before the concert, I was running a 101 degree fever, had strong aches, and my stomach was really upset. I laid on the coach watching TV all day, went to sleep, woke up, went out to the couch again. I felt like sh!t. A little disheartening having the concert a day away, but with the help of heavy doses (I think I exceeded the daily dose on both) of Advil and Tylenol, I got it to go away long enough for me to freak out.

The opening band, Liars, was useless. They weren't bad, but there was no reason to have them open. They didn't set the stage, or get you excited, or get you in the mood, they were just filler as the then 1/4th filled venue talked (no one listened to them). They didn't even share anything with Radiohead's music. They weren't trash, but I wouldn't listen to them by choice often. Mediocre I guess.

I'll try and make this as quick as possible for my sake and yours, but I'll quote Shadow on something:

"Radiohead concert...I'll bet won't be as good as you imagine..."

"...nothing could..."

Let's see a more accurate statement he made.

"Hell, it'll probably be the greatest experience of your 14 year old life so far."

I'm serious. The first two couldn't have been more wrong if it was attempted, same with the second. Way to be absolutely right and wrong within two posts Shadow!

The light show was almost as entertaining as the band itself. At times, the icicle lights outshone (literally) the band, and you actually started looking at the lights instead of them for a minute, something I rarely do.

The seats were almost dead center (I was mislead by the seating chart I saw), and not too far away. Actually, being back a bit helped to admire the light show, and you could see all four screens, the whole band, and the lights. My perfect seats would have been about 50' up, which isn't much of a difference when you think about it.

The venue was absolutely perfect. Normally, I say the louder the better, but with Radiohead, it doesn't need to be. The stage, designed for the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, helped to give the venue fantastic acoustics, and the bowl design of the stage sort of directed the sound to give it a crisper tone, and sound less jumbled and coming from everywhere. Perfect.

The setlist was all I could ever ask for. With the exception of no "Paranoid Android", "Street Spirit", or "Climbing Up the Walls", everything was there, and the three that were lacking were more than made up for.

The band itself was spot on the whole night. I've never heard a band more connected and together. They played as one, and sounded like a one man band, not a bunch of different musicians.

I feel like they really connected with the audience. Back in the seats, not everyone was too involved at first, but by the end, there wasn't a single person singing along or dancing. Which reminds me, the crowd was great. They listened, didn't talk, knew when they should and shouldn't sing, and when it was a good time to cheer.

Oh yeah, and I yelled at Jonny and told him to sing. Fun thing to do if you see them.

Here's the setlist:

1. "Reckoner"- Absolutely perfect opener, I was expecting "15 Step", but this was even better.

2. "Optimistic"-One of Radiohead's most rocking songs, the elements of the song transitioned well to the live performance.

3. "There, There"- Seeing Jonny, Ed, and Phil all drumming was epic. Thom's guitar part was fantastically played.

4. "15 Step"- Really got the crowd (especially me) moving, exactly as I pictured it.

5. "All I Need"- In a three way tie for favorite "In Rainbows" song, this was the perfect example of the band's "psychic" connection, and one of the most beautiful performances I've ever heard.

6. "Pyramid Song"- As the last song, beautiful. The piano was beautifully played, and the band, yet again, seemed deeply connected.

7. "Weird Fishes"- Another tied favorite on "In Rainbows", the riff was without a doubt one of most beautiful (I can't think of another word to use right now) thing I've ever heard. Ed's backing vocals were amazing, as he truly sounds like he's a distance away.

8. "The Gloaming"- I knew what was coming before they even started playing from the eery green lights. It was such an urgent song, and kind of creepy, but it got me moving more than anything else (bar one that comes later). Better than I ever thought it would be.

9. "Videotape"- Once again, that word that starts with a "b" is all that comes to mind to describe this. The performance was wholesome and captivating, you couldn't take your eyes off it.

10. "Talk Show Host"- It's up there in my favorite Radiohead songs, but I doubted they would play this. Has what is likely Jonny's best riff, and to me, it's their guitar song. From the riff to what sounds like a wah-wah part, the guitar is amazing. I was watching Jonny the whole time.

11. "Faust Arp"- Originally my favorite "IR" track, it fell to one of my least favorites. But this performance was better than I thought they could ever do with this song. Everything was pitch perfect.

12. "Tell Me Why"- This was a "What the fukc?"er. What the hell are Radiohead doing playing a Neil Young cover? Whatever. It did the original song justice. Great performance.

13. "No Surprises"- Undoubtedly my second favorite Radiohead song, I was delighted to hear the xylophone and guitar open it. The whole crowd joined in singing "No alarms and no surprises", and of course, we gave the roar of approval with "Bring down the government/they don't, they don't speak for us." Again, I have to say beautiful.

14. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"- Last tied favorite from "In Rainbows". I've anticipated hearing this live since I bought the tickets. The song is fantastic, and when I pictured it live, I knew it would be amazing, but could never figure out exactly how it would sound. It was amazing, everything was better than it was on the album, Thom's vocals and every single instrument.

15. "The Bends"- Caught me off guard. I was definitely not expecting to hear this. It's my third favorite song from "The Bends". Thom singing "My baby's got the bends/Oh no!" was one of the best moments for me, and I can't figure out why, it was just so attention grabbing. And I've always wanted to hear the high pitched squeals after "Talking to my girlfriends waiting for something to happen," and they were incredible.

16. "The National Anthem"- Although one of the last songs you'd expect to be exciting, it was one of the most exciting of the night. It got the blood pumping and the testosterone flowing. By far Colin's best bassline. Jonny and Ed's guitar replacing the horns towards the end added a rocking edge to it.

17. "Nude"- Again, I have to say it, beautiful, gorgeous, what more can I say? Although not a guitar driven song, the guitar riff in the background towards the song's middle to end alays gets me.

18. "Bodysnatchers"- I knew it was the last song of the main set, and I rocked out like there was no tomorrow. Another more rocking song from Radiohead, it makes you paranoid, anxious, a little worrisome: and you love it.

Encore 1:

19. "House of Cards"- Come the first encore, the audience in its entirety was involved. Eeryone clapping and singing along (one dumbass had no rhythm and couldn't even clap in time when no one else was, it was funny). It was a sight to see when 18,000 people were singing back "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover."

20. "Planet Telex"- This song always sends chills down my spine. Don't ask why. It was an awesomely awkward turn around from the calmer encore opener. Sounded better than you would ever think form hearing the recording.

21. "Go Slowly"- Unfortunately, my stomach started to upset right about here, and my memory of the song is in bits. I remember liking the song a good bit. In fact, I loved it as I heard it, but my memory of it is really hazy. Sorry.

22. "FAKE PLASTIC TREES"!!!!!!!!!!!- I was almost praying for them to play this, and I had settled on the fact that they probably wouldn't, but........THEY DID!!!!!!!!!!!!! My jaw dropped the second I heard the opening chord and I screamed myself dry. I sang the whole song, which was in fact one of my dreams (singing this song with Thom), and felt like I had a musical orgasm. I mean, how often is it you hear your favorite song? Amazing. Better than even the Glastonbury 2003 performance ever could have indicated. The absolute standout of the night. I still can't believe they played it.

23. "True Love Waits" (Intro)- I love this song, and I've listened to it many times on my "I Might Be Wrong" EP, they only played the intro, but it was enough to satisfy me before going into the next magical moment which was...

24. "Everything In Its Right Place"- Wow, what a performance. The light show was a spectacle. It had the name of the song dazzling across the icicle lights. It was amazing! If there was a single song that sounded better live than recorded, it was this. I never enjoyed this song as much as I did there. The crowd joined Thom in singing "Everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing" every time. Plays over and over in my mind.

Encore 2:

25. "Cymbal Rush"- Hilarious. Why? Thom fukcing botched it :lol:. He played the intro, and just as it seemed the piano ballad was going great, he stopped and said, "Let's see...how does that go again?" We laughed and he said "Shhhh!" A few seconds later he started over and hit it perfectly. Very memorable.

26. "Karma Police"- Remember a while ago when I made my perfect setlist, and I said I badly wanted "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Karma Police" in the same show, but they never did before? Well they did! There wasn't more than a few people in the whole crowd who didn't sing the whole song. I'm not exaggerating. It was surreal. Thom quited down and mostly let us sing "This is what you'll get when you mess with us". Hearing the 18,000 people sing "For a minute there/I lost myself" was emotional and amazing.

27. "Idioteque"- I was excited with the setlist, totally happy with it, but I admit I was a little worried they wouldn't play this or Thom would be an ass and make us choose the closer like he did in Vancouver :P (he did I heard), but they played it. IF I would have moved an inch more during this song, multiple people would have fallen over. I dance like there was no one near me and didn't give a sh!t if I made an ass of myself. I was lost in the song. Energetic is an understatement. I sang the whole song, not just the second verse like most do. It was incredible. They went out with a bang.

First thing to notice is we got more songs than any other show this whole tour. Haha!!!

Anyway, top 10 songs of the night went:

10. "Everthing In Its Right Place"

9. "All I Need"

8. "The Gloaming"

7. "Karma Police"

6. "There, There"

5. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"

4. "The Bends"

3. "Idioteque"

2. "No Surprises"

1. "Fake Plastic Trees"

Hell, I'll say something different tomorrow because everything was just too fukcing great.

If I have to score a concert, I give it a 15/10. Seriously. Brilliant. Challenges for best time of my life. "Fake Plastic Trees" was THE best four minutes of my whole life, undoubtedly. Here are some pictures and videos from last night.

And this was a search on You Tube for videos. I need sleep now, so I'm not posting individual videos. I've watched most of them though.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=radiohead+hollywood+bowl+25&search_type=&aq=0

There's a fantastic "Fake Plastic Trees" video I want you to see, so here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp924wfJklY

That's all for today. Except on a final note about the Olympics, USA won gold on both Mens and Womens beach volleyball, won gold in Mens indoor volleyball, and a silver in Womens indoor volleyball. We dominated my favorite sport!!!!!!!!! China dominated the Olympics though. We won the most medals, and they may have a few taken away, but they won the gold count by a longshot. Hats off to China.

...step-father..." Easy.

I'd like to make a comment regarding all these so called, "unbiased" lists that me and everyone are making. What the fukc are we doing? What's the point of this? It's basically an excuse to express your favorite band's superiority (me) or your least favorite bands' lack of skill (hp sometimes), and basically a pointless time waste that's like putting gasoline on a fire made by everyone's different music tastes. My point is we might just want to shut up and enjoy the music. Leave the lists to the people who make lists as a team on websites devoted to doing so. I know the resulting arguments are fun and all, and picking at each other's tastes is equally as fun, but it's getting really old, and pretty boring. I mean, it's hard to write a blog without pissing somebody off now. Let's just all have our different tastes, different favorites, and different ideas of greatness, and enjoy what we enjoy. Or at least try it. I used to just make lists about my favorites, and they were probably more interesting to look it, more fun to make, and made everyone argue a lot less. Maybe make one occasionally, but last week I made a greatest singers list, then this week hp made a greatest bands list, etc., every week there's something. I make a list about the greatest bands of all tie and first thing that happensm Tweek's saying that Elmis helped with the list, Elmis is arguing with Tweek, Shadow is telling me that I'm trying to impress Elmis and Lock (probably one of my biggest "what the fukc is he talking about?" moments, if you need reasons why I'll explain) and saying I'm only slightly less of a fanboy than hp, isn't it getting a little...you know...repetitive and frustrating? I had more fun reading Shadow's favorite albums, reading Elmis' favorite bands of each decade, or hp's incessive ramblings about KISS (who I think he likes a little less now though) than b!tching about each other's list. In fact, writing my responses to hp and Elmis on hp's last blog felt more like a job than something fun because it's getting old. If we do it less, when we do occasionally do it, it'll be more fun, won't it?

Maybe it's just me. Let's just consider it.

And speaking of music and such, my reviewtastic blog has been...delayed yet again!!!!!!!!!!!! My mom was gonna drive me to FYE (in fact, she guaranteedshe would), yet today she never mentioned it and ignored any possible times to go. I asked her and she gave me some sh!t that she was busy and it was too late. So long story short: delayed. And I remembered I've got a lot of old CDs and DVDs to trade in, and I have a special thing to get an extra 20% pay for trading in. I should make $40, and I made $20 today (only worked two hours), so I'll still have money for other things. I'm adding one album to my reviewing list:

"The Lucky Ones" by Mudhoney. I had no idea this album was out until Shadow mentioned it to Lock, but it sounds like some good stuff from what I've checked out. It has high reviews, a 77 critics average on Metacritic, which is only 3 points off of Universal Acclaim.

And I can't tell if it's suposed to be a drawing of something, represent something, or just be random colors, but I love the cover. Should ve a great album if it is what I'm expecting.

4 days until Radiohead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm psyched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard great things about the sound of the shows, and people say the environment is a hell of a lot of fun, and it looks like they've been playing great sets this year. The've been playing a lot of fantastic songs, both well known favorites and hidden gems. I'm a little surprised that they didn't play "Idioteque" last show, but the audience had a choice between that and "Paranoid Android" (or so I heard) and they chose the latter. Thom's supposed to be a ****act too. I've heard a lot of stuff about him saying things in the middle of songs to individual people (A girl yelled "I love you Thom!" in the middle of "Exit Music" once, and he replied, "I love you too darling!" in the middle of singing). I remember Shadow mentioned it could never be as good as I expect (I think in reference to me hoping for a perfect setlist), but I'm sure that whatever I get will be amazing.

Just as a little space filler, here's my twenty-five favorite Radiohead songs as of right now.

1. "Fake Plastic Trees"

2. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"

3. "Paranoid Android"

4. "No Surprises

5. "Idioteque"

6. "Weird Fishes"

7. "2+2=5"

8. "How To Disappear Completely"

9. "15 Step"

10. "Climbing Up the Walls"

11. "Lucky"

12. "Just"

13. "Knives Out"

14. "The National Anthem"

15. "All I Need"

16. "Myxomatosis"

17. "Karma Police"

18. "There, There"

19. "Creep"

20. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"

21. "Talk Show Host"

22. "Black Star"

23. "Bodysnatchers"

24. "Optimistic"

25. "Pyramid Song"

And in case you don't remember, for me, their albums go "OK Computer" (the album that is most consistently fantastic individually by song. and it functions very well together), "Kid A" (has a lot of great songs, but the songs that aren't as good are made great by how well each songs works with each other), "In Rainbows", "The Bends", "Hail to the Thief", "Amnesiac", and finally "Pablo Honey."

I've decided that whether they play or just a few of my favorite songs, I'm happy as long as there is great energy in the crowd and band, and they play every song they choose as well as they can that night. I would love to see my favorite songs get played, but that's just a bonus.

Enough of my ORD (Obsessive Radiohead Disorder), back to something many more people pay attention to:

BOOYAH!!!! MISTY-MAY AND KERRI WALSH WON GOLD IN WOMENS BEACH VOLLEYBALL FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW!!!

By the way, that's the first time anyteam has won Gold in volleyball two times in a row. Go US!!!!!!!!! We whooped those melodramatic Chinese b!tches in two sets!!!!! Am I being a humble (fellow citizen of the country/city (they live within ten minutes of me) of the:P) victor? FUKC NO!!!!!! We beat them!!!!!!

Now let US hope that Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser can follow suit and win their finals match tomorrow. No matter what, they're guaranteed a silver, and favored for a gold. And hope that our Mens indoor team and Womens indoor team can also follow suit. They're both in the semifinals of their brackets. Men are favored to win their match tomorrow and advance to the finals, and the women have a chance at revenge on the Cubans who they lost to earlier. I'm hoping for a medal in each competition!!!!!

Speaking of volleyball and the Olympics, that leads me to some of my life goals. Here are my three main ones. #1 is the one I would want most, and I could only ever get either #2 or 1, not both, along with #3.

1. Represent the USA in the Olympics as either an indoor or beach player (I'm one of the most dedicated people I know, and I hate to say this myself, probably one of the 5 best hitters who is under 6' in the country for my age level, and I can hit as well as some taller people and have better back row skills).

a. (sub goal) Win a medal.

1. (sub-sub goal) Make it Gold.

2. Start a band at some point, at least release a few albums on a label that at least sell a bit. And do this by playing what want to play, not what will make me rich.

a. Sell well, maybe make a good amount of money off it.

1. Get a gold or platinum album.

3. For college, get into Pepperdine (my first pick, although it isn't as high educational quality in a lot of courses) or Stanford (funny I pick these schools because I'd have a better chance at Harvard than Stanford because I have a parent alumni advantage from my dad, which is huge there), and play volleyball at D1 level as a starter (Note: the reason I want to go to Pepperdine most is because I want to play for Marv Dunphy, unarguably the greatest coach ever in the game)

a. Win an NCAA title.

I know, I'm setting really high goals, but hey isn't that good?

Reviewtastic blog will come on the weekend when I have time. I've relistened to a few, and some I'm changing opinions on slightly, but nothing huge has changed.

Main thing to get out of this blog is the first paragraph. I'm being serious. I'm getting sick and tired of these. It's fun ocassionally (I don't mean once every few weeks), but just starts becoming tedious. Ad it hurts my hands :P.

...been, finally through the roof..."

My revietastic blog has been delayed because even though I went to likely one of the biggest music stores in America (Times Square Virgin Records Superstore), they didn't have "Pink Flag" by Wire. The bastards. I made it worthwhile and picked up "My Iron Lung EP" by Radiohead (UK Import) and "Bossanova" by Pixies because it was all I could find in the five minutes I had. Both rock c0cks, and "Bossanova" is a challenger for my favorite Pixies album. Likely not, but it does rock. With 8 songs, "My Iron Lung" was worth the $15 (I've never found cheaper). Of course, "My Iron Lung" rocked, but songs like "The Trickster" and "Permanent Daylight" were definitely worthy of being on an album.

Since there will be no reviewtastic blog, here's a reviewtastic blog preview:

Music to be reviewed:

"Pink Flag" by Wire (once I obtain it)

"Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire

"The Velvet Underground and Nico" by The Velvet Underground

"My Iron Lung EP" by Radiohead

"Bossanova" by the Pixies

"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel

"Urban Hymns" by The Verve

Movies to be reviewed:

I'll review a bunch of movies from last year that I never reviewed :P

Sweeney Todd

(This movie was gruesome...did I like it? You shall see.)

IF I see the following movies, I'll review them.

The Godfather (have the DVD, watching this week)

Life of Brian

Hellboy II (might see it at the bargain theatre)

Clone Wars (will undoubtedly suck, but I'll see it anyway)

The Right Stuff (watched first two and a half hours, was too tired for the last hour :roll::P I need to finish it, once again, did I like everything? Who knows but me?)

And I saw The Dark Knight a third time. If I don't have enough to review, I'll re-review it to give the final, setlled opinion.

That's what to expect.

I'm finally back from New York. Well it was only three days, but it felt like longer. As usualy, pretty good time. Young Frankenstein musical was awesome, especilly front row for $27 a piece (story on last blog). Followed the story perfectly, and ended with the exact same line, and used most of the original script.

I really have nothing to say. I'll pull something out of my ass. Summer has gone too fast. Way too fast. Strangely enough, events from the beginning of the Summer like Junior Olympics feel so much longer ago than the last day of school, although it was the other way. It feels like I got out of school a few weeks ago, but did everything this Summer months ago. The near feels so distant, and the distant feels so near, if you can understand. I've done so much this Summer, and it's been long, but now that it comes to a close, it feels as if it was so quick, though it really wasn't. I'm down to the last 10 days count.

Remember that Vertical Jump program crap I was talking about. It's working. Running I can get my finger up to the mid knuckle (the knuckle just below the middle of the finger) above the rim, in contrast to previously being able to barely touch it. Off a standing vert, I can touch the top of the rim. I told all my friends it would work. They didn't believe me. Too bad for them they'll neveer know how to get my program. I've got a 1-2" increase in a little under 2 weeks. I'm getting a hell of a lot stronger too (benh press up about 20 lbs.) If I keep going, I'll more than just make the volleyball team, I'll be expected to start.

Things are good in the "land of Grant" (200 points to whoever picks up on the lyric allusion first). except school coming up. Oh right, mentioning my name. You may call me Dee still, or you may call me by my name. I kinda prefer my name. Grant no like him username :evil::P.

In case you didn't know, Michael Phelps (our prized athlete) won 8 Gold medals out of his 8 different events, setting records for the most Gold medals ever, as well as the most Gold medals ever won in a single Olympic tournament. And he set numerous world records. Steroids would seem in the question, but he has offered himself for "supertesting", which tests blood, DNA, urine, etc., everything imaginable to pick up on any doping. Phelps is pretty much the greatest Olympic athlete ever. You have to feel bad for the other guys though. They train all their lives to be so good, and this freak comes along and kicks all of your asses. Sad. But Phelps deserves it. I'm jealous of him. Not for the medals, but because he eats 10,000-12,000 calories worth of food every day, enough for five normal people. Well, that and the medals :P. Nah, not really. But I'll have one in 12 years, beach or indoor volleyball. No reason to be jealous when someone really deserves everything.

As I said, not much to say...err...I have an idea! A list like always! Not a music list, too many of those being made. I know:

My Favorite Acting Performances in Movies

Along with my favorite lines from them:

5. Harrisson Ford as Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones series

"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"

"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"

"Sallah! I said no camels! That's five camels! Can you count?!?!?!"

4. Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell in No Country For Old Men

"Well okay, what do we circulate? Lookin' for a man who recently drunk milk?"

"Alright then. Two of 'em. Both had my father in 'em . It's peculiar. I'm older now then he ever was by twenty years. So in a sense he's the younger man. Anyway, first one I don't remember to well but it was about meeting him in town somewhere, he's gonna give me some money. I think I lost it. The second one, it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin' through the mountains of a night. Goin' through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin'. Never said nothin' goin' by. He just rode on past... and he had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. 'Bout the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin' on ahead and he was fixin' to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold, and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up."

"Here last week they found this couple out in California. They rent out rooms for old people, kill'em, bury'em in the yard, cash their social security checks. Well, they'd tortur'em first, I don't know why. Maybe their television set was broke."

3. Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainsview in There Will Be Blood

"I've abandoned my child! I've abandoned my child! I've abandoned my boy!"

"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people."

"Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!"

2. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men

"I think you do. So this is what I'll offer - you bring me the money and I'll let her go. Otherwise she's accountable, same as you. That's the best deal you're gonna get. I won't tell you you can save yourself, because you can't."

"What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?" (Anyone else see a Two Face allusion here? Especially funny with Tommy Lee Jones in the movie)

"Would you hold still, please sir." (not so good without the actual scene, but freaky)

1. Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight

"Uh uh uh, let's not BLOW things out of proportion."

"Scuse me! I wanna drive!"

"How 'bout a magic trick? I'm going to make this pencil disappear. *smashes thug's eye into pencil* Tah dah! It's magigone!"

"Let's turn the clocks back a year ago. These cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross you...I mean...what happened? Your balls drop off? I know what you're afraid of. I know why you choose to have your little "group therapy sessions" in broad daylight. The Batman."

"There's only one sensible way to live in this world: without rules."

"Do you wanna know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little... emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?"

"Well, depending on the time, he may be in one place, or several."

Let's just say almost everything The Joker said.

Most notable is the #1
and the appearance of two NCFOM roles. I realize all but one of the movies is from this or the last year, but those are the ones that are most in my mind. I don't think there's even a question of whether or not Marlon Brando will be here after I watch the Godfather.

Well, this was just a blog to say I'm back in California, and pumped up with a bunch of pictues and stuff. But anyway, enjoy. Bye.

...ride our machines without getting hassled by the man, and we wanna get loaded!" Googling won't help this. It's in a song but it isn't a lyric per se. Let's see.

As you may or may not know depending on how much you payed attention to my last blog, I'm in New York visiting my Dad. First day was actually pretty good. I couldn't go to sleep until 4 in the morning last night because the bed I had to sleep on was hard as a rock. My dad and evil step-mother (who hasn't been evil yet) keep talking about how great the matress is. "it's so nice!", "It's so firm!" Yeah well guess what **** Beds are supposed to be soft, not like sleeping on a pile of bricks. Whatever, I'm sleeping on the couch bed tonight, which while thin and lacking of enough padding between me and the springs, is better than a cematress (Cement matress get it? Haha I'm funny! What? I'm not? Shut up! Go away...or don't, whatever floats your boat...ass).

I'm assuming you've all seen this classic film:

Personally, my second favorite comedy movie of all time...

*Wolf howls*

Dr. Frankenstein: "What was that?"

Inga: "Vervolf." (Werewolf with accent)

Dr. Frankenstein: "Werewolf?!?!?!"

Igor: "Where wolf? There wolf. There castle."

:lol: ****c movie.

I give that movie a 10/10, if not one of those 11s I give occasionally.

Back to the point, as you may or may not know, Young Frankenstein had a musical adaptation on Broadway:

Now, I'm not a fan of musicals, and I've only seen four: Beauty and the Beast (for a school trip), A Christmas Carol (when I was 7), Monty Python's Spamalot (awesome because it was based on my favorite comedy ever, although the altered ending sucked), and this.

I've wanted to check this out, just see if it was near what the movie is. My dad told me that they have a lottery drawing, and if you're one of the 8 picked, you can get two tickets for $27 each, that would normally cost $120 each. Absolute front row of the whole theatre. My dad and I both entered it. We went to the McDonalds where the winners were announced. We were pretty sure we weren't going to win. There were just way too many entrants too win. They called 7 names, and on the 8th name, I heard them mispronounce my last name. I was pretty stoked. I mean, musicals usually suck, but this is Young Frankenstein! How could it be bad? This may sound like a lead in to saying it sucked, but it's not.

We paid $27 a ticket to get front row, which was $54 overall, against what normally would have been $240. I think that's a nice bargain.

I don't have much to compare it to, but this was a crack up. It had all the lines that made the movie great (exception of the "Could be raining," scene), the songs were actually funny (there was one about Frankenstein's wife not wanting to be touched, and they especially focused on not wanting men to touch their **** (I believe they mentioned it 20 times)). It didn't derive from the original plot in the slightest. It had a few moments that were added in, but the beginning, middle, and end were all the same.

Best part: Actually seeing "Frankenstein" perform "Putting on the Ritz" :lol:. Even better than the movie.

I can't score it because I have nothing to compare it to, but it's the best musical I've ever seen. Maybe because the songs were limited, it was mostly dialogue, and were actually funny to hear when they actually sang. But if you have a chance, see this. I don't like musicals for the most part (a little premature to say since I've only seen 4, but I don't like the ideas I've heard or most clips I've seen), but this was a crack up, just like the movie, but more fun. Especially when you're ten feet from the stage. Even if you don't like musicals either, don't let it turn you away from this.

And on the airplane on the way here (Virgin America, best airline ever), I got to see a free movie, being an unaccompanied minor (meaning under 16), so I picked one I've been wanting to see for a long time now.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

I worried if I would like this or not. Everything was so mixed. 90% of critics loved it (92 average on Metacritic), but some hated it, and the user reviews were very mixed). As usual, when I worry about something being great or bad, it turns out great.

Let me state the first obvious thing: the fact that Jonny Greenwood did the score was one of the main reasons I wanted to see the movie. It was when it got such acclaim and all the nominations when I needed to see it. Greenwood did a fantastic job with the score. I know I'm one of those freaks who will adore everything Jonny or Radiohead does, but Greenwood or not, it's undeniable that he did a great job. The string driven scores excellently support the movie's constant rising tension and changing climate. I enjoyed them, at thought they backed the movie very well, and din't overpower and draw attention away from the actual movie.

Now the second obvious thing: Daniel Day Lewis' performance was absolutely phenomenal. Definitely one of this day's best actors. The role was magnificently convincing and real. You felt Daniel's (name of the character as well) emotions, hatred, and greed as if they were of a person next to you. The church scene where he confesses to abandoning his son is one of the most powerful, anguished, and realistic scenes I've ever seen.

The plot has been criticized by everyday movie goers for not having a point, not having direction, not having character development, and not following basic plot structure. They're completely missing the point: this isn't that type of movie. This is a dramatic story of the life and emotions of a man. A story that could happen, and symbolically, has happened many times in history. It's a story of greed and selfishness, which leads to untold riches, what every money obsessed man seeks. It chronicles the path from greed to riches to misery.

Without a care to his fellow man, who he admits, he finds worthless and hates all humans other than himself, Daniel Plainview's ruthless quest for riches begins when he is tipped of an untapped oil haven in Little Boston, by a resident of the town. He travels there, rips off the local land owners with what apears to be a good deal. He builds an oil derrick, and seemingly cares not about what happens to anyone other than himself. Of all, he cares most about his adopted son H.W. (he adopts him from a man killed in an oil mining accident earlier). He considers him his business partner more than anything. He seems to love him from the beginning. However, a tragic accident at the derrick leads to H.W.'s loss of hearing. Eventually, he abandons H.W. at a boarding school, and leaves him. Eventually he brings him back, and seems to care minimally about him again. He begins to love him less, as he reveals that he isn't his father, in a hatred filled manner. For the rest of the story, and into H.W.'s adulthood, he cares about him less and less, and begins to hate him like everyone else.

There is the story of his relationship with Eli, twin brother of Paul (played by the same actor), whom tipped the oil's location, and reverend of the town. I'm not going to begin attempting to describe it because it's just impossible. Any explanation I came up with would get the wrong message across, and be entirely faulty. It must be seen to be understood. As is most of the movie.

This is just one layer of the complex and detailed story told in There Will Be Blood. In fact, the story is likely too complex to summarize without writing an essay. And I'd like you all to have a chance to see the movie for yourself without knowing what will happen, although even knowing that likely wouldn't spoil much.

The story spirals into a masterpiece of an ending, set over 10 years in the future, where Daniel has become an insane and miserable old man. He has his giant house, he has a bowling alley in his house, yet he cannot settle as happy. The final scene is too breathtaking to be spoiled, but you will love it, or hate it, just like the whole movie.

Final verdict? Definitely deserved the attention it got last year. I'm not sure if any of you've seen it (I'm pretty sure Indie saw it but that's all I remember), but it's a great film.

Score: 10/10

May be a premature scoring, but it was a fantastic movie. No, this does not necessarily make it one of my 5 or even ten favorite movies ever. I'm learning that there are too many movies and such where it feels almost guilty to give anything less than a perfect.

My very favorite movies extend past perfect to me, and probably a good 20 to 30 or so reach a 10.

You know what? I can't remember the last time I saw a bad movie. Actually I can, it was Beowulf (God awful, 30/100, only that 30 for the amazing animation), but I've always had great luck with finding great movies.

But I need to start reviewing more movies. Why? It seems like I give everything perfect doesn't it? Do you know the reason? I only review movies I think are great. Same with music albums, same with everything. I think it's making it seem like every movie is equally great. Fact is: no.

I've seen a good 15-20 movies in the last year, and I've reviewed like 5. Well, here's a quick review just for fun.

Kung Fu Panda

In case you never caugh on, I'm a sucker for animated movies. They're always so light and fun, and the adult references are hilarious to pick up on when there's a bunch of kids who have no idea what they're talking about (example, in Ratatouille: I have...a little...thing :P). So, on a day I was bored I went to see this. Dreamworks has suckd for the most part recently. The last good movie they made was Madagascar, which was a very enjoyable and fun movie. The recent ones, have been bad. Well, they decided to break the suck streak with something more enjoyable. Definitely one of the goofier and funnier animated movies recently, it's definitely worth a look

Score: 8/10

I haven't seen a bad movie this year. I only saw one bad last year. I'll start doing more reviews of movies, music, and everything, so I don't give everything I review a perfect. "Pink Flag" by Wire, "Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire (hey that rhymed :P), and "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" coming soon. I'm probably getting "Pink Flag" tomorrow or the day after, and I'll try to grab "I Might Be Wrong" and "My Iron Lung" EPs by Radiohead since the music store here is ten times as big as the best one in L.A.. I've got some spare money, I was given $25 for food and a movie on the plane, but I get everything free (I can order soda's by ordering from the TV/movie/game/music screen too, so I got 5, how sweet is that?), so I have a spare $25. I made a deal that I keep whatever's left over (it's one of those Gift Card Debit cards), so that's a free CD and a half of the next.

And next blog, if enough of you won't care, I have a question, that's worrying me a little, but telling anyone else is a little...weird. So if I have a question where some of you could ease my mind by answering, would you help? It's a little gross, and you may not want to hear about it, so I'll put it in white text next blog. From A to B you can highlight, but it's a little disturbing, so you may not want to know A It has to do with a worry of something...on me if you catch my driftB. But I guess you're actually the people who would know most about it that I know, and probably the ones it would feel least awkward to talk to with.

If you don't want to talk about it at all, no big deal. It's a small worry I've mine, and could actually easily get help, just a little embarrassing.

Let's end by making a subjective list for fun, just so there's no arguing. In case you didn't catch it, the list is subjective, meaning it's opinion.

My 5 Favorite Indie Band

Not necessarily indie, they just can't be well known.

1. The Pixies

2. Pavement

3. My Bloody Valentine

4. Mudhoney

5. Dinosaur Jr.

No arguing will be done over this...hopefully. Bye.

...I'll be there..." I'm having trouble thinking of lyrics by any other band right now. 5 points if you can guess the song and why, 10 if you can do it without making a smart ass comment.

I seem to have failed in avoiding arguments for the Olympics. Last blog, hippy put Jim Morrisson on his top 5 singers list. I tried to stay neutral, but Elmis got pissed off because I ignored his opinions in the process, in opposition to where he always responds to your opinion, and never just stays out of it (what I usually do). Let's get something straight about that argument:

Jim Morrisson was talented, a great musician. But yes, he was overrated. He's not one of the greatest of all time and probably wouldn't be considered that if he were still alive. Elmis was write, he wrote pretentious lyrics, and was not the best songwriter. Yes, he succeeded because he was backed by great musicians. But all in all, he was talented and shouldn't have that taken away, he just shouldn't be given the title of one of the greatest.

Just when my grandma leaves town, I have to head to New York to visit my dad tomorrow. He's been calling at 10 in the morning to wake me up, and the first time my mom answered, she yelled at him about how fukcing stupid that is and I can sleep until 12 if I feel like it. Then we started ignoring the phone. I was up at 10 usually to watch beach volleyball for the Olympics, and was up at 2:00 to watch indoor volleyball. Indoor finally gets a good time slot starting on the 14th, where USA plays Bulgaria, home to Matey Kaziyski, the best hitter in the world. Should be good. If you're bored, check it out, it's at 8:00 PM pacific time, so it will vary to your time zone.

Speaking earlier of my dad being an ass, let's get into that. My dad is one of the most egotistical, self-centered, and selfish people I know, but I still have a good time visiting him. I don't know why I hate playing tennis, he makes me do it anyway. I don't like riding bikes (only person in the world probably), he pressures me to and is forcing me to in New York, although I'll get out of it like always.

I probably just have fun because we go to Six Flags and see movies a lot because we both enjoy that. The trip is only for three days so I'll be fine. I'm bringing my computer, so I'll still be active here, b!tching about everything I don't agree with as usual.

I just realized last week how quickly the Summer has gone by. It feels like two weeks ago I got out of school, yet it's been 7 weeks, and I have only 2 left. I have three days in New York, then I get back and have my SCVC (volleyball) "camp" (not a camp, just go to the practice gym every day and practice). I'll have fun with that. In 12 days, I have the Radiohead concert, which will without a doubt be the highlight of my Summer and possibly make up for how short it's been. The tour stats have been calculated on a site Lock showed me, that I can't be bothered to post, and the projected setlist looks bright. They haven't played "Fake Plastic Trees" much, but I'm up for anything. I'm liking "Street Spirit", "Climbing Up the Walls", and "Paranoid Android" about as much these days, and listening to "All I Need' (a guaranteed play) more and more. Only two days after the highlight, I have to return to school, which will suck for numerous reasons:

1. Freshman year. I'm not nervous like most are, I'm more excited, but the place is huge and will take adjusting to. I'll have classes with volleyball teammates who I haven't been to school with before. More than that though, I'll merge into a high school with people form three different middle schools.

2. It will suck my volleyball and vertical jump training away. Volleyball practice is something I love and something I need, but finding time will be hard. I started a vertical jump program to get my jump up, and after one week, I'm up about an inch and a half already, which is helping, I can probably grab a basketball rim on a great day. I need my inches to start on the team where I'm disadvantaged by height. I can beat out all but maybe one player in hitting, so I'm pretty safe, but on the 8' net, I'll need to be safe.

3. It's school. Come one, school sucks in the first place.

4. Late nights will be forced not by choice. It's like they said in that sh!tty book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", that everything is fun when it's a privelige, but once you have to do it, you don't like it. Homework will keep me up to 1:00 as usual, after I piss around for five hours after school.

5. Wake up 4 hours earlier. School starts at 8 o'clock.

6. I have no idea how I'm going to get to school. I hope I'll get driven, but I might have to walk sometimes, which will suck.

7. I have to finish Summer reading. I have to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, which is a good book, but with the Olympics on, volleyball tryouts approaching, last minute enjoyment in, I don't want to be reading. It's the last two weeks where I wouldn't be forced to read, and I'll have to.

8. Volleyball doesn't start until Spring. That means I'll have to deal with the pissy Physical Education where your 300 pond lard bucket classmates act like they're good at a sport they suck at. I hate when people try to play when they suck, it just interferes.

9. Less free time = less guitar time. It's inevitable, I always lose some of my chops when school starts. I'll have less time to buy records, less time to see concerts, and...you get the idea.

10. I have to go to school with the sh!t head punks again. I have to go to school with the now Sophomores, who will undoubtedly continue their stupidity and close mindedness to any music that has a solo or more than three chords. I hate them.

And only three good reasons:

1. I'll see my friends every day.

2. Volleyball, not being until Spring, has distant tryouts that give me plenty of time to break my goal of a 40" vertical jump. This means my chances ofstarting are even higher than the already high chance due to little competition.

3. Lots of music. While I won't have time to buy new albums, doing homework gives me tons of time to listen to music, and sneak off and piss aroundthis site.

As you can see, I'm trying to be optimistic about my school return (or should I say advancement), but it just won't happen. School sucks. Sadly, I'm part of the brainwashed people Shadow talks about who is fixed on getting great grades, going to a great college (Pepperdine hopefully), and even graduates school possibly. For some one who has extreme interest in guitar and high talents in volleyball, I sure seem to dismiss the fact that I could have moderately to very successful careers using those interests without an education. Although I also want a good education, I really want to play college volleyball, which helps lead to the national team, and further on, the Olympics. There are other future jobs I consider that involve education, so I'm brainwashed, and fixed on academic success.

Political note: Obama's announcing his VP pick soon by text message to those who requested (including me), Obama leads in polls by an average of +4.8%, and McCain destroyed his credibility and chances at winning with his incredibly stupid "World's Biggest Celebrity" ads. His poll numbers lummeted on the day that ad ran, according to Real Clear Politics. Things still look good. The state polls are close, although the Electoral Map projection based on state by state polls gives Obama a +80 vote lead.

I think Obama's running mate will be none other than Evan Bayh. If I'm correct, I will be entirely pleased with his pick, as Bayh is a great senator and would fit Obama's team perfectly.

I've decided that once I beat Okami (which will be very soon, as I'm almost done), I'll go back and beat Zack and Wiki: Quest For Barbaro's Treasure (one of the most pleasant surprises for the Wii, very challenging), and then buy Worms: Armageddon, and download it on my PC (if I can get it running, or just use the main computer in the house, but it won't work on Mac). I demoed them all, and liked them all except Worms 3-D, but Armageddon stood way far out there, and I had much more fun playing it. Definitely the best PC game I've played, although tht's very few. If it's too expensive, I'll get Worms 2, my second favorite which costs only $15. Worms World Party was fun too, but Armageddon was by far the most fun, and the same price.

In case you didn't know (I didn't until I read it on hp's blog, a discussion between Elmis and Shadow), Worms is a game where you command an army of worms against an opposing, and in a turn based strategy style, battle each other with Bazookas, Homing Missles, Grenades, Nepalm, sheep (:lol:), flamethrowers, and many more. Addictive, and very strategic. Involves a lot of precision.

(The game's a lot "cuter" than they make it look, but still badass)

I've decided, that after a discussion on Indie's blog, where I asked for some new bands, where both Elmis and Indie suggested Wire, I will buy "Pink Flag", likely while in New York. "All Music Guide" and "Pitchfork" both gave it a 5 star rating, and Robert Christgau (donkey, but occasionally is useful) gave it an A. It got an AMG album pick, and had high user ratings on iTunes. I listened to it, and it was pretty raw, intentionally under produced proto punk sort of stuff. I thought it was great, so I'll pick it up. It wasn't what I thought it would be when Elmis first mentioned it. I was expecting a more alternative, less guitar oriented sound, but this is far from that.

I haven't been keeping up on albums much recently, and I've got a little spare cash. so I'll grab this and something else in New York.

I also loved "Velvet Underground and Nico", so I might buy "White Light/White Heat" soon, as well as "My Iron Lung EP" and "I Might Be Wrong EP" by Radiohead, both of which I can get.

I need to get to sleep, gotta wake up at 9 to do my jump program, eat, and hop on a plane. I'll see ya around.

...died alone, a long long time ago..." I guarantee you, you will screw this song up. Bonus points if you get the reference, know the song, and know why I would say that. You'll know why if you know the song.

Well, I'm sure most of you know one of the reasons for me to blog: the Olympics. I'm a very sport involved person, so naturally, I'm psyched for the Olympics to start. In case you missed it, the opening ceremony was unbelievable, a true spectacle. Probably the best opening ceremony of all time, and the most beautiful torch lighting ever. I'm going to watch everything that slightly interests me, and I've got all the Men's and Women's volleyball matches set to record.

USA! USA!

Anyhoo, I'll list my favorite volleyba

ll players in preparation.

1. Paul Carroll (AKA Volleygod) (Australia, not in Olympics)

(this was volleygod, who I met at Pepperdine as a coach, the crazy good one who's really cool, but he's a citizen of Australia, hence he's plays for you Aussies, you should be proud of the beast)

2. Leonel Marshall (Mr. 50" V.) (Cuba, not in Olympics)

3. Sean Rosenthal (USA, in beach volleyball Olympics)

(If you know a thing about the AVP, you'll know what this means: I'm a raider in the works)

4. Matey Kazisky (Bulgaria, in Volleyball Olympics)

(probably the best hitter in the world)

5. Karch Kiraly (USA, 3 time Olympic Gold Medalist: Retired)

(widely considered the single best volleyball player of all time, indoor or beach)

My 5 favorite women's players are:

1. Misty May-Treanor

2. Elaine Youngs

3. Holly McPeak

4. Kerri Walsh

5. Rachel Wacholder (the hottest one :lol:, I think)

Apparently that volleyball thing I was doing was from Wednesday to Friday, no Tue. to Thur.. It was really fun, got a lot of beach practice that'll pay off when we got back indoors. Today, we had a bujnch of 1 on 1 games, half court with three touches. I was undefeated, 10-5, 10-2, and 10-8. I played a teammate from last year (the 10-2 one), but I played a player from likely the best team in history, MB Surf (won silver, gold, silver at JOs since there 13s year, they'll be 16s next year), and beat him twice. Pretty damn impressive if I say so myself. Then I beat the coach in a ball control drill. Good day.

But, my legs are killed. Not from just that, that was almst none of it, but because I finally started that program to get my already high 30" vertical and 32" running jump, up to 40"+, which will happen by the end of the year, hopefully, make up for being 3-4" shorter thn the other starting hitters).

And now, I'll make a music list, the first unbiased (as much as I can, I'm only human) list from anyone in a while. Save yourselves from arthritis and refrain from web screaming.

5 Greatest Male Rock Vocalists

1. Freddie Mercury

2. Robert Plant

3. Chris Cornell (wanted to put him as 1 or 2, but I knew bias was coming into play there, so I knocked him downto give an honest view)

4. Ian Gillian

5. Jeff Buckley

Honorable Mention: Bruce Dickinson, Jackie Wilson, Steve Perry (I don't like his voice, but he's considered up there and he is talented)

There not bad eh? For the record, the only one of them that I'm really a fan of is Chris Cornell (my favorite three singers are surprisingly, a Grunge trio, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley (metal in the grunge scene), and Eddie Vedder. So there isn't much bias. Maybe Cornell dropping 1 or 2, but I think I did decently with being objective.

Hopefully you don't argue too much! It's a time of international peace in the world now! It's hte Olympics! They stall wars for this, we could take a fighting break for the time being if they can do that. See ya!!!