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| Heart on Sleeve
| | A Musical Odyssey: Part Nine |
I don't really have anything new to say. I'm not in the mood to talk about personal life stuff, or football, or really anything for that matter. But since it's been a week since I've updated, might as well talk about music. And I'm gonna try a new approach this week. I'm going to give my thoughts and opinions on a number of albums that have recently been in my rotation in a punchy succinct manner. Think that might be easier for people to actually read, and easier for me to write, considering my laziness. So, without further ado.
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw - Like it. Not hugely into it yet, and the drumming annoys me at times, but they'll grow on me, just like Isis did. I like enough of the stuff to do to know I like them.
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... - Feels like it should be at least three songs shorter. By the end of this album, it has lost all its momentum. Could have been a really tight and enjoyable 10-song album. As such, I sort of like it, but it's no Morning View.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo - Pretty bonkers, but at times quite enjoyable. Have to be in a particular mood to enjoy it though. Doubt it'll be a favourite, but a nice diversion at least.
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago - An album with it's heart in the right place, but I just can't get past his voice. Plus the style of music isn't always to my taste. There are some good songs here, but not enough. A disappointment.
Fightstar - One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours - Perhaps a little too similar to Grand Unification for its own good, but it's still a great listen full of interesting enjoyable tracks. This band continues to astound me with how good they are, considering their history.
Fugazi - Repeater - 13 Songs took a while to grow on me, so this could be the same, but this album completely pales in comparison to 13 Songs. Despite some good Fugazi songs, most of them just aren't as sharp, the lyrics aren't as clever, and the inclusion of "Reprovisional", a bad version of a song I didn't like to start with, feels like a total waste of space. Another minor disappointment.
Glassjaw - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence - A bitter and violent album, but with enough musical strength and intelligence to look past this. An emotional roller coaster, and a completely intense experience, Glassjaw have never exactly been to my taste, but I like it more than Worship and Tribute.
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire - Love it. Love it, love it, love it. Love the vocals, love the songwriting, love the lyrics, love the minimalism of the arrangements, love everything about it. Probably my favourite album right now.
Portishead - Dummy - Some really good stuff here. They're good songwriters, and Beth Gibbons' voice is a welcome aspect of their sound. Some songs don't quite work for me, but it's mostly a solid and compelling listen.
Radiohead - Amnesiac - May not be as attractive as it's sister, the drop dead gorgeous Kid A, still provides enough thrills to rank highly in my estimations. "Pyramid Song" is probably my favourite song right now. Some truly inspired moments let down by a couple of weak tracks. Still an amazing album, although perhaps not by Radiohead standards.
Shearwater - Rook - A nice alternative to Okkervil River, and an accomplished and musical record, the record does feel a little flat at certain points, and some aspects of the songwriting don't work in the album's favour. Still a good listen.
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone... - After just listen this album floored me. It's completely to my taste, and feels more complete and accomplished than any Godspeed record I've heard. An amazing and gorgeous feast for the ears.
Isis - Panopticon - I can't decide whether I like this more than Oceanic, or whether I just like Isis more since Oceanic was in my rotation. Regardless I'm still loving this; there are some moments of pure genius here, and everything about their sound feels a little sharper and better considered than before.
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - There are many aspects of this album that I appreciate more than Funeral, but as an album it still doesn't feel as compelling and enjoyable as I would have hoped. Still straight from the heart, still clever and well thought out, but still as frustrating that Regine Chassagne is very solidly playing second fiddle behind Butler throughtout.
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity - I like it a lot more than I did when I first started listening to it, but that's not saying much. Still just too intense and chaotic for my tastes. A shame, because there are some moments of genius here, hidden beneath the madness.
As Cities Burn - Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest - A totally solid and enjoyable post-hardcore album, and As Cities Burn certainly seem more thoughtful and intelligent than many of their contemporaries, but the album isn't the best reflection of their talents. There just aren't enough great songs or great moments. Still a good tight experience, though. It just could have been better.
Okkervil River - The Stage Names - If compared to Black Sheep Boy, a disappointment. If judged on its own, a tight, enjoyable, entertaining and well considered album full of songs ranging from sort of nice to really cool. My actual opinion falls somewhere in between.
Shai Hulud - Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion - A whirlwind of noise and chaos, although with more polish, focus and care for melody than Dillinger Escape Plan allow. A reasonably enjoyable 30-minute explosion of noise with some truly wonderful lyricism.
That concludes my thoughts on my recent albums. There are plenty of albums I'm looking to pick up and get into in the next few weeks. It's probably about time I try Animals by Pink Floyd, and I want to heart some Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is Ok by Mum. Other albums I'm looking to get into include Catch For Us the Foxes by mewithoutYou, Pneuma by Moving Mountains, The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta, Common Existence by Thursday, This Will Destroy You's self-titled debut album, and Blue Lambency Downward by Kayo Dot. Just like always it's a case of so much music, so little time.
It's also worth mentioning that me and some friends are going to see Gregor Samsa on the 27th here in London, and I'm incredibly excited. Should be awesome times. | | Tags: music, musical odyssey, Gregor Samsa |
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| | A Musical Odyssey: Part Eight |
It's time to resurrect this blog. I took a break because I was having some difficulty trying to think of things to say, and because I had a bit of a rough time with this site recently. Got my ass chewed off in a couple of threads. Sometimes I think I'm too sensitive for the internet. I let things get to me that I probably shouldn't, and in one case I retaliated with more ferocity than was probably necessary, which got me a caution. Sometimes I post without thinking, or post without checking to make sure I understood the point of the thread, and that can get you into trouble. But I guess the real solution is to just not take it that seriously.
So now that me an AP.net are totally BFF again, I figured it was time to get the blog going, and since it's been ages since I've done a music related entry, that seemed like the ideal place to start. But first allow me to address the current state of my team, the Indianapolis Colts. So first we get booted out of the playoffs in the first round against the Chargers, in a game which we could and potentially should have won, and now Dungy has finally waved goodbye to the Colts to ride off into the sunset and enjoy his retirement with his loving family, leaving the team in the hands of Jim Caldwell, whose never even been a coordinator at the professional level. Not only that, but free agency is coming up, and some big players are going to be free agents, including Marvin Harrison.
All of this could spell disaster for my team, but you know what, I think it's a good thing. Dungy obviously wanted to retire, so better he did rather than hang around while his heart wasn't in it, or worse quit during mid-season or something, and I think it will do this team a world of good to have a new man at the helm. A fresh start, if you will. A change of direction. It'll be interesting to see what Caldwell can do for this team. Sure, he didn't exactly have a successful career at Wake Forest, but he's had 8 years in the Dungy system, and hopefully that has rubbed off on him. I wouldn't be too surprised if we didn't make the playoffs next year. The Titans crash in the playoffs doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't going to be dangerous next year, and if the Jaguars stay healthy they still have a very good team, and maybe Caldwell needs a year or two to get the team the way he wants it. Or maybe he'll be next year's Jon Harbaugh, which would be pretty sweet.
As for Harrison, I'm not too fussed either. It's not like he had an amazing season, and with Wayne now firmly positioned as Manning's favourite target, and with Gonzalez continuing to improve, I think that even without Harrison we have one of the best receiving cores in the league. The only thing I think would be bad is to say goodbye to a legend like Harrison, whose been a Colt his entire career and whose partnership with Manning has been the bedrock of this team for over a decade now. It would be a shame to see him playing for another team, but then again I suppose that's the way it goes in the NFL. And if Harrison leaves, he'll be just like Joe Montana in Kansas City, Emmitt Smith in Arizona and Brett Favre in New York; no one will remember that he was even there. Still, what I hope is that either Harrison agrees to a pay cut so we can keep him, or, more realistically, he retires as an Indianapolis Colt. He's still got some gas in the tank, but he's very old by NFL wide receiver standards, and who knows if he can be effective for us or another team next year.
Going back to the defeat at the hands of the Chargers, that was one of the most tense, gut wreching and torterous games I've ever watched. It was always so close and we failed in a number of key areas keeping San Diego alive, and you just knew it was going to go right down to the wire. And when it did, we cracked, and let San Diego walk all over us in overtime. On the whole it was a somewhat eventful year for the team; Manning got his third MVP after a slow start, we finally relinquished control of the AFC South to the Titans, but still finished 12-4, extending our run of 12 win seasons. I think the big concern coming out of this postseason for us is not the departure of Dungy, nor the potential departure of Harrison. Caldwell needs to take significant steps to get our running game going again, because without it, we just aren't as dangerous. Manning may be Superman, but even he can't win us games without some productivity from the running game, especially in the playoffs where it is so important to run the football. Maybe our first overall pick should go on a run blocking offensive lineman. I'm not really worried about Addai, because I still think he's a potential elite RB, and his year was slowed by injuries, but we need to do something to make sure we can run the ball effectively next year. Aside from that, our focus in the draft should be defensive; I'd like to see us pick defensive in the first two rounds - maybe a DT and a LB - and maybe pick an OG or WR in the third and fourth. Still, if any man knows how to get this team back to winning ways, it is the faceless hero of this franchise, the great Bill Polian.
Right, that's enough about football. Let's talk music.
Let's start with debuts. There have been quite a few since I last updated. I don't know if Pelican was in the last update, but even if they were it deserves repeating; I really like The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. Stylistically they are very much in the Isis/Jesu camp of atmospheric post-metal, but they also have their own style and their own sound, and they're pretty good at what they do. They're also good songwriters. It's not outstanding, but it's totally solid.
Another debut was my first experience of the solo albums of one of my favourite guitarists and songwriters, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta. The solo album in question is Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo. It's strange, even more so than the average TMV record. I sort of like bits of it, but I think he is much less focused on this record, and his songwriting tends to lead the music astray. It makes you realise just how accomplished The Mars Volta's music is, and this is a little glimpse into the madness of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Rather it be confined to his solo stuff than to my beloved TMV. Still, there are moments when I do like it, it's just a little too wacked out.
And then we come to Things We Lost in the Fire by Low. Now perhaps I should have expected to like Low due to my total love of Gregor Samsa, but I couldn't predict just how much I love this record. It's completely fantastic. It helps that both Sparhawk and Parker are great singers, and they're also great songwriters. I love the simplicity and beauty of their arrangements; they really make wonderful music that comes straight from the heart. I love this album, and I hope to hear much more from them in the coming months and years.
I also played Dummy by Portishead for the first time recently. I like it. I'm not huge into electronica, or trip hop as Portishead are often defined, but this is certainly one of the better albums I've heard so far. The beats and songwriting is pretty well conceived, they do some different stuff with their music, and it helps when you have Beth Gibbons' very pleasant melodic vocals accompanying the music. She's a joy to listen to. So early impressions are pretty good; it's not too likely to become a massive favourite, but I certainly like it.
Finally, I've been on a mission recently to expose myself to more classical music. First, it was the CD of Chopin Nocturnes. Then, for Christmas I received a 10-disc box set of Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Because I'm the impatient sort, I started my journey through this massive collection with Beethoven's best known sonata. I'm starting with Opus 27, which the classical experts among you will know is sonatas #13 and #14. And Sonata #14 is the famous Moonlight Sonata. The adagio sostenuto, the first movement of the piece, which is the famous part that people know, is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music. It's incredibly beautiful, and although it's still a complex technical piece, it comes straight from the heart. The man playing the piano is Daniel Barenboim, who is also the man playing on my Chopin Nocturnes CD's. I really like his style. I'm not enough of an expert to go in depth on interpretations and the like, but his adagio sostenuto of the Moonlight Sonata is the best I've ever heard.
Another Christmas present of mine was a CD of the Belcea String Quartet playing Brahms pieces for string quartet, the first of which I listened to for the first time today. It's an absolute joy to listen to. The arrangements are truly wonderful, and just the noise and amazing sound those instruments make together is just something to behold. I'm not sure whether Brahms is likely to become a favourite of mine, but his piece for string quartet #1 is certainly a delightful piece of music. I'm also adding to my classical collection with my recent purchase of all four piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and soon intend to add a CD of Schubert's symphonies to my collection. I wonder how many other people on this website full of Metro Station and All Time Low fans, and even Fall Out Boy fans, are talking about classical music. Still, there's a wonderful world of music out there to be enjoyed and experienced. And my journey has only just begun. | | Tags: music, musical odyssey |
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| | End of A Year |
Yup, 2009. Whoo?
One of the things I like about this time of year is that it gives one the opportunity to look back on the year gone by. And once I'd got past my usual cynical mindset of the year being slightly less terrible than the year before, in truth 2008 was a pretty momentous year for me. I went to my first two gigs, I got my financial independence, I listened to a hell of a lot of good music for the first time, I got a lot better on the drums, I went to Egypt, I had some pretty awesome highs, and some pretty terrible lows. Funny then how the good moments stick out much clearer than the bad moments.
2008 was a year of planning, a year of ambitions, a year of dreaming. But then again every year seems like that. New Year's Resolutions are a big deal for many people, and to be honest there is something pleasing about the notion of pledging to do something better and different in the new year to come. There will be plenty new in 2009, and plenty of the same. But I hope that I continue to take steps towards actual action rather than just planning and dreaming. Maybe in 2009, I'll finally make a strong start on one of the many books I've sort of started writing in the last five years. Or maybe I'll actually join a band and play some gigs, or become serious about learning the piano. Maybe I'll learn to drive, learn to cook. Maybe 2009 will finally be the year when I lose some weight and start a healthier lifestyle.
All of these things are possibilities, but where I think people can go wrong with resolutions is when they take them too seriously. Obviously if you don't take them seriously at all, then you'll never act upon them, but if you promise yourself you're going to lose this much weight by July, or will have read this many books by May, or by the end of the year will be a beginner piano player. Like all things, there's a balance there. I'm very much aware that I've been meaning to do more readiong and writing, lose some weight, start to learn to play the piano and general other personal improvements, but maybe it's time to act upon those ambitions.
But enough about the possibilities of 2009. 2008 concluded with a rather lovely family Christmas, full of generous gift giving, good company and damn good food. Christmas Day was dry and bright in London, and we had a really nice relaxing family day. It's funny to think that even considering my finanical independence, I still get a rather large bundle of presents; this year's kitty included a couple of Xbox 360 games (Dead Space and Far Cry 2), books, DVD's, and of course CD's, including The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta, Good Apollo I'm Burning Star Vol. 4 Pt. 1 by Coheed & Cambria, The Wall by Pink Floyd, and perhaps the pick of the bunch, a 10 CD box set of Daniel Barenboim playing the full Beethoven Piano Sonatas. I was dead chuffed about that.
Boxing Day was also sweet. As is Christmas tradition, Christmas Day was spent with my Mum's family, and the day after was spent with my Dad's family. Christmas Pt. 2 was a little smaller than Christmas Pt. 1, but with just as much good spirits. However Boxing Day was somewhat dented by illness. Pretty much everyone in the UK has been ill in the past couple of months, and I amazingly managed to resist the December bug, even as my mum and sister were struck down by it. But then my tough immune system, which put up a good fight in fairness, could take no more. Come Boxing Day, I was bunged up, achy, coughing and had a sore throat.
I got through Boxing Day alright, and got few the next couple of days in good humour, but then I hit the wall. I spent most of Tuesday in bed, determined to recover as soon as possible. I can't remember the last time I was actually bed ridden by illness. It sucked. I did feel pretty rotten, but managed to keep in reasonably good spirits. And now, as the first dawn of the new year beckons, I'm feeling better. Not a lot better, but better enough to not be considered sick.
As a result of illness and the general lull that occurs in between Christmas and New Year, these last few days have been a bit hazy. After Christmas I lost complete track of time and space, and during my sick period I did so much sleeping during the day that my body clock broke. I woke up today - well, yesterday - at 2:30pm, and now intend to stay up beyond 24 hours in hopes of having a good long sleep afterwards and getting my sleep back into a pattern. Time to fix that body clock.
There's not that much else to say about the past few days. Obviously a fair amount of Sunday was spent watching the last weekend of the NFL regular season, which I'll talk more about in the coming days. And at some point in the past few days, I listened to Things We Lost in the Fire by Low for the first time. That album is freaking awesome. I suspected that I'd probably like it, due to my love of Gregor Samsa, but it still surprised me just how amazing their music is. They're both incredible singers and really good songwriters, and it's exactly my sort of thing when it comes to softer music. I was hugely impressed by my first spin, and hope that my estimation continues to grow in the coming weeks.
Well, I guess that's it for this first blog entry of 2009. Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and a good 2008, and let's hope that the apocalypse and global bankruptcy don't occur during 2009 and we all have a good year. Much love. | | Tags: new year, christmas |
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| | A Christmas Tragedy |
I think I've been running scared from my blog since the long entry that got wiped. That's the only concrete reason I can think of for not posting recently. Anyway, I've had loads of stuff on my mind recently in the build-up to Christmas.
I had a rather traumatising experience yesterday. I'm a cat lover (no, not that kind of love). I've had cats my whole life, and I've loved them all dearly in their own way. My aunt has cats, my great aunt adored cats, essentially I'm a member of a cat family. And unlike my aunt, I am in the fortunate position where I haven't had to deal with much tragedy when it comes to our feline friends. I remember having one cat put down because he got cancer, but I don't remember our first two cats, and our eldest current cat, Holly, is only 11, and thus has a good few years left in her.
But yesterday, I was witness to a horrible tragedy. A cat had been run over outside our house. Nobody was on the scene; the people must have just driven off, either because they were heartless fucks or because they hadn't noticed, although the latter seems impossible to me. I didn't know whose cat it was, but I'd seen him in the garden a few times. It was just me at home, and I guess it's a good thing I noticed. I was just in shock. At first I thought he was dead, but then I got closer and saw that he was in fact alive. There was blood in the road, and I could see trickles running out his nose and mouth, and he was breathing very heavily and with much difficulty. He had a glazed distant look in his eyes. But he was alive.
I didn't know whose cat it was, and so didn't know what to do. I couldn't think straight. I didn't even pick the poor thing up from the middle of the road. Eventually, a neighbour who I am no acquitance with arrived and noticed me. She didn't know whose cat it was either, but had the initiative to go and get another of our neighbours. This neighbour, who I did know, knew immediately that he belonged to #9. She looked horrified when she saw him; I don't blame her. The first neighbour ran to get the owners, who fortunately were home. The rest of us were standing there, blocking traffic, and trying to see if he was going to be alright. He was in a very bad way. I hadn't yet had the guts to touch the poor thing, but our neighbour did stroke and comfort him until his owner arrived. She immediately prepared the car and a towel, swept up the poor thing and took him off to the vet.
I was shocked, and frankly a little numb. It was one of the most horrific things I had ever seen. I don't think I reacted as well as I could of; maybe I should have just ran to get a neighbour, or at least picked the poor broken thing off the road, but I just couldn't think straight. I was just huge good fortune that I happened to bump into the neighbour, and that she had the great idea of getting our other neighbour, who fortunately knew whose cat it was, and it was even more fortunate that his owner was home. But good fortune seems like a difficult idea to consider, since this poor animal suffered the most terrible misfortune, as did his owners, just three days before the holiday of holidays.
The end of this tale is not a happy one. The cat's owner and her daughter knocked on our door about an hour later to say that he was at the vet, to say that he was in shock and they were doing all they could. It was good of them to let me know what was happening, but I guess I was there, and first on the scene, so maybe it was them being grateful. Anyway, the impression I got from their demeanour and body language was that the signs were encouraging. They didn't look terribly distressed or upset at the state of their beloved animal. And the news that he was just in shock and not in fact dead was cause for optimism.
Sadly, this was not to be. This all occured at my Dad's house, and I came back here to my Mum's house later during the day, and so didn't have any way of getting an update. But today, Dad rang to tell me that he had had a conversation with one of the neighbours who was on the scene at the time of the accident, and that she had told him that not long after he arrived at the vet, he passed away.
I don't know why I was so surprised. The vision of his twisted broken body is something that will be with me for a long time, and I can remember it very clearly, and he definitely was in a bad way. The amount of blood he had lost, coupled with the fact that he was actually bleeding out of his nose, a clear sign of internal bleeding, and his tortured breathing, should perhaps have been clues that his poor animal was not going to survive. But I held out hope, and the update filled me with more hope, all of which was wiped away when I heard the news.
The news of his death was not the most devastating part of the past two days of cat related drama. Easily the most devastating thing was just the sight of this poor terrified and wounded animal, lying helpless in the middle of the road, cat blood thick and shiny on the tarmac, each breath an agonised grunt, his face a vision of utter hopelessness. And then there's the terrifying thought that one day I may have to deal with this again, and worse, that it could happen to one of my cats. Two of our cats aren't too likely to ever wander across the road, but one of our boys is quite brave and adventurous, so it wouldn't be stretching the imagination too far to invision him diving through traffic at some point. Fortunately, our kittens have been cautious about being too close to the road, and we've never seen them actually get onto the road, or for that matter even onto the pavement. But one's mind can't help but wander. And even if our current bundles of fluffy joy don't befall his terrible fate, whose to say future cats I own - because there will be future cats, this I say with confidence - won't befall said fate. The sheer thought sends shivers down my spine.
I have done my best to try and put words to this terrible tragedy which left me speechless. This event has had a rather amazingly strong affect on me. I'm amazed I wasn't kept up all night by horrific dreams of my own cats being run over, and although I didn't sleep terribly well, no such dreams or terrible thoughts entered my mind. At first, I could see the poor animal when I closed my mind, but through some distraction techniques, I managed to remove the image. Still, I don't even need to close my eyes to conjur the image again, not that I want to.
When I got back into the house after seeing the animal being swept off to the vet, I tried to carry on as if nothing had happened. I was playing Forza 2 while listening to Thrice's The Alchemy Index, and I tried to pick up as I left off, but it was difficult. It was difficult to keep that image from haunting me. At one point my hands were trembling so badly I couldn't control the game pad and it almost slipped out. I couldn't smile even if I tried to. I was just numb, shaken, lost for words for some time after. I skipped lunch for some reason, and just did my best to distract myself. Then, when Mum finally came to pick me up and bring me home, I hugged her tight for comfort, and then when she brought me home, the first thing I did was gather up all our own cats and give them a similar hug. I'm not a religious man, but I pray to any and every god, from Allah to Vishnu, that none of our cats ever dare enough to run out into the road and put themselves into mortal peril.
A day later, and some time for reflection has calmed me. I'm not quite so haunted and numb as I was, and although the news of the cat's death was a blow, I at least managed to smile. I don't know how long it will take for the image to fade, but considering this was only one of a handful of times I ever saw the creature, I doubt it will be too long. And hopefully Christmas will help alleviate my sorrow.
In other events, I suddenly realised on Sunday that I was being extremely lax with the taking of my anti-depressant. Somehow I managed to forget about it for two days, then took one, then forgot about it for another two days. And I could feel a big difference. Sunday was a very flat day; I was tired all the day, and spent pretty much all day watching football and being generally useless. I also had several naps on the sofa. I wasn't incredibly depressed, but I was tired, tense and a little anxious. Maybe this could have contributed to how badly I was affected by the events of yesterday. Since Sunday I've been taking my medication every day. No immediate difference yet; still been a little flat and tired, but I guess the dead cat didn't help, and neither is the weather. It's not raining much, but it's so fucking dark for most of the day. It's just too depressing.
In some positive cat related news, my cousin's cat went missing while I was in Egypt. That's not good news, of course. But what is good news is that after three weeks with no word, and all of us feeling nervous that he could have been killed in some way, he returned home. He was very thin and dirty, which led them to deduce that he had probably been shut in somewhere. He obviously had some water supply because he didn't die, but from the sound of him he was ravenously hungry. Still, they were extremely relieved to have him home mostly safe and sound, as we all are, because he's a lovely cat. One cat tragedy ends with a happy ending, one cat tragedy doesn't. Sunrise, sunset.
My sister's been home from university for a week or so now. I'll be totally honest with you. I love my sister, but it's been tough having her home. I had gotten so used to just having Mum and the cats in the house that it's hard to adjust to an extra person, especially one like my sister, who has a vast array of challenges and difficulties. She recently broke up with her boyfriend, and they didn't pass on the best of terms, and this has been affecting her badly. Partly as a consequence of her poor mood, she's been rather irritable and rude to me on a few occasions, including demanding apologies for small things that I had virtually no idea of. I try to be the bigger person and just brush them off, but when you're dealing with your own sensitivities, it isn't always easy, and sometimes I get very angry with her. I also sometimes feel that she has little to no consideration for me, and only talks to me when she wants something, such as to use my Xbox 360 to play Guitar Hero. She's got friends round at the moment, so I'm hiding in my bedroom.
I shouldn't be so cold about it. I would like us to get on well, and I do sympathise with her struggles, but I have my own, and sometimes I feel she doesn't acknowledge that, and if she does, she doesn't care. You can't always be honest with her, because she takes everything you say very personally and at times seems desperate to have an argument at the slightest provocation. So as I said, try as I might to just forgive her and turn the other cheek, I can't help myself, and sometimes I do just have to vent my frustrations, usually to Mum. She sympathises with both of us obviously, and tries to be the mediator. She knows it's in all out best interests to get on with each other this Christmas time. Sometimes I feel sorry for our parents; it can't have been easy to live with two challenging, abnormal and occasionally depressed children growing up in the house together.
Regardless, now that I am mostly over the trauma of yesterday, and I'm back to taking my medication regularly, I will do my very best to be a good brother. Most of the time, the best strategy is to just to stay out of her way and not rattle the cage, but that isn't always so easy. So I'll just have to be in good humour when she is around, and if she does happen to offend me in any way, I will turn the other cheek. After all, it's the British way. | | Tags: death, tragedy, depression, sibling rivalry |
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| | Ugh. |
| Just did an awesome long NFL related post and then it got wiped, and I forgot to back-up as I went. Fuuuck. There is nothing in the world more frustrating than this. Maybe we should have a warning saying "Do You Really Want to Navigate Away from This Page?". Or maybe dumbasses like me should remember to hit Ctrl-A + Ctrl-C when doing long posts. Still, fuuuuck | | Tags: fuck |
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| | A Musical Odyssey: Part Seven + Best of 2008 |
The fact that I can see the Fall Out Boy artwork while doing this blog entry deeply distresses me. Whose idea was that? I have no fucking idea what people see in this dumb band that plays dumb music for dumb people. To summarise - dumb.
It feels like forever since I've talked about music on this blog, so now feels like a good time, especially since I've added a few new albums to my rotation in the past few weeks. I'm going to start with the album that seems to be the darling of the world in 2008; For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver. It's hard to find a best of 2008 list that doesn't feature this record (even though it was first released in 2007, but whatever), and I have to say I don't really understand why. I don't get what's so special about this record. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, or maybe the hype surrounding the record raised my expectations too high, but to me, For Emma, Forever Ago is average at best. His voice grates on me immensely, and although his songwriting does have some interesting features, I don't really care for the lyrics. I guess the album's got a nice atmosphere, and it's a good winter album, but everytime I hear it I just can't look past that shrill grating irritating voice. I've talked about the two ways of appreciating music before; there's superficially and there's emotionally. And sure, this may be quite an emotional album, superficially it is greatly flawed, and I'm struggling to enjoy this album on either level. It's not terrible; it's just not the best album I've heard from this year. In fact it's nowhere close.
The last thing I did in England before leaving for Egypt was sit in the airport lounge listening to Amnesiac by Radiohead for the first time. I really like it. I don't think on first impressions I like it as much as OK Computer, and it's nowhere near Kid A's greatness, but it's still a totally solid and enjoyable album. Early standouts are "Pyramid Song", mainly because I get a kick out of the absolutely insane time signature that song is in, "Knives Out", and "Dollars and Cents". My cousin, a massive Radioheadhead, says his all-time favourite song from them is "Life in a Glasshouse". I disagree with him here, but it's still a nice song, especially if you're into jazz, and I'm still very early on my jazz odyssey. Still, Amnesiac is definitely interesting and entertaining. Easily the best thing about it, as with most Radiohead albums, is a) they are fantastic musicians, and b) their songwriting is incredibly varied. They somehow managed to write very different and original songs, but still keeping them within the context of the album, if you see what I mean. The fact that the same album features a piano heavy medley like "Pyramid Song", a purely electronic beatfest like "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and a pure jazz band track like "Life in a Glasshouse" is truly incredible. Call Radiohead what you will, but they certainly aren't one trick ponies.
Isis are a band I've had a strange relationship so far. Oceanic, my introduction to the band, and, according to a few sources, their best work, didn't grab me at first. I wasn't convinced by their songwriting, and Aaron Turner's doom metal shouting irritated me. But over time their heavily instrumental, technically proficient and atmospheric songs started to grow on me. Despite this growing affection, when I started their next album, Panopticon, I was still surprised by how much I liked it. Maybe Oceanic had been a good introduction to what Isis are all about, or maybe their third album is just better, but Panopticon really grabbed me as a brooding excellently executed piece of atmospheric post metal. Turner's vocals are less grating here, and even though I sincerely miss the contributions of Maria Christopher as a singer, Panopticon's instrumentation is still as kickass and technically solid as before, perhaps more so. Unlike Radiohead, they do seem to be slightly more comfortable with sticking to one basic formula and sound, but by god they're good at it. They're also excellent musicians, and they work very well as a band. It's still relatively early, but Panopticon is impressing me in a big way.
And now we come to another band I've long had a love-hate relationship with; Arcade Fire. Funeral, a favourite among best of 2004 lists, never struck me as being too deserving of the praise it received. It was solid, and they're pretty good at what they do, but too many songs sounded the same, and Win Butler's voice annoyed me. Indeed the best moments on the album were when Regine Chassagne took over the microphone; "In the Backseat" is the best song on that record by miles. So my mindset going into Neon Bible was a mixture of apprehension, scepticism and nervous excitement, hoping that Chassagne had been given a bigger role in Arcade Fire's sound. She hasn't. If anything it's the opposite.
I know this seems like a silly thing to get caught up on. Vocalists tend to be where I get tripped up with so many bands. Sometimes of course I will warm to a singer's voice in a big way after initial doubt; case in point being Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta, and Will Sheff of Okkervil River. But, like with the aforementioned Bon Iver, and Aaron Turner on Oceanic, the vocals are my biggest problem with Neon Bible. But unlike those records, it's not the singer alone that's the problem; the problem is that they've got Regine Chassagne right there, with the voice of an angel, and all she does is take the lead occasionally and provide harmony vocals for Butler. His voice also grates on me, but the fact that I'm listening to him when I should be listening to her infinitely annoys me. Which is a shame, because although Arcade Fire's songwriting isn't that varied, they certainly know how to write good songs. That being said, Neon Bible strikes me as being rather unbalanced. The songs don't seem to flow together particularly well, and there are a few songs ("Black Wave/Bad Vibrations") that are less than welcome among the standouts ("Keep the Car Running", "No Cars Go"). But Neon Bible's biggest flaw is that poor lovely Regine is kept on the sidelines again. Her vocal contributions are even less evident on Neon Bible, and unlike Funeral, where she had "Haiti" and "In the Backseat" to herself, here she doesn't get her own song, and that just breaks my heart. I just wish that Arcade Fire would use Regine more like Gregor Samsa use Nikki King, or even how Lydia use Mindy White (although I liked their first singer better).
It's a strange strange thing, very strange indeed, but Calculating Infinity by The Dillinger Escape Plan has grown on me a little bit. I know I said I hated this album, and in some ways I still do, because it's just too raucous and needlessly loud. But you have to admire just how technically proficient they are, and every now and then, I listen to that album and feel like I'm listening to something really good. Songs like "43% Burnt", "*#..." and "Weekend Sex Change" have some pretty kickass moments on them, and "43% Burnt" is the closest I've come to actually liking one of their batshit bonkers songs. I still struggle to appreciate the album as a whole, and cuts like "Sugar Coated Sour", "Destro's Secret" and "Clip the Apex...Accept Instruction" still strike me as a bit excessive, but at least I don't despise the album like I did initially. One of the things that works in its favour is the length. At 35 minutes or so it's not excessively long, so it feels more like a third round knockout than a twelve-round slugfest. Still, I'm not exactly willing to embrace DEP as one of my favourites just yet, but some progress has been made towards me becoming something of a fan of this strange, unique and undeniably talented band.
Incubus are one of the few truly mainstream rock bands that I can really enjoy, and their fourth album, Morning View, was a quite favourite of mine for several months. I found their fresh varied songwriting to be enjoyable, I like Brendan Boyd's voice, and overall they're good musicians and songwriters. Expectations were relatively high then for their next work, A Crow Left of the Murder..., and while it hasn't left quite as strong an impression as Morning View, it's still a pretty solid album. One of my biggest problems with it is just the sheer amount of songs. 14 songs feels a little excessive, especially since not all of the songs are winners. Flatter and less interesting cuts like "Talk Shows on Mute", "Pistola" and "Zee Deveel" would be more tolerable if the album weren't so long, and in reality all they do is bog down the album and somewhat spoil my enjoyment of the more choice cuts like the title track, "Sick Sad Little World" and "Here in My Room". They're also less experimental here; "Sick Sad Little World" is the closest they come to matching the sheer epic freshness supplied by "Aqueous Transmission". That being said, there are still some good ideas here, and some good songs, and their music sounds as good as ever. A shame then that they weren't better self editors here, because I think within A Crow Left of the Murder... there is a really good 11 song record. Still, I shall carry on and hope I come to appreciate the record in the manner in which it was released, the full 14 song version.
And then we come to Fightstar's One Day Son, This Will All Be Ours. Grand Unification was an album I was extremely impressed by; perhaps expectations were low considering Charlie Simpson's past career in pop rockers Busted, but their first full-length album was shockingly well considered and well executed. Their second record follows the same lines, but as a result their sound feels a little less fresh now. They have quite a clear pattern to their songwriting, and some more variation would be nice, but they still write some damn good songs. Fightstar also once again prove their versatility, as the more accessible and melodic numbers like the lead single "Floods" and the glorious "You & I" blend well with the balls-to-the-wall intensity of "Deathcar" and "Tannhauser Gate". They clearly draw heavy influence from Deftones, which is by no means a bad thing, and a few Muse influences also show up here and there, but Fightstar are undoubtedly their own band with their own voice, and while One Day Son may feel a little less fresh and captivating than their excellent debut release, it's still a totally solid record that is easy to appreciate, and further establishes their reputation as the standard bearers for British post-hardcore/alternative metal bands.
My favourite albums in my rotation still haven't changed since I last discussed my musical odyssey. Dredg's Leitmotif is still blowing me away with its incredible musicianship and fresh songwriting, Sleepercar's West Texas is still reminding me why I love Jim Ward so much, and Anthony Green's Avalon is still enthralling me and tiding me over nicely as I anticipate the 2009 release of the next Circa Survive album (most anticipated for 09, unless Thrice announce a new LP, which is completely possible). Dredg in particular is hugely impressing me, mainly because they feel more fresh than the other two, as they aren't products of musicians who play in bands I already love to pieces. Dredg have written some pretty incredible songs, especially "Lechium" and "Penguins in the Desert", but the most impressive thing about Leitmotif is just how it works as an album. The songs flow brilliantly between each other, and although having the shorter instrumental songs in between the main songs does feel a little obtuse, the fact is it works, especially because the Movements are so bloody impressive and compliment their adjacent songs so well. It's almost a shame that they were seperated; if you combined "Movement III: Lyndon", "Penguins in the Desert" and "Movement IV: RR" into one epic 10-minute song, it would jump straight into my favourite songs list among with such classics as "Atlantic", "Living Together", "How to Disappear Completely" and "Invalid Litter Dept.". Sadly, this is not the case, but Leitmotif works so well as an album that it doesn't really matter.
And so I'll end this music related post with a very trimmed down Best of 2008 List. I don't think I've got anything more coming up from this year, so I may as well just get it done and out of the way now. I'm still not listening to a huge amount of music from this year, and there's a chance that records like The Bedlam in Goliath, Lost in the Sound of Separation, The Stand Ins and a few others could be on this list had I come to them, but nonetheless, as of today, this is my list. Feel free to mock it:
Best Albums of 2009:
1) Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol. 3 + 4
2) Gregor Samsa - Rest
3) Anthony Green - Avalon
4) Sleepercar - West Texas
5) Autodrone - Strike a Match
6) Lydia - Illuminate
Best Song of 2008: Thrice - Daedalus
Most Disappointing: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Most Impressive Debut: Ocean is Theory - Into the Mouths of Lions
Most Fucking Annoying Band: Fall Out Boy
Most Likely to Be On This List Had I Heard It: The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
Most Likely to Have Been My Favourite Newcomers of 2008 Had I Listened to Them: This Will Destroy You
Best Album I Heard in 2008 That Wasn't Released in 2008: Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Best Show of 2008: Sigur Ros in Bournemouth
Best Album Artwork: Lydia - Illuminate
Most Anticipated Album That's Been on my iTunes For Fucking Ages: A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone...
Worst Album I Genuinely Tried to Like - Billy Talent - Self-titled
Most Heart Breaking Band Break Up: The Receiving End of Sirens (*sob*)
Biggest Shithead: Pete Wentz
Biggest Tit: Britney Spears
Best Pop Song I Really Wish I Didn't Like: Katy Perry - Hot N Cold
Best Dead Dude: Frederic Chopin
Best Website That Isn't AP.Net: Last.FM
Best Blog: Anamericangod's blog (obviously)
Most Anticipated for 2009:
1) Thrice?
2) Circa Survive
3) The Dear Hunter
4) Radiohead?
5) Thursday
6) Saosin | | Tags: musical odyssey, music, best of, 2008 |
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| | It's That Time of Year Again |
Last night I went to my drum lesson. I was there for an hour, and when I came home, it was Christmas. Mum decorated pretty much the whole house in that short time. The tree even arrived, and this morning it was set up and decorated. Christmas tide is officially here. Strange to think it's only 11 days from now. And now that I think about it, it's mid December and I haven't had one mince pie yet, and this will simply not do. Still, I always like Christmas. As I've said before, I'm not a religious man, far from it, but Christmas still has a deep important meaning to me. In our house, Christmas is a time for family togetherness, reflecting on the year gone, speculating on the year ahead, and just relaxing in the comfort of our festive home.
Of course what comes hand in hand with Christmas in England is miserable weather. It's been wet and grey the past few days, and it's bloody cold. I don't miss much about Egypt, but the number one thing is definitely the weather. It's been a strange week; I guess I've mostly just focused on settling back in, relaxing and trying to get back into a bit of a routine. I've been a bit on auto-pilot the past few days, and my recent return to the world of Oblivion has given me plenty of opportunities for escapism.
Even though Christmas is 11 days away, today feels like a bit of a special day, a pre-Christmas bonus if you will. Because today my sister is coming back from university. She wasn't supposed to come home until mid next week, but she's been a bit unwell and wanted to come home early. Dad's bringing her round later. It'll be really cool to see her again. We've got a lot of catching up to do. I also bought her a present from Egypt which I hope she really likes; three small model cats in different colours, one each for our three cats. I forget what they're made of, but they're really cool, and I think she'll really like them. At least I hope so.
So it's a rather festive atmosphere in the house right now, that feeling of anticipation at two big events, one which is still on the horizon but creeping into view and another which is just hours away. And of course, as with keeping with every Sunday, it's football night, and there's some pretty awesome games this weekend. I'll be glued to my TV for the battles between Pittsburgh and Baltimore and of course the big NFC East showdown between the Giants and Cowboys (put your money on the Cowboys folks, they've got a lot to prove, and the Giants will suffer without Burress and Jacobs).
And...I can't think of a good way to end this blog. So, ladies and gentleman, this blog entry is over. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here... | |
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| | The Egypt Trip - a summary |
You know, it's really funny. This time two weeks ago, I was in Cairo, and although I'd only been there one day, it felt like I'd been there for weeks. Then, this time a week ago, I was in Luxor, many miles south of Cairo, and it felt like I'd been in Egypt for months. But now, back home in London, it almost feels as though I never left.
I'm tired. I'm still recovering from the trip. I didn't go to gardening today due to this tiredness. I wanted to, and I believe it may well have cheered me up, but I just couldn't face walking there in the cold. So today I've remained undressed (by which I mean I'm still wearing pyjamas, rather than naked. Obviously) and just relaxed. I think my brain went into overdrive during the Egypt trip, and its taken a fair bit of time to calm down. I'm not quite there yet, but I will be soon.
I missed home. I missed it much more than I thought I would. I missed everything about it; I missed my family and my cats, obviously, but I also missed my bed hugely, as well as obvious modern conveniences such as TV, my laptop and my Xbox. Egypt is such a feast for the senses and such an incredible and different experience to the life I've always known, that although we had an amazing time during the trip, by Friday, we wanted nothing more than to get home safe and sound.
One thing strikes me as being completely amazing. Two years ago, for our last epic trip, we went to the USA (five cities; Chicago, Indianapolis, Canton, Hartford and NYC (saving the worst for last, obviously)). It takes eight hours to fly across the Atlantic to the States or vice versa. And although there are some deep differences, America and England are two very similar countries. There both part as what we know as the First World. And yet, it took us just four hours, half the time, to fly south to Egypt, in North Africa, a country which is as different from the USA and England as just about anywhere you could care to think of.
Don't get me wrong, Egypt doesn't feel so ridiculously foreign. Cairo especially could be almost any major city in the world; lots of traffic, pollution and noise, very vibrant, very colourful, plenty of McDonalds and KFC's. But then there are the minarets that cut a path towards the skies, where the Muslim priests make the call to prayer several times a day, most notably at 5am and 5pm. In the view from our balcony, on tenth floor of the Cairo Marriot, we could see many minarets and mosques; many of them were less than a stones throw from each other.
And maybe Luxor isn't so different to most big towns in the countryside; too small to be proper cities, too big to be simple towns or villages. If Cairo is New York, Luxor is, let's say, Kansas City, or possibly Anaheim. Or maybe Baton Rouge. Luxor is quiet, sleepy and pleasant, but still a hotbed for tourism (which is where the Kansas City comparison falls apart), and the surrounding area on either side of the Nile is home to more treasures and landmarks than anyone would care to count.
The Nile. Wide and proud. One of the world's most impressive and famous rivers. The view from our hotel in Cairo overlooked this mighty river, and so did our hotel room in Luxor, many miles to the south. It is the Nile that gave life to one of the world's most famous and influential civilisations, and even today it is the lifeblood of many Egyptian communities. And the Nile delta at Luxor, with lush farmland on the banks and rocky heights in the distance, is one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have been in my short life.
Egypt is a rather mysterious and surprising country. Any who believe that Egypt retains the spirit and essence of Ancient Egypt, the site of the world's first real civilisation, long before the Greeks, Romans or Chinese ever rose to prominence, are sorely mistaken. The country was swept by Islam in the 7th century, where it feuded with the remnants of paganism and Christianity before ultimately succeeded in becoming the country's prominent religion. And for all intense and purposes, Egypt is as Arabic in culture and society as any of the more traditional Middle Eastern Arab states.
But Modern Egyptians still embrace Ancient Egypt to an extent. Domestic tourism is very popular; we saw more Egyptians and Arabs at the tourist destinations than we saw other Westerners. In many ways what remains of Ancient Egypt, the relics that tell the tale of one of the world's greatest ever cultures, exists solely to be exploited and used to attract tourists. Indeed, what we quickly discovered is that Egypt's economy is extremely dependant on tourism. The country that once gained its strength from the Nile now gains most of its strength from decadent intrepid Westerners like myself.
And this dependence on Western tourism - although domestic tourism still thrives, and Chinese and Japanese tourism was also plentiful - makes it even more devastating that Egypt is currently in the grips of what our Cairo guide Tarek described as a "tourism crisis". Mostly due to the global economic crisis, the stigma associated with all Arab states, and the terrorist attacks that occured in Luxor in 1997, most of Cairo's hotels are only half-full at best. Egypt is suffering just as much from the collapse of Western economics as we are.
Aside from their reliance on tourists and the country's Muslim faith, the Egyptian people are definitely fascinating. I have never been to a proper Arab country before, and thus have little to compare them to, but from what I understand of Muslim traditions, they embody much of the purer traditions of Muslim teachings. They are friendly, hospitable, welcoming and good-natured, and armed with a somewhat disarming and unexpectedly dry sense of humour. They are also a vibrant and energetic people, and often full of countless eccentricities and unexpected quirks.
Egypt was part of the great British Empire in the 1800's and early 1900's, and this influence does show. The currency is known simply as the Egyptian Pound, although that may have been for the sake of us tourists, and I don't think we met one person during our travels who didn't speak a little English. Many of the road signs, billboards and the like are also written in English as well as Arabic.
But unlike England and indeed the Western world, Egypt is still a third world country, in keeping with most African states. I somewhat ignorantly didn't expect Egypt to be quite so inpoverished and potentially hazardous as was explained to me. Even my typhoid, dyptheria and Hephatitis A jabs didn't serve as a clue that I was entering a country so unlike our own. But my eyes were quickly opened to the reality of Egypt; although it may be wealthier than most, it's still an African state, and it's still poor.
We were often mobbed by street vendors and beggars hoping to relieve some generosity from our bulging Western wallets, and our train ride through the countryside revealved many rural villages so basic and humble that it barely seemed plausible that places like this exist in the 21st century. Such was the impact of Egypt on a young man like myself, who had never been to a country as disarming, mysterious and strange as Egypt.
Culture shock is a word often muttered before the trip, but I never took it too seriously. I should have. I should have done more research, because the culture shock was a little overwhelming. There's just so much for your brain to consider at one time, so much that is strange and foreign, so much that I, an Englishman, treasure and am accustomed to that just doesn't exist in Egypt, or if it does in a sharply altered form.
Sometimes it's the small stuff that alerts you to just exactly where you are. The water is notoriously hazardous to Westerners - it might not kill you, but the once pure waters of the Nile can certainly confine you to the bathroom for days on end - and so we drank only from sealed bottles, ate no salads or any uncooked foods, peeled all our fruit, and even used mineral water to clean our toothbrushes. It's doubtless been a relief, being back in England, knowing that I can trust what comes out of the taps. That being said, I don't even drink English tapwater; Egyptian tapwater would probably have killed me.
Despite the culture shock, I think everyone should go to a country like Egypt at some point during their life. To see a culture up close and first hand that is so mindblowing, so monumentally different, it's an incredible experience. I feel priviledged to have done such a trip at the relatively young age of 19, and I hope sincerely that more trips follow. I have now been to Africa, but I still desperately want to visit Asia, and see a country like China, Japan or India. Culture shock opens your eyes to the world in which you live; it makes you have a greater sense of appreciation for your own fortunes and comforts and makes you much more aware of your national identity. Seeing such a contrasting and different place has helped me learn so much about what it really is to be an Englishman.
I guess that's pretty much all I wanted to say about the trip as a whole. I'm totally glad that I did it, but it was incredibly tiring and I'm very glad to be home in comfort. That being said, I would do it again, and I think more people should have the opportunity to do the same.
Travelling can be very intimidating, especially when you're in such a foreign language, and obviously there's massive potential for things to go horribly wrong. But no major issues or problems emerged during the trip, and we made sure that our surroundings were as comfortable as possible. It sort of detracts from the whole experience of being in a third world country, but saying in a good hotel is vital. You need a safe base from which to launch your expeditions. We were very lucky in that regard, because we stayed in two hotels in Egypt - the Cairo Marriot and the Luxor Steigenberger Palace - both of which were 5 star resorts.
But what also made this trip so special is that Dad booked a company called Real Egypt, who employ tour guides and drivers to give travellers the real experiences of being in Egypt, but with maximum levels of comfort and peace of mind. Both our guides - Tarek in Cairo, and Assam in Luxor - were incredibly nice guys who were very flexible and accommodating. They were also extremely knowledgable, and gave us all the information we would ever want to know when visiting the famous historical sites. What's better is that this wasn't with a big tour group; Tarek and Assam were working with just the two of us. It allowed maximum flexibility and comfort, and really helped make the experience as comfortable as possible.
I realise that my Egypt trip was surrounded in more comfort than most travellers can be expected to experience, but it kind of had to be that way. I think had we tried to navigate our own way around Egypt, or gone with a big tour group, we wouldn't have had anywhere near as much fun, and out appreciation for the sites wouldn't be as great. Also I think staying in a nice hotel is vital; when you've been out exploring and seeing the sites, you want to come back to as much comfort and peace as possible. The Luxor hotel was especially awesome in that regard; sitting on the balcony observing the waters of the Nile was just about the most relaxing experience I can remember.
So if you do want to travel, my advice is do as much as you can to make the experience as comfortable as possible. I was lucky enough to have my trip funded by Dad, although I still made a hefty contribution from my own pocket, and had I been travelling just with friends or by myself I wouldn't have been staying in such comfortable surroundings. So if money is tight, save up. It's better to wait 5 years for a mindblowing experience than to wait 2 years for an experience hindered by logistical nightmares, horrible hotels and aimless wandering around the city looking for the next site.
I would definitely going with some sort of guide. If you can luck out and find a company like the one we found for Egypt, then you absolutely should take advantage of it. If, however, your only option is a group tour, as long as you're a terrible anti-socialite or dislike crowds, you should at least consider it. You sacrifice flexibility and personal space, but you gain a group of friendly people (hopefully) to share your experience with and you will have a much more interesting and informative time at the sites.
But despite travelling in relative comfort, we did to get see some of the more basic and less comfortable aspects of travelling in Egypt. The train journey from Cairo to Luxor was the best example of this. Aside from the poor rural towns we passed, the train was pretty dirty and basic, and the toilets were a place of such utter foulness they were enough to make your stomach churn. The two occasions when I had - I repeat, HAD - to use the facilities gave me some idea of what it would be like to live in a garbage landfill. Seriously, think of the most horrible public toilet you've ever visited, and times it by three. It was that bad.
So our Egypt trip covered as many aspect of Egypt as I think we could manage in our 11 day excursion. I'll end this hella post with a quick day-by-day breakdown of our activities:
Day One: Flew from Heathrow to Cairo. British Airways World Club class; the only way to travel. Cairo Airport was weird. Everything was different. The smells, the vibe, everything. Arrived at midnight, so headed to hotel and then to bed.
Day Two: Holy crap. Cairo is gorgeous. Noisy, and maybe a little dusty and polluted, but still totally amazing. Hotel kicks ass as well. We met our Cairo guide, Tarek, who took us round some of the different areas of Cairo Town, including the wealthier shopping complexes of New Cairo, and into the dirtier more basic backstreets of Old Cairo. New Cairo is weird; it's like London, but completely different. Old Cairo is fascinating. Lots of street vendors, beggars and street cats.
Day Three: The Giza Pyramids. Amazing. Nothing I can say can do them justice; you have to see them in person to understand. We rode camels around the desert near the pyramids. It was totally awesome; camels are seriously underrated. Incredible day. We also saw the sphinx. Lots of tourists, and lots of people trying to sell you stuff. They all have a habit of saying British impressions when we tell them we're English; the most common one seems to be lovely jubbly, which almost no one here says anymore. We visited a perfume seller, had a kickass lunch, and headed back to the hotel to chill.
Day Four: Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Really awesome place to visit. Lots of antiquities. Some of them were hella old. Probably our best day in Cairo weather wise; it's completely gorgeous. In the evening we took a sailboat out on the Nile. There was a firework display on the bank which we saw from the boat; we like to think it was in our honour. We went out to dinner with Tarek.
Day Five: Upset stomach. Was up all night dashing to the loo. The shock of being in Egypt has caught up with my frail Western body. Spent the day relaxing, recovering and resting. Last day in Cairo; would have liked to have done something more there, but we really needed a day to chill, especially with me being under the weather.
Day Six: Up at 6am at off to Cairo Station to catch a train to Luxor. It took 9 hours. Toilets were appallingly bad, but it was reasonably comfortable, we passed some beautiful scenery and one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen. I hated the first half; still a little ginger from stomach upset, but relaxed and just enjoyed the second half. Incredible relief to get to Luxor. We checked in and chilled out.
Day Seven: Another day of relaxation. The train trip had taken it out of us, especially me. This was the point where I really started to feel the effects; culture shock, exhaustion, heat and homesickness are not a good combination. Still, the hotel is pretty sweet, and the view from the balcony is nothing short of breathtaking. We watched the sunset in the evening; one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Day Eight: Boat cruise up the Nile to Dandera, where they have a pretty interesting temple. 4 hours to get to Dandera, 2 hours there, and 6 hours back. The first half was fun and relaxing. Cruising down the Nile was awesome; passed even more beautiful scenery. Dandera Temple was cool; nice little visit. The cruise back was torture. I'd had enough; I was tired, uncomfortable, wanted to be alone, and had my heart broken (I may expand on this at a later date). Wish we had driven back from Dandera. At the end of our 12-hour cruise, I was totally exhausted and sick of it all. Nightmarish attempts at sleeping. Had a long chat with Dad. My lowest point; miserable, exhausted, heartbroken and homesick, an even worse combination.
Day Nine: A day we originally planned to spend seeing the sights and temples of the East Bank, but I was just too exhausted after yesterday, and wanted nothing more to chill in the hotel room by myself. Dad went to the sites without me while I had a good day relaxing. I needed this day. I really needed it.
Day Ten: The sights of Luxor's West Bank; the Colossi Memnon, the Valley of the Kings, an alabaster stone cutters workshop, the temple of Queen Hatshepsout, and the temple of King Ramases III. Amazing day. Assam, our Luxor guide, was incredibly knowledgable about all the sites. Valley of the Kings was the highlight. We saw the 4,000 year old mummy of King Tutankhamum; a chilling and sombre experience. The West Bank is completely beautiful, weather was immense. One of our best days in Egypt. Back at the hotel by about 3pm. Chilled for rest of day.
Day Eleven: Up at 4:30am. It was totally dark when we set out. Took a boat across a Nile, took a bus to a nearby field, and took a freaking hot air balloon ride over the Nile Delta. Totally amazing. Incredible scenery. We climbed as high as 2,000 feet at one point. Terrifying at first, but then just a total blast. Sunrise was amazing as well. We chilled and packed, and then off to Luxor Airport to catch our plane to Cairo. This was a trial. We got hella early to the airport, and I just wanted to get there by this point because I was so exhausted. So we loaded our bags onto the plane and got ready to go, and then the plane died and we had to get all our shit off the plane and wait three hours for a new flight to Cairo. I couldn't express in words my frustration and anger at this set-point. But we finally got on the plane and touched down in Cairo with no more setbacks. Rolled into the Cairo Airport Hotel at like 12:30am and went straight to bed.
Day Twelve: Up at like 5am, and straight off to Cairo Airport Terminal 2. On the bus which took us there we met a Canadian couple. The dude was a Colts fan. It was awesome. Everything they say about Canadians is true; very nice friendly quiet people. Their accents were awesome. Getting through Cairo Airport was almost totally painless, and the flight home was totally cool. Our relief at being back in good ol' England couldn't be expressed in words. Taxi ride from airport to home was excruciatingly long. We were exhausted and beaten, but we were home.
I guess that's the end of this tale, and starting tomorrow, regular service will be resumed as normal. At some point in the next few days I'll talk about the past month's music or so, and at some point after Monday I'll do an NFL related post. Oh, and I may do a game related post on my Giant Bomb blog about my recent return to the wonderful world of Oblivion. Short story; Oblivion is still better than Fallout 3. Scroll down for link to my GB blog. | | Tags: holiday, Egypt, travel |
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| | Miss Me? (Naaah) |
I'm back.
Too tired to write much more than that, but yeah, I survived Egypt. It was a blast, but I'm so glad to be home where I belong. I'm exhausted; yesterday, which incidentally feels like about a week ago, I was up at 4:30am for various reasons, and today I was up at 5:45am to catch our flight after maybe two hours of sleep. Also throughout the trip I think if I had to guess I probably averaged about four hours of sleep a night. Understandably then I'm greatly looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, and having a nice long lie-in tomorrow before a relaxing day of getting unpacked, watching NFL football and catching up with what I've missed in the past 11 days.
I'm sure I'll talk some more about the Egypt trip over the next few days, but for now, I'm just too tired. I'm hitting the hay pretty soon, so I guess I should say goodnight, and it feels so good to be back. | | Tags: holiday |
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| | Going on Holiday |
Not feeling so good today. Tired, bungud up and a nasty sore throat. It's a bit of a bummer, in all honesty. I really hope I feel better tomorrow for my flight to Egypt. I'll be honest; I'm pretty damn nervous about this trip. I've never been to a country like Egypt before; it could be very overwhelming. But I'm also excited at the prospect of having such an interesting new experience. It should be fun.
How 'bout them Colts, eh? That was a pretty sweet win in San Diego, even if it was at the dying seconds of the game. The good news seems to be that the Colts are getting on form; that's our fourth straight win, and the second time we've beaten an established team on the road. What that tells me is that we are going to be dangerous in the playoffs. If we assume that the Titans will win the South, despite being handed their first loss yesterday at the hands of the now rather terrifying Jets, the Colts will be vying for a wildcard spot. It's a good sign then that we can win on the road, because we will need to, and there is every possibility that we lock up the #5 seed, which in all likelihood means a trip to San Diego or Denver, which is a pretty damn good match-up for us. I'm much more optimistic about our season now. The defence is finally getting some things done, we're improving our running game, and Manning is on top form. I hugely doubt you'll see the Colts in Tampa come February, but I expect to see us at least make the playoffs.
Just did my Pro Bowl ballots. Felt it was time to get them done and out of the way. Obviously I won't go into detail over who I picked because we'd be here a while, but there are a few players who I made a point of picking because I felt they deserved it, including Jared Mayo of the Patriots, who as much as I hate to admit it has been a sensational draft pick for them, Brandon Jacobs of the Giants, Chris Johnson of the Titans and Jason Peters of Buffalo. I can admit in all honesty that I didn't load up my picks with Colts players. Yes, Manning, Wayne, Clark and Freeney got votes, but I think they deserve them. However, Saturday and Sanders have been too injured, Addai's been too poor, Harrison's been to inconsistent and nobody on the defence aside from Freeney and occasionally Sanders has really stood out enough for me. I don't know why they still let the fans pick special teams players; I've never heard of more than half of them, and I follow the game pretty closely.
I'm still getting my head around how weird it's going to be being away from my home for 11 days. Being deprived of my laptop, my Xbox, my drum kit, all that good stuff. But what I need to remember is that there is so much more to do in Egypt on this holday than just lie around doing what I always do. Still, there's still a part of me that really wants to bring my laptop so I can keep up to date with what's going on in the world. Of course I'm also going to miss the NFL; there will probably be Sky Sports at the hotels, but Egypt is two hours ahead of London, so the early games on Sunday will start at 8pm local time, meaning I realistically can only watch one. Ah well, at least I'm coming back on a Saturday, so I can enjoy the Sunday Football. I'm also of course going to be missing Thanksgiving football, but in all honest I've never been too bothered about this. Watching football on a Thurday or Friday has always been weird to me, and none of the Thanksgiving games ever really stand out as classics.
It's also going to be really weird being away from my iTunes. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I keep a pretty tight check on my music listening habits. Very rarely do I just sit down with my iPod and think "ooh, which album should I listen to now?". But I may have to get used to it. In many ways it'll be an interesting experiment; I always thought it was a little too unnatural and autistic to keep such a tight check on my listening habits, and maybe allowing some freedom will provide a welcome relief. We shall see. Regardless, I intend to listen to as much music as possible during this holiday, even in between trips to the Pyramids, museums and the Nile.
So it's going to be a question of surviving in Egypt on bare essential entertainment; Nintendo DS (with Final Fantasy IV, Pokemon Ruby and Harvest Moon DS), iPod + charger, big headphones + travel headphones, books (Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and America's Game by Michael MacCambridge), and that's pretty much it.
I'm also taking writing equipment. I very rarely write things down, because my motor skills and my handwriting have never been all that good, and using a computer has always been my de facto method of writing (case in point; this very blog). I intend to use this writing equipment not just for writing random stuff, but also for keeping a sort of travel log, which I will in all probability share with all of you on this blog when I get back on the 6th of December (which is most unfortunately the day of the Christmas Fair at the garden where I volunteer. Darn).
Yesterday me and Dad went shopping for some holiday essentials; lighter clothes, in order to deal with the heat of Egypt, a baseball cap, to keep the sun out of my eyes, the aforementioned iPod charger, and some other bits and pieces. I hate shopping. I hate so much about it. I'm fairly certain that a large shopping centre full of bright fluorescent ceiling lights with noisy dance pop music blaring from every corner full of attractive girls and eternally pissed off shop assistants is pretty much what will happen to me in Hell. I thank Christ that we now have websites like Amazon so I only have to endure the torture of shopping centres once a year or so.
Well, I've gotta go do some final packing. I'm at my Mum's right now, and I'm off to Dad's in a bit, and we're leaving tomorrow afternoon. As I said, nervous, but excited. I'm not bringing my laptop to Dad's, so I guess this is the last time I'll be at a computer for a while. So to all you Yanks, enjoy Thanksgiving, and I'll be speaking to all of you again in early December. Peace. | | Tags: holiday, football |
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| | A Random Collection of Thoughts |
It's been a while since I've updated my blog. That's not because there's been nothing going on, because that is erroneous. I've just had quite a lot of stuff on my mind recently, and haven't really felt the compulsion to write too much of it down. It's smaller stuff really - well, with some bigger stuff thrown in. Sometimes, in our busy modern lives, it's quite hard to find that breathing space to stop and think things through; too often thoughts just turn round and round, not going away, until finally you have to exorcise them. They're like phantoms. Or maybe that's just me.
Regardless, I'd better get some blogging in pretty pronto, because I don't know if I've mentioned this on here, but I'm actually going to Egypt for 11 days. I'm going with my Dad and we're leaving on Tuesday. What's more, the laptop is not coming with me. I'm sure they'll be internet at the 5-star resort we're staying that, but I'm not going to Africa to do the same shit I do here in South London. So the only things that are going with me are my iPod and headphones (obviously), my Nintendo DS, some books, some writing materials, some nice summery cloathing, and a mind eager for travel and new experiences. Fortunately you don't have to fit that in a suitcase.
I fully intend to maintain something of a travel diary, which I'll do with the good 'ol fashioned pen and paper, and maybe post some highlights and maybe some pics on this blog when I get back in early December. It's going to be weird going away. I haven't been abroad since the epic America trip, which was two years ago. Not only that, but this is the first time I'm going to Africa. We're going to have a blast, I just know it. Obviously we'll see the Pyramids, the Nile, the Museums and all that tourist jazz, but I also really want to see exactly what Egypt is like and get more into the nitty gritty. Not sure if I'll actually achieve this goal, but no matter.
I love travel. I love everything about it. I love the anticipation, the mystery, the majesty, the feeling of leaving everything you know and that is comfortable behind, only to return having had a wonderful new experience. Travel can be a nightmare, obviously, but just as an idea, few things excite me more. The list of places I dream of visiting obviously is getting shorter in recent years, what with the USA and Egypt being ticked off, but I still need to go to China, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, Iceland, Turkey, South Africa, and many others. I really hope that, one day, I can visit all these places.
Back in London though, I've mostly just been ticking along as always. Had a rather exhausting but hugely fulfilling time at gardening club today. For the first time I was given a really simple meneal job which I could just put my head down and get on with it, with a little help from Radiohead and Okkervil River, thanks to my trusty iPod. Yesterday I had to go to a stupid tribunal about my incapacity benefit, which fortunately we won. It was a stressful experience which resulted in rather palpable relief that the mistake was fixed.
Another thing that I think I neglected to mention on this blog is that, obviously Egypt is a relatively poor country with much poverty, which means certain diseases not common in Europe are fairly prevalent in North Africa. And as such, I required some vaccinations in order to travel. Now normally this isn't a big deal, but I've suffered from a rather nasty phobia of needles for many years. What really triggered this phobia was an incident when I was 11 and I needed a blood test, which was done by a junior nurse who had no idea what they were doing. Three times he tried to hit the vein and extract the blood; three times he failed. It was horrible. I was violently sick and crying my eyes out, and ever since the thought of having an injection has filled me strong anxiety and fear. But when I actually went to have the vaccinations - well let me put it this way. I popped a spot/zit/whitehead, whatever you wanna call it, earlier today on my upper lip, and that was about three times more painful that the injections. You always expect to be horrible, and often the worst that can result in it is a slight stinging sensation which is over in about 5 minutes. And meanwhile, my lip is still throbbing from that popped spot, which was about 5 hours ago. Life, eh?
Regular readers of my blog (hey, it could happen...) may notice the absence of an NFL recap this week. The simple reason for this is that I forgot, or couldn't be bothered, one of the two. Not that it was a hugely significant week of football action. I only watched bits and pieces of games; I watched about half the Jets-Pats game, which made me very happy. I watched almost the entire Bears-Packers annihilation at Lambeau, and then watched bits and pieces of the Steelers close win over the Chargers. I really wanted to watch the Redskins-Cowboys encounter, but unfortunately my fucking Sky+ box (for Americans, think TiVo) failed the recording. Sometimes I really sucks that my favourite sport happens in a country five timezones away. And I didn't watch the Browns-Bills game because, well, frankly, I couldn't give a shit. So as I say, not an epic week. Still, at least my Colts won, and apparently the Cowboys are now back on track with Romo at the helm, and the Steelers just keep finding ways to win. Speaking of winning, the Titans go to 10-0. Who'da thunk it?
On the music side, we've had a couple of debut albums in the past week. The first was For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver. I'll be honest here; not a huge fan of this. I'm sure many people love this guy's voice; I don't. It's too mellowdramatic and unecessary. His songwriting isn't much better. Still, I'm gonna give it plenty of time before I made a final judgement. The other debut was Glassjaw's Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence, my first impressions of which were actually pretty positive. It took a while for Worship and Tribute to grow on me, but this seems like a more focused effort, although it still maintains Glassjaw's trademark lunacy and intensity. I also find Palumbo's vocals somehow more tolerable here. Again, time will tell with this one, but my early opinion is that it's a bit better than Worship and Tribute, but not much.
Few other music related things I wanna talk about. The first is I've recently discovered a love for Classic FM. I never really listen to the radio, because my experience has led me to believe that it's mostly useless, but for some reason I never considered Classic FM, and with my desire to experience more classical music has grown hugely in recent months, I decided to give it a go. I love it. It's a great way to find new artists, experience all different varieties of classical music, and they do play some absolutely wonderful music. I also love that I can listen to it in the kitchen while making a sandwich without being encumbered by my iPod and massive headphones. I also like the fact that I can listen to it in the bath. It's truly a wonderful station that I can recommend to anyone who wanted to be exposed to more classical music. I'm fairly certain that those who are of more of an American disposition can listen online. Just Google Classic FM or some shit like that. You'll find it.
Speaking of hella old music, my journey into the world of jazz continues. And I have to say I think I've found my first truly impressive jazz album; A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. Mingus Plays Piano is pleasant to listen to and very musical, but it leaves very little impression. Birth of the Cool is nicely done and pretty easy to listen to, but I just don't feel that drawn in by the music. A Love Supreme on the other hand succeeds in almosts every department. It's incredibly musical, very well recorded, beautifully delivered, and is frankly a true joy to listen to. I'm not sure just how lofty my love of this record will actually be, but I could easily see this being my favourite jazz album for a long time, and I think John Coltrane has become my favourite jazz man.
As we speak I'm listening to The Dillinger Escape Plan's Calculating Infinity. It's ass. I really want to turn it off, as I have the past eight times I've listened to it. But my utter unwavering dedication to giving every album a fair trial is forcing me to endure this screaming mess of an album. I know the album is supposed to be a screaming mess, but who wants to hear that. They may as well have used a pneumatic drill to pulverise the microphone.
As I was sitting on the train yesterday, I had something of an epiphany. I was listening to Muse's Absolution at the time. Now my thoughts of Muse has always been that I enjoyed their music but felt that there was something lacking which divides the good bands from the great bands. I mostly enjoyed Origin of Symmetry, and I think I like Absolution even more, but I never get excited or particularly enticed by the music when I'm listening to it. At first I thought that maybe it was the lyrics, which I don't detest but certainly don't think aids the music in any way. However, this wouldn't explain my dislike of Muse, because I still love Coheed and Cambria despite the mediocre lyrics, and I adore Sigur Ros even though I don't understand a single fucking word they say. However, yesterday it hit me.
I mentioned in my recap of the Sigur Ros show that there are ostensibly two ways of appreciating art; superficially and emotionally. Superficially is simply appreciating the art because it sounds or looks good, and emotionally is appreciating the deeper aspects of it, and emotionally connecting to the piece, regardless of whether it makes you think, smile or cry. I definitely feel I can enjoy most of Muse's music superficially; they've written some pretty damn good songs, and they don't write a lot of bad songs. Sometimes I find Matt Bellamy's falsetto voice a little grating, but there's no denying that they are all brilliant musicians and very good at what they do.
Where Muse really falls down though is on the emotional side. I find that their music almost completely lacks soul. I'm sure they all are totally dedicated and have a love for their art, but it doesn't come across in their music. What does come across is this rather technical, precise and well orchestrated modern indie-prog rock with extremely little soul. It's almost as if it's music written by a computer programmed to try and imitate Radiohead. I know Muse and Radiohead are often compared, or rather Muse are seen as Radiohead's biggest followers, but there is one massive difference between the two. When you listen to Radiohead, you feel every note. You know that every word Thom sings is true and has a deep emotional resonance. Very few bands play with the heart and passion that Radiohead do, and this is something that Muse almost totally fail to capture in their own music.
To put this simply using a metaphor, think of Muse as a German saloon car like a Mercedes E-Class or a BMW 5-series. They're extremely good well made cars; I know because my dad had a 5-series. Everything on them works and is in their right place, and there is no denying that they are good cars. But there is something a little cold about them. Something very clinical and technical, that lack of soul. It comes across in many facets of German culture and especially in their cars. Radiohead on the other hand are like a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Ferrari F430 or a Maserati GranTurismo. They're still very well made and put together, but they're also much more exciting. They tantalise, excite and enthrall in ways the German saloons could never hope to achieve. And even Italian saloons, like the Alfa Romeo Brera, are absolutely loaded with soul and passion and have more personality than every German car ever made put together. That's not to say Muse are bad, or that German cars are bad, but there is something missing, and comparing them to Radiohead or Italian cars reveals just how flawed they truly are.
It's very noticeable that that Sigur Ros concert has opened my eyes to just how emotional music is, and just how significant a factor it is. I think that's one of the reason I was first attracted to so many of the bands I love. I discovered this kind of less mainstream music because I always found most pop music so empty and soulless, as if there was some kind of machine which kept churning out repetitive grating and utterly worthless pop "hits". Sometimes I hear some modern pop and just am awed by how utterly empty, superficial and worthless all of it is. That's why we need bands like Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Thrice, Sparta, Incubus, Arcade Fire, Brand New, Gregor Samsa, The Mars Volta, Okkervil River, The Dear Hunter, and so many others. They're keeping the soul alive in music, and it's just such a shame that such a relatively small number of people ever get to experience just what real music is. | | Tags: random, stuff, music, life |
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| | NFL Week Ten Thoughts |
Sigur Ros and some mediocre games cut this week's NFL viewing session shorter than normal. I only watched two games from start to finish. However, both those games were thoroughly entertaining, and it was another dramatic weekend of football.
Colts 24 Steelers 20
I think this game could well prove to be the turning point of the Colts season and our most important game of the season. Such a huge win on the road is always a momentum boost, and it came against the AFC's second best team. On Sunday, the Colts didn't exactly play perfect football, and effectively we won the game because we were able from both of Ben Roethlisberger's interceptions. But on Sunday we saw a bit more of the swagger and confidence that we are used to seeing from Dungy's men.
For a second straight week Manning was brilliant. He faced considerable pressure from the Steelers' blitzes, and his completion percentage was just above 50%, but he made some outstanding plays in important situations, threw for all three of the Colts touchdowns and didn't throw an interception. Reggie Wayne also had another brilliant game; week after week Wayne is proving that he is the new go-to receiver in the Colts system. Marvin on the other hand did have a couple of potentially costly drops, and generally just didn't look as effective as he once did. The defence also stepped up to the occasion. Freeney and Sanders were both great in this game, the secondary did a good job containing the Steelers receivers, and the Colts leaky run defence allowed just 55 yards on the ground.
As for the Steelers, they continue to excel in certain areas and struggle in others. Mewelde Moore was solid in place of Parker, scoring both of Pittsburgh's touchdowns on the ground, Hines Ward had an excellent game, and the defence continues to play formidably well. The fact that a road team was able to put 24 points on the Steelers may look a little worrying on paper, but it wasn't like they were getting a huge amount of help from the offence. Roethlisberger's first two interceptions gave the Colts possession in Steelers territory, and both were converted for touchdowns. Ben Roethlisberger continues his incredibly erratic season. At times he looked utterly brilliant, poised and in control, but he still has those moments of madness which end up costing his team dearly. The first two interceptions were hugely costly, as already stated, whereas the third came on a desperation play at the end of the game.
The bottom line from this game is that turnovers cost the Steelers this game. I had to say coming in I expected the Steelers to win; I thought it would be close, but I thought they'd do enough on defence to hold the Colts offence to fewer points. And in fairness the defence played very well. But those two turnovers converted for touchdowns were the killer. The fact that the Colts didn't commit one turnover and the Steelers comitted three was the difference, and the Colts had the initiative and skill to score 14 points off of those turnovers.
Going forward, the Steelers need to find a way of keeping Roethlisberger's head in the game, and eliminating those dumb mistakes. Once they do that, this team is all systems go for a deep playoff run. They get Parker back soon, and the defence is the best in the league, so on paper they have massive potential for an outstanding season. They will have to defend their top spot from the surprising Ravens, and their schedule only gets tougher from here on in, but they could end being the AFC's #2 team. However they cannot do that if they lose the turnover battle every single game. Roethlisberger needs to eliminate the mistakes or it will cost his team dearly. If Big Ben loses the Steelers too many more games, it may be time to bring in Leftwich.
As for the Colts, well we're definitely moving in the right direction. Getting some players back from injuries helped obviously, but Manning and Wayne both look to be on excellent form, and we finally seem to have some solidity and cohesiveness on the offensive line. The biggest question marks still hanging over the Colts are can we generate more productivity from the rushing game. It's very tough to win games in December and January with virtually no running game, and Addai, Rhodes and the offensive line all need to get in the right gear. The defence is looking solid again despite injuries, and as long as nothing drastic happens, I can see no reason why this Colts team won't be a serious contender for a wildcard spot.
Giants 36 Eagles 31
I think the best word to describe this game is bizarre. There was certainly plenty of drama and action, but mistakes, stange calls, turnovers and challenges were plentiful throughout. The bottom line though is that this is another huge win for the 8-1 Giants on the road against probably their greatest historical rivals, and they are continuing to demonstrate that they are the class of the NFC.
So many of the NFC East showdowns in the past have been physical battles, and this was no exception. However, it is undoubtable that the Giants totally overpowered the Eagles. The Giants continue to be the most effective and dominant running team in the league behind that formidable offensive line, and between them Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw rushed for over 200 yards. Perhaps more impressive than this though is the fact that the Giants held the ball for 39 minutes compared to the Eagles 21 minutes. It's very hard for Donovan McNabb to hurt you when he's sitting on the sidelines.
Despite this though, the Eagles put up a hell of a fight. There was a slightly lucky defensive linenam interception of Eli Manning in the first quarter, which Mike Patterson ran back to set up the Eagles first score. Despite this limited on-field action, McNabb was impressive, and DeSean Jackson had another good game. Westbrook on the other hand was kept in check by the Giants defence, averaging just 2 yards a run. McNabb however showed that he's still got wheels, scrambling for 35 yards on just three carries. The defence continues to be the achilles heel of the Eagles. The secondary did a good job containing Manning and his potent receiving core, but they were completely dominated at the line of scrimmage by the Giants' offensive line.
However the real drama in this game came on some exceptional challenges and referee calls. Perhaps the most notable was Eli Manning's throw to Kevin Boss which was challenged by the Giants after the officials ruled that Manning was past the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. Replays however did show that Manning had his foot on the line of scrimmage, which according to the rules is enough to keep him onside. A goal line run by Brandon Jacobs which was ruled a touchdown was also challenged by the Eagles. The call was also upheld by the officials. Both calls were correct.
The Eagles kept the game close throughout, and had a genuine chance of winning the game, taking over at their 14-yard line with 3:14 remaining and down by five. However some extraordinary play calling by the pass happy Eagles, who for years have had on the most pass-heavy offensive systems in the NFL, cut the drive short. The Eagles, facing third and short, chose to run Westbrook instead of throw, but the Giants stopped the play short. The Eagles had to go for it on fourth and short, and once again they ran with Westbrook and once again he was stopped short by the Giants. One Giants first down later and the game was over.
In hindsight this game should have been nowhere as near as close and competitive as it actually was. The Giants dominated in the rushing game and were very effectively on defence, but despite their outstanding play McNabb and the Eagles found a way to stay in the game right up to the end of the fourth quarter. But the Giants proved the better team and won a vital road game against their division rivals to continue their outstanding season. Who would have thought coming into the season that the Giants, without Strahan and Umenyiora, would be the class of the NFC and potentially on their way to a second consecutive Super Bowl appearence. It could happen. Their tough defence combined with their bruising running game and productive passing game could win them many games in December and January.
For the Eagles on the other hand, their season is beginning to slip. With the Redskins playing tough football, the Cowboys getting healthy very soon, and some tough competition from teams in the North and South, the Eagles chances of clinching a wildcard berth look a little slim at this point. No doubt they have talent, but their defence continues to be a concern. However there are no longer any question marks against Donovan McNabb's name. He has proved this year without a shadow of a doubt that he is the leader of this Eagles defence, and when he is healthy, there are few better. Not to mention that it now looks he's got a talented young receiver on his side, DeSean Jackson. Unfortunately the rest of the team hasn't quite lived up to expectations. They've got a chance of making it to January, but they need to stringing together some successive wins. Next week's game in Cincinnati will be a good test. If they are truly trying to prove that they are for real, they need to prove that they can dominate the lowly Bengals.
Games I Didn't Watch:
Broncos 34 Browns 30 - I watched a bit of this and got bored. Watching football on a Friday is weird to me. Massive comeback win on the road for the Broncos who are still fighting for that AFC West crown. The Brady Quinn era in Cleveland begins with a loss, but he certainly looked the part in his first start. Don't expect to see Derek Anderson back under center anytime soon.
Falcons 34 Saints 20 - The Falcons continue to be one of the biggest surprises of the year. They are really played good football, and this was a big win for them at home against a division rival. The Saints continue to underachieve despite their talented team. Their Wembley hangover needs to end next week in Kansas City.
Titans 21 Bears 14 - A tough win for the still undefeated Titans, and perhaps the most impressive yet. They overpowered a tough Bears team on the road despite a slow start and rallied to win their ninth game. At this point in the season, the Titans are frankly starting to look unstoppable. A nasty setback for the Bears in their challenge for NFC North supremacy.
Jaguars 38 Lions 14 - Maybe we are finally starting to see the Jaguars team we all thought we would see this year. Or maybe the Lions are just appalling bad and scoring 38 points on them is as easy as couting up to 38. Possibly a little of both. Regardless, nice win for the Jaguars. The Lions are this year's Dolphins; utterly pathetic, and now there's no Matt Millen to blame.
Ravens 41 Texans 13 - Two consecutive blowout wins for the Ravens?! Crikey! This team is starting to look scary. They're level with the Steelers and could well mount a serious playoff run. The Texans however are still in limbo; they're pretty much at the same place they were last year. Not bad, but not good.
Seahawks 19 Dolphins 21 - Who would have thought that after ten weeks the Dolphins would have the same record as the Colts? Miracles will occur. Still, this Wildcat system is working for them and they're playing some good football. For the Seahawks on the other hand, 2009 can't come quickly enough.
Packers 27 Vikings 28 - A massive win for the Vikings against their vaunted rivals. Peterson was phenomenal, and pretty much won the game for his team. Maybe we'll finally see the Vikings we thought we would see this year. The Packers need to step up their game if they want to be playing come January.
Bills 10 Patriots 20 - This defeat pretty much kills any hope the Bills had of winning the AFC East. The Patriots' ship continues to head through clear seas towards Playoff Port, but they may be about to come up one hell of a wave...
Rams 3 Jets - Ouch. That hurts for the Rams. The Jets on the other hand have shown for the second straight week that they are a team people need to be looking out for. They have got on form at the right time, and even if they don't win in Foxboro on Thursday, they could still send a hell of a statement to their division foes that they mean business.
Panthers 17 Raiders 6 - The surprise Panthers continue to play real good football and with this win improve to a very impressive 7-2, giving them a real shot of earning a first round bye in the playoffs. As for the Raiders...probably best to start thinking about your 2009 draft pick.
Chiefs 19 Chargers 20 - A wild one indeed, as the Chiefs tied the game in the final seconds but went for the two-point conversion and didn't get it. The Chargers continue to look massive unimpressive; after a bye week they needed a bold decision from Herm Edwards at the end of the game to beat the lowly Chiefs. Could this be the big win which propels the Chargers towards the playoffs? Doubt it.
49ers 24 Cardinals 29 - Arizona continue their march towards the promised land of playoff football with a comeback win against their division rivals on Monday Night. It's gonna take some time for Singletary to get this 49ers team going in the right direction, but they have showed some flashes of skill this year. Kurt Warner = NFL MVP? | | Tags: NFL, football |
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| | A Musical Odyssey: Part Six |
Still feeling pretty tired after the weekend, but I've got a pretty clear week. It's nice and sunny today, which makes a change from the past few days which were absolutely hideous.
Anyway. It's been far too long since I've properly talked about music, not including last night's musings on Sigur Ros.
I'm gonna start with what I'm listening to right now; Autodrone's Panic EP. And I'm going to be totally honest here, by which I mean brutally honest. I really don't like it. Hate is a strong word, but it keeps coming to the front of my mind. Now I've already expressed my deep love of Autodrone on this blog, and their first full album, Strike A Match, was an unexpected delight. However, between this EP and the new album they changed singers. This older vocalist is very different. She's got a much bigger and louder voice than Katherine Kennedy, but she's fair too shrill and is technically poor. The lyrics are poor, and the music is solid but compared to Strike A Match feels useless and less inspired.
There are some good ideas here, many of which translated to their album, and you could tell that they've already got a clear idea of what kind of band they are, but the singer just ruins it for me, especially after falling in love with Kennedy's delicate and enchanting vocals. Perhaps this reaction is to be expected; I wouldn't say that their music is exactly to my taste, but Strike a Match managed to grab me early and had the added advantage of being a welcome surprise during a period when I was big into female vocalists. Now though, I just don't feel like I can enjoy this EP, and I'm somewhat tempted to just switch it off and carry on with my life as if nothing happened.
Speaking of music I'm not particularly fond of, Calculating Infinity by The Dillinger Escape Plan has been in my rotation for the past few weeks. It's grown on me just a little bit after the initial "holy shit, what was that garbage" reaction from my first listen. I think I get it a bit more now. I can appreciate how technical and experimental the music is, but it is just totally batshit bonkers, is relentlessly loud and grinding, like a drill boaring through my skull. It's entirely possible that this was DEP's plan all along, but I think of more enjoyable things than having a drill go through my skull. I can appreciate it for what it is, and parts of it I quite like, but as an album I find it extremely difficult to sit through. It feels like a chore, and I have no time for music which feels like a chore. If I wanted a chore to do, I'm sure my Mum would appreciate me doing my washing or doing the dishes.
As Cities Burn's Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest is another album I've been listening to recently, and I'm rather undecided on it. Not only that, but there's also a sense of indifference. Technically, As Cities Burn come across as one of the more competent emocore groups I've come across, and their style is more meditative than many of their contemporaries. It's also relatively short, which helps its cause, and a couple of songs are quite good. The downside is that their music leaves very little impression. The vocals are rather bland and at times a little annoying, and while they do add interesting touches to their songwriting, such as unusual time signatures, the whole effort feels rather misguided and perhaps a little generic. The lyrics also follow the same lines; occasionally there are some good lines, but mostly it's just mediocre. Despite not being content to release a 12-song album of three minute tracks all in 4/4 time, there is very little that I can find admirable about As Cities Burn. I don't hate it, not by any means, but I find it rather tiresome, and fifteen minutes after the album is over, I've usually completely forgotten all about it.
I'm not quite sure how to feel about Shai Hulud's Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion. I definitely enjoy how inspired and well considered their lyrics are, and they certainly shred with the best of them, and their songwriting is pretty sharp most of the time. One of the problems is I find that so many of the songs end up sounded identical, meaning that none of them really resonate, which isn't necessary a terrible thing. It's pretty damn short at around 30 minutes, and perhaps this reaction is down to not having spent enough time with the record yet. But at the same time, I'm just not sure how much this kind of grinding metalcore is for me. Sure, I appreciate the hardcore/screamo/metal stylings of Underoath, Envy, Isis and Deftones, but they all strike a fine balance between heavy intense and more methodical and melodic compositions, whereas Shai Hulud is almost non-stop aggression and intensity. It's passionate, intelligent and intense enough, but I'm just not sure if it's for me. I tend to like the honey and vinegar approach. Sugar and salt. Shai Hulud however is just a dash too much salt, or just a drop too much vinegar.
Yesterday saw another album make its debut in my rotation; Rook by Shearwater. Having been familiarised with the music of Okkervil River, I felt it time to see what Jonathan Meiburg could do without Will Sheff around. The result is interesting to say the least. I can see where some of his influences come from; something about the music reminds me a lot of Talk Talk, which isn't necessarily the best start in life due to my rather indifferent feelings towards Talk Talk. And Shearwater looks like they may well have inherited that tradition. It's a very musical record, the guitar work is very strong, and the heavy use of piano throughout is a very nice added touch. But with Meiburg's rather grating vocals and the someone plain nature of the songwriting, I found my first listen of this record to be rather a dull experience. More time may well soften my stance, but my initial feelings towards Shearwater are disappointment and indifference; a nasty combination indeed.
This post has been far too negative. Let's talk about something good and exciting. Hmm...uhh...oh yes!
Of the newer albums which have recently entered my rotation, three of them stand out as the strongest; Anthony Green's Avalon, Sleepercar's West Texas and dredg's Leitmotif. I can easily see Avalon and West Texas ending quite high up on my best of 2008 list, and Leitmotif could well signal the start of dredg becoming one of my favourite bands. I find aspects of Leitmotif somewhat grating, and their blend of progressive rock and hardcore doesn't always have good consequences. I find Leitmotif to be rather unbalanced and lacking in focus at times. But at the music's core is an incredibly talented band with an interesting approach to the music they write. They remind me of Circa Survive, or possibly TREOS. Some of their songwriting, especially "Lechium", "Traversing Through the Arctic Cold..." and "Penguins in the Desert", not to mention some of the movements in between, can only be described as totally fucking badass. Not every moment is a homerun hit, but when dredg are good, they are really fucking good. For me, dredg are the most exciting band currently in my rotation, and I definitely see them being a favourite of mine for a long time coming.
Anthony Green and Sleepercar are really interesting albums to listen to, for many reasons. Obviously both albums are side projects of the lead singers of two of my all-time favourite bands. I think if I was to do a top three, it would go Thrice, Sparta and Circa Survive. I've always loved Anthony Green's voice and his quirky style, and Jim Ward is one of my all-time music heroes. Obviously my prior experience with the works of these two musicians made these two albums among my most anticipated, and I finally decided it was time to get to them.
Avalon is really intriguing, mostly because it almost sounds like a Circa Survive record. It's softer, for sure, but it's just as edgy and unpredictable. Any album with Green's beautiful voice is going to be high in my estimations, and while his performance here may not quite match his vocal melodies from the totally brilliant On Letting Go, I still find his voice an utter delight to listen to. Avalon may not be quite as rewarding as a new Circa record, but as a solo experiment by Green, and as a variation of a theme, Avalon is entertaining, fresh, interesting, and rather unique. I can't think of too many other musicians who are like Anthony Green, from his quirky persona, unusual songwriting, soaring vocals and intense yet melodic approach, he definitely feels like a one-of-a-kind.
West Texas on the other hand doesn't sound hugely reminiscent of the sound of Sparta, and is more of a complete departure of from hardcore tinged alt-rock and more into the realms of folk and country. That being said, it definitely retains all the heart, passion and energy of Jim Ward's previous works. The songwriting is well balanced, and the whole album sounds fresh. Ward does a great job of switching effortlessly between energetic alt-rock vibes, more solemn and melodic folk and deep down and dirty Country. West Texas feels like a slice of America served in music form. It's both an insight into the music and philosophies of a rather remarkable part of the world, and an insight into the greater influences and stylistic dexterity of one of rock music's greatest minds. This album is simply a total joy to listen to, especially for those of us who fell in love with Sparta.
That'll do for now. NFL weekend recap coming tomorrow. How 'bout them Colts? Huge win on the road. | | Tags: musical odyssey, music |
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| | Sigur Ros blew my fucking mind |
The Sigur Ros show was pretty much nothing like I expected it to be. But that's a good thing, because this was better. Much better.
Firstly, don't ever go to a Sigur Ros concert expecting it to be quieter than your average gig. These guys were louder than Thrice. Jonsi Birgisson makes that guitar scream like a banshee, and the bass was deafening at times. Admittedly we were standing much closer to the band this time. Really nice venue. High ceiling, but still bloody hot. Really good turnout; everyone seemed really into it.
Their clothing was also far more elaborate than I expected. Jonsi had an almost Adam Ant-like look, with a glittery face and a very 1970's style jacket. Kjartan was wearing pretty much normal clothes. Georg on the other hand was wearing what can only be described as a dashing suit and hat combination, and Orri was wearing what looked like a wifebeater and a crown. I know it sounds terribly personal calling them all by their first names, because I've never actually met them, but it's just easier this way.
They were also much more theatrical. Somehow I had a vision of Jonsi sitting on a chair gently strumming away. But no. He really gets into it. They was a moment in between songs where he just repeated ran his bow across the guitar strings in a motion that almost looked akin to sawing through a wooden log, or possibly repeatedly disembowling some poor creature lying on the floor.
Jonsi was also much more of a proper frontman than I expected. After chatting to the audience in Icelandic (at least I assumed in Icelandic), he then switched to English, and asked us all to sing along to the next song. Also, on the last song of the main set, he got the audience to clap along to the drum rhythm, and during said final song, they fired confetti into the audience through two massive guns. I certainly didn't expect that.
But theatrics aside, it was easily the music that was the most startling element of the evening. Now seeing that I've only ever heard Agaetis Byrjun and ( ), I am not exactly intimately familiar with all of their music; I recognised a couple of other songs, although I knew they weren't from the aforementioned album. I think I probably recognised about half of the songs, although I couldn't possibly draw up a cohesive set list.
However there are a few songs which will certainly stick with me. They opened with "Svefn-g-englar", which to be honest was never exactly my favourite Sigur Ros song, always I've always liked it. It was so much better live. I watched transfixed, stunned by what I was seeing. As the deafening eeary cries of Jonsi's guitar blended with the thumping rhythms and delicate piano melody, I was left completely dumbfounded. Mouth wide open, eyes fixed upon the stage, never once blinking. Completely oblivious to how hot and uncomfortable I was.
It was a brilliant opening. However, the show really kicked in with the next song, which does happen to be one of my favourites; "Ny Batteri". Was it better than it is on the record? I'm not sure, but it was fucking epic. They play with such passion and energy, and Jonsi's voice is amazing live. I couldn't help but be greatly impressed by not only their transcendent musical abilities, but also their stage presence. I felt like, at this moment in time, I was witnessing something special. I was present as a unique and memorable event, a moment which transcends time.
At times they appeared to be playing from within a hazy dream, or a mirage perhaps. Haunting images appeared on the screen behind them. The lights were dazzling. Jonsi at times moved oddly and add an unexpected element to his performance; during "Svefn-g-englar" he held his guitar up to his face while he was singing, which I'm guessing was done to add effect and reverb to his vocals, which is a technique I'm fairly certain Thom Yorke used for the passioned scream at the end of "Climbing Up the Walls". I digress.
From "Ny Batteri" onwards, the number of songs I clearly recognised plummeted. I know they played "Hafsoll" and "Hoppipolla", and I'm fairly certain they played "E-Bow", although it could have been an abridged version of "The Death Song". I can't remember for sure. I'll know the next time I hear ( ). I don't think I know any of the other songs. But this is totally irrelevant, because they were all breathtaking. Some of the songs, especially "Ny Batteri", had a deeper impact due to familiarity, but the songs I had never heard before were just an inticing for their strangeness and mystery. It's gonna be really interesting to see how I react to Takk... and Meo suo i eyrum vio spilum endalaust having heard these songs live.
The show was completely amazing. Had they ended without an encore I would have gone home happy. But they didn't. They came back and they played a song I don't know, and then they played one of my favourites, which in many ways is a perfect closing song, both for the album and for any concert, just for its sheer epic quality, its utter sense of majesty, its remarkable musicianship. They ended with the best possible song, a song I may come to remember for a very long time, and which has now been given deep significance for me. They ended with "Popplagio" a.k.a. "The Pop Song".
Holy fucking shit this was amazing.
I've always loved the song; if you asked me to pick my favourite from ( ) it would be this, with "Samskeyti" as a runner up. But live, dare I say it, it was even better. It begins with such a simple guitar riff, but then when Jonsi's hauting vocals come in, and the mood intensifies. You could feel it. It was like something tangible but completely indescribable. The music steadily got louder, and you could feel it even stronger. As the song began to approach its amazing crescendo, and the incredibly loud utterly spellbinding music penetrated my ears and resonated within my mind, I felt my mind blow up. It literally exploded. And then when the crescendo hit, the feeling was even deeper. I was stunned. I just looked on in awe; revelled in every tortured sound.
All of a sudden, Sigur Ros' music made sense to me. I guess I'd never really got it before; I always appreciated it musically, but perhaps there was always something missing there. No more. Sigur Ros' music represents and exemplifies emotion on an incredibly deep level. People say the same for Radiohead, and maybe I need to see them live to experience it first hand. But seeing Jonsi change from smiling and clapping along to the final song of the main set, to then see him tearing his bow across the strings and letting loose the pained passionate falsetto screams of "The Pop Song" was truly amazing. I literally could not believe what I was witnessing, and it's taken quite a considerable amount of effort for me to put it into words here on this blog.
And then the crescendo peaked, and the music ended. Everyone cheered, myself included. They came out and they bowed. They applauded the audience and left the stage. We all left. I'm not sure if anyone else in the crowd was left quite as amazed and dazzled as I was by the experience. I didn't really say anything as we left the venue. I just turned the concert over in my head, trying to find the words to best summarise the effect these four men from Iceland had had on me.
I know this blog entry may well sound terribly melodramatic, some may even say pretentious. And many have described Sigur Ros themselves as pretentious. But for me, pretentiousness as a concept no longer exists. And if it does, there is no way Sigur Ros can be described in this vein. Seeing the band change from lighthearted to intense and back to lighthearted was amazing. They literally went in a matter of just a minute from amazing musicians pouring their souls into intense well orchestrated music, to just a regular group of guys. You could see genuine sincerity on their faces. Jonsi smiled. They all smiled.
You can't help but get the impression that they are completely unpretentious. They happen to have an avant-garde way of approaching many aspects of being musicians, but that is in no way a bad thing. Sometimes I think it's words like pretentious, and over ambitious, which damage the true spirit of being an artist. Yes, I'm sure some bands can be very pretentious, and I find quite a lot of art to, not necessarily be prententious, but I find that I just don't understand how it works or what it's message is, and if I can't appreciate it on a superficial level, it has no meaning to me. Sigur Ros always had superficial meaning because their music was so beautiful. They now have a much deeper meaning to me. They have opened my eyes to the undying connection between music and the emotions which inspired its creation. I'm not sure what emotion inspired "The Pop Song", but my guess is it was a pretty powerful one.
In hindsight, this concert is perhaps a turning point. A night which deepened my understanding of the art form which in the past year or so has become my passion, and possibly my life's obsession. While I still maintain that Thrice are my favourite band, on this night, Sigur Ros were untouchable. I have only been to two concerts, but unless something special comes along, I don't see it being topped any time soon. I wouldn't want to describe the evening as perfect, because it wasn't. Perhaps no gig can be perfect for me due to the amount of discomfort involved in being in a hot crowded room full of strangers. And in truth, perhaps I would have appreciated the concert more if I had spent more time with their other albums. And yes, the concert would have been even better if they played "Staralfur". But none of this matters, because on this night, Sigur Ros blew my mind. They may even have changed my life. I thank them for that, and I thank you for reading. | | Tags: Sigur Ros, live |
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| | Road Trip |
| I'm off to Bournemouth now to go see Sigur Ros. Hella excited. Should be some damn good times. | | Tags: Sigur Ros, live |
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