Neon sucks, dude.

We have all seen kids wearing these obnoxious shirts. You, like me, probably have one or two friends who wear them. Can someone please explain why these are so popular to me? Are they meant to be ironic or something? Maybe they think wearing bright colors will gain them more attention? I mean, I own a purple t-shirt, but it's plain. It doesn't have words spilled across it talking about dancing or some other stupid phrase about rock n' roll.



If I remember correctly, the first time I saw these shirts gaining popularity was due to the band Hellogoodbye. They always wore bright shirts with silly childish cartoons on them. At the time it seemed funny. As if they were mocking how seriously people take thier clothing. But in all actuality they may have helped spawn a ridiculous fashion trend. These shirts are basically the "scene", "emo", "hipster",or whatever stupid word you would like, version of Affliction or Tapout shirts. Both incredibly horrible fashion choices. Don't even get me started on the super busy print hoodies that kids are wearing these days.

God I feel old.

Essential Listening

Northstar - "For Members Only"


Down To Earth Approach - "See You"


Hot Rod Circuit - "The Pharmacist"

I had a dream... But that was a long time ago...

For some reason when people talk about their dreams I would always tell them that I never remember mine. I tell them this as if it would make me more interesting or something. I don't have any reasoning behind that, I'm just strange. But more than likely it's because I really don't care about other people's dreams. Why should we? A wise man once said, "Dreams are like pictures. If I'm not in them, or nobody is having sex, then I don't care. Stop talking to me about it.". I agree with that, as I'm sure most of us do. Some people just act as if they are interested.



The truth of the matter is that I actually do have a hard time remembering my dreams. I can recall them for the first 5 minutes that I am awake, but after that I forget. But as of late, I am remembering more. I have noticed that a specific person keeps making appearances in my dreams. Sometimes I wake up mad at that person for what they did during my slumber. I wish it wasn't happening because when I see this person in real life, I remember what they were doing in my dreams. So of course, I did what any logical person would do. I looked up the word "dreams" at a very reliable source. Wikipedia! Basically wikipedia explained to me that obviously this person is planning to murder me and that I must murder said person first if I want any chance of survival. So... basically, if you don't see me or hear from me me in the next few days, or maybe ever again, know that you didn't do anything.

So now that we know Wikipedia is relatable to a backseat driver, we can assume they will offer us no real help. So I turned to Google, as if thinking this would be any more helpful. Turns out it was, and this is what I found out...

THEY ARE JUST DREAMS!!!

If you are stupid and can't figure it out, this entire post has been largly sarcastic.

When you are asleep you are using a completely different part of your brain than when you are conscious. Now, the people who are on your mind, or even not on your mind at all are likely to pop up in your dreams... why wouldn't they? You subconsciously remember people. Just like you subconsciously remember what a hot air balloon is and suddenly you are riding in one on your way to Oz with Randy Savage, Oprah and the dad from The Wonder Years. Randomness will pop in and out of your dreams. Buying in to any hocus pocus is your buisness, but what good is it going to do? Sure dreaming that your teeth falling out supposedly means that you have insecurities, but it's not like that dream suddenly cracked someones case of what's wrong with their life. Everyone is insecure about something and everyone knows that. Interpreting your dreams is like trying to figure out an ending to a movie. Sure, it might be interesting to attempt, but at the end of the day it's not real. They are not giving you any knowledge to help you in your real life. If any of this is making you mad, see the second paragraph of my first post.

P.S. I didn't really murder anybody.

Pop Punk

One of these videos is an example of what pop punk should be. The other is an example of how bro poser dudes rip off good bands.

Valencia - Safe To Say


City Lights - (who cares)

WTF...

What you are looking at above is a picture of one of the biggest bands in music today. Thier name is Tokio Hotel, which doesn't really matter, nor does thier music (which is unspeakably bad). The only reason this band has garnered any success is solely because of how they look. For some reason a 13 year old girl looks at a picture like the one above and thinks to herself "I can get on board with that...".

Now artists becoming superstars because of thier looks isn't anything new by any means. But never in history has good music been put completely on the back burner. Look at a guy like Ryan Adams. He has been putting out solid music for nearly a decade and he is considered by most people to be "indie". Since when is rock and roll indie? It's like as soon as people notice that they aren't hearing an over-produced record, then it must be indie, right? Ryan Adams, like many other bands/artists should be just has huge as all these fake, manufactured pop acts. There once was a time that might have been possible. But those times are long gone. Imagine if David Bowie, Genesis, Elton John or even Bruce Springsteen were to debut in this decade. First of all, that wouldn't happen. They would be turned away from major labels because their not 18 and marketable to 12 year olds. Indie labels would take them because they would notice how great thier songwriting was. Then guess what? They would now be viewed as indie bands! See how it works??

If you would like to check out some artists that should get more recognition, then watch the videos.

Colour Revolt - Mattresses Underwater


The Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations


Augustana - I Still Ain't Over You

Your favorite movie ever is over rated.

Well, it looks like this is going to be my first blog. As I'm writing this it kind of feels like I'm wearing that shirt for the first time. You know, the shirt that you think is really awesome but you are not sure if your friends will like it and/or call you gay for wearing it. We all have one, or in my case, a few.

Anyways, welcome to my blog.

I've been told that I am the type of person who thinks he is always right. It's not that I am disagreeing with this, I just see it differently. Thinking you are right, and needing to be right all the time are completely different things. If someone puts me in my place, I'll be the first to admit it. But, yes, by nature I think my opinions on film and music or anything else are valid and educated critiques. Maybe I'm just pompous?

On that note, I have a few things I would like to say about a recent movie.

"The Dark Knight" is one of the most over-rated films of our generation. Boom. That being said, I think it is a great movie. Not one time during the whole movie was I bored. The movie was genuinly entertaining throughout it's whole duration. Yet, I definitely don't think it should be praised as much as it has. People hyped up this movie for so long, myself included. Then as soon as they saw it, and it turned out to be an awesome movie, people's brains stopped working and started calling it the best movie in 10 years and other illogical things like that. Now, normally when a movie has so much hype like this (i.e. Cloverfield) not everyone leaves the theatre loving the film. Tons of hype leads to tons of expectations. With "TDK" we already knew who all the characters were. And for that reason there was very little speculation on whether the film would meet expectations. Anyone who was excited to see the film was almost guranteed to not be let down. And lets not forget the main reason the movie was hyped up so big. Heath Ledger. Everyone already knows that argument so I wont bother explaining it. All I'm saying is yes, this is a very entertaining movie. I purchased the damn DVD. Should it top anyone's 'Best Movies Of All Time' list? No way. It's sad that people think very generally when it comes to films.

Another movie that blows me away by how much people praise it is "Seven Pounds". I knew the ending within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Now, most movies we already know the ending before we see it. At least we have a good idea. They fall in love, they die, the dog dies, Patrick Swayze goes to heaven, ect. But this is one of those movies that prides itself in having a "twist". There was no such twist to this.



Another thing wrong with this movie was Will Smith's facial expressions. What the hell was the director thinking by letting him make that stupid face for at least 3/4 of his camera time. I have never seen an actor fake emotion so poorly in my life. Yet, Will Smith is a "great actor!", right? Maybe in "Ali", but that's about it.