Marooned

Watchmen Exclusive

Too bad it will probably never come out now.

The Gradual Descent Into A Life I Never Meant

Rilo Kiley, Ripchord
More Adventurous (2004)

pull the ripchord
the ship has lost its sail
your mama's got a new man
your daddy always fails
and you're eating again
at them
'cause nobody loves you

and even fancy things
have finally lost their charm
wine and diamond rings
they never get you anymore
you're sleeping again
alone
'cause nobody loves you

oooh
they should have seen you
should have known you
should have known what it was like
to be you

so come on kid
look at what you did
I don't know if you meant it
but you did yourself in
and I was even having a good day
when I found out we lost you

oooh
she said it was in the singing and the strumming
oh man I even saw it coming....

My Biggest Influence

If I were a good person, I'd say it was God.

If I were a bad person, I'd say it was the Devil.

But I'm just a relatively honest person, so...

 

Two Thousand Gr8

So I guess that's pretty much it for 2008. Here's a list of some of the better stuff I rocked to this year. Normally I think I'd try to rank these, but there's only one number one and pretty much everything else would be an honorable mention in comparison. But anyway, here goes, in no particular order (except for Numero Uno at the end)...

Guns N' Roses ~ Chinese Democracy

Better

Gn'R is the only band I have ever slept out to see live. I think it was 1992ish, and they were on the Use Your Illusion tour. It changed my life. The release of Chinese Democracy didn't, although after 17 years, I honestly expected it to. But it's still pretty good. Just as Gn'R were light years ahead of, say, Poison, they're still way ahead of the curve compared to piss rock bands like Nickelback or Hinder or whoever is passing as a "rock" band today. It's missing Slash, though. Slash and Axl and that chemical tension between them...rawk GAWDS, man. But yeah, it's mostly not bad at all, and even if it sucked, it would deserve to be on my 2008 list just because, as neo-hipster icon Chuck Klosterman said, it exists.

Portishead ~ Third

We Carry On

So yeah, I like Guns N' Roses, and it was a long wait for Chinese Democracy. But it's also been 11 years since Portishead's last album, and if you ask me who's made the most of the time, I'd tell you Portishead. Hands down. The album is a capital MF Mind Fudge. This song in particular is equal parts terror and turn-on. Made for buzzes.

The Black Angels ~ Directions to See a Ghost

You on the Run

The title is somewhat literal...listen to this straight through in the right frame of mind, and you'll see spirits. Hypnotic, psychedelic drone rock. Perfect for Saturday nights when you can't stay awake but can't get to sleep. And you know, it's kind of scary. Like--well, just listen to it. You'll see what I mean. Saw these guys live twice this year. The bomb.

The Dandy Warhols ~ ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols...

Now You Love Me

This is one of my favorite bands, mostly because their first three albums blew me away. Then they had a couple of duds, but I guess shit happens. While I don't think I could say that this one displaces any of their first three, it's a return to form and is better than Odditorium, and way better than Welcome to the Monkey House. The Dandy Warhols ride this fine line between AM pop and transfixing psychedelia. This album kind of splits the two apart and you can pick your poison.

My Morning Jacket ~ Evil Urges

Highly Suspicious

Sounds like 60's hippies and 70's hip-hoppers gettin' together, smokin' weed and kickin' out smoove jams. No matter what you're expecting to hear, it's not what you'll get.

Dr. Dog ~ Fate

The Ark

Who the eff-you-see-kay are these guys? And where do these kinds of songs come from?

When my little brother Ben gave me two of Dr. Dog's CDs a year or so ago, that's what I kept asking myself. By the time I bought Fate, I learned that there's no point to asking...just listen and let these guys and their songs happen.

Kings of Leon ~ Only by the Night

Closer

When these guys first came out, I heard nothing but good about them, so I picked up Youth & Young Manhood. It was good--not great, but good. Then Aha Shake Heartbreak came out, and again, it was solid good, in almost exactly the same way. When Because of the Times came out, I heard a few songs, and said to myself, "Man, this sounds exactly like their first two albums, which I already own. Why do I need to buy these songs again?" So I didn't, and kind of let Kings of Leon fall off my radar.

But then I started hearing a slow burn about Only by the Night. I told myself I wouldn't bother, but then I heard "Sex on Fire" on the radio, and it sure as hell hadn't been on any other Kings of Leon CD. Amazon had a thing where I could download the whole album for five bucks, so I did it, and I haven't stopped listening to it.

I really want to know what the hell happened to these guys that made them explode into this fertile new ground of rock and roll ass kickery (I'm biased, but I can't help but wonder if touring with BRMC was a factor). It's still bluesy, rootsy rock, but there's this weird, almost melancholy vibe to the whole thing. Just a great recording, and definitely the year's nicest surprise. I feel bad that I didn't pay full price for it.

TV on the Radio ~ Dear Science

DLZ

Here's one that knocked my socks off. I was late to the "TV on the Radio Is Cool Party," and only picked up Return to Cookie Mountain last year. At first I didn't get what the big deal was, but then during one of my fairly regular insomnia inspired iPod all-nighters I listened to it over and over and kind of let it work its way into my brain. Then I got Dear Science when it came out, and my brain had been sort of prepared. It's both primal and progressive. Really, really good.

NUMBER ONE

Black Mountain ~ In The Future

Angels

Remember that one night when you were tripping on white blotter and Sunny Delight, and then on the drive home your friend hot boxed you and you couldn't walk, so he pulled you out of the car and you went into his house and it all started all over again when you got into his mom's bottle of rum? Of course you don't. But this album was the soundtrack to that night. Check out this live performance of Queens Will Play and tell me I'm wrong:

Can't get enough, can you? Me neither. Here's Wucan:

Want more? Then go buy the CD. I promise you, you won't be disappointed, because not only was it the first kick ass album of the year, it was the last. By far the best thing that came out in 2008.

To Know the Sweet, You Must Taste the Bitter.

Here is a video for the song "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" by Radiohead, one of the best bands in the world:

To know how good it is, you must descend beneath all things, to the nadir of all existence.

Fortress of Solitude

Bad Religion, Bored and Extremely Dangerous
The Process of Belief (2002)

For the past several months, I've been working on finishing my basement. By "I" I mean mostly my dad. I couldn't have gotten anywhere without him.

Anyway, it's all but finished now. One of the rooms is my "office," which I am going to call my Fortress of Solitude. It is where I will work extra hard and be super productive...

...at dinking around with the crapload of toys I've accumulated in my state of arrested emotional development.

I'm still unpacking the Star Wars stuff, which comprises the vast majority of crap I've got, but I've got the Joes squared away. Check it out:



My Pa made that desk by hand, except for the handles. I put them on; that's why they're crooked. You can also see my big Jedi Mickey statue, which is probably my favorite thing I have in my collection. His lightsaber really turns on.

Here's the Joes on the shelf:


That stupid radioactive canister of Snake Eyes' keeps falling down. It's a pain. Maybe Junkyard will pee on it. If you look behind Mutt, all those guys are different versions of Snake Eyes. He's my favorite good guy and I'm pretty sure I have all the versions of him.



Of course you know, these guys star in their own photonovels. Now that they have their own shelf and have moved out of the Zip-Loc bag they used to live in, their crap won't get lost as much and I can start cranking out some more episodes a little quicker. You can see Airborne in this pic. He's my most recent acquisition. Expect to see him in a featured role very soon....



I kind of didn't know how many I had. I had to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't have room to display the vehicles, but the guys took up more space than I thought.  I am actually kind of hoping they won't make too many more figures, because that shelf is all I've got to allocate to the Joes.

Except for Blowtorch. I need Blowtorch.



Here's some of the COBRAs. I bought about a thousand COBRA troopers and thought it would look kick ass when I had them all lined up. But no room. So watch for them to all be slaughtered in the next episode.



These guys look kind of crappy. I think I will need to repose them several times.



And off to the side you can see Zartan and his nefarious Dreadnoks. Zartan's my favorite bad guy. There's another version of him out there, but I don't have it.

Yet.

Damn it.