Oddities, Ends, and Sounds: Part 1: Reverse Hibernation?

Oh my god -- remember Saved By the Bell: The College Years?!!?

Hey there, it’s been quite a minute since we’ve talked…while I’ve still been floating a bunch of ideas around my head about interesting things to write about, lately it’s been kind of the “Oh, hey…that’s pretty cool — I should write something about that…later…” mentality, in which “later” somehow conjures up a few extra and less letters to form “never.”  I’ve had a lot on my mind, though…[cue Saved by the Bell dream sequence music]

Oddities:

• Heroes Season 3, “Villains” — You know, I kind of enjoyed Heroes Season 1.  And fuck it — I even tuned in every week to watch the mediocrity of Season 2, but this show has turned into a damn mess — a conglomeration of attempted “Oh, Shit!” moments without the “Oh, Shit!” factor to them.  In a way, it’s sad — the show is starting to beef up backstories and mythology (somewhat), but it’s performed in a way where it’s blatently obvious the new team of writers are just pulling plot-lines out of a hat on a week-to-week basis.  Say what you will about Lost, but at least you can go back to previous seasons and learn more based off newer episodes.  And seriously, what is up with Ali Larter still on the show?  Maybe all of the “Oh, Shit!” moments are catered directly to the baffled set of writers mumbling to themselves “oh…shit…what are we gonna do now?”

Ends:

• Blogging about my blog?  Laaame!: You know, I never really liked the term “Odds and Ends.”  But it’s a direction I want to go with this blog…a way of clearing a lot of the racing thoughts running through my head that I let stress me out way too much.  If you “know me” in real life, I keep a lot of stuff in, suppressing it — I like to think of it as my way of concentrating the good things in life and backstocking the bad ones.  Writing has always been sort of been a therapeutic means of self-medicating for me, and hey, since we’ve last talked (4 months ago) I’ve been feeling like a bit of a mess…go figure.
• It’s fun…it’s easy!: …and let’s face it, writing short lists, ideas, and random thoughts is a super relaxed way for me to keep myself busy with writing.
• On the not-so-lighthearted note: Yesterday I found out my Uncle is on his death bed…yet again.  The past year has been a constant struggle for him and my family…and I’m not really sure how to feel/deal with this.  I’ve never known anybody that’s passed away before…and worse yet I feel I barely even knew him.  To be honest, it’s only really starting to feel real as I’m writing this…I remember last time I really spoke to him I was just an ignorant little kid…and now, well, I hope that’s changed, but we’ve never been “close” as growing up hundreds of miles away there was never the opportunity for that.   What I’m worried about most is how my Dad is going to take it…my brothers and I are so close…I can’t even imagine losing my dog, let alone someone I shared a childhood with.

Sounds:

• I’ve got a lot to say about music, but we’ll start that discussion up next time we talk.  In the mean time, here’s a short list of songs I’ve been playing the living hell out of lately:

1. Say Anything – “Thoughts on a Liberal Education”
2. Young Jeezy – “Trap or Die”
3. Manchester Orchestra – “Where Have You Been”
4. Gucci Mane – “Aw, Man”
5. Daath – “Sharpen the Blades”

The End of an Era (Of Sorts?)

So, I’ve had this post in various drafts for quite a while now. It’s not nearly as fleshed out as I wanted it to be — I think I had some kind of analogetic relationship between one of those lizards that run on water, and …well, not running on water, but that’s kind of lost. So take in this picture and think what could have been. Now, onto the post…

I hate to delve too deeply into personal garbage, but holy crap did Summer go by way too fast. The first week back to school is through, and to be honest, it feels damn nice to finally have a goal to work towards once again. Though, I won’t lie — the past month or two have been gracious enough to grant me with some of the more entertaining, significant, and fun moments in recent memory — it’s tough to put into words, but things feel so much different lately (in a good way).

If you’ve kept up with this blog (and really, who hasn’t?!!) you’d know that most of my “writing” background is primarily videogame-based, but I haven’t really been able to pick up a controller long enough to extract any entertainment value out of it lately. I’ve always had this strange sort of semi-obsessive-compulsive reaction to adapting to hobbies, in which I seemingly surround myself in a bubble of culture. For the longest time it was skateboarding, which eventually moved to guitar, to videogames, and now I’m sort of at a crossroads between music and once again, guitar. The former of which I’ve discussed a few months ago.

Music…yeah — I can’t really seem to get enough of it lately. I’m at the point where my music consumption is increasing faster than I can accumulate it, and there’s always that one “new” band out there to fall in love with. Presently, it’s The Raconteurs and their latest album Consolers of the Lonely, which is reverberating quite well with the kind of bluesy guitar sound that made me pick up an instrument in the first place. I’ve always been able to say I liked The White Stripes, but they never completely clicked with me — for the most part, The Raconteurs settle most of my differences I had with Jack White’s prior efforts.

And maybe I’ve been staling out on the rock genre lately, but I’ve found myself listening to quite a bit of rap lately…and significantly enjoying the crap out of it. Lil Wayne is downright terrible for the most part — but I’m not really sure how many times I’ve listened to the awesomely-produced “A Milli” or Jay Z-cameoed “Mr. Carter” (OK, I am sure — and it’s way too many!). Maybe it’s that the lyrics are intentionally ridiculous and that’s always been something hilarious enough to keep me listening — I still to this day listen to one of “Weezy’s” first collaborations, The Big Tymers…and it’s still fucking incredible.

Oh yeah, and Say Anything. They’re (in my opinion) damn amazing. They’ve been pretty much the sole focus of my guitar playing, and singer-songwriter Max Bemis‘ lyrics are fairly often floating through my head. They’re not for everybody, but I’ve always been a fan of the written word (surprise!) and the density of Bemis’ lyrics keep me coming back to Say Anything daily.

In the end, I’m not really sure where I’ll end up in the whole writing game — whether I jump back into the “games journalism” bandwagon or not — but writing in some capacity is still definitely on the agenda. I know I’m hardly the first “writer” to ever say this, but I tend to immediately hate everything I post not long after I hit the temporarily-gratifying “Publish” button next to a post. That Say Anything post? It feels embarrassing already…but it’s fine. If anything it’ll be a reference point in the future when I (hopefully) write something I feel a little more proud about. I’ve really been into music and movie journalism lately, and I’d like to explore that avenue a little bit more in the coming months, so keep an eye out for that.

Speaking of the written word (well, not really), I’ve found it pretty interesting to check out how a lot (and by that I mean very few) of people end up here. WordPress has this handy blog stat feature that takes into account what users search for on, well, search engines to get here. It’s pretty cool flattering interesting to know that I, or more likely, some other Devin Grimes is Google-worthy, if only on an extremely small scale. I try to remain as interesting of a person as possible, and I’m sure that if you know me “in real life,” you’ll see my writing voice is a little different than my spoken one — but yeah, enjoy. I now leave you with some words of wisdom:

Damn, I hate a shy Bitch
Don’t you hate a shy bitch?
Yeah, I ate a shy bitch
She ain’t shy no more
She changed her name to My bitch
Yea nigga, that’s my bitch
So when she ask for the Money
When you through
Don’t be surprised bitch
And it ain’t trickin if u got it
But u like a bitch with no ass
You ain’t got shit

Preview // Say Anything – Ahhhh…Men

I’ll just come out and say it: Say Anything’s 2004 release …Is a Real Boy may just be one of my top albums of all time.  The combination of singer/songwriter Max Bemis’ exponentially deep lyrics, clever guitar arrangements, and melancholy message throughout each song make you think, while still maintaining the memorable hooks and choruses seen in the “radio rock” scene of today.  And then there’s the live acoustic performances with Bemis practically pouring out his soul to anyone that will listen — something which really made Say Anything “click” with me.

In a recent show at Anaheim’s Chain Reaction, we got to learn a little more about the band’s upcoming record, currently titled This is Forever, with Bemis stating, “I’ve written the whole thing.  It’s done, it’s gonna be recorded, and it’s gonna come out,” before treating fans to “Ahhhh…men,” a (so far) acoustically-driven song from the new album that he describes as “the weirdest song on the record.”

Unlike last year’s In Defense of the Genre — a record many fans see as a side-step for the band — “Ahhhh…men” feels like more of a return to form for Bemis.  Reminiscent of the slower paced “Walk Through Hell” and “I Want to Know Your Plans,” the version out there on “the internets” is goosebump-worthy in the emotional touch on display — of course, it’s Say Anything, so the song kicks off as sly and humorous as ever, with the opening lines:

Staring out the window of our tour bus
And it’s just the horny driver and us
We sit and trade wit, and smoke and we cuss
Talking about our friendly border drug bust
And i know the future’s cloudy and gray
Record like mine, give up or go gay

Packed with metaphor, and a rather simplistic, yet effective acoustic guitar arrangement, Bemis closes the song, painting a picture that only his closing comments to the audience can describe, stating “that was amazing.”

There’s a crack in the edge at the end of the world
Where I will sit with my love in this fluorescent swirl
Eat us up, break it down to the tiniest cell
In our room with a view and a window to hell
Where the room with the bodies will display what they’ve done
And march through museums that repel what they’ve done
And shot up through the sky by a cannon of sin
Who will reluctantly let them in

“Ahhhh…Men” has already become an instant favorite on my iPod, and shows a lot of promise for the rest of This is Forever.  So far, the only versions of the song that exist are from live shows, but assuming the album version doesn’t get too over-produced or severely altered, and with Bemis displaying some of his strongest songwriting chops yet, things are looking very promising for the future of the band.

Pardon Me…

…while I clean up this mess of a blog.  I’ve never been 100% comfortable with how “typical” things look around here, and I still hate the fact that I haven’t actually bought a real domain, but hopefully things should start to clean up within the next few weeks.  Also: I’ve been continuing the headings into the actual blog entry way too often — pretty lame.

Also: Dino Riders.

How Did Rap Music Go From This…

To This:

(sorry, cannot find an embeddable version — click through to the YouTube Page)

Flipping through BET today (lol), G-Unit’s new video for “Rider Pt. 2″ made me think of a few things:

• Why has auto-tuning become so damn popular lately? Seriously. It was cool when 2 Pac came out with “California Love”…what, 13 years ago.
• Granted it’s probably not the version the ringtone rap-loving crowd listens to, but what’s the point of even putting this song on TV in an edited form? Yeah, that “chorus” that 50 keeps reiterating sure is memorable…
• WHY THE HELL AM I WATCHING BET.

In all seriousness, maybe the rap industry isn’t doomed: