Exhausted @ Disneyland

My girlfriend's birthday was this weekend. Spent 11 hours at Disneyland yesterday (mostly California Adventure but whatever) and can no longer feel my legs. Had fun though. We went out with friends the night before and the time change successfully kicked my ass as well.

where nothing can possi-blye go wrong

I hadn't been to Disneyland in over a year so I was stoked to finally get on the new Star Tours 3D ride. It was sweet. We went on that and Soarin' Over California twice. Also did Tower of Terror, California Screamin', Toy Story Midway, Big Thunder Mountain, and saw the World of Color show. Did I mention I'm TIRED? We have annual passes again now so my aching feet will probably be back in Anaheim before I know what hit me.


The force is strong with this ride...

I got TAGGED

So Ms. Jas from Smile Big and Pretty tagged me in one of those blogger questioner/survey things. Here is how the setup works:

So here are 11 random facts about myself:

1) As a kid I was so geeky I could identify all of my X-MEN/Marvel action figures with my eyes closed, solely by touch.
2) The first 10 seasons of The Simpsons is like my Bible. I turn to them for strength in times of need, and can quote dialogue like scripture.
3) I'm in my mid-twenties (soon to be late twenties =/ ) but people still think I'm 19, despite the fact that:
4) I have a crap load of grey hair.
5) I'm a fairly liberal/progressive guy but have a general disdain for both Democrats and Republicans that run/ruin these United States of America.
6) Once I get my head out of my ass, I want to attend film school.
7) I hate spiders.
8) I love doughnuts & Haribo gummy bears.
9) I don't drink or do drugs. Never have, hopefully, never will.
10) Even though I'm nice and brown, I cannot speak a lick of Spanish.
11) I can run four rows seven consistently without getting snowed ( I don't expect anyone to get that but if you do, "Right On").

Am I cool or what?

So here's what Jas wanted to know:
1. What was a moment in your life where you truly felt you were cheated?
When I first needed glasses and all my other friends didn't. Damn you genetics!

2. Do you get along with your parents?
Yes. They annoy me at times as I'm sure I do them but they're my parents..what r ya gonna do? Sometimes, I feel like I'm their parent though. Hence my grey hairs.

3. How did you get along with others as a child?
I always liked playing and goofing off with other kids except I sucked at sports and I'm an only child so, sometimes I liked just chilling alone.

4. Any particularly interesting habits you do when you are bored?
Workout. Like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

5. Do you have any good impressions? Of who?
Apparently I'm quite good and mimicking my boss and most of my co-workers. I get so bored at work sometimes I start to notice all the weird little things everyone else does and BAM. Impressions are born.

6. Favorite movie - why?
For the longest time it was Taxi Driver (at first because of typical awkward teenage angst/alienation stuff but then because Scorsese is the man) but ever since 2007 it's There Will Be Blood. Why? Three words: Paul. Thomas. Anderson.

7. Have you ever found yourself obsessing over characters in your favorite books/films?
Yes. All the time. I've already done it in this post! Sometimes I doubt if there is an actual "me," and if I'm not just a hodgepodge of random quotes and trivia trapped in flesh.

8. Most audacious thing you have done to date. Go.
This sounds retarded but it's the first thing that came to mind. Nineteen (maybe twenty) year old me went skinny dipping with some girl on a cold winter night because she dared me. Forgot to take off my glasses when we jumped in (checking her out...duh). Long story short, I got sick and started wearing contact lenses afterward.

9. You notice a child being picked on in elementary school. It is your time to be that cool grown up to give advice/help out. What do you say/do?
Tell that poor kid that although it may seem like the end of the world for them now, all the petty crap that goes on in school doesn't matter and their bullies/tormentors will probably grow up to have miserable lives anyways, so jokes on them.

10. Have you ever taken the blame for someone else's fart to save them from embarrassment?
No. I wish someone would have done that for me though during silent reading in 1st grade. I laugh about it now though.

11. What was the first time that you felt truly special?
Scoring 1 million points in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 using Darth Maul (secret character unlocked baby!) in the Airport level. Pretty rad if I say so myself. haha.


Welp, it's my turn to ask some questions.
1. What part of the country/world are you from and do you like it's weather?
2. If you could spend a week anywhere on Earth, where would you go?
3. What's your favorite film- why?
4. Which celebrity/athlete/world leader would you like to meet (first name that pops in your head!)?
5) Monster truck or Mini Cooper?
6) What was your worst subject in school?
7) If you could transform your favorite hobby/pastime into a career, you'd be a professional what?
8) You wake up tomorrow and discover you've suddenly become a pro wrestler...what's your theme song/entrance music going to be?
9) Opinions on nationalism?
10) How do you kill time whenever there's a power outage?
11) Jesus VS Darth Vader...who wins the battle of the midi-chlorians?!

Please keep in mind that you aren't obligated to respond /participate in this little game. Hell, I wasn't even sure If I would! Either way:

D4, Angry Lurker, Anne, Matthew, Pat Hatt, Bloggerati, Tsaritsa, .. Me and My Thinking Cap, Zombies Everywhere, My 2 Pesos and Clique (if you've got available internet) as well as Jas herself;

have at it. You could answer below in the comments if it's easier.

Later.

DrumTHRONE: John Longstreth

The Aftermath

John Longstreth is the king of death metal drumming. I'd use more encapsulating terms like "extreme music" or what have you but according to this post on moderndrummer, he hates that. Either way, John is the end all, be all of this shit plain and simple. Speed, precision, technical chops, groove and originality, the man is unstoppable behind the kit and worst of all...he makes it all look so damned easy.

Longstreth's primary focus these days is his band Origin. He's also a member of Gorguts and Dim Mak and has previously worked with Angelcorpse and Skinless. It's ironic that I first became aware of Longstreth's playing in the mid 2000's when Origin's album Echoes of Decimation was coming out and it was during this period that Longstreth had actually quit the band. All the hype for their new release and hearing about "gravity blasts" every 5 seconds made me curious what the hell Origin was so I checked out their previous album and was exposed to Longstreth's insane playing.

John was one of the first metal drummers to incorporate "the free hand technique" (a one handed drum roll explained HERE by Johnny Rabb) into his blast beat repertoire and helped pioneer the gravity blast:

Perhaps the most inspiring/frightening thing about Longstreth is his versatility. Sure, he can just rip through insane double bass speeds and gravity blast until the cows come home if he wanted, but in recent years, John has begun incorporating all the more grooves into his playing. Origin's last two albums are chock-full all sorts of tasty latin/jazz inspired rolls and ride cymbal attacks. Not to mention, the typewriter from hell double bass playing. Yes it seems that with every new album John is somehow getting faster and faster. This is probably due to him constantly challenging himself. Longstreth never seems to settle and is always changing things up behind the kit. Like literally always changing his drum setup on every tour. He has also pioneered yet another technique that is bound to shake up the extreme mu....er, death metal drumming world: his double stroke foot technique.

Here's an old video of John playing with Origin 6 years ago:

notice his tilted snare drum and odd looking posture. This was when John played heels down and needed all that space to leverage his body into hitting those speeds.

Flash forward to 2008 and Longstreth ditches his unique heels down approach and now plays double strokes with his feet (RR LL). Not heel toe, or slide or swivel, straight up double strokes. I remember seeing Origin in 2010 and standing directly to the side of Longstreth. I'd never seen anything like his double strokes before.


So there it is. John Longstreth, my favorite death metal drummer...and not just because I caught one of his drum sticks @ 2009's Summer Slaughter tour either =p

*BONUS LONGSTRETH OVERDOSE CLIP*

Chicks with Drums: Fumie

found this girl on youtube the other night. All I know is that she's Japanese, likes metal, and tears up the drums! Here she is nailing this Children of Bodom song. Too bad she hasn't updated her channel in over a year. Oh wells.

under-covers: Tommy James & The Shondells / Joan Jett & The Black Hearts

Perhaps, one of the greatest guilty pleasures in my life: the perverse enjoyment I get listening to musicians covering other artist's songs. The weirder the cover, the better! It doesn't matter how awkward or horrible the quality (shitty cell phone video, I'm looking at you), I'm an absolute sucker for this stuff. Here's the latest installment of "under-covers."

Today we head back to the 1960's and feature one of the greatest pop songs ever written with Tommy James & The Shondells' classic tune, "Crimson and Clover."

How could you not love that song? It's so ethereal and spacey, almost trance inducing. The guitars echo in your mind while Tommy James' voice haunts you till the end of days. The whole package is so sweet and saccharine I swear I get a tooth ache every time I hear it yet cannot stop pushing replay.

Now we come to the sexiest woman in the history of music (period), the one and only, Joan Jett. She and her merry men of black-hearted musicians add some serious UMPH to this song. Beefing up the guitars and injecting Joan's snarly attitude all over it's DNA. Still, her voice remains pleasant and dare I say soft throughout, well as soft as Joan Jett can get I suppose. Here it is: 

*SWOONS*
I don't care if she's in her 50's and could kick my ass. Joan Jett...you had me at hello.
Don't you love how Tommy James sounds more feminine than Joan does?

I honestly can't choose between these two versions. Let's just play it safe and assume that any version of "Crimson and Clover," hell...even any reference to it (hello there Jimmy Eat World's "A Praise Chorus") is going to rule.

What do you kids think?