Tag Archives: Article

Random thoughts and asides

Posted on by
1

By Jeff:

Welcome to your written version of Thumpin’ Thursday – the first in a long time.

I have been at the University of New Haven during this week, and am taking a course to teach the Saturday program I taught this past year (and will hopefully be teaching this year).  The training program has some obvious positives.  #1, I get fed breakfast and lunch (and if I stayed late enough, dinner).  #2, I get to work with some awesome people that I have worked with for the past year, including two teachers that also teach at my school.  #3, I get to learn something new, which I always enjoy.  And #4, the training staff treats us very well and goes out of their way to make sure  everyone is as happy as can be (There is a 5th perk, but you’ll have to ask me about that in person).

However, there are some drawbacks.  The first and most important is it takes a HUGE chunk out of the day, and consequently the week.  The training is 2 weeks long, five days a week from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  It’s technically a bit longer than that since breakfast opens at 7:15 a.m.  It is in New Haven, which is about a 30 minute commute for me.  That means that if I want to eat a (actually great tasting) hot breakfast, I have to leave the house at 6:45-7 a.m…in the summer…where i’m supposed to be recharging after a tough school year.  Again, there’s another drawback but you’ll have to ask me about that in person.

Because of this, I failed at planning ahead far enough to select another line of songs to cover for the site, and therefore I do not have a new video to debut this evening.  I do plan on recording a few videos in advance on Sunday, since I will be elsewhere for most of Saturday.

So, to tide you over, I mind as well enlighten you on some recent things.

I finally finished off my George Carlin DVD collection.  I am the very happy owner of all his HBO specials after I ordered “Complaints & Grievances”, “Life is Worth Losing”, and “It’s Bad For Ya”.  This comedian is my favorite of all time.  Hands down, no contest.  He was funny when I hear or see his routines from the 60’s, and he was funny and enlightening in 2008 when he debuted what would be is final HBO special.  Ever since I got interested in his material, I always said to myself “I hope he comes out with some new stuff soon”.  And he did.  Books, CDs, and DVDs.  I myself was a sucker for the DVDs because seeing him perform is half the fun.  I was also fortunate enough to go see him in concert at Jorgensen at UConn when I was a student.  As usual, he was his old hilarious self, but I found it rude that the crowd wanted him to perform older routines instead.  George is well known for his critiques and observations of the English language, and I recall one thing I heard on my shuffled Ipod today “If you have 24 odds & ends on a table and 23 of ’em fall off, what do you got – an odd or an end?”.  He did lean more towards social issues, but continued his usual goofy antics all the way to his death.  I do miss the guy, but i’m glad that he has helped me laugh quite a bit for the past 15 or so years.

I still play Final Fantasy XI periodically (not much this week due to aforementioned training), and I recently applied to something called a HNM shell (High Notorious Monster).  The object of these groups is to seek out the biggest and baddest monsters in the entire game and take ’em down.  Most of the fights require 12-18 people, and they are pretty tough on their standards for acceptance.  My character has 3 leveled jobs, and they took a long time to gear to where they are now.  They still want me to get a few more pieces before I would be considered accepted.  I am going to hopefully get one of them tomorrow late at night (as a reward for getting through week #1 of training I guess).  The trouble is the rate it drops is about 30%, and we are fighting it up to 6 times.  My friend in game is also after this same item so we’re hoping our luck is good for the run.

I’m also resistant on getting a Twitter account.  Jim and Chris will have to convince me.  Until they do, I have to say no thanks.

I hope you enjoyed a little insight into my recent happenings, but again I promise I will have new videos to debut next week.  Until then…

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

Related posts

The Weekend Review: January 2013 Report

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

Heartthrob (Tegan and Sara)

Producer: Greg Kurstin, Mike Elizondo, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, & Rob Cavallo

Released: January 29, 2013

Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “Drove Me Wild” & “Closer”

 

When I read in advance that Tegan and Sara had “gone pop” for their latest album, my first response was one of profound hesitation.  After all, I’ve found the band’s previous efforts to lack a certain dynamic energy that I’ve always felt was possible, and it has in large part been their identity as co-songwriters and musicians that has kept me coming back for more.  On Heartthrob, the former remains but the latter has been somewhat displaced by the practicalities of pop music (i.e., programming and the like).  However, much to my surprise, this new approach to their sound has reinvigorated their music and unforeseen strengths in their style have arisen.  In short, pop suits them.  From the infectiously catchy opener and lead single “Closer” (with a wonderfully conspicuous wink on the chorus line embellishment, made literal in the music video) to the retro-flavored gem “Drove Me Wild,” the songs maintain a uniform sound, but always with a hook or other appeal.  On previous efforts, as I’ve written, I’ve found Tegan and Sara’s music to suffer at times from the “half and done” songwriting under which there are no new movements or lyrics after the halfway point.  Here, where that does happen, it blends in and works, and my best guess as to why I feel this way is that pop music operates under different rules than rock.  If you’re interested in a flashback to the eighties blended with a clear dose of the contemporary, a band with rock sensibilities turned pop, Tegan and Sara’s Heartthrob is probably the next album for you.  I know that, for me, it has been difficult to break the circuit with this, their latest eminently listenable and fun record, on numerous occasions.

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More guitar reviews

The Weekend Review: July 2012 Report

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

Cold Hard Want (House of Heroes)

Producer: Paul Moak

Released: July 10, 2012

Rating:  3 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “Out My Way” & “The Cop”

Kicking off as it does with the a cappella “A Man Who’s Not Afraid,” it is immediately clear that House of Heroes continues to work to defy the preconceived formulas imposed on their genre.  The next three tracks proceed to blow the roof off, raging with energy and literally screaming with ideas, criticisms, and hopes for change.  While “We Were Giants” runs a bit predictably, “The Cop” rebounds with the rare acoustic outing by House of Heroes, highlighting their more subtle talents, primarily with vocals.  Where this album falls of previous efforts, most notably 2010’s masterful Suburba, is from midpoint forward; the second half suffers from alternatingly predictable and bland moments that detract from the powerhouse opening.  Still, Cold Hard Want is a strong effort that marks House of Heroes as band worth keeping track of.

 

 

 

Harakiri (Serj Tankian)

Producer: Serj Tankian

Released: July 10, 2012

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “Uneducated Democracy” & “Cornucopia”

“We rape the earth and don’t know why it strikes,” Tankian sings early on Harakiri opening track “Cornucopia.”  This sets the pace for the ten tracks that follow, ten songs driven by a critical voice that is masterfully woven into fast-paced soundscapes.  As early as “Ching Chime,” there is an epic quality that Tankian achieves here, particularly on this track’s chorus.  He seems to delight in continually ramping up the pacing, then alternatingly dropping back a notch to allow for some vocal breathing room and amping back up to nearly breakneck speed.  The result is an album that is both fun to listen to and engaging: there is both a beat and a message to be conveyed for anyone willing to listen.

 

  

 

 

thefearofmissingout (thenewno2)

Producer: pHd

Released: July 31, 2012

Rating:  3 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “I Won’t Go” & “The Wait Around”

When I reviewed thenewno2’s 2008 debut album You Are Here, the best description I could form was that it was what I imagine Radiohead would have sounded like if George Harrison had been their frontman.  On their sophomore release, thenewno2 have maintained elements of their signature sound, yet I don’t know that this comparison holds true any longer.  They seem to have progressed, developing their sound beyond the realm of handy comparison. However, there is something missing here on thefearofmissingout that helped to drive You Are Here and enabled its strong sense of cohesion.  Still, it is rewarding to see the band stretching out a bit, incorporating new elements (rap, for instance), and maintaining an overall sense of experimenting with what will be their signature sound.

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More guitar reviews

The Laptop Sessions: “We have a lot of songs on this site” – an impromptu article by Jeff

Posted on by
2

By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to Thumpin’ Thursday!  I have a really cool song to bring you this evening, it is a favorite of mine and one i’ve wanted to cover for a long, long time.

The song is…

Well, that’s how I was planning on starting the post this evening.

But, for the first time in the history of this site, I finally fell for the fatal mistake of being part of a site w/ multiple cover artists posting on it.

I recorded a previously covered song.  A song that has been posted for some time now.

Funny thing is when I am going about my business figuring out the list of songs I want to do, I usually check the category of the artist to make sure that song hasn’t been done already.  Hell, i’ve even caught myself writing a song on the list that i’ve already covered, let alone one that Chris or Jim have already tackled.

But the more songs that get added, the more likely this mistake is going to be made.

By my guesstimate, we have just about 500 cover/original videos posted on this site.  When you get right down to it, assuming 12 songs a CD, that’s 42 CDs and change worth of songs on this single website!  Most of them are familiar songs – we don’t delve into the rare album cuts often for the sheer reason that most people don’t know them.

But yet, despite my best efforts, I did it.

I even did the song in one take – and it’s not a terribly easy song either.

I even edited it and slapped on the titles, filters, and effects.

I even started writing the article for it!

So because of this, you have been reading my thoughts.

To be honest, I blame the extremely busy week i’ve had.  The prom i’ve helped plan is happening in 3 weeks, and we start selling tickets for it tomorrow.  I have to revise and edit the planned format, and print them on cardstock in the morning.  I also have to correct a few more Physics quizzes (how fast do you have to throw a 2.4 g dime at a 3.0 kg piece of plywood, such that they have a perfectly inelastic collision and start moving at 2.0 m/s anyway?), finish correcting Earth Science projects, get ready to introduce the next (and probably last) Chapter in the course, since the Seniors only have 13 days left of class (excluding tomorrow).

Oh, and to boot I was at the Doctor’s for two hours today – but I’m not at liberty to say why.

Well, next week I guarantee I will cover, play, record, and post a song that has not already been covered.  Until then, I hope you have found some humour and light hearted-ness in this post.

Until then…

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

Related posts