(no subject)
OK, it's been too long since I updated this, so here's my last update (I think) before I go back to Holy Cross.
When last your intrepid hero left you, he was preparing his most daring and death-defying venture yet: A voyage of more than TWO HUNDRED miles to the industrial wasteland that is New Jersey. Fortunately, I not only survived the trip down there, but had an excellent time in the process. It was nice seeing Andrew again, but it was really great to see Brian, since I don't know how often I'll be seeing him now. He was in relatively good spirits, and we had a good time down there. We had some nice games of tennis, which featured three people who didn't know how to play the game along with Andrew, who got to be the most dominant athlete in a group for the first and only time in his life. In addition to that, we saw a couple of movies that were definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum. On Friday night, we saw Harold & Kumar, which was extremely funny. Neil Patrick Harris' part in the movie was my personal favorite, but there was some damn good shit in that movie. And speaking of shit, on Saturday night we saw Alien vs. Predator. Now, I want to make this clear: The first time that the Alien went toe-to-toe with the Predator in the five-minute fight sequence, it was very cool. If the entire movie had more of that kind of thing in it, then this would have turned out a LOT better. However, most of it was crap, albeit enjoyable crap. It was definitely a good bad movie, and was worth my money. And the best part: During the climactic fight sequence between the Queen Alien and the last Predator, some guy fell down the stairs at the movie theater, which sent the entire place into hysterics. That's the way to top off a movie with such a high Unintentional Comedy rating.
The week after I got back from Jersey was also a good time. I got to hit up the Red Sox game with Moore, Hammy, and Daley (who missed his original train in and kept us waiting for 30 minutes). It was a good win for the Sox, and although it rained pretty steadily in the first few innings, we really enjoyed ourselves. I still wish we had caught a foul ball so we could have given it to Moore, like all the other people give foul balls to the little kids sitting near them. And now that the Sox are on a big winning streak, I credit our presence as the pick-me-up the Sox needed to turn this season around. It was a fun time, and it makes me wish I could hit up more Sox games (only two this year, both wins).
However, highlight of the week was on Friday, when myself, Moore, Gagne, and my friend Goose from high school hit the Warped Tour's 10th Anniversary Show at Gillette Stadium('s parking lot). It was a really, REALLY fucking hot day, and I went through a ton of bottles of water (which were actually only $3, which was far less gouging than I expected from them). Although a couple of bands that had been on the original tour weren't at the anniversary show (Alkaline Trio and Flogging Molly were the two I really would have liked to see), there were a lot of excellent acts. Here's a quick rundown of the bands that I saw do full sets:
- Andrew W.K.: He was the first full set we saw (at 12:30 PM), and he was the best show of the day. Absolutely insane on stage, his music translated very well, and watching him headbang while playing keyboard was something else. And his speech about why we're all lucky to be alive, and therefore we should party all the time, was an excellent one. We determined that after he declared his unconditional love for us, regardless of whether we liked him or not, that he was indeed Jesus (white clothes, long hair, beard, unconditional love....what more do you people need?), and I would fully support a religion based around Andrew W.K. My favorite set of the day, which was basically his hits off his two albums (Party Hard, I Get Wet, She Is Beautiful, Ready To Die, Victory Strikes Again, and more). I really want to see him again sometime.
- Pennywise: I never listened to a ton of their stuff before (they always fell into the category of "I should listen to them, but for whatever reason I don't), but I'm making an effort to now. They also played a hell of a set, which tied for third on my list for the day. They have one hell of a following, and they might have had the best audience participation during their songs (the Dropkick Murphys were on their level, but they were easily the top two). They sounded great live, and Fuck Authority was probably the best song in their set.
- Dropkick Murphys: They played an odd set, which I thought they could have changed up. They opened up with For Boston and The Dirty Glass, which were absolutely kickass, but they kept it fairly slow throughou the show. They played a toned-down ballad version of one of their songs to honor the Chickenman, who recently died. Then they played Tessie, a song they covered from 100 years ago to help get the Sox going. They had another song in there that they covered from a smaller punk band, and then they covered a Pogues song, Fairytale of New York, which was well-done but another slow song. They finished with Boys On The Docks and Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced, which were also excellent. I do wish they had played more of their own material, and that they had stayed a little more up-tempo, but it was still great to see them live. They tied with Pennywise for third on the day, and I'm looking forward to seeing them next month, when they're supposedly doing a free show in downtown Boston (Sat., Sept. 18th). They seem like they'd be a much better band with a full set, and I'd love to see them do 90 minutes.
- Rancid: They were OK, but they didn't dip too heavily into my favorite songs. They led off with Ruby Soho, which was great, but I was hoping they'd play Time Bomb or 1998, which they didn't. They did a good version of Fall Back Down, as well as more of their songs that I wasn't too familiar with. Overall they were good, but they weren't on the level of the bands that I had seen before them. Still, if they were that low on the list, you know that it was a good show.
- Bad Religion: They blew me away, and they barely lost out to Andrew W.K. for best set of the day. They played a lot of my favorites (Infected, 21st Century Digital Boy, Fuck Armageddon, Sorrow, American Jesus), and they were LOUD. They were really, REALLY loud. Andrew W.K. was also quite loud, but Bad Religion was the band that really blew out my ears. And another plus: Their mosh pits were definitely the most intense of the day, which is another point in their favor. And one funny note: Bad Religion went on at 5:30 on the right stage, and Good Charlotte was playing on the left stage at 5:00. So for the last 5-10 minutes of the Good Charlotte show, the people waiting for Bad Religion (who probably outnumbered the Good Charlotte people) all put their hands up and flipped off Good Charlotte. They definitely noticed it too, which made it that much cooler. Now THAT is how to handle Good Charlotte (as well as New Found Glory, who had gone on right before the Murphys)
- Less Than Jake: I wasn't expecting a ton from their set, but it was definitely enjoyable. It was a nice change of pace after most of the bands I had seen that day, and they had the crowd in the palm of their hands, which was extremely surpising. They had the best circle pit going, with about 500-1000 people doing a massive circle around the sound tent. The people were definitely really, REALLY into Less Than Jake, and they played some pretty good material of theirs. A fun show, and a good way to end the day (since I had no interest in watching Something Corporate end the show).
Those were the only ones I got to see in full (the brutal 95-degree heat made it so that you had to take a lot of breaks in the shade, and therefore I missed a lot of bands I would have liked to see more of), and they were all pretty good to great. I got to see bits of MXPX, the Vandals, and Talib Kweli, all of whom were good, although I know so little about them that it was hard to really get into it. However, the order I rank the six shows I saw in full was:
1) Andrew W.K.
2) Bad Religion
3) Dropkick Murphys
3) Pennywise
5) Rancid
6) Less Than Jake
Good day overall, and it was great to see the guys too. Just got me in the mood to really get back to Holy Cross even more. And now, to wrap this up, time for some BULLET POINT GOODNESS OF DOOM~!
- The Sox are finally on fire, and the best part is their starting pitching. We ALWAYS make it to the 7th or 8th, and that's why we're really winning now. If the team can keep playing like this, I see no reason not to consider them the favorites to win the American League.
- Reason #1 I'm gonna miss living at home: TiVo. Watching badminton from 5 AM on Bravo during my schedule rules SO hard.
- Reason #1 I'm NOT gonna miss living at home: My parents. It's totally time to get away from them.
- I have to move Brian in tomororw at Connecticut College. He's definitely very psyched about it, and I can't say that I blame him. He must have had a rough year without me around, and with my parents having their undivided scrutiny focused on him. However, he'll do well in school, and hopefully he makes friends that are as good (and hopefully not as dumb) as the ones he has from St. Seb's.
- I really wish I could do an overhaul on my CD collection. Just trade in 80 CD's, and allow me to start fresh with 80 new CD's. As it is, my CD collection is a nice snapshot of my musical tastes circa 2000-2001, which are highly suspect. It's time to raid other people's CD collections when I get back to school.
- I bought the following DVD's for a total of $34: Major League, Quiz Show, Arlington Road, Little Big League. What a great set of buys. Watched Little Big League last night, and boy, did it bring the memories back. I totally could have managed like that kid too.
- Speaking of bargains, I hit up Toys R Us for the sale they've been having (50% off on a lot of their backlogged titles), and came out with 6 games for about $60. The games I got were the following:
Xbox: 007: Nightfire, Grabbed By The Ghoulies, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Beyond Good & Evil, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Gamecube: P.N. 03
PN 03 was a game that so many people have mixed reviews on that I decided it was worth the $10 to decide it once and for all. Beyond Good & Eviil is incredible, and is well worth the money. Grabbed By The Ghoulies fizzled out quickly, and I haven't tackled the other three. Hopefully these will keep me busy until the deluge of great games hits this winter.
- My song of the moment: "Spare Me The Details" by the Offspring. Dunno why, but it's been in my head for a couple weeks.
OK, I'm tired of typing. Enjoy the entry, and I'll post again when I arrive at the Cross. Peace out.
When last your intrepid hero left you, he was preparing his most daring and death-defying venture yet: A voyage of more than TWO HUNDRED miles to the industrial wasteland that is New Jersey. Fortunately, I not only survived the trip down there, but had an excellent time in the process. It was nice seeing Andrew again, but it was really great to see Brian, since I don't know how often I'll be seeing him now. He was in relatively good spirits, and we had a good time down there. We had some nice games of tennis, which featured three people who didn't know how to play the game along with Andrew, who got to be the most dominant athlete in a group for the first and only time in his life. In addition to that, we saw a couple of movies that were definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum. On Friday night, we saw Harold & Kumar, which was extremely funny. Neil Patrick Harris' part in the movie was my personal favorite, but there was some damn good shit in that movie. And speaking of shit, on Saturday night we saw Alien vs. Predator. Now, I want to make this clear: The first time that the Alien went toe-to-toe with the Predator in the five-minute fight sequence, it was very cool. If the entire movie had more of that kind of thing in it, then this would have turned out a LOT better. However, most of it was crap, albeit enjoyable crap. It was definitely a good bad movie, and was worth my money. And the best part: During the climactic fight sequence between the Queen Alien and the last Predator, some guy fell down the stairs at the movie theater, which sent the entire place into hysterics. That's the way to top off a movie with such a high Unintentional Comedy rating.
The week after I got back from Jersey was also a good time. I got to hit up the Red Sox game with Moore, Hammy, and Daley (who missed his original train in and kept us waiting for 30 minutes). It was a good win for the Sox, and although it rained pretty steadily in the first few innings, we really enjoyed ourselves. I still wish we had caught a foul ball so we could have given it to Moore, like all the other people give foul balls to the little kids sitting near them. And now that the Sox are on a big winning streak, I credit our presence as the pick-me-up the Sox needed to turn this season around. It was a fun time, and it makes me wish I could hit up more Sox games (only two this year, both wins).
However, highlight of the week was on Friday, when myself, Moore, Gagne, and my friend Goose from high school hit the Warped Tour's 10th Anniversary Show at Gillette Stadium('s parking lot). It was a really, REALLY fucking hot day, and I went through a ton of bottles of water (which were actually only $3, which was far less gouging than I expected from them). Although a couple of bands that had been on the original tour weren't at the anniversary show (Alkaline Trio and Flogging Molly were the two I really would have liked to see), there were a lot of excellent acts. Here's a quick rundown of the bands that I saw do full sets:
- Andrew W.K.: He was the first full set we saw (at 12:30 PM), and he was the best show of the day. Absolutely insane on stage, his music translated very well, and watching him headbang while playing keyboard was something else. And his speech about why we're all lucky to be alive, and therefore we should party all the time, was an excellent one. We determined that after he declared his unconditional love for us, regardless of whether we liked him or not, that he was indeed Jesus (white clothes, long hair, beard, unconditional love....what more do you people need?), and I would fully support a religion based around Andrew W.K. My favorite set of the day, which was basically his hits off his two albums (Party Hard, I Get Wet, She Is Beautiful, Ready To Die, Victory Strikes Again, and more). I really want to see him again sometime.
- Pennywise: I never listened to a ton of their stuff before (they always fell into the category of "I should listen to them, but for whatever reason I don't), but I'm making an effort to now. They also played a hell of a set, which tied for third on my list for the day. They have one hell of a following, and they might have had the best audience participation during their songs (the Dropkick Murphys were on their level, but they were easily the top two). They sounded great live, and Fuck Authority was probably the best song in their set.
- Dropkick Murphys: They played an odd set, which I thought they could have changed up. They opened up with For Boston and The Dirty Glass, which were absolutely kickass, but they kept it fairly slow throughou the show. They played a toned-down ballad version of one of their songs to honor the Chickenman, who recently died. Then they played Tessie, a song they covered from 100 years ago to help get the Sox going. They had another song in there that they covered from a smaller punk band, and then they covered a Pogues song, Fairytale of New York, which was well-done but another slow song. They finished with Boys On The Docks and Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced, which were also excellent. I do wish they had played more of their own material, and that they had stayed a little more up-tempo, but it was still great to see them live. They tied with Pennywise for third on the day, and I'm looking forward to seeing them next month, when they're supposedly doing a free show in downtown Boston (Sat., Sept. 18th). They seem like they'd be a much better band with a full set, and I'd love to see them do 90 minutes.
- Rancid: They were OK, but they didn't dip too heavily into my favorite songs. They led off with Ruby Soho, which was great, but I was hoping they'd play Time Bomb or 1998, which they didn't. They did a good version of Fall Back Down, as well as more of their songs that I wasn't too familiar with. Overall they were good, but they weren't on the level of the bands that I had seen before them. Still, if they were that low on the list, you know that it was a good show.
- Bad Religion: They blew me away, and they barely lost out to Andrew W.K. for best set of the day. They played a lot of my favorites (Infected, 21st Century Digital Boy, Fuck Armageddon, Sorrow, American Jesus), and they were LOUD. They were really, REALLY loud. Andrew W.K. was also quite loud, but Bad Religion was the band that really blew out my ears. And another plus: Their mosh pits were definitely the most intense of the day, which is another point in their favor. And one funny note: Bad Religion went on at 5:30 on the right stage, and Good Charlotte was playing on the left stage at 5:00. So for the last 5-10 minutes of the Good Charlotte show, the people waiting for Bad Religion (who probably outnumbered the Good Charlotte people) all put their hands up and flipped off Good Charlotte. They definitely noticed it too, which made it that much cooler. Now THAT is how to handle Good Charlotte (as well as New Found Glory, who had gone on right before the Murphys)
- Less Than Jake: I wasn't expecting a ton from their set, but it was definitely enjoyable. It was a nice change of pace after most of the bands I had seen that day, and they had the crowd in the palm of their hands, which was extremely surpising. They had the best circle pit going, with about 500-1000 people doing a massive circle around the sound tent. The people were definitely really, REALLY into Less Than Jake, and they played some pretty good material of theirs. A fun show, and a good way to end the day (since I had no interest in watching Something Corporate end the show).
Those were the only ones I got to see in full (the brutal 95-degree heat made it so that you had to take a lot of breaks in the shade, and therefore I missed a lot of bands I would have liked to see more of), and they were all pretty good to great. I got to see bits of MXPX, the Vandals, and Talib Kweli, all of whom were good, although I know so little about them that it was hard to really get into it. However, the order I rank the six shows I saw in full was:
1) Andrew W.K.
2) Bad Religion
3) Dropkick Murphys
3) Pennywise
5) Rancid
6) Less Than Jake
Good day overall, and it was great to see the guys too. Just got me in the mood to really get back to Holy Cross even more. And now, to wrap this up, time for some BULLET POINT GOODNESS OF DOOM~!
- The Sox are finally on fire, and the best part is their starting pitching. We ALWAYS make it to the 7th or 8th, and that's why we're really winning now. If the team can keep playing like this, I see no reason not to consider them the favorites to win the American League.
- Reason #1 I'm gonna miss living at home: TiVo. Watching badminton from 5 AM on Bravo during my schedule rules SO hard.
- Reason #1 I'm NOT gonna miss living at home: My parents. It's totally time to get away from them.
- I have to move Brian in tomororw at Connecticut College. He's definitely very psyched about it, and I can't say that I blame him. He must have had a rough year without me around, and with my parents having their undivided scrutiny focused on him. However, he'll do well in school, and hopefully he makes friends that are as good (and hopefully not as dumb) as the ones he has from St. Seb's.
- I really wish I could do an overhaul on my CD collection. Just trade in 80 CD's, and allow me to start fresh with 80 new CD's. As it is, my CD collection is a nice snapshot of my musical tastes circa 2000-2001, which are highly suspect. It's time to raid other people's CD collections when I get back to school.
- I bought the following DVD's for a total of $34: Major League, Quiz Show, Arlington Road, Little Big League. What a great set of buys. Watched Little Big League last night, and boy, did it bring the memories back. I totally could have managed like that kid too.
- Speaking of bargains, I hit up Toys R Us for the sale they've been having (50% off on a lot of their backlogged titles), and came out with 6 games for about $60. The games I got were the following:
Xbox: 007: Nightfire, Grabbed By The Ghoulies, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Beyond Good & Evil, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Gamecube: P.N. 03
PN 03 was a game that so many people have mixed reviews on that I decided it was worth the $10 to decide it once and for all. Beyond Good & Eviil is incredible, and is well worth the money. Grabbed By The Ghoulies fizzled out quickly, and I haven't tackled the other three. Hopefully these will keep me busy until the deluge of great games hits this winter.
- My song of the moment: "Spare Me The Details" by the Offspring. Dunno why, but it's been in my head for a couple weeks.
OK, I'm tired of typing. Enjoy the entry, and I'll post again when I arrive at the Cross. Peace out.