The Advantage - Self Titled (The Advantage)
Original Release On April 6, 2004
The argument over what is “geeky” and what is “nerdy” is one that shall never fully be decided. Generally, those things which are “geeky” are marked by cult trends, artsy fartsy images, cuteness, classic video games in the Nintendo fashion, intellectuallism, thick rimmed glasses, underground music, and a tendency to talk at length about George A. Romero. Nerd, on the other hand, like Apple products, wire glasses, Star Trek, action figures, Konami and Atari, computers, and numetal.
The Advantage is, most definitely, geeky.
A side project of the acclaimed Math-Rock group Hella, the Advantage takes two logical geek sources - math rock and Nintendo - and marries them together brilliantly. Here, in beautifully toned guitars, synchy drums and plodding base are Zelda’s fortress theme, Mario’s Underworld, even Mega Man’s Dr.Wiley theme. In essence, the Advantage have created geek heaven on many levels.
First listenings through the album are hilarious and intensely nostalgic. You can chuckle at the Bubble Bobble theme while also remembering the insane difficulty you had playing the original Game Boy version of the game. Over further listenings of the album, however, the nostalgia begins to fade away and the album becomes amazingly listenable. you never knew digitized music from the 1980s and 90s was so well written, so musically eloquent, so insanely catchy! (ok, maybe you did know that last one)
Covers of Nintendo classics is no new trick. Just look up “mario theme” on Youtube to find thousands of musicians, most classically trained, geeking it up in the best way possible. Yet very few covers work in the grace that the Advantage do. Very few create music you want to listen to for most musicality and nostalgia. The Advantage may not step where no man has before, but they will certainly always win the foot race.
So live up your inner geek/90s child/nostalgic goon. You know you’ve been waiting for the Math Rock rendition of the Goonies 2 video game’s “Goonies R Good Enough.” You know you want it. Go get it.
I have to admit it, I’m obsessed with movies. I’ve seen at least 400 of them in my short lifetime and know trivia facts about almost all of them. The definition of a movie buff, I will correct wrong quotes, comment on various knowledge while watching films, and immediately understand references both in and out of films.
The question remains, then, how do I find new movies to watch? Generally, I tend to enjoy classic and modern “masterpieces” the best – films that have, for some reason or another, been added to a list of “the best” in various categories. And here in lies my question: who decides what movies are the “best,” why, and (most importantly) are these decisions accurate or even pertinent?
(via aco)
This…this works for me. It also feeds the extreme hole in my life since beating Half Life 2. Gotta go get orange box pronto to play episode 1 and 2.
PS: This post is quite irrelevant to the rest of my blog. But it was that important.
The Church With No Floor in Cleveland, Ohio.
(via Jessie Barber Photography)This is what used to be the St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church. It was built in 1933 and designed by Joseph E. Fronczak. In the ’70s, the original owners moved the church location to the suburbs, leaving the building to the Greater Zion Hill Baptist Church community. The group left the building abandoned.
“Getting into this location was extremely easy. The doors were missing. I wish I knew who the mural artist was, as the ceiling and walls of the church were quiet amazing. For whatever reason, the floors have been busted out, hence the nickname “The Church with No Floor.”“
Submission by Jessie Barber, who also took the photograph.
I reblogged this primarily because of the magnificent significance I see in a “church with no floor.” The implications that can be drawn here as far as metaphors about the church go are just wonderful. What is a “church without a floor?” can we truly say that ANY church has a floor? And when our churches are abandoned in such a sense, losing their base (literally), are they no longer holy?
Aerial - The Sentinal
Originally released 5 Nov, 2007.
Let’s face it, Post-Rock, while wonderful and beautiful, is one of the easiest genres to make a cliched album in. The kiss of death in making a post-rock album is being charted as “Explosionsy,” implying that your album sounds somewhat like the acclaimed and innovative post-rock band Explosions in the Sky. This seems like a compliment. But its not. It implies that your album is a copycat, a generic rip-off, not worth buying, not worth listening to.
“Bill, just because your father tried to eat you, does that mean we all have to be unhappy? Forever?” — Mrs.Robinson - Fido
As some of you may already know, I am obsessed with zombie films (not zombies however, the actual concept of zombies scares the crap out of me. It is perhaps WHY I like the movies - they train me to fight the evil ones). Adding to my list of zombie-films-I-have-seen, I watched Zombieland last night. And I noticed something weird.
When Zombieland first came out, the previews, hype, and general discussions seemed to mention Michael Cera’s name or presence. Did he write it? Is he in it? Well it certainly seems he’s in it! Who else is that goofy but lovable guy in the previews. But here’s the thing …
[video]
“I’ve grown certain that the root of all fear is that we’ve been forced to deny who we are.” — Frances Moore Lappe
Two days ago a friend of mine posted a photo of another friend of mine on facebook. A third friend (yes, its confusing, bear with me) decided to make that photo (which was, actually, quite embarrassing) their profile picture, thus making life a little bit more confusing, yet a little bit more entertaining.
The question I have is, what does choosing a photo that is not you as your profile picture say about you. And even further, what does choosing a picture of another friend as your profile picture say about you? What even IS a profile picture and why does it matter?
I made a conscious choice when joining this site to not put a photo of myself up. This is primarily because I don’t want to show my identity, but also because I felt it didn’t suit the theme of my blog. In looking at a profile picture it seems these are the two primary points: identity and theme.
I’ll let you know know that my thoughts are worth no more than yours. They are simple. They are shrewd. They are thoughtful. They are sometimes cruel. They are mine. They are also superfluous. The inter-world does not need any more thoughts, let alone mine. But I’ll give them up. They have nowhere else to go.
This is not a journal. These are not the inner workings of my life. They are simply the thoughts that run through my head, the mindless musings of a lost mother, a hipster punk, each one a lost child to behold and understood by the other hipster punks of the world.