literature & fiction

"Small trees attached my parents' house at the foundation"
What the heck?
That's the first sentence from Louise Erdrich's NY Times Bestseller THE ROUND HOUSE.
Perhaps I should revise that sentence, maybe it's too straightforward?
And since that sentence makes absolutely no sense, the author probably wastes two pages trying to explain it.  A nice twist of karma would be if the offspring of the trees that had to be slaughtered to make pretentious mountainous wastes of time such as TRH would attack Louise Erdrich's house.
I started reading Marilyn Robinson's HOUSEKEEPING, and it makes sense, but it's like the author/narrator just rambles on about nothing at all.
  For instance, "It seems as if there was a time when the dimensions of things modified themselves, leaving behind a number of puzzling margins..."  Uh... Do I care?  Um...no.
  Freakin' annoying.  No wonder so many people think they hate reading.

a list of great things

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

The proton pack

The ecto-1

That aside,
A lifetime supply of batteries and/or electricity
so I can listen to
Music and watch movies
Hi-fi audio gear to enhance the experience(s)
+
the willpower to eradicate impure foods from my body
and the ability to be happy at the highest level

Stuff

STREET TRASH two disc meltdown edition
AOXOMOXOA (2003 remaster digipack w/ bonus)
WORKINGMAN'S DEAD (2003 remaster digipack w/ bonus)
AMERICAN BEAUTY (2003 remaster digipack w/ bonus)
THE SMITHS (2012 remaster)
MEAT IS MURDER (2012 remaster)
PORNOGRAPHY (2006 remaster)
FAITH (2006 remaster)
UNKNOWN PLEASURES (basic)
CLOSER (basic)
LOW-LIFE (2008 exp)
OCEAN RAN (2004 exp)

a mess

I'm writing a list of CDs.  I don't need CDs.  A couple CD-Rs, maybe...idk...my CD collection is basically just for show.  The real enjoyment of music occurs when I go online to Rdio and, usually after several failed attempts, find something to zoom in on.
  It's going to be hard not having professionally produced music.  Most of what I listen to is electro-something or other.  I'm listening to SHRINES by Purity Ring for the 3rd time, and I'm still digging it.  I first heard it yesterday or the day before (not sure which).  My lifelong musical companion is INVISIBLE TOUCH by Genesis, which is total electro-pop/rock.
  The only entertainment I'll have is books.  I don't know if I'll be able to sit down and concentrate on a book if(/when?) I lose my gov't assistance, which includes my anti-psychotics.  I have a hard enough time sitting down long enough to finish GHOSTBUSTERS.  I started Elliot Perlman's SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY like 2 or so years ago, and I'm not even halfway through it.  I did manage to finish 37 pages of A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY by Laura Grodstein in two sittings over the course of a week.  I swear, I've started 4 or 5 books since it became clear I might actually finish SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY.  I haven't finished a single one.  I think I got like 200 pages through LET ME IN aka LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by John Ajvide-Lindquist(sp?) over a year ago, and never have gotten around to pick it up again to resume it.
  These are temporary concerns based on predictions made by people who have a history of knowing what they're talking about.  Long term, there's the possibility that I'll be under 50y.o. when the Antichrist steps up to solve these economic woes and kills those who do not accept his mark.  If I die, so what?  There are two more serious concerns I have.  1) the Antichrist may not be satisfied in simply killing me; he may want to torture me first.  2) without my medication there to ground me, I may be more susceptible to the tricks Satan and his demons use to try and get Christians off their path of righteousness.  I spent several years fighting w/ all my might to resist the reality & benevolence of God.  I still don't see why Hell and Satan need exist, but the fact is it's not up to me and never will be.  And, with any luck, I'll get answers when I'm free of the schit I carry in my head...
  So yeah.  I'm wasting my time writing any kind of CD list.  Starting March, I'll be paying $50/mo xtra toward the mortgage that my sister is obligated to pay and that me and my mother are paying b/c my sister is living in Georgia and cannot afford to pay rent/mortgage for her current living space atop the cost of the house she bought while she was living in Missouri (me and my mom are living here, not like we're millionaires who are just helping her out b/c she's family...).  I don't know if $50/mo extra will be enough to get the mortgage paid off before the gov't gives up hope and cuts welfare from its budget.  I guess we'll see.  It's not like I'll be living here peacefully until I die in my sleep at the ripe old age of 80+.  But until the Antichrist kidnaps me and puts me in a concentration camp for useless individuals or forces me to choose the mark or death, I would like a comfortable place to sleep.

Re-Construktion Time Agayn

TURN IT ON AGAIN: THE HITS (1999) by Genesis is a handy compilation for times when you want to hear Tony Banks keyboards and Phil Collins voice but you don't have the patience to listen to songs like "Domino" or "Driving The Last Spike".  But the cover-art is like a sign that says "don't buy this CD if you don't have any intention of further exploring our offerings".  Excuse me?  Since when is graveling at a bands feet a requirement for buying a greatest hits compilation?  Oh, yeah, you won't go to jail for not doing it, you won't even get your precious CD repossessed, but you will inevitably roll your eyes at the laziness that went into the product, especially knowing how many CD stores don't have anything by Genesis - EXCEPT TURN IT ON AGAIN: THE HITS.
I'm now on track 3.  I'm starting to get it, sorta.  Track 2 and 3 have very little resemblance to each other, and those songs have almost nothing in common with track 1.  Which is probably why I've always considered this CD the bactard child of the Genesis back-catalog.

Un-American w/ no excuse...

Although man has good reason to disconnect itself with all its bright shiny objects than it holds dear, The Man has no interest in disconnecting Us from the material world for our own good.  It wants to keep its job. Republicans openly oppose 3/4th of its fellow Americans.  You'd think after the social and political fallout that occurred in response to us butting into The Vietnam Conflict, these stuffy suits would learn from the mistakes of its forefathers and quit fighting progress just b/c "its wrong".

  

They Came From Outer Space?

The Washington Post had a tremendously bland article about "the end times of trust in gov't".

  They say the alltimelow in distrust in gov't is not caused by one single event.  Oh?  I thought it was...because the news has been covering it to death...[sarcasm]

  The answer is simple: you bash politicians, you're bashing everyone.  Politicians are nothing more than United States citizens who run for office and get elected by their fellow Americans.  How is this a bad thing? Well, it shouldn't be a bad thing, and it's entirely possibly that it could once again be not a bad thing.  But since everybody is making excuses for their bad behavior, there is really nobody to elect.  Who wants as "goody two shoes" in office?  Who wants someone who refuses to "get off their high horse"?  Um...yeah.

 

Why do we even have public school?

The concept of capitalism is supposedly so much better than communism b/c it enables everyone to have equal opportunity.  Try telling that to the Republicans of North Carolina who refuse to pay for preschool b/c it's a type of welfare, with nothing to say against the notion that it will over time cut the cost of tax payers by churning out less adult welfare recipients, more high-earning citizens (who in turn pay more sales tax), and more people who don't need prison funding

That's aside from the general higher quality of life that the GOP isn't interested in hearing about.

Isn't that why we have public school in the first place?  If not, I'd sure like to know why 1/4th of taxpayers' money is paying for it when it's been sorely lacking for the past 30 years.

Hmm...is this nothing more than stupidity or something more sinister at work here?

Then the Republican talk shows & Fox News either take some quack/fluke study to prove the opposite point or they just don't talk about it.

Why is the House of Representatives hijacked by these evil-doers?

Heck if I know.  It seems to me that well over half of the people in this country are total idiots, but who am I to say...

o what sounds we have to show you...

Currently listening to Amusement Parks on Fire's self titled CD.  I was on track 2 fully enjoying it, but alas I was too tired to keep with it and shut off my computer and went to bed.  Now I'm back.

1. American Football - s/t
2. Amusement Parks on Fire - s/t
3. Breaking Benjamin - Saturate
4. Burial - Untrue
5. Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
6. Deep Blue Something - Home
7. Genesis - Invisible Touch
8. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
9. Idlewild- 100 Broken Windows
10. Idlewild- The Remote Part
11. Oingo Boingo - Dark At The End Of The Tunnel
12. Oingo Boingo - Nothing To Fear
13. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
14. Place To Bury Strangers, A - s/t
15. Ra Ra Riot - The Orchard
16. Senses Fail - Let It Enfold You
17. Senses Fail - Life Is Not A Waiting Room
18. Skylit Drive, A - Adelphia
19. Skylit Drive, A - Identity On Fire
20. Skylit Drive, A - Wires...And The Concept Of Breathing

do I need a reason?

I bought Ra Ra Riot's THE ORCHARD (2010) and The Vaccines' WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM THE VACCINES?, the former of which I assumed was another garage-rock revival band (never was much into Franz Ferdanand or The White Stripes, The Hives or even Oasis) and thus never paid much attention to, but, out of boredom and it being on my recommended listens from Rdio, I gave it a try.  The Vaccines WDYE was something I listened to but never got around to buying.

I also bought four songs from This Day & Age's ...ALWAYS LEAVE THE GROUND (2004), which i first heard about a year ago(?), and didn't feel too worried about buying it b/c it was so dirt cheap used at Amazon and the only way to get it so that the artist didn't fall totally off the face of Earth was to pay $10 for the digital download - $10 is a big chunk of change for me, BTW.  eMusic - where I got all of these songs for $16.49 with the eMusic Lite monthly plan + a $10 booster pack - has it for almost half off.  I also bought "Heartbreak Beat" by The Psychedelic Furs and track 2 from the album it came from (1987's MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT).  It seems like I bought something else on eMusic, but it isn't coming to mind...

from Sears' online site I pre-ordered Trespassers William's ex-frontwoman's solo project's second offering THE BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS.  And I finally gave up and ordered Breaking Benjamin's long-ignored-by-me SATURATE, which you may recall me talking about yesterday.  I was hoping to wait until I had accumulated a $5 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks, but on 2/3 cyberzoo via the Amazon Marketplace had 4 in stock.  Last night they had 1 in stock.

  That's all the physical media I've bought.  Otherwise, it's been purely digital.

I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I think of owning certain combinations of music.  I don't have a clue why.  There's very little reason to buy the music I want to listen to in the first place, aside from the fact that I don't heavily enjoy most of it, there's the fact that it won't be available for much longer, and the fact that Rdio offers it all for $5/mo.  If the world weren't setting itself for total destruction, I'd consider the longevity of Rdio, but...

  

Breaking Benjamin - Saturate

The Cure - Disintegration

Genesis - Invisible Touch

Hidden In Plain View - Resolution

Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

Idlewild - The Remote Part

Trespassers William - Having

oooh...aah...

Watcher Of The Skies

The End Is Near.  No, this time it's real.  Countries will cease to loan us money and if you're not REALLY good at your job, chances are you will be scrounging for food from the dumpsters and sleeping on concrete and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" will just be something you tell yourself so you're not TOTALLY without music...at least it'll be live.

As for me, my sister is currently my landlord and I think if I add an extra $75 to what is currently being paid on her mortgage, I can at least have a semi-decent bed to sleep on.  Just no music (no electricity)...unless you count the mumbo-jumbo I sing to myself in the shower as "music"...there will be nothing to spend my days doing...which I guess is not a huge departure from how I live now...when you think about it, no electricity will only magnify the meaninglessness in my existence...so things won't change, they'll just be more noticeable...

And The Bible states that financial prosperity's end and war's rising will lead the antichrist to step up and erase it all.  But Jesus will ultimately win and everyone will die like they have been, and when they do, most of them will go to Hell, like they always have.  Stupidity doesn't pay.  Luckily, even though I'm borderline illiterate, my mother has told me most of what I need to know.  I don't know if any of that will matter though.  I still do not feel the inclination to bow and worship God.  And,  I don't really know what Love is, but I certainly do not feel any connection to God, at least not that I'm aware of.  I guess that's probably b/c I'm not "open" to it...how do I change that?  Heck if I know.  Maybe I could go through the motions of prayer, and hope I don't feel like too much of a poser to take myself seriously...

I've been listening to as much music as ever.  But I just recently came to the realization that very little of it has any real meaning to me.  Most of it is just noise.  Sometimes I zoom in on parts of it and feel a faint pang of emotion.

I finally heard Breaking Benjamin's 2002 CD SATURATE in full.  I don't know what stopped me from doing that almost 5 years ago, or ten years...I did the same thing with Cartel's CHROMA (2005) (except the time in between the release date and me listening to it was 2/3 less).  I almost listened to The Cure's DISINTEGRATION (1989), but I felt extremely cold, so I turned off the computer, went to bed, could not sleep, so I got up and ate a 2nd lunch and then three apples w/ peanut butter.  I think I ate no more than 4 servings of peanut butter, which is almost as much fat as I am allowed to eat and still maintain my weight.  Yesterday I ate no more than 20 grams of fat, which is less than 1/3 of the 100% daily recommended value.  Friday I ate a whole whopping gram of trans fat wrapped in two delicious brownies, which I paid $1.50 total for.  And I had a whole Domino's pizza earlier in the week.
Right now I'm listening to Genesis's FOXTROT (1972).
I have an American Red Cross blood donation appointment sometime this week.  I cannot remember what day or time it is/was.  I had to reschedule b/c I had a fever and then I thought I still had one a week later, so I just didn't show up, and then I didn't reschedule until they called a few days ago or so, and then i had to reschedule that one, b/c I couldn't get a ride.  Now I forgot what time/date it is/was...aaarg!  I should have donated in early-mid January b/c it was like late October or early November when I last donated...I hope I'm not still feverish whenever I get my tail over there.