And today was a day just like any other

Normally on my "weekends" (I'm off Sunday and Monday - it's weird but I've gotten used to it) I do my laundry on one of those days. It takes a couple hours of my day as I have to drive down to the laundry mat, so it's always something I have to plan around. This weekend, I didn't have to go in to work until the afternoon on Saturday, so I got my laundry out of the way then and I had Sunday and Monday to enjoy with no plans.

And I did.

Yesterday, I randomly drove up to Auburn and finally watched Faster with Frisco (sounds like a morning show). I liked it, but of course I'm biased. At least it wasn't disappointing.

Today was a mix of video games and movies. I finally watched Van Helsing, a movie that some how made it's way to the top of my Netflix queue and has been sitting on my entertainment center for almost a month, and made a trip to Books A Million. I went on picked up Decoded by Jay Z for my South Dakota trip and wanted to give Darkly Dreaming Dexter a shot after we finished Season 2 Saturday night.

I think this is one of those "random update" posts. So here is a continuation of what's been going on/what's coming up:

*My work is back and forth sometimes. Two weeks ago, I didn't have but a couple stories go in the paper. Last week, I was all over the place. Some crime stuff has gone down; there were a couple shootings I had to go out to, which was kind of depressing. But the next two days I covered three parades and went to the Christmas tree lighting (and got a small interview with the governor). So yea, I never know what to expect.

*I've been working on my 2010 music lists. And I think I'm putting too much thought into it haha. Also working on some 2010 movie stuff, but that's not as an important.

*I don't know how many people reading this follow college football, but the school I just graduated from in August (Auburn - woot!) is on their way to the national championship game, bringing an undefeated record with them. Of course they would do it the year after I leave.

*My birthday is coming up, the 15th to be exact. (this would make a good present) I don't even think I mentioned my birthday on my blog last year and it's kind of redundant because most of my blogger friends are facebook friends as well. But I actually have some vacation days to use up so I will be off for four days next week, so that's kind of awesome. I'm not hating on people that have to throw big parties, but it's just not me. Maybe if I was in the same city as people I would do something big, but honestly, at this point I just want to hang out with my friends. And so far that is happening. Frisco is going to hang out with me in Montgomery on Sunday and then I have a couple days after that to possibly hang out with Jme. Don't even care what we do, it's just nice to spend time with friends.

*Speaking of the people that matter to me, good things are happening for them. And it's making me really happy.

*Let's go out on some music news. With all the concerts I've been too, I actually still have a list of top bands that I haven't seen. #1 is the Red Hot Chili Peppers but #2 is Linkin Park. This weekend, I will buy tickets to see LP in Atlanta in January. Opening for them is Pendulum, a pairing I would have never thought I would see, but it's got me really excited. Who is Pendulum? Click this and find out.

Random lyric of the day (throwing back to the post title):

I am aware, I've been misled
I disconnect my heart, my head
Don't wanna recognize when things go bad
The things that you'll accept
Except that I am finding the words... to say

Mr O's Music News

First off, after a month or so of speculation, it has finally been confirmed. On Monday, I will bee seeing The Kings of Leon headline a show in Birmingham. But wait, there's more. The opener? THE BLACK KEYS! To say I'm excited about this is an understatement. For one, I haven't been to a concert in a while. My last experience (Warped Tour) was kinda just, "eh" with one good band - Pierce the Veil. The last few concerts have been club stuff, which is amazing, but I'm ready for an arena show. To just sit and enjoy the music. And I have recently become a huge fan of the keys, absolutely loving and absorbing their sound. So Monday night should be a special night.

*sidenote: There is a person responsible for my going to said concert. I'm just not sure if they want to be identified. But I would like to publicly say thank you and it means so much.

I know I've talked about Anberlin a lot lately, but I want to get this out of the way. Their new cd is great and I am loving it. I think I finally nailed down why I like them so much. I was having a conversation the other day that revolved around why I don't yell when I get mad. I guess I'm kinda one of those get stern and use dagger words rather than make my voice louder and just be an ass. I think you can tell when I'm mad when I start cussing a little bit more or you can just tell by my tone. Anyway, I think that's why I like Anberlin so much. The majority of their lyrics revolve around heartache and anger, but it's a sung in a way where he isn't yelling or whining. It's just such a unique emotional outlet, one that I can definitely get behind. And that is why they are my third favorite band.

Speaking of favorites, news is starting to leak out about My Chemical Romance's new cd. The 19-year-old in me is starting to get a little excited.

Other news I've heard involves cool shows. Andrew McMahon will perform double duties in November when both his bands, Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, do a show together for the first time ever. If I lived near LA, there would be nothing stopping me from going. Also, after weeks or rumors, Weezer finally confirmed the "Blinkerton" tour where they will be performing The Blue Album and Pinkerton in their entirety - two nights, one city. I'm not the biggest Weezer fan, but that is pretty cool.

Three big names in music dropped cds Tuesday - Brandon Flowers (from the Killers), Weezer and Linkin Park. "A Thousand Suns" by Linkin Park is the only cd I have listened to so far and I have to say - I'm in between. I want to hate it, but there is something different about it that allows it to stand out. Though it feels more like a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie than an actual studio album. The crazy amount of interludes and chanting tracks kind of take it away, but there are a couple definite Linkin Park tracks on there. Jimmy Eat World and Kanye West still have cds to come out this month and I have to say that I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from Mr. West.

Speaking of new stuff, Kings of Leon have a new cd coming out in October. Has anybody heard the new song "Radioactive"? If so, what do you think? My quick thoughts is that it's a decent song, but it sounds, to me, more like an album track than a lead single.

And finally, to close this out, I really can't wait to tell all of you, my friends, about this coming Sunday's selection in the countdown.

(50) Sundays of Music: #26

#26: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

I believe there would be no argument that Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" deserves its place in music history. However, for it to arrive on this countdown it has to have a place in my personal history. And that time period was high school.

Though it's release actually came out when I was in 8th grade (I remember seeing the video for "One Step Closer" on a Honor Society trip to Atlanta in middle school), "Hybrid Theory" was a huge part of my four years that people either love or hate.

Since I'm almost out of college, I truly feel like it goes like this. High School is the time period where you start to branch out on your own musically. You no longer listen to what the radio tells you nor do you only listen to just what your friends listen to. College is a whole different ball game, but that's for a different post.

I entered high school in 2001, a time when a lot of important things were happening. For one, I will never forget that my freshman year is when 9/11 happened. Weirdly, it makes me remember the music I was listening to at that time (a strange of combo of System of a Down and Jay-Z). But musically something else was happening: Napster.

I got caught up and that's how I got a majority of the songs off of the "Hybrid Theory" release. I started listening so much that eventually I bought the actual cd (a process I feel is still used with file-sharing today).

This cd had everything. Hard rock mixed with some rap mixed with some turntable beats. I didn't know it at the time, but it was almost like an angrier, a much angrier, Incubus. Seriously, go back and listen to "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." and add a little bit more anger and try to tell me that these sounds aren't at least in the same unexplored category.

I'm sure I don't need to talk about "One Step Closer," "Crawling," or "In My Head." It's a contradiction to my earlier statement about not exactly listening to what we are told to listen to as these songs are what catapulted the band. It's what got you to show up, but "Papercut," "With You," and "Pushing Me Away" are what made you stay.

I think one of my favorite tracks has to be "A Place for My Head." 2001 was also a big year in my life because it was a year that my dad was divorced and then re-married, causing me to say goodbye to one family and hello to another. When my sister and I could convince her mom to take us to school instead of taking the bus, we would play this song and jam out.

Enjoy the following videos, but don't close this window just yet...

While their latest release, "Minutes to Midnight," didn't hold a lasting impact with me, their second album "Meteora" did. It's rare in the music industry that a band will come out with a debut release to critical acclaim and follow up with something equally as good. But they did it with "Meteora" that came close to getting its own spot on this countdown. Below are a couple of my favorites.

(50) Sundays of Music: #41

#41: Linkin Park / Jay Z - Collision Course


I kind of always had an appreciation for Jay Z. He was never one of my favorite artists, but I liked what I heard. However, Linkin Park has always been up there and is on my short list of bands I have yet to see live, but NEED to. So when it was announced that they were doing some kind of collaboration, I got excited at the potential.

Then I heard the first (and I'm presuming only) single, "Numb/Encore." This was before I was heavily into downloading, so I circled the release date on my calendar and counted down the days till it came out.

I worked at Dairy Queen when I was in high school (the time period of this release) and in the same parking lot we had a Sam Goody. So I left for work early, bought the cd and listened to it in my car before I clocked in. I just sat there and smiled. Smiled at how beautifully the sounds came together. I'm a big fan of well done mashups, and taking into consideration that these guys professionally came in there and did it with Jay Z actually getting in the booth and re-recording his verses, the results were amazing.

The only thing sad about it is that it was short. Only six tracks in length, but thankfully there was enough in there to keep you satisfied.

I will say this, usually when a cd comes with a DVD I just skip right over it. But this was one of the most well produced music DVD's I have ever seen as well.

So go back and rock out/jam out with me.