Goodbye.

I have parted ways with Blogspot for 2 reasons:

1) Need something new
2) Tumblr is the perfect thing I'm looking for.


Find me here for the rest of our time on Earth:

My new TUMBLR

My top 10 for 2010?

I feel weird making top 10's anymore. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's not really interesting, or maybe it's because I wanted to be heard. It leans more on the second thing.
This year..oh this is the year (I say this every year) these are MY favorites. It's not that the previous ones aren't good and weren't my favorites too, but I'm sure I've added a few over the years that I just added so that someone will have to think twice about me liking them and blah blah blah.
I'm sure there are tons of other reasons too. The thing is, I really do listen to way too much music: 50% hanging just under the radar...25% really popular...15% ridiculous.
This year I really didn't rant about the albums I bought as much as I usually do.

I don't really want to explain why these albums are my favorites for the year. The only thing I can say is that Rogue Wave and Joel Levi are my favorite pieces of music this year. Everything else is kind of just what I listened to a lot. Favorites, in a way I guess.



Rogue Wave -Permalight-


Joel Levi -Middle of Everywhere-


Anberlin -Light is the way dark is a place-


Eminem -Recovery-


States -Line em' up-


Coheed and Cambria -The year of the black rainbow-


Motion City Soundtrack -My dinosaur life-


Taylor Swift -Speak Now-


Band of Horses -Infinite Arms-


Zach Chance -Love before the rust-

Empty Talking.

Getting older gets more annoying as each day goes by. Main topics of conversation used to be, "How am I gonna afford to get this oil change?" and "That band sucks, because secretly I'm into cutting things down that have succeeded that I don't like." Now, all I seem to hear is "Those jobs actually have a good salary?" and "Congratulations on your Engagement!"

I can't explain how much it feels like just yesterday I woke up and didn't care about anything other than what Aaron was doing later. Except just yesterday, literally, I had to wake up and write a five page paper on how debt can actually be good for corporations.

I know it's the same old story for most lucky young people in America, but that doesn't mean it sure is annoying. So annoying that it effects other things in our lives too, making us post on social networks about how annoying things truly are to us. We'll use elaborate stories with big words and type in ways we would never talk in public to drive the point in deeper.

I like the idea of good flow and well written stories, but I guess it's just different when you know the people. I understand wanting to be more presentable and mature, but I have trouble believing some of the things I read on our social crutches. They always seem forced. Hell, I do it all the time for no reason.

Why does any of this matter? It doesn't. Me writing this proves my point about how we lean on these things on our computers because we don't have to have the actual conversation with an actual human. Was that my point? Probably not, but it sounded smart.

James, why all the negativity? It's not negativity as much as it is honesty. It only makes sense for a 23 year old to rant about something that happens to everyone, along with things that he does himself. Don't get me wrong, some people I know have awesome blogs and awesome things to say. Hell, either way I'll continue to read everything I possibly can on the internet. And that makes sense coming from me.

I'm thankful for all the good and bad I always have. Happy Thanksgiving, internet.

"One liners" adds Joel.

I love how certain things are worded, especially in music. Actually, I think it's one of my favorite things about sound. It doesn't sound like much, but "I spent two years alone with you" from Justin Pierre is so simple and perfect to me. Everyone has felt that way, but worded the way it is just gives it a different feeling. The first time I heard that line I knew I loved it, even though at 17 I could only act like it pertained to me.
Where I'm going is this: I have a collection of songs that I love because they're great, but a specific selection are great AND have that one line that I don't seek out, it runs into me. And those songs I listen to ALL the time.
I wanted to share on my blog, that is only read by me, the newest edition to the family of great songs (with that one line) that I usually keep to myself.
My buddy Joel just put a CD out called "The middle of everywhere." The song, "The middle of everywhere" is my newest add. The line comes in the acoustic breakdown of the final chorus: "I just wanna be close to you and leave out all the other rules. I'm walking a hard line, it runs down the middle of everywhere…" Again, simple and perfect.
The melody of the way these lines are delivered are key too. I have to feel like, "What!? How have I been missing this song for so long?" The first time I heard Joel sing these words was long before they hit me. He first played the song acoustic at his house, but it him me the night of his CD release show. Perfect, Joel.
I feel weird talking about Joel and his music sometimes. Joel is a really good friend of mine. He's that friend that will open up to you, and let you open up to him. If he can be, he'll be there for you. So, it's weird saying how good he actually is because you have to be nice to your friends. But damn, Joel could blow up my Grandmother's house and I'd still truly feel that he is the best new musician that I've heard in a long time, and especially in Anderson, Indiana.

Updates on Joel

Speak Now Thoughts:

I've probably listened 6 times all the way through by now. Throughout the day I would write down my thoughts:


-1 through 6 are perfect. I felt like she was heading towards "Fearless" status…. and then song number 7 happened. More on that in a minute.

-The last song on the album is really good.

-Quit comparing it to "Fearless."

-Overall "Fearless" is better.

-Goodbye to any form, or slightest hint at being country music.

-This album is way too long. People already know she is overdramatic about losing love, now they're going to hear about it for over an hour with 5 songs being over 5 minutes long and two of those songs are 6 minutes! That's usually how you can tell when someone writes their first album with no help. That was definitely the case with "Speak Now." Nathan Chapman didn't even step in to say it was lengthy because Taylor had a plan for this album. If some of these songs (that are really good) weren't as dragging I'd love it more.

-If she left off 'The story of us' and 'Better than revenge' it might have helped out as well. I can't figure out what the hell she was thinking while writing those songs, and then recording them. She's not Hayley Williams. She's not Miley Cyrus. She's not Boys Like Girls. She is friends with all of them though. Still…those two songs absolutely suck!

-'Innocent' is awesome. The only thing that sucks is I'll only think of Kanye West when I hear it. She should stop promoting the songs the way she does. But who am I?

-'Dear John' is awesome. Even though it's almost 7 minutes (and I just talked about it being too long), it's the only exception to the lengthy songs. It doesn't feel long. It feels real. It's easily the best song on the album next to 'Mine' 'Last Kiss' and 'Sparks Fly.'

-Too many breakdown bridges.

-Hopefully her next album isn't conceptual.

-Her voice is extremely better than any other album she's been on. Now if she could just show that live people would only have one thing to hate her about. She used tons of auto-tune i'm sure, but she warmed up tons and tons of hours before recording too. But that's a different story. I still like that she sounds like a bad version of an American Idol contestant that only made it to the third round. She's much bigger than just a voice that can't sing well live. That's another story as well.

-I'm still saying a Million sold in a week.

-Getting used to the length? Hmm

-I hope she gets a new band soon. They all still look like jackasses.

-She shouldn't have abandoned Liz Rose. I can see now that Liz is probably the person that tells Taylor she needs to get to the point while writing a song.

Even though it is too long, Taylor wrote a pretty solid album for what it is (with the exception of 'the story of us' and 'better than revenge.') The songs that are good…are really good. I was just expecting a little better. And I'm not sure I'll ever get over the way I felt when 'Better than Revenge' and the 'The Story of Us' came on. I would love to know what the hell she was thinking when she thought those two songs fit in her discography.

If I had to grade this album I would give it a B -

Coheed in Ohio = Perfection

Singing along with Coheed and Cambria albums is definitely one of my favorite things about being alive. Yeah that's pretty drastic, but it's true. It's up there with waking up, sunsets, being with Emily, talking to my Mom, listening to switchfoot, and hoping for a girl when I have children.. but not getting upset if it's a boy.
Gary and I are heading to Ohio on Friday to see Coheed. This sounds pretty normal to most people..heading to a different city to see a band that you enjoy. NO NO. Gary and I spent most of our high school years going to Ohio to see bands we were obsessed with at the time..cartel 2 times, copeland 4 times, the starting line, relient k 2 times, death cab for cutie 2 times, underoath, paramore, warped tour 2 times, Alive festival, and many more.
We would take my big red 12 passenger van. I pulled 10 of the seats out so that we could pull into Days INN in Richmond and stay the night on an air mattress blown up in the back of my van.
The one band we never travelled to see was one of our favorites.. Coheed and Cambria.
Coheed is how Gary became one of my best friends. I can't tell you how many times Gary and I drove around blaring Coheed, or how many times we researched the story behind the words. Coheed is everything I love about music. This band lets me explore a part of me I never knew I had all while being able to apply it to my everyday life. Coheed is real! Claudio is extremely genuine. They're so much more than just a rock band, Coheed is why I play music (with help from John Mayer), Coheed has been there with me through everything...small or massive within the past 7 years. Coheed is easily one of my favorite bands of all time.
This is kind of a sporadic post, but it does mean a lot...at least to me. Because I will finally get to attend a Coheed show and not just see them play at Warped Tour in Indy.

Columbus Ohio: See you again in 5 days for probably one of the best trips I'll take to see 'you'

The Crossing.

Aaron and I got to play the Brickyard Crossing...for free. $100 course for free. Our pretty cool girlfriends got us "tickets" for our birthdays to Prairie View and the Brickyard. The following are pictures from the Brickyard Crossing. It was the coolest. I hit the ball better than I ever have in my life. This was basically a professional course too, so be happy for me. Yeah, I got an 86, but that's only because I finally hit one out of bounds and I missed a few 5 footers. Aaron won on his birthday and I won on mine :)


Let's roll!



I like to flirt with the hazards.




Aaron flirted a little more though..




The course was too perfect sometimes.




Suicide attempt #1




Suicide attempt #2




On to the 4 holes inside the Speedway.





Sometimes the sand trap covers the entire fairway...




Hardest chip of my life..Before





Hardest chip of my life..After ;)





Hi Aaron. Have a nice hike heheheheheheh.....





MMM





WHAT!?





Hello water that was "crossed" about 15 times.




(Please note we did act like idiots at times. But nobody saw it. We are respectful of courses. Kbye.)