Kick, Push, Coast...

After playing Skate on my 360 a shitload recently, I'd like to start skating again. It's a great sport, I enjoyed it immensely. I was never very good at it, however. It was one of the few things I used to practice a fair bit. Along with guitar and video games (practice = playing), most things that I'm not very good at, I stop doing. Sorry, most things I don't care about. Nearly all sports I've played I've stopped, and hockey I probably won't go back to.

But skating gives you a relaxed exhilaration. Nothing beats the feeling of coasting along a smooth road, popping an ollie and then pushing to get back to speed to continue rolling. The only thing close is carving down a mountain on a snowboard, a feeling I thankfully got after an intense day of learning through pain. But I wouldn't like to try get really good at skating or snowboarding, just being average so I can flow and enjoy it. Get a rush, but keep it in a chilled way.

Stupidly enough, I didn't go to the snow these holidays like I should have. Hopefully I still have the chance post-exams, but I fear the best of the season will be over, missing the opportunity I wished for. And I can only wish that I can still board like I was at the end of the day last year. It was good, I was coasting and I was happy. I could enjoy the surroundings and now worry about falling over or bumping into anyone (I found an empty run, cool?).

But I wonder why I enjoyed skating so much? Was it the culture that I knew was out there but didn't immerse myself in? Or all the rad shit that I'd seen my mates do? Did I just start it to fit in with my friends? Essentially, that was the reason because I was sick of them skating around the city while I'd lumber behind then, desperate to catch up. It's always what I seemed to be doing.

You probably all have Kick, Push by Lupe Fiasco, so I'll put a different song up.

Gang Starr - Step In The Arena

(Bouzo missing out on some new tunes)

I Fell Asleep Amoungst The Flowers...

I've spent 10 hours this week at work. It nearly killed me. I got good money though (hello new shoes!) and Kingsgrove was more dead that usual. Which is always a good thing. But yeah, the worst this was when I saw that fat chick in spandex tights. I actually seriously contemplated suicide at that moment. It was horrible.

And I was playing some Suikoden Teirkries last night and for some fucked up reason, my DS crashed and I lost about 1h and 30m of play time. Which is gay because it was no story and all hardcore dungeon crawling. Ultra-gayness.

And "Hamlet" O.E. Original Emo is such a gay topic to study. But not as homosexual and "Frankenstein", the bane of my existance.

I haven't really been "philosophising" recently, so the newer posts are uninteresting.
So I'll make a topic of discussion:
Has anyone ever lost a substantial amount of weight through the Wii?

As a Wii owner who has Wii Sports and Wii Fit (Mum's mothers day present), I don't think anyone has. I've never lost weight, really. Maybe increased my bicepts from swinging around a Wiimote like a dick playing tennis.

I'd like to hear opinions on this.

The Band - The Weight

"Urban Photography"

Why is the "Nightsafe Area" closer to the tracks than the daytime yellow line of protection?
I've been getting quite into photography, all I need now is an SLR...

Also: Thanks to the people reading.

Wolf & Cub - What Are They Running

Sounds To Sights

To accompany the previous post, here's some songs from the custom playlist I created on the way home.

1. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
2. Snowman - Daniel Was A Timebomb
3. Mercury Rev - Tonite It Shows
4. Weezer - Hash Pipe
5. Nas - The World Is Yours
6. Joy Division - Shadowplay

Enjoy.

On-The-Go #1

One To The Other

Unsanitary conditions.

Wolli Creek

Turrella

A guy asked me to watch his case of beer while he went and bought a light

Lovely view from the bus window...

The walk

And then I was home.


My organised chaos.

Negroes

African-Americans usually invent genres. In fact, they nearly always do.
Let's take a look back through time, shall we...

Rock and Roll - Circa. 1951

Cited as the first Rock and Roll record is Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats and the song "Rocket 88". While it was written by a 19-year old Ike Turner, the song was recorded in 1951. Fusing together Blues, Gospel, Country and some fucking attitude, Mr. Turner formed the best thing ever. This initial style was then developed upon by some of my personal loves in life: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and a lil' black man called Bo Diddley.

And now, from the sweetest of sexual innuendos, dancing and black people, Rock is now a shitty scum where people like Nickelback and Hoobastank think they are king shit. They need to get Leadbelly'd.

Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats - Rocket 88



Funk - Circa. 1964
Personally, I believe Funk is the blackest genre of all time. It's just so fucking sweet. Funk was born when some ultra-smooth men brought together only the best elements of Soul, Jazz and R&B and took away pretty much all importance of melody and harmony and totally emphasised the mega-importance of groove and rhythm. They made music to:

1. Dance with that fly honey
2. Hit on said honey
3. Buy said honey a drink
4. Take said honey home
5. Make sweet, sweet love to said honey

Fuck yes.
Now, the word "funk" was originally coined to describe the scent of sexual intercourse. Hot. For Funk, we can thank James Brown and his downbeat characteristic and then some fine pioneers of Sly & The Family Stone, George Clinton and good 'ol Bootsy Collins.

Sly & The Family Stone - Family Affair



PS. Grand Funk Railroad are not Funk. We're An American Band is a good song, though...

Soul - Circa. 1954
Soul was R&B but with heavy influence of Gospel harmonies and chorus. Soul music rose out of "The black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying." Great quote. It's upbeat (usually), has hand-claps, stupid bodily movements and some awesome call and response. Ray Charles is often called the inventer of soul but James Brown is the Godfather of Soul. For soul, we can bow our heads to Aretha Franklin and Fats Domino.

Also, Blue-Eyed Soul gets a special mention because I like Dexys Midnight Runners a fair but. Blue-Eyed Soul is them white-ass crackers trying to be black. Blue-Eyed Soul sucks except for Dexys and Dusty Springfield. They made 3 brilliant albums and she's fantastic and I don't care what you have to say.

Ray Charles - I Got A Woman



Rhythm & Blues (R&B) - Circa. 1948
I really, really like R&B. It's an amazing genre with some of the best music ever coming from it. The term "Rhythm and Blues" replaced "Race Music" in the late 40s as a marketing tool to sell it and to be less racist. It was a general term at first but transformed into a full-blown genre thanks to Louis Jordan. R&B was urbane, jazz-based music with a contant beat that was infectious to listen to. My personal favourite R&B musicians are Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Booker T. & The MG's.

Unfortunately, R&B has become RnB, a shitty genre invented by black people (a rarity, folks) and is pretty much my mortal enemy in life. Fuck you, Chris Brown.

Booker T. & The MG's - Mo' Onions



Rap / Hip-Hop - Circa. 1978
I like Hip-Hop more than rap. I like Hip-Hop because it's fun, funky and fresh and the 4 elements are something I totally admire. A good MC is something difficult to be, and to be a DJ requires a rare feel for the beats and rhythm. I respect a talented MC and lyricist (Hello GZA/Genius). Hip-Hop culture began in The Bronx and was first used by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Fuck yes, they are the originators of all things hip-hop happenin'.

So yeah, the 4 elements are:

• Turntablism
• MCing
• Breakdancing
• Graffiti

Hip-hoppers I dig the most are from the Golden Age (Late 80s and early 90s): Public Enemy, Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest and the ones who said a DJ could be a band, Run-D.M.C.

Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome


Jazz - Circa. Pretty much 1808
Jazz is an interesting genre, which spanned from Ragtime songs. It was the style developed upon by all the musical members of African-American slave communities. The first printing of Jazz was "Jelly Roll Blues" by Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, printed in 1915.

Jazz is just too much to talk about, so I'll stick to what I know. Miles Davis is a beast on the trumpet and invented Jazz Fusion in 1969 with Bitches Brew and pretty much all good jazz musicians are black. Bar Dave Brubeck and his quartet - aka. Take Five. Fantastic.

Miles Davis - Blue In Green



So, all in all, black people are awesome and this post is really something I'm proud of and I didn't even use the world nigger once...oops...

I Love You, Felicia Day

The Guild is a really, really great web-series that I totally get due to my chronic World of WarCraft playing. Which I'm not ashamed of at all, might I add.

Basically, it's really funny and original and has all likable characters and Felicia Day is a totally stunning red-head whom I've fallen in love with and it's everything you could ever want from a show.
Except the episodes are like 5-7 mins long and the series are like 12 episodes long which is not enough time with Ms Day.

That's why you should also watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.



YES THAT IS NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!
It's a hilarious musical that has made the internet better for everyone. It's just that good.

Lastly, I've started studying and I hate it and I haven't seen my friends like all week except Thursday but I only saw Bouzo and Eli and that's lame and I haven't seen my girlfriend for heaps long and I won't get to see her like the rest of holidays and that's super gay.

Also, this is Felicia Day:



Heart: MELT'D!

Liam Lynch - Fake David Bowie Song

Beer

So I was at an 18th on the weekend. It was pretty fun. Although heaps of people got super drunk and shit. Well, why am I stating this, it's an 18th, it's standard that someone will vomit.
And the attractive girl whom took me to her formal was trying to get with this super shonky, rant cunt with a ratty and smoking addiction.
Then she hooked up with another girl...

Anyways, I had a few beers, but felt no effect of the alcohol due to my responsible 1:1 ratio.
Beer --> Bottle of water --> Beer --> Water etc.
It's really good, I drank heaps and got in no trouble. Yay for me.

However, I did try to twist open the beer...the wrong way:



That's the split in my thumb the day after. It was bleeding like shit. Oh well.

But that's another thing. Everyone was drinking cruisers (well, the girls at least) and most of the guys were drinking UDL and shit like that. I'm pretty sure I was the only person < 18 who was drinking beer. Whoopee! And I drank Light beer because there was no real beer left. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Suffice to say, women can be extremely whore-ish in an 18th situation. I don't think I've ever seen girls my age act so inappropriately. Or is that how we're supposed to act? I never grinded up on girls on the dancefloor. Or hooked up with anyone. Or got excessively drunk and passes out face-down on the lawn vomiting and leaving a patch of dead grass the next day.

Did I miss my teenage years?

I'm only 17, with all next year of being 18 to go, but the whole house party scene flew right by me. I never got invited to parties, so I haven't drunk much (which is why I take every opportunity now to build up for schoolies). My school and Caringbah friends have told me some pretty fucked up stories generally involving alcohol and/or illicit drugs. Never have I even been in one of their situations. Lie, I have once. But still, every weekend they're out getting fucked and I'm sitting at home being a lonely old fool.

But I think it's too late. I'll look like a fucktard if I get smashed and pass out at a party next year, and this year...well the HSC is just too much pressure on me.

I think I skipped an integral part of the experience of growing up because I've tried to become too sophisticated and mature. I think I just became boring.

Fuck.

Minutemen - Corona
Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! - Libra Tango Cancer

Gay-lo

So I finished Halo at approx. 2:30am this morning. It was quite a good game. The shooting control were spectacular, not making me wish for a keyboard and mouse combo once. Lovely. The effects were pretty good (for 2000) and the story was okay, I wasn't really paying attention to it. The only major problems with Halo are the stupid situations the game puts you in (40 on 1 where they have 2 tanks, 2 turrets and 2 of them massive things and it's you on a Ghost. Easy.) and the fucking Warthog controls. Accurately driving a Warthog is harder than picking up Rose Byrne if you love her as much as I do. Seriously, it's like trying to steer an ice block on fucking ice...with ball bearings underneath the ice block...and it's covered in like soap or something slidey.

Unfortunately for everybody who tries to finish Halo has to suffer through the final section: A race against a timer through what essentially is an obstacle course in a fucking Warthog. This took me about 6 or 7 tries to finish it. It ranks quite high in my "Worst Things In Video Games" list. It was incredibly frustrating and essentially torture

This and the shitty one-man-army feeling of the game pushes it down from a potential 10/10 to an 8/10.
It was really good, but my personal taste and the fucking controls ruined it.

Now, onto what I'm currently doing: Being buttfucked by the internet.
For once, the internet is actually failing me.
I'm trying to download 2 albums:
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
Nirvana - The Story of Simon Simopath (Original 60s folk Nirvana).

I can't find any downloads for them anywhere and when I do, the torrents don't work. This is horrible. I really want those albums to build up my folk collection.
If anyone has these albums, can they please upload them to mediafire and link them for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Above is a picture of the original Nirvana

Nirvana - Lonely Boy
Fairport Convention - Matty Groves

9 Years Ago

9 years ago, a little game called Halo was a release title for the Xbox. I never seriously played this game. I heard about it's radicalness and I played some multiplayer deathmatches and capture the flags a fair few times. Yesterday, I rented Halo from my local video store and I've pumped about 10 hours into it so far. Why did I miss this 9 years ago? I'm quite foolish for doing so. I would've been impressed by the gameplay and graphics rather than just gameplay like I am now. It's so blocky...

So, when I finish it, I'll rent Halo 2 and then finish that and then 3 and finish that and then I'll be in with the rest of the world who knows what happens in this series.

Now, I understand why I missed Halo: It was because I was a Nintendo fanboy. I refused to even consider the possibility of a good game excisting on a Playstation console or the Xbox. And now look at me, I consider myself a gamer and I've never even played Metal Gear Solid. The shame!

Also, after reading Halo reviews, I've been thinking about replay value. Halo apparently has some, but I really don't think I could bother with finishing it again. To quote gamespot.com, I should "think about finishing it a second time before finishing it the first." No, I really don't. I want it to be over because it's kinda frustrating and I hate the whole one-man-army vibe I'm getting. Damn, Killzone 2 just looked attractive for the first time in my life.

There aren't that many games I've finished more than once. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda: Wind Waker, Final Fantasy: Tactics Advanced and each Pokemon sequel is essentially replaying Red/Blue. That's about all I can think of right now. Resident Evil 4. I wanted to play through de Blob and No More Heroes again but I think I never did because I marathon finished them. Both of those games (along with Super Mario Galaxy and The World Ends With You) I stayed up until 4am two mornings in a row in a dire attempt to finish them (with The World... taking up hours of train and bus time).

My mate Cameron often replays games. Hell, he's finished Tales of Symphonia, a x2 disc Gamecube Game like 20 times or something. What the fuzzle? I couldn't even finish Paper Mario 2 for a second time because I lost a boss battle at 3:30am and never bothered to try again. I don't feel like much of a gamer at the moment, I just finish a game and let it gather dust.

Yes, I don't often trade in completed games because, get this, I might want to play them again. Might. I often don't, but I might. Maybe I just don't want to get rid of something that's taken hours of my life away (bar Mirror's Edge, I kept that: 7 hours = BOO!) because I believe it'll be a waste. Reason why World of WarCraft is still on my PC...

I don't have many video game soundtracks, but here's some great music from 2 I've got:

Ox - Get It Up (MadWorld - Wii 2009)
John Guscott - Splashback (Defiant) (de Blob - Wii 2008)