The Atomic Ballroom

But what they really want is a nice guy?

2007-06-28T20:39:00.000-05:00

Women are liars. Yes, in sweeping generalizations, and cases where the exception proves the rule, the idea that women want nice guys who are polite and funny and into music, literature and politics is total bullshit. This is true across the board and applicable to all lifestyles. Just as your average Mr-Jock-O'Clock treats his girls like crap, dresses like a catalog's nightmare and gets all the chicks so, too, does Mr-Twee-Is-Me-Come-Up-And-See-My-Etchings. Which leads me to only two choices when searching for the root of this:

1)men are asses or
2)women are liars.

In the interest of devils advocacy and robust debate I choose #2,

Oh, since I couldn't find any good indie-rock documentation of this, and am not about to post those party pictures which appear all over Vice Magazine, please enjoy Hot Chicks With Douchebags.

Don't Look Here

2007-06-12T05:20:00.000-05:00

Go look at 24 Hour Party Pooper. There's actual stuff to read and argue about over there. All we got 'round here is black sheep and word nerds.
Oh, and a little pig in a can.

word peeve

2007-06-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

Anyone else out there bothered when people use the term 'blog' to mean what is actually a 'post'. I have met so many people over the past month (another story altogether) who consistently referred to a single post as a 'blog'.

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

It's Memorial Day. I don't sit on either side of any [recognizable] political fence anymore but Memorial Day is not about politics. It may well be about philosophy, but not politics. At least not the cheap sham of politics in the US.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck

2007-05-27T16:51:00.001-05:00

I don't care about The View. Further, I don't care about the views of anyone on The View. I do, however, think that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is Babe City! And that's all I really have to say about this.

New Slang

2007-05-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

If you are a person who uses the work "click" when what you mean is "clique" then you are a moron and I don't want to know you. Please see:

moron, unbelievable ,aw geez,creep.

The Quotable Click:

"I hate “clicks” and I hate groups of people who think that they are better and more knowledge then everyone else."
(Yeah,I hear ya. Except I disagree and am totally more knowledge than you.)

"Sorry but I hate clicks." Actually found in a blog written by advertising designers within a post called Why Advertising Sucks: A post from a friend No. 3: Excuse Me, I Don’t Speak Moron
(Come on, dude, don't sell yourself short. You do speak moron.)

Have fun with Google today. Can't you tell I just did?

Led Zeppelin

2007-05-08T06:20:00.000-05:00

Since no one else has bothered to mention this I will: two days ago (May 6, 2007) was the 70th anniversary of the exploding of German zeppelin Hindenburg in Lakehurst, NJ.

Reposted here for fun and information

2007-05-03T01:50:00.000-05:00

Dear MySpace Members,

I like you. All of you. Honest to God, no questions asked, I think you're all the most awesome people on any planet. I like all you emo dorks, computer nerds, New Wave poseurs, punk rock die-hards,heavy metal tattoo dudes, weirdo biker gangs, corset-bound goth chicks, ninjas, micro-indie labels, mid-level AOR promoters, grandmothers, tribute-pages, pets, buildings, graphic design freaks, plumbers, architects and jerkfaces.

Since I like all of you so damn much I figured it'd be cool if I asked a favor or you. Or, actually, a few favors. To make it easier...I listed them!

1) Your awesome new project is AWESOME! I appreciate that you'd like to share it with me by posting a 7" x 12 " flyer in my comments section. However, since I just moved into this comments section with all my own stuff I really just don't have room. Unfortunately, in order to dissuade the most enthusiastic of you I had to disable HTML in my comments. So, if you try to post a flyer it will come out looking like an ancient cookbook.

2) I like girls. really, honestly. I don't even mind slutty chicks when shown in decent light with proper editing (think: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County). However, I am not terribly inclined to add you as a friend if I can immediately discern that you're any of the following:

a) a web-cam whore
b) a stripper, dancer, for-hire romancer
c) a Russian/Ukrainian/Eastern European model whose page was probably designed by some white-slaver
d) a random person who tried to befriend me because they found my name in the friends list of some modern hardcore/emo/ metal band that I happen to like. Yes, I like a few of them. And others I like very much. But that doesn't mean we share some secret fan-bond where all fans of one such band should be friends with all the other fans. Sorry, that's just how I feel. Feelings are important.

3)Bands, I really like you. I can't think of a single band I don't like. When it comes to bands let's make one thing crystal clear: I LIKE ALL THE BANDS. Being in a band is cool. For one thing, you get to be in a band. For another, you get to stand on a stage and make some sounds and sometimes people will clap and you sometimes get some money at the end of the show! hell, no one claps for me at my job so any job where people clap at you is an AWESOME job. So, ergo, being in a band is AWESOME.
But:

a) If I've never met you I feel a little weird when you send me a comment asking me "how's it goin' and have you checked out our new song?" Well, first off, yes. I did check out your news song. It was REALLY GOOD! Like, the best song ever. Man, that was such a good song I forgot all the other songs I had ever heard. But, if I've never me you then I fee like you don't really mean it when you ask me "how's it going?".
It's going OK, I guess, but why would you care? See what I mean?

b) You're playing a show? AWESOME! Shows are cool. I like ALL the shows. But, see, I live in Athens, Ga. So why are you telling me to please come see your show in Los Angeles? You know I can't afford that. I feel like I'm being teased when you do stuff like that. I also get the suspicion that I'm not the only girl you've asked to the prom.

If I could, could I please make a couple of more suggestions? Remember, I really like you and this is all between friends. It's pretty cool that you have altered the HTML on your page so it loads with all sorts of fancy, glittery stuff like 400 pictures of you and your friends on Spring Break, a few embedded FLASH-items, a profile song, a whole bunch of JAVA hoo-ha and other what not. I mean, that's AWESOME. It's pretty cool that anyone can be a programmer and you don't even have to live in the Pacific Northwest or Northern California to do it! It's especially cool when you can make your background any number of cool things like a really big picture of Lil' Flip, a waterfall, a bunch of rainbows or even a series of signs that say "Impeach Bush!". But, know what? My poor Lil' browser (the totally awesome and foxy Firefox) just seizes up when asked to handle all that. It says to me, "Gordon, Carpe Browser" (that's Latin for "seize the browser").
Still, feel free to make your awesome page however awesome you want it. If I can't navigate it, I'll simply sail away and shan't return again. It's NOT that I don't like you (because you're my awesome friend) but that I find myself ill equipped to deal with the neediness of your MySpace page.

So, that's it. Thanks for being my awesome friend and being in an awesome band and being an awesome member of MySpace.

Stay awesome,
your friend for real,
Gordon

One Less Ho

2007-04-16T01:24:00.000-05:00

Themes

2007-04-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

Three themes/concepts that are completely played out and make me want to scrape my teeth when hearing about them or when asked to write about them:

1)Prom themed anything.
2)Zombie themed anything.
3)Any type of 'battle-of-the-bands' anything.

So there.

New Music Posts

2007-04-08T02:50:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure why but I've decided to start sending all music related posts over to 24 Hour Party Pooper. Actually, to be honest, I guess I am sure why. In the throes of an over-caffienated frenzy I thought if I was going to make a new music blog then I might as well do it on April Fools Day. Which I did.
No, the world doesn't need a new music blog...but I do.

I take it back.

2007-04-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

Never mind my previous post about being bored with Hip Hop. I quite like this and, thematically, it incorporates so many of my favorite things: flea markets, mini-malls, starter-home furniture and empty parking lots. Easily the best Hip Hop I've heard this year.

Finally.

2007-03-27T01:45:00.000-05:00

This is out today. I can only give it my highest recommendation.

No other show captured contemporaneously how bizarre the 1970's were. It's perfect.

What The Hell Do I Care?

2007-03-26T04:05:00.000-05:00

So I'm at this party Saturday night/Sunday morning and two friends of mine (one I've known for over ten years and one for around three years) try to argue me into agreeing that there's "vital" Hip Hop being produced nowadays and that Hip Hop is in it's "golden age". I finally had to say. "Something you guys must know is that 99% of the time I couldn't care less about what's going on in the world of Hip Hop." You'd have thought I slapped someones sister.

But, seriously, I haven't been impressed by a Hip Hop record for a long time and the only ones that ever seem to grab my interest are merely Hip Hop influenced and not straight up Hip Hop records.
I care about Hip Hop about as much as I do about modern pop-country.

Besides, I always hate those conversations which tend toward the "Oh, you just haven't heard this...". Yes, yes I have. I've heard hundreds of Hip Hop records. Hearing yet another greasy smiled Southern rapper probably ain't gonna do the trick.

Maybe I'll go as a rapper for Halloween.

Worst Cover Ever

2007-03-06T04:58:00.000-05:00

"The Final Countdown" always sucked. Even when it was a brand new release I never fell for it's cheesy Emerson, Lake & Palmer pomposity and melodramatic lyricism (which, to be fair, was only mildly worse than Nena's "99 Luftballons"). It seems like justice, though, when a band as horrible as Europe is tribut-ized (my word) by a band that make The Kids Of Widney High sound like Anthrax.
Please watch. You will not regret it.

American Cheeseburger

2007-02-27T00:10:00.000-05:00

American Cheeseburger is the best Athens hardcore band of the moment. Why?

1)Because they are named after the most perfect food ever.
2)They still inspire circle pits and not the weird, Kung Fu, Boston Beatdown style of dancing.
3)They just rock so damn hard.

Hells yes.

Shiny, Shiny, Bad Times Behind Me

2007-02-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

You will rise, You'll return. The phoenix from the flame.
You will learn.You will rise. You'll return.
Being what you are-There is no other Troy for you to burn.

On another note, there is a Hall Of Fame for everything!

Tonight.

2007-02-17T15:43:00.000-05:00

1:45 AM on a Thursday night...

2007-02-16T01:47:00.000-05:00

...and the tap drips drip drip drip drip drip.

Review Questions for test tomorrow. Feel free to take a stab:

1. What does Peirce mean by ‘Cartesianism’, why does he reject it, and what is his alternative?

2. What four methods of fixing belief does Peirce distinguish, and what are their relative strengths and weaknesses?

3. What is Peirce’s doubt/belief theory of inquiry?

4. What is Peirce’s rule for attaining the third grade of clearness? How does the ‘diamond example’ figure in the development and explanation of Peirce’s theory of meaning?

5. What is Peirces’ theory of the categories, and how does their derivation involve reference to the ‘phaneron’?

6. What is Peirce’s theory of signs, and how does it involve his theory of the categories?

7. What are the main divisions of Peirce’s classification of the sciences, and what is their importance for his philosophy?

8. What is Peirce’s theory of truth, and how is it related to his fallibilism? What are four serious errors whereby philosophers often block the way of inquiry?

9. What does Peirce mean by ‘nominalism’, and why does he reject it? What is his alternative?

10. What is Pragmaticism?

11. What is psychologilism concerning logical validity, and why does Peirce reject it? How does mental rehearsal differ from rational instinct? What is the importance of the distinction between A-reasonings and B-reasonings?

12. What is the distinction between abduction and induction, and what is the importance of each for the process of scientific discovery?

13. What Is Peirce’s architectonic approach to metaphysics? How does evolutionary theory influence Peirce’s metaphysics?

14. What is the doctrine of necessity, and what are Peirce’s eight reasons for rejecting it?

15. What is the law of mind, and how does it involve both synechism and tychism?

I Don't Get It

2007-02-02T04:39:00.000-05:00

Being without cable television is not anything of which to be proud. It's actually horrible. I really want cable again. Still, even when I had cable there would be these shows on that were fabulously popular but whose popularity confuses me completely. American Idol, for one. But that seems obvious.
But what in the world is going on with shows like Top Chef, Iron Chef, etc. Has the culture gotten so soft that it prefers extreme cooking? I dunno.

Then there's stuff like CSI (which I'm going to have to start renting old season of because I need to know what this is [and I know that saying that makes me seem utterly out of touch]) and a whole slew of forensic/detective/crime investigation shows which were given rise based on the popularity of real-life stories shown on Court TV. Why does someone want to watch dramatized, Hollywood stories when real-life stories are so much more compelling and scary? True, tey tend to take place in locales such as Butte, Montana but I've never been to Montana so that's interesting to me.

I dunno. I like The OC. My favorite show, probably of all time is Beverly Hills, 90210.

I really need cable. Badly. At least then I'd know what I was talking about and wouldn't have to speculate.

Oh, I know, though, that I don't like those shows where people go to flea-markets and antique sales and then sell stuff. I don't like shows that show operating room procedures, either.
I really hate TV advertising but I don't mind infomercials. Especially since I'm going to make a fortune with The Internet Treasure Chest, lose my bothersome "love handles" and buy real estate with no money down. And from the convenience of my own home, too.

I will, however, be buying this as soon as it's available. Actually, that's probably my favorite show of all time. Not 90210. But I do miss the good 'ol days with Brenda, Kelly, Brandon, Nate, Steve, et al.

Cyber Punk?

2007-01-11T01:59:00.000-05:00

Google Ads targeted me with this so I thought i'd share it with y'all.

Wanna Join The Most Awesome Band Ever??! Then contact The Internet Band!

Rock Revenge

2007-01-11T00:55:00.000-05:00

This rarely happens but there's a certain band that has had it's revenge on my soul. A band I sorely misjudged about 4 years ago and is currently rocking me to my core. Like I said, this doesn't happen often, but oh man are these guys great. Please enjoy the best video ever made featuring Atlanta's Black Lips.

I'm Lovin' it!

2007-01-10T07:05:00.000-05:00

I finally found a Podcast to wich I would subscribe if I subscribed to such things. But,I don't. So, If you're sick of a bunch o'amateurs all podcastin' about on such topics as Indie Rock and politics and want the scoop from some real experts, get this one.

Click here. Just Do It!

Eurythmics. 21st Century Style.

2007-01-09T03:55:00.000-05:00

Circa 1985

Circa now:

A True Hero

2007-01-09T03:07:00.000-05:00

Sure, James Brown and Gerald Ford have passed recently but this news really hits home.
Ramen King Dies at 96.

A Bargain At Twice The Price

2007-01-05T06:05:00.000-05:00

Now this is an example of 2 All American Boys giving the old Protestant Work Ethic the Old College Try.

By One For Valentines Day!

Taken To Heart

2006-12-30T18:33:00.000-05:00

It is a sure sign that a culture has reached a dead end when it is no longer intrigued by its myths.
-Greil Marcus

Just Stopped By To Say...

2006-12-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

SEASONINGS GREETINGS!

Outta Here

2006-12-23T06:50:00.000-05:00

I won't be around this thing for a few days so... Happy Christmas.
Be back soon.

Flawless

2006-12-21T23:06:00.000-05:00

Don't You Remember...

2006-12-20T07:01:00.000-05:00

Tag! I'm It.

2006-12-18T17:29:00.000-05:00

Well, thanks to good 'ol Ryan I'm tagged in some Interweb thing where I tell you 6 "weird" things about myself.

1)I love the South but I hate the hot weather. And when I say 'Love' you best believe I mean 'Love' L-U-V.

2)I am pretty sure that American culture peaked aesthetically circa 1965.

3)I go on food kicks where I will eat the same type of food for weeks and then not eat that thing for months.

4)I am not that great of a boyfriend but I am the best ex-boyfriend a girl could want. Seriously. I'll clean your house, I'll mow your lawn. Women should be lined up around the block to break up with me.

5)I'm embarrassingly sentimental but I hate when people romanticize the past.

6)I finally burnt out completely on politics and have decided that everyone sucks.

I don't think, though, that any of this is 'weird'. But, you know, forest for the trees and all that.

Ok, so now who do I tag? How about the one person I don't think will do this at all? That's right: Christa.

Never Hurts To Have A Reminder

2006-12-16T18:43:00.000-05:00

When I was a teenager Athens, GA was a mythical place where the streets were paved with gold records. This video gave me the same chills I felt when I first heard the band.

I Blinked and I Missed It

2006-12-14T18:06:00.000-05:00

When did Baby Spice turn into Babe Spice?

Bullet Biting

2006-12-06T13:59:00.000-05:00

After no internal debate, but a little gnashing of teeth concerning cost, I just spent $61.50 for a pair tickets to Jandek in Atlanta for February 17, 2007.
This is my Christmas present to myself.

Start The Heckling

2006-12-05T03:55:00.000-05:00

No matter how much I try to avoid anything reeking of hippie I cannot deny the emotional pull I feel from Happy Xmas (War Is Over). A shining example of a simple, powerful, poignant song and an incredible campaign of public 'art-as-message'. John Lennon & Yoko Ono did good with this one. Actually, I like Yoko more than Lennon but, even so, with this project they fit hand in glove.

Why I love Athens...

2006-12-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

Because we're the only city I know of that would put a 3-legged dog in a parade.

From Christmas Par...

One of the best things...

2006-11-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the annual Christmas Parade through downtown Athens which will culminate in the lighting of the Athens Christmas Tree. This is one of my favorite things about this town even though Christmas is not my favorite holiday.
Wish you were here!

My Favorite

2006-11-29T03:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, damn, well now I'm hooked on YouTube. At first I thought it was just going to be like any othe website. I would visit for a while and then forget about it. Now people like Violetkitty411 have me addicted. Her bizarely confessional, advice-strewn posts are better than television. What did these people DO before the Interweb existed?

Please, Mom, Please

2006-11-28T04:51:00.000-05:00

Every time this happens God hits an angel with a bell and takes away it's wings.

The Name Game

Most Honest City Assesment EVER.

2006-11-26T16:40:00.000-05:00

Can anyone imagine another city's official website saying this?

"Life in Berlin:
Some call it wild, colorful, and full of surprises, while others find it a little too hectic and gruff. Berlin is intriguing because it is so versatile and so multi-faceted. Differences are more extreme, conflicts more tangible, and problems larger than they are elsewhere. Yet even Berlin’s contradictions are part of its appeal."

Awesome.

Berlin: Where Everything Wrong Is Wronger.

I know it when I see it

2006-11-26T04:26:00.000-05:00

This is as close to porn as you will ever see here.

How much further do they want to suck me in?

2006-11-22T23:37:00.001-05:00

I'm starting to take the second season of The OC personally. Why? Because they brought in this character who is a publisher, listens to The Pixies, is given to binge drinking and bouts of self-doubt/self-pity and wears T-shirts that I own:

From random

And here's a close up in case you didn't catch it:

From random

Are you KIDDING me?

2006-11-22T15:13:00.000-05:00

Womens fashion is at an all-time low:

Courtesy of Delia's.

Shit. Jim Morrison must be corrected: The men DO know and the little girls haven't got a clue.

Totally Worth Four Euros.

2006-11-21T01:21:00.000-05:00

Wanna know how you can be sure your old band never went anywhere? When the only place your record is available is on eBay FRANCE!

http://cgi.ebay.fr/A-MERCY-UNION-s-t-7-Punk-
The-Who-The-Subsonics_
W0QQitemZ200028779372QQihZ010QQcategory
Z87272QQ
ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

for christmas

2006-11-20T03:55:00.000-05:00

I want a subscription to the fictional publication Newport Living.

It Had To Be Done

2006-11-20T03:50:00.000-05:00

Sunday night I was at a birthday party and it was a bunch of people sitting around a fire drinking and singing songs and generally just having fun. Then some dude started playing Neutral Milk Hotel songs on his acoustic guitar and I immediately had to leave.
Sorry, people, there are very few artists that are impossible to cover and Jeff Mangum is one of them. I'm not sure exactly what it was but something about it just offended me. Maybe it's because I have a different context for these songs and maybe it's because i was being too precious about the whole thing. That's a definite possibility.
On the other hand, maybe it was just me being an ass.

This Record Is 50 years Old

2006-11-20T01:54:00.000-05:00

In November 1956 This EP was released by Elvis Presley. Make fun all you want but I still consider Elvis in his heydey utterly mesmerizing.

Phrases

2006-11-17T05:56:00.000-05:00

I realize that most people have certain verbal tics, or crutches, and that most of the time they don't even realize they're using them. Even so, here are two that are so absolutely bad and intellectually repulsive as to not be anywhere close to part of a conversation I wish to have:

1)"If by________ you mean ____________"

Oh, yeah, when I said that one thing I totally meant this other, completely unrelated thing you feel so clever to have mentioned. Damn, you're sharp!

2)"That's just wrong on so many levels!"

Really? What levels would those be? You've quantified the potential harm of this thing and have assigned it's various offenses to 'levels' of immorality (ie: wrong)? Well, damn, sharpshooter, you're one hell of a thinker there. I'll be sure to run the next batch of oddball things right by you so you can cast this witticism my way again.

Bye.

Probably Why I Am Single

2006-11-08T11:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, if any of you out there can explain what this phrase means PLEASE explain it to me:

"Girls like to be chased by guys that aren't into them."

Yes, it's from The OC.

This is pathetic.

Best Website Today

2006-11-08T04:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.asspirinacres.com/

Yes, it's work safe you perverts.

While a nation waited....

2006-11-08T02:39:00.000-05:00

...for poll results and pundit-commentaries I took a bunch of Robitussin and listened to Alice Cooper.

Two More Things That Suck a Whole Lot

2006-11-07T06:28:00.000-05:00

1)Harry Potter and all his damn books. Secifically, though, FRIGGIN' ADULTS that read this crap. And I have known so many of them, too. Ridiculous.

2)ADULTS that fight with OTHER ADULTS over whether or not Harry Potter and his damn books are OK for kids. How any adult has time to even bother with this crap is beyond me.

Conclusion: if you are over the age of 21 and are involved in any way with this Harry potter crap then you have TOO MUCH time on your hands and need to go get another job or have some more kids.

(PS: I'm sick as hell and the bile is just pouring outta me. Figuratively speaking, of course.)

No No NO!

2006-11-07T06:06:00.000-05:00

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the biggest musical frauds ever perpetrated on the youth of America.

OC Update

2006-11-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

Among the things most thrilling about watching THE OC are:

-Kids in Newport Beach saying gangsta-type things like "That's how we do it Newport, yo!"
-Finding out that the cutie pie next door to the Cohens is into punk rock and Jack Kerouac.
-HOW UNBELIEVABLY convienient that Josh Cohen is, wouldn'y ya know, into these same things too!(This kid even has a Black Flag poster.)
-Realizing that kids in California still like to PARTY! DUDE!

Orange County used to be known for it's furious punk rock scene. Is this what it's known for now?

On another note, productive coughing rules!

How Sick Am I?

2006-11-06T02:56:00.000-05:00

I caught something nasty this week. I know ti happened sometime Halloween night and I've been all flu-like since. But, how do I KNOW I am sick?
Because in a medicine induced haze I walked around the video store today and walked out with the first three DVDs of the first season of The OC.
How in the world did I ever think this would make me feel better. Might as well have gotten The Gilmore Girls or LOST or some such crap.

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2006-09-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

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