Hey! You!

For once I'm not posting the title of a song as my post title.  Kind of.  All right, here's the thing about that - it's not the full title of a song.  I found the entire play list from the main dance floor at the DNA Lounge online today, and I've been listening through it to note down the titles and artists of the songs I like.  Tonight's title comes from the title of one of the Combichrist songs that played at the club: What the F**k is Wrong With You?  The point made in context is pretty insightful, and it has a heavy beat that I expect from Combichrist.  I'll be posting some links at the end of this post including a link to the video for the song.  You should check it out, and if you don't like the music you can mute it and watch the video while thinking about the title.  Same end result.  You owe it to yourself.  And a Vamp, you owe yourself a Vamp too.

So right now, like I said I'm making a list of the songs that were played at the club.  It's a little one-sided, seeing as I'm not putting down every song, and I also skipped ahead about thirty minutes into the play list because I was looking for one in particular, and my frame of reference was based off of VNV Nation's 'Standing'.  So far I've catalogued 11 songs, and I'm working on a 12th and I've only gone through an hour and a half of 5 hours of music.  It's not really difficult, but when you're trying to hear the music through earbuds while someone else has the TV on really loud and is talking to you and not paying attention to the fact that you can't hear them, but insist on making you listen to what they have to say no matter how rudely they need to interrupt you...well, it's quite time consuming.  For example - it took me the last five minutes to re-listen to the same fifteen words over and over again to figure out that the title of the Suicide Commando song playing was 'Love Breeds Suicide'.  *Sigh* 

So that's my new hobby for a while - making a list of music...to give to you...on here.  Speaking of music though (if you ever get tired of my music rants, please see a much more concise and awesome blog: http://johnroscigno.com), I found out that the song I was originally looking for is called 'Mitternacht' and it's by E Nomine.  It's one of the songs that I didn't know when I heard it, and also one of the songs that Goth-Kane looked so awesome dancing to.  And it has Latin in it.  I'm a sucker for industrial/electronic with Latin.  I'll also be posting a link to the video for that song as well, with all the appropriate warnings and advisories to it's theme so you don't go blindly into watching it.  Aren't I nice.

I also learned that I was singing the wrong lyrics to 'Night Riders' by Stromkern as well as 'Panzermensch' by And One.  Good thing I don't sing loud, and good thing the music drowned me out.

I also remembered the name of one of the songs played to be 'Breathe' by Decoded Feedback, and I got the album it was on, although I'm probably going to dump most of the songs.  I also got the album from E Nomine that 'Mitternacht' is on.  And I learned how to say midnight in German :P

I also finally dropped off my completed app at Pasta Pomodoro today, then walked up my godawful hill for the first time in about 8 years and totally passed out on the couch.  But it's all good, because I first went to Barnes and Nobles with a gift card and picked up the first issue of Azumanga Daioh.  Made my day.  It's well worth a look at if you: like anime, like funny jokes, realistic humor, hated high school, like cats, trust me, or want to see what high school was like if you didn't go.

Aren't you glad I kept this post short? ^_^

Oh, and here's some news you might be interested in: I'm going to be making an email address for this blog so anyone can send stuff to me, whether you just want me to see it, look into it, post it, talk about it, etc.  It's going to be in cooperation with an experiment I'll be doing at the clubs and in daily life, which I'll post more on later - no point in ruining the surprise of the experiment.  Who knows, maybe you can be part of it *_^

Promised links - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln0aVbWzV6s - Combichrist, What the F**k is Wrong With You?  It's a heavy techno song, if that's not your genre, the song probably isn't something you want to add to your music library, but give the song itself a chance in it's message, even if it's just finding the lyrics and getting the most basic pulp of it.  The video is pretty spot on though in the band's intentional message.  Watch this if you see problems in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpntM6lrpQE - E Nomine, Mitternacht.  It's a German song with Latin, and it's title translates to 'midnight'.  Be ready for something heavy and dark.  BTW, 'dark' doesn't mean evil.  At least not in the context I use most of the time.  I intend it to go along with what you might hear at a rave at a cemetery, or in Abby's lab on NCIS, or on the iPod of a goth ballerina....

http://cerebrum.dnalounge.com/archive/ - The website to download and listen to the May 25th play list so you can listen to what I'm listening to.  I'm still working on the list, but if you get through it faster than I do, and you are having bad luck finding the info of a certain song, you can leave a comment and I'll try to get to that one in particular or you can wait until I get through it.  I promise I won't leave you hanging though *_^

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

Danse Vampyr

And that's just what we did.  And it was awesome.

Alright, so that's not the whole story, and it's pretty open to misinterpretation.  So to explain it all in it's wonderful details (details are so awesome):

Danse Vampyr - It's a pun.  If you've read any of the last eleven-teen posts on this blog, you know I think in terms of music far too often.  Danse Vampire is the name of a song by the band Inkubus Sukkubus, a band I'm...ehhh, a band I tolerate.  I like one song.  But they have good mythology behind their music, even the band name  If you haven't done any researching into the mythologies involving vampires, demons, angels, and other undead or metaphysical beings, then this doesn't mean a thing to you, has absolutely no significance on your life, and you're not missing out on any life changing info.  You are missing out on a ton of really interesting history and mythology and cultural connections, however.  But it's not more important than this blog, unlike many other things, so please, finish this before going to start research.  You'll be more prepared for it too.

The other half of the pun is in reference to two things: Me specifically, been called a vampire since high school.  But more importantly, it refers to the shirts that my friend and I were wearing to the DNA Lounge last night.  We were wearing Vamp N.R.G. shirts.  To be honest, I've forgotten if I've mentioned this...incredible, smooth, rich, full-bodied, drink in previous posts; but as a favor to your time I won't go into how delicious it is and how much I recommend to you to go out and place an order from Vampire.com.  You should though.  It's sooo worth it.  You'll never be the same.  You can stop reading to go do that.  Here, I'll leave you a spot to pause reading and go do that.  Right here: ____ (go now).

Right, so back on topic (Depeche Mode, 'Stripped' is playing on Pandora right now - a song whose lyrics offer something we might want to think about in today's fast-paced, self-serving world).  So there we are, DNA Lounge, wearing Vamp shirts, and of course we were there for the goth/industrial theme, although admittedly more industrial than goth.  Music was...oh, I can't begin to tell you how good it was.  Not necessarily good all the way through, but that's expected, but still, just amazingly....profoundly...insatiably good.  Way better than the other club, something I said repeatedly and loudly as we left the club (Decoded Feedback, 'Breathe' playing on Pandora - dark, heavy).  We got there, listened to some good songs, including VNV Nation's 'Standing' original version (OMG!!!!  I love all VNV, but Standing is one of my many favourites, and my primary ring tone).  They also played some good Combichrist, some God Module, a song or two from Funker Vogt, and a song that I just now remember the title of, 'Breathe' by Decoded Feedback.  Yes, it's mentioned directly above this, which is why I remember it now.  Go figure.  I sang the lyrics last night, but could not remember the title.  Oh, and as we left the club, 'I'd Like to Thank my Buddies' by Combichrist was booming in the lower level.  Awesome.

So that was the general line of music playing, I'm sure I've forgotten some other amazing songs and artists, but my memory is kind of foggy Right now, and after two clubs, I can't remember which played which.  I'm sure there was some Depeche Mode in there somewhere too though.

So we arrived.  Sat and watched the dance floor while we let a sushi dinner settle.  Then we got up, I went upstairs and watched over the balcony at the dance floor while my friends danced, and learned through observation how to dance.  I also got to briefly analyze the personalities of some of the people on the dance floor as well as their totally dope wardrobes.  Personality wise, it's quite fascinating, you start to develop an understanding of the people there.  There's of course the guy in plaid that doesn't belong, and no matter how he dances, he just doesn't fit in.  There's the large number of goth/industrial girls in plaid skirts, corsets, latex, fishnet, coloured hair, etc. and guys in similar apparel, but more manly (or actually in the exact same apparel).  Then of course you have the uniques.  Gothic Joe Kucan dancing on stage, knowing just how awesome he is, and how fresh-to-death his clothes are, and how totally dope his moves are, as he takes the main stage.  There's also the industrial ballerina (OMG!!), the two guys both clad with the same logo from a delicious drink on their shirts, the industrial ballerina, the techno pirate man (with combat boots), the guy with the four foot ponytail, the unbelievably amazing industrial clad ballerina, and the green glow stick man.  Alright, you caught me, the highlight of my night was the ballerina doing point in a black latex tutu.  Not specifically because she was attractive, actually not even mostly - she was the only person doing an arranged and formulated dance, she was clearly fully trained in ballet (don't know if she was a prima ballerina or not, but definitely good at it), and she was doing full-on ballet to heavy industrial music - I have an incredible amount of respect for her.  Plus I like ballet, so mixing it with industrial and techno was something I hadn't ever thought about, but I feel I could use it in some of my concepts and future work as a designer.  And no, I'm not just saying I like ballet because of her - I was raised on classical music, and found I liked industrial and techno more often, but I also found a place in my head for some opera (although I'm really picky), and classic instrumental music.

So I watched people, I learned how to dance (or more specifically that I didn't need to learn how), and then we hung out in the lounge area and listened to some different music.  And then we did what we just had to do - we hit up the lounge dance floor.  If you haven't danced at a club: I recommend it.  The music was awesome, and I apparently wasn't terrible at dancing, seeing as I wasn't left alone on the floor, plus to be honest - no one really cares how good or poorly you dance, just have fun, worst case scenario: pretend you're drunk.  We ran into a little issue with three of us and two set of glow sticks, but it just added to the fun of having to dance in the strobe lights and then switch off and grab one of the sets and dance with the glow sticks.  I did my best to emulate the fresh-to-death moves of goth Joe Kucan, but with my own drive and I felt it worked out well.  Then we left.

Yes, it was that sudden, and as tired as I was, I was super pumped, and I wanted to stay or go back, but we had thins to do, and I'm over it now (Depeche Mode, 'World in my Eyes' is playing on Pandora).

And that was the second club experience, and to be honest, probably a life-changing experience.  You should go.  If you're a fan of any of the music I've mentioned in this blog, or just want to try something fun to experiment or because it seems like something you would do - Monday's DNA Lounge.  Maybe I'll see you around.

More has happened since then, but not much, and nothing really awesome.  I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

She Ricochets

So, again, it's been a while since my last post.  I've been kind of busy, not really with work, but busy in the sense that I haven't had a whole lot of time to be on the computer blogging.  I'm officially back home now, I'm unpacked so it qualifies, and so far I've had a lot of fun, and done a lot of work - I think.

Earlier this week, I went to a club with my friend and spending the day at another friend's house, and as a whole the entire day was pretty awesome.  Hanging out with friends is always a plus for me, and the club was pretty awesome too.  The music of course made it so much better, they played several VNV Nation songs, and a bunch of Depeche Mode songs, which my friend and I had been playing in the car the rest of the day, admittedly not the same songs, but as long as the artist plays, the details don't much matter.  Some of the other songs that I recognized in the club were, Military Fashion Show, Everything You Touch, Send Me an Angel, and a some Combichrist and Wumpscut.  Not all the music was great, but the music that was good was the best.

So the club was a lot of fun, and we're going to try to go to another one on Monday that I've heard plays the same good music, but more consistently.  Speaking of music, since coming home, I've gotten the new Depeche Mode album, Sounds of the Universe, the NCIS soundtrack, and both of the albums by Shiny Toy Guns.  STG isn't really my thing, but I don't mind them, and they have a few songs that I like for no real reason.  I've been listening to Ricochet on repeat today, and for some reason, it 's just catchy.  Idk, I'll form an opinion of them later.  I can not wait until the new VNV album  comes out next month, and I seriously need to get a job so I can get my ticket to the concert.

Speaking of jobs, that's the other thing I've been doing - walking to the mall and shopping center nearby to apply and pick up applications.  Currently, it looks like my best bet is going to be at Pasta Pomodoro, because I walked in yesterday to pick up an app. and the three hostesses on staff pretty much begged me to apply and told me how to get the job.  Any job that gives you three attractive points of view is worth applying.  They said they needed hosts and servers, so I might also have a chance to work a lot of over time and get more money.  I don't want to think of myself as greedy, but in this case, I really do want money.  I want money because I would like to pay off my credit card debt created b school books, and I would like to buy the Mac I'm going o need so I can graduate college.  I know, why do I need a Mac to graduate college? Because I'm a graphic designer.  Plus, my computer is kind of dying.  'Kind of' is better translated into 'absolutely and epically' actually.

In other news, I got a Dremel from my mom, and I took all of her attachments for it, so I've been up to my eyeballs in sanding and cutting whatever I feel like, mostly coconut.  It's easier to eat when you can drink it out of a straw.  My next goal for the Dremel is to get the awesome diamond blade, and maybe when I have more money, a Dremel I can plug in, because I really dislike how fast the battery on it dies.  I sanded the fuzz off a coconut today actually, and by the time I was done, the battery was super weak.  And considering I'm eventually going to be using it to do detail work and larger projects, I'm going to need more juice.  I'm thinking about getting a variable speed Dremel as well, I like have more options than 1 and 2.  But I like it anyways.  I also learned that coconut shell is considered a hardwood.  I learned this lesson when a softwood Dremel blade esploded in my face.  Lucky me, I was wearing sunglasses, so I just got a cheek-full of shrapnel.  Totally worth it!

Other than all of that - I'm not doing much, Genghis s growing really well, I'm still trying to see some friends and hoping to see others eventually, and enjoying a free pallet of Hansen's EnergyPRO.  It's got good flavor, and it's light enough on sugar and caffeine that I can drink like five and run around in a good mood.

Until more happens, I'll probably stay out of touch and be screwing around in the real world before I come back to the "nothingbettertodo" that is blogging over summer break.

^_^ Cheers,

Shadow of Light

Summer's Day...

...as she passed away; birds were singing in the summer sky.  Then came the rain, and once again, a tear fell from her mother's eye.

Verse from 'Blasphemous Rumors' by Depeche Mode, a song that was played for me on Pandora a while ago, and has quickly become a favourite.  I like the vocals, I like the lyrics, I like it's point.  And it's a great title for the first day of summer break!!! Finals are finished, hope I did well, but I think I did alright.  Yesterday and today I packed, got all my stuff ready to go either home, or into storage.  I never knew I had so much stuff.  Goes to show the volume of things I picked up while I was down here.  Actually, I haven't described it or shown you, so it really doesn't go to show.

Pandora and I are starting to have some issues - I want new and fresh music, but Pandora isn't really playing much, it just keeps laying the same songs over and over, and of course, songs I have as well.  I've heard Icon of Coil's 'Shelter' three times today.  I like the song, but I'd rather hear different songs on Pandora without using up all my skips.  Wait, scratch the irritation in that, Pandora is Playing 'Star-Crossed Lovers' by De/Vision right now, and that makes up for everything.  Interesting song.  Starts very mellow, very chill, not something I'm against, but i do like my beats, but then, oh then, the song picks up with a bunch of bass, that's slow and deep and immediately your soul starts to move with it.  Music that covers it all - delicious.

Oooohh, so the last few days, as the last week of school has come and gone, I've had this feeling that someone would want to show up and talk, and for 5 days of feeling this way, nothing has happened...until tonight.  These moments kin of suck.  However, they suck even more when you know EXACTLY how it's going to play out.  I knew it was going to be awkward, creepy, make me look like an insensitive jerk (which I will admit, under the circumstances isn't something I'll deny coming across as), and that all of these things together would aggravate me.  And it was so.  Needless to say, if I were really an insensitive person, let alone an insensitive jerk, things would have gone much, much worse.  At the very least I was kind enough to open the door, knowing what was going to happen when I did.

But I was instantly cheered up by my new personified object, my bamboo plant, Genghis.  He's really not Genghis material...yet.  But he will be.  I actually found him, and he was really weak, and wilting and just not doing well, but some cold water, and direct fan breeze, along with a very small amount of Monster have helped him perk up quite a bit since I found him, and the climate back home is perfect for bamboo, as I once used to grow it...before my grandma ripped it up...But Genghis is here to avenge that.  He will be living inside! Muahahahahaha!!!!

Side note - apparently, a few people think I'm really unhappy with life.  Umm...I'm not.  I'm not unhappy, although if you call a person on days you know are stressful or busy all the time, I can you getting that impression...but it's kind of your fault for calling during those times.  And apparently I need to heal as well.  What the heck?!  I am healed!  Yes, I'm cynical, but I'm also very aware of life and the world and myself, and I need far less healing than other people, I know my ways of dealing with things aren't the best, but they work for me.  So if you're reading this, and thinking these things...please stop.

Back on track - Music.  What is it with people judging any song with negative lyrics as a negative song?  Yes, some are, but let's be honest, most are written satirically!   Everyone jumps on the wagon with music as art, and writing as art, and hey, art as art too, but when it comes to accepting a very basic idea that there are modes of communication and interaction through these like satire or irony, not as many people seem to get it.  It's really sad too, because now we're left with a bunch of cheesy ideas and shallow appreciations.  Fail society.

It's too hot to sleep.  It's soooo hot.  In the wise words of Toombs from Chronicles of Riddick, "If I owned this place and Hell, I'd rent this place out, and live in Hell."  Soooo true.  I wish it would rain.  I'd even settle for a single, medium-sized, fluffy cloud.  And t.A.T.u. can be playing in the background.

Oh, I also went to dinner with a senior friend of mine yesterday who's graduating, and it was fun.  We were at the restaurant from 7 to almost 1 in the morning.

Anyways, I'm making this post pretty long, because I don't know if I'm going to have internet access this next week.

Ohhhhhh!!!!! And I'm going to a VNV Nation concert in June!  I will of course pick up the album before then, so that I can enjoy the album, but I'm super stoked, it's part of their world tour for 'Of Faith, Power, and Glory'.  I'm so ready for both.

Alright, that's it, I'm off to go watch Hulu and try and get sleepy in this heat.

Cheers,

-Shadow of Light

Final-ly...

The title is a pun.  So I haven't posted ANYTHING on the blog in about two weeks, and I'm truly, very, honestly, sorry.  I've missed you.  A lot.

...right.  So this week is finals week.  Hence the title, hence the not writing.  The week before this week was the week I should have studied for finals.  I mean, I did a little, but I got distracted often, because I didn't really want to study.  That's how it goes.  So now I'm writing, and in the middle of finals week.  I have four finals total, I finished one last week, and one last night, and I'm going to leave for another one in a little bit, and then I have one more tomorrow.  And then, something amazing happens...I finish with the school year!  And if you didn't know that...well, I'm sorry; I can't give you the help you probably need.  After finals are over, I need to finish packing, and go see the head pastor at APU, so that I can be ready to leave, and complete a really stupid idea I had earlier this semester, respectively.

What you've missed - I've been making rings for about a week, I like them, and lucky me, my mom does too, Mother's Day is taken care of.  I took a chunk out of my hand with a metal file.  It's almost healed now, but it was impressive.  I've also been listening to Krypteria and the single of Depeche Mode's Wrong that I bought on Amazon.  I'll probably get the full album when I get back North this weekend.  I really want to go see my friends, but I'm going to be spending the first week of my vacation at my mom's - which is cool...but I still miss my friends.  But there's always the next week...while I'm job hunting.

By the way, if you're looking for a graphic designer, and you have something simple you want done cheap - let me know.  I mean, seriously, post a comment, with info and I'll get back to you.  I will be very honest though, if you want something really big and complex and whatnot, you'll have to wait another year to get it from me, but if you're looking for something simple, I lower my fee for my lack of experience.

Alright, well, I need to be off to finish a few other things before I go off to my Luke/Acts final (eww), and I will be posting more often again...although I might not have internet this next week.

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

P.S. Check out http://www.johnroscigno.com/