Thoughts Regarding Lent

Sorry in advance about the sacrilege. 

Thought #1

Today was Ash Wednesday, as those of you who ventured outside may have figured out.  I kept reminding myself of this over the weekend because last year, I was freaked out when I was walking around one morning downtown and everyone had this black shit on their forehead.  I was worried that there was a huge fire somewhere that I missed out on taking time to gawk at.  Anyways, to avoid my confusion again this year, I was thinking all weekend, "Cooly, dude, Ash Wednesday is on Wednesday.  Be prepared.  Plus, Mardi Gras is on Tuesday.  Baller.  But you won't get to celebrate because you have to wake up for a job in the morning.  Shitty."

Anyways, I fucking forgot about Ash Wednesday today.  However, since I now take the less-crowded and (apparently) less-religious Brown Line to work, I didn't see anyone with ashes on their forehead until I was walking to lunch.  By this time in the day, I was awake enough that I was able to make a reaction when I saw someone with black shit on their forehead.  I'm guessing that the reaction on my face was not unlike the usual face of Sloth from Goonies.  Needless to say, the other person thought I was a Wiccan or something.  Shit.  Next year, I need to definitely remember Ash Wednesday.

Thought #2

Do you know what the most annoying part of Lent every year is?  No, it's not my mother constantly asking me if I am attending church services.  It is in fact the massive amount of commercials for fried fish sandwiches that are currently running on television. 

I know that I don't like fish sandwiches from fast food joints because they make me feel queasy.  But the problem with these commercials is that they make them look so delicious.  I have never seen such a tempting Filet-o-Fish as the one pictured on my HD television during the Bulls timeout.  The cheese is perfectly melting, the fish fillet itself is perfectly golden and crisp.  Mmm, delicious.  However, they always come out like and taste like absolute shit.  These commercials are really getting on my nerves.  And I have like six more weeks of putting up with them (six weeks is correct, right? I haven't been in Catechism class in a while).  Fucking advertising.

What Can I Say...

... much to the annoyance of my roommate and mostly everyone I have ever encountered in my life, I have a strange love for R. Kelly.  In looking through this blog, you can see that typically I listen to indie rock/pop or experimental folk, so it is kind of odd to have an appetite for R. Kelly, too.

I like him partly as a joke and partly for legitimate reasons.  I think his over the top songs like "Trapped in the Closet" are impossible to not laugh at.  But as a often discuss with Dave, his beats and vocal talents are actually impressive from time to time.  And you can't but be impressed by the fact that he wrote all twenty-two parts of "Trapped" even though he can't read or write.

Last week, his new album Untitled was released. 

And I haven't stopped listening to it since then. 

It's okay.  Some of the songs are typical Kelly R&B joints that swoon with sensual lyrics and music.  For the other half of the album Kells does his best to sound like T-Pain with hip hop beats and auto-tune.  In the end, half from each of the two groups is crap while the other half is good, leading to one mediocre album.

But at least it's better than his last album, Double Up, which was a pile of hot crap.


Anyways, below are my two favorite songs from Untitled.  The second one is probably the most perfect R. Kelly song since "Trapped."

Passion Pit

Really into these guys right now, even though some random drunk dude at PassTimes said they sucked. 

And the middle of this video totally reminds me of Starfox 64.

Back to Life

Just to let you all know that I have not abandoned things here.  Life kind of interceded and blogging fell by the way side while I was up to more important things.  (Did you ever think I would declare that blogging is really not that important?)

Anyways, thanks to everyone that has helped me through everything.  It means a lot, and there is nothing I can do to repay you.  Thank you.

I will get back to 300 Level Banter and Start Wedman when I get caught up on school work.  Those blogs actually require research and time, although you wouldn't really be able to tell at first read.  Look for those to hit full force again within the next week though.

Until then, enjoy this little diddy I found.  I really like Bon Iver and Kina Grannis, so I guess a merging of the two was only inevitable.



Also, watching this video is like my Rob Gordon-meets-Marie De Salle-while-she's-doing-a-cover moment.  I think.

Dead Man's Bones, Again

I know I have already posted about Dead Man's Bones before, but I can simply not get enough of this video.  Beautiful.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I literally stumbled into this band last week.  Ever since that point in time, I have not stopped listening to their first album, From Below.  It has a very creepy feel to it much like Dead Man's Bones.  In this case however, creepy is good.

Internet Favorites

Below are two of my current favorite internet sites. Both are highly recommended.

1. Steve Roommate. Okay, yes, this is a twitter account, but it may be the funniest one available. Genius use of the twitter platform.

2. Skinny Girls Big Sandwiches. The best combination on earth. Dagwood would agree wholeheartedly.

Enjoy los dos.