skepticlysm

Tag: reviews

  • Lunch Hour

    Lunch Hour

    • Sitting here listening to Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy soundtrack.
    • While I write random things for work.
    • And this.
    • Obviously.
    • I can go back and forth.
    • Also, it’s lunch hour.
    • (Was. – Editor)
    • EPIC cyberpunk sounds while writing a Code of Conduct for an internal communications platform I get to launch.
    • …
    • Let’s start that over.
    • I didn’t get any further than that last Friday and didn’t pick it up over the weekend.
    • The dependable lists died that quickly.
    • Which is frustrating as fuck.
    • Which makes me want to go into the whole indentured servitude rant again.
    • I won’t.
    • There’s no point.
    • And you’re tired of hearing it.
    • I’m tired of not being able to do much about it.
    • <Insert segue here.>
    • Yesterday, the kid and I went to meet my parents at Texas Roadhouse for lunch.
    • Dad’s birthday was Saturday.
    • When we got in the car, I handed her my phone, told her to find some music.
    • She put on a Punk playlist.
    • The first song was from Bad Brains.
    • Made me proud.
    • How much do we need Punk right now?
    • That raw, scream-in-the-face-of-the-system energy.
    • I popped in my earbuds getting out of car this morning, to continue listening to my “Liked Songs” playlist.
    • Turning out of the parking garage and onto the sidewalk, Rage’s “Guerilla Radio” came on.
    • There I am, gimpy from pred withdrawal, hobbling the block-and-a-half to work feeling the lyrics of that song.
    • We need Art like that so damn much.
    • The other observation: I’m experiencing right now what I’m going to feel like physically if I make it to my 70s.
    • Fucking prednisone.
    • Fast forward 20 years, I’ll be hobbling around with my hearing aids connected to my phone, still listening to Rage.
    • The kid told me a couple weeks back that sometimes, she listens to extreme Metal when she’s frustrated or mad or getting ready to do something she doesn’t want to do.
    • The hardcore, scream-o kind.
    • Surprised me.
    • Illuminating.
    • Because there have been more than a few mornings when she gets in the car and puts her headphones on.
    • I get it, kid.
    • What’s funny is that I never really subjected her to anything harder than Lamb of God.
    • She found it on her own.
    • Hours later, I’m still playing my “Liked Songs” playlist.
    • It just served up “Pocket Full of Sunshine.”
    • Been a helluva mix.
    • But how would it not be, really?
    • They’re all songs I’ve liked.
    • Genre chaos.
    • Most of the drive to work was thrash metal.
    • Two or three from And Justice for All.
    • And this Anthrax song, “Breathing Lightning,” which I love because of how it makes me feel.
    • Has this expansive, defiant, hopeful feel to it.
    • I can’t explain it better than that, and you probably wouldn’t like it like I do, especially if you’re not an Anthrax fan.
    • I won’t try to convert you, either.
    • We don’t do that here.
    • Trying to convince anyone of anything seems like a waste of time these days.
    • Try to get anyone to do anything these days …
    • (This one’s got a high Kid Quotient.)
    • The other night right before we all crashed, she said, “I really like writing down my thoughts about film.”
    • “Yeah?”
    • “Yes. Did you like writing about movies?”
    • “Yes I did. I liked it a lot.”
    • She’s really digging her “History through Film” class (I think I have that right).
    • A whole class where all you do is watch and discuss films?
    • Sounds like college to me.
    • But that “writing about movies” bit.
    • I wonder if there’s going to be a trend back toward strong voices in the fight against the algorithm.
    • I want that to be on the horizon.
    • Stop telling us what to see. What to think. What to feel. What to be mad about.
    • Start fixing things.
    • Oof.
    • Just deleted about … 15 bullets.
    • Because oversharing.
    • Not a good idea to disclose your vulnerabilities.
    • Emotional regulation when everything is full blast all the time.
    • So …
    • One of my friends who’s faculty at the college, gave me a mug when I got back from the brainssss.
    • *See photo if you’re on the Book of Faces.
    • (I promise I’ll get the blog template updated to something with pics. I miss the pics.)
    • Anyway, for those without … captions.
    • It’s one of those that looks like it has lines in a kind of nonsensical pattern.
    • Only when you turn the mug sideways and focus can you see what it says.
    • (Which is probably a truism for surviving the world.)
    • (Turn shit sideways. Focus. Conquer.)
    • Anyway, it says “Fuck This Shit.”
    • I feel like a rebellious teenager walking to and from the break room.
    • This just happened.
    • A person in the hall shook her head at me, said, “Hey.”
    • I said, “How are you?”
    • She kinda grumbled.
    • I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a Monday.”
    • She said, “How are you?”
    • I said, “It’s a Monday,” and then gave that raised mug mock salute … with the FTS Mug.
    • Now, if you’ll excuse me, lunch is over.
    • Back to the grind.
  • Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    • It occurred to me this morning I did not listen to any music when writing yesterday’s odd, perhaps demoralizing List.
    • Remedying that today.
    • Hit play on my “Liked Songs” in Spotify.
    • Just after clicking the shuffle button.
    • Obviously.
    • First up, Machine Head’s cover of Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
    • Fantastic cover.
    • Metal that shit up.
    • Maiden’s never struck me as a metal band, really.
    • I’m not sure what they are.
    • Iron Maiden, I guess?
    • No one sounds like them.
    • Almost all their songs contain a narrative, which is cool because I’m not sure a lot of modern music does?
    • (I have nothing to support that claim.)
    • Btw, the denizens of the Discord made up a new word this morning: buttcry.
    • Which was supposed to be “buttery.”
    • “This is what it sounds like when buttcry.”
    • Anyway.
    • Iron Maiden.
    • I did not listen to them at all for like four years after going to their Tulsa show at the BOK.
    • For one, at the time, I thought they were too loud (when really, it was my faulty ears).
    • For another, they played mostly new stuff, which I thought sucked.
    • I wanted to hear the hits.
    • Lately, however, lots of Maiden in the rotation.
    • I have been playing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Number of the Beast (albums) during gaming sessions.
    • I know, I know.
    • If you don’t like Maiden, you dgaf.
    • Got it.
    • We watched the first two episodes of Dept. Q on Netflix.
    • “By the guy who did The Queen’s Gambit.”
    • Sold.
    • Dept. Q is good stuff.
    • Like it a lot so far.
    • Again, character’s the thing.
    • It’s full of good ones.
    • And it’s gorgeous.
    • Music interlude: NP – “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    • And then because I typed some other stuff first: (cover) “Where is My Mind,” Maxence Cyrin
    • “Got the Time,” Anthrax (also a cover, but I can’t remember the originating band’s name)
    • Damn, I love that song.
    • Was released my senior year of high school.
    • I remember trying to get the people in the car to listen to it on our way back from a student council thing in Edmond.
    • “No such thing as tomorrooooowwww …”
    • I write about music all the time.
    • I can’t live without it.
    • That guitar thing I mentioned a couple weeks ago.
    • Bucket list skills.
    • Gonna do that.
    • Hell, James was over here Friday night doodling around on the Fender we got the kid a couple years ago and I had to stifle a bit of jealousy.
    • What is it that keeps us from doing the things we’re interested in?
    • That we want to do?
    • Goddamn phone.
    • It’s not just that, however.
    • Not the phone at all, really.
    • All our speedbumps are internal.
    • NP: Moby, “Flower.”
    • Man, that Moby album had a shitload of good songs on it.
    • They’re still good, btw.
    • Might want to revisit that one.
    • (Having an a.d.d. kinda day.)
    • What I was saying is Music has a monumental impact on my mood.
    • Would you rather go blind or deaf?
    • Oof.
    • Neither.
    • NP: Spiritbox, “Circle with Me.”
    • (Nice bassline in this song.)
    • (Actually, this song is cool af.)
    • I’m not trying to convert anyone.
    • If you’re not into metal by now …
    • You do you, man.
    • In this world of “influencers …”
    • I got my first-ever writing gig back in college as a columnist for the O’Colly.
    • No joke, I wanted to be Dave Barry.
    • That led me into journalism and creative writing as degrees.
    • “Wait. I can do this for a living?”
    • (Yeah, kinda. You gonna be po’, kid, but yes, technically, you can write for a living.)
    • My question now … what’s a modern-day columnist?
    • Are they the “influencers?”
    • These lists are columns.
    • Format is jacked, but … your attention spans have been abbreviated. Amputated?
    • And I’m bludgeoning you with music today.
    • Books tomorrow.
    • Streaming shows and movies.
    • NP: Killswitch Engage, “My Curse.”
    • (Brother can SING.)
    • Does GenX give af about influencers?
    • I ask for market research purposes.
    • (Coming soon to an Internet near you.)
    • For real though.
    • Who do you read/listen to (not music) and why?
    • (I have no one I follow consistently.)
    • (I’m not exaggerating when I beat the “no heroes” drum.)
    • Okay, the riff is the thing.
    • I love a great metal riff.
    • LOVE IT.
    • Sure, it has to have good around it.
    • Great bass. Great drumming.
    • But something about that metal guitar sound …
    • Better than a pocket full of sunshine, I tell you.
    • Also, it’s not just about the riffs. Or Metal.
    • Beautiful solos.
    • Like the last one in Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” or the last one in Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” (which is one of my favorite songs ever, btw. Holy shit, so good.)
    • NP: Anthrax, “Intro to Reality,” which is an instrumental.
    • I’m typing on the couch listening to this song, bobbing my head, feeling … happy and satisfied.
    • Sure, the specter of work looms, but the tunes and typing are keeping it at bay.
    • NP: NIN, “Eraser (Denial: Realization)”
    • Here comes the riff …
    • I’m not apologizing for the weirdness of the list.
    • It’s a playlist ride-a-long.
    • Music: keeping the outside world, and the nonsense in my head (literally and figuratively), away.
    • NP: Pixies, “Where is My Mind.”
    • Great place to stop.
    • I’ll see you tomorrow.
    • Do not go gentle.

  • Pixie Dust

    Pixie Dust

    • The stereo in the Pilot is old.
    • Because the Pilot is like a 2013 or 2012.
    • I can never remember.
    • What I’m saying is it does not do Bluetooth worth a damn, and plugging in my Android phone does nothing.
    • Why the hell would car manufacturers limit connections to one kind of phone?
    • There are more Android phones on earth than iPhones (last I bothered to give af to check), but sure, limit people’s car stereo connections to iPhones.
    • Effing Apple.
    • (As he types on an Apple product …)
    • Because of the tech limits of the Pilot, we listen to the radio a lot.
    • OMG, I hate radio.
    • Hate it.
    • I hate the commercials.
    • I can’t stand the DJs.
    • I can’t stand listening to songs I do not care about.
    • I do not have the patience for it.
    • When I drive the Pilot, I’ve taken to putting in the earbuds and firing up Spotify.
    • In many ways, streaming has been a blessing.
    • I get to listen what I want when I want.
    • No filler.
    • I do, from time to time, listen to Spotify-created playlists.
    • They’re based on my listening habits, after all.
    • Though why it keeps making me listen to Slayer I do not know.
    • Not a fan of Slayer.
    • Most boring of the Big 4.
    • Anyway, radio.
    • It’s always sucked if you want to get down to it.
    • There’s always been a filter to what you got to hear.
    • Some radio exec decided everyone needed to hear this artist and this song with this sound …
    • For the stations, find the song they think will be most popular so more people tune in to hopefully hear that song so the station can make more ad revenue.
    • Which, you know, they did not use to increase DJ pay.
    • You had to get those indie stations where the DJs actually got to choose what music you heard, like Jones used to do in College.
    • Find a DJ you like, whose tastes aligned with yours, you could make radio tolerable.
    • Other than that, fundamentally fucked.
    • Do you ever think about that?
    • How much of your life is steered by the taste of others?
    • The will of others?
    • Of other people knowing better what you need.
    • We’re all used to it, of course.
    • Takes constant vigilance to battle it.
    • Again, the older I get, the fewer opinions I seek.
    • I have people.
    • Would never say I don’t.
    • But that circle shrinks by the day.
    • I’ll find and polish my own.
    • Which brings us to these Lists.
    • Do not take my word for it, ever.
    • I’m just a talking monkey with a keyboard who wishes he could write like Shakespeare.
    • I had no plan today, obviously.
    • I had two notes, really.
    • One was about how I’ve started screen capping stupid shit on social media.
    • Dumb ads.
    • Dumber headlines.
    • Shitty attempts at consumer manipulation.
    • Tired of being manipulated for someone else’s bank account.
    • And now I want to get into politics.
    • Nay!
    • The other note says, “Walk.”
    • Went on one yesterday.
    • And it was challenging.
    • WTAF.
    • A walk!
    • Met with an infectious disease doc this morning.
    • Dude was confident the antibiotics were shrinking the thing, but they can’t take me off the IV stuff until they see it on the MRI.
    • Can’t get the IV out until then.
    • Can’t get released to go to work until the IV is out, which, you know, has its benefits.
    • Earliest appt is not until June 11.
    • Was a good call.
    • But until the IV is out, I can’t do jack except … walk.
    • That’s whining.
    • Imma stop.
    • The other part of the Walk note was … Pantera.
    • Because that’s one of their best songs.
    • Obviously.
    • (Btw, at work, I have my readers trained to do “obviously” in the Alan Rickman Snape voice.)
    • I hope to do that here, too.
    • The radio rant.
    • Unplanned.
    • Sorry for the rant.
    • But then everyone thinks I’m angry all the time anyway.
    • It isn’t true, but there it is.
    • It’s just my face, as I like to say.
    • Not shy about voicing my frustrations, however.
    • What the hell do the rest of you do?
    • Keep that bottled up?
    • Emotional cancer, man.
    • Let it out.
    • Let it flow, let it flow …
    • “Do no harm, but take no shit.”
    • That’s one of my favorites.
    • A driving mantra moving forward.
    • You think I’m angry.
    • If I am, it’s because part of me thinks I take a lot of shit.
    • I. Am. Tired of that.
    • I had an awakening in the aftermath of surgery.
    • Seriously.
    • Different tolerances for bullshit moving forward.
    • I’ll do it with a smile on my face, but … yeah.
    • Advocate for yourself.
    • You get one shot at this.
    • Time’s a-wasting.
    • Enjoy your holiday weekend.
    • …
    • …
    • …
    • And then a thing happened he did not expect.
    • What do I do when the List is too damn long already, but something else came up I  needed to get out of my head?
    • Multiple posts?
    • You really think the algo’s going to show them equally?
    • Came across this cover of “Where is My Mind,” by Ruelle.
    • (Which I shared in the List Discord server music channel.)
    • (I can’t drop a link in the List without the algorithm limiting who sees it.)
    • (The Algo, in my head, is the MCP from the original Tron.)
    • (An antagonist.)
    • (We should all be thinking of our relationships with social media algos as adversarial.)
    • (Because they are.)
    • Anyway.
    • The cover of that song is awesome.
    • Ruelle is pretty awesome, too.
    • Makes me want to go hunt down all the covers of  “Where is My Mind?”
    • We listened to the Ruelle version three or four times this morning.
    • Kaia said she still likes the original best.
    • I don’t disagree.
    • It’s good stuff.
    • First time I ever heard it was at the end of Fight Club.
    • Thank you, David Fincher, for giving me The Pixies.
    • The film that keeps on giving, you know?
    • And the answer to your unasked question … dude’s last name is Walters.
    • Okay, now we’re done.
    • Way out in the water slowly swimming …