Nae_blis's Xanga

Stand-up!

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:12:42 GMT

Wow. My blog has died.

Oh well. I'll just pretend like I didn't notice.

This past Saturday night, a fellow classmate of mine and I had the privilege of taking a trip down to Hollywood to see our English professor perform in a stand-up comedy show. Our prof picked me up at 9:30, we picked up my classmate at her house at 10, and then we all went down to Hollywood together for the midnight show.
None of us knew what to expect, but the show was excellent. There was a band called Common Rotation that opened and closed the show (I recommend checking them out. You can find some of their songs on YouTube). They used none of the conventional instruments you'd commonly associate with a band: they used banjo, acoustic guitar, cello, piano, trumpet, harmonica, harpsichord, and ukulele, and they were amazing. Several other acts took place, including two women with a comedic "Take Back the Earth" shpeel, a comedian who argued comically that we had to "save the elephants," and a young man who played guitar and harmonica and sang songs about the girls who had left him. There was a brief DVD presentation on Sociology, the most significant phrase I took away from that being "the allness of all." My prof performed some poems that he'd written, and they turned out to be highly amusing. All in all, it was a great show and a great experience.

Campin' with the fam

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:33:23 GMT

Yikes! I haven't updated my blog in forever! My sincerest apologies to those few people who might still care about my blog enough to read it.

I think I'll revive my blog with an entry about my latest camping experience. My family and I went up to Pinecrest on Sunday afternoon and returned Wednesday afternoon. It was a nice time. Sunday night was for unpacking and relaxing (and, for the younger generation, going to see Get Smart at the outdoor amphitheater down the road). On Monday my sister Megan and cousins Jennifer and Kathryn hiked to the beach, baked in the 90+-degree weather for a coupla hours, and bought a can of frosting to eat on the hike back (we justified this by saying we needed the sugar in order to make it back up the hill). The rest of Monday and all of Tuesday was spent playing cards: Gin Rummy, Rook, Hands and Feet, UNO, War, Golf, and Solitaire. Hands and Feet was my personal favorite: Megan, Jennifer, Kathryn, and I played it for hours at a time. Tuesday night the younger bunch again headed down to the amphitheater, this time to watch Kung Fu Panda. Contrary to the belief that it's only funny for 10 year-old boys, I actually liked it a lot (though not as much as the lady in front of me apparently did). Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we packed up, and left around 11 on Wednesday morning. It was fun, and I can't wait for next year when we get to do it all again.

#1 Song of the Week

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:04:03 GMT

Flashback ~ Sonic Syndicate

Sands of time stream through my fingers
Chasing lost days of a dead dream
And I don't care if we lose it all tonight

Cause I'm not sure anymore if it ever happened
It feels so unreal

Don't close your eyes what if all disappears
Am I better off all alone?
The truth is more then your brain can handle
I won't hate you anymore

First time I saw my father's tears
I knew there was still hope for me
Now share your brain so I can upload some hate
If you saw me now would you pray for me?
Still I'll keep doing the same mistakes

Cause I'm not sure anymore if it ever happened
It feels so unreal

Don't close your eyes what if all disappears
Am I better off all alone?
The truth is more then your brain can handle
I won't hate you anymore

Why does it feel like god spent more time on me?
I burned all the bridges
But the moment I met you they where all rebuilt again
Rebuilt again

Don't close your eyes...

Don't close your eyes what if all disappears
Am I better off all alone?
The truth is more then your brain can handle
I won't hate you anymore

Don't close your eyes what if all disappears
Am I better off all alone?
The truth is more then your brain can handle
I won't hate you anymore

Prince Caspian

Tue, 27 May 2008 04:05:05 GMT

EPICALLY RAD!!!

Nightwish in Orangevale! May 22, 2008

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:13:30 GMT

Ok, here's where I finally sit down and attempt to write something coherent that expresses the absolute thrill that was the Nightwish concert I attended this past Thursday. Although I fear words will not do it justice in any sense of the word, I shall do my best to capture the magic I experienced.
First came the waiting in line. I don't know how many hours of his/her life a human being spends standing in line, but it didn't matter: this was a line I would have gladly stood in for days, because I knew that at the end of it was my favorite band of all time. Our little party numbered 11: Megan, Jenna, Ryan, and their dad; Jeremiah and Taylor; Shawn; Chris; Gabe; and Chris's friend (Matt, I believe his name was). Within the first half-hour of being in line my face hurt from laughing and smiling so much...Chris kept us well-entertained. In the background of the parking lot we were standing in stood a blue and white bus. I had been pre-informed that this bus belonged to the Nightwish crew. Soon we began to see feet walking around from the little space we could see between the bottom of the bus and the ground. Then came the sounds of a basketball being dribbled. We looked at each other and went "I think Nightwish is playing basketball over there!" Sure enough, this was evidenced when I saw Jukka rush out from behind the bus and toss the ball back in play. Later I saw Tuomas, and Megan and Jenna saw Emppu taking pictures. It was pretty rad. During these events a car pulled into the parking lot carrying none other than Nightwish's manager, Ewo himself. All these events were psyching out group out...and the concert hadn't even started yet!
Once we were inside, there was a bit more waiting around while everyone else crammed inside. Jenna and I bought Dark Passion Play shirts to display our Nightwish pride. As soon as the crowd was jammed inside the little venue, the opener, Swedish melodic death metal band Sonic Syndicate, began playing. I didn't think I would much care for death metal, but Sonic Syndicate was a pleasant surprise. Not all their vocals were growling or shrieking: one of the singers had a surprisingly pleasant voice. Anyway, Sonic Syndicate played about 5 or 6 songs, and they were rad, but I was getting impatient for Nightwish to start.
Sonic Syndicate ended, and I took the time between them and Nightwish to move as close to the front as I could manage (we were in the far back by the bar). Shawn, Ryan, and I pushed our way through the crowd. The guys stopped when we were close, but I wanted to get closer, so I pushed a little more and got a spot in the front right corner, about 10 feet from the stage. Waiting the hour for the crew to finish setting up was tense.
Then Nightwish's intro music began to play, and the crowd went nuts as the members of Nightwish began to file out. Immediately they went into "Bye Bye Beautiful." It was so rad! Emppu played in our corner of the stage several times, and he was almost close enough to touch! I was totally into the music, throwing up the horns and headbanging like a crazy person. Frustrated with how little the people in my group had been moving to the music when Sonic Syndicate was playing, I let it all out once Nightwish began playing. I sang along with the words (screamed them more like), jumped around, and cheered at the top of my lungs whenever a song ended. And it was so loud! The bass was literally pounding through the floor, making my heart speed up hecka fast and drumming in my ears. And the crash of Jukka's drums and cymbals was deafening so close to the stage! Torn between wanting to take a million picutres and simply enjoying the show, I somehow managed to do a bit of both, although none of my pictures turned out quite as nice as I would have liked.
I can't remember the order of the songs Nightwish played, but I remember that they played "Bye Bye Beautiful," "Amaranth," "The Poet And The Pendulum," "The Siren" (which replaced "Ever Dream"), "Last Of The Wilds," "Nemo," "Dead To The World," "Dark Chest Of Wonders," "Sleeping Sun" (which replaced "The Islander", sadly), "Whoever Brings The Night," "Sahara," and "Wish I Had An Angel." I think that's all. Someone correct me if I missed one/some.
Oh it was a rad concert! No words have I to describe the absolute wonder that I felt at finally seeing my idols in the flesh, not 10 feet in front of me. Anette was just as sweet and charming and adorable as people, pictures, and YouTube videos say she is. Emppu is hilarious, showing off for the crowd by playing his infamous purple guitar vertically, throwing picks at people, cupping his hand to his ear as if to say "I can't hear you!" Jukka has more energy than I could ever imagine. He never seemed to tire! Marco was just...Marco. He was awesome. I never saw much of Tuomas unfortunately. I believe I captured him in my "The Poet And The Pendulum" video, but I hardly saw him during the concert :( Oh well. I'll just have to make sure I can see him next time ;)
That's all I can say about the concert. It was epic, rad, phenomenal, life-altering, earth-shattering, unbelievably awesome, and I SO cannot wait to do it again!

Nightwish Tomorrow!!!

Wed, 21 May 2008 21:48:37 GMT

I can hardly believe the awesomeness is only a mere 27 hours and 13 minutes away! It's seems like only yesterday I was watching my Facebook countdown count down from 100+ days, and now it's tomorrow already!!! It hasn't quite set in for me: it still feels very surreal.

New iPod

Wed, 21 May 2008 21:46:41 GMT

The iPod that I had ordered late last week came yesterday, and today I charged it and put as many songs as I could fit onto it. With 8 GB, that's quite a few songs, although I was only able to fit 1,192 songs on it (the advertisements said it could hold 2,000...I put this shortage down to 10+minutes songs like The Poet and the Pendulum). I'm pretty pleased with what I was able to fit on it, although I had to do quite a bit of shaving down of my playlist before everything would fit. At least I got all the Nightwish, Lordi, Thunderstone, and Rammstein that I wanted on it. :)

#1 Song of the Week

Sat, 17 May 2008 16:21:16 GMT

Blood Red Sandman ~ Lordi

They called me the Leather Apron
They called me Smiling Jack
The Ladies prayed to the heavens above
That I would never ever come back

Can you hear how the children weep?
Chills of fear like a sawblade cutting deep...

Once again there is pain, I bring flames, I bring cold
I'm the Blood Red Sandman coming home
On this unholy night I will make you my own
Blood Red Sandman coming home again
I'm coming home again!

Red drops stain satin so white
The way I sign my name
The neighborhood's pretty dead at night
And I'm the one to blame

Can you hear how the children weep?
Chills of fear like a sawblade cutting deep...

Once again there is pain, I bring flames, I bring cold
I'm the Blood Red Sandman coming home
On this unholy night I will make you my own
Blood Red Sandman coming home again
I'm coming home again!

Scream all you want you won't wake up when you scream
No-one leaves... The Monsterican Dream

Can you hear how the children weep?
Chills of fear like a sawblade cutting deep...

Once again there is pain, I bring flames, I bring cold
I'm the Blood Red Sandman coming home
On this unholy night I will make you my own
Blood Red Sandman coming home again
I'm coming home again!

Once again there is pain, I bring flames, I bring cold
I'm the Blood Red Sandman coming home
On this unholy night I will make you my own
Blood Red Sandman coming home again
I'm coming home again!

In The Name Of The King = Teh Suck

Sat, 17 May 2008 16:19:52 GMT

First off, let me just make it clear that I had no idea this was a Uwe Boll film before I watched it, therefore, I will review the movie from that ignorant perspective.
I think they should've called this movie Eragon Formed a Fellowship of the Ring to Fight in the Star Wars Against the Two Towers in the Matrix. That's basically what this movie was: Eragon, LotR: Fellowship of the Ring, LotR: The Two Towers, Star Wars, and The Matrix all rolled into one hideous package. The acting was abysmal, the script shameful, the filmography a disgrace. None of the characters could be taken seriously because they were just so ridiculous. The movie should've ended looooooong before it's 2 hours and 7 minutes were up. I mean, I could go on and on and on and on about how terrible this movie was. Basically it was a waste of 2 hours and 7 minutes of my life. Besides Nightwish's "Wish I Had An Angel" music video, Uwe Boll has turned out complete crap. Next time I'm checking who directed the movie before I watch it.

#1 Song of the Week

Sun, 11 May 2008 03:33:14 GMT

Until We Touch The Burning Sun ~ Thunderstone

I'm watching through the frozen window
Through the reflection of my face
There's a cold world out there
And I'm here, safe, and deceitfully fine...

This is my world
My haven, my home, where I can be alone
Only hear and see
Hear and see things that really matter to me

When I open the door and look upon the haze
I can see a million eyes and the way they're gazing at me
Walking through the misery
Surrounded by the things that I don't want to see

I can feel the hopeless pain,
And it's driving me insane
And today I'll make a promise
Just to break it by tomorrow

We will never learn
We will never turn
Our eyes to the world
Where the pain is reality
We will never see
We'll never believe
Until we touch the burning sun

I feel the breeze
The breeze that makes me realize that I am not alone
I'm here,
I'm home and safe again behind the doors, locked
Inside
Never want to leave again