The Junk Heap

Oh by the Gods, I think I'm becoming more and more of a hipster. So my favourite video games are NieR, Onimusha and Yakuza, I've recently fallen in love with a band called The Murder of My Sweet (There's very little lonelier than finding a new band with only about three of their songs on video hosting sites and barely 100,000 views between them), Globus are legendary, and if something gets too 'mainstream' I start to dislike it (Johnny Depp, newer series of The Mighty Boosh).

Someone help me.

So, fans of the All-American Rejects should be aware that their latest album was released earlier today and so I feel I should probably make a quick review of it as a die-hard fan. All throughout college, I was itching for lunch so I could run down to Sainsbury's and buy a physical copy of the CD, given I have all of their other released on disc. However, unfortunately upon arrival, there was a distinct lack of AAR, which left me disappointed.

Y'see, I've always been a fan of them since the day I first heard them in the Toa Inika commercial. I feel I owe them a lot as I defend them as "The Band That Saved My Life". Not in the Simple Plan kind of way, but pre-Summer of 2006, I hated all forms of modern music and couldn't bear to show an interest. I say I didn't listen to any music at all, but that's sort of a lie, given I would religiously listen to a singer known as Jimmy Nail. But I don't really talk about that, so it's best we move on. So, after hearing Move Along for the first time, suddenly my ears were open and I began to listen to more and more songs of theirs before drifting onto Linkin Park, Evanescence, Simple Plan and My Chemical Romance. And thus, the big five were born, but that's another story for another time.

Thus, I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment at having to break the CD tradition, and as I wanted Kids in the Street so badly, I connected to my college's wi-fi and snuck onto iTunes where I shelled out the £7.99 necessary for the 17 songs. Posters on the What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment thread will probably have noticed me constantly updating with AAR songs, and yes, that was me bored on the bus listening to the latest album, and I have to say...I'm disappointed. Very much so.

I mean, I'm happy to say it wasn't "The Verge from There For Tomorrow" kind of disappointment where I never even finished the album before turning it off in frustration, but it wasn't nearly the "Incomparable from Dead By April" kind of disappointment where it wasn't like the first album but was still bloody good in its own right. Compared to their previous albums, of which I had listened to every one of them earlier today, this one just didn't seem right. None of the songs in this album could compare to the poetic beauty of Dance Inside, the adventurous energy of Another Heart Calls, the inspiring tone of Move Along, nor the bashful innocence of My Paper Heart. Each of the previous albums had their own kind of energy and every song seemed to stand out. Here, they just all seem....the same. Nothing stood out for me, and granted a couple of the songs made me smile or caught me off-guard, but I can't think of a single one that made me desire to go back and put it on repeat. If anything, Tyson just sounds bored while singing them and I find that sad.

In the end, of all the big five's latest albums, though it depresses me to say it, I'd have to put Kids on the Street at the bottom of the list, just after A Thousand Suns. Get Your Heart On takes pride of first place though, just so y'all know.

So, for a while now, I've been juggling with this idea over MOCing. I'm something of a hoarder, so the idea of tearing apart my collection has been fairly unpleasant, but I've had some great ideas for an MOC of an upcoming character, Harmaisis, that I'm really excited to try out. Just a little hesitant to disassemble everything...It's like butchering an old friend...

Oh, and I've actually managed to decide on a plot for The Darkest Hour, which has cheered me up a tad. Just one new idea has strung up all the others into one decent and cohesive narrative. Now I just need to figure out what's going on in Before and After.

Holy Gadunka, would you look at that. An Olmak has materialised in that little right bar section thingamajig. That means I've been here for five years. Five ruddy long and grueling years, yet I wouldn't trade them for the world. Now, with a spinning Olmak, a full proto bar and premier membership, I like to think I look like a sort-of respectable member on here. I like to think I look like the kind of member I would have longed to look like five years ago.

Anyway, yesterday my mood took a massive dive. I'm going to assume it was just more teen angst, which has been plaguing me for a while now, so hopefully it might go away soon.

On a more cheerful note, that's twice now I've discovered a steampunk display in Waterstones. This genre's really risen to the surface all of a sudden, which is odd, given it started popping up as soon as I discovered the music. But I decided to buy a book and maybe now I will act like I am knowledgeable of the genre.

Great. I stop seeing my councillor for two weeks and already I'm starting to slip back into my depressed frame of mind. Just think happy thoughts, I guess.

Today was...adequate. I ended up buying two Loreena McKennitt songs twice on iTunes this morning, because I only realised after purchasing the first two that I'd downloaded live songs. There wasn't much difference, and I'd say the live versions sounded sweeter, but the applause at the end ruins it for me and I don't want people to congratulate me for just sitting down and listening to sweet Celtic music for five minutes. Oh, and I helped a pregnant lady carry her shopping up a hill. Maybe karma might decide to turn a blind eye to some of my more questionable jokes now. I doubt it.