Insert much pumping of fists here. Based on the voting pattern in SSC8, I was half-expecting my entry, Ignition, to fall into second place behind Grant-Sud's Divided We Fall. That was avoided, but barely. I guess I can confidently (albeit somewhat prematurely) call myself victorious. Congratulations to all the people whose entries reached the People's Choice poll, and a slightly bigger congratulations to the Judges' Choices. Expect a more official-sounding post when the official SSC8 results
I'm back -- and just in time for Premier perks to end. Why don't I end this blog (for now, at least) on a happy note? I had a fantastic Christmas, not least because my brothers and I finally have our own albums! On Christmas Eve, our uncle supplied us with one each: I got The Fray by The Fray, my younger brother got Waking Up by OneRepublic, and my youngest brother got Greatest Hits by Bon Jovi; the next day, I found in my stocking Vice Verses by Switchfoot, my younger brother found The Resist
It is my humble opinion, ladies and gentlemen of the forums of BZPower, that the debate of whether a glass is half empty or half full is a fruitless expenditure. To begin, the debate subject itself is rendered invalid from the start. Should a glass be filled to the halfway point, it already exists in both states being argued: half emptiness and half fullness. If half of the glass's volume consists of water, then it is obvious the remaining half of the glass's volume will be void of water. Le
I'm thinking of releasing a digital album via Bandcamp so I can put all the old compositions sitting on my hard drive to use, and provide a viable excuse to get my own bank account. My question is, would anyone be interested in buying a thirty-minute instrumental album? At what price? Check my SoundCloud account for samples of my composing work.
I listened to so many good albums in 2012, I couldn’t stand pruning my list to only the top ten. Thus, below are listed my top ten favorite albums of 2012 and ten honorable mentions, making the list an even twenty albums in total. A disclaimer: I made few attempts at being objective in my rankings. I chose my favorite albums on the basis of how much I enjoy them, not how technically proficient their musicians are or how unique they sound. Feel free to leave feedback on my choices, but I won’t
Last night, I watched the Summer Olympics' closing ceremonies on NBC. I must say I haven't a clue how the British planned it all. From dancers in multicolored garb to Fat Boy Slim atop a giant inflatable octopus to Eric Idle of Monty Python fame shuffling with Indian dancers, it was all (to use a term the British themselves might use) quite barking mad. There were some highlights. A band whose name I forget did a cover of The Who my mom deemed "pretty good"; Ed Sheeran's cover of "Wish You Wer
Has anyone heard of this band? I first found them through Pandora radio -- they've made some cool songs, ranging from pop ("Gone") to hard rock ("Dark Horses"). I'm listening through their songs online at the moment.
My latest pilfering from BZPower appeared today in my mailbox with a hastily-drawn question mark next to the address (the package was titled to "Legolover-361"; if only I could have seen the mailman's face). It contained four items: a Kanohi Vahi, a silver Kanohi Miru, a gold Kanohi Akaku, and a pink slip of paper with a lavender note of congratulation. My gratitude goes to both Hahli Husky and my LSO Epics teammates. Thanks to the former for shipping the prizes and the latter for making me lo
If you hear electronic music on the radio, chances are it's dance-pop. I don't mean to imply dance-pop is intrinsically bad; it just has no place in my musical tastes, partially because a lot of it sounds musically similar to my ear, partially because of its rampant overuse of Auto-Tune, partially because I tire of lyrics about clubs and flirting, and partially because I don't like dancing. It's a shame that those sorts of songs are chosen to represent electronic music on the radio, because ther
'Tis a great neo-classical / new age album. I really want to buy it (and Carnavas by Silversun Pickups), but I've already bought enough new music with my birthday money to make my mom worried about my "obsession with music".
I've only seen the first two TV episodes starting yesterday, and yet I'm already hooked. Firefly is a TV series following a group of smugglers-for-hire on the Firefly-class starship Serenity. Captain Mal Reynolds and his First Mate Zoe were once soldiers fighting against an Alliance takeover; five years later, they are commanding the crew of the Serenity and experiencing troubles both finance- and law-related. My favorite character thus far is Mal -- he's just so witty. And speaking of Mal.
I really like it. Sure, it's simple, but in the album proper it will serve as an effective antithesis to the cinematic bombast of "Survival" and "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable". October 1 is too far away to wait for The 2nd Law's release...
Perchance you're wondering how I happened upon six-month Premier Membership. Allow me to satiate your curiosity. My plan was a devious one. Upon seeing the LSO COT Comedies contest almost empty, I proceeded to enter perhaps the most drab, torturous piece of garbage BZPower has seen to this day under the guise of a comedy. The judges promptly heaved the title of first place onto my shoulders and made me say (I crossed my fingers) that I would never again blackmail them with such rubbish as my s
*searches valiantly for a way to reblog blog posts* *finds nothing, hangs head in sorrow* I suppose I can settle for the next-best thing -- quote tags.
I really enjoyed Animal Farm, but oh, was it tragic. I kept hoping a happy ending would appear, but considering the events it allegorizes, such hope was misplaced. George Orwell's rather straightforward writing style took a definite back seat compared to the plot; his satire did its job and did it well. In short, I understand why this book is considered a classic. Now, would you please excuse me for several minutes? I'm busy mourning. (No, I am not crying. Yes, I would appreciate a handker
I remember when the Lesovikk's Hiatus contest was first announced. I submitted two entries, and then shortly after, KanohiJournal was disbanded, and the contest slipped through the cracks. 'Twas a pity. Wouldn't it be cool if the contest were to return? Let's consider for the purpose of this hypothetically hypothetical example that the contest would no longer be considered canon but fanon. Would you still be interested in entering? I know I would. But -- alas! -- the contest is definitely no
I started watching Signs with low expectations -- the only M. Night Shymalan movie I'd watched before was The Last Airbender, which was (no offense intended) a train wreck. Perhaps this is a matter of relativity, but I think Signs is a good movie. Six months after his wife's death, former reverend Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) find a large series of crop circles in their cornfield. Soon afterward, a series of strange occurances both on the farm and
I consider myself averse to romantic stories. Not only do I feel like they're aimed above my head (I've never experienced romance, myself), they usually come off as corny, making the lovers seem like they were destined for each other. Romance is fine in the background -- I dealt with it in Avatar: The Last Airbender and all of the Star Wars movies except for Episode II -- but in essence, I feel no love towards love stories. Pun intended. You may be surprised to learn that, for a while, I've be
I've been wondering recently whether I should attempt running a comic series again. I will be free for most of the month of August, and in between trying to write a novel, reading, roleplaying, stockpiling music, and generally enjoying the summer before it's over, I think I'll have some time to hone my sense of humor. If I do make comics, I'll most likely make a custom sprite kit. Provided anyone wants to help sprite if and when the time comes, I will be posting spriting updates in my blog. I
Last night, I watched Serenity, the film sequel to the unjustly aborted TV series Firefly. It was painful. It was intense. It was amazing. If you watched and enjoyed Firefly, I highly recommend Serenity. Just be prepared to have your heart nearly break. One last note for those who have already watched the film:
