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Laughing Man

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Blog Entries posted by Laughing Man

  2. Laughing Man
    it's looking like I very possibly will be able to go?
     
    and if I do, and if circumstances work out the way they look, then I'm actually pretty excited.
     
    no guarantees though. still haven't worked out the details and it's possible things might change.
     
    EDIT: officially confirmed for Brickfair! I still have to make the necessary arrangements but YEAH, so far as permission and stuff goes I'm totally set.
  3. Laughing Man

    [UPDATED] In Flames

    By Laughing Man,

    I would've updated this over a month ago when I picked up the new album Siren Charms, but as it turns out, the entire first pressing of the deluxe edition was defective. after a few weeks of waiting, the record label finally offered people corrected replacement discs about a week ago. I received mine in the mail just yesterday.
     
    at one point in the past these guys were my favorite band, and this collection is quite possibly the most complete that I own, just slightly ahead of Katatonia - between bonus tracks and B-sides, I've got basically every finished, studio-recorded song the band has released.
     
    from top to bottom:
     
    - Lunar Strain (2005 Candlelight Records reissue)
    - Subterranean EP (2005 Candlelight Records reissue)
    - The Jester Race (2008 Reloaded edition + Black-Ash Inheritance EP)
    - Whoracle (2008 Reloaded edition)
    - Colony (2008 Reloaded edition)
    - Clayman (2008 Reloaded edition)
    - Reroute to Remain
    - Trigger EP
    - Soundtrack to Your Escape
    - Come Clarity
    - A Sense of Purpose
    - The Mirror's Truth EP (German pressing)
    - Sounds of a Playground Fading
    - Siren Charms (deluxe edition)
     
    also owned but not pictured:
     
    - Lunar Strain/Subterranean (single-disc compilation including both the full-length debut and its follow-up EP, sans the bonus tracks available on the individual reissues)
    - "Discover Me Like Emptiness" (bonus track for Soundtrack to Your Escape, bought separately from AmazonMP3)
    - "Self vs. Self" (collaboration with Pendulum from that artist's Immersion album, bought separately from AmazonMP3)
    - "The Chase" (iTunes-exclusive bonus track for Siren Charms)
    - first press edition of Reroute to Remain featuring variant artwork (black border around the usual image)
    - a nifty In Flames magnet included with the purchase of Siren Charms through FYE, features the Purpose/Playground-era logo
  4. Laughing Man
    updated with the brand new album The Fall of Hearts, of which I just got my pre-order today.
     

     
    top to bottom:
     
    - Dance of December Souls (2007 reissue featuring Jhva Elohim Meth...The Revival EP as bonus tracks)
    - For Funerals to Come EP (2011 reissue featuring bonus tracks)
    - Brave Murder Day (2006 reissue featuring Sounds of Decay EP as bonus tracks)
    - Discouraged Ones (2008 reissue with bonus tracks)
    - Tonight's Decision (2001 reissue with bonus tracks)
    - Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2011 tenth anniversary 2CD reissue)
    - Viva Emptiness (2013 tenth anniversary reissue)
    - The Great Cold Distance
    - Night Is the New Day (2011 tour edition reissue)
    - Dead End Kings
    - Dethroned & Uncrowned (acoustic reworking of Dead End Kings CD/DVD)
    - Sanctitude (live acoustic CD/DVD)
    - The Fall of Hearts (CD/DVD deluxe edition)
     
    also owned:
     
    - Kocytean (Record Store Day 2014 exclusive limited to 2,000 copies rarities EP on trans-orange 12" vinyl)
     
    also owned, not pictured:
     
    - Discouraged Ones (original 1998 Century Black US pressing)
    - Viva Emptiness (original 2003 pressing)
    - "Displaced" (digital My Twin single B-side)
    - "Dissolving Bonds" (digital My Twin single B-side)
    - "The Act of Darkening" (iTunes bonus track for Dead End Kings)
    - "Wide Awake in Quietus" (iTunes bonus track for The Fall of Hearts)
  5. Laughing Man
    [originally published 3/14/14, updated 6/25/14]
     
    decided to update and republish this, since yesterday I picked up the band's newest album. still missing the Call of the Mastodon compilation of early tracks, but I'll get that eventually.
     
    from the top to the bottom:
     
    - Remission
    - Leviathan (Ozzfest Edition, sans slipcase which the used copy I got sadly didn't include)
    - Blood Mountain
    - Crack the Skye
    - The Hunter (unfortunately the version with "Blasteroid" censored, which I was unaware of when I bought it)
    - Once More 'Round the Sun
  6. Laughing Man
    got my pre-order copy of The White Album in the mail yesterday (a day ahead of the actual release date), and it has easily dethroned Everything Will Be Alright in the End as my new third-favorite Weezer album. didn't disappoint at all and it feels like they've really recaptured the magic after a string of mediocre-to-awful albums throughout the 2000s.
     
    as such, I figured it was time to update the ol' Weezer collection post.
     

     
    from top to bottom:
     
    - Weezer (blue album)
    - Pinkerton
    - Weezer (green album)
    - Maladroit
    - Make Believe
    - Weezer (red album, deluxe edition)
    - Raditude
    - Hurley (deluxe edition)
    - Death to False Metal
    - Everything Will Be Alright in the End
    - Weezer (white album)
     
    also pictured below are my Weezer T-shirt and officially licensed Weezer Snuggie™:
     

  7. Laughing Man

    [UPDATED] Weezer

    By Laughing Man,

    band just released a new album (their best in years) so it's time to update this.
     
    top CD row, left to right:
     
    - Weezer (Blue Album)
    - Pinkerton
    - Weezer (Green Album)
    - Maladroit
    - Make Believe
     
    bottom CD row, left to right:
     
    - Weezer (Red Album)
    - Raditude
    - Hurley (deluxe edition)
    - Death to False Metal
    - Everything Will Be Alright in the End
     
    also pictured are my Weezer T-shirt (top) and my blue Weezer Snuggie (in the background).
    .
  8. Laughing Man

    #xmas #swag #yolo

    By Laughing Man,

    - $40 Visa gift card (from sister)
    - All the Lights in the Sky 「Complete」 CD by Area 11 (pre-order)
    - 5 Classic Albums CD box set by Rush
    - $170 Amazon gift card
    - a bunch of shirts
    - 16 snap-together CD storage boxes
    - Minecraft Creeper action figure
    - Minecraft Zombie action figure
    - Minecraft Overworld Survival Pack action figure set
    - Edgar Allan Poe action figure (?????)
    - Desktop drumkit
    - Touch screen-compatible gloves
    - 32GB iPod Touch
     
    happy Boxing Day everyone. don't forget to put your gloves on and go punch somebody.
  10. Laughing Man

    $5 well spent

    By Laughing Man,

    goes for like $50+ on Amazon and eBay, got it for five bucks because of saved-up Kmart rewards points. last one they had in stock in an otherwise completely cleaned-out section of Star Wars merch.
  12. Laughing Man
    absolutely loved it.
     
    without spoiling anything: 10 Cloverfield Lane is an all-around better film than Cloverfield, a very different film in some ways, a very similar film in other ways, and a worthy successor in every possible way.
  13. Laughing Man

    a blog entry

    By Laughing Man,

    hey yeah why not
     
    so I have a new job, and that's been basically consuming my life
     
    it kinda sucks but it pays pretty well for what it is I guess
     
    I just got my first paycheck and I already spent like 1/4 of it though, probably shouldn't do that lol
     
    also I had to call off work a couple days ago because I've been sick. still feel pretty bad but hopefully I'll be fine to work tomorrow
     
    not really closer to any of my goals yet but I guess this is a start at least
     
    so yeah that's that. that's what's new with me. what's new with you
  17. Laughing Man
    hi nobody here remembers me or cares but here's a life update entry cause it's been a hot minute and things have been pretty big
     
    a little over a month ago some stuff happened and I ended up alone and jobless and checking myself into a hotel with the intention of hanging myself from a doorknob
     
    then I started seeing a psychiatrist and got diagnosed with PTSD and borderline personality disorder and started therapy and took up meditation and got put on like three more mood stabilizers
     
    fast forward to now and I have friends who I'm hanging out with regularly, a new job that so far is the best I've ever had, and an awesome and gorgeous new girlfriend who is incredible
     
    I went from the lowest point in my life where I felt utterly hopeless and like my life was over to an absolute high where I'm optimistic about the future and feel legit happy for the first time in a long time
     
    I still have my moments and I still have some stuff to continue working on, but things have changed (for the better) in a way that I had become absolutely convinced was not possible.
  18. Laughing Man
    was gonna do a top 10 but I haven't actually gotten to listen to all of the albums I wanted to from last year, so I'm just gonna do the top 5 instead which I'm pretty sure of at this point. even if I did listen to the rest, the top 5 isn't likely to change.
     
     

     
    5. Sorni Nai by Kauan
     
    This one took me completely by surprise this year, not having been familiar with this band prior and only hearing about the album through some positive buzz and word-of-mouth. Sorni Nai is a concept album based upon the Dyatlov Pass Incident in which a group of hikers perished under mysterious and bizarre circumstances on the mountain of Kholat Syakhl - some of you may be familiar with this story as the basis of the indie survival horror game KHOLAT that was released last year.
     
    The lyrics are almost entirely in Finnish, but even without understanding the words, the subject matter really sets the tone for this album: a blend of post-rock, doom metal, and folk that is cold and bleak, yet also extremely cinematic in its approach to atmosphere. It's pretty much the soundtrack to dying slowly on a mountain, and it's absolutely beautiful.
     
     

     
    4. The Plague Within by Paradise Lost
     
    Not much to be said about this one - after over 20 years, the gothic/doom metal stalwarts in Paradise Lost have returned to the sound they pioneered, fusing the melancholy dirge of doom metal with the raw intensity of death metal once again to fantastic results. Vocalist Nick Holmes is utilizing his death growls for the first time on a Paradise Lost album since 1992's Shades of God, and it's never sounded better. Paired with some of the heaviest riffs of their career (along with some of the most mesmerizing melodies) the resulting album stands up against their early classics as one of the best in their long and storied career.
     
     

     
    3. Holographic Violence by Grave Babies
     
    Another left field album for me, Holographic Violence is the sound of a former noise-punk outfit fully embracing 80s gothic rock with some industrial, shoegaze, and even grunge influences thrown in. This may sound like an unusual mixture, but against all odds the band makes it work incredibly well. icy post-punk basslines clash with distorted riffs and skittering electronics to create an album that is simultaneously dark, catchy, and at times unsettling - as I've described it to numerous people already, this sounds like if The Cure and My Bloody Valentine had a baby, gave it up for adoption, and it was raised by Nine Inch Nails and Alice in Chains. It's weird, atmospheric, kind of scary, and just plain fun.
     
     

     
    2. The Ride Majestic by Soilwork
     
    Anyone who knows me would know that this would be on here. Soilwork are one of my all-time favorite bands, and The Ride Majestic is without a doubt one of the best and most focused records they've ever released. After a string of albums of declining quality during the mid-2000s, the band rebounded hard with 2013's fantastic double album The Living Infinite, seeing them refine their melodic death metal sound whilst pitting the old against the new and throwing in some newfound progressive elements to boot. The Ride Majestic largely expands on this, focusing it even more while upping the heaviness, intensity, and atmosphere perhaps farther than they ever have before. All in all, The Ride Majestic is the newest peak on their continued upswing and a potential new classic for the melodic death metal genre as a whole.
     
     

     
    1. Abyss by Chelsea Wolfe
     
    Here it is - my favorite album of the year, and one of my new favorite albums of all-time. This album not only met my lofty expectations but blew them away. Although singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe's 2011 album Ἀποκάλυψις has been one of my all-time favorite albums for 4 years now, Abyss easily managed to surpass it in every possible way.
     
    While Ἀποκάλυψις dabbled in an experimental mixture of folk, noise rock, and doom metal and 2013's Pain Is Beauty was largely an industrial/electronic affair, Abyss seeks to unite all of it together into a work of art loosely based around the concept of sleep paralysis, something that Wolfe has had personal experience with throughout her life. The songs range from lush and gentle to dense and panicked with Wolfe's gorgeous vocals weaving through them like an ethereal fog, not only complimenting but enhancing the unique atmosphere created by each one. The result is an album that can be described variously as haunting, suffocating, terrifying, beautiful, dreamlike, nightmarish, otherworldly - truly a descent into the titular abyss that explores the emotions, worries, vulnerabilities, and darkness of the human mind.
     
     
    bonus: the names of some other albums I enjoyed last year, in no particular order
     
    - Permanence by No Devotion
    - Dreamcrash by Grave Pleasures
    - Opacities by Sikth
    - A Dream in Static by Earthside
    - Psychic Warfare by Clutch
    - The Children of the Night by Tribulation
    - Cold Inferno by Disarmonia Mundi
    - Untitled by The Armed
    - Beyond the Red Mirror by Blind Guardian
    - The Mindsweep by Enter Shikari
    - Feel the Misery by My Dying Bride
    - Purple by Baroness
    - Fugue by Rest Among Ruins
    - Under the Red Cloud by Amorphis
    - Luminiferous by High on Fire
    - Every Open Eye by Chvrches
    - Exhausting Fire by Kylesa
    - Extinct by Moonspell
    - Meliora by Ghost
    - Art Angels by Grimes
    - The Powers That B by Death Grips
    - Ours Is Chrome by Superheaven
    - Enki by Melechesh
    - Restarter by Torche
    - Better Nature by Silversun Pickups
    - VII: Sturm und Drang by Lamb of God
    - Time and Trauma by 36 Crazyfists
    - End vs. Beginning by Rise to Fall
  19. Laughing Man

    Age of..

    By Laughing Man,

    ..Adaline looks like a terrible film. sad to see Harrison Ford waste his talent like that.
     
    this was just something I observed when I saw its poster while at the cinema to see a far less popular film that I'm sure nobody here has seen nor cares about, Avengers: Age of Ultron. great film. liked it better than the previous Avengers movie, although both certainly fall short of the first one.
     
    interestingly, it would seem that Ultron has decided to take a different route in his plan to fight humanity, as he parked a (presumably stolen) S.H.I.E.L.D. truck in front of the cinema and started making rude hand gestures at people. Iron Man was there too, but I guess he didn't see a problem with this because he mostly just stood around in the lobby and did absolutely nothing.
  21. Laughing Man

    anime

    By Laughing Man,

    used to be really into it but haven't watched any in quite a while
     
    recommend me some
     
    I primarily like comedy and romance but I'm down with pretty much anything
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