Blink-182 "Neighborhoods" Rocks My World

Here is a short, rushed review of Blink-182's new album Neighborhoods I just felt compelled to write after listening to it the whole way through.

Mark, Tom and Travis are at it again.

If you're anything like me, then you grew up listening to Blink-182. You pumped your fist to "Dammit", you laughed your brace-face off at the music video for "What's My Age Again?" and "Adam's Song" became your own personal anthem. And you were devastated when Blink broke up.

Blink-182 are back to doing what they do best. Their new album, just released on DGC Records, sounds incredible with the familiar riffs and insane drums, and the complimentary way Tom DeLong and Mark Hoppus' voices blend together. Though it sounds quintessentially Blink, it sounds totally fresh and new. A more mature sound for a more mature audience.

Mark Hoppus said he "couldn't write a happy song for this album," and it's true that the music is wrought with emotion and dark compared to some of their earlier stuff. But despite this, the boys are able to walk the line between angsty and jaded and deliver heartfelt, earnest music that is both believable and relate-able to the listener.

My favorite song so far is "After Midnight" - about two people always being there for each other no matter what. It has a strong hook and a great melody and will probably be some lucky pop-punk couple's song.

If you want to hear an awesome showcase of Travis Barker's mad drum skills (and I know you do) check out track 5 - "Heart's All Gone."

Look, if you have any doubt about whether you want to buy this album or not, just effing do it. The CD delivers all that Blink-182 greatness that you love. You will not be disappointed.

Loser Kids rejoice!

Excuse me, do you have any Bettas?

I have a problem.

I have far too many hobbies.

I have steampunk, I have photography, I have writing (which is actually more of a lifestyle choice), I have painting, I have reading and now... I have Betta Fish collecting (commonly pronounced bay-ta but actually spelled b-e-t-t-a).

It all started a couple months ago.

A co-worker friend and I decided that we needed to bring life into our sad little cubicles, but babies were too high maintenance. That's when she suggested getting a Betta fish. They're easy to take care of and hard to kill. Perfect for our atmosphere.

So she got a fish and I got a fish and everyone thought it was funny, but a great idea. People love coming into our cubes and gazing at our Siamese fighting fish. And no, we do not put them in a bowl together and have after-hours mail room bare-knuckle fish fighting. We keep them in their own tanks and we love them. We love them a whole lot. So much, it might be unhealthy.

Anywho, the both of us being nerds we scoured the internet and every fish dealer in the DFW area to learn every single fact and opinion about Betta fish care. We are very close to becoming Betta fish experts. So I can add that to my list of accomplishments.

Well a week passed and we went to another pet store that happened to have an amazing selection of Bettas and she caved and bought another one. I decided that I would get things together to make a steampunk tank for my apartment and get another Betta once it was done.

Cut to last Friday. Another co-worker decided she was ready for a Betta at her desk so we all went to the aforementioned pet store with her. While she looked for the scariest fish she could find, I wandered around to the back of the store where a few more Betta's were being stored.

And then I saw her.

A tiny little female crowntail Betta. She looked at me and gazed into my soul. And as I stood there staring back into her beady little fish eyes, I knew that we were meant to be together.

So what did I do? I bought her. I bought her and another tank and more decorations and I set up another aquarium at my desk.

I'm crazy. Just straight up, certifiably crazy. So crazy that I will probably buy the new Coldplay album coming out this week despite it's pretentious title and the fact that I swore to never support Coldplay.

WTF is happening to me?

Thanks for reading! =)

Brrrains!

I'm working on a short story that I plan to send in to at least one Literary Magazine/Writing Contest. I'm not sure what the rules are on submitting one story to multiple contests, because what if it won two different contests? I know that is incredibly unlikely, but a lot of these contests want to claim rights and whatnot and that could turn into a big scary mess. That'll have to be another post...

Where was I?

Yes, my short story! The contest that I have in mind for this particular story is a western themed contest. The rules are that the story must contain one or more cowboys and it must be a thriller/suspense/horror story.

So where did my mind immediately go?

Cowboys and zombies.

The best of both genre worlds, in my opinion.

Rugged, tough, manly cowboys versus bleeding, brain eating zombies in 19th century apparel. I think it's going to be awesome, and I'm having a great deal of fun writing it. I feel like there's not as much pressure riding on this story as there is my novel, so I'm allowing myself to indulge in all the gory, excess violence and one-liners my horror-loving mind can create. Is it going to be ridiculous? Probably. Is it going to be over the top? Most likely. But it is going to be greatness and I am going to share it with you as soon as I've snapped every neck and chewed every brain.

The problem is that I don't have title thus far, and if you've been reading along then you know how much trouble I have with choosing titles. I took a tip from The Guide and wrote down a list of my favorite western movie titles, and then since I only had like 3 on my list I googled "Best Western Movie Titles." I know, I'm shameless.

In so doing I found that my second favorite western title is True Grit.


My favorite title is Duck, You Sucker.


Thanks for reading! =)