Oracle

Prog is often-times a pretentious, gaudy, wank fest of musicians trying to be complex by playing really screwed up time signatures. And it's awesome.

Wu-Tang has more affiliates than they do songs. You could just greet one of them on the street and you'll be considered an affiliate.

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson Great bass line and drum beats. It's really simple mechanics, but the WAY it's all played leaves so much still open to improvisation on the initial groove. Mike knew his shit without having to play an instrument.

Well, one good thing and one bad thing. The bad thing is that I didn't get the job down in Florida... The GOOD thing is that, in just a little under two years, I'll be in Hawaii getting my degree in Journalism! :D

June 10th, 2012 - Roger Waters Literally changed EVERY conceivable way I thought you could put a show on, stage wise. I don't think I can fully describe how I felt when I walked into the arena and saw this huge wall stretching across it. Then to see it built up over the course of the show, have images projected onto it, and then be completely destroyed in this incredibly climactic event...it was literally like nothing I had ever seen. September 22nd, 2007 - Genesis Seeing these guys on stage was pretty special for me, considered I had been told, ever since I started listening to them at about age 6, that they would never get back together. Granted, the set list was really a let down looking back on it, but it was the absolute perfect set list back when I was 13. Seeing "In the Cage" performed in this amazingly well put together medley with "The Cinema Show", "Duke's Travels", and "Afterglow" was just amazing. Seeing "Afterglow" live as well was just magical. That's the one moment I'll always have with me. July 7th, 2009 - The Beach Boys I had seen them numerous times before, but this one was really special. I had taken my girlfriend at the time to see this show. The one moment I'll always remember is dancing with her during "Don't Worry Baby" and singing in her ear. Like the whole world just stopped and nothing else mattered. I probably couldn't thank the band enough for playing that song at that exact moment (sunset and everything too!). November 2008 - Yes (with Benoit David) This, of course, being the tour that Jon Anderson was supposed to be at but was soon replaced. This really changed my concept of how a guitar could be played. Me and my father were sitting in the second row, right in front of Steve Howe. When it came time for "The Clap" and "To Be Over", he just looked at us the entire time. It was like looking Skeletor in the empty eye sockets, but watching him watch US and play these two amazing acoustic solos at the same time was just amazing. He kept pretty good watch on us after that and would often look to us for approval every time he started a new riff or went into a small solo. It's great to have that kind of communication with someone on stage like that. August 29th, 2010 - Rush Damn, was this one hell of a show. This really stuck to me, not only because it was my first Rush gig, but because I had never realized how great showmen these guys really were. I own the DVDs, the albums, the live albums...but seeing them live is the ONLY way to get a true taste of how they go about performing. Being a drummer primarily, I was really excited to see Peart do his drum solo and go through the entire "Moving Pictures" album. Seeing him work his magic on "Marathon" brought tears to my eyes, it was just so spot on. It makes me wish I could have gone to Cleveland a few months later to attend that concert, because it was obvious to me that the 2010 gigs were just warm ups compared to what they gave in Cleveland.

I propose The Fountain of Lamneth, since I'm probably the only Rush fan who can stomach anything from Caress of Steel. :P

For story telling: A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres For his personal thoughts: Power Windows and Grace Under Pressure (seriously, listen to Emotion Detector and Between The Wheels a few times; those are pretty profound)

Pro-shot footage of the new song: http://www.reactionface.net/images/original/140.jpg Eight minutes of absolute wankery. I'm not even going to bother pirating the new album when it comes out if it sounds anything like this.

A long stay in Florida may just be in my future. Going to apply for a paid internship with Disney through a program from my school. I am incredibly excited by the possibility, as I'm a Communications major and would love to get a job where I'm working with people face to face. Not that it's guaranteed, but I'm still excited for the possibility!

My life has been happier since I've blocked his posts, so I am afraid to ask: why would he bitch about a new album? Because if it's not from before 1982, it's shit.

I just think it's sad that this guy sits here and whines about how bad they've been for so long now instead of listening to something else. You'd think that after hating everything that Rush has made since 1987, Mr. Rising would realize that they are no longer interested in making the type of music that he likes and that he should probably move on with his life. I'll make that decision when the next album's released. Out of curiosity, which Rush albums do you actually like? I know that Permanent Waves makes your cut. Oh, and what other music do you enjoy? Also, I'm sorry for always jumping down your throat on all of your posts. That's ok, thanks. I like everything up to up to and including Power Windows, and a few things here and there on the following two albums. Many types of music from electronic, to soul/r&b, disco, and generally music from 60's thru 80's. No country or jazz tho! :) No jazz? Really? If anything, Rush actually led me TO jazz because of their earlier tendencies to make songs long and drawn out. Off topic obviously, but I'm sure there's at least SOME jazz you must like?

Bad Day - R.E.M. Feral - Radiohead A Passage To Bangkok - Rush Kid Gloves - Rush Lump Sum - Bon Iver Studio Suicide, 1980 - Tim Hecker I Will. (No Man's Land.) - Radiohead Serve The Servants - Nirvana Blue Moon - Beck Heartattack in a Layby - Porcupine Tree So. Central Rain - R.E.M Cul-De-Sac - Genesis Take A Breath - David Gilmour Harrowdown Hill - Thom Yorke Prison Sex - Tool

"Murmur" by REM. Everything about it is perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3euCXhpaQ Ok I'm done with reaction videos for today.

The more I think about it, the more I really regret not discovering more music when I was younger. I know a lot of bands and artists now, of course, but I still think there's too much more out there to discover and that life is way too short for me to actually listen to a comparable amount of them to really consider myself someone who is decently qualified to talk about listening to a lot of artists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03C4tnCFEMQ

1. Another Day In Paradise - Phil Collins 2. Towers - Bon Iver 3. Driving The Last Spike - Genesis 4. Morning Bell/Amnesiac - Radiohead 5. Second Nature - Rush 6. Time Table - Genesis 7. Go to Sleep. (Little Man Being Erased.) - Radiohead 8. Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye - Steven Wilson 9. Man Of Our Times - Genesis 10. Hatred of Music - Tim Hecker 11. Morning Mr Magpie - Radiohead 12. Get All You Deserve - Steven Wilson 13. Only Child - Steven Wilson 14. Strip The Soul - Porcupine Tree 15. Reverse Running - Atoms for Peace Not too surprised at this one. Three Genesis songs though...kinda surprised considering they don't take up that much space on my iPhone. Arguably, the artist that takes up more space than Genesis would probably be Radiohead or R.E.M. Kinda disappointed that the latter didn't make the cut.

You just know at the last concert they have to go all out. Bring out all the long songs. 2112, the Cygnus X-1 suite, The Fountain of Lamneth, The Necromancer, By-Tor and the Snow Dog...you literally couldn't have a final Rush concert without these songs. Ok, maybe cut out The Necromancer, but come on...who would really know the Caress of Steel songs? :P I think a good ending song would be The Garden. It just has a good sense of finality to it when it ends, it would definitely be an opportunity missed for them to just skip it over as being the last song they play live. And do it with a full orchestra, not a small string section.

I had a girlfriend back in 2010 who went to see Rush with me. We broke up about a month after the concert, and the relationship itself lasted about six months total at that point. Anyways, she and her family moved up to Canada and I guess she "found" her true self and came out as transsexual about a year ago. I was pretty cool with it, she was still my friend, we still texted now and then. A couple days ago, I ask how her new relationship is doing, and I get this incredibly angry rant directed towards me, of all people, calling me a pompous asshole and accusing me of trying to pry into her private life. Excuse me, "his" private life (apparently I don't use the appropriate gender pronouns!). A very good five year friendship ended today. She hung up on me three times, blocked my number, blocked me on Facebook...and I literally can't be more emotionally distressed. I'm not the type of person to become emotionally distressed, but the absolute suddenness of this just couldn't be resolved apparently. But, despite all this, I don't hate her. Do I have some grievances? You bet to hell I do. She just threw away five years of me supporting her when she was going through financial, emotional, and even physical trouble. And what did I ask for in return? Absolutely nothing. Maybe I should start charging a price for friendship. $60/hour for basic, negotiable for extras. This is at least the third friend I've lost in the last four years, all because of something that could have been resolved by talking things out and one party just simply not wanting to talk.

These are my thoughts. If Geddy would ever THINK about using vocal enhancement technology or lip-syncing a song, that would be the point where I stop seeing them live. Because, at that point, you know they've just stopped performing for the love of it and are doing it just for the big fat paycheck it nets them for their name. Even if it meant getting to hear songs like The Necromancer (a personal favorite of mine) live, I wouldn't go see it. The reason I love this band so much is because of how humble and respectable they are, and that's why I don't have such a high respect for a lot of older bands who tour almost every year for the paycheck and not for the all out love of getting out there and performing. Once Geddy's voice goes, it's all over. That's just a fact we'll have to live with. We still have plenty of live and studio recorded material that will last for decades, and we should be thankful for that much.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs (Side 2: Lotus Flower, Codex, Give Up The Ghost, Separator)

Prisoners Not sure what I think about the final 30 or so minutes, though. A couple of loose ends that don't really get tied up properly, but an overall good film.

MUCH better than the first Hobbit, but Jackson easily could have done better. I saw the movie Saturday night in a packed theater, and I have to say that, while I'm not disappointed, I'm not fully impressed either. I'm no professional movie critic, but this movie suffers from what the first Hobbit suffered from: NO CHARACTER PROGRESSION! I mean, when you read the book, you see obvious character progression in the dwarves and Bilbo; but in the movie? Holy crap, I could see more character in the dead fish in the barrels! That's not to fully discredit the acting, though. I feel that all the actors were perfect choices for the roles, especially Martin Freeman for Bilbo and Benedict Cumberpatch doing the voice over work for Smaug. Did anyone else get these absolute feeling of dread when Smaug came onto the screen? I mean, I was in row THREE of the cinema and I have never felt smaller in my entire life! If this movie got one thing right, it was the final scenes with Smaug, because those were obviously some of the best cinematic moments of the year for me. Very few movies can actually have something that large on the screen and make a 6-1 guy feel small in comparison. On another note, the cliffhanger at the end was very tasteful. That's what I did not really come in expecting, as Peter has never really ended any of his movies on a cliffhanger. I'm starting to wish he did that with his Lord of the Ring series when he made The Two Towers, because that would have made that an even immensely better movie if it were done correctly. The only thing I won't change my opinion on is the fact that they shoehorned Legolas into the film. Legolas was never in the novel, nor was this character Tauriel (to what I remember; I read The Hobbit four years ago, so I don't remember ALL of it). The scenes in forests of Mirkwood could have been much more detailed, as that section of the novel was very long according to my memory. Elrond was also absent from this film when he shouldn't have been. Overall, I'd say go see it, but on the precautions: 1. You're obviously a fan of long running movies; I believe this one clocks it at just about two hours and fifty minutes 2. You're a fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy of novels/films and have seen the first Hobbit film or at least remember reading The Hobbit in school On a final note, I wouldn't pay full ticket price to see this. But don't wait for the DVD either. Wait until it comes to the dollar saver theater, because if you're paying 12 dollars like I am to see a movie, you damn well better be getting your money's worth.

I much prefer remixes as opposed to remasters. The mastering process should only be done once; however, mixing can be done in a variety of different ways that the possibilities are nearly endless! :D Random musical thought...well, this is an interesting one. I work as a courtesy clerk (read: bagger) in a grocery store and have been employed there for about give or take three weeks. I was about to get off of an eight hourr shift and a woman came to the lane I happened to be working. She was on Ohio WIC, which stands for Women, Infants, and Children. It's a food program that specializes in helping needy families (or is supposed to, at least) get their children healthy foods. She presents the checks and food to the cashier, everything is going normal. She turns away for a second and one of the checks goes missing. Not too soon after that happens, an argument starts between the cashier and the woman, with the latter accusing the former of stealing the check (which was for a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs). After five minutes of arguing, I finally pipe up "I'll pay for your eggs and milk, miss". So, true to my word, I pay for what I said I would pay for. By the end of it all, she's crying. When I came home, the first song that came on my iPhone was "The Garden" by Rush, and I was particularly struck by the lyrics: "The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect/The way you live, the gifts that you give/In the fullness of time/It's the only return that you expect". And it was in this moment, that I knew I had not only done something ordinarily "good" that night, I had done something that probably meant the entire world over to someone. I did something that meant too much to express in words to this woman, and it took a Rush song for me to realize that. I realize I had done something good, but nothing on the level which I have just described. It's an incredible feeling, and I haven't come off that high for days. I hope I never do. That's my random music thought.