GrandDesigner

His interviews are great. I just listened to his Billy Joel and Jerry Seinfeld ones on Youtube and was thoroughly amused and entertained

New show on AMC that just started last night. I watched it and it was very reminiscent of Twin Peaks. Like, I find it hard to believe that they are not re-creating Twin Peaks with this show. I found it enjoyable and interesting and will definitely continue to watch. I accidentally drifted away into a Benadryl induced sleep during the last half hour of the 2 hour series premiere so I'm not sure where it left off, but I'm sure I'll catch it again. AMC has been awesome lately, with The Walking Dead and now this. Plus I hear Breaking Bad is killer too. Anyone else watch?

You're probably right about Seasons 1/2 being equal. They're both awesome. I don't remember season 3 being THAT bad, but it's definitely not up to par with 1,2, or 4

QUOTE (the masked drummer @ Mar 29 2011, 06:14 AM) And a drum roll, please... The new drummer for Dream Theater ( just as i predicted months ago) is... Mike Mangini!!!! Per Eddie Trunk It's more than likely Mangini (since Trunk is in the biz and probably has extremely reliable sources), but until the band confirms/denies it's still all speculation

QUOTE (The Owl @ Mar 28 2011, 12:23 PM) The other song is "Light Fuse and Get Away" off the first album... bad lyrics, bad singing, spurratic and unorganized musically I think the band shares your sentiments about this song too. They've only played it live maybe a dozen times in the entirety of their career. I personally like it, but they definitely had better things to come. My order would be: Scenes From A Memory (FII is SO close though) Falling Into Infinity Awake Images & Words Train Of Thought Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence When Dream & Day Unite Black Clouds & Silver Linings Systematic Chaos Octavarium (the title track is killer though)

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Mar 16 2011, 04:02 PM) I know next to nothing about Neal Morse, other than he's a devote Christian. And I never listened to Spock's Beard. I have watched Yellow Matter Custard videos on youtube and he obviously enjoys performing Beatles songs. But, that's all. What's some good introductory albums/songs to listen to? V V V V V V V V V V At The End Of The Day is the ultimate SB track. Thoughts 2 is also killer. Not to mention the mammoth 30 minute song at the end. Seriously, get V.

Neal is definitely the man. I love all his work with SB, although his solo work has left me a bit cold. The lyrical matter notwithstanding, I just find a lot of it to be rehashed and similar. Still good, but nothing with the same level of quirkiness and adventurousness of his SB material. I'm sure the concert will be amazing though! I'm extremely anxious to see what the new Morse/McPherson/Portnoy/LaRue/Morse album sounds like. Neal works well when he's got other strong writers with him (aka Transatlantic)

I only have Colors and Alaska and I love them both dearly. I suppose I should get the rest of their stuff, eh?

Mew - Comforting Sounds

QUOTE (Kenneth @ Mar 27 2011, 03:03 PM) Everyone seems to talk about season 2 3 and 5 positively.. If season 1 isn't the best... Then wow. Season 1 is awesome! But I think most people unanimously agree that seasons 2 and 4 are the best seasons. Season 4 of Dexter is unreal. It's just absolutely the greatest season ever of any TV show. I'd rate them as so, in order of my idea of best to least best: Season 4 Season 2 Season 1 (very close to season 2 though) Season 3 Season 5

Once again, I envy those who get to watch this show again. As much as I bitch about the low seasons (3 & 5), they're still enjoyable and exciting. Happy watching!

80's King Crimson, while pretty good, just has such an overwhelming cheesiness to it that I cannot rate it anywhere close to their 70's output. The music isn't bad by any means, but a lot of it sounds like some goofy disco, almost spoken word vocal, porn film music.

QUOTE (Test4VitalSigns @ Mar 19 2011, 04:35 PM) Yes this season has really been entertaining....Charlie getting all slutty and aiming for 100 conquests has really been funny! The current lady he is with is quite the loony one Charlie Runkle is probably the best supporting character in a series since George Costanza. I love when he drunkenly gets a tramp stamp...LOL!!

I was unimpressed with season 5, but I'm going to assume it was a way for the writers to begin the Dexter story anew and take it different places that will eventually lead to his discovery. Rita's gone, the kids are gone, Quinn is not an issue anymore, etc. It frees him up to be himself again

QUOTE (Test4VitalSigns @ Mar 19 2011, 02:35 PM) I like the "pop culture" reference Hank made at the beginning of the last episode....He is getting ready and dressed up for the first day of his trial and after Karen remarked that he looked good Hank replied "I look like an FBI agent". I noticed that! Hilarious What an awesome show! Between this and Dexter, I think they have HBO beat. It reminds me of Entourage, but a little more personal. Hank Moody is one of the greatest characters in tv history

I LOVE black metal! A lot of these bands seem to consider the atmosphere of the music more important than the music, so that's why the recordings always sound hideous. I guess it amplifies the dark, depressed, icy mood they're trying to capture.

QUOTE (cfmoran13 @ Mar 10 2011, 04:41 PM) When he's not mentioning DT, he does sound happy, very happy actually. Much of the problem does lay with the fans (and the haters). His last 2 mentions of DT have been about: 1. How he can't imagine how John Petrucci would say there won't be a problem with their 'Official Bootleg' record label moving forward, when it's Mike who basically did everything with it and he even had the next batch picked out. 2. He went back to them asking if he could come back and they won't even return his phone calls. As you've said, he's just stating the facts. Then, it gets chopped up from what he's posted on his website and you have "quotes" on sites like Blabbermouth that seem to enjoy perpetuating drama. And, there are enough posters on that site that, for one reason or another, absolutely hate Portnoy AND DT and see his posts as rants or bitching. The same goes for the Pro-DT Anti-Portnoy people. Anything that he says is taken as a personal diss on the band. Personally, I think Portnoy's awesome and the communication that he keeps with his fans is amazing. And, I will support everything he does. However, sometimes he does himself a disservice with his posts. This is why he actually "banned" himself from his own message board for a while. He needed to distance himself from everything. It seems like he's finally moving on. And, once DT announces their new drummer and puts out some new product, they will, too. And, this will all hopefully go away. Wouldn't it be nice if DT's announcement was that Mike Portnoy was their new drummer?!? Not likely. But, nice to think about. I just think the guys gets shit on unnecessarily when he truly is an artist who tries his best to give all he can to his fans. What other band member even posts on their own forum as much as he does?? Not to mention twitter posts and whatnot detailing what he's up to, or interested in. He strives to make a connection to the people who got him where he is today. I really respect his dedication to being "available" to his fans. And about DT, the guy parted ways with a band he'd been in for 25 years (my entire lifetime), so I think it's understandable for him to be initially in shock and want to talk about it at every available opportunity. It's him grieving in a way. I would love nothing more than to see MP rejoin DT, but it'd have to be once all this negative BS goes away and they truly miss each other and want to reunite. Otherwise, it's just destined to break apart again,

QUOTE (The Owl @ Mar 9 2011, 06:07 PM) I love Mike Portnoy, I think he is an excellent drummer, and a good songwriter.... he is very talented and I respect him for that, and will listen to anything that he does... But, this whole "I'm the victim" shpeal Mike is putting on these last few months are a load of bullshit.. "They wouldn't give me a break so I walked", "I tried to rejoin, but they won't let me", "They won't return my calls"....etc Mike, YOU LEFT THEM, you weren't kicked out... quit bitching and playing the victim card here.... you made your bed, now lie in it. Where are people getting the idea that Portnoy is just bitching incessantly over the split? The man has already been involved in 3 different projects and seems to be enjoying his new-found freedom immensely. Just because he explains what's happening to fans of his and DT's doesn't mean he's bitching ad nauseum and being bitter. He actually sounds quite happy with his life at the moment. He has not mentioned anything about DT in a number of months and only does so when it's to clear up confusion on his message board. I really think the FANS are the ones who are propagating this BS.

I LOVE the lyrics to Dog Years. Yeah, the metaphor is goofy but it's a whimsical song musically and the lyrics fit. If they were the lyrics to the music of Subdivisions, then I'd say they were horrible but in the musical context I find them quite innovative and interesting. Agreed on Nobody's Hero - holy shit that opening line is a buzzkill. Also, Second Nature always seemed a little hokey (especially the 'folks' lines) Chemistry always seemed a little clunky, but since they had a lyrical menage a trois with it, I suppose it's not all Neil's fault. Also, I seem to recall a majority of RTB sucking.

QUOTE (ColdFireYYZ @ Feb 24 2011, 10:11 PM) QUOTE It's a shame too....I was already working on another batch before all of this went down.... So what he's saying is he had material for DT that he was working on? I thought he wanted DT to go on a hiatus because they were running out of ideas and wanted to "recharge their batteries". Ytsejam Records is a record company run by MP that released DT demos of older albums, various live shows, cover albums done live, and other various rarities. There was no new material present as it was all archived stuff owned by Portnoy.

QUOTE (The Owl @ Feb 22 2011, 01:25 AM) Finished the first season........ it's 12:20, and I am wondering if I want to stay up another hour and start the second......... I had better not....... I am tired as hell. I am almost jealous that you get to watch seasons 2 and 4 for the first time. Season 4 of this show is without a doubt the greatest season of any TV series ever

QUOTE (metaldad @ Feb 16 2011, 09:36 AM) In other words 'We have no idea if this will work so we don't want to say who it is if he is not here next week. We are aware that Portnoy is doing his 3 album since we would Not let him back in the band and we are shitting a brick . We really hope this does not come back to bite us in the ass so we will just feel him out for another 2 years " JLB This is looking more and more likely... Honestly, this is the first DT album in awhile that we are not privy to ANY info regarding the recording (except that according to JP's twitter, it's going amazingly). It's kind of exciting and really building my anticipation of the new album. I really couldn't care less who the drummer is, MP is DT's drummer and the new guy will always be a temp IMO. I'm sure he'll kick ass, whoever he is though. It's funny, I was just watching the Chaos In Motion DVD for the first time in years, and it was amazing how non-existent any (visible) friction was between the members. Just a few years later the whole thing turned to shit.

QUOTE (Show Don't Tell @ Feb 13 2011, 11:11 AM) So wait. What's the latest rumour in terms of the new drummer? I heard a while back it might be Bobby Jarzombek, and then later it was thought to be Marco Minnemann. Now I'm hearing that it's... not. Mike Mangini is the newest suspect. People are saying that he canceled all of his classes at Berklee for this semester, but it could just be a bad grapevine

There's no way Portnoy is coming back. Besides making thinly veiled derogatory comments on his site about the other members (not to just be inflammatory, but in response to a question), he seems WAY too excited about his new projects with the Morses and Russell Allen, and the mystery 3rd project to go back to being shackled in DT. Plus his reasons for leaving were the fact that he WANTED a long break from the band. I think they need a few years apart to let the bad feelings die off and the nostalgia to set in before Portnoy rejoins.

VICTORIA LEGRAND Of the dream pop duo, Beach House. Such an expressive, smoky voice...she actually reminds me of Jon Anderson in the early 70's a bit if you can stretch your imagination. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK_IyLEo6o4&feature=related