12 January 2007

boring friday

So here's what happened at school today:
Algebra II - Just some boring review of absolute value equations for the finals that're coming on Wendesday. Wee.
Chemistry - The last 10 mins of that boring Nova Einstein docu-narrated-drama AGAIN, and then a worksheet reviewing scientific notation and stoiciometry.
AP World History - Presentation on the French Revolution
English - Drafted the last real-world parallel of my final exam/essay, this time for Lord of the Flies. Surprisingly, Mr West let us listen to MP3 Players/iPods in class, which reminded me that I shoulda bough my Sansa E350 with me so Rachel woudn't hafta force me to listen to F**kin' Timberfake (Justin Timberlake properly). So that Rachel wouldn't hafta torture me again, I had to let Tina sit in my seat while I sat in the corner of the room near the exit. Anyway, how'd she torture me perhaps? (first) she put the earbud near me so I heard two seconds of "Sexy Back", (second) she showed me a full sheet of paper in green: "I [heart] Justin Timberlake". In the back, I wrote a pledge to the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell - whose music we all treasure and love - and told her "Pantera pwns Mr Timberfake". Geez, why didn't Nathan Gale get his head checked and come to San jose to shoot Timberfake? In fact, how did Timberfake get away with exposing Janet Jackson's you-know-what in the Super Bowl XXXVIII hafltime show back in 2004, hurting the sales of Jackson's new CD's? Wow, what a crappy society we live in!
PE - Basketball in the large gym.
Spanish - I got to check my answers to the 175-question final exam I took yesterday, and I began memorizing my script to the vidoe project I'm doing with Brian, shooting will take place this sunday.

Now, in case you haven't heard, after I'm done with the chemistry final on Thursday, I'll start outlineing a book that I'm titling: The Conspiracy Behind Justin. I'm imagining the cover art to look sonething like those "Future Sex & Love Sounds Tour" promo, except it's gonna show JT's back and in big letters: CONSPIRACY. "The", "Behind Justin" will be smaller. The book will basically explore how the heezy that JT got a record deal with a major label in the first place, how he sold out N'Sync (who cares if i spell it wrong), how he got away with the Super Bowl 2004 controversy to get "Sexy Back" and "My Love" to be #1 hits in recent months, and much more sith about Timberfake! If you want some good music, look just below, or listen to the bands that are on the Last.fm charts in the music section of my main Myspace profile page. Now, excuse me while I go study some math.

11 January 2007

today

Chemistry class: Watched a boring Nova DVD about the scientists who influenced/were influenced by Albert Einstein, and we had to take notes about what each scientist discovered and when. Gee whiz, how much filler did there hafta be? English: Went to the school library to research/start our final essays that'll take the place of a final exam. We had to parallel the major themes of the novels we read to current events/issues. Wow, how exciting. Spanish: took a 175-question multiple choice final exam. Thus, this leaves the final block scheudle days with only three real final exams: Algebra II (Wendesday) and Chemistry/PE (Thursday)!! Friday is practically a kick-back day as I've oberserved, as in English we'll be presenting PowerPoints & essays all class, and Spanish we'll be watching our final video projects. All day today, people at school, especially the girls, were hyping about the Justin Timberlake concert. I'm excited about that because I hope someone will break in the HP Pavilion to shoot JT. Wow, what an untalented Hollywood hack he is. When the Summer Olympics come to Beijing, China in 2008, I doubt anyone will even like JT's music anymore. In the meantime, during lunch today I heard from a girl that Killswitch Engage is just noise. Well, I'm sorry, but she judged from the raw stuff that KsE did back in 2000-2002. Now is 2006, their new album As Daylight Dies has cleaner production and has former Blood Has Been Shed vocalist Howard Jones on vocals. Howard Jones is a great singer, with a strong vocal range, as shown in the video for "My Curse" (it's on my main profile page, music section). KsE isn't all screaming, at least if you listen to their Howard Jones-era stuff. They have their softer, more melodic parts, unlike you preps who shop at Abercrombie and stereotype heavy metal based on the posers like Limp Bizkit or Deicide.

Justin Timberlake:
You need to die tonight.
~ ALP

05 January 2007

Rock news

After Channel 104.9 became a Spanish station, the new modern rock station for those in teh Santa Cruz/Monterey area became KMBY-FM "X 103.9". Their website is x1039fm.com, still under construction, they have a link for there myspace page there. However, those living in Santa Clara County south of the Coyote Creek Golf Course in south San Jose are now left with a crappy signal of Live 105 to listen to. True. I was coming back home from the southwest on vacation back 12/30, and Live 105's signal started showing up on my MP3 player radio when the bus got to Gilroy. For some reason, the Coyote Creek Golf Course in south SJ serves as the "border" begween the reception area of the stations of the SF Bay and the stations of the Monterey Bay. Cool, huh?

Also, a few days ago i was reading the 2007 in music article on Wikipedia. It lists all the new preditions and music releases for 2007. It reported that on Feb. 20, Virgin Records, the new record lable for Korn since their horendous 2005 CD See You on the Other Side, will release an MTV Unplugged album for Korn. The article stated: "Their performance took set in MTV studios in Times Square, New York City on December 9, 2006 to a crowd of literally, 60 people [citation needed]. It marks Korn's second ever televised acoustic performance, with the first being on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live in July." Wow...either no one relly likes an acoustic performance of a heavy metal band or maybe MTV provided a tiny studio for Korn to perform in. I mean, it coudn't have been an arena or formal concert hall, as Alicia Keys recorded her Unplugged album in the Brooklyn Academy of Music in July 2005 (to be televised & released to CD in September) that has a capacity of about 2,000. Thus, don't expect too much "audience noise" in the album.

Now, what's my view on a hard rock band releasing an acoustic album? Well, it depends if they do it right and not like a pop-rock cd like Maroon 5's Songs About Jane. I've heard the Unplugged albums of Nirvana and Alice in Chains. They sound pretty good, with some execptions in Nirvana's, as Kurt Cobain's vocals in the acoustic rendition of "Come as you Are" were a bit off-key. Also, some songs sound better acoustic then electric. Compare the two versions of "All Apologies"...notice how the Unplugged version sounds so much cleaner? Alice in Chains' Unplugged album is pretty solid as far as I've heard. Godsmack's 2004 studio (not live) acoustic album, The Other Side, was a bit tad disapointing. They were better in the ages of Godsmack and Awake.

Meanwhile, on the WIkipedia article for Korn's unplugged album, it mentioned that Amy Lee, lead singer for poser goth metal band Evanescence, performed with Korn for the acoustic version of "Freak on a Leash". I've seen the video online several times and heard it on the radio, and the electric version kicks hella ass, but I'm gonna puke if I ever hear that song performed ACOUSTIC WITH A SELLOUT POSER VOCALIST!!! GRR!! It was bad enough that Korn sold out with Issues back in 1999 and now with See You on the Other Side! I've heard their acoustic vers. of "Coming Undone" on iTunes, and it wasn't that great. Sometimes, electric guitar bands wern't meant for acoustic. Given that most of Korn's musical spirit comes off the electric guitar, as a majority of their songs are fast-paced and brutal, chances are pretty slim that I'm even gonna listen to the Unplugged CD or watch it (I don't even get cable TV). I'm sorry Korn. You've disappointed me enough. I'm not buying any merchandise from you sellouts anymore, instead I'll buy stuff from GOOD bands like Shadows Fall, Napalm Death, Fear Factory, Hatebreed, and other under-rated hard rock bands. You have enough money already. So if you don't want to disapoint us REAL metal fans, come up with something new already. We don't need to hear the same nu-metal sound in every single one of your albums from 1994 to now. Sorry.