I am lucky to work in an environment where I get to listen to music almost all day. Unfortunately I don’t always get to pick the music. Therefore, some of my co-workers choose some bands over and over again or some bands that are just terrible. Not only because of this I have started to put together a list of bands/artists that I would be glad to never hear again. I don’t want to be super obvious by picking musicians like Justin Bieber or the band who sings Christmas Shoes; these will likely be artists that I enjoyed and willingly listened to at one point.
AC/DC This is mostly a personal choice for me. AC/DC is a good band with unbelievably repetitive songs and dumb lyrics. The guitar is fun and the music is catchy but it’s also very juvenile. Something that I would have liked in middle school. Oh wait, I did.
Journey Oh Journey, if you weren’t so overplayed I would like you. Just kidding. Every time I hear Don’t Stop Believin’ and start singing it with my friends, it’s not because we think the song is good. It’s because this song is ridiculous and we like to make fun of Steve Perry and the gang. Formulaic, uninspired, and boring, sometimes I think the only reason this band is so popular is because of tight pants and bulges.
Bob Marley Bob Marley is another more personal one. I believe he was a great artist and interesting person. I just don’t really like his music. This choice has a lot to do with the fact that I hear ”Live!” almost every day and I’m ready for it to stop.
The Police With songs like “Every Breath You Take” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” I can’t help but hate the Police. Repetitive and overly simple, it’s like they are catering to a dumb audience, and it worked. Tell me again, Sting, what kind of message are you putting in the bottle? an S.O.S.? Ohhh! I didn’t realize because you only said you’re sending it out about 100 times.
What bands could you do without for the rest of your life?
I’ve been wanting to start a serious Beer Blog recently. I have a few ideas but am having a hard time really putting these ideas into words. So I thought I would start simply by just showcasing some of my favorite beers that are great for sipping while in front of the fire after dinner.
The Abyss by Deschutes Brewery
An Imperial Stout of epic proportions. Part of the beer is aged in oak barrels and part of it is not. This gives the beer a wonderful complexity and balace that you might not get if all of it were aged in the barrels. It is truly a masterpiece.
Trappists Rochefort 10 by Brasserie de Rochefort (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy)
There are 7 Trappist monasteries in the world that can produce Authentic Trappist Beer. I wish I could say that I’ve tried them all but sadly some of them are hard to find. I was able to get my hands on a few bottles of this one a while back and I was extremely anxious to try it. When you sip this beer you can taste the history and craftsmanship.
La Fin Du Monde by Unibroue
The Belgian spicy fruitiness and floral aroma makes this beer fascinating. It’s definitely one that I love to share with friends or family with a cigar, sitting outside on a warm evening watching the sunset.
Kickin’ Chicken by Santa Fe Brewing Co.
I can’t help but talk about a beer that I represent. I am bias but I will say anyway that this beer is fantastic. A bourbon barrel aged barleywine that sits at 12% ABV. It’s certainly not as complex as the other beers I have mentioned because the bourbon flavor is so incredibly powerful and upfront.
Old Rasputuin by North Coast Brewing Co.
This beer has a personal history with me, it was one of the first beers I feel I ever truly appreciated. I remember tasting it for the first time, it almost oozed out of the bottle it was so dark and thick. Pitch black, licorice, coffee, joy.
These are certainly not the “best” sipping beers in the world, although they might be up there. I haven’t had a chance to try every beer in the world so I can’t put rankings on any beer I drink. I just think these are 5 great ones to try if you haven’t already. Hopefully I will write up some more “5 Great” posts. You can also find out what I’m drinking on a regular basis at my Untappd page: http://untappd.com/user/Injun Meanwhile, Cheers!
I’m 24 and considered an adult. I can drink, smoke, drive, vote, get drafted, and have sex. I am “fully grown or developed”. I have responsibilities and, most of the time, I fulfill them. That being said, poop is funny.
Here is a list of some of my favorite things of 2010. It’s been an extremely busy and eventful year for me so my concentration on keeping up with new releases of music, games, movies, and such has been pretty lackluster. Therefore this list is mainly just things that have stood out to me in the past year.
Music
So much happened this year in music, it’s been hard to keep up. I will try to have a more comprehensive list once I have seen what other people are saying their favorites of the year are so I can catch up on what I missed, but here is what has been dominating my speakers for 2010.
The National – High Violet
What an album. Matt Berninger’s voice seems to speak directly to my soul. Most music I listen to fits my mood, where this music changes my mood.
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Let This Be the Last Night We Care
I love this because of the way the individual parts of the music all come together to make something amazing and distinct.
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
I don’t know if this needs much explanation.
Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring
This band has been an obsession of mine this year. The music is catchy and positive and the lyrics are clever and entertaining. It doesn’t stop being just fun.
The New Pornographers – Together
I am convinced that The New Pornographers cannot make a bad album. They continue to be one of the best bands out there.
This album kind of took me by surprise. I don’t remember when I got it but I saw it in my collection, put it on, and almost instantly fell in love. More videos need to feature naked people running.
Honorable Mentions:
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Ratatat – LP4
The Magnetic Fields – Realism
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Too many! Holy crap!
Video Games
A lot of great video games came out this year, I didn’t get to play all of them but a few stand out.
Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
I started this game with extreme skepticism, I wasn’t too impressed with GTA4, so the same thing in the wild west setting seemed like something I could easily dismiss. I was so wrong, Red Dead Redemption is a magnificent game, the writing is fantastic, the world is exactly what I want in a western game, and the graphics are great. I had none of the complaints that I usually do with GTA games. It knew what it wanted to do and it achieved just that.
Mass Effect 2 (PC)
I almost forgot about this game when I started to think about the best games of the year. An interesting story, great visuals, and a perfect balance of RPG and action gameplay makes it a game not to be missed.
Heavy Rain (PS3)
Some would say that game mechanics have become stagnant recently, the market is dominated by shooters and zombies. Then a game like Heavy Rain comes out and proves you can do something new and inventive. It tells a story in a way that most games wouldn’t even try to do, and it succeeds at it. Every decision has value, and the decisions can be very tough at times. You become emotionally connected, and the game takes twists and turns that you cannot expect. I think Heavy Rain is my favorite game of 2010.
Beer
The best beer of 2010? That’s kind of hard, here are a few beers that I tasted this year (not necessarily OF this year) that caught my attention. There isn’t much I can say about them without having a glass of it in my hand unfortunately.
Trappists Rochefort 10 Made by Trappist monks in Belgium, one of only 7 official trappist breweries in the world. Santa Fe Brewing Co Yippee Imperial IPA I know I represent this brewery so I might be somewhat biased, but this beer was brewed and discontinued before I became a part of the brewery. When I had it, it had been aged for 2 years and it knocked my socks off. It tasted almost more like a barleywine than an IPA, a blend that was very peculiar and could only come with age.
Deschutes Brewery The Abyss 2009 One of the best beer drinking experiences I’ve ever had came from visiting the Deschutes Brewery and having dinner at the pub that night. The Abyss is one of those beers that you have to smell before every sip. It’s one of the most wonderful experiences you can have with a beer, it puts you in your own private world of flavor. Pairing it with a delicious fish pasta sealed it as one of my favorite beers of all time.
Other
If you’ve read this far I’m very impressed. 2010 has been a very eventful year for me and Melanie, we moved from California to New Mexico, met some cool people, Melanie is working hard on her Masters, I quit my job and started fresh in a position of which I had no experience, but it is my dream job. The best thing of 2010 by far, though, is being with my beautiful wife for our first year of marriage. Sorry for the sappiness.
Every time I finally find the time and motivation to sit down and write a blog post I forget what I wanted to blog about. What dominates my thoughts the majority of the time is stuff I always blog about, which is mostly music. I also think about beer a lot but feel like no one really wants to hear about that, and there are enough video game blogs out there for everyone and each of their toes.
Here’s one interesting thing that I just remembered. It makes me feel really good when someone brings something up about celebrity gossip or some ridiculous reality TV show and I’ve never heard of it. It makes me think I’m somewhat immune to some of the stupid conversation of this world. By NO means am I immune to all of it, the other day I was trying to converse with a 3 year old, talk about dull topics. “Oh, really? You’re going to tell me how fast you can run? Again?”
Beer. I find it strange that people define themselves by what they drink. Especially if they drink crappy beer. “I’m a Coors Light Guy” What the hell? Do you even know what beer is? I get it, I eat ramen and mac n cheese and PB&J, but I only do so if I will go hungry without one of these things. I do it because I’m forced to. So, if I were an alcoholic and I needed a beer and there was NOTHING ELSE, ok I would drink the crappy beer. Therefore the only people who should be drinking fizzy yellow beer are alchies. I also realize the hypocrisy. If you asked me if I was a “beer guy” or a “beer snob” I would probably say yes. Defining myself by what I drink. I guess I’ll join the rest of the world.
On August 2nd Melanie and I will be moving out of California to Las Vegas, New Mexico (here) so she can continue her education in a masters program at New Mexico Highlands University. She applied at this school at the last minute because of a letter she had received and overlooked at an earlier time. After quickly applying she got an acceptance email with a full tuition waiver, a job, and a stipend for that job. Obviously it was a no brainer for us to pursue this but it’s much easier said than done.
We will certainly miss the Central Valley despite all its faults and all our friends and family despite their faults . But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about selling stuff.
Since we are leaving and moving into a house that will already be furnished we don’t really need a lot of the stuff we have. So I have compiled a list of things that we want to sell/give away. If You have been to our house and seen something you would like to take off our hands please let me know. This is a preliminary list, we haven’t gone through everything yet. Email me at tony.cordov @ gmail.com if you see something you want, or you can call me. Or you can just come over. Make sure I’m home first. You don’t want to drive all the way to my house to pick some random movie up just to find I’m out doing something else.
Movies:
Wayne’s World 1 & 2
The Boondock Saints
The Cable Guy
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Get Shorty
Dumb and Dumber
Saw
Beverly Hills Ninja
Platoon
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Grandma’s Boy
Underworld
Underworld Evolution High Fidelity Lost in Austen
Ever After Family Guy Vol. 1,2,3
Ace Ventura Movies
How I Met Your Mother SSN 1,3
Across The Universe American History X
SNL 25th Anniversary Family Guy Movie
Heat
Clerks II
Easy Rider
Tommy Boy
Equilibrium
SNL: Chris Farley
Matrix
Matrix: Reloaded
Eddie Izzard: Cirle
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1-7
House: Seasons 1-3
I am giving away about 60 CDs. Some of the bands include Five Iron Frenzy, Avenged Sevenfold, Rancid, Nine Inch Nails, The Faint, The New Pornographers, The Mars Volta. They will be disposed of otherwise.
I know the pictures are big, but I’m too lazy to resize them.
There are more items to be listed, I need to get approval to sell first(Kitchen stuff coming soon!). Contact me if you want anything, I will give you a heck of a deal.
I finally got the Favor Playlist done after a normal amount of procrastinating. I think it turned out awesome.
Melanie looked at me the other day and said, “I will be so happy when people stop asking if we’re excited.” I told a friend what she said and he told me to just get ready for the next question, “When are you going to have kids?” His answer was funny: “We’ve been trying for years!”
Marriage is great. The idea of devoting your life to someone you love and making the choice to love them in any situation is amazing. A wedding is supposed to be me screaming at the top of a mountain, telling everyone how excited I am about living my life with someone, yet I find myself setting up tables and chairs, choosing colors, defending my decisions, and eventually not caring about the draconian rules people place on “such a sacrament.”
Throughout the wedding planning process I let all of the fluff and meaningless rituals go because my vision is set on my bride and the life we would start together. But as we get closer to the date (2 days now) the more I just want to go pick Melanie up, go to my Pastor’s house, and say “I do.”
