Hallway 7: Online Word: August 2008 Archives

New Staind CD

~~Friday, August 22, 2008~~

I got the new Staind disc today. It's called The Illusions of Progress and follows their last album Chapter V.

I got it as a special fan edition with 3 bonus tracks which are acoustic performances of It's Been a While, Devil, and Schizophrenic Conversations.

I have to say that the past two albums (14 Shades of Grey in 2003 and Chapter V in 2005) were somewhat disappointing to me, seeing as I've been following them since their demo album Tormented in 1998. They seemed to have drifted from angry, heavy music to happier, poppier music.

Well, the heaviness is back!

It may be in short supply on this new album, but short supply is better than none. But the thing I've noticed on this album is the depth put into the music. Some Staind songs in the recent past have lacked a more sophisticated depth to them. The music seemed, in some songs anyway, to be merely a platform for Aaron Lewis' vocals. While this is fine for a solo artist, a band needs to put focus on the strengths of ALL of its members.

The Illusions of Progress in no way lacks this depth in pretty much any of the songs. The album opens with a nice heavy song called This Is It, and continues to push power through the entire album. Even on softer songs, like track 9 Tangled Up in You, the power is still there. The songs sound more devoutly composed than the most recent two albums, and as a result, I think it's one of the best CDs to come out this year. I mean, put Chapter V in your CD player and listen to a few tracks, then throw in Illusions of Progress and you will hear a band evolve.

I can't say exactly why the sound has developed so intensely as it has, but I'm happy that it did. I'm awe-strick by this album.

Another interesting detail is that the music seems to take up more minors, giving much of the music a rather eerie twist to it. On top of this, they add in things like steel guitars and organs, as in the songs Tangled Up in You, and The Corner.

I personally greatly enjoy this album, much as I did with Tormented, Dysfunction, and much of Break the Cycle. It brings back their old flavor, with a modern twist.

hw7online.com/blog

Posted by tornicut927 at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Above the Influence..............

~~Monday, August 18, 2008~~

I've realized as of recent that the hypocracy in this world is mind-boggling. Absolutely and utterly crazy.

My example this time is "public service" announcments, and the organizations that fund them.

Commercial organizations produce and air commercials against different things all the time, but I'm going to bitch about two of choice. The two I'm choosing to bitch about Above the Influence and TRUTH. The reason this annoys me so much is that these companies seem to pick and favor their choice of poisons. I believe that to preech against one, you should do so with all. No company make commercials against alcohol, which is the number one cause of death in the US.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 21,634 people died in 2005 from alcohol. This, however, DOES NOT take into account the primary cause of alcohol-related mortality, which is accidental death. That means that this number does not include car accidents, injuries, or any cause besides direct alchohol deaths. Because of such an odd statistic (not including a primary factor), people tend to forget the danger involved. This statistic also does not include indirect alcohol health issues. In other words, if your liver fails as a result of alcohol, and you die from a resulting infection, then the death is not considered alcohol related, but is considered a result of an infection. Howver, a good question would be if the person didn't drink so much, would they have survived?

My biggest issue with this is the amount of ignorance involved. Less than a year ago, I was in an English class where a kid wrote a paper on the dangers of smoking and how it should be illegal. He also talked about how he applauded Wegmans on refusing to sell tobacco anymore. I asked him "How can they deny tobacco, yet stock an entire backroom full of alcohol?" and he said "Alcohol isn't as dangerous. You can drink responsibly, but you can't smoke responsibly." I replied "I'm not worried about the responsible drinkers. The irresponsible ones make up for the responsible ones. If a person smokes, and gets cancer, they die and deserve it. If a person drinks and gets in a car accident, an entire family may die who were entirely innocent."

I then asked him "Do you drink?" to which he said yes. I then asked him if he smoked, he said no. I then alerted him that his oppinion is therefor biased and can not be taken seriousely.

THIS is my biggest issue. I can almost guarentee you that these people that make "Above the Influence" commercials or "TRUTH" commercials celebrate by getting drunk. THAT is hypocracy.

In all honesty, I think if I were to choose what to legalize, it would be Pot. The reason I say this is because my friend put it to me very honestly. She said "When I drink, I want to go get a pizza. When I smoke, I want to order a pizza. I'm not getting up and going out."

I don't think any of it should be legal in all honesty. I think that as a result of our culture and upbringing, we are incredibly irresponsible chemical users. All I ask is for equality and honesty. I ask for people to step out of their own bias and examine things from a distance.

I've seen too many people hurt as a result of alcohol, yet SOMEHOW when we go to a funeral of someone who dies in an alcohol-related accident, we toast them. Hypocracy is abundant, and it angers and saddens me. Our generation is the problem. Our generation has lost respect and responsibilty. We've lost our souls and we've lost our minds. It's our job and our job alone to gain them back.

Please do..............

hw7online.com/blog

Posted by tornicut927 at 03:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's Just One of Those Days

~~Sunday, August 17, 2008~~

So today I woke up and went into the bathroom, and the soap squirted all over me.

I knew it was going to be one of those days...........

I had planned on working on a stone sculpture for the museum, but I called it off because I thought I might get hurt. So instead I ran errands. I went to the hobby store to by some supplies for my next jewelry class, and bought some notebooks for class in a week. I then decided to stop at Subway because Meg wasn't feeling good, so she didn't want to cook.

I park outside of Subway, and get out of the car. I press the lock button on the door and shut it. Just then, I realized that I locked the keys in the car.

I blame my pants. I really do. I always wear cargo pants, and today I didn't for the first time in years. Now, I have two key chains. They clip together, but when I drive, I seperate the keys from the other part which has the remote to the car, as well as a lanyard, a multitool, and a locket. I do this because all of that together is too heavy for the ignition. Well, normally I throw the heavy half in my cargo pocket, and the light half goes in the ignition, then later, into my pocket. But this time, since there was no cargo pocket, I threw it on the passenger's seat.

When I got out, I threw the keys in my pocket like normal, but they fell out on the driver's seat. I noticed once I shut the door.

So I reached into my pocket to call Meg on my cell, just to realize my cell was on the car charger in the front seat. Really just piling up.

I went inside Subway and called Meg. She called Triple A. They wouldn't come since she's the cardholder, and she wasn't there. Stacy was at work, and I couldn't call my friends since my cell was in the car. So I walked the distance that in a car only takes a couple of minutes to Target. It took about 30 mins by foot. I bought some coat hangers, and a skateboard to get back to my car faster. The board cut it down to about a 10 minute ride. Good buy.

I then took the hanger and unwound it to realize I couldn't see the locks from the outside, so how the hell was I going to unlock it?

I then used the axel on the skateboard to form the hanger into a hook, and I hooked onto my big keychain, and pulled it to the window. So now I can see my keychain, but that's utterly useless. I then decided to form a finger-like shape out of another hanger, and I pushed the unlock button on the remote.

I got into the car, and felt insanely proud. I then got some Subway.

During the entire thing, the Subway guys were joking around with me.

"get it yet? no? oooooh. tooo bad"

Once I hit the button, we heard a "BEEP" and they said "what's that?" and I said "The sound of my car unlocking! I call that maneuver 'Genius'."

I'm home now.

hw7online.com/blog

Posted by tornicut927 at 03:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Blow Darts

~~Wednesday, August 13. 2008~~

So I got a blow dart gun a few days or so ago in order to entertain myself. I used to enjoy archery, but I don't have the space to do it anymore, so this works great. It's a 24 inch 40 cal Eagle blow gun.

So today I was doing some target practice from about 10 yards away, and I nail a bull's eye. I reload, and shoot again and nail ANOTHER one. In the exact same place. The second dart hit the back of the first dart and stuck into it.

My initial response was to quote Robin Hood: Men in Tights "I Split my arrow in twine!"

I took some pictures. Here ya go.

Shot

Great shot.

A also realized my blog links haven't been working with the feed goes through FB. So here's a real link.

Hw7online.com/blog

Posted by tornicut927 at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Fallen Hero, an Apprentice Lost

~~Thursday, August 7, 2008~~

So I decided to write a story. Humor me and read it.

__________________________________________________

A young apprentice is taken by a teacher at birth. The apprentice studies the way of his master for years, and raises him to the status of a god. Years go by, and the apprentice seperates from his master to learn lessons himself, but returns on occasion to feed off the knowledge and experience of his master. His master teaches him lessons of life, love, trust, and death. Truly the lessons of a good man. He preaches honestly and morality, but above all, he teaches lessons of loyalty.

Now, the master is a complicated man, but is never questions by his young apprentice, for his apprentice places all of his trust and faith in his master. No matter what anyone else says of the master, the apprentice not only stays by his side, but he defends him as well puting his own name on the line for the good of his master.

The master's many lessons build up over decades in the mind of the apprentice, who, by then, has come to form a strong-willed character of high moral standing, believing that all people have the power of good. The power that his teacher has mastered.

The apprentice begins a journey on his own. A journey that will forever change his life. This journey is the journey of love, and the journey of spirituality. The apprentice takes his journey in stride, and along the way, developes beyond the teachings of his master, but always living off of the core values he was taught. Through his journey, he sees much horror, much pain, and much torture, but never strays from the path of his virtues. He hears of men who kill, men who steal, men who destroy, and men who seduce. But these stories are distant, and the virtues of a good man will forever ring true through the heart of the apprentice.

The apprentice hears of a particular man, abusing innocent people. The apprentice fears how this could affect people close to him, but still waits as a patient and logical man does. Waits until information builds a logical conclusion. He learns more of this man, this psychic destroyer, an innocence devourer, and an emotion twister. He hears stories of destruction that roots to the core of the victim's souls to the extent that they can't even recognize themselves anymore. The apprentice, however, waits.

One day the apprentice hears of a friend under attack by this monster of a man. The apprentice decides there is no time for waiting anymore. He approaches the situation to learn more, and more, and more. This friend never saw the attack coming, for the monster knew how to stalk his prey. He knew how to attack without any trace. He knew how to hide in plain site, like most monsters do.

The apprentice, feeling bad for his friend, searches for information on the matter beyond what he has recived, yet his master is no where to be found. He searches day and night for his once loyal master, but finds no trace of him.

By the lack of better judgement, the apprentice approaches the lair of the monster to discover anything at all that wasn't already obvious. And what he found.....

Well....

What he found was that his master, the one he raised on a pedestal to the position of a god, had actually been the beast all along.

But how?.....

How could a good man go so bad?.....

The answer was that the apprentice, indeed, had been the apprentice of the monster, as well as his biggest defender. The apprentice, in his own mind, was as guilty as the beast that he so willingly aided in his ventures.

The moral of the story is:

The closer to heaven that a person is put....

The longer and harder is the fall to hell....

The only question to remain is, how many people must fall before them?

__________________________________________________

Posted by tornicut927 at 01:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)