Wincing this album away.

Now, don't get me wrong. I will probably listen to this album approximately 5 times this weekend (Jen and I are traveling to Arizona) and I won't be upset about it. However, this album creates one of those weird moments you have with a band you like a lot. There's nothing offensive. There's no strangely misguided deviation from the original sound. Basically, it sounds like it is supposed to. It's just a little bit boring. The first Shins album was all creepy and dark. Behind the 60s pop melodies there lay something misanthropic and sinister. A small misanthrope, but a misanthrope nonetheless. On the second shins album the sun breaks through the clouds and there is joy throughout the land. Everyone is happy, especially the slide guitar player. This album is somewhere in between. Jen pointed out that it sounds fuller. There are more layers and lush strings and horns. It also appears that their keyboard player saved up some cash and bought a new keyboard. These things are good, but they don't add up to anything grandiose. It's 1/2 DIY, 1/2 huge. Lyrics wise, there are the same word games, but these don't seem as impressive as they once did. The witty rhymes may tickle your ear, but they don't really make you think.

As I write this, I realize that some of the criticism I am laying down would be an apt description of many bands that I champion. Hmmmm..... anyhow. The jury is still out I suppose.

thanksgiving eve

So anyone doing anything tonight? Just asking. Here's a picture that represents what's going on this evening at the casa de Patterson:

Isn't it weird how there are all these weird variations on goats, sheep and cows? I think it's weird. In a good way.

satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas

So, not to set some strange precedent for writing on this thing, but a strange thing happened to me after work today. Before I tell you, let me back up.


The other night, I thought to myself, "Are there any good cooking show podcasts that I am not currently subscribing to?" I did the only normal thing I could think of and grabbed my handy LAUSD laptop and logged in to the itunes store. I had done this earlier in the day and I was really surprised to see that there were a large number of completely different albums being featured.

"Different how?" you ask? Well, their most distinguishing characteristic was their Japanese origin. I figured I had somehow done something wrong, and since I could still read the word "podcast" (and not much else), I clicked onward. To my horror, all of the podcasts were in Japanese as well....

What did I do?

I subscribed to one. To my new horror, I was not allowed to do this and was promptly redirected to the US itunes store.

"Since that is not that cool of a story, what happened today to cause you to tell that not so cool story?", you ask? Today I received a large package from the super cool and nice (I'm assuming) folks at Southern Lord records. The package contained the following: 4 cds, 4 Lps and one t-shirt. I was very excited. The cd I was most excited about was the new collaborative album by SunnO))) and Boris, two of my favorite bands recently. I was particularly excited about this cd because it contains a second cd that has a song I have yet to hear on it. I promptly place (insert, really) this cd into my aforementioned laptop.

itunes registers this cd as the audio accompaniment to the 8th grade literature anthology that I use in my classroom. More specifically, The Diary of Anne Frank, Act 1. Strange. So I take the cd out and try again. Same. I do the sensible thing and use the "advanced" tab on the tool bar to search the CDDB for the correct track names.

Right now, you're wondering why I am still writing and not checking the pasta water that is surely boiling in my kitchen. Remember the not so cool story I told earlier? itunes has decided to identify this cd as some Japanese cd using Japanese characters. itunes will not change it's mind either.

My question is simple. Why is my itunes Japanese?

Oh, and lastly, that song that I was so excited to hear is called Her Lips Were Wet With Venom (satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas).

And it rules.

been such a long time.

I realize that I haven't been writing anything for a long time. I mean anything. I don't think I've sent an email in about a month. I can't remember the last time I actually wrote manually. More than a list at least. Strange. I wonder what this may say about my life or personality. Whenever I get introspective like this, the results are unanimously negative. I suppose I am not actually searching for answers to my questions, but merely deflecting said questions in an attempt to appear thoughtful. It's great because now, having written this, I no longer have to think about this problem. I wrote something. Problem solved.

My students want to know how much money I make. Is it strange that I am embarrassed to tell 8th graders how little I make?