"Billy Shears"
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the ""Billy Shears"" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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09:59 pm
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Fears and Fascination: Hitlers Continuing Control
I've written an article about two recent news reports involving Hitler: one is about his quotations in a yearbook, another about a new museum dedicated to him. It's a little long so I've added it in an LJ cut.
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10:36 am
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Song Review: Whale Song by The Milk Wharves
When The Milk Wharves exploded onto the experimental/indie/alternitive music scene earlier this year with their hit Myspace Songs are Gay, nobody could have predicted what would happen next. Now, the single musician band has released what is sure to be a surefire follow-up hit, which will surely far surpass their freshman hit’s place on the charts.
Whale Song is an unassuming 50 second gem, as brilliant as it is simple. In stark contrast to the multiple styles, killer vocals, and virtuosic keyboard displays in Myspace Songs, Whale Song presents itself with unadorned, almost affected clarity that has not been seen since Dylan’s single string guitar experiments. Ryan Davis, the cortex behind The Milk Wharves’ massive pulsating brain, ignites the track with his edgy and truly moving vocals. With poetry that reminds of the romantic visions of Keats, Longfellow, and Shakespeare, Ryan pleads with us for a time of simplicity. Flowing like an expertly written term paper, Ryan’s thesis is a topic that has haunted man for millennia: whales. With startling lyrics such as “they are so big and swimmy/ love and round” the listener becomes one with Ryan’s desperate search for inner peace and balance. He asks us, why can’t we sing as the humpbacks can? No matter how many times I hear that line, it will still bring tears to my eyes.
I recently sat down with Ryan as part of my ongoing series of articles for Rolling Stone magazine.
J: Hello Ryan.
R: Hello Joel.
J: How are you doing today.
R: You know. Pretty good. You?
J: Let’s get down to brass tacks, Ryan.
R: OK
J: Your first single “Myspace Songs” was an ironic lampoon of the Myspace generation. Brilliant work. Real cutting criticism.
R: Thanks. I thought so.
J: It seems you were influenced by such renowned parodyists as Frank Zappa.
R: I would count Frank Zappa as one of my influences. I’ve listened to lots of music and my hard drive has over a quarter million songs. Even some Asian pop. I like to let everything influence me. I’m no McCartney.
J: Are you the next David Bowie?
R: No. I wouldn’t say that.
J: Where did you find inspiration for your latest piece, Whale Song?
R: Ever heard of Raffe?
J: Is that like Jamaican rap or something?
R: No, don’t worry about it.
J: In the past four months you have opened for some of the biggest bands in the world. You’ve become the hottest commodity. Bono has literally prostrated himself and licked the soles of your shoes. TRL, SNL, and BET call hourly asking for appearances. Are you familiar with the saying “The candle that burns twice as bright…”
R: …burns twice as fast. I know it.
J: Right, but what about the candle that burns 8 billion times as bright.
R: Jesus, I guess that would be Hiroshima, Joel.
J: Well put, Ryan. Well put.
Later in the interview, Ryan gave some hints as to his next musical creation. This time, he will be pulling out all the stops for a soaring ballad the likes of which have never been imagined even by the greatest composers in history. Beethoven, he said, could never have conceived it. According to Ryan, this gigantic piece will make Bohemian Rhapsody seem like a short jingle. ELO’s Mister Blue Sky will sound like a fully amped guitar falling down concrete steps and the Beatles’ Day in the Life sound like the collective scratching of a thousand fingernails on blackboards. Coming from any other man, I would dismiss these assertions a flagrant insanity. But coming from Ryan Davis, we can all be sure that this isn’t a threat – it’s a promise.
Whale Song
Lyrics: A++
Music: Infinity
Overall effect: A Zeus lightning bolt.
There you have it. Whale Song is a killer success. Close the book and burn it because there will never be another.
Current Location: Heaven
Current Mood:  optimistic
Current Music: Ryan Scott Davis Inc
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12:46 am
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xmen
The good thing about the Xmen movies is that FOX went to great lengths to secure dream casts. I can’t think of anyone better to play most of these roles. Patrick Stewart seems born to play Professor X while Kelsey Grammer makes a perfect Beast. FOX has succeeded wildly in featuring Oscar and Tony winners and often including notable actors in small roles. Unfortunately, by The Last Stand, the cast has burgeoned to such an extent that the movie is as unstable as the situations it tries to portray. There are simply too many story lines crisscrossing at a frenetic rate and many characters are shown as quickly as possible without any development. There are a few notable exceptions such as the new character of Angel whose moderately sized role fits neatly into the film and the new Kitty Pryde who acts as an appropriate foil to Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman.
But beyond them and perhaps Wolverine, Magneto, and Professor X, all other characters seemed glossed over (except for Halle Berry’s Storm who has gotten too much attention). This movie should be the most tragic of the three: a “cure” for mutants has been found so all parties involved must go to desperate measures for what they consider self preservation. The issue is extremely relevant and particularly moving as the characters put everything on the line and many end up permanently changed or killed for what they believe in.
The problem is the film utterly lacks subtlety. Everything from the camera shots to the dialogue is entire too blunt and boxy. Attempts at comedy or plain conversation come off as unnatural like when Beast and Storm comment about each others hair or when characters spew lines from the painfully cliché “Charles always wanted to build bridges,” to the unnecessarily profane “Who said I was hiding, dickhead?!” Going back to the “dream cast” idea, I can’t believe some of the ridiculous things Patrick Stewart said in the movie. He delivers the lines with such conviction while saying nothing at all. Even the computer animation is no longer a spectacle but a requirement to be filled (here, by the disappointing displacement of the Golden Gate Bridge). The only scene I really liked was a moment when there are only 6 “good” xmen against an army of the Brotherhood. They stand in a shadowy line and the camera swings across them. The movie needed more of this sort of grave subtlety.
For a movie with such potential, it really couldn’t support it’s own weight.
Perhaps I judge it too harshly as the third part of a successful series. The script was weak. The music was utterly uninspiring. The special effects were so-so, but the acting was really top notch. I give this film 2.5 stars out of 4. Don’t get me wrong – it is still entertaining and very worth watching and it’s way better than the Fantastic Four. Just don’t expect it to top the first two.
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10:24 pm
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all the TVs were just the right size to be stolen and easily walked around with
I bought these dvds today. because there was a sale at the pawn shop.
The Godfather Collection:
The Matrix Ultimate
The Core
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Minority Report
Planet of the Apes
Spartan
Red Planet
Spy Game
The Time Machine
The Day After Tomorrow
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Saving Private Ryan
Eternal Sunshine
Elephant
Eddie Izzard: unrepeatable
I spent $130 on $280 worth of stuff.
I just hope they all work.
Current Music: ONLY DVDsssssss
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01:13 am
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oh so late.
As I took them out of the bag, I found a small piece of a melted ruler in between two notebook dividers. I can't even begin to imagine how it got there... but I think it's pretty emo.
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01:46 am
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Lesbians.
Last night I saw the play “Ugly Duckling.” It had an all female cast and was all about female issues… like how everyone hated men and was gay (at least it was better than that other play I saw in auburn a few years back…). The acting was not good and the writing left a whole lot of SUBTELTY to be desired.
After, Sean and I ventured up to the apartments for the first time this year. It was a shindig at Geronimo’s. Maro and I (and then later, Claire and I) Went undefeated at the Beirut table. I seriously never played so well in my life. It was fun times because I did most of the drinking for Maro and Claire. When every left we had a dance party. It was probably the hottest thing I have ever been involved in.
woot sauce. and I mean it.
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Plans - DCFC
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11:00 pm
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KALLAGE THYME
i moved into colby today for the third time. Everything went fairly smoothly. My room is huge: 130 square feet. Sean Kamp (AKA Tex) lives in the next room. This is a two room double. My fam and I finally found a suitable arrangement for the furniture so that all drawers open, all appliances are close to outlets, and you can see the TV from the futon (but not from the bed… oh well. fewer people will be able to watch TV than last year in a bigger room)
anyway, it was all going smoothly when I went to put stuff in my dresser. I put the socks and underwear in and then looked for my plain white T’s. but then it hit me: I’d forgotten them, delilah. Then i realized i had forgotten my belts. and ties. and also all of my colored teeshirts. and also all of my shirts. in short, i had only remembered to pack one of my drawers from home. !!!!!!!!!!!!. I felt really dumb, but my house is only like an hour away so my mom said they would drive up tomorrow with my stuff. so, all will be right soon. But I still need more posters. Only three aren’t cutting it in this HUGE room.
oh and i have one more thing to say.
RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABIT!!!! that’s right. i said it.
Current Mood:  anxious
Current Music: some beethoven shizzle
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06:10 pm
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WAIT THEY DON'T LOVE YOU LIKE I LOVE YOU
I went to see Avril Lavigne yesterday. It took 19 hours. And it was truly great.
During her set, she played guitar, piano, and drums. Seeing her live really made me appreciate her music even more. She was a really good performer and she put a lot of emotion into each song. I've never been crazy about "I'm With You," but the way she sang it yesterday changed my mind.
We also saw Gavin DeGraw and Butch Walker. Gavin’s ok. He’s pretty good, actually, but I’m not a girl so I’m not totally in love with him. Butch Walker was just creepy. The best part was when he sang “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “Maps” as a medley. That made him worth it.
I go back to school soon. The Best Summer Ever is about to come to a close.
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10:09 pm
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War of the Worlds: Concept Meeting
Steven Spielberg (sitting in a pile of $100 bills): I want to make War of the Worlds.
Josh Friedman and David Koepp: Sure. We’ll write it for you.
Steven Spielberg: And I want the beginning to be really good, but I want the ending to suck us much as possible.
Josh Friedman and David Koepp (Think for a moment): Yeah. No problem.
In short, this movie was excellent. The visualization was superb and the acting by the main characters went above and beyond the necessity of any apocalypse movie.
That being said, you should know that the ending was shit. Go see it and you’ll know. You should probably just leave the theatre when Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise fall asleep on Tim Robbins Sofa. You’ll only miss the crappiest half hour of movie history (when compared to the good stuff that came before it)
Some facts about the film:
The graphics are haunting and amazing. A+
John Williams amazes yet again with an eerie neotonal soundtrack A+
Using a song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: extra credit
The only black person in the movie being the unseen narrator (Morgan Freeman) F+
Amazing camera shots: A+
Amazingly lame ending: F---
you do the math.
finally, a ( spoiler )
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11:59 pm
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360 kickflip to indy boneless into handstand manual into darkside grind
Tomorrow that girl is graduating. That makes me old. Also, I haven’t been called back from the Lewiston Rec, leading me to believe that they didn’t hire me as assistant director (hopefully I can still be a councilor). This is lame. I need a job. I need to make money. I hope it all works out.
But Rae is graduating and I’ll probably be at project grad, which will probably be good times.
Happy graduation all you crazy oh fivers. This is an amazing time in life. Enjoy it. Then go to KALLEGE
Love,
Stacy Peralta
Current Music: common people. shatner
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11:49 pm
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Holy Update, Batman!
So, this summer is off to a slowish start. After working with little kids for a week, I am sick. LAME. Also, there aren’t that many people around. Or something. To bad most of the people in LA are < cool. Or maybe I am < cool. My buddy list has like 10 names on it. And seven of them live more than 100 miles away. No fun. Plus, all the cool girls are taken: Paris Hilton is engaged! Where/when/how did this happen? I think it’s right, though. She’s marrying some phenomially rich Greek Shipper dude called Paris. Convenient because she would probably forget his name if he was called something else.
Soon she will be Paris Latsis just like her husband. She’ll do fine because she’s lived a quarter of a century with the same name as a hotel in the French Capital.
This mostly sucks because the star trek museum is in the Las Vegas Hilton. 100,000 trekies all prayed it was because she wanted it. They were all ready to beam her up to their starships or something….
I’m running out of steam on this Paris Hilton thing. I think watching her inspirational video usher in fresh ideas.
[45ish minutes later]
In other news, I was milling through the toy department of Walmart today and came across the action figures to the new Batman movie (“Batman Begins” staring Christian Bale and that one who bangs Tom Cruise). They get my approval. Actually, they are almost too cool. Instead of gaudy comic drawing on the cardboard packaging, the backdrop is a sepia gradient with bats and the trademark bat head/ear thing in silhouette. They even had my favorite type of Batfigure: Bruce Wane sans costume but with bat gear and mask on the side. This little man can double one’s playtime. Now Bruce can go to work, Bruce can get the mail, Bruce can drink a relaxing cup of joe whilst reading the business section of the Gothem Times. Then in an emergency… he’s Batman!
(PS did you know that Bruce Wane’s Spanish moniker is Bruno Dias? Is that weird or what?)
(PPS did you know that people are calling Tom Cruise +Katie Holmes = Tomkat. Cooler than Benifer?)
(PPPS There have been three celebrity Benifers. Can you name them all? Extra points for mentioning the SNL tee shirt satire)
Current Mood: PINK EYE???!?!
Current Music: Sugar, We're Goin Down
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11:15 pm
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almost summer. almost.
I need to finish a paper. I need to finish a composition. Then it is summer. I will hang out with people. We will have fun. rock.
Current Music: sunday morning
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04:47 pm
[Link] | this is my facebook. check me out.
Current Music: copland and webern and reich, oh my!
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12:54 pm
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Don't want to write a paper.
Right, so: procrastination.
I had what may very well be the coolest meeting of my life yesterday afternoon. You all may or may not know that I work in the language lab here at school. There are two parts to the job. There are the monitors that sit in the front room and do homework while students type in strange character sets or speak their wavy Chinese into the computers. That’s fun. There is also the larger “back room” where the real technology is stored. No one really knows about this back room. It is all run by this gen X dude, Zak. Anything can happen there. Just, no one knows about it.
Basically, they work on foreign language specific web sites (or web sites for any professor wise enough to ask for help) and they turn out decent product. They call it “Colby Studio.” The room itself has all the loft-esque features of a small/good internet company.
Check out
http://www.colby.edu/music/machlin/MU232
or the really big project
http://studio.colby.edu/chinese
which contains every freaking Chinese symbol. Actually, you may not be able to see these because you are not on the Colby server. Just pretend you know how cool it is.
This was all just exposition
Recently, Zak decided to revamp this old Russian poetry page. He asked me and Andrei (Romanian) to take on this project. His plan is to train us and let us tackle the project on our own. Baptism by fire!
Anyway, the studio is basically run by these two students, Szmon (tall, dark, hansom, Polish) and Clara (petite, mysterious, Chinese). Szmon offered a workshop on Friday to learn HTML. This is that cool meeting I was talking about.
Basically, there I was with those people, a pretty Hispanic/Asian girl, a world-weary Arabic/Russian girl, and Mao a chubby Korean working on some project in the back speaking up from time to time. And we all talk computer jargon. I am learning to build a web page with the world. We are so ethnicities and personalities are so mixed we could be a TV show. We’re the guys that solve crimes through computers. The Hispanic/Asian and I would be the street team. We’d look hip and carry guns but never use them because we’d be too cool. We’d all have guns. We’d constantly be doing amazing things. And at the end of the day we’d all say, “is it worth it? Yes it is. It’s worth it for the language…” Then the 70s rock theme plays and the credits scroll. I am too cool. We are Bill Gates, the A team, and the power rangers all rolled into one. We should start wearing character specific colors.
I’m the only American citizen in this group.
America: Fuck yeah.
Procrastination = over.
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08:33 am
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now, and for a limited time only
If you weren’t excited about “The Davinci Code” before, prepare to be amazed. Staring along side Tom Hanks will be Jean Reno (he always always plays the rough French guy in movies from Mission Impossible to Godzilla to the Professional etc) and the one and only Audrey Tautou!!! How awesome will it be to see her in an English movie. Although, I kind of worry that I’ve built up a fantasy around her because of her French which may evaporate when she speaks English. Oh well. Next, all they have to do is hire Rufus Wainwright to have all the coolest French people ever.
I haven’t updated in a while because I am busy and too cool for school. You know how it is.
I hope everyone is using their powers for good or for awesome.
See ya.
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02:18 am
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Where did the day go?
Today was a relatively long day. It makes me doubt my ability to do all these classes for an entire semester…
Highlights of the day: I had a group project for music history with one of the Yosua twins (Dan, not Matt. Remember, Dan is the one who could beat up Matt). For those of you who don’t know them, they live in a double together and are inseparable. They are a joke among music nerds. Anyway, we were working on the project in the music building and people were walking by, asking “where is your brother?” to Dan; they were truly concerned. Yeah. That was fun. Turns out the other twin was just in the next room with his group. They are always nearby.
Other fun thing: I had to do this scavenger hunt through the reference material in the music library for music history. Since I’ve been doing projects on reference material since sixth grade, I thought I could handle it (find the card catalog…). Anyway, it was not easy. Actually, we had a list of ten things to find. In two and a half hours, I had only found 8: find the dissertation of a music professor and name the source, find “Ein Festa Burg” by Bach in his complete works without actually turning to his complete works, find at least two compellation books containing “The Banana Song” and name the sources and call numbers, etc. It took forever because all the books based on classical music were in German. It was kinda crazy. I was sitting on the floor of the library stacks (rae, remember that level in Goldeneye? good memories) in front of the schubert pieces with an index written in German. After a very long time, I was able to pick the right volume on the first try, though. I am a genius.
Tom, Greg, and I had lunch together. Ironically, we all met up on accident. Special guests included that girl Mikaela and Katie.
Tom, Greg. and I had dinner together. We planned that.
Then we watched a documentary on They Might Be Giants. That was fun. Those giants are such nonconformists.
Then I went to a music nerd party. We listened to all kinds of nerd music… drank some wine… and finally listened to the original recording of West Side Story. Wow. Good times. Seriously. I started to get depressed when I associated West Side with senior year with the best year of my life. I have to fight the nostalgia. I have to realize that senior year was really stressful and busy. It was not the very best year of my life. I will have many more great years. This is a great year. I hate nostalgia. I miss the matts. I miss matty P. I miss Zach and that girl and all the other people in that show (minus colin).
OMG side story. There is this amazing freshman coloratura soprano here named Dori (she is from Presque Isle) who, it turns out, was in a play Oliver! with Colin Britt in Freeport. She has the most amazing voice ever.
I hate some people.
OMG, it’s time to go to sleep.
Matty P, you are talking to me right now. I hope everything turns out ok. We all care about you.
Sincerely,
…
Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: birdcage in your soul
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07:00 pm
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stardate 1.
Today was my first day of classes.
I feel wrong writing in my livejournal when I have nothing angsty to say.
I signed up for voice lessons today. Rock. I like how I am doing virtually every vocal group possible on campus. I am a whore.
My classes were pretty good. I had Russian language with prof Sheila and then when downstairs to have Russian Lit with prof Sheila in english. It is hard for my mind to handle. Fifty minutes of russian does makes talking in das english a breeze. How Utopic.
I am busy. I have no free time between now and summer. That is ok, but it makes it hard to get to the gym. Dear rae: today I jogged 3 miles in 28 minutes. Tra la la. I’m working up to the beach to beacon.
What else?
When you are busy you miss things. Trust me, I may not write in this very often.
Peace.
and yeah, I almost forgot:
TKO.
PS. I had collegium, which is an early music group tonight. I am a nerd. When Joel Lasso Rothenberg (Aimee gets it. He is the conductor) said “we are singing some of the renaissance’s #1 hits” I was excited. I also knew what he is talking about. The concert is also about spring an Easter. It will be amazing. Come see it. Also, I now know both major Tropes of the early Catholic Church. Let me reiterate. I am a nerd.
LOVE
Joel.
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08:39 pm
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think about personal hygiene
fun fact #1: because of recent technical failures, we have decided to postpone our cross country tour until this summer. fans are disappointed, but this will be an important time for us to grow as a group. Also, it will allow each of us to pursue inspirational avenues. Tyler will work on his solo album, Rae is experimenting with the mysterious musical force “the second fiddle,” sara is returning to her roots, studying african drumming in Togo, Esther has decided to write a book in the interim, and I have nothing better to do than to go back to school. Well well.
fun fact #2: since i am going to school now, i’ve been getting excited about the upcoming semester. In just 9 weeks I’m going to europe with the chorale. I’m also in like a million interesting classes. And I’ll be singing all the time. No hyperbole.
fun fact #3: i was working out tonight, and the gym closed in the middle of it. I don’t know why. It made me sad. Poor triceps…
fun fact #4: I saw “A very long engagement” starring the perennial favorite audrey tautou. It was everything I hoped for and more. Actually, it was just beautiful enough. It was close enough to amelie that fans from that movie can transfer, and it was gritty and realistic enough for the more hard core drama lovers. Unfortunately, the translation to english really ruins some things. Pour example, the true translation of the title is “a very long Sunday engagement.” Within the movie, there is a lot of play with day of the week and time. You find out that the soldier leaves his love (Audrey, duh) on a Sunday and… well… she has to wait till Sunday to spoil the plot. When there is a flashback to childhood, audrey says it is Friday or Saturday, making their whole love a weekend. Nice touch. Completely lost on Americans. Also, as a positive aside, this movie has the shortest denouement I’ve ever seen. Literally, the movie climaxes, and a minute later it is done (the exact antithesis of LOTR ROFT). Anyway, that seems very american to me. More americans should climax and roll and fall asleep. I think people would be way more satisfied that way.
fun fact #5: Yes, it is true. Orlando Bloom and that girl broke up. Sorry Orlando, but nothing you ever do will make I care about your life. You are no brad pitt. why don’t you play some effeminate man in a movie, or something.
the end.
Current Mood:  contemplative
Current Music: le rufus.
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11:00 pm
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max's rules vs. USA 05
Well, it’s official. I’ve taken the spring semester off. Everything is ready for our band to start touring. We just finished working on our demo CD and I think this tour will be really great. First stop is NYC this Friday night in Bright Lounge. Big venue. Last week Jessica Simpson did a set there (not that she is the measure of how good our music is). So rock.
We’re all a little nervous. Sara hasn’t been sleeping well. She stays up all night practicing her drum solos. Tyler is excited and ready to get on the road for a change. Days in the studio aren’t his thing, you know? Rae and Aimee are pretty psyched too. Hopefully this trip will give them a chance to get reacquainted. I think the most nervous one of us is Esther. She is the youngest of the group, but the most mature. Where would we be without her brutally honest and painfully heartfelt lyrics?
After New York, Well be on the road in the US for 3 months. We’ll have a two week break, pick up matty p for extra percussion and sweet falsetto licks and we’re off for our sweeping international tour. Toronto, Paris, London, Madrid, Prague, Moscow. It should be a blast. And who cares about jet lag when you’re young and partying.
It’s pretty exciting. If this goes well, we may get a deal for a second album, setting us up for a pretty solid career. Doors are opening.
Well, I’ve got to pack. We’ll see you guys on the road.
Current Mood: excited
Current Music: le garage. futureheads
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10:46 pm
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script is up.
If you want to read my script go Here. I had my web guys working all afternoon for this. Thanks Herr Frauline.
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