Hired Gun

This was a super cool movie about musicians that play in the shadows, along the lines of "Twenty Feet From Stardom".  Unlike that movie though, I could really relate to "Hired Gun" because I am a guitarist and songwriter and producer.

Some of the stories were a little sad, most were positive and cool.  A lot of my favorite musicians were featured like Phil X and Justin Derrico, and I learned about Jason Hook, who is a great guitar player.

I loved this movie!

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck - Sarah Knight

This is a typical self-help book, but written as a parody of Marie Kondo's "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up".  Kondo's book is a good, if not just a little weird (see my review somewhere else on this blog).

In this book, Knight talks about "not giving a fuck", but obviously by the use of vulgarity, it's taking a bit of a negative perspective on not caring about things.  And it's weird, because it's advocating something that I think is more positive.....  to not worry about what other people think, etc.

I don't know that I buy her perspective, but I think overall it's better to not worry so much about things like attending events that you don't want to go to, etc.

It is an interesting perspective though, and like any book, you take from it what you want to.  My friend asked me how a book like this reconciles with the teachings of the Dalai Lama, and I think if you read it a certain way, there is a theme of letting things go that permeates both this book, and the teachings of the Dalai Lama.

I'd give this a 7 / 10.

Pantera live 1992

Geez, this is the best Pantera bootleg video I've ever seen, possibly even the best Pantera live video I've ever seen.

Plane entertainment

E-books:

Audiobooks:
The Art of Happiness

Movies:
Hired Gun

Lessons:
Japanese

Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix

I had a pretty good childhood, and music reminds me of those times.  I grew up in the AM radio days of early Elton John, Wings, Bee Gees, and other pop radio hits.

Guardians of the Galaxy has so much good music that takes me back to vacations with my family in California....  Brandy by Looking Glass, Southern Nights by Glen Campbell.....

I think it's pretty cool that a movie that my son got me to watch brings me back to my youth.  Especially since I don't listen to old music, and I don't listen to anything other than heavy metal most of the time.

Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom

This was a good book, recommended by a friend.  Though some of the book focused on the biographies of Churchill and Orwell, much of the middle of the book talked about the events leading to World War 2, which were really interesting.  I learned that the ruling party in England was advocating appeasement of the Nazis, which Churchill was against.  I also learned of England's disdain for Americans, though Churchill said nice things in public about Americans to garner their help in the war.  I also learned about Russia's role in the war, and their initial pact with the Germans.

I was expecting much more interrelation between their stories, but the book was more about how their individual efforts reflected what was happening at the time.

Binge watching Marvel movies

It's not hip to watch Marvel movies, but it's fun!!  My son and I have tickets for the very first showing of Avengers: Infinity War on the day before the opening day, and he asked me to catch up with him on the backstory by renting and watching several preceding movies that provide a background for Infinity War.

I watched Doctor Strange.  I thought the special effects were pretty good, but the Doctor Strange character was not really that believable in that he was too sarcastic, which I think a rational person would be able to temper given the risks that that behavior would provide and his desire to fix his fingers.  I also thought he came into power too quickly, and that the magical books in the library would have been more secured.  Overall, not Marvel's best movie, and in fact maybe one of the worst I've seen from them.  I'd give it a 6 stars.

I hadn't read the Guardians comics when they first came out, so knew nothing about their story.  I enjoyed this movie, but Disney seems to rehash the Star Wars formula of invasion of a destroying spaceship with simultaneous dogfight and hand-to-hand fighting scenes.  But maybe that formula still works for me because I enjoyed it in this movie, as I did in Black Panther.  8 stars.

Eh, this one was just alright too.  Weird that such epic things happened, yet it was still so silly.  Thor's father Odin died, he lost his hammer and his eye, and his home Aasgard got destroyed, and yet he can still have silly banter with the Hulk.

2018 metal albums

So far, the new Harms Way album is my top pick for 2018, but I saw on Nails' Instagram feed that they love these new albums, so I'll check them out today:

With Inexorable Suffering by Our Place of Worship is Silence:

Devouring Mortality by Skeletal Remains:

Animal Farm - George Orwell

I really loved 1984, so I guess I expected a lot from Animal Farm.  I suppose I was a little disappointed, for a number of reasons.  First of all, as a story that replaces animals for people in a revolution, it was only moderately interesting.  Second, it was predictable just about from the start, and sad in it's dystopian outlook.  Unlike in 1984, when there was some redemption in the sadness of Winston's insanity, it was harder to relate to the characters in Animal Farm as they were so one-dimensional.

I don't get why this is a classic, but I'll still give it a 7/10.

The History of Love - Nicole Strauss

I was blown away by this book!!  It was slightly confusing and moved in many different ways, and the ending leaves a lot of room for interpretation, but I found my interpretation and meaning, and even found a little life lesson.

It's a beautifully written book, and thought-provoking, both in a self-reflecting way, and for the analysis of the story line.

Socrates in 90 Minutes - Paul Strathern

This was a really quick audiobook that explained Socrates' life, as well as his philosophy.  I really enjoyed it.  Though I took Philosophy 101 in college, I wasn't aware of Socrates' influence on the school of thought - specifically that his "dialectic", his style of discourse, and his approach to thinking in terms of rational thought and observation, had forever changed the way that people thought about things.

Prior to Socrates, much of the "sciences" were explained in terms of mythology and religion, whereas post Socrates thought was rooted in observation and rationalization.  As soon as astronomic philosophy converted over to an observation based field, it became a science, and soon many studies were converted over to "sciences".  But the semantics are not as important as the fact that conceptually, there was a revolution in the way that people thought - without dogma, and with rationality.  In fact, the first university was founded by Socrates student, Plato.

I always loved the Socratic Paradox - "I know that I know nothing".  It's the way I try to live my life, and the purpose for this blog.  In this spirit, I have so much more to learn about Socrates and his teachings, so I give this book a 10/10 for reintroducing me to Socrates and for invigorating my desire to learn more.

Ikigai - Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles

I can't remember how I happened upon this book.  It may have been through the last book I read - Flow.

I had previously understood Ikigai to be the Japanese term for "purpose" in life, but in this book, the authors don't seem to differentiate Ikigai from things like eating well and exercising, and in fact give examples of both.  Dan Buettner, in his Blue Zones books, makes Ikigai a separate concept, so I'm still not sure I understand the true meaning of the term.

Semantics aside, I think it's a great book for learning how to be happy and live a long time.  It dovetails right in there with the other books I've read.  What makes this book different from the others is that they provide examples of physical exercises or different kinds of food to eat.

Incorporated into my collection of books on how to optimize life, this is a great addition.

What I would listen to if I had 20 hours of car rides

I'll probably listen to all of these on my upcoming vacation since there will be lots of car rides.

1. Reign In Blood - Slayer
2. Demigod - Behemoth
3. You Will Never Be One Of Us - Nails
4. Blood Mantra - Decapitated
5. Nightmare Logic - Power Trip
6. The Impossibility of Reason - Chimaira
7. Perserverence - Hatebreed
8. Posthuman - Harms Way
9. Tyranny of Will - Iron Reagan
10. Beneath The Remains - Sepultura
11. Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera
12. Slaughter of the Soul - At The Gates 

Also, these might be cool:

1. Revolver - The Haunted
2. Svart - Feared
3. Beast - Despised Icon
4. Born Hanged / Falsifier - Black Tongue
5. Nightbringers - The Black Dahlia Murder

Whoa, this video was really good, and connected with me

The history of death metal

I think it would be interesting to trace the history of death metal by listening to the important albums that shaped death metal through the 80s and early 90s.  I plan to listen to the following albums from start to finish, chronologically to hear the evolution album by album.  I've never heard some of these albums all the way through, so I think it would be fun.

title	artist	year
welcome to hell	venom	1981
black metal	venom	1982
show no mercy	slayer	1983
morbid tales	celtic frost	1984
to mega therion	celtic frost	1985
hell awaits	slayer	1985
endless pain	kreator	1985
seven churches	possessed	1985
reign in blood	slayer	1986
scream bloody gore	death	1987
leprosy	death	1988
slowly we rot	obituary	1989
severed survival	autopsy	1989
altars of madness	morbid angel	1989
deicide	deicide	1990
left hand path	entombed	1990
human	death	1991
blessed are the sick	morbid angel	1991
necrotism - descanting the insalubrious	carcass	1991
effigy of the forgotten	suffocation	1991
clandestine	entombed	1991
butchered at birth	cannibal corpse	1991

So far I've

Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

This was a great book that talked about optimizing life through control of one's consciousness.  Much of the book talked about examples, rather than "how-tos", but perhaps the intent was inspiration.  In any case, this was a really great book that teaches how "autotelic personalities" reduce "psychic entropy" through "flow" - the ability to experience life with unimpeded joy and concentration.

Understanding Japan: A Cultural History - Mark J. Ravina

This is an excellent set of lectures about the history of Japan.  Ravina goes through different topics, such as trade with Chinese and Koreans, theater, gardens, language, and ends with the events of 1989 that forever changed the course of Japan.

I didn't think I'd enjoy these lectures, as the last time I sat through lectures about history was in college, and I hated them then.  I've gotten old.  :)

Ghosts of the Tsunami - Richard Lloyd Parry

In this book, Parry talks about the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and the devastation that the tsunami caused.  The primary focus is the death of students at Okawa Elementary, and the after effects.

It was very sad, but also illuminating of Japanese culture and to that end, it was very interesting.  I felt that the brief sections on ghosts and possessions was almost gratuitous, and perhaps didn't need to be in the story.  More interesting was the determination of the parents to find their children, and the government's unwillingness to take responsibility for the deaths, which were preventable and attributed to negligence on the part of the administration.

It was also interesting that the author worked in the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister.  It almost seemed unrelated to the aftereffects of the Tsunami, but perhaps represented a shift in the way the Japanese saw their government, much like what the U.S. is going through now.

I wasn't sure if I'd like is as much as I did, but it was a good book.

The best metal albums, by year

1986
Reign In Blood - Slayer

1989
Beneath The Remains - Sepultura


1990
Cowboys From Hell - Pantera

1991
Arise - Sepultura

1992
Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera

1993
Heartwork - Carcass
Hollowman - Entombed

1994
Far Beyond Driven - Pantera

1995
Slaughter of the Soul - At The Gates

1996
None So Vile - Cryptopsy

1999
Slipknot - Slipknot

2000
Wages of Sin - Arch Enemy
Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage

2001
Iowa - Slipknot

2002
In Their Darkened Shrines - Nile

2003
Anthems of Rebellion - Arch Enemy
The Impossibility of Reason - Chimaira

2004
Demigod - Behemoth
The Wretched Spawn - Cannibal Corpse
Epitaph - Necrophagist

2005
Doomsday Machine - Arch Enemy
I, Monarch - Hate Eternal

2006
The Stench of Redemption - Deicide
AssassiNation - Krisiun

2007
Icons of Evil - Vital Remains
Inflikted - Cavalera Conspiracy
The Apostasy - Behemoth
Xenosapien - Cephalic Carnage
The Atrocity Exhibition - Exhibit A - Exodus

2011
Carnival Is Forever - Decapitated

2012
To Hell With God - Deicide

2013
Bu-Tik - Chthonic


2014
Blood Mantra - Decapitated
The Tyranny of Will - Iron Reagan

2016
You Will Never Be One Of Us Nails

2017
Psychosis - Cavalera Conspiracy
Nightmare Logic - Power Trip
Anticult - Decapitated

2018
Posthuman - Harms Way

Heidi Joubert

Maybe this isn't the best video of her, but Heidi Joubert just totally blows me away.  She is an amazing hand percussionist and singer.  So talented and charismatic.  If and when I ever get a cajon, I plan to follow her instructional videos.  She really inspires me!

My favorite things so far this year

It's only March, and there are so many things that I really enjoyed:

Why We Sleep book
Harms Way album
Black Panther movie
The Remains of the Day book
Paramore concert
Love Her Wild poetry book
James and the Giant Peach play

James and the Giant Peach

My son played the role of the Centipede in CTAA's production of James and the Giant Peach this weekend.

I am not a huge fan of musicals.  I've seen maybe 3 professional musicals in my life - A Chorus Line on Broadway, The Lion King in Honolulu, and Big Fish in Chicago.  Oh, and if you count it (I do), I saw Othello: The Remix at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, so make that 4.

I've also seen too many local productions to count - mostly from my kids' performances in various studios.

It's not exaggerating to say that CTAA's production of James and the Giant Peach ranks up there with some of the professional productions.

First and foremost, the actors and actresses playing the parts were not only perfectly cast, but they were all very talented and entertaining.  On the surface, the story was wacky and whimsical (a boy accidentally spills a magic potion on a peach tree, growing a peach and various insects huge), but the story was a vehicle for the characters to grow, learn to trust, and find in themselves a family.

The songs were wonderful and some were very touching.  I saw the production twice.  I wish I had seen it for all 4 showings - it was that good!!

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby tops a lot of all-time best fiction lists, and since I've never read it, I felt it was time to read the classics.

Fitzgerald is a talented writer.  I found the story to be mildly but not overly interesting.  This is one of those books that has it's intrinsic value in style over the message or story.  I didn't much develop an affinity for any of the characters, certainly not for the narrator Nick, nor did I see a lot of character development other than maybe Daisy.

It was okay.  Not what I would put on a must-read fiction list, but maybe I just don't get it.

Jim Adkins

Despite being a guitar player, I've always been way more into good songs that guitar playing for the sake of guitar playing.  I mean, I also enjoy a good technical shredder and I love playing fast metal guitar, but I just love good songs.

I find that there are guitarists that, instead of being shredders, just write really cool riffs and cool parts.  Jim Adkins, the guitarist and singer of Jimmy Eat World, is one of those guys.  He writes great songs, and his parts fit in so well and are more than just strummy stuff.  Chase This Light is one of my favorite albums of all time, start to finish.

Death Note

I finished the 12-book series.  It was good and I can see why it was so popular in Japan, even though there was a story arc that seemed to dead end with no reason or explanation.  It was a little confusing in the last 4 books, possibly due to my inattention to certain details.  Overall it was a worth reading, though I don't know if I am a convert to manga just yet.

Love Her Wild - Atticus

Love Her Wild is a collection of poems, separated into three distinct sections - Love, Her and Wild.  I really enjoy his poetry.  I will seek out more by this talented poet.

Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro

Having read and really enjoyed "Remains of the Day", I wanted to explore Ishiguro's other works.  Unfortunately, "Nocturnes" fell a little flat to me.  The book was a collection of five relatively short stories, but they didn't invoke reflection from me, even though the stories were close to my heart.

Despite the lack of resonance, I still think that Ishiguro is a great writer and story teller, and clearly well versed in his technical understanding of music, as well as knowledge of popular music.

Today's guilty pleasure

I used to love this album.  Then I couldn't stand it.  I'm on and off with Gary Cherone's voice, but I've always loved Nuno Bettencourt's playing.  I guess being that Nuno is a huge Beatles and Queen fan, it would make sense for him to have Cherone singing.

Cherone's singing is cheesy to me.  He retains all of the campiness of a larger-than-life singer, with none of the coolness.  I cringe when I watch him perform.

But I don't listen to Extreme for the lead vocals.  They have great songs, the guitar playing is jaw-dropping, and the harmony vocals are sweet.  Nuno is one of my favorite guitar players that was active in the late 80s/early 90s....  and I feel he passed the mantle to Dimebag for badass EVH influenced guitar playing.

I go back and visit this album from time to time, but it's sometimes hard to listen to.  I had to wash my ears out with death metal.  :)

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

My son will be performing as the Centipede in a production of James and the Giant Peach in a few weeks, so I wanted to read the book.

Roald Dahl also wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", which was my favorite book as a kid.  James and the Giant Peach was equally strange, with interesting but odd characters.  Dahl is a great and imaginative writer, and I enjoyed this book!

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

I heard from a friend that Ishiguro won the Nobel prize for literature, and won the Man Booker Prize for The Remains of the Day.  My unfamiliarity with Ishiguro made me wonder how a Japanese man could write about an English butler in a compelling and award winning way.  But my mistake was in assuming that he is Japanese.  Rather, moving to England as a 5-year old, his nationality was British while his ethnicity was Japanese (lesson - don't assume one's nationality by his/her name).


The subject matter of this book was interesting, but there weren't any grand or dramatic occurrences.  I think the mark of a memorable book is how the main character is multi-dimensional and develops throughout the book, and the main character in this book, Mr. Stevens, hits that mark, as he contemplates his life in service as a butler to Lord Darlington and later to Mr. Farraday in Darlington Hall.  The story is based in his present time spent on an expedition to see Ms. Kenton, a former maid in Darlington Hall, though much of the book is a recollection of his previous years working with Ms. Kenton.

It's a beautifully written book.  Though I don't read a lot of fiction, I felt that this was the best fiction I've read since 1984, and I totally understand why it won awards and was made into a movie.

On an odd note....  this audiobook was read by Simon Prebble, who also read the audiobook for 1984 that I listened to last year.  These two happen to be my two favorite fiction books.  But since 1984 had a huge impact on me, I associate Prebble's voice with Winston from 1984, a tortured soul.  To heard "Winston's" voice narrating Mr. Stevens was initially unnerving, but I got used to it.

Alissa from Arch Enemy on veganism

Pretty cool interview from the singer of a band that I love.

Another Paramore post

I was caught off guard.

I listen to metal, almost exclusively these days.  Prior to this album, I was listening to a steady rotation of Harm's Way, Nails, Power Trip, Iron Reagan, etc.

The only time I listen to anything else is when my daughter plays stuff in the car.  I know she likes Paramore, so I took her to the concert (see previous post).

In preparation for the show, I put a playlist together, and just totally got into this band.  Their songs are amazing, and the guitar playing is inventive and unusual, but always appropriate for the song.

After Laughter is a great album.  Like their most recent stuff, the songs are bass driven in a Motown kind of way.  I'm sure this had something to do with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who is an experienced bass player who has played with Beck and Nine Inch Nails.

I think after listening to so much heavy stuff, it's refreshing for me to listen to stuff that has guitar playing that's subtly awesome.  Paramore has that in spades.

Oh, and Hayley Williams is a pretty good singer too.  :)

Paramore

 We went to see Paramore live this weekend.  They put on an amazing show - they were all very tight as a band, and the songs were incredible, and they had so much charisma on stage.

Hayley Williams is an amazing singer and frontwoman.  This was the last stop on their tour but her voice was none worse for the wear.  She belted out every song like it was their first tour.

Taylor York is a great guitarist and a fantastic showman.  It was so entertaining to watch him.  I also love his guitar playing - very inventive in the context of pop songs.  The guitar tones sounded very midrangy as we were listening to them sound checking, but in the mix, they sat perfectly.

Zac Farro was a super solid drummer and through the band's recordings, I've found him to be very inventive.  The drum sound at the venue was great, though overall the sound was kind of mediocre.  He also stepped out to sing a song by his band Halfnoise.

In preparation for the concert, I had listened to their entire setlist and loved the material.  I also read about the band's history, and about how Williams wanted this to be a band effort rather than a solo project, despite her being personally signed to a record label.  Listening to the songs and the efforts by the musicians, I can understand why.  They are all very inventive musicians, and I like how the later material is very bass driven.  In fact, it's not a surprise that songs like "Ain't It Fun", with the really cool bass line, were produced by Justin Meldel Johnson, a bass player himself.

I might be late to the game, but I'm now a big Paramore fan.

Fury - Ektomorf

I've heard some Ektomorf in the past and really like them.  The lead singer and guitarist is not shy to show his Max Cavalera influence, both visually (camo ESP guitars) and musically.

Being a huge Max fan, I appreciate this.  I've only gotten three tracks into this album so far, but I really like it.  Hopefully it will rise to the level that the new Harms Way has and be one of my favorite albums of 2018!

Promise Me, Dad - Joe Biden

A memoir of part of this time in office, "Promise Me, Dad" is a poignant and enlightening story revolving around the decline and loss of his son Beau to brain cancer.  I learned about Biden's involvement with foreign policy, specifically the Sunni, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the foreign aid given to the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).  I learned about the experimental cancer treatments given to Beau, and about Beau's legacy as Attorney General of Delaware.

Maybe most importantly, I learned about the compassion and dedication of not just Biden, but his entire family, and also of Barack Obama as he helped Joe deal with the grief of losing his son.

Through his Vice Presidency, I didn't know a lot about what Biden had done, but this book shed some light on that.  He also talks about his decision not to run for President, but in hindsight, for the good of the country, I wish he had.

It was also a story of hope - hope that you can be okay, after a loss.  This was an important message to me.

This was a great book.

Boss HM-2

The Boss HM-2 is a distortion pedal that was made in Japan between 1983-1988.  Production was moved to Taiwan between 1989-1991, after which it was discontinued.

It has recently attained cult status because of it's use on seminal metal recordings in the 90s, particularly Entombed and At The Gates.  It's seem a recent resurgence due to bands like Nails and Harm's Way.

Liking bands from both of these eras, I bought one recently.  It is a great sounding pedal, in it's crappy way, if you know what I mean.  It's not meant to emulate fat refined Marshall tone.  It's meant to be brash and obnoxious.  I love this pedal!

Simon Prebble

Upon listening to the first hour of the audiobook "Remains of the Day", by Kazuo Ishiguro, the reader sounded strangely familiar.  It occurred to me that the narrator of the butler in "Remains" reminded me of Winston from the audiobook version of "1984", and I discovered that Simon Prebble narrated both of these books.

I never thought about how much I associate certain voices with certain stories, so much so that Prebble's voice seems like Winston's actual voice to me.  That makes it slightly challenging to listen to "Remains of the Day", except that the storyline seems completely different from 1984.

Still, it's weird, because 1984 is one of my favorite books, and Prebble's voiceover is a big part of that.  He is a very good reader though!

Black Panther

We saw "Black Panther" this weekend.  It was a really good movie!  First and foremost, it was an exciting, epic movie in the modern Disney style, replete with Star Wars styled dogfight scenes, excellent sword play, and one-on-one fighting.

On another level, it was a socially aware movie that suggested that the solution to race related problems is not the arming of oppressed people - rather, it suggested positive dialog and sharing.  Maybe a little idealistic, but I thought it was an interesting suggestion.

It lacked some of the wacky humor of recent Marvel movies, but I like the contrasts of each recent Marvel Studios movie.

It Was Me All Along - Andie Mitchell

In "It Was Me All Along", Andie Mitchell talks about her eating disorders, and her life experiences that contributed to them.  It's a story of transformation, filled with a lot of stories that I think are relate able to anyone who has had any kind of troubled relationship with food.  There was a lot that of female specific issues but overall, I think this is a non-gender specific book.

I like this passage, towards the end:

"In grieving the end of our relationship, I'd gained 15 pounds.  And slowly, as I felt the balance restored, I accepted them as part of me.  Maybe I'd lose them, maybe I wouldn't.  Either way, I had to be kind to myself.  What I discovered in that year, and perhaps in all of my life, was that I am always growing, always learning.  And whenever I think I've figured it all out, I've really only just begun."


I really enjoyed this - maybe one of the better books I've read so far this year.

Dave Lombardo, again

There was a passage of this interview that really resonated with me.

"I don't like guys like that either.  I walk into a room and people don't know who I am and then I see their attitudes, and when they find out who I am they drop their guard.  'Oh, Dave, how are you?'  but before that, they had all this ego.  It's like, I don't deal with people like that.  My dad always said 'Never think you're better than anyone else' you know, and I've held that throughout my life.  I'm first a human being like everybody else.  I just have a different job.  And just because I have this job it doesn't put me in a power to treat people different or to use people.  I don't like people like that so I refuse to be one of them."

I love this statement and identify with it.  I've never felt that my job as an engineer puts me above the secretaries, or the janitor, or anyone else.  And I've never felt in any of my bands that my ability as a guitar player or leader of a group makes anyone else's opinions or preferences diminish.

For Lombardo to have this kind of humility, gives me something to aspire to.  He's one of my favorite drummers, but he's definitely a very cool human being too.

I think it's so cool that he has a shirt designed specifically for him, and I bought one of his limited edition shirts!  I want to support him in any way I can.