July 2002 Archives

Okay, well... you all know that I like Oasis, right? I don't have all those shirts for nothing. And on August 7th, they're playing a show up in Indianapolis. Now here's the fun part...

I've got two tickets to the show for sale.

They're good seats; center section, floor, row X (which isn't 24 rows from the front as you may think, it's closer because they left out some letters.), seats 21 and 22 (on the aisle.) I need to sell these tickets! I paid ticketmaster a grand total of $88 for the two, so if you want them, that's what it'll cost you. Or $44 a ticket. I can't give you a ride (already got someone to go with, and I've got a car that seats two) but if you can get up there...

basically, SOMEONE BUY THESE DAMN TICKETS FROM ME.

Call me: 931-5132
email me: f13ndus@yahoo.com

and BUY THE TICKETS.

--Fiend

So, a little update here. Mainly I'm updating just to please someone named Diya, who I'm sure many of you know and may even refer to as "little claypot that holds a candle" (mouseover the link), "my little brown sister", "dizz bag", and some people even call her satan (like marc farris). Anyway, she said that she, like most of you, are checking the site on a 2.5 hour basis for updates, and are getting rather worried that possibly I could be dead or something without one. Thankfully, no.

So, here I am updating. I've seen a bunch of movies this past few weeks. Going in reverse chronological order, Blade Runner, John Q, The Bourne Identity, Austin Powers Goldmember, Blow, and many others. The Bourne Identity was really good, I suggest everyone goes and sees it. The chick from Run Lola Run is in it, Franka Potente (or somethign like that) and she's pretty cute in it. She looks much better with dark hair instead of red. Turns out she also plays Barbie in Blow, so I've actually seen two Franka movies in two weeks. Everyone should see Blow, it was very good, and guess what, it's about Blow (cocaine). Blade Runner was rather interesting, supposedly a classic, however I was watching the Director's cut having not seen the original, and had a hard time following certain things. But it was still rather good. Goldmember was entertaining, I still can't figure out if I liked it or not. I think I did, but I'm not sure. John Q was just another Denzel Washington movie, with some dissapointments.

Finally, as far as development goes, I've changed the new image script to a asp.NET based and xml based version. The .NET version isn't that much different from the old version, in fact I think the old version functions slightly better (only slightly). However once I get all the editing scripts done (working on it) then the new xml version will be worth the switch. I also wrote a script to where, if logged in as an administrator, I can just assume the role of another user. So I can just basically convert my account into fiends, if I want to. And I don't need to know their password. It's pretty cool. This way I can check errors in the system, or post as somebody else, without editing the database directly. Fun times.

Enjoy your summes, only a little longer till school starts (how depressing).

Spork.

PS - Dizz Bag signed off ... she didn't really care about the post after all.

im good at hockey

_ YourMom™ _akA_ *"basik"*

<Glances at some discussion about emo and sell outs> uh...

more importantly, news for all you free civ fans who were somehow disspointed with Civilization III. (you suck-bags!) Civ 3 is up for an expansion that contains 6 new civilizations and online play, freeciv style.

And for anyone who thinks FF7 is a good RPG, go buy Neverwinter NIghts for the PC. Play, and be amazed. Then play online, and be more amazed. Then use the aurora toolset to create your own epic fantasy story, then have people play online as you DM (dungeon master) your vision. It's all of D&D rolled into a PC game. This is how ROLEPLAYING was always meant to be...

OK...WTF Spork..I had this great big diatribe typed up on EMO and selling out. I clicked to submit and it went to the login screen and lost my whole essay.

Now all your viewers are missing out on a great essay on why we as listeners need to be less about labeling bands and spend more time growing as listeners. And I'm not retyping it. Maybe a timeout setting?

Is this anything like my dog ate my homework??

-Ellis (not the BBY Printer Aisle Guy)
http://www.bestbuysux.org/html/com7-02.html (first entry) for the story.

PS Basik is a bitch and can't play hockey to save his ass.

Of course I was being too nice. I'm a nice person, and I was biased anyways due to my fondness for the bands in question. What can I say?

Does anyone want either an AP US Government & Politics or AP Psychology study book? Free to a good home! And hey, I got 5s on both tests, so they must be helpful.

Also, if you want to hear a middle-aged man make an ass out of himself, call my cell phone (592-5264) and leave a message. My boss recorded the greeting, and it's really something else.

-Christine

Well, I don't believe I ever posted about this. There is a new directory of pictures up on the image script, it's the photo directory. That's where I have all my photography class pictures. I can't wait for photography 2 next year, it's going to be sweet. I'll have a class with joanna next year, AND it'll be photo. Plus, I'll be aiding for mr. curtis some period as well.

On the subject of photography, everyone visit here and vote on your favorite pictures of mine for jones soda bottle labels. If you can, give me all tens, but obviously you don't have to. I'd prefer honesty. Some i just posted to post. Others, i thought would actually look good on a bottle. And I finally got a staff pick! It took me eleven posted pictures, but i got one. It's the one of Tori Head's eye.

So check it out, the higher scores I get the better chance I have of being an actual bottle label.

Spork.

I'd have to agree with Fiend on the Limp Bizkit analogy. Another VERY excellent example is all the FUCKING rednecked Creed wannabe bands. Where you purposely sing with that terribly raspy and low voice that sounds like you're a redneck (and 99.99% of the time you are).

With what our newest member of the Spork community, watermellen (Christine), stated, I think you're being far too nice. JEW and Dashboard certainly are fine examples of sell outs, especially when you take our local Confessional concert in which I know about three times more yuppies that went than even true music listeners ... and that's about four times as many yuppies when compared to true music listeners that are also EMO.

But, what any of us, pro or con for the argument can acknowledge is that certainly emo has been around forever, that's a valid argument. And also, it's very valid to say there are emo bands still true to the movement. However, you can not say that because at one point Jimmy Eat World or Dashboard Confessional were once true to it that they're still true to it now. And I'm sure a lot of those bands have turned sell out. I mean, eventually everyone's a sellout.

However, one other valid argument is that no genre has a set template, and I'm sure nobody in the emo genre sits down and says "let's write an emo record." No, of course not. BUT! while I admit this is true, it's amazing how easy it is to pick out an emo song! They all have some characteristic, and I'd love to say that it's their whiney bitching voices. Maybe it's something else, but regardless, the first time I heard Jimmy Eat World's album (I'd heard that one single Bleed America a thousand times but never the album) I immediately turned to a girl named Ashley listening with me, and asked if they were emo. It was only my second taste of the emo genre, at the time, grant had recently burned me Dashboard, which was my first taste. And yet I was able to pick it out. Since then, listening to bands like Something Corporate, or Brand New ... all of them, you can just tell. In my opinion, it's the whiney bitching voices. Or maybe the depressing lyrics, I dunno.

And lastly, I'm going to end, that the original point of my disccussion was never to bash emo, and definitley never to even argue that it's bad music. The argument was solely to point out the blatent contradiction that emo stands for. And while at, mention that I particularly can't stand to listen to it SOLELY because I start feeling sad doing so. Too sad. I think Dashboard has very catchy shit, it's just I get depressed listening to it! So I just don't listen.

Spork.

Yes, the fact that Dashboard put out new, more "radio friendly" versions of songs that were just fine already makes him a sellout in my books. Changing your music for other people isn't something you should do.

And no, the genre isn't capitalistic or frivolous, but bands that formed or just "appeared" on the scene now that "emo" is popular... can you say "all the Limp Bizkit wannabe bands that record companys were going crazy for once LB made it big, all over again?" Yeah, I thought you could. And I really do think it'll end up like that. The whole MTV culture just kind of does that. I hope not, for all the people/bands who don't want to end up wasted and thrown away, abandoned in 15 minutes by all their new "fans"... but whatever.

--Fiend

I don't believe I've ever seen John so passionate about something before. Not even his hatred of Jie Ma (who, BTW, stole the layout from my friend Effie's online diary! Grr.) And someone sure knows their emo music history. It's funny how intelligent teenage boys can be if you get them started on the right topic. :) Anyway, in response to what Iain said about teenyboppers latching onto emo music like it's the best thing since sliced bread... I'd say that the recent surge of interest in emo music does not make the genre now inherently capitalistic or frivolous. And just because Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional are now profiting from this interest doesn't mean they're sell outs. Both were making music long before anyone gave a damn. I guess my point is that emo is emo is emo, and if you don't like it, don't listen to it. I think anyone could agree on that.

Hmm... interesting posts... I'm not a big fan of the genre (I've got Dashboard on my playlist... hardly ever listen to any of it, though) and I see John's point entirely, that's pretty much my opinion. Grant, however, makes some good points, although the money thing... face it, Grant, (Dashboard and J.E.W. at the VERY least) they're making more money every day, thanks to their MTV exposure and all the tennieboppers thinking they've found this cutting edge new genre that, as you point out, has been around since they were in diapers or before they were even born. ;)
Anyway, my point for posting at all:

Nine Inch Nails is more "emo" than any other band and don't you forget it!

Seriously, at least Trent's whiney voice SOUNDS decent. And I much prefer the music itself. Ah, John, the memories of our NIN discussions in P.E./Health freshman year..

--Fiend

Its 3:20 am and I'm still up so...
Counterpoint: ;)

First of all, nobody is making millions of dollars and selling out by being emo. Chris Carrabba sent me a poster when I bought it off their website. It came from Dashboard Confessional, not vagrant records, not artist direct... Dashboard. Small Business/Residential area type Boca Raton address (i checked). They still play little clubs and are just starting to get limited national recognition on TV and stuff after establishing a huge, militant underground fanbase by struggling though all the small clubs. Granted, thats what virtually all REAL bands (i.e. NOT creed, puddle of mudd, etc) do, but those are also the ones that stay "true to the movement." None of the real emo bands have really progressed past that point yet (dashboard, Jimmy Eat World, probably some other quasi-emo acts that i cant think of are starting to though) so to say they're making money being emo is assuming that their popularity among a select crowd (the group of so called "emo buffs") makes them inherently rich. Besides that, everyone has problems in their lives, so becoming rich doesn't exclude them from being human. Emo is short for Emotion[al[punk/hardcore]] and simply means that the music allows them to express their emotions. Even the rich and famous have emotions. Is chris carrabba "still depressed?" probably not. Does he still get depressed and dumped and everything? probably not. He can still write songs about his experiences though. And actually the latest dashboard stuff hasn't been as much about the depressing experiences as the positive ones. The latest EP has 4 songs about fairly successful relationships. The fact that he can still write about his honest emotions pretty much shows that he's not trying to conform to some standard mold of teenage angst and depression. emo and depression are not the same exact thing all the time.

Also, to say that dashboard is part of some emo "movement" as well is a little bit incorrect. The emo movement started back in the mid 80s in Washington DC when punk bands started rejecting the "hardcore" movement and letting their emotions out. Rites of Spring is considered the first emo band and the reason most people have probably never heard of them is because they were the bleeding edge of a movement. 15 years down the road it cant really be called so much of a movement anymore. However, 2 rites of spring members went on to work with fugazi who is still around, so the movement has definitely not died. Similarly, Dan Hoerner of Sunny Day Real Estate, one of the big names in early/mid 90s emo, is now playing in dashboard. If you want real emo music go dig up some of the old stuff or at least hit fugazi, SDRE, The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids, Mineral, Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Modest Mouse, Even Jimmy Eat World, Box Car Racer (Blink 182 gone emo sort of!)
Earlier emo bands were 100% doing it for the movement. the modern underground, local, unsigned bands are still doing it for the movement.

So the original question: Does Dashboard know they're emo? I'm sure they're aware that their music is classified as "emo" but they aren't writing music with the sole intent of having their 7" placed in the emo bin at the record store. I can assume such because Dashboard does not, as i said before, specifically mold themselves to some emo template. The depressive lyrics are typical of the emo genre, but the musical style actually is not directly patterned after the earlier emo bands. Dashboard is a primarily acoustic band with only a loose musical connection to the early punk/hardcore emo wheras the earlier bands were punk/hardcore only slowed down and more minor chords. In the same way, the intent of the early emo bands was specifically to reject any existing genre and write the music that they wanted to write. the fact that they displayed such emotion in a hardcore world where emotion was synonymous with weakness did not make them popular, but i guess thats how every movement starts. Good movements only gain popularity over time.

-Grant-

P.S. dont insult emo it makes me cry ;)

geez its 20 til 4.. time for sleep.
"when all his work was done he put on side one boxcar sang him to sleep locked away in an emo dream"

It is 1:40 AM and i'm still up, listening to Dispatch, and pondering the following:

So, my latest question ... it may be one of those deep philisophical questions like the meaning of life that may never get answered ...

Does Dashboard Confessional know they're emo? or any emo band for that matter ... I mean, think about it ... someone (music label) has to tell them "your music genre is called emo, it's for the depressed and lonely and brokenhearted ... it's the emo movement" ... and then, as they rake in millions of dollars, live the life, can pretty much get any (emo) girl to have sex with them ... how is it possible they can still go about writing depressing music?

Sure, i'd hade to be rich and popular and wanna cry all over the microphone too ... but no really, if they're told this, how can they be TRUE to what IS the emo movement? Because does a band just get together and say "ok, we're going to write emo songs" ... or do they get together and be like "we're just going to write music about being depressed/we'll write about our shitty lives" and soon months down the road people say "hey, you're emo".

And if the latter is true, and once that does happen, what then? How can they continue being emo ... they've now conformed which has to be against some form of emo movement doctrine, right? I mean we're all conforming to some form of nonconformity, right?

So this suddenly enlightened emo band, what do they do once they realize they're emo? Ha, i know what they do, they go into a corner and cry about their sell out life, that's what they do ... then they write a song about it, but instead of saying "I've sold out" in the song (which would be a great song, by the way, just doing that crysinging voice "I sold out!") they instead write a song with a bunch of metaphors like hating the winters in lexington and behind the scenes tell themselves it's hidden meaning is about selling out. Cause honestly, how can you possibly fucking cry if you're famous and making big money? There has to be a point where all that crying you've done and singing about it has finally written you a phat enough check to where you can stop your fucking bitching.

Now, look at it like this. If this is true, that there comes a point where an emo artist either realizes they're emo, or realizes they're crying about something stupid like scraping their knee, or if they make it far enough to finally get paid enough to not be depressed ... why aren't emo bands dropping off the lists of "still together" bands? Simple, because what the emo movement represents is not real, it can't be. These artists reach a point where somehow they're not only no longer truly emo, but CONTINUE with the image to perpetuate the effects. Basically, every one of them sells out eventually. It's inevitable.

The biggest thing I'm trying to point out to you emo buffs is that every artist you listen to (especially dashboard confessional) is not truly emo. They're not really depressed. They're simply putting on an act, impersonating someone they used to be usually back in highschool and replicating emotions they once had that weren't really true emotions anyway (like their first girlfriend and swearing they loved her (when they never really knew what love was) until she dumped them and they vowed never to date again, instead write an album where each song in it's own way is about breaking up).

Now I know what some of you say. "So and so didn't sell out" or "they don't care about the money" or "they make great music" or "so and so is different from the rest, they're true to the movement". I'm going to say this ... maybe true, maybe so and so actually is true or didn't sell out. However, if you even DARE insert dashboard confessional for "so and so" then I'm going to call you a freaking retard. Better, i'll say to your face "you're either british or retarded".

Because Dashboard Confessional can not possibly STILL be depressed. And because I know you agree with me, i'm going to say this now ... Do you see the overall irony in this? You can't possibly have Dashboard Confessional and call them emo or say that they're true to the movement. Because they're just doing it to make money! They have to be! Because if you can possibly actually say they're doing it because they're actually emo and actually depressed or because they're true to the movement, there's no way that their success as an artist and the benefits like massive amounts of money, fans, attention, fame, glamour, and women could possibly not make them un-emo ... it's human nature to be greedy and indulge sinful pleasures like selling out. So you see, it's impossible they could be really doing it just for the movement.

My final words on the subject, find a real genre or movement ... listen to something like Koop ...

Tomorrow i'll ponder my response to those people who I know will try to tell me "I'm not depressed, i don't do it for the emo, nor the movement simply because it's good music." Why would I need to ponder a response, should be a legitimate argument on their part, right? Except HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY (1) not get depressed WHILE LISTENING to that music and (2) enjoy that whiney raspy voice of people crying over the microphone?

Spork.

this is the coolest clock ever. Seriously. Go look. Stare. You know you want to. ;)

--Fiend

hey, i am at an engineering camp at Purdue University, its kinda boring actually, i just wanna sleep the whole time

um i got a new addy for my website its http://basikdesign.us.ms

um ya well ill prally get bored alot and post a bunch of random stuff because of the pain i will recieve through being so bored,

spork we will chill when i get back

peace

_ YourMom™ _akA_ *"basik"*

I think I'll write a new script this week ...

Spork.

PS - it'll probably involve image posting for spork ops (hurray!)

Well, it's been quite some time since I've updated the website. I'm sorry. I check my own website every day for updates ... isn't that sad? But I don't update myself. Finally I realized it was getting pathetic.

Well, my summer is eventful and isn't. I've had a couple really awesome weeks and then a couple really shitty ones. I've gotten a lot of new music, which is great. My supervisor gave me a bunch of musical suggestions (and then gave me a bunch of music) and so now I've acquired a taste for Badly Drawn Boy (incredible) and Built to Spill (haven't heard enough yet, but definitely liking it a lot).

Finally, has anyone noticed that I haven't updated the journal shit at the right in over two months? That's also pathetic. School was in session last time I updated. It's sad to think that summer is more than half over already. And at the end of it all, I will have still not left louisville since spring break. Wow that is depressing.

Well, I hope everyone is having fun in their respective joints ... Joanna at GSA, Marc and others at GSP, Caitlin at NYU, Ellis and Gabe in Florida, Nick leaving shortly for somewhere. That just leaves me in LA ... the louisville area ... tripping out on Winamp's Adavanced Visualization Studio being displayed on my DESKTOP ... that's right, no longer is my desktop that cool blue we've all come to know and love in Windows 2000 ... it's WINAMP AVS ... twenty four seven ... projecting whatever cool tunes I'm listening to (badly drawn boy currently) in 3d goodness.

Spork.

for all you pikachu haters out there, or for anyone who wants a laugh at 2am