Panic! At Jobbing.com Arena

Since I seem to be on a blogging binge lately, I totally forgot about some concerts I've seen/I'm going to see. First off, last week we saw "Panic! At the Disco", along with "Cobra Starship" and "Jack's Manaquinn." Now before I talk about this concert let me repeat something I said in a previous post. "Unwritten Law" is the worst live band I've ever seen. Period. I've seen high-school bands perform better. "Cobra Starship" came in just a little, tiny bit above "Unwritten Law." And that's really all I can say about that. They don't even get a picture. ;-)

"Jack's Mannequin" is a different story. Ok, ok. Their cover of U2's "With or Without You" probably caused cancer in at least 30% of the audience, but the rest of the music was pretty damn good. They had the soulfulness of "Train" without all the whining and touchy-feely lyrics, mixed with the edgier sounds of "Acceptance." If only the lead singer could decide if he wanted to sit or stand while singing and playing the piano. He had a sit-down piano, but he would half-stand to sing and ended up looking like he was having a seizure. When he sat his twitchy, flailing ass down it was much better and less epileptastic. Other than that, their music was quite good.

Which brings me to "Panic! At the Disco." Hands down, one of the best live shows I have ever seen. The sets were amazing! They did this whole circus theme (but dark and Victorian-looking) that was just awesome. They even had dancers that were acrobats and tumblers. Very cool. As for the music, it was stellar. "Panic" is one of the most musically talented bands I've seen in a long time. I can't even describe what their music is like, it's just so unique. Not to mention that have incredible stage presence. They did this really cool percussion number that was part "Stomp" (they had trash can lid cymbals and everything) and part drum-line. After that, they played a sweet cover of Queen's "Killer Queen." Wow. Damn good show indeed.

Today I'm going back to the same place (Glendale Arena, aka Jobbing.com Arena) to see "AFI", "Taking Back Sunday", "Plain White T's", and a few others. Show's called the "How the Edge Stole Chritmas." Should be a good one. I saw "AFI" last year at KFMA day (where I saw the Worst Live Band Ever the previous year) and really enjoyed their show. I've been itching to see them again. Should be fun! Check Josh's blog/Flickr feed for pics. He's into all that "photography" stuff. Wait...I used to be into that too. Damn.

Update: I too seem to be into all that "photography" stuff. I figured out what I hadn't been: I had no camera! Would've thought, eh?

Tremble mortals

Behold the mighty Cylon Snowbot!



Yes that's a sweeping Cylon eye. Yes it also makes scary Cylon sounds. And yes, it's being powered by my Xbox 360. That's right: The Xbox 360 is Cylon technology. w00t.

Now if only I can get it to make me a Number Six...



God I love Battlestar Galactica.

A foreword

I love literature. Ever since I was little I've always be reading something. Be it a book, a magazine, the newspaper, hell even cereal boxes. I liked comic books to a limited degree, but they had too many pictures and not enough words for my taste. Given the choice of "X-men" or "Of Mice and Men", I'd take the latter every time. This love of books was one of the reasons I decided to do an English minor. I figured as long as I enjoy reading and to a certain degree, writing, I might as well get some sort of recognition for doing things I like to do anyway.

My dad once commented that I would probably end up as an English professor one day. I knew that would never happen, but he can be forgiven this flight of fancy for his progeny as I had brought Paradise Lost as my book of choice along with me on a family ski trip. While it wasn't for a class so much as my own enjoyment (in a semi-masochistic way; it is Milton after all), it did have some practical applications: 340-year old poetry about Heaven, Hell, and Satan makes for good taunts for Counter-Strike.

With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire
who durst defy th' omnipotent to arms.

Heh, very Pulp Fiction. Useful for scaring "teh n00bs", or at least distracting them long enough with words like "omnipotent" to stab them in the back.

But I digress. The real reason for this post is this: I'm testing the waters with writing some book reviews. Nothing fancy. Just my thoughts on some books I've read. It'll mostly be stuff that I like, maybe even some commentary on a series as a whole. Maybe I can also get suggestions on new books for me to read. I've been kinda slacking on my reading for awhile, partially because I've just been busy and distracted but mostly because I just haven't branched out in a while. I tend to get really focused on an author I enjoy, and while I find that focus is wonderful for absorbing the whole of an author's works, it also means that once I'm done I have trouble pulling myself out of one dreamworld and plunging into another.

You'll mostly see sci-fi and fantasy books here. That's because I like fantasy and sci-fi. Sure I enjoy the fascinating look at a man's descent into madness in Heart of Darkness or the dark, brooding musings on the nature of crime and suffering in Crime and Punishment as much as the next person, but give me the sweeping battles and rich detail of Lord of the Rings or the mind-blowing dystopian view of the future in the cyberpunk novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash.

Will I actually manage to review anything? Maybe. But for now, has anyone read any good books lately?