This past weekend, I went through the trouble of going through all of my unmarked, burned CDs that I reclaimed after coming back from Australia two months ago. Needless to say, I found a lot of stuff on those old mixes that had no business collecting dust in my brother's room while I was away. After listening to about 8 hours worth of music, I came to two conclusions: 1, that I need to start marking my CDs (I'll address this later on) and 2, this was as cool as finding money in an old winter jacket when you pull it out for the first time after summer. I can't speak for everybody, but I think it's pretty cool to lose something that you really, really like, forget all about it, and then find it years later and rediscover the value in it. I think it's sort of God's way of reincarnating inanimate objects into a new life. Case in point: several bands of yesteryear that are now rotating once again in my playlist (i.e. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Fenix TX, Semisonic, and--oh yes--"Various Artists"). But here's where my problem comes in: these CDs are unmarked, so in a lot of cases, I've forgotten either the name of the band, the name of the song, the name of the album, or in some cases, all three. It's insanely easy to mix up bands that only make one or two songs that you like: "Is this Don't Look Down or One Dollar Short? Or Down By Law? All I know is that it has three words and three or four syllables." It isn't much help either that the Great Generic Pop/Punk Phase of the late nineties-to-early...zeroes (or whatever we call the decade we're in now) produced more homogenous bands than I can shake a stick at (and more than you can, too). In any case, should anyone read this and have any knowledge on the following tracks, please send me an e-mail: "Bling, Bling" (Artist Unknown...and really, I just listen to this for laughs) "Heaven is a Halfpipe" (Artist Unknown) "X" by Xzibit (Album?) "Side" by Travis (Album?) "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Goldfinger (Album?) "Times Like These Acoustic Version" by the Foo Fighters (Album?) Yes--I know I could just as easily go find out the answers to these questions on the internet. Yes--I am too lazy at the moment to go do so. I'll reward you with a cookie if you e-mail me some answers by my birthday. Thanks heaps.

Yes, the time has come again for the annual MLK Day Hangover. I can't remember how long I've been dong this for (which isn't too surprising, when you think about it), but it's been a while. I am now officially back from Australia...and am starting to wonder why the hell I'm even bothering to write that. Does anybody even read this goddamned journal of mine? I don't think so. I could probably write whatever the hell I wanted in this little box and nobody would even care...ALL OF YOU PEOPLE CAN GO TO HELL. Anyway, back to my original train of thought: the annual MLK Day Hangover.... This is the time of year when I start to feel a little guilty. I mean, the late, great Dr. King didn't spend his life fighting for equal rights so that dumbass, white college kids like myself could get drunk on a Sunday without having to worry about going to class hungover on Monday. The thing is, though, what the hell am I (or is anyone else) supposed to do on MLK Day? I mean, no offense to anyone, but I just don't see the point of going to some speech about black history or what-have-you. It's boring. That's not a racial remark, either. I mean, think about it the other way around: would you want to go listen to some jackass talk about white history on any other day of the year? (Actually, I believe that's covered starting in about 3rd Grade History.) Here's my idea: Start teaching black history in schools along with "standard" European history and hey, why not Asian history, too? And Spanish history...? And...well, you get my point. It's bullshit that these things haven't been considered yet, or if they have, that they haven't been implemented. If we all were taught a little more about each other and where we all came from, maybe we wouldn't have such a hard time getting along. Well, until that day comes, I'll keep drinking every MLK Day Eve with all my black, white, Asian, Mexican, and other friends and keep The Dream alive (Dr. King did say he had a dream that one day we'd all do keg stands from the same keg, right?). Oh wait--I go to CWU and everyone here is white. Well, I'll at least be keeping The Dream in spirit. Happy MLK Day, all.

The new Eminem CD is simply put: the shit. I think it's impossible for Eminem, being who he is, to make a bad record. I'll even admit that his last album ("The Eminem Show") wasn't his best work, but it still had some kick-ass songs on it and beat out everything else that was being released at the time (at least in the rap game). Seriously, go out and buy this album right now. Don't even bother shutting off your computer, just go. This CD will humor, offend, move, and question you and its worth every penny you'll spend on it at some over-priced record store (Tower). Or, you know, just download it off Kazaa (God knows I've done that with about a thousand albums), but be aware that even if you do download it, if you would've ended up buying it, you wouldn't have left the record store feeling sorry or pissed off that you just dropped $20 on a record like this.

"Feeling like a prize horse's ass" would just about sum up my current state. Jeez, I'm almost embarassed to write this down, but I just found out yesterday about the whole Coheed and Cambria comic book thing and now I'm just reeling from the shock of how genius and original the whole concept of the band and all their albums is. I just...man, how did I not know about this? I have to shamefully admit that I didn't listen to Coheed and Cambria at all until I saw the video for "A Favor House Atlantic" on MTV one morning last year (here's an opportunity for all you die-hard Co&Ca fans to chastise me and tell me what a poser I am). I've spent the better part of six months loving the CD and equally as much being puzzled by the lyrics. I just figured that Claudio's writing style was way beyond anything I'd ever be able to interpret (which, to be honest, I still figure, but I'm I little more in the know, now). Seriously, though, I don't know if I'm more amazed with Coheed and Cambria now as a fan of music or as a fan of comics. I've spent the last two days reading every message board thread I can to fill myself in on the story so far and I'm honestly just...knocked on my ass. This revalation has automatically made Coheed and Cambria my favorite band ever and I'm not rushing judgement on that, either. I don't think any other band has ever come with such an original concept; such creative lyrics; such raw and utter talent as Coheed and Cambria. The naysayers can throw in their meaningless two cents about Claudio sounding like a girl and the band falling into a simple "pop punk" genre, because I don't care and it doesn't matter. The fact is, this band is doing something that no other band is, or indeed, has ever done. With music being what it is this day and age, that's a pretty impressive feat, I think.