Damn…It’s been a minute…

Eminem is set to release his next studio album “Relapse” May 19th of this year. Tuesday, the 7th, Shady premiered his new single and video for “We Made You” exclusively on all MTV channels. There has been much anticipation and speculation on the new record since Mr. Mathers released “I’m having a relapse”, on his Shade45 Sirius Satellite Radio network. “I’m having a relapse” was rapped in some kind of mid-eastern mocked tone, to a twangy flute ridden beat. Nothing serious was addressed on the song, and Em was have said to have thrown the track together the day before. That was October of 08 and we didn’t get much info or insight from the man himself until he announced on MTV that the video and single would debut on the media powerhouse. The video was directed by Joseph Kahn who last worked with Em on the video “Without Me”. As far as the video goes, it’s funny, though I feel the topics/targets are a little out dated likely due to a later than expected release. The track itself is….Shit. The beat is good, the chorus is ok, but the content is lacking. It seems like he has lost touch with himself. He hasn’t been in the public eye in sometime and may not know how to deal with today’s media strain. I won’t hold too tightly to any real opinion on the album until I hear the whole thing. It’s the same formula he has always used. Release a single that is controversial and catchy, then let them eat their cake too with the rest of the album. Shady/Insterscope has done an amazing job not letting any tracks or real confirmed info leek. I am looking forward to the release, I just hope it’s nothing like Encore.

I’m a man in the middle.
So much ahead of me, yet so much has passed.
Stuck in the hourglass.
I stand free with hardly any room to breathe.
Tomorrow may never come.
Yesterday can’t be undone.
Today…
was the best day of my life.

I’m ALIVE!!!

The Dark Knight

Well for me, it was more like The Afternoon Knight. I went cheap and saw the afternoon bargain show. None the less, it was epic. Well, about as epic as a PG-13 rating will allow. Still, Heath Ledger more then out does himself as the Joker. I was begging for scenes with him in them. The movie is a step up away from the kiddie-land comic book Batman. Jack Nicholson’s role as the joker was no where near as menacing or vicious. Tim Burton’s Batman with Jack as the Joker had quite a different pace. Of course a great deal of time has passed allowing better CGI, Special Effects, what have you, but Ledger is amazing. I assumed going in to watch the film that I would just be more fascinated with Ledgers death and involvement in the film, but it was much more. You don’t even consider the guy is dead because he brings so much life to his role. This movie had me wanting more for the entire two and a half hours. This movie, is worth seeing more than once. I can’t talk too much about the movie because I don’t want to be a Chatty Kathy and ruin it for anybody, but I can STRONGLY suggest not waiting for it to come out on DVD and go see it NOW! Why are you still here? GO!

Humboldt was awesome! Except for sleeping in the bushes the first night, and then passing out at 7pm wasting the whole night on the last day. But damn it was awesome. Thursday is my birthday. Wish me a happy one….STAYtuned

Humboldt County, California. The north Coast of California if you will. This will be my safe haven for the next few days. I embark on a journey to celebrate my 22nd year on this planet. I love the ocean more than any other place on earth. I one day aspire to leave the 115 degree death box I live in now (Redding, CA) for a breezy cool life near the beach. Any beach will do really, as long as it has sand and waves I’ll be a happy man. I live three hours from Humboldt roughly, and I have been there numerous times for camping. I have yet to be there as a legal alcohol consuming patron. The Lost Coast Brewery sits proud in Eureka, California (let it burn let it burn) and just so happens to be the producer of my favorite beer; Great White. The ocean puts me in a total place of calm, just thinking about it makes me feel a tingle down my spine. I will in company of good people, friends and family alike, as well as some of the best marijuana known to be found in California. Maybe the galaxy for that matter. I already feel a great deal of stress leaving my shoulders, as I am about as amped as one could be. With all the stress and pressure in the world today I think everyone needs a vacation. 22 years, surely it’s not 50. Closer to 30. Shit. Some people would like to look at 21 being the last fun birthday you will ever have. I will make it my mission to not be plagued by age. 22 is the best year to be. It might be the last year I achieve. Let’s hope not, but hell anything is possible right? I will remain as adventurous as I possibly can for as long as possible. Next year I’ll do something fun too. Rinse, lather, repeat for as long as possible.

I’ll let you know how the trip goes, as I can’t think about anything else right now…

STAYtuned

R.I.P. George Carlin 1937-2008

George Carlin died yesterday at the age of 71 from heart failure. The veteran comic who has had heart troubles in the past, went to a hospital in Santa Monica, CA Sunday morning complaining of chest pains. He died shortly before 6pm. Carlin’s career spanned 50 years, 22 solo albums, and 14 HBO specials. He finished a show at The Orleans in Las Vegas last week and was planning to take the month off to relax and work on a new book of essays and musings. “There are three ingredients in my comedy,” Carlin said in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Those three things which wax and wane in importance are English language and wordplay; secondly, mundane, everyday observational comedy — dogs, cats and all that stuff; and thirdly, sociopolitical attitude comedy.” Carlin was arrested in 1972 in Milwaukee for using indecent language. The language he was using was part of his “7 words you can’t say on T.V.” act which became very popular. In a separate case in 1973, a radio listener complained after a station played part of his album. That case went the Supreme Court, which in 1978 ruled in favor of the Federal Communications Commission, saying the radio station could not broadcast those words at times when children could be listening. A ban since has been put into place as we all know prohibiting radio stations from using naughty language. Carlin was pretty proud of the fact he was involved the implementing act. He was my fathers favorite comedian of all time. Some of my earliest memories of laughing with my Dad was just the fact of how hard he would laugh at George Carlin. I had no idea what the guy was talking about, but he made my Dad bleed milk through his nose. Over time I became more and more familiar with him and his work and hands down the man was a pioneer of his industry. My condolences go out to his daughter and surviving family. The LEGEND will never be forgotten.

Celtics TROUNCE Lakers:

Sure it’s old news now, but I have got to say congratulations to the 2008 NBA Champion Celtics. It’s been a long time coming, and it couldn’t of happened to a better franchise. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett were obvious factors in the title win. The Boston Three Party have all been solid players for some time. It was amazing to watch them all come together this year and play as a team. I was especially happy for K.G. because of the intensity he brings to the game. Normally leaving all emotion on the floor, Kevin Garnett was beside himself with happiness as he was pronounced a champion. It’s always nice to see your favorite team in any sport do well. Big ups to the Celtics in their 131-92 BEAT DOWN over Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers.

STAYtuned

Boston: 3 - Lakes: 2…I don’t know how you throw away being up two games…I’ve always been a fan of the Boston Celtics and now they are in the NBA Finals for the first time in over 15 years. Not only that, they are in the Finals against their most rivaled team (also my most hated). In actuality it’s Kobe Vs Celtics, not Lakers Vs Celtics. I don’t like the Lakers as a franchise, but I have nothing but respect/admiration for Kobe’s drive and determination. He has got to be one of the best, if not the best athletes of this era in sports. I am also a New York Yankees fan so I’m use to getting shit for being a fan of a winning team. I am also an Oakland Raiders fan (we are so going Dan) and they haven’t produced a winning season since their appearance in the Super Bowl a few years back. I just get pissed off when I hear my friends talking about what big Boston (Red Sox or Celtics) fans they are/always have been. Yeah right…

The Dark Knight in theaters July 18:
Finally! I saw my first advertisement for the newest (and obviously the bestest) Batman in the live action series. Normally for movies of this caliber, advertisements are shown months in advance to get some sort of a buzz going for the movie. Not only does this movie not need that kind of buzz, it’s not wanted. Due to the death of the films co-star/lead bad guy, not a lot of people want to see the movie even come out. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see how into the role of the Joker Heath Ledger got. He and friends and family have all said what a life altering role this was for Heath. Every trailer I have seen so far suggests that this movie is nothing short of top shelf. I really hope it comes out when they say it will. I would hate to see this movie pushed back because Ledger is dead. He got paid for the flick, and it was 100% completed so I feel we deserve a good movie already.

We (my girlfriend and myself) are making an offer on the house we are wanting to buy. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, it’s on a double lot, and it has a huge ass basement (man room). It’s really crazy thinking we are going to be buying a house at 21. I’m super stoked because the house is very nice and very well priced. The stress in my life lately has kind of taken a back seat to my focus. I’m back to the point were I am content with what’s going on around me. That is always subject to change though.
STAYtuned (plz? k thnx!)

Atmosphere-Say Hey There live on Kimmel (it takes a minute to get to the music, but its good!)

Damn straight!

Life…wow, what can I say about life? Are we ever given the life we feel we think we deserve? Of course not. Nothing in life is handed to us. We’re forced to strive and struggle to make the most out of what we’ve been given. What is that exactly? Well, we’re only given what our parents feel we deserve, or are capable of giving us? Are our parents right in giving us what they THINK we deserve? Of course not. Just because they wanted a Radio Flyer in the 1960’s doesn’t mean you’ll want one in 2008. Yet they do what they can.

My advice to the youth of the world is to make the best out of life, yourself. You need to educate yourselves on right and wrong, if you leave that up to your parents you could easily look back and realize they steered you in the wrong direction. Take into consideration your well being at the same time as the well being of others, for without anybody else we’d only be outcasts in a world of similarities. Nobody is ever the “only” person who has to “deal” with anything. Are you the first to stub your toe? Perhaps in your mind nobody has ever had their parents abandon them. Well guess what? You’re not. There’s plenty like you and depending on how strong they are they get through life. Those that realize shit happens and you can move on from it do well, considering. Those that think only bad shit happens to them end up living in misery as everything that goes wrong just appears to go wrong ONLY for them. Sad, just…sad.

Through my history here at Snoogins you (my guests) have seen me go from an angst ridden teen, to a high on life (and other things) person trying to find love to who I am today. Yet through all those changes I’ve continued to keep one thing constant. The seemingly never-ending pursuit to happiness guy. I’ve often questioned “why me?” and to be honest I’ve never come to a conclusion. However I have concluded why things happen to me. Why you ask? Because I’ve let them. All those times I’ve let others make me feel like Tiny Tim, all those times I did things I didn’t want to do. I did them myself for the simple fact that I never realized that life is what I make of it. If I had realized that I’d be doing things that will effect me for years to come I’d never have done them. Just like I’m sure if some females never let a certain boyfriend treat them a certain way they’d never have become whores. But they can’t blame the boyfriend. All they have to blame is themselves. Without force and without a means to protect ones self you have NOBODY to blame but yourself. Nobody forced that dick in you, nobody forced you to pull that trigger, nobody forced you to steal that car. Yet YOU allowed yourself to think that you had no other choice.

You do.

There is right, and there is wrong. You decide, and I hope that you all strive to do what’s right and forget about what’s wrong cuz it’s not worth your time.

My sister’s no longer a child anymore. She’s what some would call a “young adult” while others would call her an “early teen”. I’ve watched her grow from an innocent baby to a person who fears so much due to the bullshit her parents constantly put through her head. Most of which they tried to put through my head as well. Thankfully she came to terms at an extremely young age that her parents aren’t the judges of right and wrong as I’ve made it a goal of my own to let her know that there’s other options out there. Nobody can dictate her life (at least not here in the U.S.. Sorry North Korea) aside from her.

I could ramble on for days about what I’m feeling right now, but why would I bore you with that? I haven’t made much effort to share anything with anybody online for awhile now. Mainly because I’ve been letting somebody dictate my own life and I’m growing sick of it. All I can say is that whoever is reading this, do yourself good and do others good as well. Life will be much easier to deal with as all our lives unfold into different patterns.

Ahhh YES! A last, Grand Theft Auto 4 is out on shelves and looking great! Sort of. For myself, and other fellow Xbox360 enthusiasts, playing the game is proving to be a little more than difficult. Our fearless leader Dan has a PS3, but I’m not sure why. That is until I find out how much fun PS3 users alike are having playing the game online. I have played and completed a good portion (20%) of the actual single player, but I have only been connected to a couple online games. Once I do finally connect to a game, it boots me after about 30 seconds. Here’s the steps I’ve taken to try and resolve my issue:

1. Before even complaining to Xbox live, or the game’s publishers themselves, I got my ISP to come to my home and test all my connections and wires. (25$)

2. Contacted Rockstar games painful BRITISH (I’m getting dizzy) tech support. They told me blah blah blah, too many people trying to play all I can do is wait.

3. Contacted Xbox Live (I’m going to be sick) and begun trying to explain the situation. At one point, I am on the phone with a 80 year old lady and I swear to god she suggests the following. “Try playing a game that works for about 15 minutes. (*GUN TO HEAD*) Take it out, play it again. Repeat this four times then try playing Grand Theft Auto. I said, on my life, “Ma’am no offense to you because you sound sweet enough to be my Grandma. But this tech support is becoming hill billy as all hell. How can you even suggest that’s what I do? Why would I need to know voo-doo witch craft to get a different game to play? Have a nice day, supervisor please..” She complied putting me through to Johnathan, Supervisor @ Xbox Live. He told me to go exchange my copy for another one and try that. So I drive back down to an undiscolsed location(no promo homo), and returned my copy. Got home hopeful as all hell and still no worky-worky. I am furious at this point. A bunch of my friends can’t play on their 360’s either, but some can. This is garbage. I pay a lot of money (ISP bill, Xbox Live Bill, not to mention the cost of the console itself) to play this fucking game online, and I can’t?! John tells me it’s going to take a couple weeks to get everything working smooth. Then why the fuck did you make me waste my gas ($4.25 a gallon) to get another copy? That’s fucking crazy! So John tells me to calm down and I promptly call him an asshole. Bottom line, I already owned a PS3 and returned it for an Xbox. I am starting to regret the decision. However, in the mean time I have Call of Duty 4 so I might be able to wait it out. It just blows me away how delayed the game was only to be flawed. Damn, I need a smoke. StAyTuNeD!

I can’t stand Kanye. I knew when his first CD came out, I was going to hate or love his style. How do you define his style? I say its confusing at best. He is so into himself. He got a bad review from Entertainment Weekly about his new “Glow in the dark” tour, and he cried and whined like he always does on his blog. At first I got the impression that Kayne was just trying to have fun with rap, now I think he’s destroying parts of it. Recently at a show near my hometown in Sacramento, CA he called the crowd Seattle four times. What a bastard! His records are redundant, narcissistic, and don’t contain a whole lot of substance (Like these posts right?). I saw him turning towards this “weird” persona when Late Registration came out, but I thought the CD was decent and over-looked to say the least. I mean this is a guy who should be very humbled, not bah-hum-bugged! On his website he has a fan club section! I know, it’s fucking crazy! Oh, did I fail to mention he charges $25 to become a member? That’s more than it costs to be a listener of his music! The mother fucker thinks he’s Jesus too! Look at the Rolling Stone picture, listen to “Jesus Walks” his ego is TRIPPING! I wish I could tell ‘Yay personally how big of a vagina I think he is. Quit the whining, rapping, and fashion revolution and get back to producing. I don’t care if you never rap another track again.

So, I lost my job. Got laid off to be exact. The reasoning? Not drunk on the job like I figured it would have been, (Kidding) they let me go due to “Job Performance”. I’ve been there for two years, if anything my performance excelled. I learned lots of new things in a short amount of time. I earned two raises while there, and also got myself on my way to being a certified Welder. They insisted job performance, yet as I grabbed my toolbox and tools I noticed there was a dude there who worked there days ago. He was my replacement. He also makes four dollars an hour less than I did. I can understand the company not wanting to pay my wages, just tell me that. But it should be interesting to hear how fast the company goes downhill because this guy can’t do my job. Not to be full of myself, but I know this to be the case. I am a dedicated hard working mofo, so it was really a shock to me when I lost my job. I have had this job since before my daughter was born. I remember two years ago losing a job and it was no big deal, now I have a child and it’s frightening. I’ll pull through though, that’s just the way it is.

STAYtuned