Tuesday, March 22, 2005

If I don't complete my brutal rampage, well it wouldn't be Xmas

Elves: We are free and fairly sober with so many toys to build. The machines are kind of tricky, probably someone will be killed. But we gladly work for nothing
Fry: Which is good because we don't intend to pay
All: The elves are back to work today
Elves: Hooray! We have just a couple hours to make several billion gifts. And the labor isn't easy
Leela: When you all work triple shifts! You can make the job go quicker if you turn up the controls to super speed
All: It's back to work on X-mas eve...hooray

Leela: And though you're cold and sore and ugly your pride will mask the pain
Fry: Let my happy smile warm your hearts
Elf: There's a toy lodged in my brain!

Elves: We are getting awfully tired and we can't work any faster and we're very very sorry
Bender: Why you selfish little bastards! Do you want the kids to think that Santa's just a crummy empty handed jerk? Then shut your yaps and back to work!

Elves: Now it's very nearly X-mas and we've done the best we could
Fry: These toy soldiers are poorly painted
Leela: And they're made from inferior wood
Bender: I should give you all a beating but I really have to fly
Santabot: If I weren't stuck here frozen I'd harpoon you in the eye!
Elves: Now it's back into our tenements to drown ourselves in rye
Leela: You did the best you could, I guess, and some of these gorillas are ok
Elves: Hooray! We're adequate!
All: The elves are resting X-mas day, hooray!
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Monday, March 21, 2005

Answer #2
As much as it would be fun to say that I am evil, I'd have to say that my alter ego would have to be. If I'm good, the alter ego is usually the opposite, right? I myself have a knack for saying exactly what I want to say to people (bad things), but to make it sound like a joke so they don't take it seriously. Its pretty funny because some people like my close friends get to see it in action and realize that I am secretly serious. My alter ego would definitely wear underwear outside of his pants and just come out and say the shit to people faces without pretention. Burning bridges!

My very first show was one of the best (top 5) and it was in 1994; Nine inch nails downward spiral tour with Marilyn Manson and the Jim Rose freakshow as openers. It was pretty damn cool, MM freaked me out since I'd never heard of him and he was half naked with a black strap-on flailing around. The freakshow was pretty sweet too, with people throwing darts in their backs, etc. I got to see the puzzle man (was in an X-files episode) eat lightbulbs and a few other crazy things. NIN was great too, they dropped a big screen down and projected what was to become the Closer video (a bunch of decaying animals and other depressing imagery).

The Best show was probably Radiohead in Boston for the OK Computer tour. The music and stage show was unparalleled. They were just awesome, and especially since we stumbled into 4th row seats. They played weird B-sides like Banana Co. and also a nice long set.

Outside of chemistry I always wanted to be a UPS driver, especially for the sexy brown uniforms and the ability to drive a doorless truck. I've always dreamed of doing a record store or being in a band, but those are pipe-dreams.

I wear boxers, though I think I didn't switch til the beginning of high school.

Favorite book....Generation X by Doug Coupland hold a soft spot in my heart because it help me transition from a depressed and angry college student to an emotionally balanced person. The book itself is pretty good, maybe not the best written thing I've ever read but since it was so important to me I'd say it was my favorite. I was pretty fucked up emotionally for a good long time thanks to failed relationships. Now I'm easy going and had adopted a nice west coast attitude even before I came out here.

Lets see, I proposed on Rachaels Birthday (its always good to condense these things so you don't have too many days to celebrate/remember). She thought she was just getting a present, but I blindfolded her and lit a bunch of candles in the living room. Brought her out, got down on the knee and let her look. It was pretty good. I had been setting it up (sitcom like) by occasionally spouting off about how I wasn't into the whole marriage idea. Trickery always gets you a good payoff.

Damn this is one beast of a post.


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Saturday, March 19, 2005

Answers
Well, I'm Andy. On my way to a PhD in Chemistry.

I try to do decent Halloween costumes every year, some of the best ones were bizzaro Superman, Aquaman and one of the Batman Beyond Villians. When I was a kid I was an interstellar traveller (I had a cape with stars on it) and that was a fun line for a 11 year old to tell college kids in my Dad's neighborhood.

I really think that although I have a soft spot in my heart for older videogames, they don't really hold a candle to new-school VG's. Recent videogames like the Metal Gear Solid series are so much of an experience. They have great stories, characters and visuals and music. Some games make you feel like you are in the game. New genre's of games have emerged like first person shooters and GTA style "sandbox" gameplay.

The old school games will always hold up though (especially NES), since there is an elegance in simplicity. You can play Contra, Zelda and Tetris forever and have just as much fun as some new games. 2D sidescrollers are also a lost art, even moreso now that the handheld systems are getting more powerful with 3D rendering on par with PS2. I hear though that there might be a new Castlevania game coming out that will emulate Symphony of the Night.

I have an evil army of transformers toys (decepticons), but it takes so long to transform them that they aren't very threatening. "Transform!!! ... Ok, ....hold on....almost there....shit my arm isn't..ok, erk...OK!!! Now I'm a plane!"


He he, I've finally gotten all the pages up on my website, so from here on in its all content additions and minor tweaks. At least be sure to look at the BIO page even though there's no real text yet.

http://uoregon.edu/~arobak
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Friday, March 18, 2005

Hmmm
Well I don't have too much to say today (so why bother posting?)

Its always kinda fun when I get to ask people questions, so does any one have any questions for me? Anything from random shit to advice would be fine if you care to bother.
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Thursday, March 17, 2005

Life
Every once in a while something comes around and shakes up the norm. I'm usually in some sort of daily routine, but you see something on TV, or go to a show and you re-think what you are doing. I go to a show and see some band play and wish I was back onstage playing again. Obviously not everyone can be a rockstar, but it would be so much more fun than a teacher or some shit. I worry that I'm heading towards being a 9-5 slob grinding away at some useless job thinking about how I used to be into environmentalism and playing Bass in bands. I'll get fatter and balder and have a huge comic book collection.

I don't know, overall I'm doing pretty good, but I need to shake things up a little. Need to get back to Japan or something.

Oh, I got the Katamari Damacy soundtrack in the mail today and its fantastic. I paid way too much to import it, but its worth it. I may or may not have danced around in my living room listening to it.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Ten Reasons why its always better to say you like Britney Spears than Arcade fire
Written by Everett True (I wish it was me)



1. Fuck irony. Think in colors. Britney is spangled, neon pink with strands of platinum blonde hair cascading down like so many shattered dreams. The Arcade Fire is a vapid, monochrome grey with the odd flashes of indigo. One represents excess and the fascination of watching people grow up and fall apart in public. The other grew up in their bedrooms, fighting off Canada.

2. Fuck irony. Think tunes. You like pop music, right? Good production line pop music. Phil Spector, Motown, the Spice Girls, Abba, the Rolling Stones… How many Arcade Fire tunes could you hum me right now? (And don't use that tired old excuse of never having heard them here: I'm not being literal. Substitute the Arcade Fire for the Dears or the Flaming Lips or Grandaddy, and the question is still relevant.) Now, try Britney. "Oops, I Did It Again," "Baby, One More Time," "Toxic"… the list goes on and on. These are songs you could play on the piano, rock baby to sleep with at night. Don't be afraid of the obvious. (Abba and Genesis: which one has stood the test of time? Now, c'mon… )

3. She's fun! Seriously. Away from all the crass marketing angles and that totally dire video where she slashes her wrists in the bath (actually it was a Kabbalah bracelet that looked like blood), this is solid entertainment. Don't be ashamed of liking glittery, shiny things. It's perfectly natural. Look at it this way: if I wanna see people get up on stage who look like they've just stepped off the street, I'll stay out on the street and not waste my money, thanks very much. Britney is a lift away from the mundane, the everyday--she cares what she looks like.

4. Her best friend is Madonna.

5. Pop is directly designed to appeal to the senses. If you deny that appeal then it probably means there's an element of shame in your music appreciation. And that's a shame in itself. What do you have to be ashamed about? Nothing, except the approval of your parents and peers. Fuck them. Indie music, on the other hand, is directly designed to appeal to the holier-than-thou tribal aspect of being a teenager: the clothes, the look and attitude, while simultaneously going out of its way to pretend that it doesn't. But it does! It does. Just because someone is dressing down doesn't mean they aren't conscious of it.

6. It's very easy to namedrop a cool name especially if the name isn't particularly well known. Don't patronize. Everyone's heard of Britney: to admit to liking her over the Arcade Fire indicates a sincerity in your appreciation of music that should not--and cannot--be denied.

7. The Arcade Fire is for now, maybe next year. Britney is for life, or what she represents is. Her people have managed to capture and manipulate the adolescent state of mind that stays with people for life: it's a communal experience, not an insular one.--Too many artists try to shed their fans. They think that to be taken seriously, to be perceived as mature, they should be elitist. Don't ever be ashamed of your love and enthusiasm for music. Britney has never been intimidating, and yet she's never boring either. She's crazy! She wears red PVC catsuits that could start a revolution. She gets married and divorced in less than 24 hours. She tongue kisses other women on stage. She offered her services to the Republicans! (AND they rejected her.)

8. Gay people are always cooler than straight people. Not that Britney is gay, but you know what I mean.

9. She looks like typical Southern white trash, which is always appealing: but (as Dolly Parton once said) it takes a lot of money to look this cheap. What do the Arcade Fire look like? Who knows? Who cares?

10. It's never just about the music.


I've been sitting at the computer all day writing and revising a paper, so don't think its too weird if I reply to all of the posts :)

I disagree with the indie part of #5, I think the music breeds the scenesters and isn't really created to appeal to them.
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Monday, March 14, 2005

curse you meth-heads
Man, for some reason Oregon is full of Crystal Meth freaks. If you're living in a rented place, there are stories of people renting in the winter and then when the weather heats up the nasty chemicals start seeping out of the walls and rug.

Another reason why it sucks is that meth is pretty easy to make, but made even easier if you have the kind of equipment we have in the Chem Dept. So we get goons coming in on Holiday weekends trying to steal our shit. This weekend someone tried to break into one of the chem labs by breaking the doorknob. They didn't steal anything obvious and they may not have gotten in, but the door was broken.

Just a few months ago they passed a law here that drugs containing ephedrine (sudafed) have to be bought with ID from the pharmacy section since ephedrine is a precursor to crystal meth. Our feeling is that this is putting the squeeze on a few meth dealers and they're getting desperate enough to try to break into our labs. It sucks because the place should be locked so that they couldn't get upstairs, and because us grad students often come in weird weekend hours to lab and could get stuck in a compromising position. I think I'm going to start bringing my shiv with me to school on weekends if I come in.

Curse you meth heads!!!
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Sunday, March 13, 2005

And what say you!
Oh, man the Say Anything show was fantastic. The place was so small that there was no stage and I basically got to watch standing right in front of the whole band. It was a little short but very fun and worth it. I got a new shirt, and got to chat and take pictures with Max who remembered me from the last show they played here. The man himself told me they were coming back in August to headline a show. Its going to be sooooo good.

So, HC if you look at my site you can find a picture off the shirt I got you. Its the same shirt I bought the first time I saw them. I personally think its pretty cool. That should be enough, right?

http://uoregon.edu/~arobak

(pics are in the music section)
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Friday, March 11, 2005

Popplers
Somehow watching the same old futurama episodes hasn't gotten too old. Testament to how good the show is. I particularly like Professor Farnsworth and how he's always trying to kill off the crew. Throw in a few Globetrotters and its all good.

There really hasn't been a good show to replace it since Futurama went down. I think Venture Brothers has the best chance if they keep it going past the first 13 episodes. The now classis Adultswim shows like Aqua teen ans Sealab are good, but both of them are losing steam lately and getting more bizzare than funny.

I've been seeing some Star Wars trailers on TV and it looks pretty cool. I was disappointed in the last one with the cheesy love parts that were badly acted and the oddly placed CG animation. I think the best thing is that there should be a lot less hype this time around so I canjust watch and enjoy.

Say Anything this saturday in Portland!!! I'll take some pictures and post them on my site.

Ride the walrus.
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Thursday, March 10, 2005

DMC 3 continued
I got past the first true boss in Devil May Cry 3, and after you beat him you get a new weapon. Its pretty cool because in this game you can switch between guns, or between swords on the fly. It helps rack up style points since you can send someone flying up in the air with the sword, shoot him and them finish him off before he hits the ground with nunchaku (no idea how to spell that). Combine that with a decent setof moves for each weapon and you can really mix it up.

Speaking of hard games, I picked up Contra: shattered soldier for $15 and that game is fucking impossible. DMC3 is fun challenging and just has a bit of a learning curve,but Contra is insane. The first level is an homage to the SNES contra, but its pretty sick, I can't beat it and you have to start over from the beginning after 3lives. If ever a game needed a 31 lives code....

Later y'all
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