September 30, 2004

The Thrills - Let’s Bottle Bohemia (2004) permalink

Official rating: 72

When The Thrills embarked on their massive schedule of follow-up touring for their sun-drenched debut, So Much for the City, an intentional effort was made for their follow-up album to trade their beach towel comfort, albeit with hesitation, for unfamiliar beds and ephemeral urbanism that underlie the loss of that nourished contentment.

The Thrills - Let's Bottle BohemiaBy doing so, the band designed itself to rehash new settings, invoking a more casual attitude. So, as the blissful SoCal sun set on their premeditated entrance into the pop world, The Thrills became reactionary, forced to snapshoot their experiences in between those countless tour stops for their sophomore album, Let’s Bottle Bohemia.

Acknowledging the naïveté that charmed their debut, the rebuttal exudes cautious bitterness and tongue-in-cheek crooning: acerbic balladry piercing an optimistic backdrop. Frontman Conor Deasy’s lyrics sour in the wake of disenchantment throughout the record. “Curse of Comfort” unveils a skepticism that was incapable of staining their first album (”I hope love just gets in the way”). Unfamiliar experiences and demands brought the boyish Brian Wilson idolatry of their debut to its knees, and reset the band in its goal of developing a pessimistic side.

The group’s escapist attitude regarding city life fades between albums as the travel-weary Dubliners delve into the cynicism that was noticeably absent from So Much for the City. As “Found My Rosebud” suggests (”For the first time in my life/Feel like a country boy caught in the headlights”), the rushed, paved lifestyle wasn’t so easy to shrug off this time around. Devoted to embracing this new sentiment, the band recorded Let’s Bottle Bohemia in Los Angeles, only a few miles from the beaches they embodied, but noticeably distant from where they started.

Let’s Bottle Bohemia exposes the harshness of The Thrills’ nomadic fame with honesty, but similarly, their inability to re-capture the scenic poignancy that earned them that reputation.

Music — Posted by: chris @ 11:54 am

Thursday permalink

“Boyfriend’s Arm” Pillow Big in Japan

is that pillow grabbing her boob?I doubt that most of the people buying these pillows actually have a boyfriend, so why don’t they just call it the “Lonely Psycho” pillow?

Also, soon to be on the market in Japan are “Baby In My Womb” dolls, animatronic life-sized back-scratching mannequins, and the new “Anti-In-Laws” gun.

Canadian City Blocks Draft Dodger Memorial

Ah, Canada, also known “Sloth Haven”, has managed to NOT do yet another important task. This time, the inaction would have honored the inaction of Americans who fled the States during Vietnam.

It’s ok because I’m sure an entire new wave of draft dodgers will be heading North soon and drumming up new support for a draft dodger memorial.

Mexican State Recruits Cats to Fight Rats

A state government in Mexico has revolutionized the way they hunt rats, providing a glimpse into the future of rat-hunting technology. The state of Chihuahua has held and starved thousands of cats with the intent of releasing them upon the rat population.

Initial results of the program indicate that, upon release, the cats actually attack more children than rats, and have caused roughly $250,000 worth of damage already. The Mexican cats’ new reign of terror is just beginning…

Expos Leave Montreal for Washington D.C.

MLB essentially gets a new franchise because people will actually care for a while about a team that was virtually unknown. This move temporarily puts Washington D.C. ahead of Omaha, NE in terms of coolness.

News — Posted by: chris @ 9:52 am

Give Her a Hand, Everybody permalink

Give Her a Hand, Everybody

Pics — Posted by: chris @ 9:10 am

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kiss mein arse

Buddy Icons — Posted by: chris @ 9:04 am

September 29, 2004

Unemployed Bee Keepers Swarm to Municipal Jobs permalink

Bee HiveAfter floods and wild goats have destroyed many of the rich honey producing lands, Bee Keepers have been left in search of work. Though one might imagine this kind of devastation would lead to forced prostitution, many of the Bee Keepers have found sweet jobs within municipal governments. Many feel that this may be due to strong ties between the Honey Collectors 412 and the Local Steelworkers 912, others feel it is a grave oversight caused by filing errors at Human Resources.

General — Posted by: @ 2:16 pm

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“Great but not good”

Tags — Posted by: chris @ 2:08 pm

Office Space complaint of the day permalink

chernobylI hate how in Excel, if you hold down Control and select different cells, you can’t unselect them. WTF????

This is worse than Chernobyl and all of the problems it caused combined.

General — Posted by: chris @ 11:49 am

Wednesday permalink

Billy Joel to tie the knot

Despite recent speculation from synapticblur.com and other online media outlets about his patriotism, Billy Joel will go ahead and marry his long-time girlfriend this weekend. Joel, 67, will wed a 26-year-old student named Larry in a quiet ceremony in New Jersey.

“Two years ago, he checked into rehab, having lost more than 15kg after consuming nothing but red wine for almost two months.”

See? That’s what I’m talking about. Damn!

Unfortunate Whale Speared by Cruise Ship

THUD!As I’ve told many people on many occasions, one of the top 10 all-time ways to die has to be “getting run over by a cruise ship.”

The National Oceanic Waste Commission has said it will use the whale carcass to teach other whales the dangers of floating near cruise ships.

Soccer: Rooney is dazzling in his United debut

this dude is the real deal. i can already see the decade’s worth of headlines, such as “Superstar Rooney Arrested in Record-Breaking Coke Bust”

Hundreds Of Aftershocks Follow 6.0 Quake

The biggest of which being that Gary Coleman is gay. Who knew?

News — Posted by: chris @ 11:29 am

King of Bling permalink

King of Bling

Pics — Posted by: chris @ 9:13 am

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pda

Buddy Icons — Posted by: chris @ 9:05 am

September 28, 2004

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Click here to bookmark this page

Tags — Posted by: chris @ 1:49 pm

Billy Joel: Terrorist Popstar? permalink

It has come to my attention that over the course of his career, pop singer Billy Joel has expressed deep anti-American sentiment. There have been rumors of Joel’s connections to Al Qaeda, but definitive proof has not yet been found.

I have compiled some of the most important evidence against Mr. Joel, in order to aid any such investigation as to his potential as a terrorist.

F#CK THE USA1. 1987 album “F#ck the USA” released by Joel to mild critical acclaim. He says the album title was “a child’s joke” but I refuse to believe him.

2. Comment made to Time Magazine in 1981 interview:
“I’ve got a lot of beef with America right now. If I was a billionaire, I’d buy my own country somewhere in the Middle East. Muahahaha!”

3. Lyrics to the 1974 song “Roberta”

“Roberta, how I’ve adored you
I’d ask you over but I can’t afford you
I’m spendin’ all my money
Tryin’ to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge”

sketch
4. Ultra-sketchy moustache and hair

Sporting the symbolic mullet of the dissident in 1975, Billy Joel was a leading radical in the pro-Middle East movement. Just sayin’.

General — Posted by: chris @ 11:31 am

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