The wizard will wait

What does that mean?

I dunno, something.

And if that aimless beginning implies a certain aimless-ness of my life of late, then it may very well be true. But then again, all aims have their seasons.

In actuality little of my ambition has been lost, perhaps just buried for a moment here and there, covered over by some disappointment and miscalculation.

Ah, miscalculation, and that perhaps is the rub, for so much easier and indeed more successful would my ventures be without calculation, but the requirements of pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, the limits of which are my death, does require a bit of skill and cleverness.

And a bit of a gamble. So I calculate. So I lie. So I pretend and dabble and fail and fumble, but then again... As a priest pointed out at my last Confession, I am too hard on myself. Yes I do need motivation, but I'm trying, I'm striving, and if I don't always succeed...

Ah well, all of this rumbling does not solve my problems, of which there aren't any... well not really, nothing urgent, nothing pressing, hence the aimless-ness. In this sort of uncomfortable haze of a life, relying not on the thrill (because life does go on without it) of life but rather the inertia... it's easy... and that I'm trying to get free (perhaps the solution is that I need to get out of California, except I'm in New Jersey), well that's something.

Still, I'd like something more to come from my life, and in response to that I think I ought have faith in He who I love above all else, and in Him is the hope of all possibilities, of striving toward all goodness, and finding it in His Infinite Love.

God's Love, it's just so beautiful.

So what am I complaining about... really I mean come on! I have God with me, always, forever, what more can I ask for, what more do I need? And if the road is tough, perhaps it is just tough to bring me closer to He who shouldered the Cross on a very tough road, and if I fall sometimes, perhaps it is just so I have the honor of Him picking me up. And the Lord remains always.

And so, even in the cold midnight, it's still a beautiful day.

So take it to your head, take it to your heart and remember Rand rocks. Goodnight Folks!

And God Bless.

You can't stop the music, even if you wanted to

And still the beat goes on. I've been putting off doing a music session for a while for a while because of a bunch of reasons really, I guess I was frustrated with YouTube and the often shallow selection of AMV's there (I mean come on people do you really have put every single song to Fullmetal Alchemist, and Naruto, come on people why Naruto? (I think I actually understand why Naruto appeals to people, it combines a fairly straight forward fighting anime with simple comedy and drama elements, nothing especially fancy, nothing especially well integrated, and not up to great standards, but I can see how people could like it, especially if this was the first anime they saw (or simply the first they saw after Pokemon and Yugi-Oh))). I was also just generally avoiding doing a real session because, well, things fall apart.

And things aren't well, now, but still we must press on, even if we'd rather stop.

Anyways, even though I touched on this before I thought I'd start things off with:

1. A Perfect Situation by Weezer - From the album Make Believe - I'm not going to go too deeply into it since like I said I touched on this song before in this previous session. But it is damn good song, so chuck filled with emotion that at the end all you can say is Ooooooh, Ooooh, Oh, Ooooh, except it time and melody with the song, alright fine, Ooooh doesn't work well when written out.

Lyrics

Weezer's video - An awesome video, funny, cool and still it reaches into your heart and gives it a little squeeze

A Perfect Situation AMV - anime - Midori Days - Despite the anime being about a guy with a girl on his hand (no, this is not porn), the anime's filled with that wishfillness for romance just like the song, and this AMV really brings out that emotion, sometimes its a bit too literal it its imagery but it connects the video with the song and comes out better for it so well, well done video maker, well done.

2. Sunday, Bloody Sunday by U2 - From the album The Joshua Tree - This is an immensely stirring song. It is about the Bloody Sunday Massacre, you can check a small primer on the matter on Wikipedia. It was part of the greater Northern Ireland conflict, but ulitimately the song boils down to a roar against violence. And this was before Bono became so goody-two-shoes that it just makes you want to smack him upside the head.

Lyrics

U2's video - a standard concert video, which I suppose in its simplicity underlines the seriousness of the emotion, but I prefer a later fan made video made with clips from a movie depicting the events of Bloody Sunday, U2 video stuff, and some photos from the day itself.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday AMV - anime - Neon Genesis Evangelion - A damn good AMV, I must say. It certainly connects in terms of energy and mood with the song and much of that connection is due to the choice of elements by the AMV-maker. Still it strikes me as interesting choice thematically since Neon Genesis Evangelion is all about Senji's struggle to find a reason to fight and Sunday, Bloody Sunday is well about not fighting. But the great anguish of war, that's the connecting element the AMV picks out well.

3.London Calling by the Clash - From the London Calling - The desperate, insanity. The utter energetic pessimism. The nihilisticly joyous anger. Ahhh, that's the stuff. That's the ROCK!!!!

Lyrics

The Clash's Video - Now like the U2 video for Sunday, Bloody Sunday this is largely just the guys playing their music (although not at a concert), but the setting, the lights and shadows, the angles and the cutting all create a better video. Just a little tip for you aspiring video directors. (Note this is actually an altered version with some video edits and remastered sound, if you want this is the original video)

London Calling AMV - anime - Rurouni Kenshin - Now I don't like to repeat myself with animes I have unsure opinions on (I used to watch this a couple times but I didn't really get into it then, maybe I'll watch it some time in the future), but I really wanted to have a London Calling AMV and this one captured the chaos of emotions that swirl around in this song, and it does it with swords!!!

4. Best of You by the Foo Fighters (keep on fighting that Foo guys!) - From the album In Your Honor (it's in my honor, not in you guys', I'm the special one here) - I always felt this song was about the struggle to maintain hope and passion against tragedy. Least that's my ways of it, but this much I know, and I know this for trues, this song is awesome.

Lyrics

The Foo Fighter's video - insane video, but if this song isn't about insanity, it's about something mighty close to it.

Best of You AMV - anime - various - This AMV belongs to the cutting edge of the genre, where people use really nice video editing software to punch up their videos with fades and live action implants and the like (as well as obnoxious opening bits), but none of that would be enough without the meat and cheese of AMV craftsmanship (by the way my little sister has gone vegan which means she has given up both meats and cheeses), scene selection, tonal matches, energy correlation, etc. And this succeeds, it contains a sense of strength, of yearning, of deep struggle, of passionate emotions, and of mental anguish. Maybe not exactly what I got from the song but plenty close enough to the song to enhance it and let it shine.

5.Eye of the Tiger by Survivor - From the Rocky III Soundtrack - Dude, anyone who listens to this song before a performance or competitive event and does not get pumped up has no soul, or doesn't the song (but then they're just lame).

Lyrics

Survivor's video - alright this isn't actually Survivor's video, but it's close enough since the song was designed for Rocky III (besides you can't tell me what to do! You're not my real mom (unless mom is reading this)!)

Eye of the Tiger AMV - anime - Naruto - After griping about Naruto before, why feature a AMV with Naruto? Because I can! Also I'm willing to give that Naruto is a decent fighting anime (although I'm not crazy about all that jitsu stuff, I mean I know it gives a systematic sense to made up martial arts, but after a while it just sounds lame), and it is occasionally able to throw its characters into some nice combat scenes that can be nicely sliced up, smacked together and turbo-charged with the awesomeness of this song to explode into greatness (although I will smack this AMV a little for incorporating a lot of scenes from a Naruto plotline actually featuring a special eye (you can tell this if you read the subtitles that are left in (little tip for AMV makers, unless you plan on incorporating the subtitles, just use a dubbed version))).

So that's it for the music biz. And that's the biz with music and siz. It's nice to really invest some effort into a session like this. Even if these music sessions aren't as intense as the normal sessions (and that's a real if, since I'm always surprised by how long music sessions actually take to put together), it gives a little sense of accomplishment, even if my readership is small enough that I could beat them up with one hand tied behind my back and the other connected to an electric beating machine.

Little side notes: Congrats to old Piro and his wife Sera on their baby Jack!

Also my sympathy to Ryan Sohmer for his recent loss of his cat, baby (the comic on that is here and he has a blog entry on it here).

Odd how that ended up. I've never met these guys, but I've always admired them (to a degree), and they inspired me in part to get onto this interweb, so well, well that's that.

As to my own stuff, well, it's my own, and I have other feelings and shout outs I'd like to give, but I don't care to be coy or irreverent and so I no longer care to continue this session (although I should be back for another one tommorow, why? Because I'm just that awesome).

So take it to your head, take it to your heart, and remember Rand rocks. Goodnight Folks!

Even more quotable, even more boatable, roughly the same amount of John

"I like to quote myself, because I'm just that awesome."- Rand

"The world is hollow, and I have touched the sky."-Star Trek, episode title

"If you're going to be an ass, you should be a spectacular one. At least then it would become a character trait and people would have some warning about your ass-like behavior. A slight ass is like a virus, invisible and infectious, and he sours all the relationships around him. Of course it is best not to be an ass at all." - Rand

"The stars are like dust, and history is infinite."- Rand

"Art belongs to the people." - Lenin

"No, art belongs to the truth. But yo momma belongs to the people." - Rand

"People do not do things over and over again without getting some joy out of it." - Bob Kelso, Scrubs

"Which would do you think the tiger would prefer, being a dead rug in the seat of power or being alive in the jungle.

Alive in the jungle.

So would I."-Prez Richards, Sandman

"You're on my mind all of the time, I know it's not enough." - Electrical Storm, U2

"It is best to be both feared and loved, however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved." - The Prince, Machiavelli

"I'm both quotable and boatable, are you?" - Rand

Zebras eat fruit too

So my first pick of 5 awesome songs to share with you oh so unworthy people, but who I love so much, it makes my heart ache, it really does, or does not, either way here's so songs and song-related stuff-a-ma-gigs.

Awesome songs (not my favorites, in no particular order but still completely awesome):

1. Unforgiven by Metallica - From the Black Album - Metallica's ode to resigned and complete rage and desperation
Lyrics

Metallica's video

Unforgiven AMV- anime : Record of Lodoss War- I chose to embed this one because this is one of the first AMV (anime music video)'s I saw, and it still is one of my favorites. Perfectly captures the song and the anime.


2.Electrical Storm by U2 - From The Best of 1990-2000 - Excellent, undervalued song. It's from the a best of album but it is actually only found there which is probably why it's undervalued. Beautiful line - "You're in my mind all of the time, I know it's not enough."
Lyrics

U2's video- I love how this video projects such immense atmosphere that captures romance but also a sadness and struggle.


Electrical Storm AMV- anime : Serial Experiments Lain - I like this video though I'm unsure (and by unsure I mean I'm unsure) how well it works with Serial Experiments Lain. Still I haven't seen that many videos with Serial Experiments Lain before, and it is a great anime.

3. Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance - From The Black Parade - Odd song, perhaps that's it's charm. Complex, lyrically interesting, deep and it's got enough quality to pull the whole thing off. Also I thought I should include something new for you emo-heads.
Lyrics

My Chemical Romance's video


Welcome to the Black Parade AMV - anime: Fullmetal Alchemist - Anime is perhaps a little too spot on for very specific lyrics, the protagonist has serious father issues, but it does go with the dual tones of the song, and it overall provides some nice visuals.

4. Still Waiting by Sum41 - From Does This Look Infected? Album - The song that showed Sum41 had a lot more depth than the average punk-pop band and a hell of a lot more anger than their earlier singles. Perfect undirected, everywhere directed anger.
Lyrics

Sum41's video

Still Waiting AMV - anime : Samurai Champloo - Given that both characters are mad at the world so this anime has a nice fit. I think I'm not alone in that assessment since a lot of people seem to have made AMV's with this video. This AMV in particular focuses mostly on the fighting motions, beautiful in this anime, than the more atmospheric pieces of it, which perhaps is good since that allows it to be pissed as hell without being melodramatic.


5. I'm Going to Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers - From Sunshine on the Leith Album - Let's end on a sweet and happy note. Beautiful, cute, lovely song full of energy and feeling and just great. It really captures that overpowering, often stupid, desire to do anything you can for the one you love.
Lyrics

The Proclaimer's video

I'm Going to Be (500 Miles) AMV - anime : Ranma 1/2 - Another old video from my youth. But given Ryoga's feelings, it goes perfectly with him. I always wished Ryoga ended up with Akane instead of Ranma, but I always knew that couldn't happen. Still Ryoga's overwhelming feelings, just like the songs, just marvelous.


That's all for now. It actually took me a lot longer than I thought, but I doubt I'll have any time for any more given my busy moving schedule today. So take it to your head, take it to your heart and remember Rand rocks. Goodnight Folks!