I'm still alive and mostly well! Here's (more than) a couple modestly interesting tidbits of my life:

Today I was on a field trip with my Java class to High Voltage Software. They made the Hunter series (and not much else, but whatever); it was pretty cool to visit a game studio since that's what I want to do when I get out of college. The manager leading us on the tour joked that if any of us got left behind we would be put to work; I considered it

Prom is tomorrow. Exciting! I love excuses to dress nicely! Maybe more on that later, like, after it happens. I'm totally looking forward to playing Twister downtown. And Kristy and I are going to be shnazzy

So a few guys got together tonight to watch FLCL. For those of you that don't know, FLCL is an anime that is at once both insanely spastic and profoundly introspective. For a pretty good example of this, on this viewing I interpreted the giant robots sprouting from the main character's head as physical embodiments of his growth to maturity. I f'ing LOVE FLCL. It's six episodes long, so the entire show is shorter than like one Lord of the Rings movie. And the episodes are PACKED with food for thought as well as wtf-inducing action. Eventually you get to the point where you don't even flinch as a character unexpectedly bursts through the window and crashes into the TV in the middle of an otherwise ordinary scene. And it's poignant and poetic at the same time. Wow.

I have two potential jobs this summer! The fallback plan is to work at Ravinia; something like $6/hr, and at least I know people there. But my other potential job: I could end up interning for a software company that a member of my church congregation is in! I would get paid like 3 times as much AND be programming; it's economical, and it's a small foot in the door for programming jobs down the line. Here's hoping that AP Java taught me something.

Oh yes! Last Tuesday was the LAST BAND CONCERT OF HIGH SCHOOL EVAR ;_; And we played my own Legionary Fanfare ^____^ It was soooo coooool. Apparently Mr. B was just planning on reading it a few times and making a recording, but I wisely gave everyone such good parts that they wanted to keep playing it! Finishing performing the world premiere (lol) was, I swear, the most rewarding feeling an artist could possibly have.

Last day of school on Tuesday! w00000t! I'll miss DHS, sure, but it's really time for me to move on. I'm soooo looking forward to college. IU Class of '10!

Aaaaand I mentioned in my previous journal (so long ago) that I had just gotten my PC up and running. It is BEAUTIFUL. After playing many many hours of Oblivion on it at pretty damn high GFX settings (near all the detail sliders maxed, 1024x768 with 2x AA [looks better than 1280x1024 without AA], and generally no lower than 25fps), I am crazy pleased. My motherboard has room for tons of expansion, with the ability to add 4 SATA hard drives, 3 GB more memory, and an extra graphics card; I'll see how the programming job turns out That said, I'll probably want an electric guitar before upgrading this PC any more.

There's a new composition in the works I have the english horn solo part written in full, now I just have to write the accompanying piano or string quartet, depending on how it turns out. Actually, I might just write both versions. We'll see!

Listen to this:

Hell yeah it does. All those upgrades I feared I would have to buy- well, they're bought, they're installed, and they run like a dream. Haven't had the chance to play Oblivion on this machine yet, but it will be beautiful.

New specs for the interested techy sorts: ASUS A8N32-SLI motherboard, AMD Athlon X2 3800+ dual core processor, GeForce 7600 GT gfx card, Audigy 2 ZX sound card, 1GB RAM (the next thing to upgrade).

In other news, the AP Computer Science test is insanely trivial. Can't discuss details, of course, because the CollegeBoard is full of information nazis--but I'll just note that I completed one of the four free response questions in 2 minutes (you get an hour and 45 for that section). Easy. Two more APs, and I can already tell that the AP Physics is going to rape my mind.

Musicwise: I've been listening to my extremely limited bluegrass collection recently. Nickel Creek's self-titled debut album is spectacular; their later stuff, I think, moves too far away from the bluegrass awesomeness and too far into your average acoustic pop trite. Wasted talent. At least the debut is awesome. Also excellent, of course, is Bela Fleck - Tales from the Acoustic Planet Vol. 2 is quite good.

Photos! I've started scanning some of my film stuff, as some may have noticed (Casual Waltz and Umbrellas); I hope to get more of it up ASAP. Just that my scanner is awful, so I have to do it at school where the scanners take 15 minutes to scan a photo (and I have to spend another 45-60 to Photoshop all the dust and crap off of the scans).

Listen to this:

Oh boy. If anyone feels like giving me a slightly early graduation present, now is definitely the time. Not only is my graphics card apparently suffering from slight trauma, but now my motherboard is completely dead. It's definitely the motherboard (or processor)- I tested it by pulling everything out of the computer save the board and the power supply (which is working fine- the motherboard is getting power), and hell- I even hooked it up to the power switch on my second comp to make sure that the power switch itself isn't the problem. No dice; the board simply will not turn on. Here is an overview of my expenses that I will have to pay shortly:

New motherboard (Asus A8N32-SLI)... ~$225
New processor (Athlon 64)... $300
New graphics card (7600GT, because I need a PCI-E card and my X800 is AGP)... $180
Laptop (because I need one for college)... $a lot
MP3 player (because it would honestly be cheaper than burning all of my music to CDs)... $120-$280
Tuition... $a billion

......yeeeeah. Any rich people hanging about?

Oh! And it wouldn't be a journal entry if I didn't give you all some new music to check out. Listen to Ozric Tentacles: they are fucking amazing. Prog rock meets psychedelic trance. I can't get over how much I love this band. (Thanks to ~dedbeet for pointing them out!)

Listen to this:

...not that I care.



Today I discuss a band which I have been looking for an album from for a long time. I recently (in the last few days) came across three, so let the review commence!

Deadsoul Tribe [ Progressive Metal ]
Deadsoul Tribe is a really excellent band. Now, I have said this about lots and lots of bands. I really mean it here, enough that I will repeat. Deadsoul Tribe is a really, really excellent band. It features singer/writer/multi-instrumentalist Devon Graves, formerly of Psychotic Waltz (still looking for albums by them) along with drummer Adel Moustafa, guitarist Roland 'Rollz' Kerschbaumer, and bass guitarist Roland Ivenz. In terms of sound, there are two frequently referenced spectrums on which progressive metal bands are rated: heaviness and similarity to other bands (generally Dream Theater). In terms of the former, I would consider the band overall as fairly heavy- not brutal like Meshuggah or the heavier bits of Opeth, but the music overall packs a harder punch than Dream Theater's Awake or the like. In terms of the latter, I would say that the closest relative that comes to mind is Pain of Salvation, a band that I don't believe I have yet recommended at length and which I certainly recommend now (listen to The Perfect Element, Part I), or perhaps Riverside with most of the Porcupine Tree sound reduced. The three albums I have listened to (2003's A Murder of Crows, 2004's The January Tree, and 2005's The Dead Word) all have seemed equally accessible; I'm listening to A Murder of Crows now, and I would say to check out that one first, followed by The Dead Word. Go forth and listen!

Listen to this:

Three great albums today for you folks to check out.

Circus Maximus: The 1st Chapter
Prog metal, much in the vein of Dream Theater and Queensryche. Fans of either would probably be pleased with this release; the influence of classics like DT's Awake and Queensryche's Promised Land abound, while being overall a touch heavier than either.

Joe Satriani: Super Colossal
While not quite released yet, I can already tell you that this release from the godlike guitarist is... uh... going to be a fantastic album! Likely one of the best of 2006. Standout tracks include the title track, It's So Good, Redshift Riders.

Mind's Eye: Walking on H2O
For some reason, this band reminds me of Genesis (from the Peter Gabriel days, of course). Another best-of-2006 album, Walking on H2O is a great, energetic prog rock offering. The first real track "A Rabbit In The Hat" pretty much sets the mood for the whole album.

Listen to this: