Am givin this my first listen though (although proper listen will be tomorrow @ work throughout the day to see how well it sits in my daily rhythm). So far so good I suppose. Lots of weird ambient noises and strange intros compared to other albums. Not sure what to make of that just yet. Definitely noticed the absence of Jason Isbell, but what ya gonna do? At least we got Sirens of the Ditch outta that departure. Lots more female vocals too. Not a bad thing, insofar. This one sounds, I dunno, more reflective? slower? somethin like that.
Anyway, it's worth more money than you're gonna pay for it, so go forth (also available on itunes and Amazon).
So that happened...prolly the only good news to come out of today. Heath Ledger went off to that brokeback mountain in the sky today. For shame, I was starting to like him, especially given that his role as The Joker looks like nothing short of a masterpiece. It certainly projects a different light on what's already the most anticipated (by me) movie of the summer.
Fred Thompson also dropped out of the race for the republican nomination today. Did he even campaign? Like did he do anything other than go on Leno and post a few Youtube vids? Pretty lame way to blow through 20 million dollars. I see the power play that went down here though. He most likely took votes of uber-conservatives and evangelicals that would have gone to Huckabee in South Carolina, so rather than risk splitting the Super Tuesday votes, he dropped out now to centralize those votes on Huckabee (who's clearly a front winner). This is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what I was hoping he'd do. Ideally, he would have stuck around through super Tuesday and kept that vote de-centralized. So that makes things all the much tougher for McCain in the next couple months (whom IM oh so HO, is the voice of reason amidst all this political gibberish---Guiliani's scandalous ass included). Meanwhile on the democrat side, their front-runners and only hope of actually taking control of the executive branch are too busy taking pot shots at each other to notice if they are alienating the independants or not. Jesus Christ how on earth do they get away with calling themselves the liberal/intellectuals? There are high school student council campaigns run with more tact and strategy than these idiots'. Democrats are making that same fucking mistake they've made the past 2 elections...they seem to think the race is between two democrats and ignoring the republicans completely.
Make no mistake, if its Huckabee, or if its McCain, the democratic nominee WILL be up against a very formidable opponent. FACT: Republicans vote..Democrats by and large do not. This in of itself will prove to be very crucial given the state of economic affairs. Furthermore, as dumb as Bush is labeled (and appears to look), he's gone round for round with Kerry and Gore in the debates. Both democratic candidates were supposedly primo debaters and ended up walking away the (arguably) loser in those things (I remember all my super left-wing friends getting all pissed cos those candidates didn't "go in for the kill"). John McCain and Mike Huckabee are way ahead of GWB in terms of debate skills. Based on what we've seen so far, either of 'em could more than handle their own against Hillary or Obama because they've both consistently taken the high road on personal attacks. Not only that, but as kooky and creepy as Mike Huckabee is with his southern baptist views...you can't deny the man has a social presence that is currently unmatched by Hillary or Barak. He's personable. Old folks will like that. And old folks vote. Hillary looks like she's all but cringing to be around people...Barak is good, but he doesn't have that good 'ol boy charm Huckabee does. And McCain, as I said is the one guy who pretty much is reasonable and not too far right or left, so I would wager he's got the best shot at securing the independants (at this juncture).
Point is..regardless of who beats who in teh democratic party...either candidate will have quite a challenge. They need to take a few notes from the way the republican campaign is being conducted and get back to the issues. Look kids, in these times of woe and want, straight talk works. Stupid pot shots like all the dumbass pundits take (on either side) are retarded and mind-numbing. Those pundits are figures engineered by the people running their programs for idiots who simply don't understand the issues and need personalities to inspire them to be excited or pissed (but at the end of the day, all they really need is for you to tune in and watch). Don't get me wrong, I have that demented part of my brain that gets pleasure out of getting pissed off at Ann Coulter just like everyone else. But Ann Coulter doesn't answer to teh same responsibilities or people a president does. We don't need a president who sinks to that level. Never did never will.
Had a time trial in swimming today. 30 minute continuous swim. I put away 2125 meters in that time. Slower than I was around mid September, but I totally wasn't prepared to be fair :-)
Oh, and I need to get on a bike trainer or somethin. It's been windy as shit on the rides home (yes, I commute daily by bike rain/snow/sleet/shine) lately and I am feelin it even in flat-ass Chicago! I'm guessing not-so-flat Alaska and southern Michigan won't be so forgiving.
Also began getting things in order with the financeers for this mortgage business. "CREDIT IS KING THESE DAYS" = exact quote from 5 different people. Not that I have bad credit, but jesus, ya really gotta throw that at me every time?
UPDATE: Better Than Creation's Dark is in fact, t3h Awesome. After a few solid listens I can't put the damn thing down. It's a total character driven album in the most awesome way. Some fuckin rockers, some mellow shit and total character all the way through. Makes me wanna buy it on vinyl (which i can supposedly do next month)