College

Well, I've been at Berea College for about 5 days now.

So far, I dunno how I really feel about this.

Yeah, I like being more or less on my own, my classes and job* (Which actually start tomorrow) Seem pretty good. I've met some nice enough people (And a few girls I'm interested in), yadda yadda yadda.

So, what's the problem? The obvious one. I'm homesick as fuck. To try and deal with it, I thought "What did I have at home that I don't here?"
Well, there's no couch (I liked sitting on the couch with the computer). But, I've got my bed, and it works just fine in the couch's place, so that's not it.
No kitchen/missing the food I had at home (I can't help it, I realllllly like some food that I or my mom often cooked). However, my roommate has a fridge, there's a microwave in the laundry room on this floor, plenty of nearby restaurants (And places that deliver), and even the school food is pretty awesome (The school food had nothing to do with me not eating for three days, that was just me being weird). Ain't that either.
No cable TV (I miss Animal Planet and Discovery). Well, really I hadn't watched as much TV as usual in months, and I can find a lot of stuff online now. Plus, I brought all my DVDs and a TV and DVD player, not to mention the movies and Doctor Who episodes on my computer and the Titan Maximum DVD I've already purchased down here. TV isn't the reason.
No car (I can't go places when I get bored or want to toy hunt). I actually haven't had a car of my own for a few months, since I went ahead and got rid of the shit-bucket Jeep, as I couldn't bring it here anyways. On the other hand though, I was able to use my mom's car to get around when I could. At least there's some places in walking distance (And biking distance, but, well... more on that later) and Berea actually runs a shuttle into town on certain days of the week. This one still sucks, but I know it can't be the cause.
No AC. In fucking August. Yeah, fuck that.

And so on. But, no matter what, I can deal with that material sort of shit. I can order toys online, walk, lay in bed and watch movies, whatever. It's not hard, and I'm learning to enjoy some of it.

So, why am I homesick?

My mom and my dog.

I really fucking miss them.

Maybe I didn't always get along perfectly with mom, and maybe my dog shed way too fucking much (I would find his hair in my damn belly button), but, you know what? I couldn't have asked for better ones. They just fit, you know? While I've been away from home and not seen mom for longer times than I have already here (Usually while visiting my dad in Texas), I'm sure knowing that this will go on for months has some affect on me.
And they were familiar. People just don't like change. It can be scary. But, you have to deal with it to move forward in life, and I have quite a long way to go forward to accomplish my dreams of comicbook artist stardom.

Oh well. I'm sure that once classes start, and I start getting out of my dorm more, and making more friends that this will all clear up, and I'll settle into a routine and this will be familiar.

Oh, also, on my third fucking day here, someone stole my goddamn bike.

~Monty


*Note: Berea gives all the students a job on campus. I'm going to be a janitor in the music department.

Umm...

Hi...

I've, uh, been busy lately. New job, trying to get into college, etc.

Also, Final Fantasy X has sucked up a lot of my time.

Sorry.

Valleys of Neptune

It was recently announced that there will be a new Jimi Hendrix album, titled Valleys of Neptune. It's made up of the final recordings he made when he died. There's a few covers (Including one of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love, which I CANNOT wait to hear, as Jimi and Clapton are the two greatest guitarists to ever live, and I'd love to hear Jimi's version of it), new versions of some of his classics, and other never before released stuff.

Jimi's why I got into classic rock, so the news of an album of his work that I haven't heard before, and has never been released is wonderful.

Speaking of unheard Jimi Hendrix stuff, and covers of songs by him, here's his version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely HEarts Club Band:

The easiest solution to the Jay Leno problem.

You may have heard of the problem NBC is having with the Jay Leno show. Basically, it sucks and is getting bad ratings. So, NBC wants to cut it's time in half and move it back to 11:30 and move back Conan and Jimmy Fallon a half hour.

11:30 is, of course, the same time Jay used to be on when he hosted the Tonight Show (His years were a definite step down from Johnny Carson, and David Letterman was always much better). Meaning all Jay will have accomplished by leaving the Tonight Show is having his show time cut in half.

After it was confirmed that this will definitely happen after the Winter Olympics (Go US/Colbert Nation Speed Skating!), Conan said he will not go on after Jay, and will quit The Tonight Show if/when this happens.

But, the answer here is simple. When you're stuck with a stupid, boring show that's tanking in the ratings, you don't move it back an hour and a half. You cancel it. And that's what NBC needs to do with the Jay Leno show.

In the end though, I don't really care, as I watch Letterman and Craig Ferguson (The funniest of all the late night talk show hosts). Then Adult Swim. Then the re-run of the newest Colbert Report, since it's on at the same time as Letterman.

How the Beatles invented metal

It's no secret that I love classic rock, and that my all time favorite band is The Beatles. Unfortunately, it seems that many people today don't realize what impact the Beatles had on music, and thus often see them as "overrated" or something along those lines. This could not be farther from the truth, which is that without the Beatles modern music would be radically different, or would have at least evolved differently. Anyways, this is something I've thought up after pondering this subject for a while. I believe it shows how much influence the Beatles had and have on other musicians.

In 1968 the Beatles released what I believe to be their best album, simply titled "The Beatles", though you probably know it as "The White Album". Track number 6 on the second disc of The White Album is "Helter Skelter". This song would later be perverted by Charles Manson and his "family". But that has nothing to do with this. Helter Skelter is radically different other Beatles songs, and shows John (Who wrote the song) had changed since the days of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and even from the Sgt. Pepper album. Many consider Helter Skelter to be the first hard rock song. While many bands and musicians, like the Who and Jimi Hendrix, had done harder stuff than the Beatles, but Helter Skelter's jagged guitar licks, yelling vocals, and boiling pace were new, and set the standard for future bands who focused almost solely on hard rock.

One of these bands was Led Zeppelin, which emerged not long after The White Album was released. Though they, much like The Beatles, had a wide range of styles, they were most known for their hard rock (Leading the uninformed to label them "jock rock"). On Zeppelin's third album (Led Zeppelin III) was the "Immigrant Song". This is one of the first, if not the very first, heavy metal song. IT would inspire artists from Black Sabbath, to AC/DC (Ugh), and from Metallica to Dethklok (I like Metalocalypse, okay?)

And it wouldn't have happened without The Beatles.

"I've got blisters on me fingers!"