asimplechord

It's been a while!

Since I last posted, I:

1. had a why_me_why_not visit

2. induced said visitor to watch Generation Kill

3. saw Cobra Starship and Travie (twice). There were some other bands involved. I actually enjoyed I Fight Dragons for the novelty of using a Nintendo and DDR as instruments. Not so much the random addition of Jay Sean and other individuals to the lineup. You know your attitude is bad when a singer sarcastically thanks the ladies at the barrier who are obviously present to see the next act rather than him.

4. went to Bonnaroo. It was amaaaaaaaazing. We had VIP passes this year, so we didn't have to wait in the 16 mile line (no, really, sixteen miles on I-24 from the east, and another sixteen mile line on the opposite side of the highway, coming from Nashville), and our campsite was RIDICULOUSLY close to the What Stage. In fact, for the headliners' sets, we and others put our camp chairs out in front of the tents and partied instead of going into the paddock with the other 75k attendees. I've seen Kings of Leon before, but they were on FIRE Friday night - I guess it was the equivalent of a hometown show for them. Stevie Wonder and JayZ put on a couple of amazing sets. Weezer, The National, Gaslight Anthem, Regina Spektor, Against Me!, pretty much everyone I saw was awesome. I even saw The Young Veins' set. It was smoother, less disjointed, than the SXSW set I saw, and Ryan was better at being the frontman. There were a LOT of dudebros in the crowd cheering for them, and one yelled a request for Behind The Sea, which Ryan said he would play if only he could remember it, which made me LOL for multiple reasons. JWalk's flipflops returned, as you might imagine, since it was ~100F at Bonnaroo every day; Ryan Ross even broke a sweat. Slightly. After the set, I went over to the beer tent to get a cold one, and on my way back to the Which Stage, I ran into Andy, and talked to him for a bit about the Rooney tour and such. RyRo was there, standing off to the side talking to a fan, and as I was bidding Andy good luck their minder dragged them away for an interview with SPIN. IDK who they know at SPIN, but SPIN is giving them serious face time. Which, you know, good for them, I guess. I wouldn't care about it one way or the other if it didn't seem like Ryan Ross was trying to publicly retcon Panic At The Disco into something that only he and Jon Walker contributed to, artistically. That would be an interesting trick since JWalk joined the band well after the first album was released. And hit platinum, no? You'd think I'd be past being disappointed when he lies in interviews, since he was never my favorite. But apparently I'm still sort of invested in the douches after all.

Anyway. It was wicked hot all four days, and we ended up not staying for Dave Matthews Band (I know, ppl think I'm crazy but I am not a fan) on the last day, but overall I had an awesome time. So did Aaron. And I didn't come home with pneumonia requiring three weeks' sick leave this time, which is a total bonus!

Best sets by bands I hadn't seen before: Lucero, The xx, Blitzen Trapper.

5. spent many hours parked in front of a microscope. Indirect immunofluorescence is one of my least favorite things to do. Mostly because a lot of what I'm looking at seems so subjective. First, count cells with multiple nuclei. Then count how many cells have 1, 2, or >2 centrosomes. Then count how many focal adhesions there are per cell. And, okay, while you're at it, go back and determine cell area for each specific cell you counted FAs, so you can express that as FA per unit area. D:

6. started seriously plotting a Generation Kill/American Idiot crossover. It sort of presumes that Brad doesn't go to the UK after the initial invasion of Iraq - maybe the deal with the RM fell through for some stupid paperwork-related reason? Alternatively, I suppose I could shift Tunny joining the military to 2006, when Brad would be back at Pendleton after his stint in Devon, before 1st Marines shipped back to Iraq. I sort of prefer the idea of having it set in spring of 2004 for historical reasons, though. Suggestions?


I am past all hope of catching up on LJ after being AWOL for so long, so if anyone has a post (fic! pics! life news!) that I should see, link me please! ♥

~ The Revolting Cocks are touring with Blownload? There's a joke there, I'm sure of it.

~ JWalk just made me ♥_♥ at him for the first time in a long while.

~ Gabe has his own clothing line too? IDEK what to say. Except that I hope it doesn't include purple hoodies and other day-glo attire.

~ I know this isn't news: Ticketmaster is such a rip-off. Fuck you, no, I'm not paying $10 in fees on a $15 ticket. I'll pick it up from the box office when I'm in the vicinity for some other show reason.

~ \o/ Angels! (Even if I missed House b/c of scheduling conflicts with your epic game.)

~ I would like work-related people to stop following me on Twitter. It makes it awkward when I bitch about work problems.



Sandy is perched on the back of the sofa right behind me, and she's grooming. The wet sound of her tongue against her fur makes me shudder. WHY CAN'T SHE GO DO THAT ELSEWHERE? Like, seriously, ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE HOUSE!

Dear Rolling Stone,

Thanks for a non-partisan article where obvious side-choosing doesn't happen.

Also, thanks for spelling their names correctly, which MTV and NME (eta: and Spin /eta) seem to find difficult.

Love,
Me


Aside: Weeks later, RyRo's Peter Gabriel/Ray Davies comparison still comes off as an insult.


And finally, I have to be honest: Changes sounds like more of a rip-off of The Who and The Kinks to me than anything new. Maybe I'll like it more on repeated listening? IDK. It suits Ryan Ross's voice, but if they record an entire album that is so clearly derivative, I will be disappointed.