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See the following journal entries! ----- Artist Page Added: Reviews Added: The Ocean Blue: The Ocean Blue (1989)
--August 21, 2004 Hello, everybody! ... The first two days of school went well. My very first class wasn't holding class that day (there was a note taped to the door, though, to read the first chapter of our textbook) and then geology was also cancelled. The teacher, I guess, didn't figure we would show up, because it was a lab! ...... But we did anyway! ... Eh, we had fun. I suppose I should mention a few things in regards to the artists that I have been reviewing. The Moody Blues and The Byrds have both been suspended right now and may or may not be picked up again in the future. I am missing only one track on the subsequent Byrds release Untitled/Unissued, which is keeping me from reviewing it. And, for some reason, Rhapsody just decided to delete the final two Moody Blues albums off their server! ... Eh, it's just as well. I wasn't too keen on reviewing them, anyway! So, that's it with them! I just wrote the final Rolling Stones album review the other day, and my next Bob Dylan review will be his last as well. Once I get around to digging up Yellow Submarine by The Beatles, I'll be through with them as well! And now I'm starting a bunch of brand new, awesome artists! Peter Gabriel's first album I'm listening to as we speak and will probably review this sometime tomorrow. I also started doing The Pixies. I know they've been 'over-reviewed' within the WRC (...you know, my most major criticism has been that I cover artists that have been over-reviewed in the Web Reviewing Community...), but I don't care. I want to review them anyway! I'm hoping that I'm at least temporarily pleasing these critic critics by posting such things as "The Ocean Blue" and "Carl Ludewig" of all obscure people! ... I also ought to someday cover more famous people that have hardly been reviewed at all such as Cyndi Lauper and Robert Palmer (the latter of which I actually have some respect for) some day. But for now, I'm ready to get on with Peter Gabriel and The Pixies! I also noticed that I don't have very many black rock stars on this site ... I have one: Barry White. But I dislike Barry White. A Perfect Circle has some ethnic diversity and I guess technically Arabesque does, too (one of them is part-Mexican, I believe) ... but I need to make this site diverse ... because this is a diverse world ..... and my rock review site ought to reflect the diverse world of rock music! So, maybe sometime I'll do some Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson (if Michael Jackson actually counts anymore). --M.L. Artists Added: Reviews Added: David Bowie: Outside (1995)
--August 17, 2004 Hello! Well, work at the movie theater is actually okay ... I think it is something that I can stick around with for awhile. It's odd that I'm pretty much the oldest non-manager there but not by a whole lot. On Sunday, I cleaned up the theaters. Yesterday, I worked the concession area. It's not glorious work, but ... it's a job! And I don't hate it. Yet. I strongly prefer the cleaning-up-theater bit (and I told that to the manager), so I think I'm going to be doing that more often than not. I'm working again tomorrow morning from 10:30 a.m. 'till 5 p.m. at the concessions. It won't be busy, so there's not too much room for cock-up. I'm sort of snailing with my reviews on the site. I think I'd like to take a short break away from the site, but that's not official yet. The movie review converting has been going fine, though. I'm still remembering movies that I saw within the past six-months or so to write little paragraphs on. Oh, crap! I start school again on Thursday! ... That's really been at the back of my mind. I suppose I should pretend like I'm excited or something. --M.L. Reviews Added: R.E.M.: Automatic For the People (1992)
--August 14, 2004 Hah! I really meant to post these reviews before I left on my trip (...actually, I was going to post everything on my queue before I left...), but I was too caught up on attempting to argue politics on Music Babble that I just ran out of time. Anyway, the trip went swimmingly! We went to Detroit and watched a Detroit vs. Red Sox game (and Detroit actually won), and then we went to Lansing, Michigan to visit my grandparents as well as my aunt and two cousins who were there, too. It was a good trip ... always a good place to go for a change of pace. Can't say I missed things around here in Wichita, and I sort of needed a break from music reviewing. Just as well that my PDA system had some technical difficulties, so I never took it along on the trip and I didn't do a lick of music reviewing. I did a lot of music *listening*, though. Most notably, I listened to a lot of Renaissance, which I have indicated that would be a band that I plan on reviewing in the near future. My bootlegged copies of them proved that Renaissance is so enjoyable to me that I'm just going to go ahead and actually *buy* them. (Oh ... such a foreign concept to me!) I've been having a lot of requests for artists. I went ahead and solicited for requests on Music Babble and I got a lot of requests that Rhapsody doesn't hold ... but I got a few that I could do. Richard Hell is one (sounds like someone so obscure, I'll have fun with it) ... Someone also more recently requested Randy Newman (someone I already know that I basically like) and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (not sure about this one)! Now that I officially closed out my Supertramp and Madonna pages (and some others very soon), I can probably start some of these soon. Of course, I'm going to start on Peter Gabriel before any of those, as I've planned. I start my job tomorrow. I hope I like working there. It all depends on the management. If the management is good, I'll like the job. All the places that I hated the management, I thought the job was a total bummer. So, here's hoping! Lastly, I want to mention that I really *am* going to put my capsule movie reviews on this site. I'm up to "The Conversation" on my rewriting efforts now. ... This will take awhile, of course, because I've got 801 reviews on there! ... And I think there are some others stored somewhere deep within my archived files where I can find a few dozen others. I'm also writing new ones as I see them (and a few that I've seen in recent memory). Don't worry, though. I watch movies, anyway, and this will certainly not become the foremost brainchild of this site. Now that I can get into movies for free and I will very soon re-sign up for netflix.com ... and I already wrote nearly 900 of them, I had might as well put 'em on. We probably won't start seeing these for two or three months, though. Until my next update ... which I hope won't be too long from now ... --M.L. Artist Page Added: Reviews Added: Queen: Queen (1973)
--July 30, 2004 Oh, crap! The freaking month of freaking JULY is almost freaking over! Arrgagag! ... Oh ... well, it doesn't matter. I think the last time I've ever dreaded school as an entity was when I was in high school. (Although, I did dread going back to K-State for the spring semester ... but that was a different kind of dread.) Oh! Guess what! I got a job! (Wooowooowooowooowooowooo!) It's at the Warren Theatre ... the most upscale movie theatre in town ...... that is paying minimum wage ... Hmmm. Oh well! The sheer fact that I get to see movies for free (especially ones that I would never even dream of actually paying for) basically makes up for that. And I was also thinking: what's the big difference between $5.15/hr and $6.25/hr (what I made at my last hourly job). I'd only make about $20 a week more, and if I see a couple movies a week (also counting a friend or relative that I'd try dragging in with me), I'd make up for that with flying colors. (Not to mention all the friends I would probably make out of this predictament.) And ... to me ... movies is not only something to do, it's a freaking way of life! ...... Well, not quite, actually. But I do imagine that I enjoy movies more than your average schmoe. Alright! I did work at a movie theater before, and I recall absolutely ABHORRING it (and I didn't actually see too many movies), but I'm about five years older now, I'm partly college-educated, I can see R-rated movies, and I'll actually try to figure out how to use the cash registers this time before I start working. I should be fine. Speaking of movies, I bought THE ultimate western for only $10 at Best Buy! Once Upon a Time in the West. It's not only a western; it's a work of art ... and the music is real kick-butt (the music makes it feel like an opera). I also bought Labyrinth for $10 ... that's a movie that I was going to buy eventually. I came to terms with that! Yesterday, I got a great deal on some great CD's at a used disc store. For less than $20, I bought Television's Marquee Moon, Paul McCartney's Venus and Mars, David Bowie's Hours (yes, it's true ... I hadn't had that one yet even though I'm quite familiar with it...), and The Move's Something Else By the Move. The last one I just got 'cause I could. The chances of me ever seeing that CD anywhere else is practically nilch. (I had some luck a few months back with that used CD store and Roy Wood ... they also had a singles collection of The Move as well as Roy Wood's Main Street. Again, I would never get those albums if it wasn't for the sheer fact that I could. Main Street is the only one of those that I sort of enjoy.) And so, another chapter unfolds onto Don Ignacio. And this chapter is pretty heavy, and Don Ignacio is squished. And he dies. M.L. (1945 - 1982 - 200?) Artist Page Added: Reviews Added: The Decemberists: Castaways and Cut-Outs (2002)
--July 25, 2004 This was a very interesting update today! All of the albums uploaded today are among the highest-rated albums on the site ... that is, of course, except for that Kiss album, which is among the lowest! ... But all the other ones scored somewhere in the 9-category. I really was quite impressed with that Together We're Heavy by The Polyphonic Spree ... That's some great mood music if you're into that type of thing. The Demberists are just a modern, and VERY tasteful band. I was impressed with them a lot, too, and I'm about ready to review their subsequent release, which is similar in quality. ... The Beatles compilation album getting a 9.8 is self-explanatory! ... So many classic songs on that one! I couldn't even review it seriously the danged thing was so immaculate. Well, I had a request today for Peter Gabriel. (The request was by Simon B., who sent me quite a few of his own reviews for the albums on this site!) Gabriel is another person that I had been wanting to start reviewing, so I'll do that most happily! I own real copies of his first two albums, and all the rest of them are on my streaming music service. ... I'm going to go on a trip within two weeks for two weeks, and I'll probably review those two then. At the moment, I have a lot of other stuff to do! ... I had a lot of fun reviewing some brand new bands, but now I think I need to finish up the Bob Dylan, the Kiss, the Beatles (Yellow Submarine is the only one left!), and ... all sorts of other stuff! There will probably be another update tomorrow. I'm going to spend most of the day next to the phone trying to call people for the 8 billion articles that I have to write. Until then... --M.L. Artist Page Added: Reviews Added: The Barenaked Ladies: Gordon (1992)
--July 22, 2004 Whooooohoooooooooo! I finally hit the 300-review mark! ... How happy I feel!!!! It's time to celebrate by getting NAKED!!!!!!!!!! Alright, I've been holding back on you with these reviews ... My queue is still ungodly, and I've got to do a better job about updating with more speed. (I have 18 reviews that are written and not posted yet ... that's just too much.) Anyway ... My interview with Gordman's was alright. I seriously doubt that I'll have a job, but there's always hoping. I visited the video place inquiring why she didn't call me yet (she said she was going to do it on Monday) ... but just looking at the way she treated me (like snot), it doesn't look like I have much of a chance there, either! ... But now, I have an interview with Kohls (a clothing store) on Tuesday, so I'll certainly let you know how that didn't go! Ummmmm ... Oh, man, I got some real real difficult news assignments with The Sunflower. I tried contacting a few people today about them, but nobody was there. ... I'm going to be pretty busy in the next few days I expect! Until whenever ... --M.L. Artist Page Added: The Polyphonic Spreeeeeeeeeeeeee Reviews Added: The Polyphonic Spree: The Beginning Stages Of... (2002)
--July 20, 2004 Hmmm ... You know what? I'm just really tired right now. Earlier this morning, I decided that I didn't really want to have people vote on a list of artists for me to start reviewing, so I axed it. I still don't have a job, but I got an interview with "Gordman's" ... I figure I don't have much of a chance there, though, because the only people they hire are crabby old ladies. Not much of an update, I'm afraid ... maybe I'll see you tomorrow ... Although I actually have things to *do* tomorrow ... ... imagine that. --M.L. Reviews Added: Bob Dylan: Down in the Groove (1988)
--July 19, 2004 I've added all sorts of weird crap to the site today! ... Let's see, I created a "links" page ... a "site activities" page ... a "biography" page ... I added my "review queue" to this page. I've also added a more prominent link to the short stories section of this site (that's been here since October, but a link to it was hidden on the F.A.Q. page). I've written quite a bit more short stories than that ... I'm in the process of uploading more of them. ... Although, that part of the site probably won't be very active. I haven't written a short story in ages. Also, if you've taken a look at the "review queue" page, you'll note that I have simply an UNGODLY number of album reviews that I have waiting to be uploaded. The reason for that, simply, is that updating this site is a lot of work! Another "exciting" piece of news about this site is that I re-do (i.e. re-writing) "Don Ignacio's Movie Reviews," which is currently on an add-ridden Tripod site, and probably put it on a movies.donignacio.com page. Not only that, I'm planning to constantly update that as well. If you dare to visit that site with the upteenbillion pop-ups that are on there, you'll notice that every single review gets its own page. Well, I will not be doing that in my re-vamp. I'll just clump them all together. Today, I spent literally hours rewriting the reviews ... and I've only barely gotten into the Bs. That's going to be a giant project, because I have 801 reviews on there. (801 is a Roxy Music spinoff band come to think of it) ... And I will be writing new ones as well during this time. Be sure to also check out the site activities / requests page. I *am* taking review requests, you know! R.E.M. and the soon-to-be-appearing Queen pages are being done because somebody somewhere requested them. (Although, to be fair, I was probably going to do Queen soon anyway.) About my personal life, absolutely nothing happened today! ... I spent the entire day, practically, sitting at the computer! ... and I think I need to stretch. I was a bit disappointed that Hollywood Video didn't call. The interview on Friday went alright, but they said they were going to call me today ... and they didn't! ... Arrrrrrgh! Oh well. Perhaps they'll call tomorrow. If not, I've got to get back on the job-search chopping block! There will almost certainly be another update tomorrow. (I'm also nearing 300 reviews ... how exciting.) --M.L. Reviews Added: The Beatles: Past Masters Vol. 1 (1988)
--July 16, 2004 Well, I just got finished reviewing two *great* albums, that I feel totally pumped up! The first was the debut album from a band called "The Decemberists," which ... wow! I had no idea that a brand spanking new rock band could be so awesome! I gave that album a 9.4, which I think is the highest I've given a new album. (Although, I think when I get around to reviewing Bowie's "Heathen," it might be dethroned, but still ... that's amazing.) After that, I reviewed The Kinks' "Everybody's in Showbiz." ... I had no idea that The Kinks were so enjoyable to listen to in concert! And the studio half of it was pretty good as well. Right now, I'm listening to the brand new Polyphonic Spree album. I reviewed their debut less than a week ago, and they already have a new one! Both are pretty neat! For the record, I do realize that I skipped a Bob Dylan studio album. His 1988 Down in the Groove is written ... I should have posted that one instead of Oh Mercy, but it got out of order on my queue. In case you were wondering, my Brookstone interview went fine. I wasn't offered a job with them or anything, but if they do offer me one, I'm planning on turning it down. They have sales quotas for their sales employees, which I wouldn't necessarily be against, but they sell such inessential items there! I don't want to leave that job in three months because I couldn't manage to sell anyone a $1000 vibrating bed. I was hoping for a job that I would both *want* and *be able to* keep until I graduate from college. I have my Hollywood Video interview to go, which I will be getting ready for after I finish writing this entry, and that is a job that I *definitely* would like to get. (If not for any other reason, it's for the free rentals ... I'm a pretty big movie buff, you know.) If that doesn't work out, I got a call from "Backwoods," a very small but fancy sporting goods chain that called me in for an interview. Although, he never gave me a time for the interview for some reason ... and I was forced to reveal that I was going to another interview today, so I'm afraid that he might not call me back now. Oh well. I'll get a job eventually. And I'm in a good financial position where I can wait awhile until I get a job that's really good. I'll let you know how that all goes ... as if you really care ... Oh! And you might also like to check out the main Beatles page. I wrote a band introduction for them! ... More band introductions will hopefully start appearing on this site. I've also started working on a 'links' page. Probably, I'll have that on here by the next update. --M.L. Reviews Added: Arabesque: Arabesque IV (1980)
--July 13, 2004 There, see? I had a pretty timely update! And I've been writing a fair number of reviews, too, these past few days. More importantly than that, however, is I've gotten two pretty juicy job interviews lined up for Thursday and Friday. And I would want either of these jobs badly enough to cease any and all job-applications until I know for certain that I won't be getting either of those jobs. (I'm almost more frightened by the thought that I would be offered both jobs ... I'd have to turn one down, then, and that might make me feel bad.) I have an interview at Brookstone (a place that sells a bunch of fancy gift items) and Hollywood Video (the place I went to every Friday afternoon when I was in high school). At any rate, it's great that I didn't spent Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday filling out applications at random places for nothing. (Especially that time when I was stranded at the grocery store parking lot for an hour because my mom's car suddenly decided not to work.) Speaking of the cars, we have them all back now! Hurrah! I do hope there will be another update in another few days. --M.L. Reviews Added: Reviews Added: 8mm: Opener [EP] (2004)
--July 10, 2004 Hello! Remember me? ... I've been away for a week and I don't have anything like geology field camp to blame for it! ... Perhaps I just needed some time doing *absolutely nothing* before my mind gets motivated for this site! ... Or maybe my big butt is just lazy. Who knows? ... And who cares? ... ... And Who Are You? (I uploaded that album review today, in case you were wonderin'? I'm going to brake my own rule slightly. I want to review some new guys! I can't wait until I finished all those cursed late-period Bob Dylan albums like I said I would! I'VE GOT TO REVIEW SOME OTHER STUFF!!!! I'M SUFFFFFFFOCATING!!!! And I am starting this off by uploading Opener, that EP by 8mm that somebody asked me to review during the previous gelogic era. (I feel kind of bad by giving that album a lukewarm review ... but I was the only one! Every other reviewer gave them a slightly more enthusiastic cheer than I. So, waawaaa! Anyway, I've started reviewing The Barenaked Ladies (of all bands), and I had a request to start reviewing Queen. And, I think Queen is a pretty good idea. So, I'll get started on those ... whenever. I've also started looking for JOBS. I filled out probably more than a dozen applications and ... NOBODY'S CALLED ME IN YET! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM???!??? ... ... ... Well, since I have such a magnetic personality and just by the way I look at people, they immediatey think "Wow! I want this person to work for me! Even if I don't have a position open! ... ... I'll make a position!" I'm sure I'll be hired in no time. Until then, --M.L. Reviews Added: The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
--July 3, 2004 Hello!!!!!! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! And ... ohhhhhh ... was that trip just awful! ... I do have some good news, though. I passed (with a B), which means that I don't have to take it again, thank heavens. It was such an intense class with *gasp* physical labor and EVERYTHING! ... Alright, the class wasn't really that bad, but I spent the whole time not wanting to be there, and now that I'm no longer there, I'm sooooo happpppppppppppy! (I also lost about 8 pounds, which suprised me considering that we ate in a restaurant TWICE A DAY, and I had no say in what I wanted.) Oh! And don't think I've not been missing my website! I missed this thing quite a bit (and the Internet in general). When I got back earlier today, it felt REALLY weird to be on here again. The buzz is basically off now, so I took time to update this badly-needed-to-be-updated website. I got quite a few site comments while I was away from people to my delight! Many of them were helpful, even though many disagreed with me. Plus, my traffic was pretty strong and steady, and that's another great thing. I's got a few plans for this site that I hope to complete this summer. First of all, I'm going to better organize this diary page. I originally wanted it to be only borderline accessible, but I changed my mind. I'll give it a nice index. I am also planning on writing a BRIEF artist blurbs as well as give each an overall score. However, these will not function like George Starostin does on his site. They will only serve to give some artists prominence over others on the main page. Thanks for visiting, I'm glad to be back, and I'm ready to start rolling for the summer! --M.L. Reviews Added: David Bowie: Tin Machine (1989)
--May 29, 2004 Well, I think you can probably guess, I am *NOT* a man of my word. I did not reach my 300-review goal by the time I left for my geology trip. But no matter! In the past week, I was invited to a bunch of social events (which is unprecedented in my life, basically) ... and anything with actual people has priority over me sitting in front of this computer all day and typing up crap about old music. On the bright side, I do have 288 reviews that are actually typed up ... but that's not 300 ... and I wanted those on my site! I just sorta ran out of time to upload them all. While I'm gone (and I'll be back on July 3rd, so we might see an Independence Day update, unless I die or something not cool like that) if anyone would care to write me a synopsis of why "We Built This City" by Starship is such an awful ditty. It seems to top every list of 'the world's worst songs ever made,' and I think it's pretty good. So, if someone would care to do that, then I would love you for it. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to answer any e-mails during this time period. I will be going to Inthemiddaovnowhere, Colorado, where civilization is too primitive for air conditioning units much less Internet connections ... so yeah. Me, the most popular person on the Internet, won't be able to happily respond to anything you write to me. But, you can still send me stuff provided that my mailbox doesn't get full. Anyway, I'm going to miss working on my baby during the trip (and I will also greatly miss a lot of other things, i.e. local people with passable hygiene), and I will miss all of *you*, my gracious readers ... most of whom rarely bother to drop me a line. I don't care about that, though, because I probably won't like you, anyway. FAAARE WELLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! --M.L. Reviews Added: R.E.M.: Document (1987)
--May 24, 2004 Well, I have officially fizzled on my duty as web music reviewer who wants to review 300 albums by May 30! Although, I still think I can make it. Do you think I can do 17 reviews in five days? I think so!!!! Well ... at least I'm uploading the mass quantities of reviews I had displayed on my desktop finally. I really shouldn't let it build up like that. Seriously. I also have some very surprising news (that only I am interested, I'm pretty sure). My report card was a complete and utterly unexpected triump! A 3.7 GPA this time around! How I ever managed to get an A in calculus, I'll never understand. The teacher must have been taking happy drugs or something, 'cos I definitely didn't get an A on all my tests averaged out. Oh well. I shouldn't ask questions. I should just be happy that I triumphed! In spite of that, I unfortunately went through another period of self-loathing. I don't know why this happens, but it does! And it affected my work on this site! Hmmm ... I still did quite a bit concerning this site during that period of nine days. I was also contacted by a band manager who actually sent me a press release! I feel special now! ... Their EP was on the web entirely ... I'm not sure I could have given them all the wonderful quotes they might have been looking for, but I hope the review I wrote would be helpful. (Of course, I didn't load it on the site yet ... that's coming.) The band's called 8mm. I ended up giving the EP a 7.5, which means that it's 'alright.' There is one particularly good song on it, though. I think that's all I've got to say! Hopefully, I'll tackle these reviews with much gusto tomorrow (which is today, now ... it's 12:19 A.M. ... but when I changed the date on the front page, it was yesterday!). I've got a lot of cool stuff left to review before I leave, man! --M.L. |