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Site Diary----- ----- May 24, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang (2005) 11/15 My ENTIRE class is done, and it went well!! I think. ... Obviously, I got quite busy there at the end, having to move out and everything. ...And, man, moving out of that house felt like such a huuuuuuge burden being released from my shoulders. I could write an entire book on that ex-roommate of mine, and it would probably be fairly interesting. But, just to sum it up, he completely redefines the term "douche bag." Previous people I known who I applied that term to have hereby been reduced to "mildly annoying." I wrote a spirited letter to my ex-landlord about him even though I knew that it wouldn't accomplish anything. Ah, it's all over now, anyway. My life shall commence as planned. I'm probably going to continue to take it easy a bit over the next week or so. I have a few other non-site-related projects this summer, but this site will be something I'll concentrate on. --M.L. May 18, 2009Rewritten Review: David Bowie: Diamond Dogs (1974) 12/15 Day six of my 10 day class is done!!!!!! I'm getting very excited! Even better news is that this week won't be quite as tough as last week, because they bunched all the grueling labs in at the beginning. (I grumbled about that last week, but it feels pretty dang good now!) Oh, and I'm gonna say that Genesis will definitely be the latest page of rewrites. As for the second page, which will commence shortly thereafter, I think The Moody Blues got the most enthusiasm. However, I'm gonna try to avoid reviewing to prog bands at once (sorry!), so I think I'll do Led Zeppelin next... But I'll definitely start the Moodies by the end of this month, depending on whenever he hell I get done with that Neil Young page. I really like The Moody Blues, and my original reviews did them no justice. And, as I said, I have to review bad bands, too. Since someone mentioned Foreigner, I'll rewrite them starting next week probably. This will make a total of five band pages that I'll be working on at once. After Foreigner, who knows what? It'll have to be a bad band, though. I've been listening to way too much good music lately. (OK, except for David Live, which is every bit as awful as people say it is. Somehow, this is the first time I ever listened to it.) --M.L. May 17, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Year of the Horse (1997) 11/15 So, one of my roommates moved out yesterday. It wasn't the obnoxious one, unfortunately, but the obnoxious one apparently went with her to wherever and stayed overnight. This left my Saturday evening with a startlingly peaceful house. As I slept, I had this really vivid dream about The Rolling Stones, which probably goes to show that I'm a little bit too obsessed with this site. I was watching a floor hockey match in a tiny gymnasium at my college, and The Stones showed up in the middle of it to do a performance. They didn't have their instruments or microphones with them, but someone put some Irish jig music on the loud speaker, and all four of them just sort of danced with it. After that performance, I hung out with Mick for a little bit. He's a pretty nice guy! In the morning, I felt unusually refreshed and revived, so I decided to just sit back and enjoy most of the day doing nothing. It was a sunny 80-degrees, which was by far the hottest it got all year, so I went out for a pleasant two-hour walk. I came back to the house, and then watched some movies in absolute peace and quiet. Nice. So there you go. That's the story of my Sunday. --M.L. May 16, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: No Security (1998) 12/15 Rewritten Review: Duran Duran: Thank You (1995) 10/15 Days four and five of my 10-day class are done! I've reached the half-way point, and it feels great!! Apologies for the lack of activity over the last two days, but I was dead-busy on Thursday from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and Friday I was so exhausted that I couldn't do anything but veg out for the evening. But now, I'm ready to continue on with my slightly pointless quest in making a serious dent with these rewrites this summer. I shall finish them if it's the last thing I do!! (But seriously, there's no chance that I'll actually finish them this summer. I mean, I'd have to write six reviews a day. I might not have anything else to do this summer, but writing six reviews everyday just ain't gonna happen!) --M.L. May 13, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Broken Arrow (1996) 10/15 Rewritten Review: David Bowie: Pin Ups (1973) 10/15 Day three of the 10 day class is done! (What's the point of having a 10 day class if you don't do an elaborate count down?) Today, we got out of class very early, and I was all excited, because I thought I could work on this site some more. And I *did*, except that Neil Young album was pretty difficult to listen to and write about. I took a lot of time on it. And then, about four hours ago, my future roommate and I unexpectedly had to sort out the details for our lease for next year. I won't go into details, but it was total nuts. Oh, and my grades are in. I am an even bigger nerd than I thought. I made the honor roll, and I wasn't even trying. ...And what makes me even a *bigger* nerd is my overwhelming feeling that I was slacking off waaaaay too much. I had a really terrible nightmare about that last night... brrrrr... Good thing the exact opposite happened to me in real life. And thanks everyone for giving me your feedback about what page of rewrites to do next! I realized last that I'll also be finishing the Duran Duran discography fairly soon, so there will be two new pages. Genesis will surely be one of them, since more than half of the people who responded asked for it. (And that vote comes with Peter Gabriel that I will do immediate afterward.) I'll have to see what the other one is... I think once this class is over, I'll go ahead and start a third new page, but it's gonna have to be from one of the sucky bands like Foreigner or Kiss or Journey. I can't properly function as a reviewer unless I pan something now and again. (Not that I'm necessarily going to pan them... but it's likely...) Argh... I made this too long... --M.L. May 12, 2009Rewritten Reviews: Duran Duran: Duran Duran (1993) 11/15
The second day of my 10-day class is done! We have a homework assignment every night, but I decided this afternoon to update this site instead of doing it right away. (I know, that probably was a bad idea!) The labs are a bit annoying, but that's how labs are *always* like for me. And I suppose I should be grateful that it's not nearly as annoying as the mechanics lab I took last semester. ...But I'll tell ya, if there's only one reason that I'm looking forward to getting out of college, it's that I don't have to take anymore lab classes! Blech! Also, making money would be nice, too. (I've thought recently about making enough money to actually support myself... Man, that's going to be weird.) Oh, and do continue to give me input on what page of rewrites that you would like to see next. I don't have a particular preference. It looks like Genesis is still the most popular... I'll definitely keep the other popular choices in mind when I start subsequent page of rewrites. My serious goal is to get to *all* of them this summer. That probably won't happen, but it remains my goal! --M.L. May 11, 2009Rewritten Review: David Bowie: Aladdin Sane (1973) 13/15 Yup, I just got done with the first day of my 10-day class. As I feared, it's going to be pretty intense. However, I should still have enough time to update at least once per day. ...Perhaps even more notably, the homework we get is mostly tedious busy work, so I'll be able to listen to my queue *a lot*. I wouldn't be surprised if that thing gets built up to an almost unmanageable state! Since my Rolling Stones page is nearing completion, I'm asking people what page of rewrites they'd like to see done next. So, if you have an opinion about the matter, visit the message board. Based on two votes, it seems that Genesis is the most popular followed by The Moody Blues. And then Roxy Music, Queen, and Procol Harum. All great choices! --M.L. May 10, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Dead Man (1996) 7/15 Rewritten Review: Duran Duran: Liberty (1990) 9/15 I really don't know how busy I'm going to be with this two-week course, although I'd imagine it'll be fairly intense. I'll be in class every day from 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. and I assume I'll have homework and studying to do afterward. ...But I'll try to continue to update this site, if that's at all possible. Remember, I'm dead-determined to get most of these rewrites done this summer, and this would make a good 'head start.' (It's an outdoorsy class, though... Surveying. So, it's really gonna be the perfect summer class!) --M.L. May 9, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: Stripped (1995) 10/15 I went on a hike today around Whidbey Island! It was the best day out ever! Tomorrow I go back to Pullman (again) to embark on a two-week summer course. Hopefully, it won't suck. --M.L. May 8, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Mirror Ball (1995) 12/15 Rewritten Reviews: David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972) 14/15
This summer, I've decided that my main priority is getting these freaking rewrites done! Of course, I'll complete discographies as I see fit... Grrr... I'm sick and tired of having to be restricted by "rewrites!" I wanna start new pages, dang it!!! (Continue to watch the 'percent completed' score on the main page. I'm still planning another round of request reviews when it hits 66.7%.) --M.L. May 7, 2009Rewritten Review: David Bowie: Hunky Dory (1971) 13/15 The semester is OVER!!!! The final exams probably could have went better, but I don't care. The semester is OVER!!!! I just drove back to Seattle, I'm reaaaaaaallly tired, and (for some reason) I updated this site. I might do it again today if I don't pass out! --M.L. May 4, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels (1994) 11/15 I got up early this morning, so I wrote a quick review. Now, I'm gonna spend the rest of the day in the library!! (Oh lucky me!!!) I have to get a 100 percent on this test this afternoon. I will accept nothing less. --M.L. May 3, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: Flashpoint (1991) 10/15 Rewritten Review: Duran Duran: Notorious (1986) 7/15 So, I have my first final tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn't be hard, but I'm going to spend all the morning studying for it. (Wish me luck!) --M.L. May 2, 2009New Review: Neil Young: Unplugged (1993) 11/15 Rewritten Review: David Bowie: The Man Who Sold the World (1971) 9/15 More reviews!! --M.L. Rewritten Reviews: April 30, 2009New Review: Duran Duran: Arena (1984) 9/15 Rewritten Reviews: David Bowie: Space Oddity (1969) 11/15
I'm back! Again. --M.L. April 7, 2009Rewritten Review: Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) 10/15 I updated!!! .... I really shouldn't have. I have a lot of homework. :-( The good news is that it's 72 degrees outside! ......weird. --M.L. April 6, 2009Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Dirty Work (1986) 8/15 It's Monnnnnnnnnnnnndaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... --M.L. April 5, 2009Rewritten Reviews: Duran Duran: Rio (1982) 11/15
Yeah, I was going to spend all day today reviewing, but then I remembered that I actually had to do homework and things. That's very annoying. --M.L. April 4, 2009New Reviews: Pink Floyd: Pulse (1995) 11/15
Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Undercover (1983) 9/15 I'm back! I have taken a good 3-week break from this site. I let my brain vegetate all through spring break, and then I allowed myself to concentrate on the three huge tests I had to take over the past two weeks. (I have another test next week, but it's only environmental engineering.) I'm also going to put the Pink Floyd page on hold for now... The one thing that was apparent to me as I finished up that review is that I really don't want to review Pink Floyd anymore. Even though outside circumstances discouraged me from working on this site after March 11, it felt like I was getting sick of it anyway. But I'll get to the live version of The Wall and the rest of the solo albums by this summer probably. And, to replace it, I'll go ahead and finish the Neil Young page. I stopped in the middle of his reviews for the same reason I'm putting the Floyd page on hold! I also think I should resume the Styx page, because of my mentality that I have to review at least one crappy band at all times. But I'm gonna think about it some more. I can't just jump into these things all willy-nilly like. (OK, I do that all the time... but humor me!) --M.L. March 11, 2009Rewritten Review: Duran Duran: Duran Duran (1981) 12/15 Getting ready for Spring Break!!!!! --M.L. March 10, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: Still Life (1982) 10/15 I spent a lottttttttttttt of time on homework today. More than seven hours. And yet, I still updated. I'm crazy. I'm also officially on track to graduate by December 2010, which is great news. I submitted my application for graduation today! --M.L. March 9, 2009Rewritten Review: Pat Benatar: Get Nervous (1982) 10/15 Whew! The odds were against me, but I got a review in before bedtime. My children will thank me, for sure. --M.L. March 8, 2009New Review: Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) 9/15 Rewritten Reviews: The Rolling Stones: Tattoo You (1981) 13/15
Happy Daylight Savings Time day! I know that I lost an hour of sleep, but I haven't been sleeping much lately anyway. (...I'm not sure how it's possible, but I haven't gotten more than six hours of sleep a night for the past month or so.) --M.L. March 7, 2009New Review: David Gilmour: On an Island (2006) 11/15 Rewritten Reviews: Pat Benatar: Crimes of Passion (1980) 10/15
Hello! I'm back! My tests are over and I can take it easy now for the next couple weeks. (Yay!) I have a few tests to look forward to the week I get back from Spring Break, but I have a good two weeks before I have to worry about that. I have officially added Duran Duran and David Bowie rewrites to my queue, and it's nice to get some more variety back on there. (Working on only three pages at a time does get slightly tedious to me. And since I'm doing this for fun supposedly, there's no point in making it tedious!) --M.L. March 4, 2009New Review: David Gilmour: About Face (1984) 8/15 The test went pretty well, I think. Although that's the sort of test where if you make a very tiny error, it could cost you your first-born! Well, I have yet another test on Friday as well as a quiz. ...I really don't like to go into these things feeling so confident because that gets me in trouble. But, so help me, they're going to be easy as hell. Next week is the week before Spring Break, and I have no tests! Yay for that, and yay for Spring Break, too. I'm planning a flurry of activity over this time, but ... as you probably know, sometimes I suddenly get *blocked*. --M.L. March 3, 2009Rewritten Reviews: The Rolling Stones: Some Girls (1978) 13/15
...Yeah, the two-review-per-day pace is extremely unlikely! ...Well, I'll keep on trucking as long as my consciousness (and interest!) continues to go strong... --M.L. March 2, 2009New Review: David Gilmour: David Gilmour (1978) 9/15 Hey there!! ... I'm mulling over new rewrite pages. I'm thinking I need some more '80s pop in my routine. I've got Pat Benatar right now, but I don't get enough of a hairspray musk from her songs. So, Duran Duran might be along the horizon. I was supposed to start rewriting the David Bowie page over Christmas, but that never materialized. So, look forward to the revamped Bowie page probably over Spring Break (two weeks from now!!!) I have a test on Wednesday and a test on Friday. I'm not expecting them to be very hard at all. We're allowed to bring in three pages of notes for the Wednesday test saving me from memorizing stupid things, and the Friday test isn't actually over very much material. Yup, I've got to spend tomorrow studying mostly, but I'll *try* to set aside time to keep this unlikely two-review-per-day pace. Cheerio. --M.L. March 1, 2009New Reviews: The Rolling Stones: Love You Live (1977) 11/15
I hereby declare the Alice Cooper page completed, although I might want to go back later on and beef up those 1969-1975 reviews since they look puny compared to the more recent ones. So, yes, I'm going to have more rewrites to do after the rewrites! (I'm going to be constantly rewriting this site... though probably never as dramatic and pronounced as the rewrite I'm undergoing now.) As you might have noticed on the queue page, I've been listening to some Pat Benatar albums to rewrite... She also had some albums released in the '90s and '00s, but I won't review them just yet. I'm going to concentrate a little more deeply on rewrites instead of completing discographies in the coming months. I prefer to finish the rewrites sooner rather than later. (...But by popular demand I'll finish up that Styx page probably this Spring Break. I just needed a break from it, you see!) --M.L. February 28, 2009New Review: Pink Floyd: The Division Bell (1994) 10/15 Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Black and Blue (1976) 12/15 I think I had a pretty good idea for a new feature on this site: Brief summaries all my reviews for people who don't want to read massive amounts of paragraphs. I thought of that earlier this week, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. Naturally, my priority for the next couple years is to get all the rewrites done, so this will be something I would only start working on after that. ...But I think that might be a good way for me to have my cake and eat it too, since people have differing opinions about how long rock reviews should be. --M.L. February 27, 2009New Reviews: Alice Cooper: Live at Montreux 2005 (2006) 12/15
So I was doing a little bit of modeling today, and no, not the sort of modeling that you're thinking of. I calculated that if I wrote two reviews a day and 2/3 of them were rewrites, it wouldn't be May 8th until I start the next round of request reviews. Well, I really don't think I'll be able to keep up that pace, but that gives you an idea of just how long this is going to take me. (Whoah boy...) Don't feel bad, though. The sooner I get the rewrites done, the sooner I'll be able review entire discographies upon request... And that's probably a better thing! --M.L. February 26, 2009New Review: The Rolling Stones: Metamorphosis (1975) 10/15 Whew! It took me a lot longer to do homework than I expected. I spent about eight hours on it overall when I was only anticipating four. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it could have gone longer since I don't really know why some of my MATLAB scripts ended up working... But they did so I didn't give 'em another thought! Well it's all over and I'm ready for the weekend. As I said a few days ago I have tests next week, two of them, and I've got to study... They should be very easy, because they're easy classes, but I've bombed a fair number of those in the past due to overconfidence. ...I also have a freaking lab report to write and more piddly assignments than usual for a weekend. I'm going for at least one update a day, but, as usual, there are no promises. --M.L. February 25, 2009New Reviews: Pink Floyd: The Final Cut (1983) 11/15
I don't have classes tomorrow, but I have a sizable chunk of homework. If I don't freaking waste time in the morning like I always do, I might pull out another review or two. Also, I'm going to travel the closest path I can to that David Gilmour album I was supposed to review a long time ago. I'll finish up the two remaining Floyd studio albums, skip over the live albums for now (going back to them immediately after Gilmour's solo career) and go right to Gilmour. ...Of course, I'm still planning to review some more Floyd solo albums. Barrett and Waters is a must... I even have this album by some synth-pop band that Rick Wright was briefly a member of called "Zee" that I'm, for some weird reason, really looking forward to reviewing! (Wright went on record saying that he wished that album was never released... I'm very intrigued!) --M.L. February 24, 2009Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974) 11/15 I got my tests back with B's! I'm very pleased with the scores considering I'm only studying about half as hard as I was last semester. I'm even more pleased, because I only made a few very minor errors conceptually and in my equations. I actually lost the most credit for copying down the wrong number from the problem statement. And actually they were the right numbers, I just was putting the decimal points in the wrong spot. This occurred a grand total of THREE TIMES. I have no freaking clue how or why this decimal point deficiency popped up all of the sudden; I'd imagine a few hard smacks in the head before the exam will do the trick to fix it for next time! Anyway, I'm going to continue to take it easy. I'll update some more this week. I would have updated yesterday, but I'm having weird insomnia problems ... again. I really wish I understood my brain better. --M.L. February 22, 2009New Reviews: Pink Floyd: The Wall (1979) 13/15
Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Goats Head Soup (1973) 12/15 Hi! More updates!! --M.L. February 21, 2009New Reviews: Pink Floyd: Animals (1977) 13/15
Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St. (1972) 13/15 It's about freaking time I updated! Well my first wave of tests are finally over with, and I have a good week and a half before I have to start worrying about my next test... which I don't expect will be such a big deal. So far, things are going fine this semester. Once I get back my thermo test, I might have a different opinion, though! --M.L. February 4, 2009New Review: Alice Cooper: Brutal Planet (2000) 11/15 Tomorrow is a homework day without a doubt! I got a lot of stuff to catch up with. And guess what? I have my first test on Monday. (Eek!) That said, I'm going to make a good effort to rewrite that Exile in Main St review. It'll be a lot more positive than my original review, which smells like a dead skunk. *A lot* more positive. Seriously, I don't even know what I was thinking... I might have to apologize later on for some of the things I said in that Alice Cooper review. I talk a lot about nu-metal bands (a term that I'm not even sure I'm using correctly) while I've only seriously listened to them for maybe 20-25 hours out of my life. But that was a pretty miserable 20-25 hours. --M.L. February 3, 2009New Review: Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (1975) 12/15 You know, I think I'm behaving more like a normal college student this semester. I'm doing homework one day before it's due instead of one week before it's due. I believe this is healthier. Also, it was about 50 degrees out today (which is positively tropical compared to the -11 weather I walked a mile through last week), and I went on an epic walk. Ah, it felt great! --M.L. February 2, 2009Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (1971) 14/15 Update'd! --M.L. February 1, 2009New Review: Styx: Edge of the Century (1990) 8/15 Whew! I *did* manage an update! I didn't think I would after spending six hours writing a blasted lab report. --M.L. January 31, 2009New Reviews: Randy Newman: Harps and Angels (2008) 13/15
Gravity Field was a band that sent me mp3s of their album to review. I always hate it when I have a less-than-enthusiastic response to an album somebody wrote and sent to me... sigh... It's not a terrible album, but it's terribly uninteresting. Maybe they'll try harder next time... And here is the plan for the immediate future regarding this site. I'm through with the Styx reviews for now. I'll just review The Edge of the Century and lay off. I did enough damage! (And besides, mediocre '80s albums are much more fun than mediocre '90s albums.) I know how much you guys were looking forward to hearing what I had to say about Dennis DeYoung's musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame, so I'm sorry! I'll probably pick that up later. But not now. The Randy Newman page is now completed. That leaves only three "active" pages I'm currently working on: Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and Alice Cooper. I'll try to accelerate through these three as fast as I can keeping in mind that I have a lot of SCHOOLWORK too. Obviously I didn't get much done today, so tomorrow will contain one update max. You might also notice that Alice Cooper is almost done! There are six albums left. I might pick up a concert DVD and review it sometime, but I should wait until I have access to a real TV set. So, after that I'll go through and start rewriting some of the "little" pages. I think Pat Benatar will be the first victim. --M.L. January 30, 2009New Reviews: The Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970) 12/15
Hello there! I didn't forget about you!! ... Luckily, things are going OK this semester even though I'm far more busier than I was last semester. I did think I needed to take a breather from this site for awhile to get adjusted to things. I'm not promising a great amount of activity particularly since I have a few tests, now, that are on the horizon. But I actually understand absolutely everything that's been going on in these classes--even differential equations--so I'm comfortable about aiming for at least a few updates a week. Just like with everything I ever say in regards to this site, take that statement with a grain of salt. As I've been saying, this site is pretty far down my list of priorities! If only I could do this for a living! --M.L. January 19, 2009New Reviews: Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (2007) 11/15
Well, things didn't quite go as I planned it yesterday. I had the sudden urge to write a midi composition. It's taking very long to iron out. But I took a long enough break to finish the reviews, so here they are. The request reviews are now OVER! Except for the Pink Floyd solo album that was requested awhile back. That's a special case, because this was something I was going to do anyway, and I wanted to review all the regular albums first! But I'm going to review Pink Floyd a bit more frequently, now... I'm pretty close to completing a few pages, such as Randy Newman and Styx. (I don't want to disappoint everyone, but I won't review Damn Yankees until I review Ted Nugent... and according to my calculations, that'll happen around 2025. And I won't review Shaw Blades until I review Damn Yankees... which also leaves Shaw's 1998 solo album out for now. Well, 2025 isn't really that far away. I mean, I used to think 2009 was far away, and I just found out that it really wasn't.) I'll also pick up that Arcade Fire EP sometime. I don't know when, though. --M.L. January 18, 2009New Review: Dennis DeYoung: Boomchild (1988) 7/15 I am going to write that Arcade Fire review today, and that Sonic Youth review today or tomorrow. And then I'm done with the request reviews!! (I started the Dennis DeYoung review a few days ago, because I felt like I hadn't listened to Arcade Fire album enough.) --M.L. January 15, 2009New Review: Randy Newman: Songbook Vol. 1 (2003) 11/15 I actually made good use of today. I finished *most* of my homework (all the heavily time-consuming stuff anyway) well before deadline, and I still had time to write this review. So yeah, everything is going well so far in the life of Don Ignacio. --M.L. January 14, 2009New Review: Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) 12/15 Well, I pulled it off! A review!! It's probably not as high of a score as everyone would probably like, but I told ya what I think! Classes are actually going OK so far. I had a homework assignment so far in all but one of my classes, and I'm halfway through with them, I think. Since I don't have any classes tomorrow, I'm going to finish absolutely everything!! My goal is to have no homework over the weekend except whatever is assigned on Friday. (I'm going back home to Seattle this weekend for my mom's birthday.) I have no clue if I'll be up for doing it tomorrow, but I'd expect the Randy Newman album would be next. I'll remember to force myself to write it like I did this Neutral Milk Hotel review, and hope that works. ...By the way, I haven't been able to open up my webmaster e-mail address for the last couple of days. So, if you sent me an e-mail there, I'm sorry but I didn't get it... I'll keep on trying though. --M.L. January 11, 2009New Review: Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (1984) 13/15 I did it! I updated a review! ... I bought my textbooks today, and how much they cost will shock you to death. It was $800. --M.L. January 9, 2009New Review: Porcupine Tree: In Absentia (2002) 12/15 Well, we're getting to the end of the break now! It looks like the wintry weather has subsided enough that I can drive through the Cascade Mountains and go to school Sunday as planned. I have no clue how much schoolwork is going to keep me busy this semester. I don't even have a full idea of what some of these classes I'm taking will entail. I heard nasty things about Differential Equations and Thermodynamics, but looking briefly at some of the material, it didn't seem too bad. I could also be underestimating the workload and "intense learning" required in classes like Structures and Environmental Engineering. So, I might update this site frequently, or hardly at all over the next few months. This Web site is just a hobby, you know? It took over my life for the last few weeks, but it was either that or watch TV or play video games! And those aren't interesting for very long periods of time for me. The one thing I *must* do before the semester starts again is that Neutral Milk Hotel review. (And the Minutemen review, too, but if I'm going to follow the queue order I have to review Minutemen before I get to Neutral Milk Hotel.) --M.L. January 8, 2009New Reviews: The Pipettes: We Are the Pipettes (2006) 11/15
Converted Review: Sarah McLachlan: Touch (1989) 12/15 I have to run a few errands tomorrow. My goal is two more reviews, but I can't be sure how well I'm going to meet it. --M.L. January 7, 2009New Reviews: Sparks: Kimono My House (1974) 14/15
Did I go too far overboard with the Sparks review? ...Yeah! But in my defense, I always do that.... --M.L. January 6, 2009New Reviews: Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004) 12/15
Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Let it Bleed (1969) 15/15 Converted Reviews: Kylie Minogue: Kylie (1988) 7/15
I was busy today!! I got off my lazy behind and worked on this! I realize I have to do these request reviews as much as I can, because I just know these evil college professors are going to make me study and do homework and other crap like that! I hate it when "important things" distract me from this site!!!! (I got the notice yesterday that I'm now officially accepted in the engineering program! This is good, because I really would have been screwed if I didn't get in. Seriously, I'd have to move back to Kansas if that happened.) My schedule this semester is funny. I was unable to sign up for any classes being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While it's nice to have every other day free, I know as a scientific fact that I'm just going to spend most of this time procrastinating. --M.L. January 5, 2009New Reviews: Neutral Milk Hotel: Everything Is [EP] (1994) 9/15
Converted Review: Jerry Seinfeld: Live Concert Review (Dec. 9, 2004) Hello there! I'm still working along... School's starting again in less than a week, but I'm not feeling that anxious about it for some reason. --M.L. January 4, 2009New Reviews: Radiohead: OK Computer (1997) 13/15
More stuff... --M.L. January 3, 2009New Review: The White Stripes: Elephant (2003) 11/15 The worst thing about request reviews, of course, is I know that people actually care about these albums! It's much different than reviewing solo-Styx albums that I don't think anyone's actually going to want to read. That White Stripes review was very hard to write considering I didn't overwhelmingly enjoy the listening experience! ... I'm also a huge snob when it comes to music. That's more evident than ever. And now for something even more difficult: Radiohead! --M.L. January 2, 2009Rewritten Review: Randy Newman: Bad Love (1999) 12/15 Um, the more I think about it, I probably won't get finished with the request reviews in 10 days. (Nine days now!!) The significance of that time period, of course, is that's all I have left of the Christmas break. And a lot of these are going to be some tough reviews to write! ...But I'll still treat it like I'm The Terminator or something... --M.L. January 1, 2009New Reviews: Spiritualized: Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997 (1998) 14/15
Rewritten Review: Pink Floyd: Meddle (1971) 11/15 Converted Reviews: The Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner-Mounting Flame (1972) 12/15
The year changed. You know what that means. I'm going to start the request reviews! The first one on the list is Spiritualized's Live at the Royal Albert Hall. See the review queue for more detail. (I hope I didn't miss anything.) I probably won't do them back to back like I did last time, but I'll do my mightiest to review them all in 10 days. If you haven't requested anything yet, that's OK. Go to my message board and post something. I don't care what it is. The only requirement is that I must have access to it! --M.L. December 31, 2008Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (1968) 14/15 Another fruity day of reviewing! Happy Nude Year, everybody! (Psst... I'm starting a new round request reviews tomorrow... If you have anything, anything at all, you'd like to see reviewed, post it on my message board!) --M.L. December 30, 2008New Review: James Young: City Slicker (1986) 9/15 Rewritten Review: Randy Newman: Faust (1995) 10/15 Another fruitful day of reviewing... I think... --M.L. December 29, 2008New Reviews: Dennis DeYoung: Back to the World (1986) 7/15
Rewritten Review: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) 12/15 I'm back! I had a good Christmas, and a great break from things. I got some fancy new speakers for Christmas that I hooked up to my computer! Oh how much nicer music sounds through these new speakers! ... Although that didn't automatically go to create a more positive assessment of the Dennis DeYoung album... --M.L. ----- |