I’m fairly confidend that the US Government is using prime time law dramas to keep the general American public in line. Just your typical brainwashing. Nothing to see here. Move along folks and pay no heed to the man behind the curtain.

I’m being serious here, folks. Well, sorta. I mean if you think about it for a second…let’s review what we know:

1. Shows like CSI, Law and Order and all their respective derivatives are plainly addicting. No respectable adult can help but be intruiged by their plot twists and healthy does of mystery. This means that the Government *must* be capitalizing on the common man’s love of a good hearty riddle. That’s the hook.

But that’s not all.

2. These shows often allow Joe Q. Suburbia to peer into the seedy and often alluring lives of thugs, criminals and general badasses. Again, The Man is using our desire for transference, our innate longing to live vicariously through other people by means of a safe method. What better way that TV? Eh?

Combine these two facts, and multiply it by the third and surely most damning piece of evidence:

3. Repitition. What better way to drill into the collective American psyche what you want them to believe than to do it by making one show with 16 spinoffs and run them at the same time? Law and Order, SVU, CSI New York, CSI Miami, CSI Toepeka! That’s like having the Cosby show, and then giving each character their own sitcom and running it at the same time. And in syndication! TBS and USA (as well as others) run non-stop reruns from previous seasons! Entire day-long marathons! Try as you might, there’s no way to escape these shows. Any time of day, you’re guaranteed to find at least one episode that you’ve never seen, on some channel.

Therefore, I cannot help but come to the conclusion that the American government is using these popular shows to brainwash the public, you and I brothers and sisters! We’re being brainwashed into submission, into civility and passivity. We’re being shown how the “other half” live and act, only to be eventually caught and beaten down by the system. The long arm of the proverbial law never fails, and Big Brother wants us to remember that.

All that being said, I’ve become hopelessly addicted. Vincent D’Onofrio mesmerizes me with his tilting head.

What a painfully slow and sickly week. But out with the morning sickness kiddies, we’re countin’ down the hits with your Top Five at..err…not five o’clock. That’s too friggin’ early. Blam-O:

1. Flogging Molly - While their style is not overly diverse, and sometimes border on repeatative, nothing else makes me want to thrust a pint in the air and sing along in a drunken stupor!
2. Scratch’n’Spin - [via] - Definitely made me smile with this, a nice combination of video technology and marketable street culture. Watch it and smile along. (requires quicktime)
3. The Onion podcasts - While I haven’t officially caught the podcast bug like everyone I know, the weekly gems from The Onion have the same snarky sarcasm, but this time with more Droll ReporterVoice!
4. Album Art Finder - This one only applies to those who use iTunes, but an indispensable utility to be sure. Upload your library XML and it’ll fetch album covers for you. Horray! Goodbye days of Amazon surfing.
5. Parenting - No, I have no news on that front from my own family…but one of my closest friends mentioned this week that she and her husband are pregnant (actually, though that’s “the term,” it’s terribly misleading, as the man himself is not physically pregnant…). My joy abounds to the point of even being a bit flush. $20 if you name the kid Bernie. Boy or girl.

Until next Friday, remember kids: The wheels on the bus, do in fact, go round AND round.

It’s been a minute since I’ve written a music review, so I figured that I would kill two blue-jays with one stone here today: Indulge in sharing my guilty musical secret of the past few months, as well as getting some new content up.

Panic! At The Disco is likely a name that the modern young’n has heard tossed around by now. They’ve gotten quite a bit of press and airtime as of late, and in my opinion it’s quite deserved. As always, I have a twinge of guilt in mentioning my like for a band like this, because it lets on the brooding emo kid inside me, raging like I was 15 all over again. But try as I might, I can’t stop listening to this disc.

I first picked it up in November, after hearing that they were loosely a “Fall Out Boy-meets-dancehall” sound. Pretty damn close. In fact, I’d go as far as to say they are more Fall Out Boy then the group itself. They perfect catchy-ass songs and present them in a non-traditional structure.

The album has a largely vaudeville/dancepop feel to it, with creepy, minor organ tones and a mixture of drum machines and live percussion. True to the emo form, the lyrics are snarkily self-aware and at times biting, in a slightly more than adolsecent way. However, they are smart enough that they not only work for the album, but distinguish the group from the rest of their genre brethren I believe.

A mildly annoying sidebar here is the propagation of the latest trend (seen foremost by their label founders and friends, Fall Out Boy): retardedly long song titles. While sometimes refreshingly witty, get over it. It’s no longer cool to have entire paragraphs as titles.

Track highlights include “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage,” “Camisado,” “Time to Dance,” and “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies.” Admittedly, though, this is an album that I won’t skip a single track—which is a true marker of a solid album to me.

What amazes me the most about this album is the apparent maturity of direction and sound, seeing as the group was 1) founded on doing Blink 182 covers and 2) the kids are freaking young; like pre-20s young. To me, the disc doesn’t play as a debut, but rather a solid sophomore release or later. It doesn’t sound unpolished or overreaching in the slightest, and there is no trace of filler to bolster a few sparse hits.

All in all, this release falls just past the line of where emo pisses most people off. I would imagine it will appeal to a wider audience for that reason alone. I even hesitate to label the album emo, for it doesn’t posess the languishing, self-tortured (and over-done) notes of more traditional releases in the genre. In a dramatic, energetic and poppy fashion, the album pushes the envelope in terms of what a standard “pop” song can be (not standard chorus/verse/chorus/verse format). Accessible, infectious and just plain fun…

There is an article in the New York Times about a trend in Japanese culture involving (predominately) young men shutting themselves in their bedrooms, sometimes for decades, toiling in apathy and despair. “Hikikomori,” as they’re called, are a unique product of modern Japanese culture, and a most startling contrast to the ideal that we in the West have of Eastern lifestyle.

The article is strikingly intriguing. I always silently bash Western culture, for it’s propagation of (what could be perceived as) social diseases, and resulting pharmaceutical drug-pushers therapies. Though I try not to, I’m often saddened by the idea that too much money, too much time and too much comfort has caused us to virtually invent disorders. Social anxiety, restless leg syndrome, and even my own depression (as mild as it may be) I see as products of a post-modern and bourgeoisie culture.

But this Times article points out that other modern cultures are experiencing the same phenomena, albeit of a different variety, forged from their own unique social architecture. As a culture hell-bent on success, fueled by high academic pressures, and most importantly as a society that still worships conformity, Japan is an intense pressure cooker that leaves little wonder how a “disease” like hikikomori could emerge. Dubbed “the lost generation,” I imagine these kids are the perfect articulation of what Generation X should have been (not that I wish that on anyone, though). Apathy at it’s most pure, desperation at it’s deepest lows and a profound lack of hopelessness…but carried out under extreme self-discipline and will power—that is how it differs from Generation X. It’s almost as if Americans don’t have the ethic to even perfect listlessness.

So while I still remain mildly bitter and cynical about the cavalcade of new social disorders popping up yearly in American culture, seeing an example such as the hikikomori in other parts of the world gives me hope. At least as we’re going down, we’re not the only country hanging ourselves by our own bootstraps. There are other developed nations crumbling at the edges underneath the weight of their own modernity, too.

A late-day entry, sliding it post noon. But here it is, the lucky number seven of the FTILFF posts. This week, I’m thankful for:

1. ExtraTasty - Picks up WebTender and smacks it around a bit. Neat combo of a wiki and the bartender at your local watering hole.
2. Curry chicken - Run, don’t walk, to your nearest Indian restaurant and indulge. A timeless, tasty classic.
3. Night walks - No, not whilst asleep. Post dinner. Helps quicken digestion, and when it’s darned near 70 degrees in January, it’s a beautiful and relaxing respite from the expected cold.
4. PF Chang’s - I must be hungry or something…but seriously the lettuce wraps are heavenly. Tonight I dine!
5. Monopoly - Once a taboo game in my family (due to it’s therapy-warranting mania), I’ve recently rediscoverd this great game. Too bad you have to set aside 5 freakin’ hours to play it though.

That’s it for this week, kids. Next week, the staff here at denyingphoenix aims to provide more links, and less food.

A long time in the making, I’ve finally gotten the chance to launch a redesign of the site. Hopefully you all don’t think it looks like butt.

I went through an unbelievable amount of comps in order to arrive at this. Suprising, as this is probably the most ridiculously simple version of all of them. Because I started thinking of a redesign a year and a half ago, I’ve covered the “worn look” and the “stark tech look” in comps. I’m not sure how I ended up here. I just wanted something more streamlined, clean and overall less cluttered. (Perhaps homeownership is influencing my design now?)

The new logo is, eh. I’m not sold on it, but I do like it a smidge. Perhaps it will grow on me. While initially it looks like another tired infinity sign (which it is a nod to), it is actually a d and a p intertwined. Clever, I know. Or not.

I’ve also tweaked the UI a bit, moving things around, deleting things that I was not updating at all (books? hello?) and automating things that I was lazy about updating (photos now courtesy of Flickr’s photostream). All in all, an attempt to get me to write more, and better content, as I now don’t throw up a little in my mouth each time I load the site.

If you have any feedback whatsoever, let me know. Things might be a bit bumpy for a few weeks until I have everything tweaked. And though I hate the normal designer disclaimers, but it really is true:

This site is optimized for Firefox v1.5 or later and a resolution of at least 1024x768.

If you have those, you’ll see something like this, with nifty columns! Thank you, Firefox.

Ugh. Winter. The reality of the whole thing has just hit me. And frankly, I’d like to send it back.

I love winter. Or rather, used to love winter. I have romantic, nostalgic notions of the season from my childhood. Blanketed in snow from October to April, Toledo was seemingly made for winter. Major events in my life, from learning to drive to soccer games, in some way or another involve the season of winter. Dark, wet, comfortable winter.

But now that I’m an adult, snow days no longer exist. Responsibilities now pile up, and there is no Universal Excuse to cache in a day and sit around watching TV, sipping cocoa and planning for hours of endless sledding (that’s “sled-riding” for my weirdo Cincinnati friends). Instead, winter becomes the time where “house projects involving outside work” take a back seat. Unshovled driveways are no longer playgrounds. Heat bills are, most certainly, no joking matter.

But even more so, the stretch of time between Jan. 1 and sometime in spring is the most painful, dreary and exhausting stretch. No definite breaks in work and no sunshine to make a working day slightly more tolerable…these few months are like a dark night of the soul, and emerging from it in the spring truly is like escaping the shadow of Hell. Perhaps it all feels much more dramatic when you’re seasonally affected, fighting depressive emotions due to lack of sunshine?

Nonetheless, I feel myself sliding straight into this period. And though I’ve gotten better over the past few years by learning to supplement and pack activities to keep myself going (excercising, freelance, etc), there is no escaping the inevitable.

Therefore, I declare that henceforth the months of January, February and the first two weeks in March to be eliminated completely. Post Christmas, we shall all jump straight into sunny weather, with summer vacations right around the corner. Eh?

First go at it for 2006, eh? Well let’s get to it then. Alright. Here goes.

This Friday, I am particularly in love with:

1. Dark Days - A documentary by Mark Singer about the homeless population of NYC, living in the subway tunnels, and their stories of survival and life. Doesn’t hurt that DJ Shadow did the soundtrack, either. A match made in heaven, and a very moving film.
2. Veer’s Creatives Care t-shirt - Not just because I’m rockin’ it on this particular Friday, either. Soft cotton and a beautiful design, combined with the fact that all profits go to two charities makes it a win-win in my mind.
3. The Wife™ - This one will make (and has already) random appearances in the FTILFF lists. This week is for letting my dumb-ass order an 18” subwoofer to build a cabinet for the house. I’m decidedly addicted to music, and thusly audio equipment. Is there rehab for this crap?
4. Lucky Boys Confusion: Committment - While this one will likely become a record review here in a bit, I found this album at the end of last week. Simply the most fun album I’ve found in awhile. Rockin’ it without pause.
5. Chris Glass’ post about user interfaces - Though I have yet to have the pleasure of using Aperature myself, I would welcome this shift in UI design any day.

Though I haven’t done a music review in awhile, I finished this DVD today and quite enjoyed it. Though I have no intention of reviewing DVDs in the future (as my opinions on movies would be, um, not very good), since this isn’t a movie I feel at peace with it.

I’ll be honest, this one passed under my radar. I hadn’t heard about this DVD, and the wife scored a 10 on the gift-o-meter (or as Mike would rate, “candidate for sainthood” on his gift ratings system) with this one.

Normally I’m wary of pop musicians pairing with symphonies. Metallica’s S+M album similarily gave me that swamp-ass feeling, like greasy farts, like something not right but you just can’t pin it down. Perhaps it’s because almost all of those songs are not fit for orchestral arrangement. Surprisingly, this collaboration worked, and worked well. The western australia symphony orchestra (with arrangements done by a handful of local Perth musicians) blended beautifully on almost all of the songs on the disc. There were a few standout moments where the orchestra made itself almost too apparent (and overriding the sentiment of a particular song), but all in all it’s a great disc.

It clocks in at 80 minutes, and features a predictable selection of songs from the BFF days, and Folds’ first solo release. I say predictable because the songs that were picked are quite obvious choices for orchestral arrangement, and that can be seen even on the original recordings. None of the selected songs seemed out of place in this setting.

I was a bit thrown off at first, as I expected to rock the hell out. I have an older Ben Folds Five DVD, from the late 90s (a VH1 session of some sort), and it’s so powerful that the energy almost leaps from the TV. It’s palpable. So when I popped in this disc, I found myself fighting the notion of “I’m not feeling it! What?” But after awhile of reminding myself, I settled down. You can’t compare a dance club and a coffee shop and expect the same ambience. The same thing applies here.

Standout tracks to me were “Evaporated” and “Smoke.” These tracks, on CD, are great and sweetly sentimental, but it’s a cold sentiment. Hard to touch. However, in this forum, with 90+ orchestra members behind him, Ben makes the emotion of both songs pulse and radiate. Beautifully done.

And if anyone has seen Ben live recently, the crowd favorites “Rock This Bitch” and “Not the Same” don’t dissappoint. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it before (though the latter is much more powerful in person, in an enclosed arena).

Fun, light and a very enjoyable disc, this is not at all a gratuitious outlet on Ben’s part, like many other artist DVDs.

I’ve done it the past two years, so purely out of habit I’ll do my lists for last year and this year. Not exciting, I know. But the first day back to work after 10 days off has sucked the last ounce of life out of me.

2005: Some Crap That I Did Then, That I Hadn’t Already Done Before

1. Polished a washer and a dryer: Complete with power tools and car detailing equipment…made ‘em look like new!
2. Changed jobs: Quit one, started another. What a surreal process.
3. Moved out of the state I grew up in for 22 years: Moved to Kentucky. Head still hanging in shame. Still don’t like to tell people where I live.
4. Grew a beard: More appropriately, I found out that I can only grow a marginal beard. Not great, not terrible. Truly marginal at best.
5. Got married: Yup, a first fer sure.
6. Started running, of my own free will, not being chased either: Started just after last new year’s turn as an alternative to rowing and skating. Maxed out at 30+ miles per week over the summer. Never thought I’d say that.
7. Buried my grandmother and my dog: Boo.
8. Visited the western coast of Ireland for 10 days: I’d done Dublin before, but not the area where my family is from.
9. Bought an entire “set” of furniture: For the bedroom. Wierdness.

2006: Some Crap That I Hope To Do In The Next 362 Days

Since I was too damned vague last year, I’ll break it down small this year…

1. Redesign this site
2. Acquire a dog (legally) and name it a funny name
3. Take two photographs that I don’t think suck
4. Start, finish and have printed one piece of art
5. Buy a suit (it’s about time, self)
6. Make one 5-gallon batch of homebrewed beer
7. Stretch for at least 5 minutes every day
8. Write the great American novel

Ok, everyone needs a long shot…I’d settle for one post that doesn’t sound like it was written by a fourth-grader as a book report the day it was due, on unlined LooseLeaf and in pencil (not pen).