That Reena Girl

I’m surprised I haven’t uploaded this sooner. This is my favorite picture of Olive at the moment. So much so, I plan on getting this tattooed on me someday.

Look at that face; that bitch knows she’s adorable.

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This is our Manger of Enterprise Solutuion’s desk.  Names have been omitted to protect the innocent. He has been out of the office and hasn’t seen it yet, but I’m 98% sure he doesn’t read my blog.

I should point out:

1. He already had all the little smiley yellow guys on there for some reason. We got them during Christmas time when the admins leave little party favors on our desks before we come in. Somehow he ended up with all of them.
2. We have no idea who did this. We came in yesterday morning and BAM! Epic battle!

More pictures coming soon!

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We have had this 90s station on at work lately. In the midst of the crazy storms we’ve been having, “November Rain” by Gun n Roses is on. Such an epic song. I have linked to the even more epic video:

November Rain

I’m doing all I can to resist the urge to stand on my desk and play an (air) guitar solo.

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So it is pouring buckets in San Diego today. For a New England transplant like myself, this is nothing. But for most citizens of Southern California, this is pretty much a natural disaster. Especially on the roads.

To help those of you who are not prepared to deal with such weather, I offer you the following:

What to do and not do if you hydroplane:

DO NOT:

• Panic
• Slam on the brakes
• Try to turn suddenly

DO:

Take your foot off the gas pedal

• Disengage the cruise control, if it is on
• If driving a standard transmission, gear down gradually if you can. Otherwise, place the clutch in neutral and just let yourself coast
• If you need to brake, engage the brake gently until you feel the wheels connect. Note: an ABS system will do this automatically for you, even with normal braking.

If you began to hydroplane as a result of trying to change direction, odds are good that you are now in a skid. As always while hydroplaning, make no sudden moves. Instead, turn your wheel gradually against the direction of the spin while simultaneously releasing the gas pedal. Do not brake! The ideal here is to straighten out the wheels and then hold them there until you can regain traction. Only then should you gradually apply the brake or gas, as appropriate.

(from http://www.helium.com/)

And for those of you less panicked about the weather, here are my top 5 favorite records to listen to on a rainy day:

1. Azure Ray- s/t
2. Thrice- Alchemy Index Volume II: Water
3. Lydia- Illuminate
4. The New Amsterdams- Never You Mind
5. The Postal Service- Give Up

In fact, I think this week, as it is supposed to rain until Friday, I think I will make a rainy day mix and post it. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

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I came home on Friday to this:

Now, this is not the first time I have come home to a scene like this. The way I deal with it is to imagine it was a matter of life and death. That Olive was saving the world from a seemingly inanimate object hell bent on world domination.

The culprit this time- a box of Trader Joe’s tissues. The box, which has been carefully plotting its take over since I was sick last week took the chance to attack while I was at work. But Olive, having keen senses and possibly being part demon herself, lept into action, seizing the box of evil paper product and wrestling it to the living room floor.

The tissues put up one hell of a fight and nearly made it to the door in an effort to escape. But in the end, Olive prevailed, the tissue box of doom was destroyed and the world was saved.

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…and I love it!

On the back there is a bumper sticker that says “Batty about bats”.

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Better late than never!

Ok so first off, I should specify what “best” means to me. These albums might not be the most mindblowing musically or have had the greatest impact, but they did on my life. When I was putting this list together I asked myself the following questions:

1. What albums have you listened to over and over and over?
2. What albums bring you back to a certain time in you life every time you hear them?
3. What albums can you listen to start to finish?
4. What albums have you loved the longest?
5. What albums mean the most to you?

So here is answer. Please feel free to leave your lists in the comments.

This really hard, but I think I have it narrowed down…for now.

Best Albums of the Decade:

1. Fevers and Mirrors- Bright Eyes 2000
2. Full Collapse- Thursday 2001
3. Tell All You Friends- Taking Back Sunday 2002
4. The Execution of All Things- Rilo Kiley 2002
5. Ugly Organ- Cursive 2003
6. Give Up- The Postal Service
7. Transatlanticism- Death Cab for Cutie
8. What to do When You are Dead- Armor for Sleep 2005
9. Juturna- Circa Survive 2005
10. The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me- Brand New 2006

Honorable Mentions:

• If They Move… Kill Them- Fairweather 2001
• Second Stage Turbine Blade- Coheed and Cambria 2002
• The Artist in the Ambulance- Thrice 2003
• War All the Time- Thursday 2003
• In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth:3- Coheed and Cambria 2003
• Who WIll Survive and What Will Be Left of Them- Murder By Death 2003
• Deja Entendu- Brand New 2003
• Funeral- Arcade Fire (Only reason it didn’t make the above list is because I didn’t get into Arcade Fire until 2007. Late to the party, I know)
• The December; It’s One More and I’m Free- Lydia 2005
• Between the Heart and the Synapse- The Receiving End of Sirens 2005
• Everything in Transit- Jack’s Mannequin 2005
• Kid A- Radiohead (I refuse to put it just for the fact of the matter that EVERYONE has put it)

Ones I wish made the list but were from 1999:

• Something to Write Home About- The Get Up Kids
• Clarity- Jimmy Eat World
• Through Being Cool- Saves the Day

Best Albums of 2009: Ones That You Probably Didn’t Hear

1. As Cities Burn- Hell or High Water
2. Thrice- Beggars
3. The Dear Hunter- Act III
4. As Tall As Lions- You Can’t Take It With You
5. Manchester Orchestra- Mean Everything to Nothing
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Its Blitz
7. Therefore I Am- The Sound of Human Lives
8. Metric- Fantasies
9. New Moon Soundtrack (You know its an amazing collection of songs for an awful movie)
10. Lady Gaga- The Fame Monster.

Honorable Mentions:

• Paramore- Brand New Eyes
• Brand New- Daisy

Conclusion:
I am so emo…as if you didn’t know from the previous post.

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Emo is not dead…its BEEN dead.

I used to consider Rolling Stone one of the more respectable music magazines (lesson learned). Generally, they know what they are talking about. But in the latest issue, the “Best of the decade”, they got several things wrong. Let me begin with this; Rolling Stone has no idea what “emo” is.

2005 was not the  “Golden Era”. Not even close. Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and anything else off Fueled By Ramen is not “emo”. Neither is My Chemical Romance. Apparently when looking up emo on Wikipedia, they missed the entire first paragraph (no really, look- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo)

If anything, its probably Pop Punk (except maybe My Chemical Romance who had more of a goth rock vibe then went onto do the rock opera thing). Bands that are at home touring with Blink 182 are probably not emo. My Chemical Romance got their start opening up for bands like A Static Lullaby, Thrice and Taking Back Sunday, none of which I would classify as emo. Which brings me to the following questions: What IS emo and what bands fall into that genre?

Emo has always stood for “emotional” but you can argue all music is emotional. This is true, but I feel that emo is a subset of indie rock (then again, what is indie rock right?). Emo was could be happy music, often artists/bands in this genre would do a

70/30 split with some songs being upbeat and the rest with the artist or band letting it all out on the record. Th

ere might be a pretty metaphor here or there, but really the usual message is more than likely “you broke my heart”. Yeah, it’s a little weak, but then again, who was really all that badass in high school? I think that is the reason why most emo kids graduate onto hardcore to compensate.

Emo was glasses, it was mix tapes, it was LiveJournal, it was argyle sweaters and bangs in your face. It was not this Hot Topic bullshit, hairspray, neon colors, or “getting crunk”. Most emo kids were not cool. They were in band or theater, they were nerds. They went to shows for the music not because it was the cool place to be.

(That is me to the left circa 2002).

The final nail in the coffin was probably the creation of the character Seth Cohen on the OC, which debuted in 2003. But even so, that was a fairly realistic portrayal of an emo kid, minus the rich family and getting the popular girl of his dreams. But hey, that’s TV.

And in the history of words used to describe people who are just slightly outside of the mainstream, emo comes before the term scene and scene predates the term hipster.

Even the term emo has been dead for years. My emo kid days were in the late 90s/early 2000s and I was late to the party. According to The Juliana Theory, emotion was dead by 2000. Bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbreaker had been laying the foundation when I still liked Smashing Pumpkins and 90s alternative. The first band that really gets attached to the term is Rites of Spring but I would even go as far as to say bands like The Cure and The Smiths had an influence on the genre. That’s right, I said it. Morrissey is partly responsible for emo.

If you were into emo, there is a pretty good chance your favorite band was on Equalvision, Vagrant, Doghouse, or Saddle Creek records. You probably knew all the words to Age Six Racer by Dashboard Confessional and “Take Out Cars Now!” by Saves the Day, you listened to all 9 ½ minutes of both “Konstantine” by Something Corporate and “Short Stories with Tragic Endings” by From Autumn to Ashes. You probably saw The Anniversary open for The Get Up Kids. You knew Jolie from The Rocking Horse Winner was the go to girl for guest vocals. You probably listened to Mineral, Bright Eyes (before he got a little bit country), Brandston, The Promise Ring, and Elliot and you sure all hell knew how to make the perfect mix tape. Stop me before I say too much…

Rolling Stone should go back and read Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad and Nothing Feels Good by Andy Greenwald if they really want to know what emo is and where it came from.

I mean at the very least, if you really want a fun crash course, go to emogame.com and play the first version, which came out in 2002.

Here are my top 5 albums (which are probably also in my top albums of all time)

My Top 5 Emo Albums:

1. The Places You Have Come To Fear the Most- Dashboard Confessional
2. Emotion is Dead- The Juliana Theory
3. The Get Up Kids- Something to Write Home About
4. I’m Sorry, I’m Leaving- Saves the Day
5. All the Emo Diaries Compilations

And Clarity- Jimmy Eat World which is not listed because I think it transcends emo and is timeless.

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TRG Update! Finally! Get pumped!

When I said I had been slacking on this, what I really meant was I got really busy/lazy and contributed to my company’s blog instead of my own. Also, I have a hard time being on the computer when I get home after being on it all day at work. My eyes…they attack me. Well my friends, I changed my contacts, I have my coffee, and I’m ready to get this going again. Here is the plan:

1) Shooting for a redesign for the new year. So that leaves me less than a week. Look for a new site in early 2010.

2) I will be posting my “Best Of” lists soon. I already wrote them down and posted some on Facebook. These include:

Best Albums of 2009

Best Albums of the Decade

Best Songs of 2009

Best songs of the Decade

3) I will, moving forward, be including more than just music here, as I said. So that means lots more photos, links, videos, and other brief glimpses into my life. I will also be backdating and posting entries I’ve done for my company’s blog so there will be some of my (other) industry insights going on as well.

4) I will be creating lots of ways to interact with TRG.com on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. If I’m going to write about Social Media strategy, I better have one implemented for myself.

5) One word: Olive.

Note: You can tell how long its been by the fact I have my Myspace linked on here. Sad sad sad.

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