life, restoration.

I always enjoy the feeling of cleaning my room.
Its refreshing. And I should do it more often.

Oh, and I'm back.
I think.


///

Pooped

How do I stopped from being burnout?
I don't even know where to start up.

Again.


///

Top 2009: Honorable Mention

31. Owl City - Ocean Eyes [77.33 %]
Notable Tracks:
Cave In. The Saltwater Room. Tidal Wave.

32. Röyksopp - Junior [77.26]
Notable Tracks:
Happy Up Here. Vision One.

33. Kevin Devine - Brother's Blood [77.17]
Notable Tracks:
All Of Everything, Erased. Time To Burn (Another Bag Of Bones).
Hand Of God (When You Breathe, Breathe...).

34. Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom [76.67]
Notable Tracks:
Dew In The Grass.

35. Enter Shikari - Common Dreads [75.67]
Notable Tracks:
Juggernauts. Wall. Hectic.

36. Dance Gavin Dance - Happiness [75.00]
Notable Tracks:
Tree Village. NASA.

Favorite Compilation/Mix Album: Tiesto - Kaleidoscope

Favorite Soundtrack: Brother's Bloom Original Soundtrack [Nathan Johnson]

Favorite Live Album: The Starting Line - Somebody's Gonna Miss Us


(Next post... Top 2009: 30-20)


///

Top 2009: Introduction II

Q: How did you compile this list? How did you rate the music?

A: Even though this was a list of my favorite albums, I felt it was not only necessary but top priority to be true to myself and my opinion... and not get entirely wrapped up in what other people believe to be the (quote... unquote) best albums.

Understandably, personal opinion isn't the easiest thing to measure.
(It's fkking hard, and time consuming.)

So I just re-listened to all the albums that I pick up from 2009.
Kicked back with my laptop and my iTunes library...
And one by one, I rated them. And not by a 5-star system like iTunes offers, conveniently.

But an additional 6-star.
Many will consider this, just simply... stupid. Unsmart.
And at times, I think the same.

But I felt the only way to describe a quality of a track was through 6-stars.

For example:
(As seen above) is my rating of Discovery - LP.
The iTunes rating system allows me up to 5-stars (obviously lol).
But when I thought about it, 5-stars just didn't do enough justice to the best of songs.
So to mark a 6-star track (for evaluation purposes), I just uncheck the box to the left of the track title.

The best way of describing this theory is through a simplification of the scale and its correlation with "skipping":

6-star: Never skip this track. And in many occasions, I skip songs to get "here".
5-star: Great song. Rarely skip.
4-star: (If I'm listening to the whole album, usually won't skip.) The song is alright. Nothing outstanding.
3-star: Skippable track. Usually is skipped, unless I'm not paying attention. Haha.
2-star: (WTF is this?) Always skipped.
1-star: This never happens. I don't listen to complete trash [alternative rock]. (Delete)

------------------------------

After I rate the whole album.
I added it all up. Divide by number of total tracks (some times excluding short interlude or intro tracks that are just unrateable.)

From there, you get a number __ out of 6.

Some final ratings, tied with other albums. So in that situation (which happened a lot)...
I just counted up 6-star tracks.

Example: Discovery - LP [4.5 out of 6] (1 track)

...And that's how.

------------------------------

Q: Why did this post come more than a month late? [It ain't 2009 anymore, dumbass.]

A: It was a little bit of bad planning, with a side of burning myself out with work.
And like I stated prior...
1. I had to go back and find every album that I got this year.
(I missed a couple, down the long run. So I went back and corrected this.)
2. Decipher which one's came out in 2009.
3. Listen to it mostly all the way through. (Some tracks were obvious 5 and 6-star tracks to me.)
4. Listen to particular tracks over and over again. (My attention strayed off a lot, especially in the late hours.)
5. Calculate.
6. And then I found myself extending the list, because I felt like a list of 10 was enough (in proportion to the music I listened to in '09), or a list of 15... And then it became a list of 20. Et cetera, et cetera.

The Top 2009 list is officially 30, with a set of 9 Honorable Mentions.

-After opening up the list to (technically) 39, I did a lot of visual refining for the layout of this list on Illustrator. And hours of fine tuning, frustration, a little bit of learning and relearning the program, saving of multiple files over multiple programs...

I just didn't plan this out properly, with all consideration.

Looking back, the only way that this could have been released (lets say) mid-December...

...was if I starting this whole entire project in October.
(Which in turn, would have taken many albums that were released late 2009 out of consideration.)


[With all that being said... I'm almost entirely happy about the final product and its tardiness.]

------------------------------

This concludes the introduction.
Have fun.


///

Top 2009: Introduction Part I

[Late or not late, I was gonna find a way to post this.]

2009 was a year of settling down, for me [and music].
It wasn't a year of trying out new genres, like the past couple years have been.

I guess the years prior to 2009... have been about trying things out. New things.
Experimenting, in a sense.

With that being said, this doesn't at all mean I've listened to less music.
It's really quite the opposite.

For one, I went back and uncovered a lot of hidden gems from years past.
(Which this particular list won't cover any of these, cause its a list of albums from 2009.)

Two, I really dug deeper into the artists that I always had enjoyed. And artists that have particularly same characteristics.

And three... I guess there was only two pieces of evidence. Lol.


///

Preface: I guess this is it.

Fuhk.
This is a weirdly uninspiring moment.
I actually finished the Top 2009 [albums] list.

[Ahhhhhhhhh]
(Yeah, that was a subconscious thought.)

Let me set up this big project, creative writing piece, whatever you may call it.

Since I started [really] listening to music; 7 or 8 years ago...
I got into talking about my favorite albums of that particular year.

I was so excited to catalog my opinion. And display it in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
[Being the visualist that I've grown to be.]

These were probably my earliest experiences with... what probably wasn't considered blogging quite yet...let alone, my earliest experiences of writing in general.
Outside of school work, that is.


Finding out that you enjoy something "scholastic" has to be one of the most profound moments that one can ever have

...at least for me.

------------------------------

These yearly retrospective's have become a tradition to me.


Life is all about closure.
Proper closer.


///

Why settle for silver when you can go for gold, baby?

Last Place Winners (L.P.Dubb) interview.

0:46, hahaha.

twitter.com/lpdubb
myspace.com/lpdubb

(They better be paying me for all this exposure.)


///

Oh man.

What have I learned today?
...


Hmmm.


Well...

1. Peanut Butter (the cat) is freaking the fuck out.
2. Brandon is awake, and he still brings an A game with BP.
3. Bill will sleep anywhere.
4. Cats shed everywhere. Thus its impossible to hide from them.

5. I'm hungry. But I shouldn't indulge.

6. I believe I should be sleeping, and should be handling any serious words for another day. [Preferably, in 5 or 6 hours.]



Be back then.
Iono, if people care...

But thank you to everyone, who supports consistent means of opinion.

Communication is the most vital tool to a successful ___________.

Mad Libs that shit, cause I'm messy.
Nite, love of my life.


///

Best song [ever].

Assuming that all things are equal,
Who'd want to be men of the people,
When there's people like... you.


///

Cudi, and couple other things.

(Pay attention to the cry beat at 1:14. So good!)


1. I love Ottoman by Vampire Weekend. [I really do.]
2. Cudi's acting debut, HBO's How To Make It In America premieres February 14th at 10pm.
(Fk Valentine's Day.)

3. If you like Cudi, take a listen to Theophilus London's mixtape, This Charming Mixtape.
(Or roll over to greenlabelsound.com and listen to his single "Humdrum Town".)


///

Restless

Last night was weird.

First I got sick.
Dizzy.
I almost puked.
(Motion sickness is the worst.)

And I came home, laid in bed at 4am.

And I didn't sleep. I couldn't sleep.

From 4 to 9, my mind was racing.
Ideas were flowing.

Embarrassingly enough, I carried on conversation [with myself] for those 4 hours.

(I eventually want to understand the science behind "talking to ones self", and I want to figure out the severity of this psychosis.)

------------------------------

Key Points:
I watched the light peeking through my window turn, blue to white light.

I crunched a lot of statistics. (I've been living roughly 7,500 days.)
I came up with a couple new ideas.
I revisited 20 years.


...and the last night I laid in bed restless.

------------------------------

Final Thought:
[I need to record my future psycho-sessions.]


///

MW2

The guys of Defend The House have been doing Mythbusters segments for Modern Warfare 2.
I watch them last night.

But they also have a montage of just ridiculous PWNAGE.
And the Girl Talk only made it better of a viewing experience.

I think I might just watch it again.




///

16mm

Most of my reclusive time [the time I spend away from my friends, in the comfort of my room]...
I spend on the computer or in my bed, watching movies and videos.
So its very safe to say... I love film.

I was born a visual learner.

But in more specific, I've been (and I guess I have always been) heavily interested in 16mm film.
And how it looks.
And I've been constantly surrounded and immersed in videos from back in the day (like old Transworld videos, or newer films like Mindfield), and I never realized what exactly I was watching.

It's hard paying attention to those details, of what film is being used in "x" shot (or scene).

But now looking back, 16mm is just too beautiful, too simple and raw, to not take interest in.

------------------------------

I was watching an interview of French Fred [Mortagne] on Crail Couch just a couple hours ago.
And I found out he pioneered modern directing of skate films in Europe, like how Ty Evans has here in the States. They both were the ones to invent (that motherfkkng beautiful) rolling long lens angle shot.
(i.e. Lakai angles)

But the gist is that I find myself being more impacted by this little details, than what was a profound interest in the skateboarding itself (or the movie or film itself).

So continuing that thought, I just looked into some of Mortagne's work, and I fell upon this 2008 "Shoot To Thrill" event/contest/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, which was sponsored by Red Bull and Color Magazine (which is my favorite magazine in the world).

It brought together everything that I love and adore.
(Indeed overexaggeration, but very much needed emphasis.)

1. Skateboarding.
2. Cinematography (All shot in 16mm, by the way).
3. Canada.

You can never go wrong. Promise you that.

Here are two particular videos from this event, that I feel do this particular blog post justice.

FUCKING CRYSTAL CASTLES. again.


And this video entry was directed by Fred Mortagne.


------------------------------

Note To Self:
1. Learn how 16mm film, camera, and processing works.
2. Invest in a 16mm camera.
3. Film a masterpiece. (With only Broken Social Scene, for the soundtrack.)

4. Oh and learn how to edit 16mm film. Lol.


///

Picture Of The Day

Ha. A bit overconfident, don't you think?

///

I need to find someone smaller than me.

Fuhk. So...

On a monthly basis, I find myself having a pile of [clean] clothes in scatter locations of my room.

In front of my closet.
On chairs.
In the guest room across.

...All over the place.

It's safe to say (the size of) my room (or closet)... does not cater well to the amount of clothes I actually own.
[Though, I may just be lazy. Haha.]

I wear 5% (or no more than 10%) of my closet, on a normal weekly basis.
Which that percentage tends to be the clothes that find there way in front of my closet, on the ground.

-So my actually closet-ed clothes, ironically are clothes that I don't even wear.-

It has become more an archive of purchases, that depict an image of a horrible consumer.
A compulsive, vain one at that.

The size small has proven to be the biggest reason for this clothing debacle.

I figured my body was slowing down in its natural growth process.
And I was [almost] certain that small would be my inevitable size.

[sigh]

Well, I was pretty wrong.
Let's not get into why I'm no longer the lanky, scrawny individual that I once was. Lol.

The point is:
I have a closet and drawers full of clothes that just doesn't fit me.

Alot of [expensive] sweaters that have shrank.
Jeans that don't fit my newly fat physique.
And stacks of tee shirts that have been out-phased by newer product.

Most of my clothes are in s-uber good condition.
And it's a shame that some of them haven't been broken in, properly.
Like a car with 20,000 miles... getting totaled.

Continuing the analogy, I find a proportional equivalence between a car and my (busting-at-the-seams) closet of clothes...


...I've put significantly too much money into it.

------------------------------

With that being said... (Here's the real point.)

If you conveniently resemble my [former] figure.
Something around:
5'4-5'7
115-130 lbs
28-30" [Waist size]

And you happen to like your clothes more fit, than not.
...You might just be in luck.


*So if you are at all interested...
I guess just tell me, and I can give you an inventory of all the product I have (and no longer want).

[Most may be free. Some might cost something... of a small amount.]


///

Machotaildrop!

Drugs.



///

Back to work

Picked up where I last left off, from a week ago.
After immense "burning out", comes a refractory period. Lol

I'm ready for more bumping and grinding.


I've added more albums for consideration. Thus, more work.
All of this will mean... a longer list. It's looking like it will be a list of 20 to 25.
I'm trying to cap it off, so it's not just a list of all the albums that happened to listen to in 2009.

That would just be uninspiring.

But soon enough.
Trust me.


///

Unplugged

///

LPDubb

My interpretation for their mixtape, due out soon.
Eh? Any thoughts?

And fuck yeah, I stole direction from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Cold War Kids.
Alright...

I really didn't mean to. It was just the only way to make up for a shitty exposed shot.

I should stop shooting photographs; the world might be a better place.
[Thinking about it, deeply.]


///

Final Monologue

I [absolutely] can't wait to see the return of Conan O'Brien to late night.


///

Sorry Ivan.

I swear I haven't meant to be flaky. It's complicated.

So, I'm [finally] back to work on your promo shit. Swear.
Sorry man, lol.

///

In retrospect

Of the past 3 or 4 days.

I think its safe to assume that I burnt myself out on the my latest post (endeavor).
Too many 5am nights spent burning my retinas, to routine movement of editing and cramming music.

I'm soon to be back on track with the Top 2009.
Figure, that it was necessary to catalog my absence from my posts (or the computer, in general).


...now off to work.


///

LAN party!!!

Legitimately the chillest night I've had in a long time.
Nothing better than kicking back with my best friends.
And some good ole Modern Warfare action.


///

Somebody, intervene.

I've been going on for about (collectively) 15-20 hours by this point.
That is the time I've logged on my 2009 Music Retrospect. A list (in a sense).

-A couple over ambitions; relentless attention to detail.
-A dozen different ideas.
-Countless mental errors.
-Surely two blood shot eyes and two sweaty palms.
-Nearly 25 hours of music. (I think I'll be burnt out by the end of this.)
-Some good ole time spent with my best friend, Illustrator.
-And a couple friends who can't seem to understand the significance of my blog and the time I (choose) to spend on it.

All of this trouble for what...

Closure... on a year that I can't seem to remember.

Till morning.


///

Toshiba Timesculpture Ad

I just fell upon this, while reading up on Crystal Castles.
I'm happy I did.

(Supposedly, it won some awards.)


And the making of the advertisement.
I'm blown away by the complexities of their project, and its always great to see technology and creativity pushed to its limits.


I needed my Crystal Castles fix.

And I got it.


///

Berra.

While I'm working on my 09 post, I'll leave up some visual stimulants.

One of my favorite video parts, for sure.

Steve Berra. DVS Skate More
[Music: The Faint - Birth](This song makes this part unforgettable, in my eyes.)



I just wished it was in YoutubeHD.


///

Good stuff

Sigh. Feeling good (and warm).

1. Making some good progress on a checklist of items I want to accomplish for this blog.
2. Working right now on my Top 2009 list. (Fuck the fact that its kinda late, cause its already 2010). Almost done though.
3. I beat the shit up out of my Adobe Creative Suite. And I conquered (sort of). I managed to run my (64-Bit) Photoshop CS4, but my normal version is still having boot up errors. Oh well. At least for now.
4. My 360 is fixed. And I should have it back by Friday. (Knock on wood.)

More work needs to be done on visual elements on the site.
Had a lot of trouble conceptualizing the new header. (Proportions and coding.)
But done now. I suppose thats enough to be said.


///

----

I think I'm gonna write a screenplay. (Seriously.)
How do u start? (Seriously.)


///

Best recruiting class ever.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=4811710

------------------------------

It was just a couple weekends ago, that I found myself in a livid conversation with the cousin of my friend Travis (which we'll just call him "Subject A", for the sake of a good flowing piece), while over at Will's abode.

Most fake-college-football-enthusiasts tend to believe that Florida Football is on the way down for the next couple years.

("Subject A", in particular, displayed his true intelligence [personally, I'd rather just call it ignorance] by claiming that the Gators will be a dead program for the next... DECADE)

So like every (and I seriously mean every) fake-college-football-enthusiast, the only evidence they have to back up these wild notions is...

1. Tim Tebow is gone. (Mediocre point, but I think it's just because its a lazy point)

2. Urban Meyer is finished coaching. (Which is just a bit of over exaggeration. And too foggy, to be relevant.)

(But this particular point, ain't so bad.)

Ok, so what else do you got?

...

...

(Awkward silence.)

Umm, nothing.

What?

Ok, I guess that makes sense, cause I smelt ignorance since the moment you stepped in the room.

------------------------------

This was surely the case, the night I talked to Travis' cousin.

He was a Seminole.

And like all (ok, most) Seminoles, he has no sense of educated opinion to college football as a whole.

The way I like to see is... you don't buy a pie just to eat one slice.

So why would you watch college football (or any other sport), just to watch one team.

(DISCLAIMER: Not root for. But just watch.)

Why would you?

Are you a fan of college football?

You can't be, you're just a watcher.

------------------------------

My next blog post: My (Least Biased) Prediction To The Future Of Florida Football

///

My beautifully reclusive life

It may be a bit of an over exaggeration, to say that I live a reclusive life.
Because I surely live and breathe for the comfort of my friends.

But tonight is surely a change in pace, and absolutely worth mentioning.

A. It's a Friday night.
B. I'm by myself.
C. I'm in my tights, and a oversized sweater.
D. Nothing feels better than the comfort of my bed.

Most notably...
E. And I'm not regretting it. And I feel no uncontrollable urge to get bucked. (Man, I love that word.)

------------------------------

Other thoughts:
Not really, I suppose.
I'm just happy, I've finally found ways to appreciate being by myself.
(Wait a minute, Matt. Do you mean generally speaking?)

(Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves.)


///

Projectiles

STOMACH VIRUS.
Tonee drank purple Gatorade.
It came out teal green.

I think he's dying.


///

I am...

I am Bill.

I am always downer.

I don't appreciate my friends.

And my dog knocks over external hard drives... on purpose.

///

To do list: 2010

I need to finally go to a Jacksonville Film Festival.
I won't allow myself to pass it up for the like 5th year in a row.


///

Not only is it now 2010...

I just realized that I hit 1000 views.

So for everyone who has frequented my posts, my rants, or my odd observations of life...

Thank you for listening.
I really do appreciate it.


And I hope 2010, and this new decade is a memorable one for everyone.

------------------------------

In retrospect of New Year's Eve...

Paid 10 bucks to get in the Pearl, ultimately to be disappointed by the realization that no one was really there. And I watched the seconds wind down, fortunately with my 3 closest friends.

But the bliss of everyone else around me, with their smiles and cheers, and couples embracing each other...

Turned my stomach.

[Its kind of frustrating to think that I'll always remember my decade starting off with discomfort from other people's happiness.]


As for the other 80% of the night, it was quite the adventure. Superbad-like.
It is almost impossible to explain.
I'm just happy I ran into so many familiar faces.


And for every fucking DBAG who didn't pick up their phone.

Thanks.


///