Changes

This wee has been a very eventful one indeed.. A month ago I was having such a hard time. Actually a week ago things were not all that good. And then all of a sudden so much changed. On top of that things are there is still a lot for me to do and a lot on my mind right now. I am actually at work, just finishing up my shift and I don't think I have been this exhausted in sometime. It takes a special kind of tired to get like this. I can barely move and my whole body is cold.

I spent part of the night playing games with friends, the other part of the night I spent thinking about the story, about the comic I said I was going to do so long ago. I think that now I can make a conscious effort to do it and get on with it. I have had so much going on and I more than likely have a shit load of material to pick from. Let alone I have the story that I am writing and I am working hard to get all of my things in line to make the story more presentable in case I actually want to market it, which is the overall plan.

Bu right now, I am so tired, work has been hard on me tonight and I feel like I could sleep forever. I think I just might try. I still have fifteen minutes of work and I guess that I could try and do something in that time like finish cleaning up. But I just wanted to get something posted in this thing and let everyone know I am still using it and that I plan to keep using it just like I said.

Shameless Plug

Well this is more of a self plug than anything else. First and foremost I have to tell you that I have started an internet forum for writers. I am running it myself. I am overseeing it and I have complete control over it. That having been said, anyone is welcome to join. No part of it costs money and my hope is to grow as a writer and help others to grow.

The thing holding me back the most is that I will have to do leg work to get this thing off the ground. I need a little help honestly. More than anything I need people who know someone who wants to be a writer to simply tell them. It might seem like spamming or like this is rude. But I know there has to be other writers out there who want some forum where they can go and openly discuss things. We welcome all types of writing.

That having been said, I will move on to what I really wanted to say. I ended up watching Knocked Up the other night and I couldn't be more happy with the fact that I bought it. I had no idea I was going to like it so much. And what gets me the most about it is that it reminds me so much of me and my friends. The way they talked, the situations (besides the whole pregnancy thing, Super Bad's situation fit more). In my personal opinion the movies stay true to themselves, they get a message across in a way that you almost don't notice you're getting something. But when you leave you're really taking it with you.

I am just very glad that I watched these. And I hope that more people get to see them and can look past the vulgarity of it all, because underneath all of that is a real solid message. A message that's important because a lot of times in the world today, we don't get movies where people do the right thing. The right thing isn't popular.

Well I've got to go grab some food. The next little blog I do will more than likely be a story clip. See you then.

I Quit

I know that no one has really noticed it, but I haven't touched these things in a long time. I guess because I get tried of typing the same things every single time that I start to write in here. More likely than not I have written something, and I just don't post it because it all looks the same. Well lucky me, because today looks just like the last few months have. The cycle of self loathing and pretty much infinite sadness seems to be pretty much all I can muster these days.

It could be that this city doesn't feel like home to me anymore. Or it could be that I have been like this for a long time and my bad choices in friends, bad choices in people to trust and a lot of other bad choices are starting to catch up to me. It's only when I have time to sit and think, when I really have time to examine things that I realize how much I don't want to be most of the things that I am. And even more so, that I realize that I seem to have very little ability to change that.

Life gets hard, and sometimes I wish I could erase the last six years or so and just do them over again. I wish I could do things in high school different and start college different. I wish I knew back then what I know now. Mostly that you can't trust anyone, you can't because a lot of where I went wrong was trusting, was assuming people were friends. The people I know online have been more forthcoming with me than the people I meet in real life, that's just sad.

People telling me that I should go see a counselor should know I did that before, and I hated it. The lady couldn't be trusted because a lot of the things she said were uncaring. I don't want to be that uncaring. That might be the problem with the world, that no one cares and that a lot of psychological crap tells them that's alright because its how you're supposed to be.

It's a hard choice to make between being who you are, changing who you are, and lying about who you are to be who you want to be. Perhaps the last one is the easiest, but its also least rewarding. I think I have tried all three, and even lying is hard...but the thing is that none of them seemed to get results. Nothing has changed for me. And if this is how things will be, I honestly don't see a point in trying anymore. I'm just about ready to quit.

Stuck

It's a little after five AM and I am up sitting here at the house alone. I am just thinking about so many things that have happened over the past...I don't know how many months. Suffice to say I am trying to get these thoughts out of my head because most of them aren't good. And one in particular is of this girl that I miss terribly and just am afraid to admit it to her, or maybe I am afraid to admit to myself.

I can't get her out of my head, she's set up permanent shop there and I wish I could tell her how I feel, I know she doesn't feel the same way. No girl ever feels that way when it comes to me.

This is short because I have no idea what to say.

But I just want thoughts like this to go away...I want it all gone.

But, more than anything, I just wish I could hold her.

Dusk And Summer

Well this is my end of summer report...I guess we can call it that. If I had written this exactly a week ago, it would have been a totally different story. I would have had to say that this was the most uneventful and bland summer, and that besides the bad nothing happened that I could call something good.

Well I will have to take that back. I made a new friend and after that I could look back on the things that happened over this summer that weren't all bad. I really did spend most of the first half of the summer alone. I think that for someone who has depression this is really the right way to help them, am I right? But there were a few occasions I got to see my friends and just hang out with them. I don't count school because there such a time constraint and limit on what you can do.

Anyway, I also go to go see people like Brandon, Tarin, and Heather. It was nice seeing all of them, Brandon let me stay with him and we had some great times watching the Angry Video Game Nerd. We set up and talked, went outside and just had cigars and it was like old times again. That's something I really missed and kind of felt empty without. Rickey and I just hung out and talked, I kept him up just like old times. And Heather has been supportive and has helped me through some pretty hard times and all with my brother.

I didn't get to see Prentiss as much, but I talked on the phone with him often enough that it was the same. We are always the same and I am convinced that this is how we will continue to be. Tarin I only got to see one time and it was only for a few hours. It was awkward because her new boyfriend was someone I had never met and I am sure he didn't like me. He's not the type of guy I would hang around with but I would say that none of the guys she dates are. But it was still great to see her and I got some pictures out of the deal.

Also I got a lot of writing done this summer, and insane amount. And I am glad for that because I felt like I really wasn't getting anywhere before.

But one of the things that happened this summer that came out of nowhere was Kat, we met on a forum site for Naruto and was later realized that she lived like right across from me in another subdivision. I really only spoke to her because she went to school in San Marcos and knew Stephanie Adams. But in such a short time I made friends with someone who is eerily similar to me and just so much fun to be around. Thanks for being there Kat and making this summer so much better than it is.

Sadly the one thing I promised to do this summer, beat Final Fantasy XII, hasn't happened yet, because I am a lazy person and I hate keeping promises to myself.

Fortune Cookie

I haven't written in this blog in what seems like forever. In actuality there has been real reasons for my choice not to write as much in here. Collectively over the last few weeks I have written over fifty pages of stuff that was story alone, this does not include the papers for school. And as I write this right now I have two more papers ahead of me before I can rest.

This last week has been turbulent to say the least but it ended up being one of the best weeks yet. Having someone nearby who I could hang out with and just go out and do stuff with has been comforting. That sense of not belonging and just not having a place I've felt since, oh I don't know, about September of last year seemed lifted for a while in the last place I expected that to happen. Right here in Spring.

Its hard not to think of the fortune from earlier this week in the half assed cookie in which it was housed. You will face new challenge everyone reads this kind of stuff the same. The fortune is bad news, just eat the cookie and when you bad news comes it will seem less cosmic...you won't feel like God has an out for you if the cookie didn't tell you that you had this coming

But what if the challenge isn't a bad one, even though the cookie didn't tell you the answer it sure as Hell predicted what will happen. And as a person who usually scoffs that these sorts of things. I have to say that no challenge is without at least looking at to see if its worth taking on. Few will read this blog, even fewer will understand it, even less than that I will want to understand it.

But know this, the last few months have been turmoil, uncertainty, life changing. This week I had an epiphany, an eleventh hour awakening that has set me up for the next stage of life. And to think, a little strip of paper with a line of lotto numbers on one side and a sentence on the other might just have triggered it.

Cyber Love?

Someone asked me suddenly the other day if I thought it was possible to have feelings for someone whom you have never met in person. I didn't really answer the question, it was two thirty in the morning and I was having feelings for bed...strong ones. Other times I have been called crazy for getting so involved in the lives of people whom I have never really met or for worrying about them when they have trouble.

But the thing is that I have some friends online that I knew before I knew most of you who will read this, people I have talked to through phones and long emails, whom I spent rainy days IMing and chatting with. People who taught me to write, who read my first stuff, the really bad stuff, people who have been emotional support and who I hope I have provided some comfort to.

After all, I fell in love with a girl I only met once, and then talked to over the net for months after that. I cared for her more than I have any other single human being in my entire life and we just talked through emails for the longest time. Our communication came once a day and yet when it came and I knew it was on the way, I couldn't wait. There are few feelings in the world like getting an e-mail from another person, not a myspace message or a facebook wall post, but an honest to God e-mail. When she used to write them to me I would be so excited, I'd curl up in front of my boxy old monitor and hold my face close to the screen to read it.

I might read the thing over and over again before I would place it back in my inbox to rest, and I have several of them still saved even now.

Because she was telling me intimate details of her life and I was telling her some from mine, when we finally met up again in person, I felt close to her. I felt so close that I told her I loved her, because she was everything that I had ever wanted in another person and still is.

So to answer your question, I think that love can bloom anywhere, even in cyberspace. Here was a girl I liked bu I had no idea the substance of, until I talked to her online. Love is a strong thing, it has bloomed on the battle field and in dank hospital rooms. Even if we are to accept that the Internet is a cruel place, I believe that Love can still transcend that cruelty

Cursed Out in Class

So last night I got cursed out in a classroom. A classroom that was full of students and one teacher. Let me start out by saying I should have known that when I opened my mouth and said something I was going to start a fire. Even though what I said was something that I would think any reasonable person could agree was not offensive or controversial.

The way all of this started was with the topic of minorities in Sociology class. Now when you hear the word minority a lot of you are already thinking racially, but we talked about many kinds of minority. Another guy in the class who was white asked the question randomly about BET which as I am sure you are aware stands for Black Entertainment Tonight, I mean I think the 'T' is for tonight. I don't give a damn enough to go look.

Anyway, what he asked was 'What would happen if whites had a White Entertainment Tonight (or whatever that 'T' is for)'? Well I could tell where this was going, and after the teacher did her little explanation of how norms and culture trends I stepped in and simply said that the question that should be asked was, 'Why is there still a BET? There is nothing of quality on that station, nothing of substance, this a devoid hole. To quote myself from earlier, its a gaping goatseed anus on our TV dial.

You see, this is where you would think the argument started. But really it wasn't. The teacher bought up something else, I couldn't even hear her much, but she mentioned this neighborhood called Sienna Plantation, its a nice place, floods a lot but still nice. But this black lady cut in, over the teacher, her exact words were 'I don't see how any black person can live in a neighborhood with Plantation in the name.'

I simply said, 'It's just a word, any word is what you make of it.'

This woman started out semi-calm, 'How can you say that?' then I couldn't hear for a second, 'she said something about me not being black enough.' They teacher cut her off. Like ten seconds later she gets up out of her seat yelling and carrying on, telling me how I am an 'ungrateful fuck' then she said the dumbest thing. She asked, 'How can you say slavery is just a word?'

Did you see the word slavery anywhere in what I just typed until this point? I thought not. I tried to explain that Plantations aren't just for slaves, aren't just for blacks and that in South America they are still in use today to make coffee.

This is when she talked right over me and continued to curse, yelling and carrying on. At that point I shut down because you don't have to yell to talk. And I don't deal with crazy bitches, sorry but I have dealt with enough crazy people in my life. I don't have to hear it from one more. And anyone who flips out over the word Plantation...or even the word Nigger can go cry to someone who gives a damn, because I am tried of trying.

Eventually it calmed down, I didn't say anything back to her because she wasn't making sense and that's how crazy people are. In all honesty she's the same one who goes on and on about her good Christian crap and suddenly she can't forgive a bunch of people who died about five generations ago in the late 1800's? That's asinine if I have ever heard of anything being asinine and I dare anyone to argue with me how that opinion she brought up even makes sense.

I'll say this as quickly as I can because I am going to have to wrap this up. But the main problem with race relations is that people of the same race want to group together and blame others. Some of the most racist people I have seen are other blacks talking about whites and they think that anytime something happens to them its racially motivated. A lot of them don't seek to better themselves, they just complain about how its this other races fault they can't rise up. Well let me tell you, maybe if you read a book, got out and did something, got some culture, and I don't mean culture from a record store or a magazine, maybe if you stopped acting like anyone who doesn't have the same skin tone as you is out to get you, or like every time you do something wrong and get caught that its your race that made you get in trouble you wouldn't have such a hard time becoming a productive member of society.

And just in case anyone cared, the high school inside of Sienna Plantation is named after a black guy...

The Internet is for Complaining

I am kind of convinced that the internet is becoming a place where people can bitch about things that really don't need to be bitched about. Maybe this started because many of the first big voices on the internet were the people who really hadn't had a forum before and were able to share ideas. Maybe this is where this rise of complaining came from, when these people got into groups they would talk about how they hated things in popular culture.

Or this could be partly due to the popularity of Maddox back in the late 90's and his way of complaining about everyday things in life. But I doubt that anyone really took him seriously when he said these things. These days a lot of people feel the need to complain about everything from music to movies. And a lot of times it seems like they are doing it just to stand out or get attention.

When I said to someone who wanted me to watch the movie Crash with them that I would rather super-glue my asshole shut than watch that movie, its different than me getting online in a place where people are talking about the movie and blasting it without any real reasons. I can back up my hate of the movie Crash. People who are running around telling me that they hate the movie Transformers because it was made with more people than just the fans in mind need to just stop and think about what they are saying.

You want them to spend two hundred fifty million on a movie that probably one hundred thousand people are going to go see? That just doesn't make sense. Just because you didn't like it doesn't make millions of others wrong. Especially if your reasoning is that millions of others liked it.

Charade

Have you ever met that person that everyone else just seems to like but you can just tell there is something wrong with them, like their logic is flawed, their morals seem a little debunk. You can tell that this person is not as good as everyone thinks. And most of all no one but you seems to notice.

If you do try and tell someone what you have noticed you are usually met with the opposition claiming that jealousy is making you see things that way. But there is something telling you that this person is wrong, that they are not good. I know this guy, he is the goatseed anus of a nexus that everything bad about other guys pours out of (if you don't know what goatsee is, don't look it up. He is the guy who says one thing to the girls and turns around to his buddies and tells a totally different side of things.

He's what gives us a bad name.

I can't say to much else about him, because this will be on facebook where he can see it. But just know that someday everyone will see you for what you are, the charade won't last long.

Picky?

Allow me to be a little introverted here, something I normally don't do on this blog but I think that for what I am talking about the idea is appropriate. This time the focus is on me and the subject is one of preference, or taste rather. All of this is in response to a recent allegation that I am picky. I have to admit the idea of me being picky kind of caught me off guard. I don't think I have ever been called that.

Here are just a few things I have to say on the subject of my taste in women, I know many things I like aren't the norms; like how I love legs or girls with beautiful hair. At the same time I don't know why I like some of the things I like; like how I have this strange love for redheads. These things are just like that some of the time and we have to accept it.

Now all of the things above aren't factors for me not to be able to date a girl, but there are some things that a girl cannot have or do if I am going to date her. I think that everyone is like that because realistically you have to have some standards. For instance I wouldn't date a girl who took it upon me to bad mouth my religion. Basically you don't have to be Catholic or even Christian, but respect that I am and that its not some fairytale.

Now I think that this is totally acceptable, as are the rest of the things I look for in a person as signs not to date them. Why is that? Well simple, because I don't believe in dating someone just to date them. If I date someone its because I want to get married to them, otherwise I don't see a point in us wasting our time on each other. That might sound harsh, but its the truth.

I don't see it as a problem that I won't date someone who drinks too heavily or who isn't at least a little assertive, these are just things that I need to have in another person to be with them. If I know I can't spend the rest of my life with a person why should I go through the trouble of dating them. Dating isn't supposed to be for you to get more ass and rack up booty points, its a screening process for marriage. And if you try to argue with me otherwise I'll lay you out cold on with a retort.

I think that is the problem people have understanding me when I say certain things like how I would break up with a girl for asking for a threesome. You're damn right I would, and don't call me cruel. She was basically looking for a roundabout way to cheat on me. I'm not a picky asshole, really. I just have strength to stand up for what I believe I should have in another person.

WTF?!

Two blogs in one day? That's right I'm going crazy it would appear. I am excited though because its almost August and I am hoping I get to hear from Persephanie again. It would mean a lot to have that back in my life, to just secure things since I have lost so many friends for various reasons recently.

My friends have been some of the most important things to me over the years and to lose anymore would really just hurt. But actually gaining a real solid one back, someone I really cared for is the best possible thing right now. I might sound like everything this negative right now and all of this, I know some people might be pissed about the things I say and I'll say it before as I have, I don't usually care when people think I am saying something that pisses them off.

But I also don't think you should care so much about what I say. I continue to be nice to people despite the fact that I get walked on, I continue to try to make friends even when so many of them walk away, that's life right? Probably the best news about me in my current state is that I seem to have become the writer I once was. My writing has become crisp again and maybe heartache is my inspiration? I would hate that to be the case but who knows.

And to Kara: I try my best to never generalize as if its all women, I know several who are great people and don't do things like that...you included. I could name a lot of others. But one thing I will say is that women like you are hard to come by, people like you are hard to come by. There's not many good people left in the world and when someone says their a Christian or when someone says that they believe lying is bad, or that people should be straight forward its not always the case.

None of those things mean that the person believes what they are saying. I'm attracted to a certain type and it seems that some of them say the above things (I especially like religious women) and don't actually follow through on them. I know its sad really. But don't feel like I am talking to you when you read things like that. You have never been mean to me before and you're as far as I can tell the perfect kind of woman to date. Unfortunately there's not even enough of you out there...

Double Standard II

Someone tell me a good reason that women are allowed to be cowards? Tell me why some girl telling me that that I need to grow balls is allowed to turn around and cop out like nothing happened? I'm not sure if this has ever happened to any of you, most of the time when I ask someone out, I ant to do it in person. But there are circumstances where it must be done by e-mail or some other form of communication.

Without fail, almost every time that I have asked a girl out on an innocent date like this I didn't get a no, I got nothing. They never replied. When they world finds a person unappealing or ugly it looks through them like this, the same way we look through the hobo on the side of the road begging.

A simple no is all that has to be said, what do they think not saying anything at all is going to do for them? How much confidence does it take to tell some guy no? I mean I get told I need to get more confidence...why should I work so hard when it seems every girl I come across doesn't have the confidence to say no.

I work so hard to get something only to be ignored or disregarded and tossed aside, I don't want to get it then in the first place. I feel like I would be better off with a woman who wants to find someone with out resorting to these stupid fucking games.

My Kind of Trouble

It's not hard to find trouble, everywhere you look its there. Trouble is one of those things that no matter how much you want it to go away its always going to be just around the corner. Trouble is discouraging to us, it makes us just not want to do things. Depending upon the severity, things will be more and more effected. September 12, 2001 I just couldn't bring myself to draw. I didn't pick up the pencil for about six months after that. I don't know how that's connected, but drawing just didn't seem right. I had been drawing when I found out about the attacks.

My point here is that trouble is all around us. But at the same time trouble isn't the same for everyone. There's an opposite side of the coin, when things are head for one person or group, they might be tails for another. There's lots of good examples for trouble. Case in point, Jesus for the Romans. He was trouble, but the kind of trouble that brought them out of their period of excessiveness. In the same way, the United States was trouble for Hitler, but we stopped his tryanical reign. I think with just those two examples.

Well I am going to say this in the most awkward way I have heard it said. I actually saw it on this t-shirt. We need to strive to be the trouble we want to see in the world no revolution ever got started and was successful without creating a stir. A little trouble can be good for someone else. Taking the moral high ground doesn't have to mean that you get walked on, it doesn't have to mean you can lay down and let wrong be done.

Stand up and speak out when you see something wrong happening. Most of the trouble in the world that we don't want is furthered because no one speaks out. But it doesn't have to be the big things. If you see some jocks picking on the nerd, get in there and tell them its wrong. Tell someone what they are doing to someone else is wrong if it truly is.

People who know me know that most of the time in most situations I am good for speaking my mind, or just speaking without fail and unstoppably. When I take up a cause I think is right and know is right in my heart of hearts, I don't lay down easily and I might not do for myself, but I can do for others. Maybe that's what I am meant for. Boondock Saints as a movie is a good example of how we need to stand up for the right thing, even if the methods are taboo.

Go out there and be the trouble you want to see in the world, rattle cages, and tell people the truth. Most of all just because someone doesn't agree doesn't make you wrong, even if most people disagree, doesn't mean they are right. It seems more and more that most people don't do the right thing anyway.

Update...

I really haven't had anything that I have thought was worth writing about in a while, but a little bit of good news. I heard from a friend I hadn't heard from in about three years the other day and that was really good. I have only talked to her a little but needless to say I am pretty happy to hear from her again.

I have been drawing again and writing, doing all of the old things that I used to do and I am not sure what cause me to do them really. I sat and did six pages last night at a Starbucks and I realized that part of my problem is I need an environment like that to write well. I need to be out of the house.

I am wanting to move out now, not sure where or when yet...but I need to be a little more independent. I need to have some time to work on things and get some writing done. I am going to start working on what to do next now though.

I guess the most unsurprising thing that I met a girl, I don't want to say much about her but I think she seems pretty nice. I will tell more later.

Never Cease

People never seem to be able to stop being a disappointment, they waste countless amounts of my time and their own by forging things only to throw them away at the drop of a hat.

You Might Be Trying to Be Nice, But You're Still a Liar

I'm going to tell you exactly why women shouldn't ever try to talk about how much guys lie. It's actually quiet simple and you can sport it all over sites like facebook and myspace. To put it all in very simplified terms, just look at your profile; do you see where it has the marker for relationship status.

Now, you would be hard pressed to find a guy who has that he is looking for dating or a relationship who would turn down a girl whom he is attracted to. If he did turn down a girl for any reason he would more than likely just tell her no. He might give a reason.

What you don't do is give some reason because you think it will make a guy feel better. I am going to tell you straight up, some of us maybe pretty damn dumb, but all of us using these sites can at least read, or maybe its that words elude you. But last time I checked you having Dating or a Relationship under looking for meant that you can't tell some guy who asks you out "I'm just not looking for someone right now."

I mean no matter how you try and spin it, you're a liar. Either you lied on your profile, or the more logical choice is that you're lying to the guy. Let a girl ask me if I want to go out with her, I'll tell her no if I don't want to. It might hurt her feelings but she won't be running around thinking there's some chance. And if you right after that start dating anyone else, they're going to know you lied so what's the use. Just stop thinking you're doing someone favors and tell the truth. It reflects bad on you. Learn to say no and be a damn grownup.

Ruin and Creation

After working on it since September I am happy to say that the first book in my series was finished last night around eight at night. I would have posted this last night but I got so happy I ran off to play Final Fantasy XII, promptly got my ass handed to me, and remember why I had stopped playing FFXII in the first place...

Anyway the story came out to be exactly seventy pages long, deals with the introduction of most of the major characters that will be seen in the series, starts off the first story arc, and introduces the main villain of the first story arc. Overall I am happier with this one than I have ever been with the other drafts of this same story. And I am ever happier to say that it's my very first completed story written entirely in first person. My new found confidence last night caused me to stay up until almost four in the morning playing Final Fantasy and thinking of a promise I made to get this story done before August...and here it is. Done.

Maybe the abundance of thought is why my playing was such shit last night. I realized while playing that even though I know the Final Fantasy series like the back of my hand, my mind as a strategic fighter sucks ass. I could never command forces in the military or anything like that. I mean I can't keep track of three people who I have control over totally with time freezing when I go to menu select...

Guess this is why I stick to writing. I have mind that allows me to see storylines and events in my mind and keep all of this stuff in order. Well needless to say I am a little happy about this...if anyone wants to take a look at the story just ask me. It's not refined yet but it's readable.

Now its on to the next in the series, which I wrote a draft for earlier and didn't finish and now I'm just going to start over from scratch...wish me luck.

Busy

Suffice to say I really have had much to write about lately. Things aren't great but they aren't super bad either. I have been writing like a mad man every chance I get. Planning and doing things as fast as I can get them down and the more i do the more I have to take note and make sure to remember for future stories.

I made a new friend the other day, kind of spur of the moment too. She's a pretty cool person and someone I think I can talk to without all of the bullshit that usually ruins friendships. And the thing on my mind most now is that it's July, and August is next month. August its going to be very important for me.

Yesterday I met up with Becca and took some picture, a lot of them came out great and I am just looking over them right now to see which ones get to go into photoshop first. I have been drawing some too, I am supposed to do one for Becca and some othere people but here's what I have so far.

Album Reviews - Like Vines

1. "We Intertwined"
2. "A Dark Congregation"
3. "Sweet Tangerine"
4. "Lions Roar"
5. "Lighthouse"
6. "Don't Wake Me Up"
7. "Where We Went Wrong"
8. "Magnolia"
9. "Wine Red"
10. "Out Through The Curtain"
11. "You Are The Moon"

Artist - The Hush Sound

Album -Like Vines

Genre - Indie Rock

Release - 2006

Label - Fueled By Ramen

Summary: The Hush Sound is an Indie Rock quartet who found their beginings in Chicago, Illinois. The founding members Bob Morris and Greta Salpeter met in when she was in the seventh grade and he was in the tenth. Bob being a bit of a rock performer and herself being trained in classical piano, they were seen as a bit of an odd couple. Both Bob and Greta sing. When the band officially formed in 2004 their roster included two new members, Chris Faller who was on bass and vocals and Darren Wilson also on vocals while serving as drummer. Greta plays piano and sings, while Bob plays lead guitar and sings. This means everyone in the band severs a dual purpose. The bands first album was called “So Sudden”.

Review: I remember the first time I heard The Hush sound, I was on the myspace of a friend’s little sister and a song was playing. ‘Wine Red’ was the name of the song that I heard and its actually track nine on this album. I was blown away by Greta’s vocals (she takes lead in this song) and all of the parts of the band coming together to seem like one singular unit. When I first heard the song I thought that for sure this would be the only thing to stand out on their album. With a few downloads of some of their other stuff I was proven wrong, “Where We Went Wrong” solidified my assurance that Bob Morris was also a good vocalist and that the bands somber and hauntingly beautiful sound was prevalent throughout their music. I think one of the highlights of this album are the back and forth singing of Greta and Bob near the end of “Where We Went Wrong” with the line ‘hey come back to me’.

I purchased the album in December of 2006 with some money I had for Christmas. It was so important to me I braved the Best Buy the morning of December 26. When I listened to the rest of the album so many other things stood out. The mellow songs and their soothing sound has graced the six disc changer in my car every since that day, only being removed to accompany to other cars and in my CD player. Probably the most stand out song of this collection is number five entitled “Lighthouse”. The song tells a story and is mostly piano melody and Greta singing. It wafts from your speakers carrying with it a torrent of emotion and feeling that just pull you in. I remember being captivated as I listened to it the first time. Other highlights on this album include “A Dark Congregation” and “Sweet Tangerine” (which actually has some special meaning for me). All and all I love this whole album and am lucky to have been pointed in the direction of this band. I would recommend it to any rock fan, whether they like pop-rock, alternative, or almost anything else falling under the blanket of rock and roll. Actually one of the more surprising things about this album is it’s versatility. My parents like it, my brothers, my sister, many of my friends and other people who normally don’t agree with my musical tastes. I’d recommend anyone who hasn’t heard this album check it out.

Artist’s Other Works – “So sudden”, “Snakes on a Plane Soundtrack” (Wine Red)

If you liked this album then check out… Straylight Run