Been busy...

Been busy and unfortunately neglecting the blog, but I hope to get back in the swing of things soon. Some songs I've been enjoying:

Found the car!

So if you've read my posts entitled "Worst Week of My Life" you'd know I lost my friend's car. Well I found it yesterday at the tow lot in New Orleans. Cost $300 to get out as well as $200 to get a key made so I can drive it out. There goes my entire pay check : (, but I'm just glad I have my friend's car back. Things are getting better:

Non-Oldies

In response to my post on older songs yesterday, I figured today I'd post songs that were made in the last fifteen years. I love an insane amounts of songs/albums, but I'll just pick five random ones that try to sum up my taste:

Oldies

I absolutely love oldies. Some of the hits from the 50's and 60's sound like they came straight from heaven. Whenever I'm feeling down, oldies instantly make me joyous. Reminds me a lot of my childhood. I don't mean to sound like I grew up in the 60's, but when I was growing up my grandpa would play nothing but oldies from a bunch of tapes he would buy at pawn shops. Here are some of my all time favorites. They are truly timeless:

The Worst Week of My Life (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1:

So I wake up to discover my iPhone and car keys are gone. I start calling my iphone hoping someone answers and I can find out where it's at. Eventually I give up hope and just have my number disconnected. Bye bye iphone. I actually just got my number re-activated on my old phone just yesterday. Anyway, so I have work that day (Saturday, went out Friday night) so I can't go to the club I was at to check their lost and found. I plan to go Sunday, but they're closed every day but Thursday, Friday, Saturday. So although I don't have my keys, I drive there to see how the car's doing. I get to where I parked only to find that the car isn't there. "Great, it's been towed", I figure, so I go to the tow lot Monday and the car isn't there.

This can only mean a few things. One, is that while I was black out drunk, I drove somewhere, parked, and walked away. It would have been a legal park, thus I haven't been towed. Another possibility is that it was stolen. It's possible that it was stolen at the original park spot, or I did drive it somewhere while black out drunk, and in my drunken haze I left the keys in the car, asking to be stolen.

So it's been a week now, and I still have no clue where the car is. I still haven't made a police report because I think the most likely scenario is that I drove and parked somewhere, and it's also not my car legally, so it's a tricky situation. I'm going to go check the tow lot again today, and drive around the city and try to spot it, but if not I'm going to have to file some police report. I feel terrible about all this because I never wish to put someone in a bad position, which is exactly what I've done to my friend with this car situation. Also, I went through the worst thing I've ever been through in my life and got kicked out of my band of eight years yesterday because of this car situation.

Definitely has been the worst week of my life, but I'm alive and trying minute by minute to keep a reasonable mind and fight on.

The Worst Week of My Life - A Tale In Two Parts (Part 1)

Wow. So. It's been a while since I updated, and I have a good reason for it. That reason being that since Friday, I've had the pleasure of experiencing a succession of the worst days of my life. I'll try to keep it short and simple because I'm still pretty miserable about all of this. I don't think I've ever been so depressed in my adult life and the last few days I've been moping around like a mother who's just lost her son and has turned to booze and pills for the answers. So, here it goes:

As I've mentioned before, I'm a doorman/barback at a bar here in New Orleans. Friday night I was working the door and was enjoying a bit of the old alcohol while doing it. Around midnight or so this Irish fellow came up to me at the door where me and my friend were talking, and started talking crazy shit. I was a little drunk at this point so I don't remember all that he was saying, but his vibe was very hostile and aggressive. This was pissing me off so I started becoming hostile and aggressive, trying to call him out. He ended up not doing anything, but he was pestering us for close to an hour and basically bullying my friend which I can not stand. I absolutely loathe bullies. So finally I get off of work at about 1:00am and me and my buddy decide to go out to a club.

I decide to drive "my" car. Now a little back story on "my" car. The reason I wrap quotes around it is because it is not my car. It is actually my friend who is in the Navy's car. He was on leave about a month ago and was staying with me at my place. When his leave was over, he was being shipped to Japan where he is going to be stationed for the next few years. He asked me, knowing my car recently broke down, if I wanted to use his while he's in Japan. I accepted, and that's how his car became, "my" car.

Back to the story. So I drive us there and park in what I believe was a freight zone, but it was late so I wasn't worried about it. So we get to the club, and I only remember about the first 30-45 minutes of it. The rest is blacked out. The problem I have with alcohol, is that I can drink A LOT of it. I'm pretty notorious for being a serious drinker yet having a strong constitution, even when drunk. That is, I can have about 10 shots of Jagermeister, and most people wouldn't know the difference. It's not something I pride my self on, but I do like that I can drink and still maintain my personality and not compromise my beliefs or anything like that (such as drunk driving, although I unfortunately partake in it, though rarely). That being said, every once in a while I go overboard with no warning. I will drink, and drink, and drink, and feel like I'm doing just fine, and every one around me feels like I'm fine, but then BAM! I'm black out drunk. It just catches up to you and you never see it coming. And the reason I mentioned the Irish guy earlier, is because I believe I was attacking the alcohol in a subconscious response to him annoying me.

So I'm at this club, dual wielding red bull and vodkas, having drank about 8 shots of Jager, 8 beers, and some whiskey earlier in the night, and then BAM! It's like I time traveled. The next thing I remember, I'm walking around in downtown New Orleans and it's 8:00am. I wander around the city, drunk as a skunk, desperately wanting to get home having forgotten the last 4 hours. I'm walking and walking, seeing if I can achieve in just trekking to my house, until I finally give up and get a cab. Cab brings me home, I knockout, and wake up to discover I have lost my car keys and iPhone.

To be continued...

Favorite Movie Scenes (Part 3)

28 Weeks Later - The Infected Invade

As much as it is a great scene, it’s a terrific opening. It starts with a nice steady pace as we’re introduced to a band of survivors camped in an old brick house in a quite vacant area (like a farm). While we observe what seems to be just another day for these refugees, a violent knock on their door is heard. It turns out to be a boy looking for help. They take him in, and while questioning him, what he was running from soon enters the picture. In a matter of minutes, what looked to be a cast of survivors doing well are quickly devoured, infected, and sent running for their lives while making life/death choices affecting their significant others as well as themselves. A great moment in this scene is the lasting survivor running for his life through an open field from “the infected” with that great backing song that seems to be in every trailer now-a-days. Literally gave me goosebumps because it worked and looked so damn good. Video doesn't do it justice as opposed to viewing it in its full glory in a theater as I did, or on blu-ray, but you get the idea.

Six Songs I Want To Die To (Part 3)

Continuation from Part 2. This does not mean they are my six favorite songs, just six songs that I'd like to die to given the appropriate situations. I will pair the songs with the cinematic like demise I imagine it being a soundtrack to.

5.) All I can think for this one is shedding my mortal form and becoming some sort of celestial being (rise of pheonix) in a Greek mythology sort of setting...

Don't Forget Me by Red Hot Chili Peppers (3:06-3:37)

6.) My third eye breaks through the threshold of skin on my forehead. My chakras are all balanced and intesify, I can feel their colors absorb into my skin. My head opens up as my mind joins a broader, universal consciousness as...

 Lateralus by Tool spirals me out (7:18-9:23)

Quick Update...

Hey guys, just wanted to get you in the loop here. I've been a little apathetic towards the blog the last few days. Why you ask? Just a little something called Red Dead Redemption. I've been holding out on this game for a while, but since PSN's been down I've been playing more offline stuff and trophy hunting. Well I borrowed this from a buddy because I heard how amazing it is, and I heard right. This game is awesome. Problem is, I'm playing it so damn much, that all I do otherwise is work and sleep. Not a bad problem to have with a game this great though. So anyway, I'll return to form tomorrow because I have off work.

Til then!

Six Songs I Want To Die To (Part 2)

Continuation from Part 1. This does not mean they are my six favorite songs, just six songs that I'd like to die to given the appropriate situations. I will pair the songs with the cinematic like demise I imagine it being a soundtrack to.

3.) It was worth it. It was admirable. There was some wrongdoing involved, but I've saved my family. But to the government I am public enemy number one. They finally find me defenseless and begin to shoot. Bullets fiercely penetrate my body, blood explodes from every hole in my body. This is all happening in slow-motion while...

Pink Floyd - In The Flesh gloriously echoes (0:00-0:40 being the build up to the slow-mo shooting)..

4.) Screams and shrieks of peril are heard all around. Fire-breathing whales are flying through the sky, wreaking havoc at everything in sight. The four horsemen ride fiercely inflicting death, famine, pestilence, and war. The apocalypse is obviously imminent. Adrenaline hits me like a ton of bricks as a bear made of lava roars in my general direction. As all of this is going on...

Foxy Shazam - No Don't Shoot is deafening (2:12-2:58)..

Six Songs I Want To Die To (Part 1)

This does not mean they are my six favorite songs, just six songs that I'd like to die to given the appropriate situations. I will pair the songs with the cinematic like demise I imagine it being a soundtrack to.

1.) We've been traveling together for days now, getting closer to the destination. I'm the only one who can stop this evil, but to do so I must sacrifice myself. She knows this. It started with a grudge, but we've grown to love eachother madly. I embrace her one last time. She sheds a tear. She tries to tell me to not do it, and to stay. I'm sick of the redundant pleading, and put a finger to her mouth to interrupt with, "Give me some sugar baby". She complies. I let out a "groovy" and start walking down the final, desolate road when...

Axis Bold As Love kicks on (2:48-4:13)...

2.) My mansion sits alone on top of the tallest hill and overlooks the city. I've escaped here to get away from all the bullshit of the entertainment business. My family did not follow. The media has made me into a drunk, opiate eating, mad man, genius...which I am. I drunkenly quote Shakespeare aloud as the sensation from taking all that heroin put me in a painful euphoria. I think I took too much. As I stumble around wondering if my demise is near...

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata lingers...

Favorite Movie Scenes (Part 2)

The Sandlot - Squints Makes That Money

This movie was a childhood favorite of mine, and until a few weeks ago I hadn’t seen it since I was about 12 years old. I was pretty scared that it wasn’t going to hold up, and that any admiration of it I had from my youth would be demolished due to a recent viewing. But hot damn, that movie is one of the greatest things to ever happen in this world.

Squints has spent three summers admiring the pool lifeguard Wendy Preffercorn (Marley Shelton) and has had enough. No more hiding his young boners in shame, he was going to make a move. He goes to the diving board at the deep end, waves to Wendy, and then jumps in. At first you think this is a desperate attempt at impressing her, but it’s far from it, although very much so desperate. Once it’s realized he can’t swim in the deep end and is drowning, Wendy jumps in to his rescue and scoops him out. He’s not breathing so she starts to perform CPR. The crowd gathered around the scene shout encouraging statements, hoping little Squints will pop back to life. The music is subtle but grows and grows with the tension of the idea of Squints possibly dying, but cuts off as Squints looks into the camera and gives one of the biggest, goofiest smiles signaling his deviant plan (the second this happens is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in film). The crowd is dumbfounded and steps back muttering a confused, “What?” in unison, and Squints pulls Wendy in for a kiss while “This Magic Moment” kicks on. She is disgusted and repulsed and kicks all the kids out, but last I heard she and Squints got married and had nine kids, so I say "good move sir!"

Shameless...

So yesterday was Cinco De Mayo. If some of you read my other blog post, you'd know that I'm a doorman/bar back at a popular bar here in New Orleans. Well our bar is right next to a Mexican restaurant, so between the two it got pretty damn crowded. One of the hardest things about working at a bar like this, is that you can't drink (bosses don't allow it). It's hard because it seems so unnatural for me to be dead sober and working while everyone around me is having a great time drinking. Well since yesterday was Cinco De Mayo, I set out on a mission to get drunk while at work. I'll be God damned if I don't drink on Cinco De Mayo. Well the problem is that I can't buy drinks for my self, seeing as it's not allowed, so what did I do? I'd finished the margaritas that girls couldn't. You heard me. So I'd be at the door checking id's, and a girl would have a half full or full margarita that she got from the Mexican restaurant. Outside drinks aren't allowed in the bar so I'd tell her she had to toss it or down it. Girls don't typically down the drinks, plus the boyfriends are like, "Omg babe can we go plz!". So sometimes the girl would toss it in the trash and it would spill all over, but sometimes they would just place it in there completely standing up and still intact. It was like they were saying, "Here my man, I feel your pain, drink this shit for me and have yourself a God damn ball!".

So yeah, I may have contracted AIDs, but it was totally worth it. I don't care, I'm fucking shameless.

Favorite Movie Scenes (Part 1)

I'm a huge movie buff. Along with music and women it's my favorite thing in the world. I'm going to start posting some of my favorite movie scenes of all time (going to try and keep it spoiler free, or very minor spoilers).

Raging Bull - Ray Robinson Title Fight

Jake LaMotta (De Niro) is defending his title in a match against Sugar Ray Robinson. Towards the end of the match, it becomes evident LaMotta’s basically surrendering. He holds onto the ropes, and everything goes slow and quiet. Sugar Ray stands in front of him, preparing for the hell he’s about to unleash.

LaMotta stares back, waiting for his punishment. Then suddenly, with the connection of Sugar Ray’s fist to LaMotta’s face, the noise and flashes of light rapidly come back, as quick cuts of the camera move with every fierce punch. We then see one of the most bloody and brutal boxing matches in cinema history. Sugar Ray winds up for his last punch, and then wrecks LaMotta with it, who’s collection of spit, blood, and sweat flies on a nearby audience member.

In the end Sugar Ray gets LaMotta’s title, but LaMotta assures Ray he’s the real winner in a way because, “Ya never got me down Ray”. 

Scene ends with a shot of LaMotta’s blood collected on the ropes. One of the best directed and edited scenes ever.

Dubstep

So yeah, dubstep. Thing's blowing up. I like it, but can only take so much. I feel it is one of those sub genres that are limited by what it is (like most electronic sub genres...and reggae). Regardless, the drops bring the hype. When that wobble bass comes in and the shit drops it's like a heavy metal breakdown put through an electronic filter. It is pretty awesome. It's easy to see why dubstep is blowing up.


One of my favorite dubstep songs and drops:

The only thing I don't like about dubstep and most electronic music is the scene. I'm a dive bar guy. A hip hop/rock concert guy. I want to enjoy great music with other people. The whole electronic scene is sort of different. Biggest thing? The drugs. I'm not saying there aren't drugs being used at other genre's concerts, but electronic/dnb/jungle/house/techno/dubstep is just about founded on taking ecstasy. When a crowd thinks the music is inherent in the drug and that the two are mutually exclusive, you get some silly shit. I'm not an "upper" guy so I don't mess with cocaine/ecstasy/molly/etc. because I hate the stimulated UP feeling you have as well as the crash. So me being sober amongst a bunch of white kids wearing pink head bands and tight jeans sweating their ass off do not go together.

Great chill, dubstep song:

Got work...

I'm a bouncer/barback at a local bar. The bar is very popular and gets good business, but I'm still moving through the ranks to get to where I can earn good tip share (at the moment I'm making money per hour). I always hate starting new jobs and having to work my up. I can understand that they want me to prove my self first, but I am a damn good worker, and I just wish they would do me like that from the go. It's hard to do when you are from royalty, but the title Dutch of Dukes means nothing here in America. Well, off to work I go to go prove my self...Dutch of Dukes out!

Osama rhymes with Obama...boring!

Dutch of Dukes here! Osama is dead. Obama rhymes with Osama. Pretty neat. I digress. A lot of people are happy he's dead, and just as many people are outraged at the macabre nature to celebrating a death. The latter is silly. It's just part of our newly politically correct nature. You take all of history's villains, and discuss them in class, and people will be like, "Hell yeah, that was good on him to die/be assassinated/fart. But now that it's Osama and in modern times during people's lives, it looks like we are merely celebrating death. I think Twain said it best: "I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

Dutch of Dukes signing out!