Matt's Blog

Well, one childhood hero is dead.

2006-09-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

According to Yuko Narushima from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNNC36mhowR8&refer=home. Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter)was killed Sept. 4th when a stingray barb pierced his heart. The attack would have been ``like being stabbed in the heart,'' Geoff Isbister, a clinical toxinologist at Newcastle's Mater hospital said in a statement distributed by the Australian Science Media Centre.

Well then, R.I.P. Steve Irwin 1962-2006

BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I ROCK AND POSTED (yeah, doesn't rhyme)

2006-08-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Helllllo everyone!

Much apologies all around because of my absence latley. I don't really have an excuse except for writers block. I'm still not completley inspired but i'll give my best shot.

School. The one word which ever kid from 11 to 18 really does not want to hear. It's deffanitley (spelling?) not something I want to hear come late August. When I start seeing the back to school ads, my mind instantly goes into denial. I think to myself "Nope, didn't hear it. Just change the channel and be done with it." Then when really late August rolls around, I just dive deeper into denial. It's not a fun thing going back to school (especially when you're going to a new school or high school...ugh.) Because I think everyone reading this knows the feeling of "Oh shit i'm in a new place I don't know anybody or what i'm supposed to do." I know i've had that feeling. What made me want to fight back (somewhat) valiantly against writers block, was the fact that I was talking to my friend Rodrigo a couple days ago and we were reminiscing (spelling?) about when he transfered to Strath Haven. I remember my homeroom teacher (Dan Connor's mom!) said "hey everyone shut up for a minute." (I kid you not)"We have a new student in our class his name is Rodrigo." He had that look on his face "Oh shit I don't know anyone here or what i'm supposed to do." Dun Dun Dunnnnn... He told me that he fought is way through the first day being really quiet and trying to observe the other kids in the other classes and just stay alive.

The kids that I hang out with at lunch generally sit near the enterence just because that's where we sat on the first day and dammit we're not moving. Anyway, Rodrigo walked down into the lunchroom and had that same look on his face. So I yelled to him (and I quote) "HEY ROD! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SIT DOWN." He looked over and recognized me from homeroom so he came and sat down. We re-arranged some people and started asking him about where he came from and what it was like there. Basiclly we all knew, without looking at eachother that we needed to make this kid feel comfterable even if we end up hating him. So we were getting along just dandy and then we started talking about music. For those that know me, that is my thing. Music. When we realized that we both had the same common interests (metal, thrash metal. Psychadellic rock.) I knew that he was sitting here for life.

So my point is here, if you could distinguish it through all my writers block induced junk: If everyone out there just extended that little itsy bitsy bit of courtesy then I think we would not have problems such as gang fights or maybe even something more extreme. Whew, that was a tough colum/ post and i'll try to post more often and work through my writers block.

Genocide...

2006-05-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I'm sure we've all heard about this horrible genocide that's going on in Darfur. Well, today (5/2/06) some college students from Swarthmore College came to our school to talk about it. They did a great job explaining the severity of the situation and really made me want to act (even more then things such as global warming) I posted an e-mail to my Mom and she obviously knows the right people to send it to, also on MySpace, and now here. If it helps your decision to support the end of this horrible genocide, check out

www.savedarfur.org

you can buy a postcard and contribute to the Million Voices in Darfur campaign. If it helps, Angelina Jolie and George Clooney support it.

Matt

The Wide World Of Sports...

2006-04-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

So A while back (say...5 months?) My friends started hounding me to play baseball...Now I had played baseball a LOT when I was a kid...Mom always tells storys about playing with Brendan. Anywhoo, I went out for the team and lo and behold (random question: Lo and Behold or Lone Behold?) I made it...then I realized they don't cut anyone...Anway my coach put me in the outfield in our first game...And i've never played outfield honestly... But I made do and tried to get out there and yell some suppourt (and yell loud...damn right field is far away) anyway a ball was hit to me and I got it a threw it in...and right when I threw it in my shoulder went (and I quote) "SCHHRICNCH." Ouch. Anyway turns out via a diagnosis from a sports medacine doc that I have torn my rotator cuff (Help! I've fallen and I can't move my arm to get up!) Anyway, looks like i'll be doing physical therapy for a while...And apparently I've got a disease called "Ellers Danlose" (spelling?)syndrome...from what I can gather it means that I'm supremley flexible...whatever I always thought my shoulder blades were suppoused to go six inches out of my back...anywhoo the doc was so amazed by that they they took video footage of my flexing my shoulder blades. That's all for now.

Matt

Day one...

2006-04-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

First day of Vegetarianism (spelling?) wasn't as bad as I thought... not that I thought it was bad at all but work with me here...anyway...the only part where I had to deal with the forbidden substance (meat) was when my Dad asked me if I wanted to have some pasta that he made that had hot Italian sausage in it (damn that was tempting that stuff is the shit) but, honestly it wasn't that bad I just had to pretty much eat what I wanted but not have any of the normal meat products that I would normally have...Something tells me that this month shouldn't be to hard!

Props to Steph for giving me the idea!

It's Decided!

2006-03-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone!

I decided that i'm doing the vegetarian thing for a month (April.) So I was just checking in and ASKING POLITLEY (!) For everyone to submit or summarize their favorite vegetarian recepies (THAT INCLUDES YOU BRENDAN!) Anywhoo, I'm looking forward to trying (yes i'll try them) them.

Matt

Silence the violence...Increase the PEACE

2006-03-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone.

I was talking to my friends (Yes I have friends) at lunch yesterday. We got started on the subject of vegetarianism (spelling?) And, you know me, i'm always open to new experiences with food (kidding.) But this time it seemed like a good idea. So I just wanted to get some feedback and see if I should try vegetarianism for...say a month? Maybe...April! Or, If I get an overwhelming response i'll try the end of march also!

Matt

Girlfriend!...issues...

2006-03-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I just recently broke up with my girlfriend (no appologies yet please), And I have one (maybe leading to more let's see how this goes) question: Why is she so spiteful? Ever since I broke up with her she started accusing me of liking other people (not entirelly untrue but I never made a move at them). Mainly she accused me of liking my friend Erica. Erica is defanitly one of my best friends, but I wouldn't go out with her because we have just that certain ammount of differences. Now I don't know if anyone out there reading this has ever broken up with a girl and had such a breakup where the girl just goes ballistic. But if anyone did I'd really appreciate some advice and some guidance (I think that's like the same thing...) anyway, thanks in advance

Matt

Capitan Scurvey

2006-02-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, got tied up in a few things! But nevertheless i'm back with a musical update!

Way the hell a long time ago. My mom hired a babysitter named Rachel Shorey, my mom kept good contact with her and to the extent of my knowledge they are good friends! But onto the important stuff, Rachel's cousin Clyde is in a band called Capitan Scurvey (I can hear the laughter) but that's okay, these guys are "the next big thing." Now I know one hears that term tossed around a lot but honest-to-goodness these guys are that next big thing! They're currently trying to get on "Warped Tour 2006." Warped Tour is a huge rock tour that many of the great bands that one hears about today start off on! There is a competition going on at http://www.battleofthebands.com/bb10/bands/. This is literally a play counter to see how many times a band can get there song played. Capitan Scurvey entered this competition against quite a few heavy hitters. But via a combination of good advertising and their myspace (www.myspace.com/jumpstartrock) they were able to convince this blogger at least that they needed to get onto this tour! So if you head over there and just play their songs once or twice that would be a major improvement in their standings and they would have a much better shot on getting to "the big time."

Thanks a lot,

Matt

Kwan's Groin Pull

2006-02-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Now before I launch into my usual tirade of Olympic madness, let me say, there is a joke in here somewhere about me pulling my groin last Saturday also (and not just straining it if you catch my drift). Now that that's out of the way: Michelle Kwan, the 25 year old figure skater goes and pulls her groin while practicing Saturday. Apparently she was doing a little last minute practice, and just a little mis-landing and *slaps hand for emphasis* there goes her carrer in just one little jump. According to (http://www.chippewa.com/articles/2006/02/13/sports/sports2.txt)a semi-reliable source, Michelle Kwan was quoted as saying "My parents always wanted me to be happy and for their baby to win the gold." That's a real bummer for Mr. and Mrs. Kwan, but hopefull they'll be happy that their daughter will be the butt of a million cruel jokes. Kidding. But really, when a female figure skater (a sport not renound for it's entirelly covering uniform) pulls a groin then you really know that there are going to be jokes.

Why quails and millionaires don't mix...

2006-02-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Now I don't know about you users in Blogdom...but when I see the headline "Cheney shoots man on Texas quail hunting trip" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11312757/) I tend to get a little bit worried about how well our country is being run. I was surfing the web earlier probably going to check my e-mail or something...but then when I opened Internet Explorer, Dick Cheney's big 'ol face just fills up my screen. At first I thought it was photoshopped porn so I immeadtley started to exit. But then I saw the aforementioned headline. I almost shit my pants laughing. I delved deeper into the story while trying to controll myself. It turns out that 'ol Dick and some Millionare friends went quail hunting on a Texas ranch (ironiclly not Dubya's) and the millionare friend (Harry Whittington)got out of the car with 'ol Dick to shoot them some 'a the good stuff (quail!) Then Dick and another Millionare friend went to shoot another "covey" of quails. Mr. Whittington then came up behind (about 30 yards away) from 'ol Dick and "didn't acknowledge or say anything to the V.P." and lo and behold "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.” I'll say Harry got pepperd! Harry was hit in the chest,face,and cheek. He was then rushed via ambulance (at all times with the V.P.) to a near hospital where currently he is in the ICU but he is stable. For some reason my vegetarian/liberal friend agreed with the title of this. This is defanitly a victory for the democrats, and in the 1/1,000,000 chance that I do go to the dark (conservative) side...rest assured peers, I will under NO circumstances go hunting with Dick Cheney.

The Olympics

2006-02-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Well it's Olympics time again...we all know what that means (wierd mascots, even weirder sports.) Anyway, so far looking at www.olympic.org./uk, i've discovered that there are quite a few sports that i'm still trying to figure out how they got into the Olympics.

First Off: Handball: I looked at handball on the aforementioned site and I noticed that it had been an Olympic sport since 1936. A) How the hell did this become an Olympic sport if arm-wrestling didn't? B) How did this sport stay alive since 1936? If I may answer my second question first, I think that Handball has stayed alive mostly becuase of the nerdy little fifth grade gym teachers that insist that it is part of the curriculum of their school. I remember playing handball when I was in fifth grade. My teacher would set up some plastic hockey nets and we would wip the ball as hard as we could towards girls we liked hoping that they would in turn love us. God only knows if that worked. To answer my first question I referred to www.armwrestling.com to make sure I wouldn't make a fool of myself. I probably will anyway. I couldn't find much on the site to see if Arm-Wrestling was going to be an olympic sport, but I did find out that the most attented Arm-Wrestling tournament in the U.S. of A. is The Budwiser Kansas State Arm-Wrestling Contest. Of course it's sponsored by a beer.

Second Off: Shooting: An Olympic sport since 1896. Even longer than Handball...wow. Anyway I don't really see the physical test of pointing a gun at a "bulls eye the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence." (www.olympic.org/uk) I mean, is there anyway that someone can possibly train their eyes? I know it's possible in Arm-Wrestling to train your forearms and you biceps and such. But come on, can one really train their eyes? One thing for sure, it would be an interesting scene in an ophthamolgist's office if some skinny little redneck came in and asked if it was possible to train your eyes to have muscles the size of The Governator's arms.

Last Off (becuse i'm typing on my girlfriends keyboard and it's annoying because it's smaller than mine and my fingers keep tripping them selves up. Rest assured i'll post more later.) Table-Tennis: Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988. Holy cow even less than Handball! Anyway, I remember watching a movie in seventh grade gym class that showed the non-believers (me) that Ping-Pong is a sport. I was almost convinced when I saw a big fat white guy from someplace like Nevada go up against the current world champ of the time, some tiny little chinese guy whose name I can't even type let alone pronounce, I was almost convinced because when I saw these two people from completley different reigons I thought to myself "wow what a diverse sport." Little did I know that that didn't matter at all in the Olympics. Because when these guys played out their first point, they literally hit about...three shots and then one guy got an over head. Then the other guy started slamming the ball down and just driving the other guy back and back and back untill he was literally jumping in and out of the boundries (some padded walls about the height of ones knee) and then running back in and hitting the ball again. I thought to myself then, "THESE GUYS ARE MORONS! ALL THEY DO IS SMASH THE HELL OUT OF THIS BALL WHEN ONE DUDE (I was in seventh grade here...) COULD HAVE AS EAISLY JUST HIT THE BALL TO THE SIDE!!!! I really hate these stupid so called "sports."

Well that's all for now all you people in Blogdom...I hope that you enjoyed my sadly cut short rant about sports-that-won't-be-remembered-in-fifteen-years kind of sports. Jeez lousie...I hope the commissioner of ping-pong doesn't take offense to this. Last thing the U.S of A. needs is another war.

The Grammys

2006-02-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's been sort of a tradition for me to complain to my friends about the Grammys the day after they happen. Now that i've signed up for this blog i'll be able to post my rantings and ravings about the Grammys on blogdom.

First off, U2: I know I put them in the "Classic Rock" catagory of my other post, but come on for crying out loud! These guys have been around forever and it's time they took a break from making music! I mean Bono is going bald and for some reason they STILL got 5 nominations (and won all of them!) while it seems like the last time I saw Bono he looked ready to keel over and die! And on top of all that, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" wasn't even their best record (In this bloggers personal opinion) and I know i'll get asked "well what is their best record mister?" And seince I knew I was going to get asked that i'd have to say Achtung Baby was the best one. Period.

Second Off The White Stripes: Now I have absolutley nothing bad to say about the White Stripes (except that i'm still mad at Jack White for punching the lead singer of the Von Bondies in the face!) but their album "Get Behind Me Satan" was quite possibly one of the best albums i've heard all year (not counting Dispatch's "Big Bang" and the Mars Volta's "Deloused in the crematorium.") But the song variety went all over in "Get Behind Me Satan" (ex: Blue Orchid compared to a track later called "My Doorbell.") The lyrics were defanitly hailarious but thought provoking as well.

Third Off Jack Johnson: Jack Johnson is a singer/songwriter that my incredibly smart and intellectual friend Stephanie is in love with. Not literally of course (but don't quote me on that.) Jack Johnson was put up these past Grammys for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The poor Hawaiian singer was going up against the big shooters Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Now This is just in my personal opinion but I think that Jack Johnson was way, way, way more qualified for this award then Stevie Wonder who just cranked out his first album in TEN years. No offense Steve, but could you pick up the pace a little bit more?

Lastly System Of A Down (SOAD): These bad boys were up for Best Hard Rock Album with their duo album Mezmerize/Hypnotize (mainly Mezmerize.) But their hit single B.Y.O.B (all you aging college graduates out their sorry to dissapoint but that stands for Bring Your Own Bombs.) But anywhoo SOAD also came out with an album a few years back called Toxcity and I bought that just a little experiment. Lo and behold, I love it! So when their album Mezmerize was put up for Best Hards Rock Album, I immedietly jumped onto every site that I could find that promised that they would swing the Grammy vote even if I just voted once. Of Course that didn't help at all, but I did feel better about helping these bad boys try to win the prestigious Grammy award for Best Hard Rock Album.

Well that's all for now, maybe tomorrow i'll tackle the best hip hop albums...maybe not.

Classic Rock...Pop Rock....Speed Rock....Good Rock

2006-02-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

Well this is my first post here, I hope everyone out there in blogdom enjoys.

A few days ago, while I was sitting at luch with my friends, we got deep into a heated debate about what kinds of rock were accepted and what kinds of rock should crawl into a hole and die. We decided to narrow it down to four kinds of rock:

Classic Rock: U2, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi etc. etc...

Pop Rock: Green day, Fall Out Boy, Relient K, Click 5, etc. etc...

Speed Rock (a.k.a "skater punk"): Pennywise, Rage Against the Machine, NOFX etc. etc...

Good Rock (rock that we were able to agree on): the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the Smashing Pumpkins, Matisyahu, Weezer etc. etc...

Now I know of course "mr. (mrs.) news-media-opinion-maker" will of course have their respective opinions on these. But I would be very apprecitave if anyone that got the urge to comment on this would explain to me exactlly how bands like Relient K and such actully sell records.