FINALLY, here is this week's This or That:

Same Thing, Different Names
1. Kleenex or tissue? Kleenex usually.
2. Soda or pop (or tonic or whatever)? Pop!
3. A sandwich on a long roll: sub or hero (or hoagie or grinder, etc)? Sub.
4. Glasses or spectacles? Glasses.
5. TV or television (or boob-tube, or telly, for our friends across the pond)? TV.
6. Movie or film? Movie.
7. Sofa or couch? Couch.
8. Stove or range? Stove.
9. Remote control or clicker? Remote Control. Usually preceded by "where the hell is the...".
10. Supermarket or grocery store? Grocery Store.

Topics Blog questions!!

What are 5 bands that you'd recommend, that you don't think most of your readers have heard of?

Kila - Nua-traditional Irish band. Pipes, fiddle, bodhran, but also guitar, saxophone, and djembe!! Like Afro Celt Sound System without the electronics. And their songs are really well written and catchy too!

Lunasa - a more traditional Irish group, very catchy and involved tunes, subtle interplay among the instruments. Very good stuff.

Alabina - Middle Eastern female singer, she sings in Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, French, and English, with a very haunting voice. She's backed by a flamenco group, and they sing Spanish vocals and play guitars. Also various percussion instruments in the background. VERY addictive music.

Vasen - A swedish quartet with Nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle), Viola, guitar and percussion. Very catchy, fun tunes. Some original, some from the Swedish music tradition. I saw these guys live once!!

Groupa - Another Swedish group. Led by Mats Eden on Fiddles, and also with various brass instruments, percussion, flutes - everything!! Very danceable, addictive, beautiful, interesting Swedish tunes. Just amazing stuff, it will transport you right to Sweden.

What is the last book you read? Did you like it?

The last book I read for class was "Wuthering Heights," and yes I enjoyed it!! It's a wild, violent, passionate novel. Very different from what you'd expect a Victorian novel to be. At least from what I expected a Victorian novel to be.

Write a post about why you write. In other words, what motivates you to keep a journal anyway? Is it to relieve stress? Or to preserve some history? Or maybe something else or both of these?

Well, I originally blogged because it sounded like a fun thing to do. Have people read my stuff, maybe comment on it, and just generally be entertained. I think I started out with more of a journal format, and now it's mostly little tidbits of information, random thoughts, links, and quiz answers. I should really update it more often, more than just twice a week. Anyway, I mostly do it now just to bring a bit of ME out to the world, and hopefully make people laugh. It's also kind of egotistical to keep a blog. You kind of take some pride in creating something. So yeah, that's why I blog - just to have fun.

Does you link to others' weblogs? Describe why you have linked to them. Okay, maybe not all of them, if you have a large list. But select some of your favorites and indicate the reasons why you link to them.

Does you? lol. Well yes I do link to other weblogs. Maybe too many. Maybe too few. I link to other weblogs because I sense that they are unique and worth reading. I can't really explain it, but some blogs just stick out to me. Usually it's in the writing style. So I guess that any blog that gets my attention from what the person has to say, or who they are or the way they've designed their site, is a candidate for me linking them. I'm not gonna write about any particular ones right now, though.

Whoa!!! What in God's name is going on?? I'm here listening to an Irish jig set on net radio, and I hear a tune that is the EXACT same tune done by a Swedish folk group that I listen to. Cross-cultural exchanges rule!! Now, who got the tune from whom?.....*wonders*

what band member are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Wow, what an amazing day. Lots of homework, but also some good times. I've been wanting some electronica music lately, so I've been listening to an awesome techno channel on live365.com. In case you don't know about live365.com, it's a web radio site with probably THOUSANDS of stations in every genre you can think of. So yeah, I've been tripping on the techno while watching visualizations on winamp. Fun stuff!!!

Speaking of music, I highly recommend "Konstantine" and "Punk Rock Princess" by the group Something Corporate. These songs were recommended to me by a very good friend. Konstantine is just beautiful, a long nine-minute epic of a song with emotional lyrics and great piano. Punk Rock Princess is just freakin' catchy!!! So go check that out, and thank me later.

Hmmmm I think I might write some more later, probably try to get some Topics Blog questions answered. So look for that!!

Hi everyone. Boy, I need to update this more often!!! Well, here is a this or that:

1. Super Bowl or World Series? Super Bowl, for the commercials.
2. Winter or summer? Summer, dog!!!
3. Look up numbers in the phone book, or call directory assistance? Look in the phone book. That's an experience that's just timeless, that you DON'T get from the net.
4. Mashed potatoes or French fries? I've always been a fries guy
5. Hand-code your website, or use an editor (such as Front Page)? Use an editor.
6. Freeway or winding country road? Winding country road!!
7. Star Wars or Star Trek? Star wars. Always liked Star Wars.
8. Disney or Warner Brothers cartoons? Disney, dog!!!
9. When it feels chilly in the house: crank up the heat or put on a sweater? Hmmm I guess the sweater would be easier.
10. CBS or PBS? PBS!! Better stuff to watch.

Today is January 14. And according to Christine, this is Bloggin' Lovefest Day. The purpose is to choose one blogger who you love, and write a post under 1500 words saying why you like them so much, and what makes them such a special person. The original post about this idea can be found here. And now, without further ado, here is MY dedication to my favorite blogger of ALL time, and the one who even got me into blogging . . .

Lady Salana!!! Her blog is here and her Livejournal is here. Why do I love the Lady enough to dedicate a post to her? Well there are many reasons. First of all, she is a music FANATIC, just like me, but even more than me. There really isn't too much she doesn't like, music-wise. Of course she has her favorites, but it seems most anything I listen to, she does too. She got me into Jeff and Tim Buckley! That alone makes her ultra-cool!

She is also into hockey. We may not like the same teams or even players, but it's still VERY cool that she's a hockey chick. I couldn't believe she was into celtic music AND hockey!!

She's half Irish and half Portuguese.

She is very in touch with her creative side. From what I hear, always writing, creating, dreaming, thinking. She's very in touch with the natural world; she loves to just take a nice long walk out in the New England wilderness. She likes rain and fog. She's a free spirit, just like I need to be, and I really relate to her on that.

She likes all sorts of TV shows. But not just any TV shows. Smart TV shows. Law and Order, CSI, things like that. But yet she loves the Osbournes too. She also loves movies, she's probably seen so many more than me. She is also into books, and yes she has read many more than me too. A very well read woman, that Lady Salana.

She's into history. Civil War history, medieval history, mythology. Just history in general. She likes to do research. She's not afraid to take on big ideas.

Last, but not least, she's into swing dancing!! And she's got a great personality, she always makes me feel good whenever I talk to her. She has a strange effect on people, she makes them feel important and special and loved. Ladies and gentleman, that is why I love Lady Salana. So go read her blog.

First a "this or that", and then I'll fill you in on my life.
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1. "Time" or "Newsweek"? Time. Always been a Time fan
2. "Wall Street Journal" or "National Enquirer"? Wall Street Journal. I've read it before, and it's really not as bad as you'd think.
3. "Sports Illustrated" or "Cook's Illustrated"? Sports Illustrated!
4. "Martha Stewart Living" or "MAD Magazine"? MAD. I used to read that as a kid. Now I realize I was too young to get most of the humor.
5. "Cosmopolitan" or "Maxim"? Ummm since I'm a guy - Maxim.
6. "People" or "Entertainment Weekly"? Entertainment Weekly. I read that online, interesting stuff.
7. "National Geographic" or "Readers Digest"? Reader's Digest.
8. "Good Housekeeping" or "Popular Mechanics"? How about neither? Umm I'd rather read Tolkien.
9. "PC World" or "MacWorld"? PC World. I'm a PC user.
10. "Southern Living" or "Yankee" (magazine about New England living)? *said in Bill the Butcher voice* Yankee!! Ya gotta have a lawt of SAND to read Southern Living.
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Ok that was fun.

Now! I have not been coming on here because I've been working HARD on a LOT of course reading!! I'm taking a literature course, where we do 100-200 pages a WEEK. And two history courses. Normally professors assign reading for the first day, which of course you don't know about beforehand so you are already behind! Well these assignments were into the hundreds of pages. Although I did get off a little easy because the bookstore still does not have one of my books stocked!! Grrr.

This term will be very tough, but not quite as tough because I have some.....interesting....professors. One of them has what I can only assume is a Scottish accent, although not a heavy one. But the inflection sure ain't American. The other professors are interesting characters too. So that makes the classes go by a little easier.

Well that's my information for tonight. I hope to post again soon. Maybe even get to those album reviews I promised. See you all later! :)

A few days ago (Thursday) I saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It was a good movie!! A lot of it was almost like I imagined. However, I was not happy with some of the things they changed from the book. Or, rather, things they added that were NOT in the book. But of course that does not deter from my overall enjoyment of the movie! The big battle scene at Helm's Deep is as good as promised!! Oh and I have to mention the favorite part of my friend Lady Salana: Aragorn's eyes!!

Today I go back to the dorm. Yay!! I had a nice break, and I think I'm ready to face the new term head on.

Oh! and I forgot to mention in my previous post......the song "Dark Moon, High Tide" by Afro Celt Sound System is played in snippets several times during "Gangs of New York"!! I almost crapped myself when I heard it. LOL and I misplaced it and thought it was by another group! Too many Celtic songs in my head at one time, I guess. Well, you can never really get too many. Anyway, it's an awesome soundtrack!!

Today I went with my mom and saw the excellent Martin Scorcese movie Gangs of New York. GREAT flick!! Definitely something to see if you are into New York and/or immigration history like I am. It can be slow at some points, and it is VERY violent and realistic, but overall it is quite amazing. I have a feeling it will be a VERY important New York City movie, because it does what has really never been done before to my knowledge: It takes you RIGHT INSIDE the world of the Five-Points in mid-19th Century Manhattan. It's like being transported back in time. The overall effect of the movie is to give you a taste of what that environment must have looked like, and sounded like. It touches on many important people and moments in New York history, like the draft riots, immigration and Civil War tensions.

As far as the acting, Daniel Day-Lewis does an INCREDIBLE job as Bill the Butcher. I think he should at least be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. And WHO in the world would be better as Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall than the wonderful Jim Broadbent!!! The guy who played Harry in Moulin Rouge! He is one of my favorite actors! Always a character. He's a bit more reserved in his role this time, but still very good. One line of dialogue I can't get out of my head came from Broadbent as Tweed after the draft riots, when they buried the bodies of the dead: "We lost a lot of votes today." I think that pretty much sums up Tweed's philosophy on things!

I won't say anything about the ending, other than that it was very good in my opinion, not what I was expecting at all. And Scorcese did a knock-up job of building all the action until it came to a point. By the end of the movie, you understand why things happen, and how things developed.

Well that's my review of Gangs of New York. Go see it if you like history and New York stuff. DON'T go see it if blood freaks you out!

And in conclusion to this post......I love you B!! (two B's, they both know who they are ;) )