Crushing Defeat

I can’t recall ever watching a more heart breaking or rage inducing match in any sport. After waiting breathlessly for this match, I was left severely disappointed after being built up so high. The United States made it to our first ever FIFA final, after beating the top ranked team in the world with a commanding 2-0 victory. We were to face Brazil, the veritable crown princes of the sport, in the final. The match came on while I was at work. Less than 10 minutes in – the USA scores. That put a smile on my face. 14 minutes later they bag a second one, and proceed to run circles around the Brazilians for the remainder of the half. I was positively high off the excitement. I could barely contain myself at work – we were leading Brazil, the all time winningest team in international soccer history, by 2 goals at the half! We were going to win the first ever FIFA final that we had made it to!

And then the cruel hand of fate came crashing down. Brazil scored within the first minute of the second half, and at that moment, 46 minutes into the match, the USA lost. They completely lost their confidence because of that goal, and just folded entirely. Instead of aggressively pushing the attack like they had in the first half, they turtled up. They hung back and tried to play a cautious defense against Brazil, one of the all time top offensive teams in the world. The match became a slaughter. It was painful to watch. The Brazilian onslaught hammered the USA relentlessly, scoring 3 (to be fair, it should have been 4 but for the referee’s ruling) goals in the second 45 minutes.

So ended the Cinderella story of the USA national soccer team in the FIFA Confederations Cup. Through all of this, the USA can still take solace in the team’s achievements however. They beat Spain, the number 1 ranked team in the world, a team who had not lost a match in nearly 3 years, in a powerful display of force, and made it to their first ever FIFA tournament final. With the CONCACAF Gold Cup beginning at the end of the week, and the 2010 World Cup looming on the horizon, the coming days will be filled with opportunities for the United States to prove to the world that they really can play with the big boys, and that their performance last week was not merely a fluke. Still, despite the weight of the team’s accomplishments, this remains a painful loss.

The Pursuit of Vikings

So I saw Amon Amarth the other night on the last leg of their Twilight of the Thunder God tour. They put on a pretty kickass live show. Me and two friends drove about 3 1/2 hours down to the Masquerade in Atlanta for the show. We got there and entered what may have been the hottest room in existence. It was like a boiler in there. Anyway, after awhile the opening acts started up. First up was a thrashy death metal group from Tampa, Florida called The Absence. They weren’t too bad. The frontman had a good sense of humor and they were pretty fun. Next up was SkeletonWitch. They also weren’t terrible, but didn’t really stand out much. Kinda just your run of the mill death/black metal group. Finally, we had the infamous Goatwhore. Now this band was pretty awful. Repetitive, boring, and a little annoying all things considered, I couldn’t wait for them to get off the damn stage.

Finally, Amon Amarth themselves came out, and made the wait completely worth it. They kicked ass. Johan Hegg had an almost Bruce Dickinson-like cool factor about him. I figured that the group would take their whole Viking badass theme pretty seriously, or that they might be kinda into themselves, but they seemed pretty down to Earth, and Johan made it pretty obvious that they realized how cheesy the Viking theme really was, and it was pretty much all just for shits and giggles. The show ended around midnight and we ended up getting back in town around 3:30 AM or so. All in all it was a damn good night, and I got an awesome shirt to boot.

The Skye was Cracked

Mastodon is a group which I’ve tried to get into oh so many times before at the promptings of a few friends and various other people with whom I converse about music. Despite my attempts however, Mastodon just never really captured my attention. The heavy riffing seemed a bit on the repetitive side, and Troy Sanders’ vocals can become fairly grating after awhile. The group’s fourth effort, Crack the Skye, however, has caused me to take another look at this Atlanta spawned quartet.

Somewhat of a departure from Mastodon’s previous works, Crack the Skye utilizes a much more melodic tone than its predecessors. For this outing, Sanders has toned down the growly, tough guy vocals, and actually shows off some fairly impressive singing. The instrumentation, while maintaining the heavy, sludgy sensibility that in part defines this band, has likewise taken a turn for the melodic, with a bit less rhythmic chugging than before. Guitar solos remain scarce, but that didn’t bother me as much this time around, as the music maintains a more melodic, engaging feel than some of their earlier material.

Keeping with tradition, Crack the Skye is a concept album. This time around, the story centers on a paraplegic man who discovers that he can astral project, and leaves his body to explore the stars. All sorts of crazy happenings follow this departure, but I won’t go into it. It’s an amusing story though. The story progresses to the highlight of the album: the simply masterful The Last Baron. Clocking in at 13 minutes long, it’s a doozy of a tune, but most definitely worth the time.

While I still can’t really call myself much of a Mastodon fan, Crack the Skye has at least caused me to give them another look. Maybe after a few more listens I’ll be able to figure out what everybody else has been seeing in them for so long.

Smile with the Rising Sun

Today has been simply amazing. It didn’t start off too hot. I discovered that I need to turn in my (long overdue) FAFSA form to keep my state scholarship, and then found out that my saved and nearly completed application had been deleted. The day grew progressively better however, as the day turned out to be one of the most beautiful in recent memory. My afternoon class was cancelled, and I spent about an hour and a half out in the grass reading and listening to my good friend Mr. Marley and others. Hopefully I’ll be going out into the city with some friends tonight as well. This week is certainly looking up :)

Spring Break

Woooo. This week didn’t really go spectacularly. Pretty sure I failed, or at least did poorly on, my biology exam, and before that I got incredibly sick for a little while. Oh well, I finished up the week by going to see a campus production of Love’s Labours Lost, which was excellent, and very funny. They set it in the 1920s, and turned it into a pseudo-musical. Some ladies next to me were complaining about the setting.

Anyway, we’re off to my friend’s cabin for a couple days tonight. Should be fun haha.

Double Header

I’ve now pulled two all-nighters in a row. Both of them have been attempts to restore a normal sleeping schedule. The first try fell through when I let myself fall asleep for 5 hours, throwing the whole thing off. I tried to go to sleep last night, but it just wasn’t happening, so I went for it again. It should hopefully be a bit easier this time. I just have to make it to 9 or 10 PM. It’s only 8:20 AM and I already feel like I’m dying though. Ugh. I desperately need to get my sleep schedule back on track tonight, seeing as I have three exams this week: one on Wednesday and two on Thursday.

I spent a good deal of the night reading Watchmen. I saw the movie on Friday, which compelled me to pick up the graphic novel. It really does deserve all the praise it gets. Fantastic novel. I’ve also got a sort of job interview today. Nothing’s final, and I’m still not completely sure I want the job, but we’ll see how it goes today. Hopefully I won’t pass out from exhaustion during it, haha.

The Basics

I guess I’ll kick this off with some basic background stuff. I’m currently 19 and in college. I’m not really sure what I want to major in, but I’m very interested in the mythologies of many different cultures (Greco-Roman and Norse mythology in particular), and I really think I’d enjoy teaching a subject like that at the university level.

I’m a big music aficionado, and my tastes range all over. Recently I’ve been becoming increasingly enamored with heavy metal and several of its many sub-genres, though I’m a big fan of ska, punk rock, and various other types of music as well. I love going to concerts, but I don’t often get the chance to go to many of the ones that I’m interested in. I’m in the process of learning to play the bass guitar currently.

I’m interested in traveling to other countries. To date, I’ve been to England twice, and both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland once each. One of these days I’m going to do the whole backpacking across Europe thing with a group of friends, and I’m definitely looking forward to the day when I have the means to do it.

And now for some random Iron Maiden fanboyism:

And so it begins…

I made my first post on here awhile back, and I originally intended for this to be something completely different. However, seeing as I’m far too lazy to keep up with my original intention, I guess I’ll just do a run of the mill blog. So it’s currently 5:08 in the AM, and I’m pulling an all-nighter in an attempt to reset my very screwed up body clock, as I tend to only get around 5 hours of sleep every night. I also happen to be out of caffeine now, and I don’t have any way to get more at this hour. Damn it. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with this thing, but it’s late, I’m bored, and I needed something to keep me awake…so there it is. And now for something completely different: