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Music You Should Listen To: Company of Thieves

If you're not listening to Company of Thieves, you might want to start. When I first learned about the Chicago-based trio it was from a poster in my dorm. Regrettably I just passed it by (that was in January when their debut album was released) and I didn't see anything about them again until they showed up as an ad on my Facebook page. The link brought me to the video for their first single, "Oscar Wilde". The video, based off the movie Rushmore, definitely caught my attention (Facebook knows me so well!)

So shortly after watching the video I bought their album Ordinary Riches off iTunes. The album, which contains 12 songs plus 3 acoustic tracks on the bonus version, is only $5.99 which, at a time when iTunes is raising its prices, makes it one of the best values on iTunes. Ordinary Riches is a solid album, containing well-crafted, thoughtful, catchy pop gems. Songs like "Old Letters", "In Passing", and "The Tornado" are filled with interesting melodic ideas that give the record a lot of variation and hold the listener's attention, while songs like "Pressure" and "New Letters" serve as more straight-forward rock songs. Genevieve Schatz is a talented singer and her stylish and often spunky delivery is accompanied perfectly by Marc Walloch's flexible guitar playing which borrows influences from everything from funk to latin music. Drummer Mike Ortiz holds it all together with his adaptive playing.

Overall, Company of Thieves is a talented group of musicians with a lot of potential. This promising young group is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Company of Thieves' website

Oscar Wilde music video

Pressure music video

It's not the size of the wand...

Let me say first that Dumbledore being gay is ridiculous. Dumbledore is not gay in my mind. He's not straight either. He is asexual. A sexual man! Bow-chicka-wow-wow! But seriously. He's a god-figure. Dude never had sex in his life. He had no time. He was born with a beard. That being said, here's something else:

Fiberfloss

When life gives you lemons...

... sometimes you lose a arm.

Tiananmen Four-Square

On June 5, 1989, a lone Chinese man stood before tanks and bravely declared, "No double-taps, dead elephants, or cherry bombs."

This Day in History

64: The Great fire of Rome started among the shops near Circus Maximus, a result of the world's first fire sale. Interestingly enough, a second fire sale happened the next week in the real estate market, as the devastating fire had driven property rates down in 11 of Rome's 14 districts.

1863: Union Army Colonel Robert Gould Shaw lead the first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infrantry, in an assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Shaw was killed leading his men up a parapet. The battle sequence, depicted in the 1989 film, Glory, broke the Hollywood standard of "the black man dies first."

Sign Fail

there is no deaf child here.

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Assorted Nuts

Movies: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This movie was not smart. In fact, many parts of this movie were outright dumb (not to mention plot holes but I won't get into that). Imagine two ghetto twin robots with gold-plated buck teeth and a giant robot with two wrecking balls for... balls. Yeah, it's pretty silly. This movie goes for cheap laughs and cheap thrills. That being said, the cheap thrills are awesome. Michael Bay really knows how to blow stuff up. And that's all you can really ask for and that's all I was really looking for. Anyway it's a sci-fi action movie so what do you expect? I personally expected killer fight scenes between giant robots, and this movie didn't disappoint. Quick summary: Optimus Prime poos on everyone. Like it's his job. Which it is. 

Anyway, to wrap this up it was a dumb movie but a great action picture. This film was brutally reviewed by critics, one from Rolling Stone going so far as to give the movie a zero-star ranking and say that it as a shot at worst movie of the decade. It definitely isn't the worst movie of the decade, but then again it's definitely not the best. For those of you who liked the first one, the one-liners are dumber but the action is a lot better. For those of you who didn't like the first one... well at least they're only making one more sequel.

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Album Review: "Wilco (The Album)" by Wilco

I once said that I would never like a band that had the same name for their band, their album, and one of their songs. Well, Wilco proved me wrong. Wilco's newest album, Wilco (The Album) is another great release from the Chicago-based country-influenced alternative rock band. It was so good that it made me give another listen to their last album, Sky Blue Sky, which I, for the most part, had just passed over (which now I can see was undeserved). The album starts with Wilco (The Song), a quirky little number where Jeff Tweedy declares "Wilco will love you, baby." The lyrics sound like a commercial advertising the band, a comment on how bands must promote themselves and their music. The next track is Deeper Down which sounds a bit like a fuller fleshed-out take on the experimental sounds of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. "You And I" is a warm love song featuring Canadian singer-songwriter, Feist. Overall, Wilco (The Album) is filled with great, well-executed songs driven by lush instrumentation, great guitar work, interesting harmonies, and Tweedy's heartfelt vocals.

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News Update

Recently North Korea has test-launched four cruise missiles off

 of its eastern coast. Though these sorts of weapons tests violate UN Security Council resolutions, they have been allowed as they have been interpreted as a 4th of July salute to America to celebrate our nation's independence.

"Super Happy Fun-Time Independence Day For OK USA. Love, North Korea"

Assorted Nuts

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