Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in That Moose Guy's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, November 26th, 2009
7:56 pm	Horn tootin'. (Has it seriously been six months since I posted something like this? Yikes.) My friends and I made another movie, this time for our video games class. It's based around the first part of Half Life and is during its eight and a half minutes, in fact, better than almost every other video game-based movie ever made (not that this is hard or anything). It's maybe not quite as good as last semester's "Cue," if only because we were working with our own story for that film and therefore didn't run into as many creative obstacles, but I still think this new one came out pretty well. Alas, no DOUCHEBEARD this time. He will return someday, no doubt, but it looks like his fans will have to hold out a bit longer. Tons of fun production anecdotes with this one: we almost got campus police called on us a couple times (all of us, the filmmaking team, were perfectly aware of the risks of running around blood-splattered with crowbars and realistic-looking guns, but as it turns out it's slightly more difficult to make your extras cooperate with you), we actually got blood on the ceiling in one of the takes, by far the most time-consuming shots out of a whole bunch of far more complex ones were the locker room scenes (just 'cause naked guys kept wandering into the frame). And of course we did not get any permission from anyone to film any of this. It's viewable here, just so long as you're able to login. We tried putting it on YouTube, but their software disabled the sound due to a soundtrack-related copyright violation issue (pssst ... it was The Notwist's fault; no, really, it was). Anyway. Yeah. There we go! Current Mood: accomplished (Give in to sin...)
3:55 pm	lulz Somehow I find the Last.fm tags for Brand New's "Be Gone" really, really amusing. (I'm glad something good came out of what is essentially a 90-second waste of tape.) Happy Thanksgiving, all! Edit: This evening I laughed at an Animal Collective song. I LAUGHED. I ADMIT IT. "Graze" from their new EP starts off in that typical dreamy, Merriweather Post Pavilion-y haze, and then suddenly and without warning breaks out into ... a dorky pan-flute jig. lolwtf. I'm still not as huge of a fan of this band as Pitchfork would like me to be, but it's really hard to deny that they're doing some curious stuff. Current Mood: well fed Current Music: Bound Stems - Winston (Give in to sin...)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
1:10 am	I was never the biggest fan of these guys ... ... but the fact that I can't stop listening to this either proves once and for all that I have no taste whatsoever, or that -- against all odds -- it might actually be a really good song. Either way, I like it. and all right "1979" is still a pretty sweet song too Current Mood: blah Current Music: The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
12:58 am	Hmm. This, my friends, is what we call karma. MAYBE IF YOU TRIED A LITTLE HARDER TO MAKE YOUR LIVE ACT NOT SUCK, THESE THINGS WOULDN'T HAPPEN. Good songs and all, but man. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Ramona Falls - Melectric (Give in to sin...)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
1:29 pm	The new Best Thing Ever Told ya. Current Mood: amused (1 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
12:42 pm	wtf^10 I have never, ever, ever heard of someone's phone service literally being canceled because they use it too much. Such is the story of my fascinating life. So I'll effectively be phone-less for a few days while I try to get this straightened out, since apparently reactivating the current one isn't possible due to the ridiculous extent to which I apparently overuse it. Fucking idiots. I'm also never impolite to tech support people, and this was no exception, but man it would've been nice to talk to someone I could understand. Ugh. Why do I even bother getting up on days like this? Things have been doing downhill in their myriad ways for weeks. I'm just getting tired of it, is all; I just want to run away. Current Mood: angry (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
6:16 pm	Holy shit guys this is awesome. One of my favorite songs of the year just received the Hella Awesome Music Video treatment: Ramona Falls -- "I Say Fever". Just ignore that Deerhunter video before it. Actually, just ignore Deerhunter, period. off to listen to two and a half hours of a boring old man talk about nathaniel hawthorne woohoo fml EDIT 9:56p: For what it's worth, it's already below freezing in Albuquerque tonight. It snowed today. I HOPE YOU'RE EFFING HAPPY, MOTHER NATURE. Current Mood: awake Current Music: Ramona Falls - I Say Fever (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
10:38 am	Pssst ... Sordo Fans! Sordo is, sadly, gone forever, but this might prove to be a reliable substitute. You didn't hear it from me, of course. Current Mood: blah Current Music: Electric Six - White Eyes (1 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
12:51 am	Random music musings. Because I never use this journal to talk about music. ( Yak yak yak ) Also, my current song? Totally awesome guilty pleasure electropop-ness. Current Mood: blah Current Music: Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
5:21 pm	Photo negatives of the same event. In general, Walgreen's clerks don't even stop to acknowledge my existence. I walk up to the counter, the clerk runs my items across the scanner as if his or her motor functions are being remote controlled from a distant planet, I pay mechanically, and go on my merry way. I have been into a Walgreen's exactly twice in the past two weeks. One about two weeks ago and one earlier this afternoon. I'll take a moment to admit to myself and to others that I have a problem: a sweet tooth, shall we say. I really, really like circus peanuts. Occasionally the temptation is too much and I have to go indulge myself. A couple weeks ago I approach the counter with a couple bags of the things. The clerk, very polite and cute, looks at me and says, "Circus peanuts, huh?" "Yeah. I'm starting to think I'm the only person who even likes them." "Oh no. People come in and buy them all the time. It's crazy." "Really?" "Yeah, they're like the most popular candy we have. It's weird." "Yeah. The texture isn't what you'd think, like, at all." "Especially since they look like peanuts. You would think they'd be a little more peanut-y." "Definitely." etc., etc. I continue paying, engaging her in small talk, and eventually I go on my merry way. It was a bizarre exchange, but a pleasant one. Today I go into a different Walgreen's (but who's keeping score, really, because there's nine thousand of them on any given city block and they all look exactly the same) and attempt to make the same purchase. This girl was either much more outspoken or having a ridiculously terrible day or something, but she was ... well: "CIRCUS PEANUTS?!" "Yeah. I feel like if I don't eat 'em, no one will." "Are you kidding? People buy this crap all the time." "No kidding. Even with Halloween?" "Uh-huh. I think they're freakin' nasty. They taste like stale styrofoam." "Yeah, well the texture isn't what you'd think ..." (There are only a finite number of things one can say about circus peanuts, and it's wasn't like I was going to launch into the Chesapeake Bay story.) "$2.98." I pay. Money gets exchanged. "Enjoy your nasty stale styrofoam." At this point I'm just trying not to laugh. "Yeah, I will. Have a good one." "You too," she says very suspiciously as I walk out the door. ... Ever been chastised for purchasing candy? Oh, Albuquerque. What would I do without you? Anywho. Off to catch The Third Man at the SUB theater, then In the Loop at the Guild after that. Yay movie-filled Friday night. By the way, see Zombieland immediately. It is so, so, so good. Current Mood: amused Current Music: Phoenix - Armistice (1 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
11:06 pm	Stop what you're doing, take a picture, do whatever ... ... 'cause I'm about to say something really uncommon. Congratulations, Pitchfork. Your top 20 albums of the decade is extremely respectable. Factor out the hip-hop/rap stuff that I don't really care for and you have yourselves a hell of a list. Truly, you've given credit where credit's due to lots of completely indispensable music and I'm seriously appreciative of that. Except maybe Wilco. That album's boring as hell. But the rest of it ... hats off, guys. Seriously. It's nice to see you still remember that before you started hating them Modest Mouse and Interpol both put out a (literally) stone-cold masterpiece. And that Since I Left You IS just about the most brilliantly sequenced and constructed album ever made. And that, dammit, YES -- the Panda Bear album IS better than anything Animal Collective has ever done! Bravo, guys! (you still suck for not putting sunset rubdown on the list but whatever. your final 3-2-1 countdown is ace.) Current Mood: busy Current Music: Archive - Controlling Crowds (Give in to sin...)
Monday, September 28th, 2009
1:10 pm	jsdfhjk Music Newsflash: Editors have gone darkwave electronic, and their new album In This Light and On This Evening is hands-down one of the best albums of the year. They were always dark in that Interpol/She Wants Revenge sort of way, but this unprecedented and very, very exciting. Check it out. Edit: Man, it's so easy to forget how good this band actually is. I've been re-listening to their first two albums, and ... man. Yeah. They're good. "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors" is the shit, and "Munich" ain't too bad either. Current Mood: awake Current Music: Editors - Papillon (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
3:40 pm	WHAT?!? SORDO IS DEAD?!?? This is the worst day of my life. Dammit. Now I'm going to have to actually work to obtain my music illegally. And farewell to serendipitous "oh cool I think I'll try this out"-style experimentation, too. Edit: All right, some good news. Porcupine Tree's The Incident is really good. It feels sort of like the album they had to make at this point: a deliberately crafted consolidation of the various facets of their sound (they've been flirting with metal basically since In Absentia, but it seems like they're backstepping into the moody atmospherics of old while still retaining some of that dark, hard Blank Planet-esque edge). I'm finding it highly satisfying. "Time Flies" is ... wow. Current Mood: damn, I say! Current Music: The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (Give in to sin...)
Monday, September 14th, 2009
4:48 pm	A more in-depth summary will no doubt come when I have more time ... ... but this is how I spent my weekend. ( Monolith Festival 2009 ) Current Mood: drained Current Music: Phoenix - Lisztomania (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Friday, September 11th, 2009
12:33 am	Bang bang. I just spent the last 90 minutes playing Half-Life 2. As homework. My college experience is so messed up. Current Mood: amused Current Music: Brand New - Bought a Bride (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
3:04 pm	Upholding Tradition: Summer Mix '09 ( This is the way, step inside ... ) Current Mood: awake Current Music: Bat for Lashes - Daniel (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Monday, August 17th, 2009
9:07 am	Pt. 1 of a Weeklong Series So, wait, Pitchfork: you're meaning to tell me that there are 440 songs from this decade better than "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" and 268 better than "The Engine Driver"? I think not. Current Mood: indignant Current Music: Porcupine Tree - Lazarus (1 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
10:58 pm	Ugh. A word to the wise: don't get together and watch a movie about high school nostalgia with a group of people you were friends with in high school but don't talk to anymore. It will make you uncomfortably introspective whether you like it or not. It's not that I miss high school, per se (or at all, really, although I do have my moments -- just moments, though). It's just difficult to fully grasp how much has changed in my life in those two short years since graduation. It feels like I'm a different person inhabiting the same skin, to be sure -- one with an almost entirely different social network, a different outlook, and a decidedly more grown-up disposition. I see none of these changes as bad: if anything, it's pushed me closer to "finding myself" or whatever, but still. You throw yourself into the above situation and you can't help but be upset by it. It's just an uneasy reminder of something you had once upon a time but don't have anymore. And that's just plain damn weird, because like I said, I don't really want to get it back. I think it's just the knowledge that I wouldn't be able to even if I did. When do these "let's all get together before school starts again and we all part ways" things actually become fun opportunities to catch up and not lead to, you know, this? Oh dear. At least everyone's doing well, ya know? Current Mood: see above Current Music: Brand New - The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
4:44 am	A modest re-discovery. The Moody Blues -- "Another Morning" This is one of the best songs ever written, and I feel really bad about it because I completely and honestly forgot about its existence for years. The Moodies have always been one of my favorite bands (and, of course, they always will be) and this was, like, my favorite song ever when I was 8 years old, but somehow I've just let it get buried under the band's more monolithic achievements ("Nights in White Satin," "Your Wildest Dreams," "The Voice," "Gypsy," "Holy Shit I Love This Band"). I listened to it again this evening for the first time in ages and it just sent a warm rush through my body. Seriously, I could feel it. It's sunny and happy and beautiful and melodic and perfect. Now, it reminds me of being 8 years old, a feeling which -- looking back -- makes the lighthearted lyrics all the more meaningful to me. God, music is great. Current Mood: content Current Music: The Moody Blues - Another Morning (2 making this life livable + Give in to sin...)
Monday, August 10th, 2009
9:45 pm	Wait a minute. How can Pitchfork presume to list the 500 best songs and 200 albums of the decade when 2009 (certainly a far more merit-worthy year than the one that came just before it, if not plenty of others) is, like, nowhere near over yet? Cocky bastards. I'm planning the unenviable task of doing a Top 25 for both (plus movies), but there ain't no way that's slipping out of the gates 'til after Christmas. At the earliest. In any case, despite their incredibly blatant attempt to dispel the rumor (or perhaps ignite it), I fully expect them to give the #1 album nod to Kid A. (Other obvious near-the-tops would have to be Funeral, Turn on the Bright Lights, The Moon & Antarctica, Illinois, Merriweather Post Pavilion, etc.) As far as songs go ... jeez, I dunno. What's the sort of decade-defining, quintessentially indie track that the P4K would shower with that sort of praise? I don't know why "Wake Up" pops into my head; I'm totally grasping at straws for that one. We shall find out very soon. Until then, of course, all speculation will be greeted with warmth and excitement. Current Mood: curious Current Music: Bloc Party - This Modern Love (Give in to sin...)