Herp derp music

Facebook changed again. Because if there's one thing Facebook is good at, it's fixing things that aren't broken to begin with, while neglecting (or making worse) the aspects of the site that are, in fact, broken.

Nevertheless, with the newest update, For whatever reason, I got a look at a note I wrote like 4 years ago. You know, notes... those stupid things people tagged you in and you'd do funny little quizzes or musical lists, or whatever.

One that caught me was "25 Songs", in which, after being tagged, I was to go to itunes, hit shuffle, and list the first 25 songs that came up on shuffle. My musical interests since the time of making that list haven't so much changed as much as they have broadened... aka, I like a lot more rap.

Here is the list from August of 2009:

1. Make Me An Angel - Moros Eros
2. Boyscout'n - Menomena
3. Rock Box - Run DMC
4. Live Your Dream - Reel Big Fish
5. What a Good Boy - Barenaked Ladies
6. Strong Coffee - The Cat Empire
7. Epidemic - Blackfield
8. Crack the Code - 311
9. Steam Engenius - Modest Mouse
10. Cygnus... Vismund Cygnus - The Mars Volta
11. Roundabout (early rough mix) - Yes
12. Distant Early Warning - Rush
13. Interlude - The Sound Of Animals Fighting
14. Drunk Side - Dredg
15. Obessesions - Damiera
16. Habitat - Mos Def
17. Metropolis, Part 1 (The Miracle and the Sleeper) - Dream Theater
18. Drilling - Minus the Bear
19. Clock With No Hands - The Roots
20. A Man. A Plan. A Canal. Panama. - The Fall of Troy
21. Yes 'em To Death - The Coup
22. Hello City - Barenaked Ladies
23. The Modern Imagination - Phantom Regiment 1993
24. Peter Piper - Run DMC
25. Consequential Apathy - RX Bandits

Surprisingly, not an awful list. I turned 19 about a month after posting this list, so I guess I've liked decent music at least since then. Anyway, new music, new stuff, I decided to do it again, 2013 style. Here we go, March 22, 2013:

1. Illegal Theft - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2. Luca - Brand New
3. Walk Alone - The Roots
4. Deception: Concealing Fate Pt. 2 - TesseracT
5. Man on the Moon - Kid Cudi
6. Vedamalady - The Mars Volta
7. Worst Case Scenario - Tech N9ne
8. Lazarus - Porcupine Tree
9. Jobs Schmobs - Bomb the Music Industry
10. The Saddest Song - Streetlight Manifesto
11. Three Little Pigs - Lloyd Price
12. Hearts That Hanker for Mistake - RX Bandits
13. Rosa Parks - OutKast
14. Although Indigent, Rural Families Have Little to Say in the Matter, Third Rate Public Education Has Kept Them Ignorant and Thus, Great Sources of Ridicule! - David Cross (not a song, comedic track nonetheless)
15. Sentimental - Porcupine Tree
16. Wood & Wire - Thrice
17. All Things Considered - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
18. Cosmo Canyon - Random (Mega Ran) and Lost Perception
19. Hot 16's - Hopsin
20. All Fall Down - Kanye West
21. New Sheriff in Town - Solillaquists of Sound
22. Blue Magic - Jay-Z
23. The Podfather Pt. 1: Halloween - The Rick Gervais Show (again, not a song.)
24. Firebreather - Thrice
25. Extremophile Elite - Between the Buried and Me

Overall, as one is prone to do with age, I believe the newest list represents a more mature, diverse taste in music, and as I predicted, a lot more hip hop/rap. I still have a ton of Run DMC and Mos Def on iTunes, I was just catching a lot of other artists in this one. Honestly not a song on the second list I wouldn't recommend to anyone... pretty decent, actually. The Rick Gervais Show is hilarious as well, give it a listen.

Like I said, the first list isn't totally embarrassing, but I think it's pretty clear that my tastes have evolved. I don't really listen to much of that music anymore, but I still don't think any of it is particularly bad.

CHECK THESE FUCKING TRACKS OUT, ASSHOLES.

How to boil an egg.

I just read an entire blog post detailing, at great length, how to boil an egg.

There are three primary problems with a post of that nature.

1 - Boiled eggs are fucking disgusting.
2 - Few foods actually have the directions of how to cook it entirely in the name. Boil. Egg. Done. If you fuck that up, I think you have bigger problems. Like how to count to 10.
3 - Of all of the egg preparations that you could pick (over-easy, sunny-side up, scrambled, deviled, poached, omelet, etc.), you choose to BOIL THE EGG? It's the easiest preparation and the grossest way to eat them!

Seriously, they're gross. The white tastes like slippery fat and the yolk is a chalky texture with a taste of nothingness.

The egg is a magical thing. I love eggs. More than I love most people, truthfully. But this was an entire post (lengthy, with video) about how to boil an egg. Just fry it like a normal, fat American and live a little.

I realize now that I have talked about boiled eggs for an entire post as well. Perhaps the master plan was to shock us into spreading the evil of boiled eggs.

Dammit.

My Zero Dark Thirty experience.

So, last night I went to see Zero Dark Thirty. It was something I've been meaning to do for a while now,  and for whatever reason I just got around to it last night.

I had heard from everyone it was absolutely wonderful, brilliant, etc. And I agree. It was pretty damn good. I loved the fact that it was more spy/espionage thriller than action thriller, and I loved the fact that it keeps relatively quiet until the last 30 minutes, when it gut punches you so hard that it leaves you breathless.

Two things happened inside of the theater over the course of the film, though. Both of them were either due to me, or because of me.

I pride myself on my movie etiquette. I'm kind of a movie buff and I love seeing movies in the theater, and when it's a movie as impressive and important as Zero Dark Thirty, I like to stay out of it and let the movie do the work. No comments about who's doing what, no "yeah!" from the audience when Bin Laden gets shot, nothing like that.

But I broke the rules twice last night.

The first happened when a group of people, presumably around my age, decided to be douche bags. Two guys, one girl. There's a clip in the film of a speech President Obama made regarding the use of torture by the United States and how he wouldn't allow it anymore. This was pertinent for the film, which up to that point had been showing some pretty intense torture scenes.

The girl in the group behind me said, "I fucking hate that piece of shit," to which her two boyfriends (probably cousins) guffawed. I turned around, glared, and silently made it known that I'm trying to watch the movie.

Seconds later, another brief showing of President Obama. The girl made a similar quip. At this point, I broke etiquette, because I had no idea how many more times they were going to show Obama onscreen. I turned around and told her that no one in this theater cares about her idiotic opinion, and that it would be nice of her to kindly shut up so the rest of us could watch the film and understand the intricacies of what is happening.

I turned back around and sat. The people beside and in front of me looked at me and smiled, and as we were walking out, one of them thanked me. The group behind me glared, but I had mob mentality on my side, so I wasn't worried.

The SECOND time was all on me. Well, maybe not all on me. It has to be partially blamed on the casting department for ZD30.

ANDY FUCKING DWYER FROM PARKS AND REC PLAYS ONE OF THE NAVY SEALS WHO KILLS OSAMA BIN LADEN.

Andy Dwyer is probably the biggest, most hilarious doofus on TV right now. The second I saw him, I burst out laughing. He was playing this hugely important part as deadly Navy SEAL, and all I could think about was when he made Ron Swanson orgasm by rubbing his foot.

It took me about two seconds to realize my laughter was not shared by anyone in the theater, and another two or three seconds to stifle my laughter into quiet giggles, which resumed for at least another 10 seconds.

So that's it. I sat in front of some idiots who couldn't keep their politics out of one of the most uniting American events in the history of this country, and I couldn't stop laughing at the fact that a guy who broke both of his legs falling into a big hole was playing a Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden.

Solid Night at the movies.

Four months. I suck, yo.

Sup guys... all three of you that depended on me to post reliable blogs on a regular occasion. (I actually checked my page view count and was pretty surprised at the high-ish number, but that's neither here nor there.)

Fact is, it's been a long-ass time (four months, five days) since I've posted anything on this blog, and I promise it's not because I forgot. I thought about it on a regular basis, and the fact is, I was just too busy with other things.

Not that this takes last place in the all-important Conner Prioritization List, but it certainly is below the sites that I'm obligated to write for, moving, and various other things you'd expect a 22 year old person to do.

I'm just giving you guys a quick update about what's been going on with my life, how I've been doing, and hopefully telling you guys I'm here to stay. For real this time.

I moved to Clemson, SC, which was quite stressful. My apartment has bug problems, and my roommate and I are constantly being bombarded by people thinking we're twins. Grow a beard, you too can join the Conner-Dylan look-a-like club.

I've been doing better and better every week it feels like. If you know me and are reading this, you might know what I've been through the past eight or so months, and if you don't know me, just know that I had some really unfortunate shit happen to me. For months I didn't get a break from bad news, depression, and anxiety... but I feel like that's finally getting past me. Except the anxiety, that's still pretty bad.

Don't get me wrong, things are still rough sometimes. But for the most part, I'm doing my best to get my life back together, and I'm feeling better thanks to a lot of great family, friends, therapy, and medication.

I'm still writing off-and-on for BleacherReport.com, and I've recently been picked up as a staff writer for the Carolina Hurricanes at CardiacCane.com, which is pretty fun. I'm working on getting a couple more writing gigs online, especially at a Milwaukee Brewers-centric site.

And I finally decided to start blogging again. For real this time. It might not be every day, it might not be every week, but it will be fairly regularly, if for no other reason than to document how shit in my life is going and to talk about music, sports, and whatever the fuck else I want to talk about.

I'll also be promoting the hell out of the drumline I teach, so get ready for that.

Hockey is back, which means I get to write about hockey again! Basketball is on, and the Charlotte Bobcats, though not good, are at least kind of exciting to watch!

Also, I'll leave a link below for the Facebook page, but in case you've been living under a rock, there's a better than average chance that Charlotte will reclaim  the Hornets name and bring it back to the Queen City. Bring back the buzz!

And of course, spring training is right around the corner. I have a post coming about how I think the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in which 14 Brewers are participating will influence the start of the season for the Brew Crew.

Until then, thanks for reading! Love you guys. Kind of. Not really... but I mean, keep reading. It makes me feel good about myself.

As promised, here's the We Bee-lieve Facebook page... please check it out and like it!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Beelieve-Charlottetake-back-your-Hornets/110429122320741?fref=ts

I suck at blogging

Hi guys, I suck.

I was going to write a pre-game and postgame analysis for Milwaukee vs. Washington, but I've been slammed with other things.

Brewers won, is the main thing I wanted to point out in this post. Equally as important, the Cardinals lost in extra innings to the Cubs, meaning that the Brewers are now only 1.5 games behind the wild card.

According to ESPN, the Brewers have a mathematical chance of making the playoff to the tune of 17.5 percent. A month ago, that number was hovering right around zero.

And the math involved doesn't take into account that the Brewers just beat one of the best teams in baseball, while the Cardinals lost to one of the worst. The math doesn't take into account that the Brewers are far and away the hottest team in baseball.

Me? I say flip a coin. The Brewers have a tougher schedule ahead of them, but the Cardinals are playing like shit and the Brewers are playing unbelievably well.

On a side note, Braun stole his 29th base of the season tonight against the Nats. Assuming he steals one more (I'm sure he will), he'll be a 40/30 player. After joining the 30/30 club last season, Braun only wants more.

Maybe next year we'll see the elusive 40/40.

Some personal stuff, I didn't have a great day, but shit happens. I have some good friends who do a good job of picking me up when I need it.

I've also decided that this weekend will be the weekend where I really figure out things about next semester. I'm going to buckle down, evaluate costs, school programs, and get my shit together so I can become a better writer and start a whole new adventure.

I'm going to post some more tomorrow. Definitely. Probably. I hope. Maybe.

Here's some music by The Roots, listen and be happy. And for those wondering, the piece I posted in my previous post was done by Jeff Jordan.

Late entry because last night's didn't publish

Last night I posted a blog that didn't publish for some reason. Sorry to leave you guys out :(

The basic gist of it was that the wild card race stands like this after the series that just took place: the Cardinals are out in front by 2.5, the Brewers are back 2.5 and the Dodgers are back 3.0.

The Brewers have the Nationals next, and we need to at least win two of these games. The Nationals have been kind of cold lately, and the Brewers have been as good as ever, so I think that's well within the realm of possibility.

I haven't been posting as much because of my work on Bleacher Report. You can check out my latest article here.

Like I said, I'll have a preview of the game out soon.

The Cardinals are in the seventh inning against the Cubs, and for the first time in my life...go Cubs.

That hurt just to type.

In the meantime, some art.

I don't know where to go to school...

This is the first non-sports post since my first one... I know I said it wasn't going to be all about sports, but let's face it... my life pretty much revolves around them.

Anyway, assuming most of you know who I am, you know that I recently made the decision to take this semester off to transfer somewhere to study journalism. I was one semester away from graduating with a degree in psychology and a minor in biology. I know, I'm an idiot, whatever.

Fact is, I couldn't stand the thought of going through another semester of banalities at Winthrop University. Don't get me wrong, it's a good school, and a few of the professors I've had there are people I hope I never lose contact with. But I really didn't care about psychology or biology, and I knew I was never, ever going to make a career out of either.

So, long story short, start writing for Bleacher Report, realize I want to be involved in sports journalism/production as a career.

I've applied several places, but I really have no idea where I want to go.

Right now the list is: University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, and Clemson University.

You'll notice the only school in-state (South Carolina) is Clemson. That's my super fall back.

Other than that, it's a toss-up. I really have no idea where I want to go. I kind of think that the University of Minnesota and Wisconsin-Milwaukee are the front-runners right now, as they have by far the cheapest out-of-state tuition... they're not much more expensive than Clemson's in-state tuition.

Plus, Minnesota is a great school and is considered a public-ivy school. It's located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, so I would have access to all four major sporting franchises (Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, Vikings) which is pretty important for my profession.

The same goes for UW-Milwaukee, though it's not quite as prestigious as Minnesota.

I'm a terrible decision maker. It has taken me four years of college to figure out what I want to do, and this is going to be my third university (I went to the University of South Carolina my first semester and hated it).

I have to decide soon. I also have decisions to make about marching in an indoor percussion ensemble and living arrangements and everything. This is a headache. Someone help me.