markm

Ken Mode/Entrench (2013) Ken Mode/Venerable (2011) Ken Mode/Null (2022) Boris/fade (2022)-somehow I missed this in 2022....like TG, I like "W" and I like Boris Rocks 22 even better....Fade is a return to their drone that somewhat put them on the map, but it's much gazey-er than their drone/doom masterwork Amplifier Worship--one of my personal faves in the genre

Gaerea/Mirage GEVURAH/Gehinnom Both of these are pretty darn good

Ultha/All That Has Never Been True

Nah, I don't care one way or another about Morello. I have a couple RAGTM albums from the day. I just wonder why you think you have to weigh in on every band or album anyone posts about. I think we are all well aware of your tastes at this point. NP -Facetooth/Remnants of the Vessel -checking out a self described LA based Fairy Doom Band-easy on the ears ethereal chick doom.

Pharmacist/Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Mental Grounds-on the Doc's strong recommendation. So far this is pretty awesome. I get the Carcass comparison fo sho.

Is it always all about you?

I read somewhere that one of the members confessed to listening to Korn but mostly their influences were stuff like Godflesh and noise bands including Sonic Youth which makes sense I guess. I've never heard a Korn album. I'll defend RATM though any day. Tom Morello is insane.

Gggolddd/this shame should not be mine-Checking out Sheol's # 1 album of the year- heavy conceptually and metal adjacent as he indicated. Sigh/Shiki

Interesting interview with Hans Zimmer on 60 minutes tonight.

Kurt Vile/Watch My Moves FKA Twigs/Caprisongs Kevin Morby/Photograph Smile S/T Sharon Van Etten/We've Been Going About this All Wrong Darkher/The Burried Storm Cavernlight/ As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens that Reveals my Every Flaw Wake/Thought from Descent-on Zack's 22 list that I've had kicking around for a few weeks not. So massive in size, the album is almost too massive and layered for for my speakers....headphones it is tonight. Spiritworld/Deathwestern

Well, if it were a white actor that might make sense.

Good for you. Now, don't do what I do and buy a bunch of 32 waists, then put on a 5 pounds or so and realize I'm really a slim fit 33 realistically-LOL

Zack, congratulations. That is great. You must look and feel great! 225 to 180 is serious business. We're about the same size. I'm 5'11 and 3/4 so I claim 6' and lately I've fluctuated between 175-179. 33/31 in a pair of jeans. I can squeeze into 32 waist if I have to. But, I'd like to be 175 or less. I've been lifting weights some, so I can pretend some of that is muscle, but that would be self delusion.

I thought the CGI in Black Adam looked fake-almost like a 1950's Godzilla or King Kong flick.

Controlling hunger is difficult for most people. With IF, I've found controlling my carbs is key. Not low carbs, but just cutting back. For instance, when I went back to work after the holidays after eating a lot of sweet pastries, too much white flour generally, I was super hungry Tuesday morning. I went back to eating more whole grains and less carbs, heavy on salads, protein and avoiding sweets and the hunger pangs were reduced. Then, the trick is to then eat healthy during feeding times and control your portions. It won't work if you eat junk food or overeat. Sometimes you want to gorge yourself on the first meal and you need to control that. Navy's situation is obviously different. And, Navy, kudos for you navigating all the shit you've got to deal with. I know we've posted about this before, but yoga has been a godsend for me. I often wake up with tight upper and mid back, shoulders and neck. When I do yoga I feel like the tin man getting lubed with oil. Check out Yoga for Adriene on Youtube, she's legit meaning she's very well trained and has a good understanding about anatomy and has a mission to provide high quality yoga for free and she's easy on the eyes. She has a video for just about any physical issue you want or specific thing you want to address (I.e., sleep, core, strengthening, short wake up morning, evening wind down, yoga for knees for neck, yoga for beginners....you name it). I do some yoga probably 5 days a week or more. My girl Adriene does a 30 day daily challenge at the beginning of the year where she pumps out a 20-30 minute video daily for the first 30 days of the year and is suitable for all levels. She gives you options to make the exercises easier or more difficult and always includes some core and some deep breathing for mindfulness. Best of all her videos are short-haha! . It's good shit. Check out her short intro video here:

Zack says more more Gevurah less Gaerea, so I'm giving them an A-B comparative listen. They're both very good. Gaerea is probably a little more accessible, grandiose but hits those cathartic highs at mock 10 overdrive a bit too much and Gaerea a bit more dissonant and hard hitting but both easy to love. Funny, I had them both in my BC wishlist listened once or twice and never returned. Need to revisit Ultha, another reject from my wishlist. And Pharmacist. Cavernlight/As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw-One of my favorite 2022 albums criminally overlooked but it ticks the right boxes for me, Brackbraid Chat Pile/God's Country-not just because of the hype or maybe exactly because of it, I've been hitting this album. Another one I listened to several times and it didn't connect until it did. To GG, this most certainly has riffs, just not cliched metal riffs. IMO they are angular, sideways stabs and dissonant versus big overdriven metal riffs most of us are used to. They are clearly indebted to their influencs-noise rock, alt metal, post punk and industrial. If you don't like what Godflesh do, you probably won't like this album, but there's gold in them there hills. Pretty obvious, these kids are trying to create feelings of anxiety, mental unhealth and great unease and I'd say they do it rather effectively.

Wow, yeah, that looks like heaven on earth.

I've been doing intermittent fasting for several years now. I usually do 2-10 PM, 1-9 or sometimes 3-11 if I'm staying up late. I don't do it every day, but probably 5-6 days per weight. Why do I start so late in the day? It's mostly due to my kayaking hobby. When I paddle after work during, from Spring daylights savings until Autumn, I'll paddle with friends after work and as I'm an hour's drive from the river, I often don't get home until close to 10 when we have the most daylight. If I'm lifting weights, I have to adjust, but I don't strength train as much as a I used to. I dropped weight quick when I first started from about 185 lbs to 169 at which point I thought there might be something wrong and I started eating normal and sure enough, I started eating normal for a few days and put a few pounds back on. For me, it's just calorie control, but it's less effective than when I started. I think your body gets used to it. I'm about 6 ft and I like to keep my weight under 180, but it's more of a struggle now probably because I over feed during my eating hours sometimes and on the weekends drink more beer and eat higher caloric foods. When I first started, I was strict and was very careful what I ate during my feeding hours and I quit drinking for a few weeks an that helped too. But life is too short, I like beer. In fact, I'm going to grab another one right now.

Yep, I like it too. I saved so much stuff in my Bandcamp wishlist in 2022 that I decided wasn't essential and passed on in my effort to be more selective and that included this album ("nah, I can live without that") that I see touted now. I've been revisiting a lot of those albums. That ToV album is totally solid.

Nice haul!

Kevin McCarthy, the heir apparent Republican Speaker of the House can't get get enough votes in his party because the extreme right wing of his party don't trust him. They don't think he stands for anything, and he doesn't, he just wants power and can't control his tribe. They're divided. The right wing, the uber Trumpers, for the most part aren't interested in governing, they just want chaos. They want to get rid of the U.S. constitution and instill a dictator.

Who's laughing their ass off at Kevin McCarthy? Trump won't help him, because you know, he only likes winners.

Misþyrming-Algleymi

Keeping the icy atmospheric black thing going from Grimma to Afsky/Ofte jeg drømmer mig død

Now, I agree that 50 albums a year isn't too many to spend time with. That's about where I am. But, you purchase hundreds and then pare that down to 50. I might listen to hundreds of tracks throughout the year from different albums, but just couldn't imagine spending the time I'd need to honestly evaluate hundreds of purchased albums. But you have an almost counterculture lifestyle not unlike my uncle by marriage, Harrold. More on that later.... Your strategy seems to work for you and that's great, but as I've said to you in the past as a model is inefficient. Most of us simply don't have the time. I agree that art is ultimately subjective, but there is wise subjectivity based on information buoyed by background knowledge, and there is unwise ignorant throw-darts-against the wall subjectivity. I'm not saying that's you, but what I mean is there are informed ways to come to conclusions based on data and beta utilizing others' experiences or there is the lone wolf, I must be a blank slate. Have you ever read a review (and I know, you generally avoid them) that starts like this.....I don't have much experience with black metal, but I decided to review the classic, Pure Holocaust. My reaction is always, well why should I pay any attention to your review if you have no experience with the genre! Guess my point really is, that there can be poor/good/better/best ways to approach art appreciation and analysis. When good, it can open doors, provide incites that you might not come to on your own. If all art analysis was irrelevant and simply a matter of individual opinion without any criteria or matrix to review music with some degree of an an educated or informed "consensus" or objective analysis of subjective subject matter, why then there'd be no reason for any literary criticism at all-shit just order something randomly on Amazon based on the title; grab a random book from a library; no reason to take a class in art history and so on. I know in my own exploration of rock and metal, that books I've read have given my a better understanding of genres (Lords of Chaos, Encyclopedia of heavy metal, etc.) Jazz and classical would be over my head without some explanation of the lives of artists and composers, understanding of music theory for dummies. I want reviews. Life is short. Time is money, goddamnit. Give me beta! Your strategy seems to be that you want to experience art, media etc. directly without any interference. In some ways, I understand that impulse. The downside is it requires you to sample thousands of albums a year to reach your own conclusions. You might be a postmodernist but you're also a nonconformist, contrarian and near counter culture individual. And I often find myself resisting with all my might the urge to bash myself upside my head with my keyboard when debating you. You are, indeed a frustrating curmudgeon. Now on about Harold. You remind me a little of my uncle by marriage, Harold, RIP Not in personality so much but in attitude. Mr. GG, you've described yourself to me as a classic under achiever, the smart kid that dropped out of college, dedicated himself with a singular mission to the art of headbanging and drove a truck until circumstances drastically and tragically changed. Now you live in the backwoods of Jersey in some kind of dueling banjo's horror B movie setting with frozen pipes and workers renovating a home to flip and to this day you've avoided the 9-5. Well done, sir! I do worry about you and your boy as you age and health insurance and all that because I am actually fond of you, but your a resourceful old hound. Harold worked as a young guy out of college on Wall street and had some kind of nervous breakdown. He moved to Atlanta and completely dropped out of the rat race. He delivered Newspapers for most of his life. When I met Harrold he had married my aunt Sally and they were both middle aged. He lived in her house. They kept their finances completely separate. They had a great relationship. I doubt he helped pay her mortgage, I have no idea, but at any rate, he did all the cooking. He was a gourmet kind of dude. Harold got up every morning about 3 AM delivered papers. Came home took his nap and spent most of his time in the library. Did that almost to the day he died. Like you, he didn't suffer fools, couldn't give two fucks for anybody's opinion. Harold was kind of a recluse. Brilliant well read guy, funny as hell but he refused to play the game and lived by his own rules. He had no time for Birthdays or Christmas. He was a lifelong atheist. But fuck it, he lead the life he chose.