Spoon (Cont.)

I love their new album, as I've said before.

Stream the new album here until it comes out on May 10th.

Gamble everything for Love

Yah, so I'm not a huge fan of the new Ben Lee album Awake is the New Sleep, I think the titles hella lame and most of the songs are pretty boring. But, there is one track on there Gamble Everything for Love that I think is fantastic... check it out, but don't buy the whole album.



Looks like I was right about the whole Springsteen thing. Rolling stone LOVED the new album Devils and Dust and after a few listens, its grown on me. Here are a few of my favorite tracks, thus far. In the third track listed, the Boss says the F-word...rut roo....

Bruce Springsteen - Devils and Dust
Bruce Springsteen - All the way Home
Bruce Springsteen - Reno
Bruce Springsteen - Maria's Bed

Did OK on my test today and got in a 400 m swim/ 5 mile run this evening. I've spent my entire Friday night writing two papers on hypoxia induced cancer cells and the inability of edentulous patients to provide sufficient bite force. Not sure what the means, me neither!

King of donkeypunchastonia, you holdin?

Hey, if you read this blog, don't be scared to leave me some feedback. I know you're not watching the OC tonight, since the president, heh? is clogging up our airwaves with his insignificant dribble about the supposed social security crisis and how the price of crude oil runs our country.....yah leave me some feedback.

The Liver, not Better than Ezra

So I've got a massive histology test tommorow (fifth test this week, alone) and i'm in the middle of studying the infamous liver. Fun sheez. New Better than Ezra was up on regnyouth today, so I downloaded it and it's pretty sauve... I definatley like it better than the new Weezer, which kind of blows... Sounds like them, but I like their style, so download BTE and jam. Juicy is my fav track so far. Almost spoonish!

Better Than Ezra - Before the Robots

01 - Burned.MP3
02 - Daylight.MP3
03 - A Lifetime.MP3
04 - It's Only Natural.MP3
05 - Overcome.MP3
06 - Special.MP3
07 - American Dream.MP3
08 - Our Last Night.MP3
09 - A Southern Thang.MP3
10 - Juicy.MP3
11 - Hollow.MP3
12 - Our Finest Year.MP3
13 - Breathless.MP3

Now for some nerd news:
I got an A on both of my finals thus far and did pretty damn well on the two that I took today. Soooo.....even though i'm loosing my hair, haven't really ate well lately, slight angina, etc.. i'm kicking ass at the ole' school of dentistry. Now for some Jack Johnson, because I'm a big fan and it's my blog.

Jack Johnson - Never Know
Jack Johnson - Good People
Jack Johnson - Crying Shame
Jack Johnson - Breakdown

Have a great day, don't turn your liver, which is arguably the most vital non cardiovascular organ in your body, take that lungs, you suck, into this mess! From May 6-19th I will be.

Intonation Festival vs. Lollapalooza

VS.

I'm super stoked that Chicago is apparently the rock capital of the world this summer. With two huge, awesome, sweet, no need for more adjectives, festivals, going on this place is going to be neato'. One's at Pulaski park, the other Grant Park, both cool venues. I'm planning on going to both, but I think that I have to agree with pitchfork media. The $75 that i'll save on the ticket will by a lot of choice beer. Either way, win/win....

----------------------------------------------------------------

Intonation Festival
Pulaski Park
Chicago, Illinois
July 16-17
$10 walk-up fee each day

Inarguably, the ultimate human experience. Curated by a consortium of blindingly attractive brainiacs from around the globe, Intonation stands to eradicate sadness the world over. The Pope was gonna do a doom metal/crunk thing off his iPods, but he called last month and said he'd rather die than tarnish the festival with his weak shit. We thought he was just being a drama queen.

With more bands to be announced, the early lineup is still pretty impressive: The Decemberists, the Fiery Furnaces, the Wrens, Broken Social Scene, DFA79, Out Hud, A.C. Newman, Magnolia Electric Co., Four Tet, Xiu Xiu, Andrew Bird, the M's, and the Go! Team. Says here Will Oldham's DJ'ing. I heard dude's grime set was so much murkage that D Double E was like, "I prefer not to spit over this. Its brilliance and raw emotion is both intimidating and awe-inspiring."

Seriously, you cheap bastards, it's 10 bucks for a bunch of bands that usually charge that much by themselves, and "portions" of the proceeds go to a worthy charity. My pocket, bwoy. Plus, the interns tell me that Chicago is Heaven's backyard in the summer, at least as far as they can tell from the tiny oxygen holes in Ryan's dungeon.

Lollapalooza
Grant Park
Chicago, Illinois
July 23-24
$85 for a 2-day pass to increase to $100 when tickets run out to increase to $115 when tickets run out.

Last year, Lollapalooza looked like your father-- all empty promises and misspent emotional capital. Having cancelled the 2004 reprise because no one wanted to go to it, including Morrissey, things were looking pretty sketchy again this year. The organizers switched from multi-city tour to a single weekend in Chicago in an attempt to replicate the success of other weekend festivals, and the lineup announcement expected on April 1 ran a bit late.

But as of last week, the roster is online, and everything seems legit if not somewhat bizarre. Probably the least inspiring attempt at genre-hopping, the ‘Looz packs Pixies(!), Dinosaur Jr., Blonde Redhead, The Walkmen, Arcade Fire, and M83 onstage with Widespread Panic, Cake, Dashboard Confessional, and G. Love & Special Sauce. Wait, it gets better: Billy Idol. Digable Planets. Dandy Warhols v. Brian Jonestown Massacre dust up. Sound Tribe Sector 9. As of this moment, there don't seem to be any plans for single-day tickets, nor have there been any schedule announcements. Regardless, Chicago will be blessed with two outdoor festivals on consecutive weekends. One is $10 and teems with exciting acts and sparkling personalities. The other is Lollapalooza.

Damn you Shure, thanks for ruining my Passover!

I bought these Shure E2C headphones a little over four months ago, and literally live with them in my ears. I listen to music all day, sometimes even during lectures, especially if the professor is obnoxiously foreign and I can get more work done by myself. Whatever. Well today, they broke and my life is all screwed up. I haven't been able to really, and I mean really, give the new Weezer a listen, and I'm not happy. So, stay away from the E2's if you were thinking about getting new headphones to snazz up your ipod. Rant, over.

The rest of my day was cool. I spent a solid 5+ hours working on drilling and filling fake teeth and then put in another 4 hours at the library tonight. It's finals week(s) so its go time. No complaints, though, since I got a 20 mile bike ride in tonight and found this beaut' for only $100 used here in the Chi. Sweet deal, considering that it retails fo' $350.. Ohh yah and it was 70 out today, not fifty....myyyyhhaaaa!

A VC Blog has a good post on posting mp3s. None of which I agree with.

Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog has a post about dentists killing themselves. Wrong!

Test tommorow, two tests Thursday, test on friday, ohh and don't get me started about next week. I'll cry. Music, enspired by Neuroanatomy!

Death Cab - We Laugh Indoors
Postal Service - Such Great Heights
The Shins - Girl Inform Me
The Shins - Weird Divide
Daft Punk - Human After All
Moby - Beautiful
Coldplay - Speed of Sound

Bruce, genius. Jesus, only son.

Springsteen is friggin' genius. I planned my Saturday night around him and he was solid. Storytellers is amazing and he's the real deal, still. Now that I feel older, I think that I'm qualified to talk about New Jersey's fines. For me, he's better than Dylan, dare I say it. Download Devils and Dust, now. Ohhh yah and get the New Weezer while you're at it. Nerd rock is still alive, apparently. Bittorrent, again, but that's what I use, so there is no reason you shouldn't be.

Thanks to Dodge over at My Old Kentucky Blog for the link on his site. I changed my blog name to Smashed My Junk for sheer comedic value, nevertheless, thank you kind sir... Indy is not an inferior city.

Slow day here in Chicago full of 40 degree weather, medicocre draft picks who can't speak complete sentences, and neurology/pathology papers. Good day.

The Killers - Andy You're a Star
John Legend - Let's Get Lifted
Bloc Party - The Marshals are Dead
Beck - Scarecrow
Futureheads - Descent Days and Nights
Finley Quaye - Roll the Dice (Thanks OC!!!)

Crazy day....yulp, crazy day.

So my girlfriend's entire family reads my blog, which I think is wonderful.



What a day... I got hit by a dumb girl today in my car, I'm fine, so is my car, she's still an idiot. Plus my twin brother got hit by a car on his bicycle. Crazy, heh? We're both OK but our pride took a major smash.




Mere was here with her family shopping for the weekend... so we went out tonight and had ourselves a seriously good time. Ate dinner at Rosebud on Rush not to be confused with the original Rosebud (on Taylor, near my school, woot woot.) It's hard to eat a descent steak on a students budget, so her grandmother is now on the short list of my favorite people to eat and get a little sauced with. Plus, MGH got a job here in Chicago. Commercial real estate, which might come in suprisingly handy when I start my dental empire. If you need a commercial property to start like a best buy or something of that nature, be sure to give her a call. Schwing!

I'm feeling extra sporty today, so lets talk.



Cardinals almost blew it tonight. They're real good, but the starting five looks a little shakey



I'm sick of the NFL draft allready. Constant coverage on ESPN, followed by twenty clips of Mel Kipper on sportscenter, talking about absolutley nothing is driving me nuts. Football is definatley the largest sport in the US, and if you disagree, you're stupid. I'm just not into it. Why are the bears so set on taking a running back? Mike Williams WILL be on the board when they make their selection at number 4 and they're not going to take him. Can anyone say "upside?"


Ohh yah, and Kobe's not the GM of the Lakers....lol. Shoulda kept to himself. Dumbass.



Lance, Lance, Lance, just wants to have some fun.



Our other favorite adultrist, Lance Armstrong, is in ninth place going into the fourth stage of the Tour De Georga. His protege Floyd Landis is a cool 1.45 minutes up on him and is looking like a solid, solid GC rider this year. Cool stuff. Can't wait for the tour this summer.

Same Ryan, less pictures...

The OC has gone straight to hell and I'd like to announce that I will no longer be watching the show. Sad.

I had a pretty good day, though. Got to use this bad boy at school.



It's an ultrasonic scaler, and in non nerd speak, cleans calculus off of teeth with ultrasonic power. Pretty neat, definitely the highlight of my day.

I'll try and throw up this album (new Spoon) as soon as it gets leaked, it is rad.



I rode 25 miles tonight and did a 3 mile run. Riding in Chicago sucks, and if anyone who reads this knows of a place to ride, let me hear it. Couple of songs from my ride today.... In honor of Wilco playing four straight shows here in Chicago next week, enjoy these tracks from Otto's in Dekalb earlier this year.

Kaiser Chiefs - Modern Way
Kanye West - Livin a Movie
Wilco - The Late Greats (live)
Wilco - Jesus, Etc. (live)
Wilco - Muzzle of Bees (live)
Radiohead - Everything in its right place
Foo Fighters - Best of You

Per my twin brother little update to add this podcast (?) or mp3 mix site that I really, really like. Everyone should check it out now.
POP77
Awesome stuff, definatley worth throwing on your iPod.

Songs for McCall.... Picture Tuesday!

Yah, so Ben Folds' new album Songs for Silverman is saaaaaweeeeeet. Classic Folds stuff, starts off exactly where rockin' the suburbs left off and doesn't disappoint. My favorite song, after three listens, is Late, a song he wrote about his friend Elliot Smith who committed suicide, apparently before Folds could tell him how he felt about his work. Good stuff, check it out when it drops April 26th. Or, download it here using Bittorrent



35 Mile bike ride today at the north branch trail here in chicago. Pretty good trail, but still not as nice as the country roads i'm used to riding down. It'll suffice.



I wanted to wait until later tonight to post about my day, mainly because the Bulls clinched home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Damn, Ben Gordan is a baller. They need to keep him, Tyson Chandler, and Kirk Heinrich around as long as possible. Eddy Curry and his overweight, irregular heartbeat ass can take his tallents elsewhere, probably New York.




Speaking of sports, my Cardinals are catching fire as well. With wins of 11-1 last night and 7-1 tonight, it looks like they're going to run away with the NL Central, again this year, which is cool with me. Hopefully MGH can hook us up with some tickets again this summer and I can have an excuse to get out of the city, like I need one ;)



New pope today. Should be a good one, but hey aren't they all. He might have a little trouble following John Paul, though...only time will tell. It's kind of sad that some people bet on this sort of thing. Defintaley the Christian thing to do.



Finally one last picture. Check out this carnage from the Little 500 mens race. There was a massive wreck on the first lap of the race and screwed over about 25 teams trying to win. Crazy.

What a weekend........Little 500 2005

Wow, what a weekend. I just got back to chicago, and I'm completely whiped out. Meredith's bike team got 3rd in the Little 500 and she had some terrible stomach problems during the race (puked a lot) but pulled through hardcore, and rode the end of the race. Here is a picture of her (in rare form, mind you) being taken to get medical attention. She's so damn stubborn ;)



Her team did awesome and was by far the best team out on the track. If you look real close here you can see one sexy bastard looking on in approval.



What a great weekend. Kappa Kappa Gamma's croud was by far the largest and most serious (Mere's two sisters are in the first row):



but the race didn't quite work out in their favor. Still an awesome job all around. Nothing to be ashamed of....and I couldn't be prouder of the year they had

.

A!!!! Almost forgot.....

Ohh yah, almost forgot to post that I got an A on the Biochem test that I was bitching about last week. Yulp, suck on that all of you hardcore dental school gunners (ie: nerdy kids that I hate).

I got this for you:

So i'm making a trip this weekend, to visit the woman, and pick up a bike similar to this. Score! Can't wait to start riding hardcore in the warm chicago weather. Swam 800 (m) easy tonight and actually got through a huge workout of 1200 meters yesterday. I'd much rather be working out than working on wax teeth all day, like today.

Ahh talk about fun. While all of my friends and people my age, for that matter, are out making money and saving that money, I'm spending the better part of a day working on building up wax to look like a tooth. To add some insult, I'm a cool $50K in debt after one friggin semester of school! Hopefully this is all going to pay off one day (read: make me some money) and I can buy a bike like this:



Couple of CD's for your workout (complements of regnyouth)
System of a Down
Bloc Party - EP

Little 500 updates on Sunday. Have yourself a great weekend.

Sad, sad day...

Ashley Crouse, a senior at Indiana University, and one of Meredith's (my girlfriend) good friends was killed last night in a car wreck involving a drunk driver. I'm generally not for the death penalty, but this asshole fled the scene of the crime and still hasn't been found. He deserves to die. That is all I'll post for today. Here is the article from the school newspaper describing the horrible, horrible event and here's a song that might make things a tiny bit better, if that's possible.

Aqualung - Brighter than Sunshine

Keep on rockin....

After a long weekend, it's back to business as usual for me. I don't have a single exam for two weeks! So i'm giong to try and get caught up in everything that i've been putting off up until this point. I'm also making a road trip this weekend, so i'm excited....new bike!

Four mile run earlier today followed by an 800 meter swim. I'm starting to get a lot better in the pool and I completely kick the hell, pun intended, out of all the old guys who frequent the gym during the afternoon.

I've been meaning to post some of my favorite podcasts but have been too lazy to do so. So, here are a few of my favorites, make sure to download them all and put them on your ipod. I think this is a really neat technology, which is just starting to incorporate advertising (if I had a practice, i would look into this locally.....) The Red Eye (a free newspaper i get at school) had an article today about local radio stations trying to combat a major decrease in listeners who own ipods/mp3 players. Check it out. Q101 still sucks though.

Dailysonic has a running Neil Young cover segment this week, so I've been listening to his greatest hits for a few days. Score!

Download the podcast client and go nuts:

Dailysonic
Tracks up the Tree
Closet Deadhead (Duh.)
Mass Hysteria (Awesome couple from Boston that does music)

Start the two way monologues....

Love me some Sondre Lerch. After a short night of pseudo-drinking, I'm at home and ready to go to bed. I think i'm hitting my quarter life crisis, but hey what can you do.... I just can't drink like I used to, and to make matters worse, MGH has me drinking excessive amounts of water before i go to bed!!! Other than that check out some new live bloc party shizzzzz. I'm going to crash fairly early tonight and get up tommorow to kick ass in the pool and kill a long run. The rest of the weekend will be dominated by celebrating the St. Louis Cardinals'superiority in the NL Central. Sweeeeeet!

Cycling Titans, heh?

MGH's team won the team pursuit competition at Indiana yesterday and had this cool little article written about them. Super good job girls. I have a feeling they'll be winning the Little 500 next weekend, and yours truly will be in attendance to celebrate, can't wait!

I had a desce' biochem test today at school and probably scored in my standard B/B- range. Ohh gotta love dental school... don't sleep much for two days and still get a B. Classic. I don't have too much going on until finals but considering that we have 10 finals in five days, it might suck a bit. Hopefully I can get ready beforehand.

The Decemberists favorite letter? RRRRRRRRR!

So I thought the Decemberists really sucked earlier this year when I listened to Her Majesty the Decemberists. But, it grew on me and now I really like what these bunch of quasi pirates are doing. Weird, at times, but pretty cool poppy music with a vitamin C infused lack of Scurvvvvvvy... From their new album Picaresque check out this review (from Amazon) and grab these songs before they dissappear:

"Picaresque" is perhaps the most perfect Decemeberists' album to date. It still retains the familiar conceits of sea chanties and Victorian melodrama, typified by songs like "From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)" and "Eli, the Barrowboy," a beautiful folk song about an evidently consumptive barrowboy who sells "coals and marigolds." But it expands the Decemberists nautical palette to include a track like "The Sporting Life", a whimsical Belle & Sebastian-esque song about a young inept athlete who dreads going out for sports at school.

Even better is "Sixteen Military Wives." This is utterly unlike ANYTHING the Decemberists have ever attempted, a perfect anti-war pop song with the catchiest chorus this side of the Beatles. It's implaccable beat and minor key verses trip along effortlessly to a military rhythm that soars into a sunny singalong chorus, complete with honking saxophones and tambourines. Don't be put off too much by its anti-war message, however; it's equally indictive of celebrity culture and brainless anchormen. And frankly, I think you'll be dancing too much to be overly concerned.

A final highlight is "The Infanta", a cacophony of thunderous drums and appropriately picaresque lyrics that rolls on as implacable and unyielding as a troop of janissaries swarming over the bulwarks of a Spanish galleon. And it is also the only song in the history of music that manages to rhyme "falderal" and "chaparral." For that achievement alone, "Picaresque" earns its 5 stars. An album I cannot recommend highly enough."

On a non musical note, I had a kick ass swim tonight and got through my first 400 meters in one run. On the whole i swam a half mile which is a new accomplishment for me as well. 30 minute bike ride afterwords. All in all a good day.

Update from School...Boi!

I'm at school, and I shit you not it's 75 degrees in the building. Apparently my cheap ass school doesn't turn the air conditioning on until May, so we're stuck here working with wax in a sweat. Going for a long swim tonight and a short ride. It appears that my hometown, the beautiful Effingham, Il is the new hotbed of triathlons in the midwest. Four tris in three months with two sprints, one olympic, and one half iron man. I'd like to do one of the sprints and maybe the olympic, but i'm not sure if I'm ready for the Olympic distance just yet. Soon enough. Here are a few songs i've been listening to all day at school. Some days I like to put my headphones on in the back of the class and study my notes instead of listening to some blowhard preach about his inferior salary. Latero.

The Shins - Burn a Square
Pete Yorn - Murry
Death Cab for Cutie (On the OC in 2 weeks) - Translanticism (Album)

70 Degrees and no shirt!

Welpers, the Illini got beat last night, and everyone was depressed at school. So what does the good ole' toofrunner do? He sends his entire class a picture like the one above. Lots of death threats tonight, but if they're talking about you, you must be doing something right...

Big day today, studied some biochem for three hours and worked on my wax-up project for another four, so I got all caught up. Biochem test on Friday, and then it should be smooth sailing until finals.

I recently "purchased" the entire second season of the West Wing and I'm hooked. The old episodes are soo much better than the current season, but I like them all, they keep me sane.

10 mile run on the lakeshore today. 70 degrees all day, and lots of people at the park again. I can't wait to get my bike next weekend so that I can make my way out of the city a little more here's the frame:


Full Ultegra components and mavic open pro rims (ultegra hubs) for $550, so I'm getting a steal. It has an aluminum fork, though, so I'll upgrade to a carbon fibre one as soon as uncle sam permits.

Couple more songs for the day:
The Jayhawks - I'd Run Away
Air - Surfin' on a Rocket
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight

Ill? Ini?

Can the Illini do it tonight? I sure as hell hope so. Should be an awesome game. I spent the majority of the day at school perfecting my amalgam placement, and I'm finally starting to get better. Once I get my loupes i'll be the sweetest.

Ran 7 miles tonight, along with about 300 other runners on the lakeshore path. Awesome day out here in chicago, and I'm planning on going super long (12 miles) tommorow. This summer is going to rock. I get thursdays and fridays off, and since I'm getting a bike next week! I plan on riding my ass all over the city.

I thought each week I might throw up some mp3's that i've been "rocking on my walkman. " Here are a few tasty treats for this week:

Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Interpol - Narc
Bloc Party - Pioneers
Joh Mayer - I'll Play the Blues for You
Mitch Hedberg (RIP) - Sandwiches
50 Cent - Gatman and Robbin
John Coltrane - Life and Times (1)
Tom Waits - Shake It

Ahh what the hell. GO ILLINI!

Ok, so I held off on the Illinois bandwagon as long as I could, but since I grew up watching them, and go to grad school at one of their "sister campuses" I suppose it's ok if I root for them today. If only Indiana were in the final four, next year perhaps ;) I like the gaurd matchup tonight, and think Illinois has the advantage inside. They'll probably role to a victory and I'll loose my pool. But that's cool. Illini fans better enjoy this one, though, because Bruce Weber isn't much of a recruiter, and this only happens ohhh once every 15 years for Illinois.

Fred Wilson has a cool post here on downloading music, I enjoy reading his blog and have picked up quite a bit of stuff about starting/running businesses from him.

I'm doing the Shamrock Shuffle tommorow morning, so I'm taking a super easy day today and enjoying some basketball. Hope you are too.

Weekend! Go Illini, psyche!

Ahh the final four is finally here, and I have nothing planned for the weekend but watching basketball and working out. I had a test today, and it was rough, so half of my class celebrated by skipping a lab and playing three hours of basketball. I swam 500 meters afterwards as well, so I got a good workout in.

Looks like Wolfowitz is going to get the world bank job. Gotta love that Iraq war.

Probably not going to make it to the Josh Rouse show, I didn't want to go alone and I'm saving up for a bike so that I can ride here in the congestion when it gets warm out. Been listening to this album a bunch:



The Black Keys are awesome, and their slow twangy Ohio blues kick serious ass. They're playing here next Thursday, but of course, I have an exam on Friday morning. Classic.