THE DAILY DIVERSION

WAVES COME CRASHING IN...

Supposedly it was a crazy weekend down here. Other than some traffic, we didn't really notice it. Friday night we went over and watched a Redbirds game, followed by fireworks. Yes, I'm still a big kid when it comes to fireworks. I get all antsy in my pantsy when they start up. I end up cheering like crazy, as if the fireworks technicians can hear me over the "booming". At a ripe ol' thirty years old, I still love fireworks. I believe it was bred in me though. I was born on July 5th, mind you.

We did not get anywhere close to the Beale Street music festival this weekend. Actually, we really didn't want to either. For the most part, it was cold and ugly this weekend. We barely had temperatures in the 70's and it was either spitting rain or overcast the entire time. I can't remember 10 minutes of sunshine the entire weekend. In other words, if we went to the festival, we probably would've been knee-deep in the muck dealing with drunk idiots. That sure does sound like fun, doesn't it?

I didn't have any dreams last night, but I did wake up with a odd song in my head. I'm not too sure why I didn't have any dreams last night. I know I didn't sleep very well, but usually that doesn't stop me. I'm pretty tired today, so I'm hoping to get a "wind" shortly, just so I'll feel like doing some work. I've got a few things to do, which, the quicker I get them done, the more time I'll have to screw around, until we get our next assignment.

Song of the Day: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day from American Idiot

I'm not sure how this got in there. I don't really like the song. I know Adrianne does, and maybe we heard it over the weekend or something. I don't remember. I like Green Day's old stuff, but haven't enjoyed their last couple of albums. I have them, but don't know that I've even listened to either one of them all the way through without wanting to turn them off. I think I got them for someone else, instead of for my own enjoyment. Why else would I be trying to locate Nick Lachey's new album?

So, in my spare time, I've been reading some reviews on my new favorite album (which I still can't stop listening to). Many of the reviewers feel exactly like I do about it. However, and I'm still trying to figure this one out, some are disgusted that it doesn't sound like old Tool?

I guess my biggest question is this... Why would you want it to?

If you want to listen to music that never progresses or bands that don't improve on their craft, then go listen to some of the new hip hop or pop rock bands out there, because that's what you're wanting anyway.

In my honest opinion, Tool has gotten better, and different, in every subsequent album they've released since Opiate, back in 1992. Every album is it's own entity and shouldn't be compared to the last. Yes, sometimes that means that you may have liked the last album more than the new one. However, I don't feel it fair to say "Well, 10,000 Days is horrible, because it sounds nothing like Lateralus". Dipshits!! It's not supposed to!

I explained it to Adrianne like this. All of their albums are like a wavelength.


It's like Opiate started at the "Trough", and built up to a nice "Peak" with "Cold and Ugly", then headed back to a "trough" with "Gaping Lotus Experience". They picked up velocity starting with "Intolerance", reached a peak on Undertow with "4 degrees" then came back down to a trough with "Disgustipated". Velocity started to pick up again with "Stinkfist", and had several "peaks" and "troughs" during Aenima, with "Third Eye" being a great crescendo on the album. It's hard to get much higher than that. Then they bumped it even higher with "The Grudge". Lateralus flows up and down the "Peak" and "Trough" areas of the spectrum, while being beautifully organized. It ended with the "Trough" song of "Faaid do Oiad". "Viacarious" immediately picks right up where Lateralus left off, heading straight up to a peak. The rest of the albums follows a wonderful flow of "ups" and "downs", using interludes to take care of the "troughs" and almost every song is a "Peak".

I might be the only person who sees this, but it's what I think. I know I've spent too much time since last Tuesday thinking about this album, but it has a lot of thought provoking images on/in it, if a person gives forth the effort to see and understand what is before them. When was the last time you could say that about one of Nelly's albums?