I have enjoyed my one week of freedom, wedged in-between the end of summer school and the start of the fall semester. Managed to ace my summer school class, which was a shocker and a half.

Spent most of the week with my girlfriend. Lounged around, watched TV, went to a festival, and rediscovered the joys (and occasional frustrations) of the NES via Maniac Mansion. Gotta love a girl that appreciates old LucasArts graphical adventures. Playing on a console is nice in that we can easily sit on the couch or floor and share the TV, but the controller is a poor substitute for a mouse. Trade-offs, trade-offs.

Got a ton of things to mail out to people. Need to do that Monday.

I have now integrated this log into my new homepage at EconomyOfEffort.com.

Been over a month since I've posted here. Yeesh.

Got a TON of new music in a trade with Mike Prete. 14 CDRs of albums in MP3 format, and also the following in audio CDR format:

Eskaton - Fiction, Ardeur
Nurse With Wound - A Sucked Orange, Alice the Goon, Homotopy to Marle
Bondage Fruit - II
Conventum - Le Bureau Central des Utopies, A L'affut d'un Complot
Contraction - La Bourse ou la Vie
Idiot Flesh - The Nothing Show
Sloche - Standacone, J'un Oeil
Wurtemberg - Rock Fantasia Opus V
Vortex - Les Cycles de Thantos
Eiliff - Eiliff
Il Rovescio della Medaglia - Contamination (the unreleased-on-CD English version of "Contaminazione")
Atila - Reviure
Opus-V - Séeieux ou Pas
YETI - Live at Sockmonkey, Live at the Wreck Room Volumes 1 AND 2
L'Engoulevent - L'Ile ou Vivent Les Loups
Picchio dal Pozzo - Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi

Of the things in the MP3 CDRs, I've been listening to Avant Garden, Djam Karet, and The Gathering mainly.

The metal assault continues. Add Symphony X, The Gathering, Iced Earth, Helloween, Cryptopsy, Green Carnation, and more Neurosis and Metallica to the mix. Ahh, the wonders of USENET and AudioGalaxy...

For metal reviews, look no further than the tongue-in-cheek titled "Satan Stole My Teddybear": www.chedsey.com.

Wicked. I'm watching something on MTV where Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is in a shark cage. The music in the background? "Djed" by Tortoise. Well, Tortoise has been on MTV now. :)

Been a while since I posted (don't most of my posts start with that line?). So what's happened musically as of late?

1. Linkin Park - In addition to "In the End", I also like "Crawling". I have received much ridicule from the music snob circles. :)
2. Kylie Minogue - Damn you, Kelly. Damn you for making me download "Can't Get You Out of My Head". Now I've seen the music video too. It's more than I dare to think about.
3. METAL - Metal, metal, metal, MEEETALLL. Fates Warning, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Queensrÿche, TOOL, Spiral Architect, Dream Theater, Neurosis, Therion, Black Sabbath, and I need more. I've had to use some hard-rock (even The Who) for more fix. I've been in a major metal mood. I think some later Iron Maiden would be cool. This one (The Number of the Beast) is a bit silly at times. The style is great but maybe some of the cheesiness is left off on later albums. Powerslave is next on my Maiden to-get list.
4. Krautrock - My Faust box set is always nearby. I recently got Can's Ege Bamyasi, downloaded some Electric Mud and Amon Düül II.

It seems one of my friends and one of my online music buds are conspiring against me. And my friend's trying to drag my girl into it too. Like I told her (the friend), with friends like these, who needs enemies? I gotta admit, though, it's WAY more fun than last semester when I didn't really know anyone around here.

Ooh, and my best friend is coming to Fresno next semester after spending this semester in Monterey. Now maybe I'll finally be able to teach him an instrument. Hmm, I'm getting a bigger apartment now too... I should take my brother's drum kit (The World's Least Used Drum Set).

I'm also playing my guitars far more than before, even writing some music. Usually when I'm supposed to be doing homework. :)

So, what's happened between my last post and now? Well, I'll tell you... CLASSES started. WORK started. Bluh'y hell. Let's review Hell, CSU Fresno style:

First level of Hell: Work. Work requires me being up at 6:00am every morning (yes, it takes me that long to get to an 8:00 job, and yes, it's still a struggle to be on time). Work isn't as bad as it was last semester, as I'm alone in the office now and I'll have my own Ethernet connection, and can play my own music (albeit at low volume levels).... but I'm still being given the same pointless crap to do. If my job only revolved around PRODUCTIVE work, I'd have two free hours a day. :)

Second level of Hell: Women's Studies 110. Representations of Women. Male Bashing 101. Let's put it this way... I would wipe my arse with this week's readings, but I fear for rectal infection. Making matters worse is an instructor that lacks organization.

Third level of Hell: Computer Science 41. Introduction to Data Structures. Now, CompSci is fun. Programming is fun. But this class is the class that weeds people out of the CompSci major. The highest dropout rate of any lower-division class in the university. In the entire university. Over 70% dropout rate. Some people take the class with a clean schedule - no other classes. Well, I need to pass it this semester. Need only pass.

Fourth level of Hell: Math 76. Calculus. A repeat. It was crappy before. It promises to live up to last semester's crappiness.

Fifth level of Hell: Economics in Film. Looks to actually be a decent class. Only bad things: it's from 6-9pm, and it'll run late some nights... that's LONG. Plus, the room we're going to watch the movies in don't allow food, so no munchies during the films. Like, what's up with that?

Sixth level of Hell: History of Rock and Jazz. Only thing about this class is that I need to officially get into it (gotta show up tonight - the first class session). Another 6-9pm night class, but this one shouldn't run late like the film class will. The hard part about night classes is taking them seriously - it's not easy to pay attention to academics at that hour.

So basically, things at the University suck. As they do at most academic institutions, I would imagine. Keeping nice company after work/school hours makes it much more tolerable, though.

My next post will include some actual music content.

At 250 pounds, I walked around all year in shorts and shirts, never once complaining about a chill.

Now, at 205 pounds, I am FREEZING MY A** OFF!!

Interestingly, I've been in more of a music buying mode than a music listening mode over the last couple of weeks. Last night, however, something "clicked" back into place, and I was enjoying my hobby much more than I have recently. I attribute this to a few things:

(1) Bought a new pair of headphones. They're Koss TD-61's. Not audiophile by any stretch, but they are light, yet still the padded ear-encapsulating style. I have a pair of Sony's that sound great but are uncomfortable as hell. These Koss 'phones are about as good as you can ask a $20 pair of headphones to sound (and more so, if you ask me).

(2) Slowing down on the music acquiring and revisiting some old albums. My escapades into electronica, jazz, and so forth have been exciting and intriguing, but taking a break to take in some more good ol' post-rock, while also checking out a little bit of newer post-rock, has done me good.

(3) Jim Mora. Just by being alive and on TV, Jim Mora makes me feel better.

I like a Linkin Park song.

I'm going to music hell.

More CDs for me!

Using some of the rest of my Borders gift cards:

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon
John Coltrane - Blue Train

All three of these are Blue Note-label jazz albums. BMG doesn't carry as much Blue Note as they do Impulse!. They do have the Blue Train, but Borders was selling it for $9.99, so I figured I'd buy that and use the BMG free selection on something else (just like I did with the Queensrÿche, mentioned earlier).

Genesis - Nursery Cryme: Decided I needed a real copy of this. Don't know why.

Neurosis - Times of Grace: Described by AllMusic as "Tool for extremists". Not a terrible description, though they're not derivative of Tool. This is a SanFran prog-metal band (though not prog-metal in the DT-clone sense), that does the Tribes of Neurot side projects, etc.

Also, bought used:
Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (3rd album): Supposedly his best. His 4th, (sometimes called Security) is really darn good.


Anyway, yesterday, I pulled out my copy of Deep Purple's Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple. Uhm, damn. They're good. Listening to this now, it's so obvious why classic prog-rock sounded so natural to me when I got into it. After cutting my teeth on Jon Lord's organ solos, it was just a natural step. Yet, Deep Purple are more than just a mere stepping stone. It's interesting to see how they melded prog-rock tendencies with rowdy, raunchy (in tone, not necessarily in content) rockers. "Speed King" is a perfect example of this. Ian Gillian's vocals come screaming in "GOOD GOLLY said little Miss Molly / when she was rockin' in the house of blue light / Tutti Fruity was OHHHHHHH so rooty" etc. etc. And then, later in the song, you get this Hammond solo that interplays along with Blackmore's guitar.

Now, for a complaint. This compilation disc sounds like ass. ASS, I say. I never noticed it before. It's strange at how much more sensitive my ears have gotten to sound quality. This CD is from like 1980, so I imagine the new 25th anniversary remasters are better. I'm getting the remasters of Machine Head and Made In Japan for sure, from BMG.

My CD collection has grown quite a bit. Between Christmas, some vacation pillaging, and just some purchases on my own, I have lots of new music to listen to.

Christmas gifts:

Beatles - Revolver: Pretty darn good. A few duff tracks ("Yellow Submarine" is blah, and "Good Day Sunshine" can go as well), but some great stuff as well.

Stravinsky - "Stravinsky" (3CD set, SFSO w/Michael Tilson Thomas conducting): Haven't yet listened to this, but it was at the top of my Christmas CDs list. Spposedly a breathtaking recording of some great performances of three Stravinsky pieces. Grammy-award winning recording, and I've heard that it was actually deserving of awards (you never know with the Grammy's these days, but the non-commercial awards appear less tainted than the headlining ones).

Radiohead - Amnesiac: Have had a CD-R made from MP3s up to this point. Asked for a real copy to replace it with. Got one.

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy: A jazz album that I wanted that BMG doesn't have.

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Stuff I bought on vacation (all used CDs):

Yes - Magnification: Wasn't looking to buy this, but when I saw a copy in the used bin, I couldn't resist.

Mr. Bungle - California: I haven't even listened to Disco Volanté enough, but I have heard that this album is great, so I went ahead and got it.

Hawkwind - This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic: My favorite album title of all time. Don't know how much I like Hawkwind yet, but it was cheap.

King Crimson - Thrak: A decent album that I've had as MP3s up until now, decided a real copy was worth having.

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10 cent CDs (yes, the record store I was at had a bin of used CDs that each cost 10 cents):

Stone Temple Pilots - Purple: I was glad to see this in the 10 cent bin. I had a copy a long time ago, but gave it to a friend. Glad to have one back, for so cheap. The hit songs are definitely the best material on here.

Econoline Crush - The Devil You Know: The music computer at the store listed them as "industrial pop" or "industrial metal". Any time I see "industrial", I am intrigued. For 10 cents, it seemed like something to grab.

Jewel - Spirit: Because, well, you never know when I'll have a girl over at my apartment that likes Jewel. Though I'm bummed there wasn't any Lisa Loeb there instead....

Second Coming - Second Coming: Well, the cover looked kinda cool. Listened to one song while on vacation, and was instantly reminded of Alice in Chains. Come home, look at AllMusic, and wouldn't ya know, the name "Alice in Chains" is mentioned everywhere in the band's info. :) Hey, an AiC ripoff isn't the worst thing in the world. Worth 10 cents.

Juliana Hatfield - Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure: Not sure why I grabbed this one. Seen her name tossed around here and there.

Jesus Lizard - Blue: Who can resist noise-rock? Not me! Unfortunately, this isn't one of JL's "classic" albums, but is still supposed to be good.

Tal Bachman - Tal Bachman: Yes, of Bachman Turner Overdrive fame! Well, actually, the son of Randy Bachman. This is basically a '70s-style pop album with Hammond B3 and Moog on it. For 10 cents, I'll take anything with a Hammond, even if it's just to hear how bad it is (this is supposed to be OK though). I'm not expecting greatness, so I won't be disappointed. :)

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Post-Christmas gift certificate purchases:

Autechre - Tri Repetae++: I'm getting into interesting electronic artists.

Future Sound of London - ISDN: See above. This one actually features a little Robert Fripp too! :)

Robert Rich - Trances/Drones: One of the pioneering ambient artists, and this is his classic two complementary albums (now sold together as a single 2CD set).

Penderecki - Orchestral Works: A good recording of some of the best work of this 20th century composer.


Post-Christmas money purchases:

Tool - Ænima: I needed a CD copy of this!

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime: I was planning on getting this as a BMG selection, but when I saw it for $9.99 at Best Buy, I decided to just buy it and use the BMG selection on something that I can't get so cheaply.

mu-Ziq - Royal Astronomy: See Autechre & FSOL above.


I still have over $80 left of Borders credit, so there will be more to come. Trying to decide if I should have them order some stuff for me (I want Orbital's In Sides! And maybe some Acid Mothers Temple).

Stuff I've been listening to lately:

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: DT's new album isn't officially out yet, but has been leaked to various newsgroups and places like AudioGalaxy. I've downloaded a copy and have listened to it a few times. A few songs, like "Misunderstood", have made an impact, but for the most part, it's been pretty yawn-inducing. It's a two-disc album, and the entire second disc is one 40 minute title track suite. So far, it's pretty boring. :(

Yes - Magnification: Here's another boring album. I don't much want to talk about it (let's put it this way - I've only made it to the end of the album once so far). I will say, though, that anyone that wants to hear what strings and horns in a prog-rock band can sound like when done WELL needs to hear Townscream's Nagyvárosi Ikonok.

Fates Warning - Disconnected: Surprisingly good. I liked A Pleasant Shade of Gray, of course. This one's different - a bit faster and louder. But it's still outstanding. Descriptions like "a less-dark Tool" would not be too far off the mark.

Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite: A naive, charming album. I actually like Charlie Dominici's "mini-Geddy" vocals. And while the whole band look like dorks in their pictures on the back of the CD, there's some cool tunes here. "Ytse Jam" is nice, of course, but "Status Seeker" kicks as well. Not a great album, but a decent one, and it's fun to listen to sometimes.

Halifax Pier - The Halifax Pier: Oy. I've been saying that Global Communication's 76:14 is the best CD I've bought this year, but maybe this one is. Violin, cello, and dual guitars create sweet, depressing soundscapes. Me likey.

Latest BMG grabs:

Art Blakey - A Night in Tunesia
Henryk Górecki - Symphony #3 (London Sinfonietta, Zinman conducting)
Fates Warning - Disconnected
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

Currently listening to the Fates Warning. I wanted the four of those pretty much in the order they're listed. But the Blakey and Górecki are known quantities to me, while the Fates Warning I don't know much about (I've been told that it's supposed to be as good as A Pleasant Shade of Gray, and I ordered it on the strength of that recommendation, so we'll see). It's a bit more up-tempo and overtly metal than APSoG so far, but it's nice (which is more than I can say for the new Dream Theater album, though that needs more listens too). We'll see how it measures up to APSoG in the end, but it seems like a good album, and so I shouldn't regret buying it (this was one of my BMG full-price purchases... so more freebies coming soon!).

If people actually read this site, and e-mailed me, I imagine that I would get an e-mail much like this:

"Hey, Legion! So whatever happened to that daily workout thing of yours? You quit that weeks ago, didn't ya? BTW, Mogwai rocks. Later!"

Well, Mr. Imaginary Writer, you could not be more wrong. I continue to work out on a daily basis. In fact, in the two months that I've been doing so (started on October 9th, and today is December 11th), I have lost an additional 30 pounds. Oh yeah, biznatch. Furthermore, I got my Christmas present - a Soloflex - a month early. So, in addition to the stationary bike, I weightlift now. I also take a short jog to cap off my workout.

Funny thing is, my parents have been observing this (I drive down to their place usually once a weekend, so they've seen me get thinner week-by-week), and so they turned their former computer room (which was vacated after I left, because the computer went into the freshly-open bedroom) into a home gym. So now they're going to copy the Legion Super Duper Exercise Plan.

What is "the Legion Super Duper Exercise Plan", you ask? Well, an ultra-brief recap for those of you tuning in late:

The Plan:
(1) WORK OUT.
(2) EVERY DAY.

That's all there is to it. The extra daily workload will force your body to make some serious adjustments. You'll burn calories, get firmer, and all that good stuff. It's not hard. I started with just a 20 minute stationary bike ride, every day, and went from there. The first 10 pounds came off faster than I could count! Eventually, it gets harder, as your body gets in better shape and requires more to get the same effect. Still, results happen FAST, and as long as you keep it up, they keep happening. And if you can make improvements in your diet, even just slight ones, it helps too. I don't know why I didn't do this years ago.

It should then come as no surprise that I'm dating a bit more now than I was before. Of course, that's partially due to just being in town longer and meeting more people, but I know for a fact that getting in better shape has helped.

So, while this semester has been a nightmare academically, it has been pretty good on other fronts.

I know one thing - I'll be walking the beach with my shirt off this summer! Six-pack or bust! (erm, waitaminute...)

"With a hired plane,
And no names mentioned.
Tonight's the night of the flight.
Before you know,
I'll be over the water
Like a swallow.
There's no risk.
I'll whisk them up in no moonlight.
And though pigs can fly,
They'll never find us
Posing as the night,
And I'm home before the morning."

-- Kate Bush, "Night of the Swallow"

I need to review The Dreaming for Progweed.net. It just might be one of the finest albums I own. This is what prog/pop can be when it's not self-consciously trying to be "prog".

Speaking of Progweed, two new (and not very flattering!) reviews of mine have been posted... one for the mediocre Edera, and one for the atrocious Lyle Holdahl. Don't miss the Holdahl one. :)

Heh. I heard Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" on a classic rock radio station today, while I was working out (with my Discman finally dead, I'm having to rely on radio until I can replace it).

This world is spinning around me!

Don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but a few months ago, I instituted a personal policy in my music listening, where I acted on any musical impulse without question. What this means is, if I think I want to listen to something, I do so immediately. Now, listening to what you want to listen to may not seem like something all that notable, or even unusual. But what I'm talking about is on a more impulsive level. Like, if I get a song in my head, I will listen to it, regardless of what the song is. For example, Journey's "Separate Ways" and Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" have both burned their way into my skull in recent weeks. As a result, I downloaded them, and listened to them numerous times. If, for some reason, I feel like listening to a Whitney Houston song, I reach for my Pop MP3s CDR and toss it into my computer, no questions asked.

I had more to say, but it has long been forgotten, as I have (a) a Calculus test to study for, and (b) the LA Kings game is now on my TV.

On my way to my evening class, I was programming in some radio stations on my car stereo (since I rarely listen to the radio - way too many CDs for that - I didn't have everything programmed in). Well, while scanning to get to a certain station, I heard a classical piece playing. I stopped, and immediately programmed that station in to the stereo.

When I got to the university's parking lot, the piece was still playing. I had my Discman next to me, which I had planned on listening to in class (I had Slint's Spiderland and Red Stars Theory's Life in a Bubble Can Be Beautiful with me). Well, my Discman has an AM/FM tuner built in (why don't ALL Discmen have this? At least the new generation of CD/MP3 hybrid players are all incorporating it - about time!). So, I tuned into that station. However, unlike my car stereo, my Discman radio was picking up two, perhaps three different stations on that frequency (there was the classical piece, and a rap/rasta piece.... I also heard some jazz flute that wasn't part of the classical piece... I'm not sure if it was part of the rap-ish song or not). Anyway, as I walked to class (and a walk to class at a high-enrollment campus like Fresno State is a walk, indeed), the rap song would phase in and out. I'd get a few seconds of just the classical piece, and then a few with both playing. After a while of trying to tilt the Discman at various angles to pick up only the classical piece (with little success - it would make a difference, but not enough), it hit me to switch it from "DX" to "Local". That got rid of the rap song, but the classical signal was weakened (so instead of phasing in and out of the rap song, it phased in and out of a static haze). Still, it was better than before.

Anyway, I got to class, turned in my assignment, decided that I didn't want to sit in class (it's been a brutal past 10 days, with two hard mid-terms... I'm done for the week!), and so I headed back to my car. I was tired of not being able to hear the radio, so I put the Slint album in to listen to on the way back.

When I got back to the car, the radio station was no longer playing classical music. It was news. Turns out that it wasn't a classical station, but rather it was NPR. Darn. You know what I want? XM radio. For those that don't know, XM is the next "type" of radio, like AM and FM. It uses satellites to broadcast the radio streams. It is near CD quality (better than FM), and the programming contains far less commercials than AM/FM radio. However, it's not free... it's $10 a month, and requires equipment capable of receiving the signal. Apparently there's even a prog-rock station on the XM band, though it apparently focuses on '70s English prog (in the words of someone at RMP: "Yes, Genesis, Tull, blah blah blah..."). If XM gets cheaper, and if your "purchase" allows you to listen to it on all your devices (car, home, portable, etc), then perhaps I'll get it (I primarily want the classical and jazz programming... the prog one won't do much for me).

ARGH! Someone was selling Area's Crac! on rec.music.progressive, but another buyer got to it before I could. (insert vulgar explitives here!!).
I really don't want to pay $18 for a 38 minute album, but I may have to (heck, I should consider myself lucky - a few months ago, it wasn't available at all! I tried to buy it for $18 before but the dealer couldn't fill the order).

Scored some Japanese avant-rock goodness, in the form of Tipographica and Bondage Fruit's self-titled debut albums. $20 a pop. Crikey. I also have Koenjihyakkei's II reserved at Wayside for the same price. Damn those Japanese taxes... I'm tired of paying $20 for a CD, but no domestic label is going to release the material. It's not the vendor's faults, since they have to pay the high price to get the CD, and that has to be passed onto the consumer (especially when you're talking about low-margin specialty retailers like Wayside - God bless you, Steve Feigenbaum).

Anyway, I'm cruising the BMG catalog to load up on some more jazz albums, as well as classical. I'm strongly thinking of declaring January to be "Jazz Month", and listen to almost only jazz albums. At the very least, I will have a "Jazz Week", and perhaps a "Jazz Two Weeks". Thing is, I could spend days just on the Miles Davis Complete Bitches Brew Sessions and the John Coltrane Complete Village Vanguard Recordings boxes themselves.

I was at Borders a couple of days ago, and listened to a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade on one of the listening stations. In particular, the second movement (I forget the name) was great. I will be getting a CD of that piece from BMG (I've been cross-referencing the performances on the BMG CDs with comments at rec.music.classical.recordings, in order to separate the gems from the crappy ones... up until now, I've tried to get into classical by buying the cheapy CDs, but have failed to enjoy them - they tend to sound like they were recorded in broom closets). Especially when it comes to classical music, quality matters.