Dream Journal

Last night I had a dream that started out with me being at the brewery watching bands with Chris. Chris apparently knew the bartender and she got him a couple of beers. It was a little strange. There was a large commotion outside all of a sudden so I went to investigate and there was a train being filled with people. For some reason I really wanted to get on the train, so I did. I got on and I soon found out that this was a Nazi recruiting train and so I wanted to get off now. I was in a compartment with someone I knew from somewhere and we were talking and all of a sudden hitler came into our room and started yelling at us. I woke up after that.

Dream Journal #3

12/21- Last night my dream started out with my whole class at school being in a sort of war zone. We were trying to get certain people from the class into an airplane to get them out of the country. We got them on the plane and we got stuck on the plane when it was taking off so they had to send us extra people down in another vehicle and we crash landed on the airfield. After that David Stroup and I were trying to fight off the bad guys and then david got over run and I had to sprint into the building. Somehow David got into the building after me and we were sitting around and drinking milkshakes. It was oddly peaceful from the scene we just came from. Then someone rang the doorbell at 3 o clock in my dream, so I was hesitant to open it because of the ongoing conflict outside. I saw it was a little asian girl so I decided it was safe to open and I did and the girl picked up a pole and tried to force her way inside while this older guy was trying to get in the house. This is where I woke up.

Dream Journal #2

12/20/09- Last night my dream started out and I was hanging out with Ryan Joy! Awesome! Except we went into this weird gas station to get drinks, and we bought twinkies and I bought an energy drink and I cut my finger on it which cause the bottom to open up and drink was going everywhere so I had to stop it by drinking it. Then after that I had somewhat of a recurring dream and it starts like this. Life is going well and I am hanging out with Duncan, TAFKA, and Drew. All of a sudden we realize the police are after us so we run into a Wendy's, and sit there while the cops come in. In the first dream we shot them but in the second dream we slipped quietly out of Wendy's. The cop followed us, however and asked us what we were doing out so late and so we knocked him out with a sweet attack. Then we jumped in the giant swimming pool behind Wendy's and swam away to the other side. When I got to the other side and surfaced someone broke my nose and mustard came out instead of blood. It tasted good. Then I woke up.

500 Days of Summer and my general love for snow days

I just watched 500 Days of Summer for the first time and I loved it so much. I was already madly in love with everything Zooey Deschanel has done (even watched Yes Man) so I was expecting to like it just for the sake of seeing her for an hour and a half. But it was a great movie and I honestly found myself enjoying the performance of her male costar, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a lot and I totally loved the way the whole movie was done.

So I now have a new understanding of the term snow day. Previously it was an escape from school and hang out with friends all day and playing in the snow. But I underwent a reimagining of it today and spent the whole day closed up in my house listening to great music and drinking cocoa and talking to Martha and I didn't have to deal with the loudness of my family being home and it was wonderful. I'd like to have a bout one of these days a year and I think my life would be pretty much complete then. Who loves snow days? Max loves snow days! Is it true? I do-I do- I dehhh-ewwwww

Albums of the Year

Well, it is Listmas time again. This year was not a bad one for music, although I must confess I thought it would probably be better. So, listening to my favorite album of the year sort of inspired me to create my list of top 10 albums of the year. Here goes:

10. Kevin Devine- Brother's Blood

Basically this is Kevin Devine's best releas

e, and I probably woul

dn't appreciate it half

as much if I hadn't

seen him open up f

or Manchester Orchestr

a late last year and just pour

emotion into every single line from the songs off this album. Highlights: Brother's Blood, Carnival, Another Bag of Bones, Yr Husband.

9. Thrice- Beggars

So after the ambitious conceptual realization of the four classical elements in their last release, The Alchemy Index, Thrice wanted to do something pretty organic and make a plain old rock album. I am a sucker for basically everything this band has done since Vheissu (which is...ama

zing) so naturally I ended up loving this album. Lyrically it is proba

bly their strongest, and their are s

ome very sweet jams on here. High

lights: The Great Exchange, In E

xile, Circles, the Weight.

8. As Tall as Lions- You Can't Take it With You

Can't Take it With You is definitely a departure but it is still incredible, I still fThis might have been my second most

anticipated album to come out this year. Dan and the Boys made one of my favorite records of all time with their self titled release, channeling the lost art of soul music and blending it with great instrumentation and the sexiest voice you've

ever heard. You

eel like I haven't truly "gotten it" yet, which is the reason for the lower rating. Gems: Sixes and Sevens, Duermete, In Case of Rapture, and Lost my Mind.

7. Passion Pit- Manners

Catchy.as.hell. That is what I think whenever someone mentions this fantastic debut full-length. Everything about it is infectious and fun. Only issue with it is that the singer can occasionally grate on the ears, but I predict that as time goes on he will develop as a singer and not rely only on that super high falsetto. Anyways, gems: Sleepyhead, Little Secrets, the Reeling, Let Your Love Grow Tall.

6. Mew- No More Stories are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away, No More Stories, the World is Grey I am Tired, Let's Wash Away

I had never

really listened to Mew before

hearing No More Stories... and I was completely blown away from the first time I heard th

is album. Everything on it just spoke "relax" and "calm" to me, even the heavier tracks. Definitely an album to be listened to in its entirety. Highlights: Repeaterbeater, Hawaii, Silas the Magic Car.

5. Manchester Orchestra- Mean Everything to Nothing

It took me all of about twenty second into the Only One to realize completely that Manchester Orchestra was taking a whole n

ew approach with this record than the softer indie pop thing they had going on Virgin. Regardless of the change, the music is still incredibly well written and as I am sure everyone know

s, extremely well delivered by And

y Hull. Stand outs: The River, Mean Everything to Nothing, Shake it Out, I Can Feel a Hot One.

4. Portugal. the Man- The Satanic Satanic

Basically I am just curious as to if any other band in the history of popular music has consistently put out great albums at the rate that Por

tgual. the Man puts them out...or with the level of diversity between them. Portugal. went for a more seventies influenced rock album on this one with elem

ents of funk and pop but it's still just as great as the incredibly amazing Censored Colors. Highlights: People Say, Guns and Dogs

, Lovers in Love, and Everything is Golden

3. Sufjan Stevens- The BQE

There is something to be said for defying standards and trying something new and inventive, even if it is with a particular "scene". Sufjan has never been afraid to do such things, and the BQE is no exception to that. It is an exceptionally well composed piece that does exactly what it sets out to do: conveys every emotion from anger to reverie that has come from that famous highway. Sufjan is one of the

more talented young musicians of our time and it is

fantastic to hear him branching out like this. Highlights: Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes, Isorhythmic Night, and basically the whole thing as a single body.

2. The Dear Hunter- Act III: Life and Death

Casey Crescenzo is not capable of putting out an album that isn't absolutely amazing. Although in many ways a departure from the recordings on the previous Act records, it still held threads that connected it to the music of the other two. The album is as diverse as can be expected from 59 minutes of music and leaves the listener surprised at almost every turn. The musicianship and song writing on this album is second to none and it will be forever loved by me. Highlights: Mustard Gas, Son/Father/Life and Death, The Thief, In Cauda Venenum.

1. fun.- Aim and Ignite

The categorization of "indie-pop" that this record receives is the grossest misnomer I have heard in a long time. This album is composed of quite simply some of the best pop songs ever written and backed by a phenomenal group of musicians and it is just.plain. fun. Not only is this album musically superb, but it holds a special place in my heart as well because it sort of highlights a time when my girlfriend and I separated but got back together, and the album stretches the gambit of emotions I felt during the whole ordeal. It is my personal favorite record of the year and that's not going to change any time soon. Gems(there's not a bad song on the album so I feel bad for doing this): Be Calm, The Gambler, Barlights, Take Your Time.

First post

My first post shall be in dedication to my friend, Maggie, who has requested that a couple of friends and I write out our dreams and she is going to compile them for study later. A capital idea, I would say.

Dream log 12/16/09:

Little fuzzy on the details of this dream but it involved the last day of school before the Christmas break. We were in Mr. Fossett's class and everyone was very talkative and Fossett was just socializing with us and everything was nice. Then Anna Phillips said something that didn't quite make sense to the rest of us but it struck a chord with Fossett because he responded in a way that was very cold and mean and it made everyone suspect that they had been sexually involved. It became extremely tense and so everyone was quiet and Anna started bawling and ran out of the room. Fossett decided to play it off and have us watch a movie, but his television was not working and so he sent me to the library to requisition a new one. This is as far into the dream as I can remember.