Blessed are The Dead; Prose

Broken and defeated they held him, sufficiently hopeless, as if to render him so utterly and completely barren and withered that no hope could grow. So as to trap him within a shell of himself. 

He had been here before, but not so often as to invite upon himself the comfort of familiarity; the only comfort the place held for him was contempt, the contempt bred from an age of waiting. Waiting to find the very comfort that eluded him.

He turned it over, not forgetting to say a prayer for those who might guide him from this infinite infinity of... Well of what he could not say. The endless avenue of dark that held, for him, the faces of not only those who would take his hand and lead him to the light, but the faces of those who would see him wander forever. The faces that he could only describe with the sensation that accompanied them; a sensation of disgust and loathing that swallowed him whole.

Maybe that was it. Maybe it wasn't so much the avenue that held the faces, but the faces that constructed the avenue. The endless, hopeless cold and dark was what lay at the end of the road, not the road itself. The road itself he had traveled a long time ago. The beginning of the end of his hope in humanity. 

He found a bench, cold, hard and yet still inviting. He sat a while in thought. It began to rain. And in that rain he found the awakening he longed for. That, was that. No longer did he long for anything. Life, if one could call it that, held nothing for him. Not anymore.

No life. No death. Only the rain.

Why Walk On Water When We've Got Boats; Video games

Finally found the time for a new blog, and I haven't properly written about video games yet, which I hold a great interest in not only playing but discussing the mechanics of the gameplay, interface et cetera. So, first things first.

VIDEO GAMES

NOTE: A few bits of terminology those not of the gaming persuasion may not understand.

Build: Character build, involving the way you distribute talent points and what abilities and gear you choose. Essentially, what kind of character you go for.

Spec / Specialisation: Specifically choosing a certain talent tree / build, which involves heavily specialisation in that area and that area only. Can lead to very powerful builds, but often lacks versatility. Although in most RPG's, speccing is necessary to be powerful enough for the end game. Also a way of adding more variety in terms of gameplay.

Skill Tree: A tree of talents and abilities, that are unlocked with points earned every time your character levels. The term 'tree' is used as often to unlock higher level abilities, you have to have earlier ones unlocked.

Loot: Items dropped by monsters.

Mobs: Monsters / hostile NPC's

NPC: Anyone who isn't a real person, stands for 'Non Player Character'

Enchantments: Exactly what it says, adds stat bonuses to weapons and armour.

DPS: Damage per second, when used as a noun it refers to a character who specialises in dealing damage.

Tank: A character who specialises in taking large amounts of damage, often so weaker characters (weaker in terms of health and defense) can deal damage without worrying about their health.

Support Character: A character who doesn't directly deal damage, but instead either offers support by means of healing, buffing, or debuffing enemies. They will have some damage spells, and often have minions that deal damage for them.

Buff / Debuff: A spell that 'buffs', giving a positive bonus, or 'debuffs', giving a negative one.

DIABLO II
Suprisingly, I have only recently begun playing Diablo II. Suprising as I consider myself a fairly avid gamer, and it is amongst the most influential games of one of my favourite genres; RPG.

My first impressions were relatively favourable; a very dark fantasy atmosphere, fitting for the impression I held of the game. The control system and interface are fairly average, a bit clumsy and outdated, but that is to be expected of a game only a few years younger than me. The lack of a one click inventory management system and the difficulty in utilising multiple skills and abilities simultaneously are downsides, but with a little time you become accustomed to them. My biggest initial issue was the lack of a minimap; yes it has a map overlay, but it feels a little intrusive to me, and I found myself constantly pressing tab to have a quick glance, then getting rid of it. But the positives, a very nice atmosphere and decent combat (doesn't feel too point and click, even though it is) were the overwhelming feeling.

A little way into proceedings, I'm beginning to find the large variety of loot and enchantments very interesting. There are a massive range of different enchantments and level of said enchants you can get on your gear, which it makes it very interesting trying to come up with the best gear combination for your character. Also, the tiered loot system makes searching out and defeating tougher mobs rewarding, as harder mobs drop better items. However the complete lack of an easy way to fairly distrubute loot in a party is very annoying, as every time you defeat a large group of mobs you have to stop, and make sure everyone gets the gear they need manually. Another exasperating issue, resulting from the pure amount of loot dropped versus your relatively small inventory, is the constant need to port (town portal scrolls are used to 'port' back to town) back home in order to sell / store items. The fact different items take up different amounts of inventory space is an obvious attempt to balance the amount of gear you can carry, but frankly it's a poor effort; your inventory is too small, or the items are too big, either way the weighting is completely off.

Moving on to your individual character, and the options are very impressive; it's probably the only RPG / Dungeon Crawler I have ever played in which I didn't feel the need to specialize completely. Each class has 3 talent trees, each of which result in a very different style of play for you character. For instance, the possibilities resulting from the Druid's skill trees are huge; a DPS spellcaster (elemental), a tank / dps melee (shapeshifting) or a spellcasting support character (summoning). Or maybe a combination of the above. The talents and abilities again lead to an interesting choice in how to build your character; speccing (specialisation) leads to more powerful high end talents, but combinations of the trees offer interesting and often powerful builds in themselves. A major annoyance however is the poor balance of characters in multiplayer; it is fairly obvious that this game, first and foremost, was designed with single player in mind. All the abilities and stats of the classes are weighted such that they can solo the game. They only attempt to balance this when more players are involved, is to make the enemies a little bit stronger, and it simply isn't enough. No healing class, classes mismatched at different points in the game, no challenging bosses (as far as i have got in the game) and a tendancy towards certain classes feeling very over powered lead to a much diminished multiplayer experience.

Well, that is the extent of my review so far. I haven't experienced enough of the game (only the first of five acts) to make a fair judgement overall, but so far the judgement is very positive. A very good game, just outdated, which reads very well for the forthcoming sequel.

I've run out of steam now, so thanks for reading people. Peace.

Abandon Ship or Abandon All Hope; More music, general thoughts

Hello everybody, this next blog has come a little earlier than i expected; I have to spend my free periods in the library, as part of 'supervised study'. Not that i particularly mind spending my free periods in the library on the laptops, but the downside is instead of going home at 1:20 on a Friday, I have to stay until 3:25. Slightly annoying, but on plus I get time to catch up on work, and when the motivation to work deserts me, I can do things like this.

My structure of splitting up my blog posts into one topic per post has already been ditched. I blog for the enjoyment of it, and structuring it like some sort of essay really didn't appeal to me upon reflection. Hopefully this may be a little more interesting for each individual post; to write and to read.

MUSIC:

I still like the title lines, still gives people the choice to skip stuff they don't want to read.

Anyway, a band I overlooked yesterday that I can't get enough of at the moment are Blessthefall. It really bugged me, as I wrote about a few bands yesterday that I really don't feel deserve as much credit as Blessthefall.

Their second album, Witness, is a fine example of a metalcore band progressing and stepping above the sea of generic, average tripe that drowns out many a talented band. The first album, His Last Walk, smacked of a band with more talent than they were letting on. Often you would hear a lead guitar melody that you just wanted to soar, take the song by it's balls and run with it, but what you got was a weedly, restrained whine drowned out by overproduced chug. It fell into the trap of a band trying far too hard to appeal to the metalcore masses, the production being most obviously guilty of this.

I wouldn't like to say if the departure of Craig Mabbit was what prompted the change in sound, but whatever it was, it was the best thing they have ever done. Witness opens a little underwhelmingly, the opening track 2.0 providing what I really do dread when i listen to a metal / metalcore album; a generic breakdown. The production is the one thing that impressed me from the off, the guitar given plenty of balls, but retaining a real raw energy that was missing on His Last Walk. The screams I personally can't really make my mind up on; at times, they sound so racked with emotion and energy, my hairs stand on end. At other times, they sound strained and a little choked. Possibly something to improve on, just reeling them in a little bit so they don't sound so.... uncontrolled.

You are then treated to what is undeniably one of the best opening tracks proper i have ever listened too in the form of What's Left of Me. The pick scrape to open makes you want throw your arms into the air and let the medley of guitar, drums and general noise wash over you. The best showcasing of chug on the album slams in, powerful and raw, with such an impressively technical, yet beautifully melodic lead guitar accompanying some of the best screams and cleans Blessthefall have to offer. The chorus is so intensely catchy, with some simple yet effective vocal melodies backed by a controlled aggression in the screams, one of the few times the screamer really reigns them in. Possibly the most quietly impressive part of this song is from about 2:00 onwards. A ridiculously simple quiet part, that creates atmosphere effectively without having to switch to clean guitar. The distortion rings true in the backing chords, providing a very interesting contrast to the clean, resonant lead.

Right, now that I've finished putting the ridiculous amounts of appreciation I have for that song into words, overall the album is good, but not fantastic. The highlights are real highs, but their is a little too much filler for me to really endorse this as one of my favourite albums. Check out Hey Baby..., God Wears Gucci, and Last Ones Left for the best tracks. The better moments actually tend to be the melodic rather than the heavy, in contrast to the opener. Look out for anthemic choruses aplenty, and for the heaviness to be inventive when it is utilised.

GENERAL THOUGHTS; 'TWO-FACED' vs 'TACT'


A couple random musings I have had recently. I've found Twitter is a useful way of keeping track of stuff I want to write about. I can tweet a thought on the spot to write about later, so I don't forget it.

I think everybody at some point in their life realises the majority, if not all, of the people they meet are 'two-faced' to some extent. Two-faced is probably not the best word to use, as it implies some semblance of negativity. Really, what I am talking about is the difference between being two-faced, and being tactful. Being two-faced is not a nice thing; talking badly about people behind their back, lying to people with selfish intentions, such and the like. Tact, on the other hand, is a very desireable trait; the skill of lying, often by omission, with the other person's interests at heart. Some people value honesty over all else, and I agree that with the people closest too you, honesty should be of paramount importance. However when dealing with acquaintances and friends, it is often better for the sake of relations to value their feelings more than honesty.

For example, how often has someone shown you a piece of work they are particularly proud of. It may be art, music, photography, whatever it is the same principles apply. 9 / 10 people would lie when faced with something they didn't feel was particularly good. I don't have the exact figures, but I'm guessing I'm in the right ball park. You don't want to crush you friends self esteem and pride, and so you tell a little white lie. You say 'Oh, that's good!'. Enough sincerity to pass, but not so far as to make the person think they are the next Picasso, Mozart, or..... I don't know any good or famous photographers. Thinking about it, is there such a thing as a famous photographer....But I digress.

Even in honesty, you still retain some tact. You don't tell the person 'Well that's the entire spectrum of awful captured on canvas' (probably because no one talks like that. Artistic licence.), even if you think it. You let them down gently, so as to comply to the obligations of honesty, but escape the situation with minimal damage to your friends emotional well being. Win win, right?

It is the people in this life that, intentionally or otherwise, try and blur the line that really piss me off. The person who's little white lie is insincere enough to let everyone know what they really think, the person who thinks honesty gives them the scope to tear into a friend, the person who thinks a lie to their own ends is perfectly reasonable under the definition of 'tact'. It's these people who really wind me up, using tact as a veil to disguise incredibly self serving or malicious actions. Watch out for these people, and if you ever come across one, do everything you can to distance yourself from them. Most people will be guilty of this at some point in their life, and it is forgiveable. But steer clear of the compulsive offenders.

GENERAL THOUGHTS; MATURITY


I love to be immature. The ability to laugh at the simple things, to enjoy the pleasures of being young and to not care about how it seems is a precious thing. But, equally, I enjoy the more mature things in life. This blog probably portrays more of the latter, but anyone who knows me will understand the former.

What I can't stand are the people who reside at the far left or right of this spectrum.

A constant immaturity is completely inappropriate in the real world, particularly in a working environment. Nothing would ever get done with the attitude of a 10 year old. I have been guilty of this many times in my life, but at least I recognise this and attempt to address a balance. The people who throw 'maturity to the wind', to coin a phrase, and dive straight into that pool of self indulgent adolescent ridiculousness, refusing to haul themselves out, become so incredibly grating. Sure, in small doses they can be refreshing to be around, and can brighten an otherwise dull day. But when too much time is spent with them, you begin to realise how much they will struggle in life if they can not learn to adapt some semblance of an adult mind set. Alan Hansen said 'You don't win anything with kids'. Well, the same applies outside of football; 'kids' achieve fuck all.

But equally, people stuck so far up their own arse they can taste the inside of their own cheek really do need to lighten up. Sure, they probably do more with their life than their peanut-brained counterparts, but they won't enjoy themselves half as much. A balance is necessary to achieve, but also to be able to enjoy any success.

.............................................


Anyway, that's me done for today. For regular updates on the ranting and raving of Arron Dempsey, follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ArronDempers. Comment, tweet or facebook me with any feedback, it is appreciated.

Cheers, Arron.

Fame > Demise; Back to blogging and Music.

Well, it's been a while, but I've got the itch to blog again. I don't expect it to last, but whilst the itch is there, might as well scratch it. Basically I've had a few thoughts in recent weeks I wanted to write down, and thought what better place to do it than here. Maybe other people will find some of them interesting too, and if not, at least I have them somewhere to read back to myself later on, maybe 9 months on from now. It has been interesting to read my old blogs, see where I was at 9 months ago, and to see where I have been since. Might write a paragraph on that actually.

I've decided to split my thoughts into individual posts, so I don't cram too much into one post. Keeps things interesting, and means I spread the amount of time I spend writing this over a few days, maybe even a week.

MUSIC:

Probably the easiest thing to write about, and it's something I actually very much enjoy writing and talking about. It's such an incredibly subjective subject, with such diversity within, it's bound to provoke interesting discussion. 

Anyway onto some actual content, I've been listening to a lot of Four Year Strong and Fall Out Boy recently. If you haven't heard either band (unless you've been living under a very thick rock, you will have likely heard some Fall Out Boy), then I would highly recommend you do check them out. 

Four Year Strong are probably up there as one of my all time favourite bands. Plenty of music works it's way into and out of my playlist, but a virtually permanent staple is FYS. Utter juggernauts of the pop punk world, with more crossover appeal than much anything out there, and credibility coming out of their proverbials, it isn't hard to see why they have started making more of a splash recently.

Their second album, Rise Or Die Trying, is a near perfect masterpiece (their first album doesn't get a mention for being purely awful. Seriously, don't listen to it.). The amount of chug and heavy riffing, mixed with a pop - punk sensibility, throw in some hooks catchier than Chlamydia (not sure if that's entirely PC, but ill forgive myself) and you get a sure fire stormer of an album. I would try picking stand out tracks for you, but I would be hard pushed; there simply isn't any filler. Possibly my favourite track is Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die. The opening riff is simply unforgettable, so much swagger you'd think they owned the world, and in jumps double bass so fast that it makes me quite frankly want to punch something I get so excited (I know, I'm cool). The call and return vocals work an absolute charm, and some of the melodies are beautiful whilst still retaining a real down to earth feel; you won't find any auto-tune on these bad boys (thank god). The only real criticism I could think of for this album, is it's all a little same-y. The only change of pace, and very slight, is the  closer Maniac (R.O.D), and even then it is simply because it is slightly more chord based, and slightly different in tone, not quiet as upbeat. Whilst I have no problem with this, you could be forgiven for thinking the band only have one gear, and that's labelled 'excitable run-around hardcore upstarts with a reasonable ear for a catchy melody'. But if you like the sound of this, then hope aboard and don't look back. Whatever you think about this album, you will most definitely have a smile on your face by the end. And really, that is what it's all about.

I will write something about the fourth and fifth albums, Enemy of the World and In Some Way Shape or Form, at a later date (third album is a cover album, not terrible but immediately forgettable).

Fall Out Boy don't really need writing about. That and I can't really be bothered at this point. So ill simply link a few songs for you to check out if you haven't already.

XO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qPXDE-OsIw
I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy.... - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gGCK63vyuY&feature=related
Fame > Infamy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwvqhd-qnUU

Another band, Woe, Is Me, are well worth checking out if your a fan of heavier music. Very unique in the sound, mainly down to production. They chug, kick, scream and cause a general ruckus, without sounding too generic. Both the screamer and the clean singer are impressive, (both the new and the old singer) and very cleverly but not overly used synths and strings make for an interesting listen. Some top notch lyrical work also impresses.

Fame > Demise - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgoqZo0crfs
Vengeance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lVke3IzmSo&ob=av2e
Last Friday Night (Katy Perry Cover) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-YCv1tLRg

Like Moths to Flames have caught my attention recently, although mainly through one song. I did give their album a listen, but it was a little to generic for my tastes. Overused metalcore breakdowns, fairly unimpressive work instrumentally, and repetative song structure were the main negatives, whilst the vocals, and the more melodic sections were actually fairly enjoyable. Weighted a bit more in the melodic direction, and a bit more inventiveness with the heavy sections, and they could become a very decent band. The stand out song does exactly these things, and is the only song that does so, meaning I didn't really feel anything else was worth linking.

You Won't Be Missed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYRYVlgYMlk&ob=av2e

Shikari's latest offering, A Flash Flood of Colour. The teasers and tracks we have heard so far are pointing in a very exciting direction; djent, dubstep, general electronic shenanigans and metalcore japery all thrown into a giant blender, with blades of political angst. The politics can be a little grating, as the message is about as subtle as a bag of bricks, but I suppose the passion only aides the musical endeavour. Possibly might have something written about this in the next blog, as there is a torrent leak of the album up. Which I course won't download, but torrents have been known to cheekily wiggle their way through the internet onto my computer. Pesky bastards. (In all seriousness, I will buy the album when it is released. Just can't wait for it if it is available now. But I wont torrent it. But I might.)

Whilst I'm here, anybody who wouldn't mind reading some lyrics I have written for my band and giving me some feedback, get in touch. It would be much appreciated.

Tomorrow, or at some later date, I will probably talk about Video Games; ones I have bought recently, stuff I've owned for a while, and what I'm looking forward too.

Also, follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ArronDempers for the occasional humorous and insightful tweet. Might even go crazy and post some humorous AND insightful ones. We can all dream. I don't tweet that frequently, so don't worry about getting the crap from inside my head clogging up your feed.

Thanks for reading all, here's to regular and consistent blogging (realised my blogs tend not to contain much humour, trying to incorporate it a bit more.).

Cheers, Arron.

Reason To Fake; My Reading Festival post

Again, the title has nothing whatsoever to do with the post. Its a song by Ten After Two, pretty sure ive promoted them enough times on here but lets do it again anyway; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afx0XCJ3SAk&feature=relmfu

Well, the reading festival line up was released yesterday (well, when you read this it might not have been yesterday, but it is right now while im writing it) and theres been plenty of comments either way about it. A lot of people are disappointed, but i think its not too bad. Ive crudely painted all over the poster to illustrate my feelings.

My feelings in a nutshell (emphasised in some places for comic affect)

In all seriousness, i think its not too shabby. The heavy mainstage day is creeping back, which im pleased with (if you read my blog, youll know roughly my music tastes) and theres more than enough bands i like to make it worth my money right now. And theres still lock up to be announced, which in 09 i spent most of my time at, and festival republic normally has a couple good bands i want to watch. Hopefully dance tent will have someone i want to watch as well. So really for me its not at all a band line up.

My top 3 that im looking forward to at the moment, ascending order, starts with Architects. Some tasty metal, although the newest albums a little easier on the ears it still should be hectic live, and ide expect them to pull a decent crowd. The its BMTH. Im not as big a fan of the new album as Suicide Season, but its still good, and lets face it theyre going to be brutal live. Then, top of the list is easily Death From Above 1979. They are such an amazingly unique band, when i discovered them i was so disappointed they had broken up, but now a reunion and theyre supposed to be something special live, so im pretty excited. I didnt include bands ive already seen, otherwise Enter Shikari and Rise Against would be there instead of BMTH and Architects.

I don't really understand most of the criticism. Most people i know who genuinely appreciate the genres reading festival tends to, have at the very least found the line up acceptable, most finding it good. Its not as good as previous years (in most peoples opinion) no, but some years are bound to be better than others. What winds me up is people who whine because its not as mainstream as they were expecting. I understand people might expect a range of different genres, which reading provides every year (including this year, quite obviously) but because its not as mainstream as they were expecting they dub it as 'shit'. First and foremost, reading is a rock festival. They say so themselves. You can't grab a ticket every year if your expecting to see artists like Dizzie Rascal playing regularly. Its been getting more and more mainstream throughout the years, it just now seems to be swinging back the other way. If you really don't like it, don't go. And before anyone gets on my back, i'm not criticising anyone for thinking its shit, its their opinion, i'm simply pointing out people shouldnt expect mainstream, and shouldnt criticise the fact heavier bands get booked.

Anyway, some bands ide like to see for lock up and festival republic. For lock up ide like to see Set Your Goals, they were so good 09 and have a new album out in spring. Four Year Strong, haven't ever been (to my knowledge) and the new album is pretty good. Blackhole, a heavier, better gallows (with gallows vocalist and guitarists younger brother being the front man) [SCRATCH THEM just found out they broke up. Damn, they were good as well.] The Ghost of a Thousand, seen them twice and theyre easily one of the best live bands ive seen, so good 09. Your Demise, solid hardcore punk and the lead singer knows how to mix some dubstep too. If I Die Today, theyre album is so good, really edgy stuff. Bayside, im not sure if theyd fit the demographic, but ide love to see them again. Thats about all i can think of right now, ill probably think of more later. As for festival republic, ide like to see a few post-hardcore bands, maybe: Escape the fate; Memphis May Fire; Pierce the Veil; Chiodos, to name a few ide like.

Just realised this turned into a festival post. Oh well, shit happens. Ill add it into the name.

Cheers for reading guys, if i offended anyone in particular, go man up. Only joking, sorry if i did.

AJ 

I never know what to call these

I always struggle with what i should call my blog posts. Usually i talk about a bucket load of different things within them, so i cant really title them based on what theyre about. Might just start using lyrics or song titles. 

Anyways ive fallen behind on the 30 day song challenge, so time to catch up.

Your least favorite song. It was hard to choose this, because obviously if you dont like a song your not going to listen to it, so i couldnt really think of any. I decided to pick a couple from my favorite albums, that have been let down by one or two songs.

Rise Against - Roadside : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdKaKpLtt3Y

The Sufferer and the Witness is probably my second favorite punk album of all time, but this song is really poor. The melody is really odd, it just doesnt sound quite right, the song trundles along, never picking up and never going anywhere, and it honestly sounds like the token softer song because they felt they had to put one on the record.

Enter Shikari - No Sleep Tonight : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehzmr79ZCoE

I dont think i need to say anything about this. Really, really, really poor attempt at writing a mainstream song.

A song that makes me happy. I can only really think of one, i tend to find songs more uplifting rather than happy

Set Your Goals - Summer Jam : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcvHZBTiG5k

A song that talks about summer, being on tour, and having fun with friends. Who wouldnt find this happy? Always makes me think of reading festival, which always makes me look forward to summer.

A sad song. 

Never Shout Never! - Losing It : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T351xhw0m1o

Enough said.

A song that reminds me of someone. I associate plenty of songs with plenty of people, but this song definitely does it the most.

Miserable At Best - Mayday Parade : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqM3Dr7agjY

I think this is the last one, a song that reminds me of somewhere. Well, Summer Jam reminds me of Reading Festival but ive already put that for something else, so after that its this one.

Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUypt2nvorM&feature=fvwrel

My dad bought the shrek 2 soundtrack when we were on holiday in Florida, and this was the families favorite track. Therefore we played it over and over, and now everytime i listen to it i get a massive wave of nostalgia remembering all my past holidays, and a pining to be back in Florida. I cant listen because of it. 

Okay i cant be bothered right now, but i did have a couple things to talk about, ill definitely write again tomorrow. If i have time. Bleh this blogs been a bit neglected recently, im going to have to make a point of writing more regularly.

Thanks for reading guys, follow me on twitter if you dont already.

Peace, AJ

Music again; 30 day song challenge

I cant think of anything to write about, so to start myself off imma write about music. 


Ive decided to do that 30 song challenge on facebook, seems like a fun idea. Although the first song, supposed to be my favorite song, stumped me. I actually dont know my favorite song of all time, so i decided to do my song of the moment. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmUcQM0jmqQ 


Too Little, Too Late - A Skylit Drive


That song makes my hairs stand on end. A combination of the lyrics and the epic feel of that opening really get me, and i love the subtle synths, such a good melody, if anything they should be a little louder.


I cant stick to one song, too many good songs out there, so im going to do 2 or 3 for each day. Just to keep things fun and interesting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iImrkunXTq8

Danger: Wildman - The Devil Wears Prada


I dislike religious bands intensely, but i absolutely adore this song. The screaming is so insane, the cleans are good if a bit auto tuned, and the use of the orchestral strings is brilliant. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t0ysBeGIhc

Plot To Bomb The Panhandle - A Day To Remember


I havent really given these guys a proper listen in a while, probably my favorite band of all time. I really do love this song, its got a real drive that makes you want to get up and mosh. The vocals are brilliant all round, the cleans are a little soft sounding compared to their later efforts, but in my opinion the production on the screams is far better on this album, giving the songs a much harder edge.


I can't think of anything else to listen to, probably because im too tired. I really need to start trying to get to sleep earlier, but i always seem to get distracted. I tell myself every single day that ill be in bed by ten, but that turns into quarter past eleven at best. Oh well. Im not helping right now, am I?


Thanks for reading, ill try blog something a bit more meaningful tomorrow. Hopefuly the 30 day song challenge will give me a prompt. 


Follow me on twitter if you ain't already, cheers.


AJ 

Been a while

I havent blogged in like a week, for a couple reasons, i was away with my girlfriend for a few days with no internet and back at school after half term so i havent had the time, so i thought it was time to do one. Gotta keep the world (the 70 or so people that read this) informed. 

Decided i have a fair bit to talk about so ill do it in sections, skip through to whatever takes your fancy, or skip past anything that doesnt.

1 - Holiday

2 - Back to school

3 - More music

1 - I had been looking forward to this for an absolute age. It was my first ever holiday with my girlfriend, so it was a special thing for us. The weather was pretty bad the whole weekend, but i had   a really great time, and me and Lily (my girlfriend) didnt have any fall outs or anything, so yeah all in all a good holiday. 

First day we got there about 2, and went out for lunch before going to the villa. The villa itself was pretty nice, it had a tv so we could watch dvds when we werent out. Okay im not feeling the dairy format, so ill just tell you the parts that i particularly enjoyed. The pool (centre parcs called in the very imaginatively named 'subtropical swimming paradise) was pretty awesome, they had a wave pool which is always good, a bunch of slides, and a really awesome set of rapids. Not the kind of rapids youve probably seen in pools before, where its a little dribble of current gently drifting you around in a circle, it was actually really fast. There was this one straight bit where you could go like a decent running sort of pace. Which is quick going headfirst in water. Paintball was good, but thats pretty self explanatory. Adrenaline high ropes (another brilliant centre parcs name) was also good. First off we did a Jacobs Ladder [http://www.elitetraining.co.uk/images/TeamAdventure_Files/Sussex/Jacobs%20Ladder%200355.jpg] which is that sort of thing. Me and Lily were teamed up with this little kid. The only reason he got to the top is because ide climb up first, then pull him up, bless him. Then we did this thing where we climbed up ontop of a platform atop a big pole with three other people (the platform was no more than a metre across, probably less) and balance up there, then do 'bum wars' where you had to knock the other two off with your bum. We were paired up with this old guy for this, so me and Lily teamed up to knock him off. Then, i knocked Lily off. Which was a bit mean, but they always say nice guys finish last (im joking by the way, i didnt care about winning. Much.). Eating out was also good, got to have a couple nice chats with Lily's parents, which doesnt really happen often. We also did bowling and table tennis, im sure you dont need me to explain whats involved there. If ive missed anything out i think of later, ill probably edit this. 

2 - School is such a drag. I hate getting up in the morning so much i cant describe it. My family and Lily can both testify that im really not a morning person, it doesnt really help that i go to bed late, but theres just not enough time in the day to do everything i want to do. Ide rather lose an hours sleep so i can relax watching tv or playing world of warcraft than miss out, and end up spending my whole day sleeping, eating, or being at school. Also GCSE's are only 10 weeks away. I cant believe theyre so close now, it feels a bit weird. I quite want to get them over with to be honest, im pretty hopeful ill do well with some revision and night before cramming. 

3 - A couple music related things i want to talk about. A Skylit Drives album Identity on Fire has grown on me, i was a bit harsh about it. Ide recommend it to be honest, its very melodic and easy on the ears for people not that into screaming and heavy breakdowns, so check out a couple songs on youtube or whatever. Im surprised i didnt think to write about Memphis May Fire's ep Between The Lies earlier. Its bloody fantastic. For those of you who have heard the previous ep and album, its heavier, more in your face, and the screams are vastly improved, but it still retains that southern swagger and the catchy hooks which made the first album very listenable. Far more chugging metal guitars, more breakdowns, but so riffy and with plenty of impressive guitar work to make it stand out from the crowd. I really would recommend that ep.

Action/Adventure for the stand out track.

I was going to write about world of warcraft as well, but i dont really feel like it right now. I probably will at a later date though (dont say you werent warned)

Thanks for reading guys, follow me on twitter if you would, and any feedbacks welcome.

Let me know if the new fonts any easier to read by the way.

Much love, AJ

Never back down

Ive gotten back into world of warcraft again. Yup, not ashamed in the slightest to admit it. I really enjoy it, so, for lack of a better phrase, fuck the haters.


I wish less people in the world cared so much about what other people thought. The reason im not afraid to say yeah i play wow, or yeah i play minecraft and love it, is because i dont actually give a shit what people say about it. Too many people arent willing to really be who they are, because of the stigma surrounding certain aspects of what they may or may not do. It winds me up that if you go against the grain, you are often ridiculed and laughed at for being your own person. I wish some people would grow up.


Although you can go to far one way. Some times caring what people think is a very desirable character trait. You tend to be a people pleaser, you dont often upset people, and you can make a lot of friends. But then again it can put plenty of strain on you, trying to do too much just to please others. Meh, its a vicious circle. Better to not care what anyone thinks at all and enjoy life, than too care more than anything about what everyone says and have hell for it. 


Haven't done much over the past couple days, nothing worthy of mention anyway. I cant wait for centre parcs over the weekend, ive been looking forward to it for ages.


Cheers for reading guys. Be your own person, and fuck whoever laughs or tells you to do anything different. AJ.


You crowd around me on the floor
Staring and observing
Seeing what I'm fighting for
Its not in you, not like this


It's so like you, indiscretion is all you can be
Screaming to see what is in between
I've been to Hell and back, the quiet never lasts
It's not like you to take a risk

Im in a funny mood

I just died on minecraft. Yes, that frustrated me.

Oh well, just a game. 

Anyways, ive resisted so far, but i have to comment on whats going on in the middle east. All i can say is if Karl Marx was still alive, he'd be sitting here saying 'I told you so'.

And i just got an error message. It said something like 'java runtime has detected a fatal error'. Well im still alive, so unless java knows something i dont, it wasnt fatal.

Im pretty tired as you can tell by the disjointed writing style, sorry about that. I cant think of much else of note to tell you to be honest. My day wasnt too bad, had a nice morning with my girlfriend, then went out for a haircut and a bit of shopping. Didnt get enough off, im too timid to ask for any more when they show you in the mirror, obviously proud of their work. Ah well, imma need another in like a month just before a drama performance anyway (ill probably blog more about that closer to the time) so im not too bothered.

I also bought a hoody (score). Im quite pleased with it. It made me laugh trying them on, because its a shop called Madhouse (i think theres one in basingstoke too, so some of you might know it), so all of the stuff in there is basically a huge mix of well known brands and brands ive never heard of, all really cheap. Its a bit like an outlet store really. Anyways, i was looking at these rip off super dry hoodies, and they looked quite nice, so i thought ide try one on. I grab a medium because thats usually my size in most places. I put it on and i can just about stretch it over my nipples. Im not joking it was absoloutely tiny. I tried the large, and it was a tiny bit bigger but not much. I had to buy the extra large. XL. Jesus, i knew japenese people were tiny, but i didnt think they were that tiny. Its like all the hoodies were designed for, at the biggest, a 5'10 skinny japenese dude. (Sorry if i offend). It made me laugh anyway.

Football training was tiring. But still enjoyable. Dont know why i bothered writing that.

Okay i think ive just about run out of stamina for tonight. Thanks for reading the blog, add me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ArronDempers if you havent already, and if you want to feed back on what you read just fb or twitter me.

Oh, and watch this, shes good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m7l1OMppQM

Peace, AJ

A bitta music

I thought ide promote a few albums ive been listening to lately, a couple are smaller bands who need the support, so go buy the cd if you listen and like (i know, im such a nice guy)

Ill start off with the song im listening to right now, Too Little Too Late - A Skylit Drive. The album, Identity On Fire, isnt actually that great overall, but that song and Fuck The System are two absolute beasts, for those who dont know A Skylit Drive are post hardcore, and this album has a tinge of synths. Nothing drastic, but it i actually think it really adds something to both those songs. The vocalists cleans might be a little high pitched / whiney for some, but the screams are very good (if you like screaming).

Close To Home's latest effort Never Back Down is one of the few albums in recent memory i can listen to without skipping any songs. Their sounds very versatile, but the basic formula tends to be very A Day To Remember, mixing heavy breakdowns, guttural growls and screams with soaring pop punk style chorus. At times the vocals take a very early Comeback Kid sound, a sort of half sing half shout, which i rather like. The stand out moments for me are the two opening tracks (not including the intro) Days of Our Lives and Count the Ways. Days of Our Lives is very Downfall of Us All (sorry for another A Day To Remember comparison) with a very uplifting chug-a-chug riff to open, before breaking into a more conventional pop punk sound, albeit with a slightly more frantic drum work. Count the Ways is my favourite track off the album, and where i feel they strike the balance between the heavy and pop punk best. The verses are filled with hate, growls, screams and shouts all over, with a catchy melodic chorus, backing woooaaahhs in abundance. The two contrasting points on the album (where they get heaviest and poppy-est) are All We Know, crunching, chugging metal guitars going toe to toe with the impressive range of screamed vocals, and Sink or Swim, instead showing off upbeat piano keys, beautiful soaring melodies and, of course, the gang 'woooaaahhhss' for the chorus. All in all a very impressive album, and definitely an accessible sound, the production softening the heaviness enough for less hardened ears (most of the time).

The last band imma write about for now is Ten After Two. Their 5 track ep If You Don't First massively impressed me. They lie on the heavier side of post hardcore, the clean/scream mix lying 60:40 in the favour of screams ide say, the guitar production heavy and crunching, and a point made of the (rather impressive) drum work. The first song, Behind Locked Doors, opens with a very hard, simple metal riff, deep from the bottom of your chest growls giving it a real punch. This contrasts wonderfully to the melodies of later in the song, which switches seamlessly from scream vocals to clean to a mixture of both, and honestly its all in all an extremely impressive song. Even the break downs don't sound like the same recycled break downs you've heard before, because they aren't. I'll be honest im not sure what it is, but they somehow manage to sound fresh and different in a genre which is awash with a sea of average bands, or unoriginal bands who recycle the same mix of melodies riffs and breakdowns over and over, in an attempt to rehash that full of promise first album feel three or four times. Honestly if your going to check out any of these bands, check out these, they are very very good.

Anyways, thanks for reading the blog as always, add me on twitter if you haven't already.

AJ (my nickname for those who dont know)

From the mobile, hopefully it works

Hey people,

Well I didn't post yesterday, so I'd feel like my blog was getting neglected if I didn't today. I'm at my girlfriends, and shes asleep next door where my laptop also happens to be, so I'm going to see if this app on my phone works. Fingers crossed.

Can't think of much to say tbh. Yesterday was a bit of a poo, had a boooring morning yesterday reffing three matches, but for the money I'm getting I'm not really complaining. 12 quid for 50 minutes at a jog (which in reality descends to a spirited walk) is pretty damn good, especially since I can squeeze three in and walk away with 36 quid for a mornings.... I would say work but it doesn't even resemble work in all actuality.

Then went to the reading game, and, to use a phrase a mate and me coined, we were more dyer than keiron. We lacked any kind of bite in the final third, no one seemed to want to take their man on, it really just didn't work. To watfords credit they were pretty well organised, but it was still frustrating.

Then I had a pretty chilled evening, watched Ali g in da house (seen it twice and it still makes me chuckle) and chatting to Ben white on Skype. Probably wasn't a good idea to talk until something like 1 in the morning, as I woke up at 12 30 the following afternoon, but I suppose that's what half terms for.

Gah my blogs boring, but oh well. Maybe if I talk more about minecraft.....

Well goodnight, thanks for reading this, add me on fb and twitter if you don't already have me, and recommend the blog to your friends, if you think its okay.

Night

Tired, but happy.

Evening, hope everyones had a good one.

Well its Friday, and not just that its the Friday of a half term. I am looking forward immensely to catching up on sleep, my first ever holiday with my girlfriend, and catching up on a lot of spending time doing useless things.

I just thought that im quite a simple creature; I dont need an awful lot of achievement to keep me happy. Obviously i enjoy my achievements when they do come, but i spend a lot of time doing fuck all, and i really enjoy doing it. Watching top gear, for example. I get nothing at the end of it, but its just mindless, relaxing, funny television. Minecraft. Pointless beyond belief for me as im not anywhere near talented enough to build anything worth mentioning. But, again, i enjoy the release from expectation. Its nice to just be able to experience pure, no strings attached emotion. Even the frustration that came from burning my own house down (which was heartbreaking by the way) on Minecraft came with a hint of sweetness - It didnt matter.

Anyway, thought ide start with a couple shout outs, a few friends also write blogs and these two are definately worth reading

http://benjaminjameswhite.blogspot.com - Ben White

http://interestedyeahiam.blogspot.com/ - Harry Davidson

Okay, ones worth reading, but Harry's band are worth a listen if you like that kind of music so i thought ide pop him here.

Anyway, my weeks been pretty good, if a bit tiring. Got my exam results all back bar a few and im pretty chuffed, A / A* in everything apart from class civ, which was a B (still got to get the rest of my marks back for German, so thatll probably end up being two B's, oh joy of joys). The grade boundaries are stupid anyway, i get 70%, which in most subjects is an A, and in class civ its scraping a B. The rest of the class civ taking population must be freaks getting 100%, dragging the grade boundaries up for us normal folk. Ah well, should probably just work harder.

I have to rant about the ridiculousness of the P.E. department at my school. In the past the sport offered to the better athletes who wish to play at a competitive level for the school (known as 'match div') has been extremely well run, coached and played. My year is pretty decent at the three major sports (cricket, rugby and football) and so we won a fair few games at a decent level. Recently however the quality of the coaching and the way the sports are run has declined significantly.

Rugby was quite frankly a joke. I dont need to name names, for those of you who attend my school you will know to whom i refer, but the level of coaching we received was at best questionable. A person who believes playing a forwards game against a team three times your size needs to think about if hes really in the right sport. Anyone with even a vague sense of what Rugby actually is will know thats a bad idea. The drills done during actual training sessions were either A; Shit. Or B; So complicated and baffling it was beyond comprehension. We literally took five huge steps backward as a team. In the end i decided refereeing youth football for a bit of money was a more productive use of my time (I referee youth football by the way, in case you didnt realise).

Now football, which is personally my favourite sport, seems to be veering dangerously in that direction. The beginning of the year seemed promising, the coaching was good and enthusiastic, and a promise to trim the numbers so as to receive more focused training, tailored to a higher quality player. What we have now is every session has degenerated to a friendly kick around, and our coach cant even be bothered to do after school sessions anymore. I might as well go do rolly-pollys in a field for an hour. Wait, the session wasnt even that long yesterday, we had a 40 minute presentation on a football tour no one wants to go on.

Normally if you offered me a chance to go on a football tour, i would say yes. Without hesitation. But when i explain you will see why this is a little bit different. There is nothing wrong with the tour itself. Five days in Frankfurt, Germany (not the most exotic place in the world, but better than Scotland or something) with three matches, and a range of sightseeing and team building activities, all for around 600 pounds. Sounds pretty good. Apart from the fact half the team cant go, because it has been sprung upon us a few months before the tour. Why was it sprung upon us. Because its not even our tour, it was meant for the year above, but they couldnt get even one person willing to go. Well, since half the team cant go, we decide it would be better not to go, since its supposed to be for the best team we can put together. But no, in their ultimate wisdom the P.E. dept have decided that its impossible to cancel a tour, which hasnt even been paid for, and simply rearrange it for us in a year, or even two. Its either this or nothing. Ive reached the point where i feel like our P.E. dept are either too lazy to do anything properly, or dont care enough. Whichever it is, i feel like punching someone in the face.

Anyway, rant over, i probably should end this soon as its getting a bit long.

A couple quick final things.

I wish i was in a band. I went to a very small local gig during the week, with maybe 10 people watching the bands, but i still wished i was up there, singing / screaming my heart out. It looks like it would be immensely fun, but i cant play an instrument, and ive always assumed that ruled you out of being in a band. Oh well, not all ambitions in life are realised.

And im so glad its half term. I need the rest.

Anyway, thank you for reading, follow me on twitter if you have it: http://twitter.com/ArronDempers. I try retweet interesting stuff, and ill tweet whenever i write a new blog, so yeah, an easy way to recommend my blog to your friends. If you think its worth that. Please do.

Cheers guys, Arron.

Right, lets actually blog about something - First Minescapade.

Okay, first proper post on this bad boy, lets see how it goes

I changed the title; 'Arrons life' sounds a litttlle bit gay to me. This title is obviously a massive improvement

Anyways imma make this first proper blog about the easiest thing i can think; minecraft. Yes, i know the game is gay, but i fucking love it.

So imma go for this whole 'If you die on minecraft, delete the world' thing and see if it actually makes the game any different (or at least the way i play it). For those not interested, you should probably stop reading and wait for the next post.

Can i put pictures up on this thing? Ill google it, and you can get some lovely screenshots of my minecraft escapades. Minescapades. Yes, thats the title for all posts minecraft related. Minescapades.

Okay ive figured out how to do pictures, ill try embed a couple.

I generate the world, and the first thing i see is a scary cave. For those of you not acquainted with minecraft, the basic jist is you collect resources during the day, and at night bad things come out and try and kill you. Bad things can also spawn in any darkness, so dark caves are bad and scary. First order of business is to try get some wood, so i can make a pickaxe. And other wood things.

I punch some trees, get some wood, make a crafting table, make a pickaxe, get some stone and make a better, stone pickaxe, and i luckily find some coal. I need coal to make torches, and torches give light and stop bad things spawning. And killing me.

Some poor sheep trapped in a little pond, little legs not quite kicking hard enough to lift it out. It made me laugh anyway.

Crap. I got all excited because i saw a vein of coal a bit away from my base, and in my enthusiasm i didnt pay attention to the time and its getting dark. D:

I risk it, and quickly mine the vein, swim back home and even have time to towel off.

Anyways, not an awful lot interesting has happened. Setting up your base is always the slightly more boring of tasks, but it has to be done. The plan is to set up my base, and then find some obsidian, mine it, go to the nether, and set up camp in the nether and see what damage i can do. I may set myself other tasks along the way, but thats the overall plan for this world. Unless i die before then. Which would annoy me.

Since i need an early night, ill quickly show you the front of my homely little hidey hole. I think it looks rather quaint. The insides just a big hole at the moment so i decided not to screenshot it, bit boring. I havent even heard any monsters about yet, so im feeling i picked a pretty good spot. Desirable location. < That was supposed to be a joke, i really need to buck up my ideas if this blogs not going to be boring.

Thanks for reading this if you managed to get all the way through, if you thought it was crap, i wont be writing about minecraft all the time dont worry, just skip the posts titled 'Minescapade'. Im genuinely proud of that, i think the minecraft developers need to pick up on that.

Anyways, goodnight all, Arron.

Blog 1; First ever blog

Well, its my first ever blog. I might as well start with why i decided it was a good idea to write this.

Firstly, I saw a few friends writing blogs, that sorta gave me the original idea

Secondly, I do alot of stuff in my life i quite like telling people about. Im quite a proud guy i guess, and whether you think thats a good thing or not, rather than go round telling people what ive done, i thought ide post it somewhere and they can read it if they want.

Finally, the thing that gave me that final push to actually do this was actually an article i read on pc gamers website. The article chronicled one players ordeals on the 8 bit, 3D indie developed game minecraft (i highly recommend the article and the game, http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/20/the-minecraft-experiment-day-1-chasing-waterfalls/ for the article and im sure you can use your initiative if your interested in the game). It might seem a bit odd, but it made me think; Theres plenty of stuff of minecraft thats made me laugh, or that i think would probably be of interest to some people. In fact, theres plenty in my life it'd be nice to talk about, just get stuff off my mind.

So yeah, thats the why. If thats bored you a bit dont worry, from now on ill try to keep it (relatively) interesting, and i try to look at the world with a pinch of humor, so hopefully ill make you laugh (after this blog ofc)

Anyways, i think im done with this opening blog, thanks for reading it, ill post on my facebook every time i write a new one, and fb mail me if you have any feedback, preferably constructive. It would be very welcome.

Cheers, Arron.