Sunday, April 29

the artifact

I don't feel sleepy but my eyes do. I get ready and go out. Got the basic stuff: keys, cell phone, wallet and of course, the artifact. The doorman, Miguel, follows me as I approach the exit. He closes after me. He's rumored to be gay. He stinks. Like, literally, the guy smells real bad. He also has been referred as having a serial-killer face. And he does; he has that pedo-smile. Skinny, large balding head, dresses like a loser. I go out, irregardless, and start my way. I kind of went along the same path, to the right. It was a normal night, I like nights. There's a girl on the other sideway and I lay my stare on her until she enters the building across mine. She was pretty. The kind of girlfriend-pretty but has a nice ass, also. I remembered my mission and pull out the artifact.

I notice some guy walking towards me. A middled-age guy with a dog. I change pathways. I feel the effect almost immediately, like I do when on a good mood. Or when I really want to. Everything seems to be going slower. Even sounds. Some other people coming towards me, have to change again. I turn a corner and stop. Retrace my steps, I think. Retraced my steps.

When no one is looking I take off my shirt. I extend my wings as hard as I can, they feel sore. I managed to climb a tree an get on top. When sufficient altitude is achieved I start to plane and relax.

Everything seems slower and slower and slower. So much I feel time-dilatedness and everything starts feeling holy. Especially the air that is blowing to my face. Everything seemed so relaxed and I started getting fewer thoughts... I felt myself fainting.

Everything is l a y e r e d .

It was like my mind shifted it's attention to the right hemisphere, instead of the left one. But like, all the way. I felt the need to pleasure myself.

Monday, April 23

paraflux

If you also like 10,000 Days you must read this: http://toolnavy.com/showthread.php?t=46306.

10,000 Days review

10,000 Days is Tool's latest release and the closest to being the one they've always wanted to make, according to Maynard. I couldn't agree more, the anger and intensity from Ænima is still there but we have the spiritual and holy feeling that we only got in small dosages (e.g. 42 & 6) but is abundant in Lateralus. I see imbeciles arguing about the fact that Maynard's vocals are lame and the songs lack the spirit from previous releases, mainly Ænima. Well, the vocals take a background role but this is on purpose, the morons don't get it, this guy pulls a shaman act here and it's supposed to sound that way, but more about it later. There are even some trolls who claim Tool is now christian or catholic because of the lyrics, and the worst is, there are fools who buy it and feed them, but as anyone who actually thinks about it it's just another face of our favorite freak, MJK. By the way if you haven't realized by now, Tool is my favorite band and I listen to Tool EVERY fucking day. Until my ears bleed.

Vicarious (7:06)

As has been mentioned, this one is the first-single-to-be-released song, much in the vein of Stinkfist. To save you time, it's basically Tool at what they do best: catchy, weird-at-first-listen riffs, Maynard screaming off his lungs, funky bass lines (thanks Justin), trippy guitars (I love you Adam) and thundering, fast, crazy drumming (marry me Danny). The song is about the morbid fascination YOU have, yes, you, TV addict; grinning wide as the fire consumes the bodies, the shots go through the heads and the blood flows across the screen. We all stare in awe at the tragedies of others, so, why can't we just admit it? [Toolgasm: 6:36]

Jambi (7:28)

Another great and catchy tune, famous for a talk box solo by Adam, which gives the song a weird but unique tone. Apparently is about power corruption and some Sultan. I like this song a lot, gotta love the bass and shit, it makes me get up and dance like the head-banging-retarded freak I am, shine on benevolent sun. [Toolgasm: 6:00 (check bass)]

Wings for Marie (6:11)

Here you can appreciate the shamanic Maynard I was referring, at first the lyrics are almost undecipherable, and THIS IS ON PURPOSE. The guy even goes backstage in live performances. This, combined with mellow guitar and an overall relaxed tone makes a very atmospheric track that sets the way for the next song very appropriately. [Toolgasm: 4:10, not that jaw-dropping but it's the highlight of the song]

10,000 Days (11:13)

One of the three epic songs from the album, if you ask me. Check the vocals again. It's atmospheric. It gives a very unique feeling, one we're aren't used to getting from Tool. That doesn't mean it's bad, the whole song it's a fucking climax, and the rainy noises are well done. Try turning off lights and monitors and TVs and shit and think about your mother, if applicable. This is some intense, heavy emotional song, it must be heard at least one time alone, lights off and everything, concentrating on the sound only. I can't help but sing along when Maynard asks for his mother wings, definitely a cool and memorable moment. Now for all you guys on the internets that get mad about the "pro-christianity" message we are supposedly getting here, well, I won't elaborate but, one doesn't have to be a Buddhist monk to write a book about Shanti or whatever, In fact, I like how we get the mental image of Maynard in the congregation, looking to the "ignorant siblings" with disgust. [Toolgasm: 5:35 and onwards]

The Pot (6:21)

Another catchy one, a great song to sing along and dance to. It has a cool rhythm, mainly because of the bass, Justin really shines all over this album. The lyrics deal with hypocritism but I really haven't read them thoroughly, yes, shame on me. Anyway, I love the Ganja? P-LEASE! line. [mini-Toolgasm: 5:58]

Lipan Conjuring (1:11)

Segue. I get this picture of Maynard with some Dhalsim-like monks, all chanting and weaving around their prayer beads. It goes well with the theme of the album. This just shows how Tool never dwells on the same concepts and is always looking for new, weird shit to deliver.

Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) (3:46)

Disorienting. Like you don't know where you are. Bright lights on your eyes. What the fuck? It really sets the mood for the next one really well, although can be skipped. I really like it, it's mesmerizing.

Rosetta Stoned (11:11)

Another epic. Music's great, lyrics are funny and one of the best I've seen and probably one of the best ever. Did I mention Tool is my favorite band ever? There's so much going on this one you'll want to listen to it again and again just to catch all the curious thingies and references all over. Basically it's a guy so high, DMT, LSD, Krispy Kremes and whatnot, he gets and abduction experience, and apparently, an apocalyptic message it's delivered to him by somniferous almond-eyed aliens, a very important one, but the guy's so fucked up he can't remember. Everyone who's been under the influence of psychological agents can understand. Maynard here pulls a a stand-up comedy act and it's good, It's like a satire. He didn't have a pen, and he shat the bed. Priceless. Won't spoil anymore, read the lyrics, it's worth it, instant favorite. [Toolgasm: 8:44 and again at 9:10 and AGAIN at 10:30]

Intension (7:21)

It begins with construction noises. People chattering, or rather, whispering. Eerie. Gives a sense of evolution, confirmed later by similar noises but electronic and technology-like, Danny produced a very cool effect here. There's some good drumming in the middle. I can almost see the primates building shit and stone tools. The lyrics say that we begin pure and only by will alone, we get to what we are today, but the vast majority of the population doesn't realize this and go about without reflecting their own existence. This song only sinks after like the fifth time you listen to it, but it's worth it, though, it's really mellow and kind of builds up to the next one. [Toolgasm: 3:55]

Right In Two (8:55)

This is the other epic I was talking about. The lyrics are very emotional and the felling all over is really good, specially when the music really kicks in because the first five minutes is like Intension was still playing. But! check from 5:22. You'll cream your pants. More construction noises and Stone Age-like drumming. That electronic kit or whatever Danny brought really paid itself. I swear I see the villagers from Age Of Empires (the first one, the best). The song puts the listener in the shoes of angels as they contemplate our human existence, and ask themselves puzzled and confused, why, if there are enough resources on the fucking planet we live in for everyone, there's, like, this human instinct to conquer, kill and take over everything, we can't seem to be satisfied, ever. Reminds me of the crazy psilocybin theories of Terence Mckenna. This is satire folks, and not the funny kind. Everyone should listen to this song and think about the message. Maybe this is the message Maynard talked about in Rosetta Stoned? I really like the "Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, councious of his fleeting time here" line. [Toolgasm: 5:22 and from then, multiple orgasms until the end]

Viginti Tres (5:02)

This is a closer, it's just some creepy noises with some weird, distorted, 3-syllable word at 3:24. It's worth the listen, though, lets the listener reflect about Right In Two and kind of reminds me of 2001: Space Odyssey.

This album, plus having great music, comes in a cool package. It's a cardboard-bound booklet partly covered by a flap holding a pair of stereoscopic eyeglasses. This is what that means. So it's definitely worth buying. Looking through the eyeglasses is somewhat cool, I guess you can do it if don't have anything better to do. /FANBOYISM

UPDATE: I finally figured how to use the cardboard-bound booklet partly covered by a flap holding a pair of stereoscopic eyeglasses, it's great! it's tricky to get the effect right, but once you do it's really cool. The image has to appear as one and only one, it's a the-right-angle-only-kind of optical illusion, plus concentrating on seeing only one picture so it appears 3D like.

Saturday, April 21

sometimes

Sometimes I feel like I have, you know, like, two sides of my personality, the critical but boring one and the funny but procrastinating one and it's like I have to find a zone for the two to coexist and reach a new level of reflection and de-personalization so I can crucify my ego and realize that all this that surrounds me is not important, I want to find transcendence by critically looking into myself but I don't want to get caught in the little things and get absorbed by this, how can I live if everything is sacred and holy? I have to be careful of where I put my fucking foot when I walk because I may kill an ant! oh for fuck's sake I need to relax and think! reflect; everything is but a mere medium to achieve a higher conscience, I must find inner peace. Everyday. It's not a goal, but a never-ending process, I must endure. If there were no rewards to reap, I certainly would've walked away, quit this fucking never-ending-always-pushing reality. And it's like I have this inner voices, different voices, they don't speak of the same, they don't even speak in same languages and SOMETIMES it's like a whirlwind of thoughts, a train of thoughts, a stream of consciousness I can't stop, but I don't want it to stop! I should ride the wave and be thankful that I can fucking breathe! breathe in the air, I'm alive and maybe all this pain is nothing but an illusion, I should embrace this desire to feel eternal and loose myself within the experience, every experience I want to experience everything, that which doesn't kill me makes me stronger, I HAVE TO ride the spiral of my human divinity AND still be myself. But just sometimes.

who is that?

When people see me drawing they always ask "who" am I drawing. I always sigh in my head because, I don't know, people seem to think that when someone draws it has to be a representation of something that already exists. It's more complex than that, I can start some doodle and not know what it'll be but it'll be something, it's like those surrealist guys who would start writing with no idea of what would be written, they would just start hammering those old writing machines and come up with all sorts of crazy shit. Here lies really interesting stuff because not even the author knows what's going to turn out. It's like a symbiotic relationship with my hand when I draw, the hand makes half of the work, or rather my right hemisphere helps me finish whatever it is I'm drawing. This is why I NEVER draw what I intended. I can think of how it will turn out, what it is about and it will have this and that but it's not like I get the picture in my head and then it copies to the paper. It's not that easy. But, well, that's the beauty of it because you never know what-you-gonna-get. I too, want to know how the drawing will turn out, sometimes it's better than what I initially intended, sometimes it's shit and I rip and spit on the stupid paper but hey, that's creativity. This is why, in part, I end up drawing weird shit like this:


People ask me who or what it is. I don't know what the fuck it is, ok? It's just something that came of the spur of the moment. It's an alternate dimension dog. It's some odd creature, it's whatever you want it to be.

why, hello there

Ok, for anyone who wishes to know the contents of this blog come directly from the artistic vein I suppose I have and everyone does, though I guess some never use it; this is not a diary but a recipient of rants and every little thing I consider worth of sharing with other humans, although the majority of posts could be induced by illegal substances and psychotic states of mind, so don't take everything here for granted because I can say what I want to, even if I'm not serious, and I hope this places captures all the oh so lucid ideas and concepts one seems to have trough the day but end in the trash can in half a page of scribbled notes or in the recycle bin in a .txt full of grammar errors because didn't have the time to check for the writing rules, the fantastic idea I just had appeared to fade away and well I can practice this language here, that's good, you can send me your opinions stating if you concur or disagree with my babble and you can also correct my usage of this foreign language, I like being wrong, I just hope all the crazy things and silly but amusing shit my supposedly right hemisphere comes up with gets stored here so I can read them another day and have a laugh, like the day I had a dream and I was in this machine controlled world (don't worry I won't reference Matrix, oh well) where some robotic guys wanted to get me, I didn't know what for but didn't want to find out either so then Snake from Metal Gear came and helped me and he gave me this razor that could cut anything it's funny because it looked like a normal shaving razor, just a tad futuristic and silver-like, anyway Snake rescued me and I was forever thankful. I made a drawing about it but it was shitty and don't know where it is anyway, all this shit gets accumulated in my brain and sometimes it's like I'm saturated so this is like an outlet you see, it's like a channeling session where I connect with that artsy vein and you know if one thinks things too much it's not healthy, like Maynard said, over-thinking and over-analyzing separates the body from the mind. I don't want that.

hola.

"If you look at the cycles of the moon, it starts as a thin crescent and then gradually waxes until it becomes full; then it gradually wanes back into another crescent and then it is gone. The moon reflects sunlight like humans reflect information. We wax and wane and when we become full moons, our egos are full. We think we have this knowledge when in fact, the information we have is pure. And how it reflects or shines off of us, is something we take credit for as though the moon could take credit for its brightness when, in fact, it is only reflecting light from the sun. We have to understand that we are ego-less just as the moon is without light. It and we are simply reflectors. The ego is not responsible for the information. It can reflect the information in creative ways, but the information itself is pure". ~Maynard James Keenan