FUCK YEAH

And I Know You Know The Feeeelinnnnnnnn'

So I guess I'm going to be a blog poser and post a bunch of stuff of what I thought of 2009. I'm not doing it in one go because 1. who the fuck wants to read that much of my rambling in one go? and 2. I'm too lazy to do it all right now and it's 2am anyways.

First Part!

Graph of how this year went for me personally. Some of 2009 kicked my ass, some of it ruled harder than any year has before. I did some things I wanted to for a long time, I did some things I wish I never had. Who cares? Life gets better when you realize you don't have to let it beat you down all the time. Red line is kind of neutral. Above is feeling good, below is being bummed. Easy shit, right?

Wow, I thought that the picture would turn out bigger. Whatever, you get the just of it right?

We Are The Night

I'm a pretty huge weirdo. If you're down with that, I like you.

Word.

I'm On My Way

If you were to visit me in my basement this week, you would encounter these things:

We Do What We Like And We Like What We Do

Warped Tour got announced and it looks ok. Especially because Andrew fucking W.K. is on it. I know he probably won't play full band but I hope he does.

I AM SO READY TO PARTY WITH ANDREW W.K.

Knowing That's The Closest That I'll Ever Be

Watch this and listen to "Indians" by Anthrax at the same time. It's a wicked sweet time!

We Get Better, We Get Better Every Day

I know, I know, 3 posts in one day is pushing it. But I thought this was hilarious:

tiger's wife mad DECEMBER 14

3306 up, 1245 down

buy tiger's wife mad mugs, tshirts and magnets

the act of being so angry at someone that you find the item they cherish most and beat them with it.

Chris was so tiger's wife mad at Joe that he grabbed Joe's Wii remote and beat him with it.

Seriously though, give the guy a break.

Flick Says He Saw Some Grizzly Bears Near Pulaski's Candy Store!

Okay, so the story I mentioned in my last post.

Lego used to have this series that focused on ninjas as the subject matter. It was like the grey, "good" ninjas against the red or black "bad" ninjas, I don't know I can't really remember. But anyways! That year my parents got me the big set for Christmas. You know in a Lego series there's always like the little tiny sets that are about $5, then the kind of bigger ones that are $20, then a sort of big one and the big giant crown jewel of the collection. So yea that year they got the big one for me. You cannot imagine how stoked I was. When I was little I fucking LOVED Lego. Usually the first thing I did every Saturday morning was pull all my shit out so I could make some rad robot or space ship while I watched cartoons. I seriously played with it almost all day.

Anyways you cannot imagine how pumped to assemble this thing. I put on my fresh Northern Getaway threads, received that morning, turned on the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" special (you know, the stop motions that rules so hard) and began to build this motherfucker. I remember that it took me the entire special to build, finishing it just as the credits rolled. I'm pretty close to the cousins on one side of my family and they always come over or vice-versa on Christmas day. Needless to say I was so stoked to show them my masterpiece.

So I'm in my room putting this monster on my shelf, it being the new mantlepiece of my bedroom. Then just as I'm about to place it up there, it falls out of my hands. As soon as it hit the floor it just shattered to a million pieces. I was so devastated. I was just the most bitter kid for the rest of the day. I didn't try to re-build it. Even if I had collected all the pieces it wouldn't have been the same.

Looking back now, I think it is one of the funniest things ever. This little 7 year-old spends the better part of his day building this thing and then clumsily drops it as soon as it's done. So tragic!

Telling this made me pretty posi, wow. Nostalgia doesn't have to be bitter!

Sidenote: Weezer did absolutely no wrong in the 90's. Do yourself a favour and put on Blue, Pinkerton, "Jamie" and "Suzanne"

Hey Now Santa, I'm Writing To You 'Cause There's a Lot of Cool Shit I Want

I've always been a big fan of Christmas. I mean most people love it when they're a kid, assuming they life in a family with the means, but that's pretty much entirely based on the fact that you're getting new toys. I guess for some people that type of appreciation continues for the rest of their lives. But you know who those kids are and they suck. But obviously for most of us it begins to take on a new significance as you grow up.

I mean I do still enjoy getting gifts, seriously who doesn't? But Christmas has gone beyond unwrapping the big castle from the Ninja Lego (not to say I wouldn't still enjoy getting that. Lego rules. Seriously.) (also I have a kind of funny story about that Lego set I'll tell later). I guess I can be pretty shy around some people (and by shy I mean try to behave myself and not be the jackass I am around my friends), which results in people usually getting me pretty shitty gifts. I'm not trying to be cynical, really! It just something that happens and honestly it really doesn't bother me that much at all because there's other stuff I look forward to on Christmas break.

Since I'm away at school now, opportunities to see all my friends growing up are few and far between. Since everyone is off at the same time for Christmas break, everyone gets to hang out. I really do love my friends a lot and this is usually the first time that everyone is together since the summer.

Also around this time most people seem pretty happy. Obviously the "holiday cheer" doesn't apply to everyone, but in late December there seems to be a little it of a spring in most people's steps. When you're bummed out being around other bummed people doesn't really help. A lot people knock Christmas because there's so much consumerism and all that crap, but if it's making people happy is it really that bad? Plus people that get ulcers trying to find the perfect gift or punch other parents trying to get the last Tickle-Me-Elmo are probably pretty shitty examples of human beings already.

Most people think of the morning opening presents and the tree when they think of Christmas. I think of getting a few things that I'll put to good use and hanging out doing stupid shit in my basement with the best guys on earth because it's too cold to go outside.

Plus it gives me an excuse to listen to this song:

Is There Anybody Out There?

I used to stay up to watch "The Punk Show" on MuchMusic whenever I could. Back when George Stromboulopolis used to host it had pretty good content and would usually play some smaller Canadian bands. But anyways, one night a particular video came on, "No Face" by The Suicide Machines.

I had already heard of the band; I loved "New Girl" as it was on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtrack and had gotten "Your Silence" off of a Warped tour compilation. So I sort of liked the band but had never really gotten the effort to check them out.

The video started with a shot of the guitar player crowd surfing and playing the lead riff. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen in my life up to that point. Immediately I was in a whole other world watching the clip.

Then the bass line kicked in. I had never heard a bass player carry a song so much. It was the main part of the song. It completely changed my outlook on how to play my instrument and is still the most influential moment in my playing.

I was amazed by the song. It definitely had a punk attitude. But it was so poppy, so fun and had you singing along right away. And it was fast.

Needless to say, I was hooked. I was them live a little later and became even more enticed. Then I bought "Destruction by Definition" and the rest is history.

I'm Living Like I'm Ten Years Younger

You should start listening to this band. They play super fast and have super growly vocals. What's not to like? Plus in their song titles I saw a Billy Madison reference and a Ninja Turtles II reference.

N'aaaaaaaaaaaam sayin?

http://www.myspace.com/gorydell

Always Feel Like I've Got Better Things To Do

I just realized that on a few posts I got some comments from some people who I don't know in any way. This is awesome. I'm pretty surprised anyone who isn't a close friend of mine reads this, but I also think it's pretty rad.

What I want to say is this: If you are reading this and have an opinion on something I write please feel free to write something. If you disagree, I love to argue. If you agree, let's talk about how much we rule. If you're indifferent, let's talk about the impact of Stephen and Karl on the fourth Descendents record.

chyea.

Getting a Copy of My Zines

Hello,

You have found this post because you followed a link on the side of my blog. I buried this post way back in 2009, even though I am writing it in 2017, so that it wouldn't come up when you land on IMU here.

It is wild that this has been going since 2009. Almost 10 years! The abbreviation IMU was bus twinkle in my eye back then.

I made this post as way to clearly give ways that can get a copy of my zines I, Musical Genius: On Baseball and I, Musical Genius Vol 2: Tales from Toronto Ska, 2004-2007 if you would like one.

First off, they run $5+$2 shipping. If you are hard up for funds, I am more than happy to cut you a deal on this. Cheap prices are PUNK.

If you live in Toronto, I'd be more than happy to meet you in person and save you that $2! Most people who are interested in reading it are probably from Southern Ontario anyways.

But if you need it shipped, get in touch with me, either through comments on this post or email me at "tbone" underscore "yo" at "hotmail" dot "com" and we can work out the details!

I guess I could have made a webstore for this, but it felt kind of silly to do that for two zines and I thought that working out orders the old fashioned way on an out-dated blogging platform is more in line with the whole IMU aesthetic anyways. A store may come in the near future, so keep an eye out!

Cool! Thanks!

I Left A Lot Of Blood In California

More than anything else, The Upsides is a record about fighting back. I felt like the past year left me and all of my friends defeated. Our early-twenties had beaten us down. We listened to sad songs and we watched sad movies and we talked about sad shit. It was like everyone looked at the rest of their lives and decided that now was the time to start being miserable. A lot of the lyrics for this record were written on my bike while I avoided traffic and bad parts of the city. Before we actually started writing songs, I had compiled a notebook full of the lines that I pulled from the fog my breath produced on all of my freezing, snowy morning bike rides. I had given up, and this was going to be a record about just that, and then, one day, I was riding my bike down 19th Street on the way to work and from the top of Callowhill, I could see that the fountain at Logan Circle had been turned on. Something clicked in my head and I guess it was because this meant it was Spring, or maybe it was just because it reminded me of happier times, but I decided then that it wasn't okay to be this defeated at twenty-three. A few months later the band moved into the house I was living in South Philly with my girlfriend and roommate. They slept on the floor of our living room and every day we would wake up and walk down into the 15-square foot basement to write songs. We spent a very long, very hot month between May and June surviving on freezie-pops and Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee alone. Everyone, literally and figuratively poured themselves into this record as we must have lost a collective ten pounds from sweat alone. My basement still smells terrible to this day. There were a few times when we walked upstairs after an argument and I didn't think we'd ever come back down because every song was that important to every one of us. The result is a record that we're all very proud of and that I think carries a very real message. The whole world wants you to be miserable. It wants you to put your head down, sigh to yourself and give up on being happy, and I know just as well as anyone that sometimes, giving up seems like the only option, but if you take one thing from this record, I hope it's this: Don't give those mother-fuckers an inch. Stand your ground every chance you get because everybody deserves a chance to be happy.

From The Wonder Years myspace: www.myspace.com/thewonderyearspa

I've got a lot to say lately. I guess I'll be writing more.

I'm Not Sad Anymore

I’ve got a new state of mind and I hope it sticks.

Ever since I’ve gotten older and matured (term used very loosely), I’ve found that it has become increasingly easy for me to become depressed. Once you get it in your head that you feel shitty, it is the only thing you can think about. When that happens, it overwhelms you. The more you think about how bad you feel, the more it takes hold of you and you feel worse.

I listen to a lot of hardcore bands that preach a positive mental attitude (PMA). Whenever I was in a good mood it was definitely something I followed. Keeping a cool head and always feeling good. But I really had it all wrong looking back at it now. I confused feeling good with having a positive attitude. It is damn impossible to feel good all of the time. Shitty stuff happens to everybody and everyone feels like crap sometimes.

This time though, I made a change.

For the month of November, I felt pretty crappy. Through personal life, professional (school stuff), etc. I felt like I was really falling short. The climb back kind of started because of one event. I was talking to the lead singer of Daggermouth on MySpace (they had to go on hiatus so he could be treated for depresson). The advice he gave me was “...find something you love and just do it. Fuck the outside pressure” and that was something that I really needed to hear. It’s hard to just start thinking one way after being used to another for so long, but I tried to incorporate.

Something that has a bit of significance later on; I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time in this period.

The Wonder Years were a band that I sort of liked but not a whole lot. Every now and then I throw on their jams but for some reason thought their older stuff was juvenile. November was when the build up to their new album, The Upsides, was starting. I follow the singer on twitter so I would be getting updates on the tour throughout the month. Each time he used twitter he would tag his messages with either theupsides or imnotsadanymore. Their older music wasn’t exactly negative, but some of their songs had lyrics and a vibe that said “there’s a lot of stuff wrong in my life”. Now it was like the band was saying “we need to be happy”. This really got to me.

I started doing one thing that really helped; focusing on the little things. You can’t only think about the big issues in your life. As absolutely terrible as this sounds, the bigger things never work exactly as you planned. They are always changing, because of all the things that happen to you every day. Take pleasure in the things that you enjoy about your day. Notice the small stuff that goes right, it makes your day ten times better. When you’re in a mood like that it lets you think clearly, it helps you a lot.

I was already poised to be in a better mood, when I remembered something. I was in the shower and I recalled a scene from Good Will Hunting. It was the one when Robin Williams confronts Matt Damon and keeps saying “It’s not your fault” until Damon breaks down. I started thinking to myself “It’s not your fault” about all the different situations in my life. It’s one thing to take responsibility for your actions, but you cannot blame yourself for all of your problems.

It’s not your fault.

That night I went to a show. I went mainly to see the band Sights and Sounds, but the headliner was Moneen, who I’ve never listened to. This is an important point; I’ve never listened to them. All in all, I thought that I would be poised to be in a really bad spot emotionally at this show. But what happened was the complete opposite. I was around the right people and the right music. Moneen put on an incredible show, definitely one of the best ones I’ve ever seen. The performance was an overwhelming catharsis of positive energy. The band and the crowd were completely in sync and you can tell that it meant a lot to all of the kids there to see them. I thought it was pretty rad that a band who I didn’t even listen to could do that for you. But it definitely did.

It was through the later part of that day and the show that I really began to understand what was meant by a positive mental attitude. It’s not being happy every second of every day, that is impossible. It’s understanding that you can overcome the things that make you bummed out. You need to keep your head, because if you don’t then it will only get worse. Shitty things happen, but you can control how you take it.

“So chin up and we’ll drown a little slower”

Hey Man

It might be odd, considering the fact that I'm Canadian, but I fucking hate winter/snow. Mostly because it is not conducive to the following things that I enjoy doing a lot:

• skateboarding
• wearing tanktops/basketball jerseys
• wearing shorts
• wearing vans with no socks
• wearing flipped up hats

Also, at shows you have to coat check. The cold sucks, it's uncomfortable and I shiver like a motherfucker.

I'm taking some time for myself, I think I really need it right now and it would be the best thing for me. Fuck all the outside influences and pressure, take pleasure in the little things and do some stuff that you enjoy.

Stop listening to what ever you have on and put on Rehasher, Shook Ones or Crime in Stereo instead.

End rant.