All Hallow's Eve

Today is a pretty weird day.

WHY COULD THAT BE TIM? HOW CAN YOU MAKE THAT STATEMENT AND THEN LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT? JEEZE BRUH!

Well, it's feels weird because today is the first Halloween I've spent at home since 12th grade. And while it might seem like I'm making a way bigger deal of this than I need to, as soon as my Mom put up the decorations and brought the mini bags of chips to the door I was on whatever the nostalgia-oriented version of the Autobahn is called and transported to my childhood.

I imagine that it's equally weird for my parents because while the last 6 years of my existence feel like a lifetime and I feel like I've changed lots and lots since then, I'm sure it went by very fast for them. I find that the older you get, the faster that time passes. Like remember when you were a kid and it seemed like  forever in between Christmases? And now it's like "Oh shit, it's Christmas already." Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is that those 6 (and if we really want to get into it, like 8 or 9) years went by like *Tim snaps his fingers* that to them. So it's got be weird that their son went from dressing up like Batman 4 years in a row and being amped to go out and get candy to sitting in the basement on his laptop and thinking that it sucks he can't go out and get free candy.

I don't know if it's just me becoming jaded as I get older or the usual "Back in my day..." shtick, but is it just me or has Halloween gotten substantially shittier in the last few years?

I mean when I was younger there'd be a gang of about 10 or so of us 12 year-olds covering out entire neighborhood trying to get as much candy as possible and looking for that elusive house giving out cans of pop so we could wash down what we were snacking on while walking. We'd all gather at one person's house early and we'd be out for hours. Now it seems like parents are so concerned about what their kids are getting and so on that everyone is sheltered from everything I understood Halloween to about when I was younger.

I guess I can't fault parents for protecting their children because obviously that is extremely important, but  Halloween is a pretty crucial stepping stone in a child's social life as well as developing their independence (or at least I see it that way). Because when you're young and going out trick-or-treating for the first time, it's really the first time you're exposed to that many people being out and around. It might have just been me being a little boy and overwhelmed, but my early memories of going out on Halloween with my Dad and sister made the street seem like a giant crowded marketplace of costumes where everyone was having an amazing time. I loved it.

And then you get older and start to trick-or-treat with your friends and all of a sudden it's "Holy shit! (I started swearing early) Our parents are letting us go out by ourselves! And we're getting candy!" And then you go back home and watch Halloween cartoon specials and actually have more candy than you can eat and it's just like "Fuck those jabronis in Stand By Me, they don't have shit on my friends and I!"

Then before you know it you're in 8th grade and everyone in your class is going out together and you just think "HOLY FUCK! GIRLS." and you have a reason to hang out with them and if you were smoother and not starting to get acne you would make a move.

Of course that segways right into high school when you realize that drinking and weed is cool, but drinking and smoking weed is even cooler when you can go out and candy for free and hang around your neighborhood and again, girls.

So if you can't tell by now, I fucking love Halloween and while I'm sure that kids today are probably having an equally rad time, albeit in some different way, I wouldn't want them to miss the amazingness that was Halloween when I was growing.

I sure am a nostalgic son of a bitch, aren't I?

I Look Like Shit (Again)

What the fuck is up!

You should be able to tell I'm going to make a half-assed effort to keep up this blog (Yes, again. Ugh. I know.) because not only have I put a new picture at the top (MAXIMUM EFFORT YOU GUYS.) but I also added another contributer who happens to also be me, just with a new email.

More importantly, Jeff Rosenstock has put out a new album and I feel compelled to write about and we all know this is a fucking haven for music news right?

Right.

So yeah, last week Jeff Rosenstock released a solo album without having mentioned the release date or built up any hype whatsoever. Just completely out of the blue. He's done this on the last few Bomb The Music Industry! releases and I have to say I'm fan of it. Rather than trying to drum up praise or excitement, he just lets the music speak for itself and in his case it works because the music is extremely good.

GET THIS ALBUM RIGHT HERE. IT IS FREE. YOU ARE A CLASS-A JABRONI IF YOU DON'T.

One can immediately recognize that Senor Rosenstock is behind the music not only from his distinctive voice, but also because the music more less follows the style that BtMI! has established over the course of their last few albums (makes sense as several of the tracks were originally intended to make up a Bomb EP that was never finished). Since a bunch of the songs are demos, they're a little more stripped down than what he put out in the past, though there are more than enough drum machines and clear (but awesome) signs of home production to satisfy fans of Bomb's early work.

One thing I've really noticed is how much work the guy puts in vocals nowadays. He's gone from yelling as many words as he can per song (which I loved) during the Arrogant Sons of Bitches to writing less words but putting way more melody into his vocals (which I also love) as was the case on Vacation, all while dramatically increasing his range along the way.

Along with this what is definitely his most interesting choice of cover, and maybe even his best cover, as he chose to do the pop-punk tune "I Don't Wanna Die" (Ai Don Wana Dai?) by the extremely rowdy and awesomely weird Ging Nang Boyz. Jeff has a habit of making the second or third last song a longer/darker number and then following it up with the most epic ender one can imagine that just makes you feel amazing and posi and fuzzy and happy to be alive. In this case "Amen" fills the role of the former, while "I Don't Wanna Die" takes care of the the latter.

I guess it could just be me, but I've spent the last week yelling "The Internet Is Everywhere" and "Bonus Oceans" and it feels PRETTY DAMN GOOD MAN.

To put it shortly, if you love Bomb the Music Industry! then you will love this album. If you don't love Bomb the Music Industry!, then get yer head outta yer ass and download this album. The guy's a genius and this is probably more accessible to you than anything else he's put out.

Album of the year?

Probs.

I Look Like Shit

A problem I have is that I tend to over-think things. Though I can be shy and might not speak very much sometimes, in my head the wheels are constantly turning and analysing everything I see. It’s not exactly healthy and is something that I would avoid, but unfortunately the way my mind works is not something that I control.

The worst part about over-thinking things is that it leads to several bad habits that I would like to avoid just as much. There really are too many to list but the main one is that I keep things bottled up. The link between over-thinking situations and over-analyzing occurrences and my habit of not letting anything out may seem a little bit strained, but let me elaborate.

There are and were many people who I am and was exposed to on a regular basis that I found to be pretty irritating and overbearing. Usually a big part of this would be making a gigantic deal out of things that were pretty minor in actuality. An example would be complaining about schoolwork and acting like it was the end of the world that they had an exam/essay/report/etc to write and also acting like they specifically had it worse than anyone else. In reality everyone at university had a pretty similar workload if not worse than these people (An engineer would have far more work to finish in any given week than a business major.) but this was lost on them. They would often make similar remarks about their love life and such.

As is my custom, I found this people to be extremely annoying and very unpleasant to be around. Naturally I wanted to be perceived in the opposite light of these people, so I tried to do the opposite of whatever they would. Since they let everything out and constantly complained, I started to not let anything out and try to never whine. This is certainly not healthy or recommended but it does have a few positives that come along with it. If you stop to think about it, do you actually like to hear about others’ problems? The answer is definitely no. While I’m sure you take great pleasure in hearing your friends rant and helping them overcome obstacles that pleasure comes from helping your friends out and seeing them become happy again, not from hearing them complain. Straight up, people complaining fucking sucks. So I found that not venting about little annoyances made it seem like I am far more easy-going than I actually am and thus more likeable.

However, with this approach come many more negatives than positives. As Jeff Rosenstock very poignantly put on his latest album “Show me a person who always seems fine and I’ll show you a lying sack of shit”. Everyone dislikes things and gets low because that is human nature and it happens to everyone and that’s just the way things are. So if you have no avenue to purge these annoyances, they start to pile up and get much worse.

This has been the case lately. I’m done school and don’t really have anything to challenge myself like my program did. I’ve been forced to move back into my parent’s house and live in my sister’s room while she is away at school. I have no job and thus no source of income to do things. My band lives in another city that is an hour and a half away by car, but 3-4 hours away via public transit, which is what I am forced to take to get to practice. All this adds up to me often feeling beaten down and tired, despite not having done very much, which is just about the worst feeling you can get.

I have a select few friends who don’t really mind hearing me open up about things, but on the whole I keep it to myself because I feel like I shouldn’t trouble other people with my problems when they already have their own. As a result of this tendency coupled with my aforementioned worries, I wake up in a bad mood with nowhere for it to really go, which leads to days like today:

I wake up still tired, I put on records about being sad, I drink coffee and mope around my house, keeping quiet and trying to find things to do while my mind races around in circles thinking about the things I don’t like but not really finding a way to reconcile them.

Fortunately for me, my 11 year-old border collie has a habit of noticing when I don’t feel so great and he came over to put his head in my lap, stare at me with his gigantic eyes and remind me that at least he wants me to feel good.

Hit Stop, Rewind, It's Time To Check Your Audio

Today I left my house and was scrolling through my ipod try to find something a little more energetic to listen to than the Cat Stevens record I already had going at the time. Being already in the "C" section, I came across a name that I hadn't seen in a while: The Ceremonial Snips.

Now of course they are still a band, but have changed their name to just "The Snips" and in fact put out a new record this year which you can get for $0 right here. But with the name change came a big change in sound as well as some member changes. The band has been operating under the "Snips" moniker for a while now and most people probably think of the current incarnation of the band, rather than the "Ceremonial" version of the band.

While nowadays the band plays rockier/poppier punk songs that are very good, they're nowhere near the hard-hitting/horn-laden punk that the band used to put out. They played real fast, had melodic hornlines, hardcore-influenced riffs and metal leads. It definitely seems like an odd combination, but the band pulled it off extremely well, taking the best parts of each genre in order to make a greater whole.

Evidence of this is one of their better known old songs, "Fuck With The Rose", where they start with about 30 seconds of metal riffing that wouldn't be out of place on a Megadeth record, then go into a great catchy hornline, a fast punk verse and then end with a hardcore gang vocal back and forth.

I first got introduced to the band because they would get put on ska bills all of the time because they had a horn section I guess? They really have no element of ska to them whatsoever. Anyways they kept getting tighter and tighter live and kept getting gnarlier and gnarlier riff-wise and really turned into one of my favourite Ontario bands. Then they kept quiet for a little bit and came out with the new line-up. I was pretty bummed at first because of the change in sound but eventually grew to like the new version as well.

The band was pretty important to me and were definitely one of the first groups that got me more into hardcore and metal. I would highly recommend tracking down a copy of Check Your Audio because it's front-to-back great and is seriously riff city.

Or, if you are lazy then click this.

Fuck That Shit

Something that has been interesting to me throughout my life is watching the way skateboarding constantly evolves and changes. More so than any other sport (except in some cases Basketball) one single single figure, or small group can completely change the style of skateboarding. This was true in the 70's with the Zephyr team, the 80's with the Bones Brigade, as well as many different skaters in the 90's and after. Visually the biggest difference is the fashion as skaters are very quick to jump on a trend and start dressing like their favourite shredders (Watch The Search For Animal Chin and you will immediately see why I dress the way I do). Remember when every suburban teenager started wearing purple and black "heart-agram" shit because Bam Margera did. Or when Hurley stocks went up a jillion points when Bob Burnquist had a Hurley shit on in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater? The same can be said today of all the kids trying to look like the Deathwish/Shake Junt teams.

The exact same thing happens in the style of tricks performed. Young kids skating obviously try to skate like their favourite skaters and do the same style tricks as them. Everyone is flipping in and out of grinds today because they grew up watching Koston do the same thing.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that the trends in skating as well as skating itself is in constant flux and constantly evolving.

But something that has grown an astounding amount in popularity over the last few years is longboarding. I just do not get the appeal. When I first started skateboarding longboarding seemed to be a California-only thing for the hippies to do on their amazing selection of hills. As I went through university, I noticed more and more people starting to longboard to the point that now far more people longboard than "regular" skating. The only appeal I can see is that they are easier to cruise on and thus much more convenient if mobility is all you're looking for in a skateboard.

Rollerbladers have long been the mortal enemy of skateboarders, but I would wager that longboarders have now taken up that mantle. When I look at the reasons why I, myself loathe them so much I can't really pinpoint it. I used to say "You can't ollie on a longboard" but then I saw a group of kids bombing rails in New York on longboards (less lame, but still pretty lame). I often say "It's not a skateboard if you can wear sandals on it" but that doesn't really carry any weight and is more just me making fun of people who wear Birkenstocks to skateboard in.

After a lot of thinking though, I believe I've finally come to a conclusion. It's because no (or a very minimal amount) of longboarders were skateboarders before. So what has happened is that a huge population of people who aren't really "skateboarders" (This is a whole other fucking ordeal that I can't get into now.) have taken over the sport. For example, there is a skate shop in Guelph where I just moved out of that didn't sell any actual skate parts, only longboards. As a result of this, pretty much the only place someone can go to get  a new skateboard/skate parts is the West 49 in the mall. Which really sucks.

The culture surrounding longboarding is what pisses me off most about it. It started as something that was awesomely counter-culture. Skateboarding is illegal, street skaters got in the way, did things in places they weren't supposed to and weren't highly regarded. I got into skateboarding and punk music at around the same time (as many people did) and it seemed like a match made in heaven. In contrast to this is longboaring culture, which, as far as I can tell, consists of bros riding them to the library and hippies cruising around on them to be environmentally friendly.

And that fucking sucks man.

Also, complete non-sequitur but especially fuck people who refer to skateboards as "shortboards". That should be punishable by stoning.

It just really sucks to see something you've grown up loving so much to be completely overrun by a group of people who have absolutely nothing to do with the original ethos of the sport. Not to say that I'm a nihilistic badass with no regard for anybody who busts Smith grinds now 10 sets in front of cops, but there certainly is  a "I don't give a fuck" attitude that you take up a little bit the first time you buy a skateboard and that is definitely void in longboarding.

That, or I'm a jaded ass who hates everything.

Maybe a little of both?

But I suppose that even though most people actually ask me "Why don't you longboard?" when they see my deck, a bunch of turds can't ruin the inherent magic of landing sketchy ollies with your best friends in a parking lot. So I suppose that even though skateboarding is extremely mainstream at the moment because of figures like Rob Dyrdek (though he does build a ton of skateparks in places they are needed, so good on him) and Ryan Sheckler (though he does shred pretty fucking hard) and also overrun with goddamn longboarders, nothing can ever take away the magic trying to land a trick all day and finally stomping it at 12:30 with all your friends cheering you on.

That and some fuck is always going to be pissing off security guards by manualing around the front of a building. Which makes me smile.

Razor Burn

This should come as no surprise to my friends, but growing mustaches is something I really like to do. Many people probably think I grow them to look silly and make my friends laugh, but I think I can grow a pretty nice thick one and legitimately think I can pull one off. As a result I grow them somewhat frequently and not just during Movember when it becomes socially acceptable for males to because of the cause associated with that month.

Buuuuuut my mustache is something that I get surprising amount of shit for from strangers. For example, while I walking home from a Smoking Popes show at like 3 in the morning this past June a dude sitting on the curb with a big tall green mohawk yelled out "Hey! Ironic mustache!", obviously trying to get a rise out of me. However, it was way too late for me to pretend that I cared at all and I kept walking.

This happened again while I was at *shudder* Scenefest in St. Catharines. Some crustie sitting on the sidewalk (Who I had just seen in the crowd for the Planet Smashers) said to his friend, not directly to me mind you, while I was passing "What the fuck is this? !Attention!, fucking ironic mustache..." It kind if pissed me off, so I stopped and said "It's not ironic at all. I think I look great with a 'stache and grow it for that reason." He then went on a rant about how I don't really think that and look stupid. Of course it makes sense that he knows what I think better than myself and I also like how a streetpunk/crustie was lampooning me for wearing a (supremely fantastic) local punk band's shirt, at a (well, not really, but sort of) punk music festival. Then he told me to get socks. Weird.

That guy didn't bother me too much, you know haters are gonna hate, but what does bother me is the surprising amount of disdain I get for my choice of facial from complete strangers. Apparently I'm a huge hipster piece of shit, rapist-looking motherfucker. Is my Dad one as well? Because he's had his 'stache his entire life. At what point does my mustache attain the "non-ironic, don't worry this isn't a complete asshole" tag that I already place on it?

Because I just like having a mustache. Is it really that fucking huge of a deal?

You Come Swimming Into View

 think one of the most flattering and awesome things is when you realize that you've made an impact on the personality of someone or influenced the way they act in a positive way.

I mean, I think one of the most exciting things about life is meeting different people and different personalities. Getting to know a new person and then getting along well with them really gets me going, especially when it's a personality that is different from your own. You realize you like things that you've never liked before and then change in a positive way, which (at least usually in my case) surprises you.

Even better than this is when the reverse happens, when you notice that some of your mannerisms or slang rubs off on them. This is great because it's proof of the relationship that you share and is actually physical evidence of how close you are with that person. This sure sounds like I'm talking about significant others, but it's completely true with platonic relationships as well. I think of this every time someone says "schnikees" or (if they're not ETID fans) "shinfo" or, especially, "just let it happen". It shows that they like you and also that you hang around each other enough that they're used to seeing/hearing these things so much that they start to do them without noticing. It's sweet.

Because change is really good. Nobody should ever stay the same their entire life. Even though many of my friends see me and probably think "Wow, Timmy still listens to punk and still gets that drunk (Hey, c'mon brah, I've slowed down a tad) and still laughs at poo." and that's not a bad thing, but the truth is that I've grown immensely as a person since coming to university and especially over the last two years. And this is definitely a result of the people I've met and the friends I've made and their ideas that I've heard.

Let's get back on track though. The marks you make on people. That shit is important, yo. Because those are the things I think about a lot. When I look back on the last 5 years of my life, which is something I've started to do a lot since graduating this past spring, that's what I remember. I remember the people I grew close with, regardless of whether we are still that close now or still talk a lot, and how our relationship was and the best way to think about is to look at the marks they made on you and the marks you made on them.

I'm not exactly sure how I got this emo, but I'm rolling with it.

Anyways:

It's Wednesday

How can you enjoy summer without a killer ska mixtape? HOW?

GO AHEAD DER AND GIVE ME A DOWNLOAD EH?

Baby, It's A Heartache

It's no secret that I love warm weather. I love to wear shorts and tank tops and sunglasses and hang out in sunshine all day. I absolutely loathe winter and am usually ready for the mercury to creep back up to 20 degrees by October.

Along with really enjoying hot weather, I love making summer mixtapes. Usually right after I'm done with the school year my first order of business is to make a mix that I can jam to while I'm cruising around on my skateboard. It is only June right now, but I've already made two mixes and I'll post them here!

These are currently my shit and also, at least I think, great pairings with hot temperatures:

DOWNLOAD EYEBALLS HERE!

DOWNLOAD DUDEFEST 2012 (THAT'S WHAT I NICKNAMED THIS SUMMER) HERE!

Enjoy!

She's Out Of My League, I'm Insane

Yesterday I had a pretty bad day. Without going into specifics I was in a shitty mood and couldn't really shake it for most of the day. I realize that this pretty much goes without saying and is common sense, but I really don't like being in bad moods. Whenever I feel like shit I try to resolve it immediately because well, you know PMA and enjoying my life and stuff. I've felt pretty good since and these are the things I think have done to help:

1. Put on Vacation by Bomb The Music Industry! I liked the album when it came out but since it has really become way more than just an album for me. I listen to it so much that when I suggest throwing it on the ol' turntable Party Pat says "I dunno man, we've listened to it a lot lately." I just can't get tired of it. I know it inside and out and love it way too much. It pretty much became my best friend this past semester and it never ceases to make me feel like $1000000 and always puts a smile on my face.

2. I decided to start running again. Now I've only gone for modest runs the past two days but I gotta start somewhere, y'know? I took running pretty seriously in high school and was on the track and cross-country team each year I was. I really like running for a variety of reasons, which I am obviously about to go into detail about. The main thing is that it's not a finesse sport and it doesn't matter if you're a "natural athlete". Some people are just born more athletically inclined than others, it just the way it is. Some people can just wake up a huck a football half the field or are born with a fantastic baseball swing. With running it doesn't matter how good of an athlete you are, it matters how hard you train and how hard you push yourself. The person who runs the race hardest wins and that's all there is to it. I'm very uncoordinated and suck at sports, so this aspect of running has always appealed to me.

Another is that though baseball is easily my favourite sport, long distance running is the only sport I've done that makes me competitive. I played baseball my whole childhood growing up and while I wanted to win, the main reason I played was because it was so fun. Running is the only sport I've done where I psych myself up and push myself as hard as I can and think in my head "Push it. Pass this fucker. You trained harder. You are better than him. He doesn't deserve to beat you." While I like the positive physical affects of going for runs, the main I like to run is because I like to race. Going for runs makes me want to get better and race and beat people in races.

I also really like that running isn't a glory sport. My high-school was a very athletically inclined place with huge football and hockey programs. While those jocks were the guys who ruled the school, the cross-country was quietly the most successful high-school program in North America. Sure meatheads would wear their jerseys on game day and high-five everybody after wins, but we were the best. We just didn't brag about it.

Finally, obviously the effects of going for runs on my body is great. I haven't exercised since I left high school and stopped running and am in terrible shape. I never gain weight no matter what I eat because of my ridiculous mutant metabolism, but my body sucks at what it does. Running won't give me huge muscles but it will put me in incredible shape and give me more energy.

3. I watched a few episodes of the X-Files and some good movies.

4. I woke up, went for a run, made some sandwiches and started blaring Heads Are Gonna Roll by The Hippos. They were another one of the ska bands from the 90's who despite being great and far better than most of the "big" ones, never made it. Their aforementioned second album fucking rules and is much more than just a ska record. They take a ton of country and alt and post-punk and 80's influences and throw them all together. No two songs on the record sound the same except for the fact that they all sound amazing. Ariel Rechtshaid is a fantastic song-writer and should be employed as a song-writer for pop artists right now if he isn't already (The band broke up in 2003). All their songs are catchy and cute and have great bass-lines to go along with horn and synth parts that get stuck in your head immediately.

5. The Jays whooped the Red Sox today and Hutch threw at Doucheilis.

One of my fav Hippos jams: