NSP Review: Murder By Death- Good Morning, Magpie

Album Artwork from Murder By Death's Discography

Good music is not always easy to find in Indiana. Unlike many areas of the country, there isn’t, and maybe never was, a comprehensive “scene” or music city. Like anywhere in the country, the larger cities have their struggling bands, and the small towns have aging cover bands and high school kids with little talent but huge dreams. Thus, the band Murder By Death, which hails from Bloomington, Indiana, came as a big surprise to me when I discovered their music. They quickly became one of my favorite bands, and their new record, Good Morning, Magpie, is no exception.

For those who have never heard of the band, Murder By Death is an alternative group that sounds something like the love child of Nick Cave, Ennio Morricone (famous composer of classic westerns), Johnny Cash, and a literature major on a three week bender. So, more of a love grandchild, really. At their start, they were not easily distinguishable from some of the more theatrical emo and punk bands, with ridiculous song titles like “You Are the Last Dragon (You Possess the Power of the Glow)” and “Intergalactic Menopause.” Even on their second album, Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?, song quality was occasionally sacrificed to support the bizarre plot line about the Devil unleashing zombies on a small, desert town.

Burnout

Picture from The Commons on Flickr.

As it should be quite obvious, I have missed two of my regularly scheduled days for posting, last Friday and yesterday. My past blogging attempts haven’t lasted past eight or nine posts, so I definitely do not want to abandon this one, or even let up too much on my posting schedule. Keeping up the writing plus the insanity that is life right now, however, was quickly pushing me to a case of burnout that was going to leave me as roadkill on the highway of the universe.

This last Saturday, I had dinner with my Father (who is also my boss) while Nicole was unfortunately working the evening shift. At least half of our conversation revolved around making comments like “It’s been a long year,” “What happened this last year,” “Seriously, what happened, I don’t remember,” and random sounds of confusing thought. Essentially saying, it’s been constant chaos at the family business, and the last few weeks have been no different. Over two weeks ago we liquidated everything but the property at the farm, and since then I’ve been constantly trying to revamp an entire webstore by myself.

The New Car Shuffle

Photo from The Commons on Flickr

With our big move rapidly approaching, one of the things Nicole and I have had to accept is that we must get her a new car. There are no ifs, ands, or buts to this situation, except the butts which will be sitting in said new car’s seats. Both of us need an automobile, and there is no way that Nicole’s vehicle will make it all 1000 miles we have to travel ahead of us.

My old car, the Chevrolet Beretta. Photo from CarGurus.com

I already replaced my long neglected, continually falling apart Chevrolet Beretta a year and a half ago. This car got a flat tire and was technically totaled. I replaced it with a brand new HHR, a vehicle I thought was pretty neat until I realized that everyone in the tri-state area apparently had the same thought. Now I can’t find a parking lot where at least 2 other cars look identical to mine.

NSP Presents: Random Listening, Volume 1

Photo from The Commons on Flickr.

With work being a little ridiculous right now, and all the big move, wedding, and other planning, I find myself listening to a lot more music lately than I have since college graduation. This is good, as music has always helped me focus and made me a happier person. This is also bad, because I suddenly gain an insatiable craving for more new sounds, more new albums, and I have to use every bit of self control not to purchase any random song that seems interesting.

As such, here’s the first of potentially many little overviews of some albums I’m listening to at the moment, with a few thoughts on each. No guarantees I won’t milk these for full reviews later.

Florida Move Update: Staying in Hotels I Can’t Afford

Picture from the Universal Orlando website.

In a little over a month, Nicole and I will be heading back to Florida to look at potential apartments and attempt to avoid bug ridden slums. It’s quite frustrating evaluating apartments online, as one can find a website with great photos and glowing comments about a place, and then find a seething tempest of hatred in the reviews by former tenants. We’re not looking for the most spectacular apartment ever, just one that is affordable, safe, pleasant, and big enough that we can actually fit our stuff this time. Winning the lottery would certainly help in this search.

Our current plans have us leaving on October 9th and spending 3 days and 2 nights searching the area around Orlando for decent living accommodations. This process is going to be a bit exhausting, I’m sure, and possibly even a little stressful. I’m hoping it will go smoothly, but apartment hunting is a tricky, unpredictable business.

My Animatronic Friend

Picture from Garner Holt's website (The builder of this Oogie Boogie animatronic).

The internet was made for people that like getting lost down rabbit holes. Today I started my groggy morning by reading the regular Monday update of Miceage, a Disney Parks discussion board and news site, with emphasis on Disneyland. Monday is dedicated to construction and renovation updates around Disneyland and California Adventure. Greeting me in this update was the following photo (originally found on a twitter account called "MurphyTracker"):

NSP Review: Despicable Me Original Soundtrack

Image from Amazon.com

This year in movies has been pretty good for me so far. How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and Despicable Me have all been winners, hitting both themes of maturity and complete silliness and oddity. Despicable Me is one of the biggest surprises, as I expected some Shrek-like reference fest with lots of scatological humor. Instead, I found a film that combined the emotion and heart of the Pixar films with the absurd physical humor of classic Looney Tunes, and somehow made it work beautifully. Plus, it featured the protagonist, Gru, punching a shark in the face, which is always a good time.

The soundtrack of the movie also tries to blend a party atmosphere with sweeter moments, and doesn’t manage to succeed quite as well. Part of the problem is that it’s a short album. There are only 10 tracks total, 2 of which are classic disco tunes “Boogies Fever” by The Sylvers and “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees.