Betrayal, Disappointment, and Accounting.

I guess this post is not as dark as the title implies. But today is Jim Adkins' birthday. (According to my dad). This kind of links me back to a bunch of events involving my favorite bands of the past.

Mae, one of my favorite bands during high school and early college, announced recently that they will be touring with Katy Perry, a sub-par popstar. This is a terrible choice and I am saddened by their decision to be associated with Ms. Cherry Chapstick.

I mean, Mae have toured with inferior bands before... But I digress.

Also, today signified the release of Switchfoot's new album Hello Hurricane. I thought it would be interesting to see my reaction to it. Mainly because their lasts release was during the time when they were the top of my charts, back in 2006.

I am sad to say, that on my first impression, they have taken their ideas and squeezed them through the pop-song filter. The songs that have shown some growth for the band have been shaved down to their cleanest state. This could have worked as pop rock, but the problem is with the choruses. They are boring, repetitive and unoriginal. They took elements of White Stripes-esque garage rock and inserted pop choruses that feel like hitting ice on a gravel road.

The Sound also takes some sounds from industrial music, but they seem like a little add-on.

Maybe I'm getting cynical and tired of the conventional pop song format. I had been really impressed with Jon Foreman's solo work, and hoped that it would bleed into Hello Hurricane.

But as I've stated for about a year now, Switchfoot is holding him back.

Oh, I have an accounting midterm tomorrow. I don't feel ready for it, but I'm not going to let it bother me (at least until the half-way point of the test where I break down and cry).

I'll feel great after the test. I have some stuff to look forward to: no piano lessons, and dinner with a friend.

After I finish my 10-15 page paper for Tuesday (a shot-by-shot analysis of a 3:00 minute segment from Slumdog Millionaire) I'll be primed to enjoy the release of Left 4 Dead 2. Should be awesome.

Maybe I have some direction afterall.

I finally took the step and declared a major. Communications Studies. Yeah, it does sound like a B.S. degree (well, technically it's a B.A.). But now I can move on and register for classes on time. And I won't have to decide everything I do for the rest of my college career. Sometimes lack of freedom is what I need.

I have noticed this with my DJ job over at Radio K. (I guess I should say that nothing I say represents Radio K or it's supporters... yada yada yada). I feel a lot less stress when there are more songs scheduled and fewer songs for me to choose for myself.

Anyways, although I'd like to be able to make every choice on my own, it is just too much of a weight for me to handle.

On other news, my sister and her boyfriend just got engaged. They just told my mother and me today (told my dad yesterday).

The whole thing hasn't settled in yet, but it's not a huge surprise. I guess just sooner than I expected. Either way, it's good news.

I'm hoping to see a bunch of my friends soon, so let's see if that works out.

I've been listening to a ton of Mew and Bjork lately, as well as OK Computer and Kid A. Sorry if I'm not as deep or insightful as I attempted to be on my previous posts. I guess I'm just in a better mood.