ProtusMose.com

August Burns Red – Composure
Click above to watch at youtube in high definition

Two updates in one day? How lucky are you people?

I’ve been wanting to share this for quite a while now. I was never able to find a copy that didn’t have embedding disabled until today. Quite simply, ladies and gentleman, this rocks. I’d go so far as to say it’s a perfect song and perfect video. The drums are ridiculous.* The guitar parts are a fantastic concoction of crushed skulls and spring lilies. The bass compliments well without being overbearing. The vocals are brutally beautiful. The lyrics are spiritually both convicting and uplifting at the same time. It’s about the broken nature of humanity and the opportunity we have to turn our backs on our past, our sins, our shortcomings, and plot a new, hopeful course. The video actually flows with the lyrics instead of being a cheap collage of unrelated superfluous imagery.

So, from us at the Protus Mose Institute For The Dissemination of Music To Rock Your Face Off, enjoy, and God bless.

Shake it off.
Pick yourself up, they say.
Your life fell apart in your hands, and you’ve got the scars to prove it.
It’s not the first time, and they’re getting deeper.

Pull it together.
Button up your shirt.
Roll down those sleeves.
Don’t let them see how you’ve coped.

More and more your demeanor looks like quicksand.
It seems like your giving up on everything you worked for.

It’s pulling you under.
It’s gripping around your throat.

Life can be overwhelming,
But don’t turn your back on the strongest crutch you’ve ever had.
They have always been there to brace your fall.
Wave goodbye to the past.
You’ve got your whole life to lead

* Click here to watch a fan demonstration of just the drums to see how awesome the track is. How awesome? Awesome enough that I’ve watched this video probably 20 times. The drum part is so distinctive, you can hear the whole song just by listening to it.

The official ProtusMose List of Things That Annoying The Living Crap Out Of Me for the week of June 7, 2009.

* Chlorinating granules. These things refuse to dissolve. The bottom of my pool is likely to be bleached. I am also displeased with their efficacy.

* The mispronunciation of the word coupon as “Cue pon”. Coupon rhymes with Grey Poupon (but without the french accent). You don’t pick between a sedan or a kewp. You don’t overthrow your government with a kewp de tat. You don’t get discounts on items at retail stores with a kewpon.

* People who yell at me and then expect me to bend over backwards to help them with something.

* Getting old.

That is all.

Sorry about the lack of (actual) updates, gang. Work and school and kids and dinosaurs, and aliens, and yard work have been keeping me busy.

I figure I’ve got to put something up just to keep the 2 or 3 faithful checkers checking.

This had me rocking and giggling like a schoolgirl at the same time. Plus, that blue SG is uber-hawt. It’s makin’ me want to win the lottery so I can get one……

This just in. I am now accepting donations to throw away on lottery tickets.

Play him off, keyboard cat!

Click it ^

I watch parts of American Idol sometimes. It’s a way to spend time with my wife doing something she enjoys. I usually can’t sit through a whole show, though. Last night we were finishing a late dinner when the show came on. That Adam Lambert kid, looking as smug and douchey as ever, is standing next to Seacrest and I think to myself, “Man, that guy is such a tool.”

Then it hit me. The universe has scoured its depths and pulled forth the impossible. Here we have someone standing next to Ryan Seacrest and looks like even more of a tool than Seacrest does. I never would have thought this to be possible. Seacrest needs to hire Lambert to hang out with him at all times to lower his d-bag level.

Subject: XXX added you as a friend on Facebook…

XXX added you as a friend on Facebook. We need to confirm that you know XXX in order for you to be friends on Facebook.

This actually kind of floored me. What do you do when someone who was involved to a degree in almost killing you and radically altering your life in a traumatic way wants to add you on facebook out of blue? Do I ignore it and hope he goes away? Do I add him and pretend like it never happened? What doe she think is going to happen? What is he expecting out of this? Should I accept it as a sign of maturity and forgiveness? Do I forgive them? I do. I’m not sure that means I want to talk to either of them.

Man.

I’m supposed to be studying…

I don’t care what conventional wisdom says. A homemade chocolate milkshake and porkrinds is a perfectly acceptable 9:30 AM snack.

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class FahrenheitToCelciusTwo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Prompt the user for input
String inputValueString = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(
null, “Please enter a temperature in Fahrenheit:”);

// Convert string to double
double inputValue =
Double.parseDouble(inputValueString);

// Calculate temperature in Celcius
double temperatureInCelcius =
(5.0 / 9) * (inputValue – 32);

// Display Results
String output = “The temperature in Celcius is ” + temperatureInCelcius;
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, output);
}
}
********************

This program is both boring and awesome.

If you know programing, it’s probably readily apparent that this is a beginner’s work and you could probably think of 10 different ways to do it better.

If you don’t know programming, that’s pretty impressive, eh? The best part is, after two hours of tweaking, it works.

Finally.

Now I can go take a shower and go to bed.

I get sick of watching concert footage of great bands and seeing horrible lame crowds. Here’s a good video describing what is horrible hardcore dancing and what is awesome hardcore dancing.

Enjoy.

Here at the ProtusMose Institute for the Dissemination of Musical Excellence, we pride ourselves on ensuring you have access to quality music you may not otherwise have access to. Thanks to our efforts, you have had the pleasure of experiencing such acts as The Devil Wears Prada, Matisyahu, and Living Sacrifice. We are pleased to once again serve up melodious palate rockers.

Remember a few years back when Prince played half-time at the Superbowl and everyone was all “z0mg! Prince can play guitar!??!” No surprise to your friend teh Mose. Prince is a musical genius. Even if you don’t like any Prince songs (assuming you’re old enough to remember them), you probably enjoy some of the dozens he wrote and sold to other artists. A lot of people were shocked by Prince’s rockage that Superbowl. For those of us not ashamed to be Prince fans, it was no surprise. Tonight, we bring to you a performance from the evening Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a rock classic. It’s #7 on “Rolling Stone”’s list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time. and #135 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It’s been covered no less than 30 times by major artists. (source) During this performance, the first half is a rather enjoyable and soothing rhythm fest, led by Tom Petty, whose voice isn’t completely annoying this time. While it’s not too dark, the moody (almost to the point of melancholy) nature of the song comes through subtly. Then Prince comes in. While Petty, Lynne, and Harrison sing about how the guitar weeps, Prince lets you hear it weep. The guitar wails in agony, in a sonic account of human heartbreak and suffering.

If you’re a music lover in general, or a guitar lover specifically, this one’s for you.