amazingadrian

Oh man. So, as the Dark Knight Returns nears completion, we get the news that Heath Ledger is dead.
So, unless the filming has been completed, It looks as though we won't be getting a Batman sequel this summer. The IMDB has, of this writing, not even been updated with news of his death, so we'll have to keep watch. (The film is listed as being in post-production though, so it may still come out, though a delay would be understandable.)  I'm really not sure what to think now.

Man, everything was going fine until today. I got home from school to find that my apartment had been "broken into". Yeah, the maintenance guys came in without warning and replaced our closet doors. Neither myself, nor my roommate was here while these strangers came and went from our rooms. On the plus side, so far nothing seems to be missing, but if I find that this changes, there will be hell to pay.

As for the weekend, it was fairly pleasant. Fell behind a bit in school because of the snow day, so now I need to get caught up. Java looks like it's going to be just like C++, so hopefully I can fall back into my rotes and get the job done (Java seems much easier to understand though. It's probably all in the way the teacher and the book describes its structure.) XML also seems simple and easy so far.

Also, I discovered that Adema's new album sounds much better over headphones. Much better. I'm not waffling on my stance with them any more; I think they retained much of their old sound, now that I've heard the intricacies of their tunes.  You can hear the old influence on the first track immediately, and the rest of the songs on the album also come through.  Sometimes it really does take  a few listens to get a feel for an album, I guess.

(also, why is firefox running so slow?)

Ah yes. The last of my Christmas money has been spent, and now that I've got everything done, I can relax at home until New Year's.  I got CastleVania: Dawn Of Sorrow for the DS, and Adema's new album, "Kill The Headlights".

The thing about Adema is, they've fallen pretty far since I was first turned on to their music by a random internet person. They've gone through some lead singer changes that have completely changed the group's sound, from the angry melodic growlings they began with, to a younger guy who could really melodize but couldn't do the angry growl thing at all. Now they've got a new guy who can switch between both styles fairly easily.

The problem is, they sound almost like they don't know what they are doing for much of this album. I guess they needed to put out an album before they had the chance to get their songwriting muscle back (case in point: they went from major record labels fighting over them to operating out of Myspace. This album I beleive, is only one step up from being self-produced.), but the first half of the album has songs that sound off-key, or just don't have any discernable melody over the noise. The second half of the album really shines, however; from "Prelude" on down, they start sounding like Adema again. "All These Years" is probably my favorite track on their new album; it has a really simple melody that the singer just nails, and the band gives it lots of punch. They are definately harder than they sounded on "Planets" though considerably less polished than they've ever been. I hope this album is able to carry them enough to make another one, because I get the feeling that with some more practice and time, they'll experience a return to form.

Sorry about not posting the last of my countdown on Christmas Day, but I got my Dad The Witching for the PC, and he borked the system pretty badly trying to get it to run. After discovering that the drive failed to be recognized by Windows, he uninstalled the software and reinstalled it, searched for updated drivers, restarted the computer half a dozen times, and eventually resorted to plugging the dvd drive into another PCI slot on the motherboard. That did the trick, though by the time this was all done we fond out the keyboard wasn't working. Now we've got a fancy wireless one, and I have to type real slow, or else it will start skipping letters. :/

I had a good Christmas at home with my family. As usual, I got some of what I wanted, but most of what I hadn't put on my list, but were cool gifts anyways. :)  I got Kingdom Hearts 2, DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Mega Man ZX Advent (DS), a cookbook, a crank flashlight, both expansions for Oblivion, and a World Of Warcraft calendar. Oh, and the typical loads of Christmas Candy! Everyone liked the gifts I got them this year, which is absolutely wonderful! I just wish the game I got Dad wouldn't run so choppy, but I know it's his hardware screwing up...Man, I am never ever going to put my own computer together after this. Dad and I, our computers are about at the same level (technology wise; mine has a bit more storage, but processor capability should be about the same), yet Dad's runs so very very poorly compared to mine. Mine was store bought too. :/

I also got Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which I already had; so today I went into town to exchange it. Picked up the appropreate Vice City Stories game that Dad intended to get me but got mixed up. I guess he didn't look hard enough, since we found the title right there in the same store.  Went to Rainbow Records from there to browse their selection and got "Minitues To Midnight" by Linkin Park. I also lucked out and fount "Intermission" by Stratovarius in the bargain bin!  After some deliberations, and getting the opportunity to listen to Dream Theater's new album (also in the bargain bin), I'm sorry to say (mremaknu), that Stratovarius just does it better.  Also, what is with Dream Theater? Did they get a new lead singer or something? They sound almost completely different on this new album...a bit edgier, I'd say.  Speaking of edgy, I can tell that Linkin Park had difficulty putting together their latest offering.  The album has some great LP style songs, and a few that seem slapped together. There are a few that are just ladden with cuss words, and sound like they were put on the album just to get it that little advisory sticker to make it seem edgy, and not elegant, like the rest of the album sounds like. *shrugs* I like enough on it, so I'm keeping it. Their brand of technically advanced rock/rap has grown on me over the years, and I don't mind the emo as long as they keep sounding good.

Tomorrow I'll probably go back into town and blow the rest of my Christmas money. :p  I intend to pick up Adema's "new" cd, and possibly another DS game to help pass the time. Don't think I'll have enough left over for the Orange Box like I was hoping, but I can always get that later when it discounts.  

Oh yeah, and I got your card gebohq! It was awesome! :D