The X-Factor

Back in college, Clint & I got into reading comic books, specifically X-Men-related comics.

It all started because we got into the X-Men from the 1990′s cartoon on Fox.  So after that ended, we started reading the comic books.   Our roommate (and future brother-in-law!), Ryan, had a bunch of comic books that he let us borrow.

Well, we started noticing a pattern with one particular series, X-Factor.

We started noticing stuff like THIS.

The art work was very dramatic, and whenever someone was yelling something, they’d ALWAYS have a line of spit connecting the teeth or roof of the mouth to the tongue.

Dramatic lines-of-spit!

But we noticed it happened a LOT!

I started calling that line of spit an “X-Factor”. And I call the act “X-Factoring”

Rrrrawwwrrrg!

We can expect it with Wolfbane, since she was a wolf and all…

Wolfbane had it a lot... cuz she's a slobbery wolf.

And we did see it happen a lot with Wolfbane..

Wolfbane wants to drool all over you.

Cuz you know… dogs slobber a lot.

Look, in the upper-left corner, she's even talking about X-factoring while she's x-factoring!

But happened to other people, too.

X-factoring... Not just for wolves...

Sometimes, it was REALLY dramatic!

I'm X-factoring so hard, I'm crying about it!

Other times, not so much drama..

Not as dramatic, but still an X-factor!

Basically, it boils down to if you are a mutant and you are fighting, you are X-factoring!

So, if you ever hear me say “He X-factored!”, that means he had a line of spit in his mouth. Loogies and spit disgust me, so this is my way to add humor to the situation so it’s not so gross.

 

When I was young….

When I was a kid, our neighbors used to have a record with a funny song that we loved.  I wish I remember what it was so I can acquire the mp3 and enjoy it forever and ever..
 
It went something like this:
 
[tune - lullaby]
Go to bed
Go to sleep
I’ve had enough of your bull-shit
Close your eyes,
You little monster
Or I’ll blister your behind
As I explained,
You’re a pain
When you’re tired and cranky
I get cranky,
sometimes too,
like when I’m sick and tired..
of you!
No you can’t have a drink,
no I won’t read you one more story.
I’ve had it up to here.
I could use a drink myself.
[tune These are a few of my favorite things]
Pampers and potty and runny red noses
Babies are seldom a bed full of roses
Whining and crying and carrying on.
This is what sucks about being a mom.
Babies are cute,
but it’s just when they’re sleeping
New moms don’t realize what soon they’ll be keeping
Late hours that Dracula cannot live on..
This is what sucks about being a mom.
When a toy breaks,
When your back aches,
When you’re feeling down…
Real moms aren’t depressed when they see a big mess…
They just know that a child’s around.
[tune somewhere over the rainbow]
Let me go to the bathroom,
all alone
Let me watch some tv,
or talk on the telephone.
I hate Ernie and Bert
and Rainbow Brite,
I’m sick to death of the Smurfs,
So give me a break tonight.
Please my darling daughter won’t you go and bug your father,
I don’t want you near me.
……
 
[and then I forget the rest... I can't remember any other lyrics, nor how the song ends.... doh!]

My parents were pretty grumpy when we’d go around singing “bullshit” and so we would substitute bullcrap… but then later, when my sister went into the 8th grade, she started complaining about her Civics teacher.  My dad jumped at that and said “You can use his name for that bad word”.  So we would sing, “Go to bed, go to sleep…I’ve had enough of your Bullock.”

Anyway, I wish I remember how it ended.  Or at least the song name or the artist name.  Since it was my neighbor’s record, I have no idea.

I just think it’s funny that between the time I was in the 6-7th grade, I already knew kids were trouble.    Maybe this song has something to do with me never wanting kids.  Or did I like this song because I agreed that kids were trouble.

 

My favorite band quote

My favorite band quote:  “We really wanted to name this album Herzeleid, but then we found out there was already an album named Herzeleid…. and it was by us.”

-Rammstein band member, about the album Mutter

Maybe it was lost in translation.  We were watching a special or something, and it was sub-titled.  But it was hilarious, and I still laugh about it to this day.

 

Smallville

I am finding myself really annoyed by Smallville. I don’t have high expectations for that show this season. I think the dialogue is stilted, and the character development is annoying. I barely want to watch it, but I just keep hoping maybe the story might redeem it once they get going with it.

 

I have an mp3 player too

Here’s my list of 25 random songs:

1. The Weirdos – Teenage

2. Hanson Brothers – Tranquil

3. Kreator – Betrayer

4. Moistboyz – Officer Please

5. Kreator – Love Us Or Hate Us

6. Kiddie P0rn XXX – Insect Pollution

7.  Victim’s Family – George Benson

8.  Chemlab – Neurozone

9.  All – Postage

10.  Screeching Weasel – Punkhouse

11. Gwar – Don’t Need A Man

12.  D.O.A. – New Age

13. Ramones – Surfin’ Bird

14. Tiamat – The Southernmost Voyage

15. NoFX – Dig

16.  Ministry – All Day

17.  Sabbat – I For An Eye

18.  The Church – Blood Money

19.  Ministry – Breathe

20.  Sisters Of Mercy – Comfortably Numb

21.  Sabbat – Do Dark Horses Dream Of Nightmares

22.  Ween – Light Me Up

23.  Sisters Of Mercy – Possession

24.  Bad Religion – Suffer

25.  Agent Orange – Broken Dreams

I’m surprised Voltaire didn’t come up, but I guess since there were duplicate artists (2 Kreator songs, 2 Sisters Of Mercy songs, 2 Sabbat songs, 2 Ministry songs), there was no room for Voltaire.  Also NoMeansNo should have come up, but I at least got some Hanson Brothers.

 

Which Star Trek character are you?

Your results:
You are Uhura

Uhura		70%
Chekov		60%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		60%
Mr. Scott		55%
Jean-Luc Picard		45%
Deanna Troi		45%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		40%
Beverly Crusher		40%
Geordi LaForge		35%
Will Riker		35%
Data		32%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		30%
Mr. Sulu		30%
Worf		25%
Spock		20%

You are a good communicator with a
pleasant soft-spoken voice.
Also a talented singer.



Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

 

I have no rhythm

It’s no secret.  I don’t have any rhythm.   Since Guitar Hero has come out, I’ve been learning a bit, and now that we have the drums, I’m improving even more.

But many many years ago, Clint picked up a game called Mad Maestro.  This game was sort of like Frequency and Amplitude where you use the controller to press the buttons right when the note passes by the circle.  For the songs, they had well-known classical songs.  Well, I picked up that controller, and I started playing.  And then I was like “Clint! It’s so fast!  I can’t keep up!!!!!”  And Clint was just like, “It’s you.  You’re controlling it.”  It took me a little while to realize what he was saying.

This game was different than Frequency.  In Frequency (which ultimately became Guitar Hero), if you hit the note early or late, it beeped an error sound.  In Mad Maestro, you are the conductor, conducting the music.  If you hit the button early or late, it still plays the note.  So I was hitting all the notes early and it was just playing the song anyway.  So I was in this feedback loop where I was pressing the button faster and faster and faster until my thumb was going to fall off, and the game was just playing that song all sped up and fast.  It was crazy!!

I don’t think I ever played it again.  But I think Clint went all the way through it while I watched.  I’ll stick to the games that beep at me when I fuck up.  But Mad Maestro seemed like a fun game if you know what you were doing.  It was certainly fun to watch.

 

Things I can’t stop laughing at – part 2

Carmine Burana mis-heard lyrics -  “Salsa Cookies! Windmill Cookies!”   You can’t get any more hilarious than this.

When Clint & I were watching Star Trek 2, I could not get over this ridiculous damage report.  Basically, Khan shoots the Enterprise in three key places.  Kirk asks Spock for a damage report, and they both get up and walk over to the diagram of the Enterprise.  Spock then points to the three red dots with Kirk watching, and the music going “da.. da… da..” for each dot.  It was hilarious!: 

Continued from my previous blogpost.

 

Dethklok concert

After Ram’s Head had lied to us about the time that Type O Negative was playing (we called ahead, was told there were 2 bands before them that were playing a certain amount of time and that Type O Negative was going on around 10pm.  We showed up at 9:30 and had already missed half the set.), we decided to leave somewhat earlier to be safe.   We initially told Greg we were going to leave by 7:30, but then the day of the concert, we felt kinda nervous and thought we’d like to leave by 7.  Greg had already planned on 7:30, so he wouldn’t be able to get to our house by 7.  He did get to our house at around 7:20 and we rushed out the door to leave.

 

Keith David and the new Spiderman cartoon, Spectacular Spiderman.

Just yesterday, I was riding with my dad to Home Depot, and a radio commercial came on that had Keith David’s voice.  Keith David was the voice of Goliath in the cartoon Gargoyles. At the time, I thought, “Wow, it’s such a shame that such a talented voice actor has been reduced to crappy commercials.”

Later that night, Clint & I checked out the new Spiderman cartoon on WB (I think they’re calling it “Spectacular Spiderman”). And Keith David is voice acting in it! He’s playing a villian, I believe.

On another note, when the theme song came on for the Spiderman cartoon, Clint & I immediately wondered if it was going to be too juvenile for us. That theme song was HORRIBLE. Then at the end of the theme, it had Greg Weisman’s name. Then we realized Greg Weisman is the writer. He’s the guy who was behind the Gargoyles cartoon. Needless to say, we’re giving it a chance.

To me, Spiderman has always been somewhat more light-hearted and juvenile in the comics and cartoons anyway. He’s always talking to himself and is always so wholesome. So, we’ll see where it goes. The 90′s animated Spiderman rocked, though it was never as good as the 90′s X-men cartoon.

 

Incarnations Of Immortality – the 8th book

Several years ago (2004), Melanie loaned me her copy of the first book in the Incarnations Of Immortality series by Piers Anthony. I didn’t even get through the first book when I knew I was hooked. I immediately got the rest of the series and worked my way through them. The stories were good, and I really like how intricately everything was tied together. It was almost hard to keep track of, but it all came together at the end. I really enjoyed the series.

 

This is good news

The last book in the Harry Potter series will be split into 2 movies. Hopefully that means it won’t be butchered too much.

The reason this is important is after reading the books, the movies seemed “rushed” to me. Like I felt as if I didn’t already read the book and knew what happened, I would be totally lost.  I did watch the first two movies before I read the books, and then when I read the books, and saw the two movies a second time, I appreciated them much more.

Clint & I watched a fan edit for one of the movies (the fourth, I believe) that had all three hours and it was SOOO MUCH BETTER!

 

They Might Be Giants

The TMBG concert was a lot of fun.

 

WEEDS SPOILER ALERT!!!!

******* here be spoilers for the season(?) finale of weeds: *******

 

Stacy & Louise’s wedding & SubGenius Devival

Stacy & Louise had a nice wedding yesterday. It was a Catholic ceremony, so the ceremony was long, but it was nice. I whispered to Sean, “Is Stacy’s baby here?” and Sean nodded. So I’m looking all around, but the only baby I could see was right in front of us (with a snotty that was too close to Clint for comfort. ) Sean informed me that was the wrong baby, and that Addie was being held by Stacy’s dad. Oh yeah, now I see her.

 

What drug is your personality?

Your Personality Is Like Marijuana

 

Books I’ve read recently

Here is the list of books I’ve read lately.

 

Survey: What X-man are you? I am Jean Grey

You scored as Jean Grey. Jean Grey is likely the most powerful X-Man. She loves Cyclops very much but she has a soft spot for Wolverine. She’s psychic so she can sense how others are feeling and tries to help them. She also has to control her amazing powers or the malevolent Phoenix entity could take control of her and wreak havok. Powers: Telekinetic, Telepathic Jean Grey 60% Rogue 55% Storm 50% Cyclops 50% Iceman 50% Colossus 40% Wolverine 20% Beast 20% Nightcrawler 20% Gambit 20% Emma Frost 10% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

 

Voltaire Concert 20061221

We saw Voltaire on the 21st. It was the start of our long weekend because Clint & I were both off on the 22nd. Kipp came with us, and that worked out well.

 

NoMeansNo

Clint & I saw NoMeansNo on Friday. They played at the newly opened/renovated Rock N Roll Hotel in DC.

 

Concerts

Why does it seem everytime Clint & I go to a concert, there’s always some annoying person?

Carnivore – before the band came on, the club was playing this very goofy music. There was this guy running around stomping his feet, waving his arms, and yelling… and it was to the goofiest music!! the band hadn’t even started yet… I pointed out my annoyance to Clint, and he said he had already been annoyed at the guy earlier in the evening.

Violent Femmes – this guy right behind us kept yelling out, “Yes sir! Yes sir!” waaaaay annoying.

They Might Be Giants – whoever had that very bad gas was very annoying

Agent Orange – this guy’s idea of dancing was to do jumping jacks. Too annoying.

Sisters of Mercy – This one features a chick for once. This girl comes muscling her way through, so I move a bit to let her by thinking she was just going to keep on going. She decided to stop right there, and so then she and this guy following her were suddenly in my spot… so i did my best to annoy her so she’d leave. I didn’t succeed. She finally got a text message on her phone from her friend that said they were over by the bar, so that’s why she left.

 

Voltaire Concerts

The first time we went to see Voltaire was ages ago. It was so long ago, that I don't remember when or where it was. But apparantly, I was not wearing black (Clint keeps saying I was in a white shirt, but I think it was gray). Anyway, it was awesome, and I was dancing and jumping around and I was the ONLY ONE… I would look around, and everyone was standing still. I remember bumping into the guy next to me, and saying something about dancing, and he said "Leave me alone, I'm tired". Usually, I'd be embarrassed, but Voltaire's so awesome, I didn't care at all.

The *next* time I saw Voltaire was in 2003. Shannon & Christian invited Clint & I to go to Nation's open bar Thursday night for Alchemy. At the last minute, Clint claimed he was tired and didn't want to go. So I decided to go without him. We got there, had a few drinks, and were hanging around. We decided to check out the band area, and I heard a Voltaire song. I was like "Oh my God! That's Voltaire PLAYING!!!!" Shannon & Christian didn't want to watch, but they knew where I was. Since I'm just one small person, I was able to fight my way all the way to the very front. After awhile of dancing and jumping around, I turned around to check out the crowd behind me. It was SUCH a different scene from the first concert. People were dancing and jumping and doing the same stuff as me. And then I was amazed when what looked like a conga line went by… it was weird.

After the show, I found Shannon & Christian and excitedly chattered around about how awesome it was that I came out, and how terrible it was that Clint missed it….. Shannon said "You should get him to sign your boob"… OK!! So I went up to Voltaire and explained how my husband didn't come out, and so to make him jealous, I wanted Voltaire to sign my boob. And he did! I went home at 2am and took a picture of it. Then I woke Clint up to show him. He was so jealous.

Anyway, on Thursday, May 4, we saw our third Voltaire concert (well, Clint's second). After the show, we were checking out the stuff, and we finally decide to get the new album and have Voltaire sign it. I told Voltaire about how the last time I saw him play, he had signed my boob to make Clint jealous. He shrugged because he didn't remember. So he signed our new CD, and then he asked Clint, "Should I sign your boob this time?". Clint didn't have a choice because I practically shoved him into the sharpie in Voltaire's hand. (really, my arm was already around him, and when I heard Voltaire ask that, I just gave him a little nudge )

Here's the result: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/141548001

 

Agent Orange

The Agent Orange concert was pretty good. Too bad we were just sitting around the club for 3 hours before they went on. That was annoying. We had called beforehand, and were told Agent Orange was going on at 10:30 or 11. So we got there around 9:30, leaving extra time to get settled and what not. They didn’t go on until 12:30.

At around 10, one band finished and another band started setting up. So I put my ear plugs in and everything. Since they were still setting up, I decided to get another drink. When I was standing in line at the bar, the guy in front of me turned around and asked me who I was there to see. I said “Agent Orange”.. and he said “This band goes on before them.” and handed me a card. So I went back in and caught up with Clint. I told him that the band playing was not Agent Orange. He said “I don’t even know if this is them”.. I keep telling him ear plugs rule because you can actually hear when people are talking to you. So I got him to go back to the quiet side of the club. I told him what the guy at the bar said, and I figured the band that went on was the band on the card. Nope! The next band who went on was the band from the card.

Clint & I were practically falling asleep by the time Agent Orange finally started setting up. We bummed a cigarette from the guy next to us who then started talking about 60′s garage bands (it reminded me of Mark somewhat). FINALLY, Agent Orange came on. I was amazed at how much energy I had once they went on. Don’t know if it was due to the cigarette, the excitement that the band was actually happening, the moving around to get to the floor, or a combination, but I was energized.

There was an annoying loser who was dancing and running around. It was way annoying, but then it got worse. His idea of dancing was to do jumping jacks. Ugh… What a loser! I got a kick out of when a Jaxx employee got on his case for doing the jumping jacks. The guy was trying to shake the Jaxx employee’s hand… Later on, the bassist said towards the other side of the audience “He wants to shake your hand, so shake his hand and stop being a baby!” I couldn’t see what he was referring to, but in my mind, it was that annoying guy got on someone’s nerves and he tried to shake their hand like he did to the Jaxx employee… hahah

During the last song, these two jaxx employees were trying to pry these two moshers apart… i was kinda watching them when suddenly they twirled around and across the floor into me and i got pushed into the railing of the stage and then knocked down. I was so surprised more than anything. It was like, they were at least 10 feet away, and then suddenly they were like 0″ away. This one guy helped me up, and then another guy asked if I was ok. Then Clint moved in and pulled me more towards the center of the audience. Who would have thought that the fringe was unsafe… After the song was over, Clint & I got to shake the lead singers (very sweaty) hand. then Clint said “Oh, we just dissed the bassist”.. So I quickly put out my hand, but the bassist dissed me because he was giving the setlist to some highschooler next to me.

As I was regrouping, I brushed my hand against myself, and yelled “Ouch!” because someone’s safety pin had gotten caught in my dress and it stuck me. Pretty funny!

Then we went to buy a T-shirt. Clint wasn’t inspired, but I got one for myself. We also got 2 stickers, and they threw the third one in for free. Whoo-hoo

Here is the setlist as compiled by Clint (with a little of my help) last night after we got home:

Miserlou (i think)
Everthing Turns Grey
Too Young To Die
No Such Thing
A Cry For Help In A World Gone Mad
It’s All A Blur
Voices In The Night
I Kill Spies
Secret Agent Man
Police Truck (by Dead Kennedys)
Breakdown
El Dorado
Living In Darkness
Bloodstains (Original Version)
The Last Goodbye

 

Sisters Of Mercy concert

We saw Sisters Of Mercy at the 9:30 Club last night.  It was awesome.

Andrew Eldritch is going for the bald look now.  Great improvement over last time when he had the blonde “Clint’s dad” (coined by Clint) “Beach Boy” (coined by Dan) look.

It started out with First & Last & Always, and then moved into Ribbons.  He played some new song Crash & Burn.  While he was playing it, I thought to myself, “A good song to play next would be On The Wire”.. and Guess what!  He played On The Wire next!!  I never would have expected him to play that song.  It was awesome.  It was like he read my mind… or I read his….

He did play a lot of new songs that just remind me of every Sisters Of Mercy song wrapped together.

Oh yeah, when they first started, it was like the Voltaire concert all over again.  I wanted to let loose and dance, and the whole room was just standing there!  As time went on, some of the audience members started to sway, but I was the one who was dancing it up.

At one point, this short little girl was muscling her way through followed by an even shorter guy.  I thought they were just passing through, but when I moved over (to give them room to pass), suddenly that’s where they decided to stop.  Right where I had been standing.  I did my best to annoy them to make them leave, but ultimately they left because the girl got a text message on her phone telling her that her friends were by the bar on the other side.  So at least they left

Anyway, some other songs I remember are Dr. Jeep, Dominion, Lucretia, My Reflection, Vison Thing, Something Fast… I’ll probably remember more at random times.

So all in all, it was a good concert.

And by the way, I wore the ear plugs, and once again they enhanced the experience rather than hindering it.  It was my first non-Ween concert that I wore ear plugs to.