WARPED TOUR 2007!!!!!!!!!!

I just got out of the shower like 10 minutes ago and I must admit it was a very refreshing shower. I haven't showered or brushed my teeth in over 24 hours and with good reason, and trust me, I am never that filthy. I spent my whole Monday at Jon's house bumming and bro-ing out with the bros, I mean, who else would you bro out with, girls?! Eww. We had a big old weenier fest at Jon's house after Warped Tour and our plan for Monday was to sit around and do nothing, but bro out of course, ha. But I will talk about my Monday later in the blog in effort to try and keep this blog as chronologically organized and possible. I am super tired right now but I want to start blogging about Warped Weekend and everything prior of Warped Weekend as soon as possible because I want to get my thoughts out while they are at their freshest. This blog has the potential to get VERY long and very un-organized but I got to do what I got to do.

I have lots and lots of internet catching up to do. I have several other blog notes written down that I need to blog about but a Warped Tour blog takes priority over many things in my life. I have MySpace and Facebooking I need to catch up on and I hate falling behind in current events in the real world and the music and sports world. While sports is mentioned, I love Kevin Garnett. But I fell behind in all this earlier last week because my laptop has been severely molested by Spyware and anything else that could slow the performance of a computer. So to everyone that has been commenting me and messaging me on MySpace and Facebook, very sorry. I plan on fixing this advance P.O.S this week. And then I fell behind even further on Friday when Warped preparations began and Dean came down. I clear all appointments during a Dean Kong visit. After some major chilling I called it a day so I could get some sleep before church. After church on Saturday, the Warped preparations began again with Dean, Jon and Mitch. We hit up a few stores to pick up some items such as energy drinks and sun-screen and then got a good string of basketball games in. After basketball we did some major bro-ing out by listening to Warped music and playing some VG's. For dinner Jon, Mitch, Dean, Nick and myself went out to Applebees. There I actually checked my phone for like the second time all day and I had a bunch of texts. I rarely check my phone anymore, there is no use, I don't really have a lot of friends anymore. And when my few friends and I want to hang out, we already know when and where so there is little need for us to contact each other. Anywho, one text was of importance. Andy Dawson who was suppose to go to Warped Tour bailed out because of a tummy ache. A tummy ache would not have kept me from Warped Tour, the Worlds end might have, all of mans illnesses at once might have stopped me, but nothing else. But hey, not everyone is me, not everyone loves music the way I do, so its legit. Dawson's father is usually our means of getting to Warped Tour and now we needed to find a new ride. So we asked around and a couple of solutions quickly came up. Then we all went home to get some rest for Warped Sunday. Sunday, the big day, was finally upon us. I woke up on Sunday with a bloody-nose, maybe because I was to excited or something that makes me sound crazier and sweeter then I really am. I hopped in the shower, brushed my teeth, got dressed and then did my hair and skipped over to Jon's. When I got there everyone of importance was already there waiting. Nick, Jon, Dean and Mitch were all chilling in Jon's basement and when I got there we all rolled over to the McDonalds to get our breakfast on. I never wake up early enough for a McDs breakfast but let me tell you, the lines are long. After it took us 15-20 minutes to get our food and were behind in schedule, we jetted over to Freedom (Freedom!!) gas-station formerly known as Conoco. There we got our selves the necessary liquids for the day. After that we got back to Jon's house where we confirmed a ride with Jon's Dad and after a run over to my house to get some things and drop things off we all crammed into Jim's Tahoe. The "Overcast Kids" came and jumped in along with Leah. There is some massive road work going on and we didn't have a direct route to the Metrodome so Jim had to look for a detour, and this is on top of us being like 20 minutes late by our agenda. So Jim, with As I Lay Dying blasting in his ear, found a detour and got us there in good time. Much later than we had planned, but hey, we made it. We hopped in a shorter line since many of the people had already been admitted. Even with the shorter line it took ages for us to get on Warped grounds. Sweat had already started forming from standing in the hot sun and my bottle of ice started to melt way to quickly. The most baller thing in the line was probably when Jon whipped out his sausage egg mcmuffin from his back pocket and ate it in line. Oh, on the way to the line I ran into Dan Sederstrom who I haven't seen for an extended period of time and we planned on meeting up so it was perfect. I was the first to get my ticket scanned out of my group of friends and after I did, I stalled hoping so that some of my friends could get scanned and catch up, and as soon as I saw Mitch and Dan pop out of the mess I took off for the Mecca of Warped Tour, the giant balloon with the list of bands and times and stages. I was scared because there was a band that was playing while I was in line and they had finished before I got my ticket scanned and I had this ache in my heart because I thought one of the bands on my "Must-See" list had finished. But when I checked the first line of bands on the balloon I saw I hadn't missed anything important. So, who first...were there any bands stacked on top of each other...who was playing later...what are the stages called...this is going to rock my weenie off and I'm going to have to find it later...its hot...so many thoughts were running through my head because this is the time where everything needs to be organized for a successful Warped Tour. Mitch and Dan caught up and we quickly dissected the schedule and it helped that Dan had a sidekick cause he was able to punch the info into his mobile communication device. Here is what struck me first after reading the balloon: nice slow start to Warped, Chiodos and Escape The Fate are playing 15 minutes apart, Meg and Dia during the middle of he day, Amber Pacific and Starting Line playing 15 minutes apart from each other, Underoath at 7:15 and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus had indeed won the Energizer 10 minutes and were playing at 7:45. So, time to finally start the day that is Warped Tour 2007.

From here on out, I will list the bands I saw in chronological order and write about what I like, and mostly about what I like since I don't have a lot of negative things to say about music, and things about what I saw and what I felt. Warped Tour 2007!

1) Funeral For A Friend: I started Warped Tour with a Dan and Mitch and while we were staring at the giant balloon, Wales band Funeral For A Friend had hit one of the main stages. So we walked over there and caught about 3-4 songs of their set. I wish I knew more of their songs and I wish I had their new CD because they sounded really good. For those of you who attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, I can't wait to get back on the HUB. Lots of shopping to do. They definitely had some rock out music and their guitars sounded really good live. The vocals from what I heard were pretty much dead on with their CDs. If I get around to it, I will try and learn a bunch of Funeral For A Friend just so I can go see them live and rock out. I really like one of their older songs, "Roses For The Dead," I believe its called.

2) Boys Like Girls: Although I don't really listen to a lot of power-pop-rock type music I listen to Boys Like Girls here and there. Dan mentioned them and I didn't mind checking them out so after Funeral For A Friend we went to the other side of the Warped grounds to catch the beginning of Boys Like Girls. Dan and I wanted to hear "The Great Escape" but I didn't catch it because they saved it for the end of their set and I had plans to catch some of Straylight Runs set. I managed to sing along with Boys Like Girls from the back. They were pretty good live but I guess I just couldn't get into it since I hadn't been in the thick of things yet and they weren't a band I was super-duper excited for. I'm sure their fans loved their set, and I think the singing and the instrumentals were good, but I'm going to say they aren't an act I need to check out again any time soon. After trading a few texts with Jon and Dean during Boys Like Girls about upcoming Chiodos and Straylight Run, Mitch and I hiked it back to the main stages to catch Straylight Run while Dan stayed to catch "The Great Escape."

3) Straylight Run: They played on one of the main stages so it was really surprising to see how tiny their crowd was. I watched them from the back of their crowd but if it were any other main stage band I would have been in the upper-middle of the crowd. I always feel terrible when bands don't have a big crowd to play to or when the fans don't give any energy and love back. I don't want to give the impression that no one was there, because there was plenty of people there to see them, just not the amount I'd like to see for a main stage band. Anywho, I can see why Dean loves this band so much because they really fit his style of music. Really chill with a indie feel. What I really love about the band is that everyone in the band can play pretty much every instrument in the world. Its cool to watch them move around and take over instruments depending on song. Straylight Run sounds like a band I need to check out with more depth, but again, not a band I need to see live again any time soon. Don't think I'm ripping on these bands that I don't need to see live again immediately cause I am not, they are all immensely talented and I have all the respect for them, but I'm more of a screamo guy, so there are acts I don't need to see live a bunch of times. I left Straylights stage a song early to hop over to the other main stage for an act I was very ready for.

4) Chiodos: Last time I saw them was at the Take Action Tour two years ago at the Quest. And I remember them putting on an awesome show and I still remember the gorilla that introduced them then. Before Chiodos even hit the stage I met up with a friend I made on the Warped Tour website, Rob. A real cool dude. We traded numbers prior to the show and we texted each other to find one another and we chatted for a bit but we were interrupted by Chiodos running onto the stage. If I am not mistaken, I believe they started out with "The Words Best Friend..." which is the same song they started out with two years ago. I hope when the song came on, Jon was rocking out hard as hell because thats our favorite Chiodos song and at the Quest two years ago he didn't know what was going on and didn't rock out with me during that song. I told him that he owed me. Chiodos was the first band at this years Warped Tour where I got in the thick of the crowd and got to jump around, throw some elbows, scream out loud, and spit all over the fucking place. I believe they played a new song for their second song and then I stayed for a couple of more songs but left early because like I mentioned in my foreword, Chiodos and Escape the Fate played 15 minutes apart from each other and it wasn't like I could just hop over to the next main stage since Escape The Fate was on the Hurley Stage. I just figured I've seen Chiodos once already so I better check out Escape The Fate since they are up and coming.

5) Escape The Fate: My shirt was finally a soaked dark blue due to the madness of Chiodos but after I snaked my way out of the crowd I had to run over to the Hurley Stage and stake my spot for Escape The Fate. No time to rest except for it took about 5 minutes until Escape The Fate got on. Damn, I left to early haha. Dean, Jon and probably the other guys made it over to Escape The Fate in time and got spots close to me. I saw the band waiting on the side to hop on and when the time came they all hopped onto the stage and played a little intro while Ronnie (Frontman) took this weird dragon mask off. The crowd wasn't as big nor as violent as Chiodos' but it definitely rocked. Escape The Fate pretty much lived up to my expectations but I cut them a little break because Ronnie seemed very sick. It might have been 2 or 3 songs in but he puked all over the middle of the stage and this guy ran out with a can of Monster and make-shift cleaned it. During the next song, as a joke Ronnie bent over to touch the left over puke with his hand and wiped it all over his face. Gross! Between the songs his fellow band members kept checking up on him and it was cool to see a band that is suppose to be machismo take care of each other. Ronnie felt we weren't living up to his standards so he kept calling us out. "You guys fucking suck!" "Where the fuck are you guys?!" "I want to see everyone rock the fuck out!" So we gave him what he asked for. I got a good laugh when they played "Situations" because they didn't have the moans and groans in the back but luckily Dean was next to me and filled in for Escape The Fate. They ended with "Not Good Enough..." which was an awesome song to end on. If Escape The Fate hops on the right tour this fall, you can count me in!

6) Meg and Dia: After Escape The Fate I think we went inside the Dome to drain our main vain and fill up our empty water bottles. After, we made our way to the Hurley.com stage to watch Meg and Dia, another first time band for me. When I got there I was surprised to see how spaced out everyone was and how short everyone was. I could see over the top of everyone, mostly because they were all little girls. I felt bad advancing my way up in this crowd so I found a nice little opening in the middle of the crowd. Before the rest of the band came out, Dia Frampton was walking around drinking her monster on the stage listening to their neighbor stage rocking. Then her band joined her and started their set and I started jumping around but something was wrong. I don't know if this is true with all Meg and Dia crowds, but no one was moving, everyone was standing still. I honestly think I was the only one dancing. And I'm a mosher so it was so weird not to be pinned up against another body. But hey, I was excited to see them and fuck other people if they don't want to get rowdy haha. Dan must have spotted me dancing, and probably quite easily, because the guy next to me poked me and signaled my attention over to Dan who I hadn't seen since Boys Like Girls. He gave me this, "eyes to the stage and look at those hot girls," look and he was pretty much right. Dia has this cowbell part during "Lessons In Jersey..." and after she finished her part she threw the stick out into the crowd. I bet she was trying to knock me out with it but I have these lightning quick reflexes and I was able to catch it before it hit me. Sucker, maybe next time. She went to work on that cowbell because the stick is trucked up! I enjoyed their set but I felt so stupid being the only one moving in a crowd with a bunch of 16 year old girls. I wouldn't mind seeing them again, but probably not at Warped and in a more jam packed indoor venue. The funniest part of the set was when this little girl, probably around the age of 5 was on her Dads shoulder. She sat there stating at me because I was stuck out and looked like an idiot. It was no ordinary stare, it was a look of death, no blinking, and her eyes were locked on like a heat seeking missile. I looked back at my friends to see if they noticed her and I saw they were already laughing. Dean had this stare down with her and I'm pretty sure she is damaged for life now. If that girl has social anxiety, blame Dean. I can easily say that Meg and Dia is the prettiest band at Warped Tour, but mostly because if Nick Price. After their set, only a fence separated the fans and their loading area so Jon walked up and got Dia's attention and began to talk to her and the rest of us less confident boys walked up to say hi. I just told her that she did well but Jon had a more extended conversation with her.

7) Merch tents and other tents: There was a little break between Meg&Dia and Bayside so we decided to to walk around and check out all the tents and some people wanted to buy some Merch. We hit up a bunch of PETA like tents and some other tents but I wondered where the merch tents were. Later we learned that all the merch tents were moved to a special corner this year and thats why we weren't seeing them in their usual spot. While we were walking around I saw this guy that looked a little to familiar and when I got a direct look at his face I realized it was Chris of Underoath, who seems like the coolest and most down to earth guy of the band or at least thats the way it seems from the video blogs I've seen. As I walked by I said Hi and I told him to play hard during their set because I'm excited to watch them. As I was walking away, I thought of a question I had to ask him so I ran back to ask him, "Why isn't The Almost playing on our stop?" and he told me that it would be to hard for Aaron to play two sets a day. Which makes sense because c'mon, it is Underoath. After Chris and the more boring section of tents, we made our way to the merch corner where we paused by Amber Pacific's tent because Nick was going to by something and Will of Amber was selling the merch. The Meg&Dia tent was right next to the Amber Pacific tent so Mitch had to decide to I get something from Meg&Dia or something from Amber Pacific. He opted Meg&Dia. Nick got some value pack where he got a shirt, poster and CD I believe. I had a longer chat with Will about how Warped was going and the reception of their new CD and he gave me honest and humble answers. Two qualities I definitely value in any human being. Oh, and at the Underoath tent they had this sign that said "No We Don't Know Why The Almost Isn't Playing" posted so I felt bad for asking Chris because I can imagine how numbing answering that question 100,000 times could be. After all the tent hokey pokey it was time to return to the music.

8)Bayside: How fitting that I caught some of Bayside's set after Meg and Dia's. Where was Anberlin and Jonezetta haha. No, but really, where was Jonezetta, Meg and Dia remembered when they couldn't make it to Minnesota due to the snow storm this past winter but Jonezetta hasn't made it up yet. Losers. I wish I would actually get around to learning Baysides stuff because they seem like a class act band. I tried to learn their stuff for the Anberlin tour but I just didn't feel the songs for some reason. Maybe they just aren't my cup of tea, but I know they are a brilliant band and that sucks that I can't get into them. I caught the beginning of their set but left a little early to catch Cinematic Sunrise and to see Meg and Dia during their signing.

Alrighty, bed time because I am FREAKIN TIRED! I will finish this blog in the morning.

Good morning! All this writing has taken its toll on me and I needed to take a 7.5 hour nap exactly in the middle of Warped Weekend. Lets finish off with the bands.

9) Cinematic Sunrise: Cinematic's and Bayside's stages were close enough where I could still watch and hear Bayside while we waited for Cinematic. I planned on watching Cinematic from the back because I wanted to catch Amber Pacific for sure and they were next. But another thing that worked out perfectly was that we were right next to the energizer tent where Meg and Dia were to have their signing. Dan, Mitch and I went through the line and I had them sign the stick I caught and Mitch got picture with them and got his shirt signed. Oh, before we even reached Meg, Dia and their band, I saw this lady I knew I saw before and I asked Dean, "Isn't that chick from Straylight Run?" and Dean immediately stole his camera back from Mitch and made his way. Look at his default picture to see how it turned out. I listened to a couple of Cinematic Sunrise songs most of which I didn't know since their songs are impossible to get a hold of. Before we left the stage to hop over to the Amber Pacific set I saw that the line to Meg and Dia was pretty much gone so I asked Dia quickly if I could get a band picture since I regretted not getting one before and I'd prefer a whole band picture because I hate singling people out. Meg was all ready to leave and Dia was nice enough and shouted her back and I felt like a dumb ass because after my picture the line grew again and they were forced to sign for another 10 minutes or so. So the real question I need to ask is, did this part have anything to do with Cinematic Sunrise?

10) Amber Pacific: This was Deans first time seeing Amber Pacific and it is Mitch's favorite band so he was jacked to see them again. And I must admit it was one of the best crowds of the day. Matt of Amber Pacific suggested we open up a circle pit so Mitch and I made our way and had to jump in the circle pit. It was a soft circle pit by hardcore standards, but it was still lots of fun. I knew we should have opened one up during Meg and Dia. I promised myself that I would limit my circle pit action, but there was no way I was going home without one. They had a good mix of old songs and new. Matt brought his brother with him and when he told the story of why his brother came to Minnesota he explained that it was because Minnesota had the hottest girls. Ya, right, buddy. But Amber Pacific rocked it like they usually do and depending on how good the Sum41 CD is and how much tickets are, I may have to see them in the fall/winter. Oh, and Amber Pacific could probably challenge Meg and Dia for the prettiest band at Warped Tour award but mostly because of Dango. (Damn it, I just looked up the Amber dates and it says they are playing with Yellowcard, that probably means higher priced tickets).

11) The Starting Line: I planned on leaving Amber Pacific's set early to catch the Starting Line but I was so caught up in Amber Pacific I stayed for the whole time. When I got to the Starting Line they were playing a song I knew so I was able to jump right in (I don't know any of the songs off their new CD). I think I was able to catch 3 Starting Line songs and all of them were off their old CDs so it made for a grand time. Jon got himself a better spot because he left Amber Pacific early but I could see his headband from jumping up and down from a distance. I wish they would have spaced Amber and Starting Line out more because I would have loved catching their whole set because I had lots of fun singing along with them. Which was a little bit harder since the singer changes how the songs are sung a little, but hey, easier then singing along with Dia because if you want me to falsetto like her you might as well chop off my balls.

12) Circa Survive: We stayed at the Starting Line stage because Circa Survive was set to play there after the band played on the other main stage finished. New Found Glory was that other band so I got to sing along a little while we waited to Circa Survive. I only recently got into Circa which sucks because I've had them on my iPod for I don't know how long but I never listened to them. I guess I was into Saosin and that made for no Circa...does that even make sense!? Anywho, Circa's set was hypnotizing. Anthony Green is a mad man. I am going to make a promise right now: that I will learn all of Circa Survive's music and I will go to one of their up coming concerts. Promise. Come school I will do some major HUB shopping and believe me, "On Letting Go" is at the top of the list. I might actually just go out to Best Buy and snag that as soon as possible. Because I have a feeling that if I can get really into their music and I see them live, I can have one of those out of body experiences like I did with Underoath at the Myth. And out of body is the best way to describe Anthony Green on stage. I would feel safe betting that it is not actually Anthony Green performing on stage, but rather a spirit that posses him while singing and is trying to rip his physical body apart. He really is something else up there. Some might think he is weird, but I think if I were ever a front man, my style would be very much like his. Of course I couldn't sing like him, but our styles are alike, sort of the head-bangers mentality with a bunch of white-boy sexual dance club moves mixed in while making the weirdest stares. And one of their guitarists seemed way cool too. He challenged us to make a trifoce pit, which we failed it, but it was a cool idea. He also told crowd that if they received a free condom and knew they weren't going to use it, that they should make a balloon out of it. Lets just say that Circa Survives crowd could be considered celibate. Oh, another funny part was when someone threw a shoe at Anthony and he said if you hit the singer of a band thats like 10,000 points. Really, who assigns points to real life events except for me and my friends? I was reading an AP issue like 2 weeks ago and they had this section where they listed 22 bands you need to see before you die. Circa Survive was on the list and I was kind of surprised, but now I know why. Expect to see me in a Circa Survive crowd real soon. Thumbs way up.

13) Coheed and Cambria: I watched them from the back because I needed to find a good spot for Underoath who was up next. I always heard Coheed sounded just like their CD which I found hard to believe because of Claudio's voice. But what I had heard from the people was no lie. They sounded right on. I was also amazed by Claudio's guitar skills, I didn't know he was the shredder of the band. There isn't much to write about Coheed except for they played a wonderful set just because I was so tired by this time and I only had Underoath on the mind. During Circa Survive I thought was going to faint because I was so tired and I hadn't drank anything for a while so I got a hater-ade before I jumped into the Oath crowd. The funny thing is Coheed probably played like 3 songs total since their songs are so epic haha.

14) UNDEROATH: The greatest live show on earth, period. What I look forward to every year at Warped and then again in the winter. Not enough can be said about their music and their live performance. Trust me, you don't know what a rock concert is until you have been in a Underoath pit with me and Jon, and please, try and keep up. So don't tell me you've been to a rock concert until you have been. At the Myth this past spring during the Taking Back Sunday, Underoath, and Armor for Sleep show, I had this crazy out of body experience during Underoath's set. I couldn't move and I started crying out of no where and my eyes were locked on to the stage. It was actually quite scary but it felt so good. I didn't think it would happen again and it didn't, but it was still the same type of energy. It is amazing how much energy is put into me when Underoath is on the stage. Remember, I was dead tired, I really thought I wouldn't last in the Underoath pit. This was at the end of Warped tour and somehow Jon and I found the energy to rock out non-stop. But sometimes I feel like it really isn't our energy, but more we are just feeding off their energy, it sounds crazy, but thats exactly what an Underoath show is, crazy. I really can't describe what it feels like to be in an Underoath show, you just have to experience it. Before they played while in the crowd I couldn't even move I was so sore and I didn't talk much just cause I was so tired. Truly something else. Hands down, best set at Warped for me. Underoath again real soon please.

15) Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: The band that earned the 10 minutes extra. And although they weren't the best band live, I enjoyed watching them from the back. It was going to be to hard to make our way through the large crowd so Dean and I just chilled. But I really can't grasp why Underoath didn't earn 10 minutes extra, it really still doesn't make sense to me. Yes, I know Underoath isn't everyones favorite band, but ya know what, I don't give a shit, Underoath for 10 more minutes please! Or shit, give it to Coheed and Cambria so that they can play half a song extra. Or call up Dragon Force and let them play 2 songs total. I've always heard the RJA sucks live and I could see where people get that, Ronnie doesn't have the best live singing voice and they totally change their style into a more screamo feel. But you know what, if you listen to their demos, they sound exactly like their live show. I really think RJA should just become a screamo band because its a better fit, but of course bands need to make money and that means become more poppy. RJA live is like Underoath meets Senses Fail. They played Guardian Angel and another song with their 10 extra minutes which I thought was awesome because Guardian Angel is a good song. I wouldn't mind catching RJA live again soon. People rag on their live performance but I enjoyed it, Ronnie isn't the best singer but I still think he rocks as a frontman. He had some really awesome screaming parts.

16) End: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was the last band we caught live and we left with Alkaline Trio playing in the back. Leah and Overcast Girl had to catch some of Spill Canvas. I was just drained, sore back, sore neck, knees, and burned face and just ready to die. Jim picked us up from the same spot he dropped us off and it was time to go home a heal our battle wounds. When we got home we all went our separate ways to get cleaned up. I was the first to came back to Jon's and I walked into Dean making his sandwich. Chicken noodle soup and sandwiches for dinner. After dinner, we just sat around, bro-ed out, did nothing and watched movies. The talk before we all fell asleep was pretty interesting too. I love sleep over conversations because everyone is so tired and we just say the dumbest crap ever. Oh, and 40 Year Old Virgin is sooo fucking funny, I love that movie. So if you ever wondered, "Do 20 year old dudes have sleep overs still?" the answer is yes.

17) Bands I Wish I Saw At Warped: The Almost wasn't there like I mentioned before but I think it would have been cool to see the. Can't blame Aaron tough, he kept it real during Underoath. I listened to New Found Glory at Warped but I didn't get to watch them because I was waiting for Circa Survive, but I think it would have been to see them. I think it would have been cool to catch Hawthorne Heights even though I have not listened to them since their first CD. I thought about catching Family Force 5 just because their music sounds so fun live, but nothing I had to see. I wish As I Lay Dying came to Minnesota because I have never seen them live yet and "94 Hours" would be amazing live, even though I've seen videos and they play it much slower. I wish Bert wasn't all messed up because I would have loved to see The Used. They rocked at Taste of Chaos. Jonezetta still owes me. And I wish Anberlin had come to Minnesota again.

I'm going to end this blog because its probably way to long.

Warped Tour 2007! If you didn't go, shoot yourself in the foot now. And in the face. I can't wait for 2008 and I am already looking foreword to this winter where the list of bands start showing up. It makes me so sad knowing that it'll be a whole year until I have this much fun again. Bamboozle anyone? It'll make the wait seem shorter. I need some more concerts soooooon! I honestly feel like a new man. I was going through a rough patch of life prior to Warped Tour but now I feel so refreshed. Ready to tackle anything thrown at me, well, not until all this sun burn and soreness wears off.

Marky Mark and His Vibration

So in my previous blog that I wrote about 4 hours ago I wrote that I was going to watch Identity. Well I didn't and in place of Identity I watched Shooter and I was pleased. Its not a blow you away movie but it was definitely a very easy watch. Mark Wahlberg is quickly becoming the white Denzel Washington. He always has to play the bad-ass with a hint of ghetto but can we blame him with his hip-cop roots. Wahlberg plays a sniper in the movie which I loved because I am fond of the art, I don't know anything about it, but I just think its cool as hell. But more then the pin-point sniper action, I loved the politics in the movie - Conspiracy theories, corrupt politicians and the faulty justice system. And I'm not really political so I guess I can't really say, but all that shit has to be true. Government sucks...yikes, maybe I shouldn't say that, I might get black listed from the world. I bet the government knows how to fuck a person up or two. Anywho, its probably isn't a conservative friendly movie. Glad Marky Mark fucked em up though! I believe my favorite guy from the movie Crash plays Marky Mark's sidekick in the movie. I love that Mexican guy, the scene with him in Crash where his characters daughter jumps in front of him to take the bullets gets me every time. Doesn't it suck when you try to choke back tears but strength of the tears out duels your will and all your left with is a knot in your throat? And the snot and the swollen eyes and the taste of salt. Crying sucks. Good thing I'm like this super duper macho man and I like never cry. I mean c'mon, who cries? Pussies. Now I want to watch Crash but I plan on watching Identity and Meet Joe Black with my next movie opportunities.

One of my toes on my left foot has a horizontally cracked toe nail. It sucks because it always gets caught on fabric and I'm scared one of these times I'm going to pull to hard and its going to snap in half. That would suck! I'd probably pass out from grossness.

Anywho, to end this blog I am going to talk about blogs. It is so weird because my best MySpace friend Ashlee and I talked about this a few days ago and I had it written in my blog notes from about 2 months ago. At this grad party 2 months ago a couple of people told me that they had been reading my blogs and they continued to ask me about my blog topics. It isn't their fault or anything, but I HATE it when people confront me about my blogs non-electronically. Its quite embarrassing when people ask me about my blogs personally. I guess I never mentioned this quality before because its embarrassing to admit it. Thats a really weird quality you have Min! Yes, I know it is, but you wouldn't understand. Something about text and MySpace that makes it so much more comforting. I guess its because its less intimate and something about having to look into the persons eyes and spilling my feelings just doesn't do it for me. I don't mean all blog topics are off limits in person, but lets keep my feelings and "touchy" stuff for blog comments. We can talk sports, we can talk politics, we can talk Donnie Darko in person, thats fun, but lets not talk about how "emo" I am in person, thats dumb. Is this making any sense at all? I had to bring this up because lately I've been writing about how shitty I've been feeling and I get all these phone calls and texts and people call me out on my blogs in person, and I appreciate everything because I know people do it out of kindness, but lets just drop it. It is just a form of venting for me and if you have input, fucking leave a comment, thats why the feature is there. Again, I REALLY appreciate the kindness, it really does make me feel better knowing that there are people who actually give a shit about me and I hope I don't come off as a prick. Really, I am very thankful for the texts, phone calls and even the in person comments. But when I'm hanging out with you, I'm most likely going to be up-beat and happy. Lets all be happy, because come Warped Tour, all my problems will be rocked away.

So I just fixed my toe nail. Its really gross talking about my feet, because I have really nasty feet. So watching Shooter and writing a blog cut into my video editing time. Tomorrow after yard work I guess. Ni Ni!

Circa 2007

Blog time, the only thing there for me when ever I call upon it. I've noticed that a lot of people who are considered close to me never really come to my aid when I am in distress. But when the roles are reversed and they call for my help, I am always quick to lend a hand. You know what that is called? A fucking tool. Thats okay though. I'll get used and make people happy, everyone wins right?

Today I didn't do much but I was actually pretty productive, crazy right? I woke up super late but I did get to bed later than usual. 5:00 in the morning to 11:30 isn't to bad is it? After I woke up I did my usual online run, Fantasy Sports to see how bad I'm whooping on some bitches then surfed over to Hotmail to see I have any good penis enlargement options then MySpace where my run usually hiccups because I need to respond to a couple of comments and messages and stalk some bulletins. Oh, don't forgot reject spam bots and avoid phishing traps. After that my U-Mail then Facebook where my run usually hiccups again so that I can update that stupid little rock group I created haha. Once in a while people leave a little love and I respond but people on Facebook are much more shady when compared to MySpace. Facebook is like for rich white kids where MySpace is for the people who keep it real. Ain't it the truth though? Then Alternative Press and Warped Tour to end my online voyage. After that I got some brunch and then went out on the back hill to do some yard work. It was pretty humid today and by pretty humid I mean very humid. But I like the feeling of getting down and dirty and sweaty. When it comes to doing something important, I'm all business and I don't mess around. Not many people have experienced it, but when I'm just hanging out I'm just a goofy ass dude but when I play sports I pretty much become a Tasmanian boar. There is quite a transformation. After yard work I went out for dinner with the family. Then I sat around and watched television which is a very rare for me. I watched Beauty and The Geek or something and some show with David Hasselhoff. Then I watched like paparazzi news and all they talked about was Lindsey Lohan, I mean who gives a flying fuck about Lindsey Lohan. I for sure don't. She is rich, famous, and I guess most consider her beautiful (I differ) and she fucks things up. Thats cool. Then I played some Gears of War where I did fairly well but after a while I just get sick of it and I start annoying people. And now I'm here writing a blog. I think I am going to get a livejournal account, I hear thats quite the blog service. Anywho, it seems like I experience very minimal social interaction and that kind of makes me sad. Basically I talk to Dean and Ashlee on MySpace and thats my daily diet of peer to peer. Sometimes this person without a name text messages me. I call her jigsaw.

I am drinking Green Tea right now, the last bottle! Yikes!

Just a reminder that Warped Tour is this Sunday just in case you forgot after my 5,983,354 reminder. Yes, I've been keeping count. I am listening to Circa Survive right in hopes that I will learn a couple of their songs before Warped so I can see them. They've pretty much been my therapy lately. Every time I go through rough times there always seems to be a band that I listen to over and over and Circa Survive was chosen for this struggle. I remember when Senses Fail was there, From Autumn to Ashes, and Brand New. Music is true therapy and I do believe it saves lives. I've never been suicidal and I don't think I will ever get to that point but I can definitely see where music could save lives.

I need to decide if I want to trim my hair or let it grow out. I'm at this point where it grew to long for the way I was doing it and now I don't know how to do it. So I can trim it and go back to the old style or let it grow and think of something bigger and better. Meh. Anywho, I'll probably go watch Identity now and then work on the finishing touches of the sequel Pokemon movie then go to sleep. Hopefully I don't sleep like I'm cryogenically frozen.

WTF? New Groove!

Busta Bust!
I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE Iced Tea, Green Tea and/or any form of chilled tea. I totally destroyed the Iced Tea at a couple of grad parties and now that my Mom got some yesterday I've been killing it again. Hail Green Tea!

The other day I watched Mortal Kombat the movie. The first one, because we all know the second one blows Jax's big black nuts. I remember when I was a little man back in the good old Minneapolis, Mortal Kombat was in my main movie rotation along with Men in Black, The Mask and some Lion King along with a few others. God, I was cool when I was little. But watching it I remembered why I loved the damn movie so much, because there is non-stop martial arts action! And no lie, that is what it says where it describes why the movie got the rating it did. Next time you watch a martial arts movie, note how much screaming there is between the punches and the kicks. If I were to fight one of the characters, I would strike the son of a bitch during the yelling. Oh, and Lui Kang is ripped!

While we are in the topic of movies, I recently caught some of Meet Joe Black on TV and I plan on checking the entire movie out soon. Looks to be a very entertaining movie. There is one part that really stuck with me. There was a scene where Brad Pitt meets a girl at a coffee shop and they just expressed their interest in each other but it was time to leave, they have their troubles saying bye and they feel a kiss coming on but they both pull away from each other and go their separate ways down a long city street. Nothing out of the ordinary right? But here is the cool part, Brad Pitt's character turns around to look back at the girl he just met but sadly only sees her back as she walks away from him, he pauses and thinks about running after her but thinks better of it and turns to go his way. As Brad Pitt walks away after his delay, the girls character turns to look back at Pitt's character only to see him walking away from her and she stands there for a second thinking but decides to go where needs to be. But then Brad's character stops one more time and stares back a little bit longer and then finally makes up his mind to leave. Then the girl does the same. Through all this, they never look at each other at the same time. If only they would have, they would have run back to each other. And it made me wonder, how many times have I missed chances like that just because I didn't look enough? It makes me kind of sad actually. Maybe I missed a chance to make a really good friend just because I didn't look and timing was against me, maybe I missed my chance to meet a special girl, maybe I missed my chance to become famous. Life is so crazy, and half the time we have no control over what goes on in our own lives and that sucks. I guess we just need to live with it eh?

There were a couple of other things I wanted to write about but I totally forgot. I think one of topics were more things I learned from Everybody Hurts, but meh. Warped Tour is 6 days away and I can't fucking wait! Its going to rock my little weenie so hard! I need to remember to try and avoid the circle pits because this will be my first concert with braces and that would suck if I got hit in the face. But I know even though I tell myself that, the music determines where I go and what I do, so we will see. I got my first taste of getting hit in the face yesterday during basketball but it wasn't to hard. It still sucked though. I am going to try and avoid the lips stuck into the braces thing, that sounds awful. On August 2nd I am getting a front tooth pulled and 4 of my back teeth pulled and it is going to suck ass. One of my back teeth hasn't come through the gums yet so they will need to cut open my gum to access that one. It will be the first time in my life I have ever gotten stitches. I am very scared about this procedure. I always hear horror surgery stories and I just get all sick inside when I think about them. The worst one probably being when a lady was put under but she could still feel everything so she couldn't express her pain. I would seriously go on a killing spree if that happened to me. So everyone I hate, pray that it doesn't happen to me. I also hear that sometimes people fuck up on the amount and the patient actually dies. That would suck too. We'll see...I haven't decided on whether I will be conscience or asleep.

I really like to stretch these blogs out. I started this one this morning and now I am finishing 12 hours later. Did so much in between, and by so much I mean played video games with Jon and went to Applebees for bingo. I need to practice my bingo skills because I got worked! Didn't win a single game! I think if I train hard, the next time I play bingo I will win one. Anywho, a couple of weeks ago I cleaned my room and I pulled out my old high school year books and I looked through the comments people left. There was this one comment that really caught my attention. It was written by a class mate I didn't talk to very much in high school or ever but I went to the same junior high and senior as she did. She wrote about how she had heard about me back in junior high and how she had heard about how nice and funny I was. I must have been cool in junior high or something haha, cause that doesn't sound like me now. She wrote that she had heard about me from one of her friends. The crazy thing about it is that her friend, who we will call LL, is someone who I thought didn't like me much. LL was part of the "popular" group in junior high and every time I tried to talk to her she seemed to brush me off and ignore more. You know how popular suburban girls do it. I didn't know popular suburban princesses had social anxiety. Anywho, LL had good things to say about me I guess and my high school commenter confirmed what she had learned about me in junior high. And yes, I know people only write good things in one another year books, so she could be totally lying, but it would be kind of cool if that is how it happened. Its kind of like my Meet Joe Black scene I mentioned above. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. Maybe LL did respect me, and she just had to put on that social princess act in front of her peers and I was just the victim, I mean, this was junior high. And I did go to a rich white school so that just amplified the whole junior high stereo-type. I don't know, it was just kind of cool to read it.

Emo-Tional

It has been two days short of a month since I have last blogged and for that I deserve to be spanked by Jessica Alba about three and two thirds of a time. Sucks that I haven't blogged for so long but I guess life has been pretty plain and stress free for a good stretch. Blogging is like the ultimate form of venting for me and also I like to write things down so I can read them much later in the future. But the last few days have been rather shitty and E-bloggers and MySpace are always there for me, unlike shitty friends. For the past month I haven't done much and that might be why I feel so shitty now. I really don't know what the source of my issues are and that always seems to be my problem. Its never a matter of one problem, no, that would be to easy for me to take care of and get passed. Its always a whole slew of problems that all hit me at once. But do they really hit me at once or is it my fault for not taking care of things right and letting them drag on and accumulate. Another issue I have is I always blame myself for the things that go wrong, when I should really be throwing it on other people, sounds rude, but its true.

What have I done this past month except sit around and put in endless hours into The Bigs, which is a bomb game. The only events I can think of is Transformers, a good 4th with the family and my cousin John coming to visit form California. Transformers was a nice little joint that kept me happy. The fourth was really fun and I got to hang out with my cousins for a while which was a lot of fun. Eric is full of amazing stories and sassy comments. My cousin John came to visit so we took him to the Mall of America and on a different night we slept over at Eric and Ellen's house. We stayed up all night watched some movies and played video games and then woke up and watched some more movies. Later a bunch of the family came over and we had an old fashion Korean BB and Q, if such things exist. It was good as hell though, depending on which part of hell you have tasted. Oh, about a week ago Vince had his grad party and it was honestly one of the most chill and entertaining grad parties I've been to. To many people now'a days like to do things big but Ving kept it simple and it was mucho fun. People just grabbed a plate and sat around in his living room chatting, introducing one another and sharing stories. Everyone had input and everyone was very respectful and it made for a very grand time. I love social settings and I love meeting new people and talking about meeting people makes me really excited about moving into a new setting come September because I will have the chance then to meet all sorts of people. I really need to get out some more but that means I need friends that like to go out and do stuff. The bad thing is my friends have the social skills of a home schooled child.

So I started this blog around the same time yesterday and I am still writing it because I like to take breaks. I am currently listening to Circa Survive who I have been obsessing over lately and I'm trying to get one of my photos "Simpson-ized." But its being really ghetto and I assume it is because Tom of MySpace (Is there any other Tom?) is promoting it and the 10,000,000 MySpacers can't be good for the Simpson's server. How cool would it be to be immortalized as a Simpson?

Anywho, whats been going on? I just need to find a decent way to end this dysfunctional blog. I have no idea what I'm writing about. I've been killing a lot of movies lately. I watched Apocalypto, The Quick and the Undead, Domino and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. This is actually pretty sad but my favorite movie out of the list is probably The Quick and the Undead. Simply one of the worst movies I've seen this summer but I found it so entertaining. There are parts of the movie I would like to share but writing about it doesn't do it justice, I need to act it out. Its basically a shitty zombie movie set in the wild west where bounty hunters get rewarded for the number of zombies they kill. Pretty stupid idea huh? Well it is, but it makes for a great Min Lee watch. What can I say, I'm weird. Apocalypto was pretty good but I didn't like the end. Domino was pretty good, but it seemed to long. It is a lot like Crank with the over-production and so much saturation one would think they are on some sort of hallucinogen. I think its cool though, its like watching one long montage, and Min loves his montages. And I should really stop referring to myself in the third person. Referring sounds like reefer...I think.

I'll end this lunatics blog after this segment. I've been reading this book called Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture. I bought it from Urban Outfitters which is a kick ass store, because I love learning about cultures and what is better then music culture? The book is a semi-serious, mostly comedic book but you do learn a lot of things from reading it. Its written by Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelly who work for Alternative Press which is a kick-ass magazine. I'm only 20 pages (I have 2 AP issues I still need to read) and the foreword in but I've already learned so many things about the Emo culture and things about myself. But before I continue, if you are into the scene, do read it, you'll get a kick out of it. I've always been aware of the emo culture and I think I actually had more of a grasp on it then most people. Most people think its just about cutting and crying but I knew it was more deeper than that. I'm more of an understanding and compromising person than the usual human being. Just because people talk about their feelings does not make them a cry baby, venting is one of he best methods of healing I think. So really, I felt bad for the emo culture because they were taking a lot of heat for doing regular ass human stuff. Now I deeply entrenched into the Emo music scene but never did I really consider myself an Emo...wow that sounds dumb haha. Isn't an Emo a fucking animal? or is that Emu? Probably Emu...but I digress. A flightless bird right? (Alright shut up...) But the book really helps clarify what Emo means to the people on the outside that think they know what Emo means (Cutting, Crying, tight clothes, makeup...right?) People in college would ask me, "What is Emo?" all the time because I listen to the music and I never knew how to describe it. I mean they didn't even know half the bands I listed off, it was always, "Dashboard, Fall Out, Panic!? Do you know them?" "Oh yea! they rock." But now when people ask me, I can just be like go read this book and they won't, but at least I won't have to think of an answer. Here is something that really struck me, at the beginning of the book they introduce the "Emo Value System." A good list of qualities that make up and Emo. Depression was one of them and it went on to explain that Emo don't like to be depressed by them selves, but rather a group of other Emos. Sounds pretty stupid, actually really stupid but think about it, have you ever felt depressed and needed to talk to other people? Duh, right? Well if you're a more thoughtful person, I think you are more likely to be depressed because you think about shit that bothers you, I know I do. The second quality was Effort(lessness). Brilliantly titled because its true, it takes a lot of effort to make things look effortless. I totally dig this one. Empathy is the third one and I do feel lots of sympathy and empathy. I am a caring person so its just my nature to do so. But I guess that makes you Emo...this is something I didn't know about Emos. Here is a brilliant term that was introduced with the Empathy topic: "Overcast Kids." And do I know some Overcast Kids. So to the people that know the scene well, next time you see one of those people who are Emo to be Emo and that act like they know what is going on, that my friends, is an Overcast Kid. The next Value Quality is Faith. It goes on to say that Emos will follow anything they believe in 110%. Damn, describes me again, loyalty is such an important moral to me and I will follow people and things I believe to my death. Then it makes fun of an Emos faith and says that they blog about this...doh! Insecurity is another one, and I also fall into this category. The last one they name is non-athleticism, which isn't me. I might not be crazy athletic, but I do enjoy my sports. So I thought about it, I fall into most of the categories but I never considered myself an Emu. I just figured what these people do are normal human things, why wouldn't a person want to be loyal, considerate and outgoing? But I am learning that these are qualities not everyone possesses, and thats to bad. So maybe I am emu, who knows. Here is something that really did it for me, Emos are born, not made. So if you are trying to be one, stop haha. But I always tell myself there aren't people on this Earth like me, because it is really hard for me to find someone with the same viewpoints as me. Its really hard for me to find someone who acts like me, cares like me and believes in things like me. I tell myself I am one of a kind, and not because I think its cool, I think its sad. I feel alone at times. But maybe I need to hang out with Emus haha. And yes, I know I said Emu the last 5 times or so. Suck it.
Then they continue with Emo Facts vs. Fictions. "Being Emo means you don't have any friends." False. It means you have more friends, MySpace, AIM and music bonds them.
"Emo refers to a music genre - not a lifestyle." False, it is a music sub-genre but it has also become a lifestyle.
"Being called Emo is an insult." False, it was but not anymore.
"If you're emo, you cry all the time" False, thats just a dumb question, or I guess statement.
"Devout Emo followers are Celibate." False. Haha, this is what the book says, "...Sex is something that is often coveted by the emo masses, out of cirumstances, rarely ever experienced." Soooo true.
"If you're Emo then you're strait edge." False. haha, not for me.
Then it talks about mannerisms and etiquettes which I don't care to talk about since this is getting long. I guess out of my group of friends, Dean is the most Emo if you scientifically categorize my friends from the book. Maybe thats why we get along so well? Anywho, just another culture I learned I am a part of and I didn't even know it. All this time I tried to avoid it.