An Incomplete List of Movies and Music that have Made Me Cry

Posted on 19th January 2011 in Something Daily

I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of listening to Enema of the State. I don’t listen to Blink-182 for the middle-school nostalgia, despite the fact that that would be a great excuse. I actually got into them just before coming to school. Pop-punk is sweet, don’t worry about it. I like how shiny and ‘produced’ Blink sound on that album, like that one Sum 41 album that has “Fat Lip” on it, and Dookie by Green Day. Those have the sound that I love, and the whiny teenage lyrics that I don’t really care about pretending not to love. I mention this because, as i sit here in my parents’ dining room, my laptop, trackball, and external drives spread out around me, typing whatever pops into my head, I am blasting the previously mentioned Blink-182 album in my earbuds and mentally adding a major 3rd harmony to every single vocal line, because even if it’s not ‘there’, it’s still there – and if it’s not, it should be. It’s not like I have any big memories attached to Enema, I guess it’s just the feeling. – I just noticed that at the beginning of “The Party Song”, you can hear Mark saying “here we go, motherfuckers”. As I mentioned, this album will never get old to me.

Also, the Green Day American Idiot broadway show was fairly rad. I don’t know if it’s still running, but I liked it when I saw it back in September. I cried a little bit during the title song.

  • Also at the end of the Peter Jackson King Kong movie, when the planes keep shooting him and his girlfriend is freaking out;
  • also during the Extras finale when Ricky Gervais looks right at the camera and apologizes to Maggie;
  • also at about six different points throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy, including “You shall not pass!” and Theoden’s pep talk before the battle of Pelennor Fields where he hits everybody’s spears with his sword;
  • also the first section of “Echoes” from Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii;
  • also when Largeman and Sam kiss in the rain to Simon and Garfunkel in Garden State;
  • also at the part in the live version of “And You and I” where the build ends and they go to the “I listened hard but could not see” section;
  • also the second verse of Yes’ “Sound Chaser” from Relayer

That’s enough for now; seriously, I could go on.

I have this bad habit of getting totally obsessed with a project until it’s finished. It happened a few weeks back when I reworked my automatic data backups, and when I thought I was going to get totally into drawing, both to varying degrees. Something similar happened this morning when I got it in my head that today was the day I would finally draw the new header for this website. I worked from about 11 AM to 6 PM without stopping or eating, scanning each section of this new monstrosity separately, eventually creating this…thing right here.

I think it looks wonderfully homebrewed. We’ve got a stegosaurus, a Gameboy, an LED, a capacitor, and a little pink guy all hanging out and playing some classic video games. They’re having fun. I wish I had a sentient Gameboy to chill with. Break would have been significantly more fun, at least. I realize that there’s only one stegosaurus on it, and no moon to be seen. Don’t worry about it. Anyway, I hope you like it, but that’s where my involvement with your opinion on the matter ends. If you don’t like it…..GTFO. Or wait a few months for the day when I get bored with it and make a new one.

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Bob Genghis Khan

Posted on 28th December 2010 in Something Daily

In the last two weeks of this past summer, I spent the time during which most of my friends were back at school going to my high school friend’s house every night and playing through the first two God of War games with him. This happened literally every night for two weeks, and we ended up getting kind of sick of them by the time we left for school. We did manage to finish both in two weeks though. I can’t really decide if the God of War games are good or not. I mean they’re fun to play, and generally epic beyond comprehension, but the story and voice acting are just dumb. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Still, I don’t really think those alone make a bad game. They’re fun, so I’m ok with it. I like the huge enemy battles, despite the fact that the coolest parts of those fights are often just quicktime events. I do agree, though, that it does take a decent amount of thought to come up with a non-quicktime system that would allow for the kind of ridiculous moves that you can pull off in some of those big God of War battles. See what I mean? I’m so undecided about whether they’re actually “good” or not.

The point is that I was able to continue the journey last night for the first time in several months when I got together with Eric again last night and we started his God of War III that he got for christmas. What an awesome opening sequence. Seriously, that water-horse-crab thing is just too much. The third installment is just so much better looking than the first two; I was really hoping there would be a significant jump in graphics with the switch to the new hardware of the PS3, and as of last night, I’m not disappointed. Apart from the game itself, it’s always good to have some nondiluted bro-time when I come home (even though we all forgot our SNES consoles! Most non-triumphant.)

My true Christmas break started today, as I slept in until 10 (what!?) and have spent my morning so far shoveling the driveway and watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I had forgotten how bad that movie actually is – not that I expect any of it to make sense or anything, but some of the time travel stuff they do is just so ridiculous. The whole thing where they decide to leave the keys somewhere where they’ll find them and they’re just there waiting for them? I mean it’s awesome and hilarious, but the part of me that’s into theoretical physics has a problem with that. I know it’s just an 80′s teen movie. I really just watched it for the two lead characters and their vernacular. I think I’m going to start slipping “most excellent” into my conversation and see if anyone calls me out on it. I bet they don’t.

I’m watching Yessongs on DVD right now, and I have to say that it’s likely my favorite concert video that I’ve seen. It’s just the perfect era of Yes where everybody was in the band and they were really good live. I actually like the Yessongs version of “And You And I” way better than the studio one – because it rocks way more, obviously. I remember an old keyboard teacher of mine was watching Yessongs with me once and made the comment that Steve Howe is the reason to watch the show. Now I realize what he was talking about, because Steve Howe is inhuman in that video, but at the time, being the keyboard-playing prog-rock nerd that I was in middle school, I was so offended that my own keyboard teacher would disrespect Rick Wakeman so blatantly. Watching it now, though, I realize that Rick Wakeman, while also playing ridiculously well in the Yessongs performance, was really ugly in the seventies. Not that this detracts from his performance, but it’s just a hilarious realization to me.

EDIT: This just reminded me that there’s a picture of me floating around the internet from way back in the days of Rock School when we did a tour with Jon Anderson, the lead singer from Yes. I had my mom make me this sweet Rick Wakeman cape, and I wore it every night on that tour. It was awesome. Here it is, you can still see it if you google “Emmett Butler”. Sorry about the tiny resolution, it’s the only one I can find. And yes, I actually was this cool at one point in my life.

There’s the beginning of my winter break from school. I can’t tell if it’s going to go by fast or slow, or which of those I prefer. I plan to start not worrying about that (or anything) riiiight…….now.

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Close to the Edge

Posted on 19th December 2010 in Something Daily

I had one of those days today. By that, I mean that I went to bed at 1:30, woke up without an alarm at 7:15, and had nothing too pressing to get done. As a result, I’ve spent the whole day in a state of lethargy and lack of interest in anything. I had an interesting night last night, for sure. Among other things, London, Bryant and I watched Shogun Assassin and ate Insomnia Cookies together. London really liked the movie, which I’m so happy about! I’ve always thought it’s awesome, and for some reason assumed that no one else would. I’ve noticed, actually, that that’s a theme of my life. I have a certain set of interests, which I think are awesome (obviously). I have this perception, though, that by the simple virtue of me thinking something is awesome, other people automatically don’t. I’ve come to learn recently that this isn’t really the case through meeting certain people and being upfront about my interests, but for some reason I have this perception nonetheless. I’m getting over it, it’s just a pretty slow process.

So yesterday I discovered that Stuyvesant town is actually a sweet place to skate, even for someone with skills as limited as my own. There are a lot of nice smooth streets with not many cars or people around. It’s a pretty secluded apartment complex, and I get the impression that it’s expensive. The people that live there seem nice enough. But I went there yesterday and today, and succeeded in not eating pavement on one of those two occasions. Like I said before, I’m getting better, slowly but surely.

I also listened to “Close to the Edge” by Yes for the first time in ages yesterday. I mean I just sat in front of my speakers and listened for all eighteen minutes. It was incredible. The bass tone on that song is unbeatable, the groove on the verses is just nuts, and the organ/synth solo segment still gives me chills. As Jon Anderson said, that song is such a journey. It got me pumped up for the evening, at least.

Today was all about catching up on last-minute homework that I procrastinated on and watching Arrested Development. I’m actually going to go finish world 8 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii right now. But first, by way of an apology for yesterday’s musical travesty, here’s a slightly better-tuned piece that I composed about a month ago with a Gameboy emulator for the video game I’m designing.

Level One by Raised by Robots

I love this piece. It’s probably the most complex composition I’ve ever written, but I don’t write that much, so I see this as a success. Check my soundcloud for another Gameboy song and some beats that I made a while ago. I’m quite, quite tired right now. Goodnight!

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