Rain Room

This is just bizarre. One thing that drives me crazy about living in CA is there is almost NO RAIN EVER.

I quite like the rain.

Queens of the Stone Age on Lettermen

I'm way behind on posting this but it's been a busy couple days catching up on the sleep I need to live.

Video: Sepultura in the Studio

Found these on blabbermouth. Interesting thing, other than hearing Ross Robinson talk is in the first clip you'll see the camera walk over and look out onto the strand in Venice. I was just there! Think I even know exactly where that is (not that I'm gonna go back and try and see, but it's still pretty cool).

I'm not a huge fan of Venice Beach, mainly because it's overpopulated with tourists and... how can I say this delicately? Scum? The outdoor weightlifting station says says it all.



I'm by no means a rabid Sepultura fan - I haven't really followed since Chaos A.D. (though Roots is quite good as well, esp. the track with Patton). I lucked into a promo copy of 2009's A-Lex and it's pretty cool, but overall their just kind of the band I keep a nostalgic eye on in the updates and break out the old stuff when I'm in the mood (Chaos A.D. really is one of the best metal albums of the 90's).

New Song From The Neighbourhood - No Grey

Another new song? Nice...

Speaking of The Evens

Not the best sound quality, but still very cool.

Pailhead - Ballad

Pailhead - basically Ministry with Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and more recently The Evens (as well as, of course, Minor Threat and a bunch of other bands as well).

Neil Gaiman on Iain Banks' Passing

image courtesy of astroengine.com

I've never read any book by Iain Banks. Before I worked at the bookstore, from '06-'11 I don't know that I even really knew who he was. But when you work at a bookstore you get to really see a lot of store you have missed or would undoubtedly miss, and once I started handling his books I started reading about him online. He's been in my 'I'll get to it' que since, along with Charles De Lint, John Scalzi and a host of others.

And now he's dead.

Of course his passing affects me in a removed way, but it affects me nonetheless - in a way every human beings does when we stop to pay attention to the idea of essence slipping away and disappearing from our world. But the death of Iain Banks (aka Iain M. Banks) does not affect me as it does those who were fans, or those who knew him.

Or those lucky enough to fall into both of those categories, as Neil Gaiman so obviously does, as evidenced in this heartfelt reaction here.