Iceni

I used to have an avatar of a warthog on here, I think I'd go for that.

The hippo is the unofficial mascot of GW, who were my first choice until I found out Georgetown was cheaper (!) Significant motivation to attend.

They always bored a hole offa me, but I've also got a friend who likes them...

^Actually, 'give me a kiss' would be "Donnez-moi un embrasse". The quote written in that book is literally "Do you want to kiss me?" so at least it's teaching children to be polite.

Unofficially got my final grade back for French, apparently an A minus with the best oral exam score I've ever gotten.

Over the last few days it's been Aeon Zen's new stuff, very nice.

That sucks. I was trying to date a girl and she said no, but to her credit she has at least invited me to stuff since then and hasn't been standoffish. On a lighter note, I unofficially have a research internship for the summer.

'The Hand Trembler' by Tourniquet. I used to ignore these guys. Not any more...man, I hope the rest of their stuff is this good.

'Unite' by Aeon Zen. This music video is a thing of beauty... F5G3Yf4k-zo

The self-titled by Noble Beast. Bloody hell, I'm loving this. Some of the most majestically balls-out power metal I've ever heard, so far.

'Diluvial Ascension: Gateway To the Antisphere' by Sulphur Aeon - but finished up 'Window of My Soul' by Harmony. Wow, I was pretty hyped up when I found out just now that Harmony had a new album. I knew it wouldn't be as good as Chapter II: Aftermath, because the album art was less awesome, and because Chapter II was superb...but after one or two disappointing tracks the rest of the album proved a lot better. It's still superior to their debut by a substantial margin. Daniel Heiman is on this, and I agree he's misused. That guy should be heading up a band like Persuader or Disillusion (I keep hearing Lost Horizon is the most amazing thing ever in power metal, maybe I need to listen again but I do not know what amazes people). I miss Hendrik Bath, he was great for the band even if ever so slightly effeminate. Also, I'm a little disappointed in Markus Sigfridsson on this album. I know the man is one of the best composers and guitarists working in the prog/power scene but he falls somewhat short here. The atmosphere is roughly right and the technicality is acceptable. Sigfridsson has made a great sketch which I would still buy but I'd be annoyed at forking over full price. If his work were at least on the level of 'Hands of Time' for the whole album it'd be a lot better. His most recent output with 7Days (which he himself called an opportunity to focus on composition rather than technicality) still had a nice amount of complexity to it, so I would not say he has lost his touch. (Incidentally the use of Christian Rivel for that album was another vocal mistake, but while Heiman merely seems out of place, Rivel was both out of place and terrible. Divinefire's Hero remains the only really good Rivel performance.) We're a little overdue for a new Darkwater album - since Where Stories End was an improvement (in technical and melodic terms) maybe Darkwater's being a prog band will spur Sigfridsson into more varied riffs.

'Here At the End of the World' by Orden Ogan. This is more like it!

Finished 'Evil Lies In Every Man' by Orden Ogan. Come on, guys, kick ass like I know you can! Why the hell do you dilute stuff all the time?.. Now on to 'The Chaos Path' by Arcturus. How is that? Anything I might like?

The Snoozefest thing is funny because just yesterday my professor pointed out that music was just a form of math, repudiating a statement by a girl who said she was more of an arts-oriented person. I recall thinking 'you know, it's bastards like you that allow Spawn of Possession to keep releasing albums...'

Well, name any country that likes its politicians...

I just finished attending a speech by Tony Blair at the university. Allegedly the speech was about governance and economics in sub-Saharan Africa, not that you could tell. I'm glad I didn't have to pay. The subject seemed narrow enough that there'd be at least some meat to the speech, but no - ketchup and mustard all the way down. If they'd given him more than an hour (twice as much probably would have been good) and had him focus on governance in former British colonial Africa maybe, maybe it would have had enough specificity to warrant an insight but the guy came off as being amazed that people take him seriously. Maybe he's hampered by government etiquette of some kind. Pity.

I kinda misspoke and used the informal name. Formally it's the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. I think I'd enjoy the work since I used to be pretty enthusiastic about these issues in high school and have found over the course of my religion class that they're still important to me. The higher level of inquiry at which I'm studying them has also helped make them more interesting.

Just got granted housing and passed my language proficiency exam - all I need now is to be taken on as a research assistant with the Berkley Center and all of my immediate worries will be assuaged.

^ I hear their new album is a significant departure from their old style, but people are kind of up in the air about it.