Saturday, June 30, 2012

Storm Command by Secret Empire [08.01.12]

Way back, years ago, in the days of myspace, there was a musician named Connor Ragan, who started a music project called Secret Empire. Ever since I heard the first teaser he uploaded to his myspace page, and the full demo songs later on, I've been very much looking forward to his eventual album, Storm Command. Late last year, Secret Empire released a music video for one of the songs on the album called "Alien (Burial)". It's a great song, and I love the video. Check it out.



Storm Command is finally being released on August 1st, 2012. And I'm very excited. And it's going to be free to download! It was produced by Shaun Lopez. The very same Shaun Lopez that produced the most recent Deftones album Diamond Eyes, and that is one of the members of the band ††† (Crosses), which I am also a pretty big fan of.

Here is a short video about the making of Storm Command featuring Ragan and Lopez.



You can also listen to other songs from Storm Command, "Plastic Wrist" and "Oh Well" on youtube. And if you want to learn more, go to the Secret Empire website and facebook page.

UPDATE: The album has now been released. Go read this newer post to download the album for free.

Friday, June 8, 2012

The New School Approach To Parenting

When Patrick and I saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo back in January, although the movie was disturbing, the most disturbing thing about the experience was that a couple in the row behind us had a baby and a toddler with them.

At first I thought maybe we had gone into the wrong theater. And then I thought maybe they did, but the movie was starting and they still weren't leaving. Then I kept looking back during the more disturbing scenes of the movie to see if the parents were at least covering the kids' eyes, but they weren't. The kids were watching intently. Sometimes the baby would cry. At one point I heard the toddler ask "What is she doing?", referring to something Lisbeth Salander was doing in one of the more disturbing scenes, and I didn't hear her parents answer her. It was pretty distracting watching a movie like that knowing that a baby and a toddler are ten feet away from you.

Patrick and I saw Prometheus today, and at least I didn't notice any babies or toddlers in the audience. But a little while before the movie started, we were in Best Buy, and while I was looking at movies, I heard a guy behind me saying "If you don't stop actin' a fool, I'm gonna slap you!" I figured he was joking around with one of his friends or something, but I turned around to find it was a man saying it to a little girl, and he was pointing his finger right in her face. Great parenting, buddy.