Blog With Brennan

Midterm Week Means Lack of Sleep and I'm Seeing Things

2011-03-10T09:51:00.004-07:00

I just was walking to class now and I saw this shirt. The chick was carrying something in her left arm and it was covering up the last letter. I was totally tripping, I thought it said “I Love the KKK”. No way man. Being the fact that I was on a college campus I probably should have put that one together.

PS. Please check out my remix of “Aint Nuthin But a G Thang” and download it for free if you haven't:

Dr. Dre- Nuthin but a G Thang (B Plus Remix) by bplus

U-Turn = U-Lame Bro

2011-02-22T10:22:00.001-07:00

In a car you can do a U-turn and it's no big deal. How come when you're on foot a U-turn can make you look really stupid? Anytime you suddenly have to walk in the opposite direction, for whatever reason, you have to make it look like something happened suddenly:

Like grab your phone and look at it like you just got a text and be like all, “Oh so we're meeting at Zimmerman now?” Then turn around.
If there is a drinking fountain around then take a drink as if you made the trip just for that. Then turn around.
Lean down and pretend to tie your shoe long enough that anyone who might have noticed walks past you. Then stand up and walk the other direction.

Faux Fox

2011-01-27T11:10:00.007-07:00

Don't make the same mistake I did:

Faux = fake, not a fancy way to spell “fox”.

I got a new jacket once not realizing it had "faux fur" on it, and it made me feel bad. Good to know I'm not a fox killer after all.

Chillz Challenge

2011-01-26T12:33:00.001-07:00

The results of the Chillz Challenge.

You Too

2011-01-08T14:58:00.005-07:00

I've realized that sometimes you have to put a little bit of thought into your responses, otherwise you can sound like a jerk. At the grocery store when the cashier is done checking you out they'll usually say, “Have a great day!” to which I respond, “You too.” When I run into an old friend at school and they say, “It's good to see you again man.” I will say, “You too.” "You too" in 75% of situations is a good brainless but nice thing to say to someone.

“You too” will, however, sometimes make you look like a jerk. For example I was at Seattle's Best the other day with my wife and after the barista made us our Caramel Apple Spice he said, “Enjoy!” I promptly replied, “You too! -I mean enjoy working -I mean... uh... nevermind” I felt bad that I had rubbed in the fact that I was relaxing and enjoying a delicious Caramel Apple Spice at his expense.

At my old job I couldn't take a break until someone came back and covered for me. When I finally got relieved for my break my less-fortunate co-worker would inevitably say, as I was taking my apron off, “Have a great break!” to which I would brainlessly respond “You too... I mean you are not taking a break so, nevermind.”

So my hypothesis is if you are going to brainlessly respond “you too” to someone, make sure they are not in a less-fortunate situation than you.

Band of the Week still lives, at Guerrilla Radio.

2009-05-03T18:45:00.003-06:00

Hey guys, I still write Band of the Week but it has moved to http://www.guerrilla-radio.org/ Starting tomorrow you can catch it every Monday.

Please give the site a look and expect to see lots of new fun things go down.

-Brennan

Update

2009-04-16T00:01:00.001-06:00

I regret to inform all that I will no longer be posting a blog every week. There may be occasional posts but weekly posts have been suspended until further notice. Sorry, and thanks to all who have chilled with me the past while, it has been fun.

-Brennan

Guns Are No Fun

2009-04-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

This is my take on guns. It is ridiculous that in 33 states you can go to a gun show and buy a gun no questions asked, no ID presented, no background check. You got cash? Deal. I like how people say we need them to "protect ourselves" but how is your kid gonna protect himself when he goes to high school and his classmate shows up with his parents gun? What about the guy who shot his wife thinking she was an intruder? I think the very guns that are supposed to protect America are killing it off because they are falling into the wrong hands. Solution? Guns should fall into no hands. It is great and admirable to want to protect your family, but I say get a dog or learn martial arts.

Band of the Week

Whole Wheat Bread
From: Jacksonville, Florida
Site: http://www.myspace.com/wholewheatbread

Check WWB out! Your life will never be the same.

Yeeah

2009-04-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

Freezing and Scared of Coyotes

2009-03-26T00:01:00.000-06:00

So with spring break happening I decided I needed to do something cool. Monday night I went to the Cursive show. Tuesday I was headed to El Paso to meet up with my brother and we were going to see The Matches, one of our favorite bands. I wasn’t to far from home when I get the call saying that after calling ahead, my brother found out that the club in El Paso didn’t accept the New Mexico temporary paper drivers licenses which incidentally both my brother and I had while waiting for our real ones to arrive in the mail.

So apart from playing shows and going to shows, my spring break plans consisted of riding my bike long distances. I was kind of bummed Tuesday night that we didn’t hit up the show, and I decided I would ride my bike into Albuquerque the next day.

Tuesday night I tossed and turned for a few hours then decided, “forget it, why not start my trip then instead of tossing and turning all night?” So I set out though it was 2 am, and started out on what turned into my first overnight bike ride.

I shut my garage door (fearful of waking the still asleep) and rolled down the street with my pathway illuminated by my bike light.

At first it was quite fun, the first 20 or so minutes. No cars were on the road, and the night air was cool and refreshing. After that I turned off Corrales road on to a road called Loma Larga, which proved to be the funnest (sarcastic) part of my trip.

The road was pitch black, all I could see was the 3 or so feet lit in front of my by my bike light. There weren’t many houses along the road. I never thought I was scared of the dark until riding along that road for a while. As I rode past bushes and ditches I’d here animals rustling around, at times jumping out at me. Though they where probably rabbits and such, I could not see them, and I kept imagining coyotes and stray dogs about to chase after me.

They say that prisoners in Alcatraz went crazy in the pitch dark cells. Many did things such as rip buttons of their shirts, throw them in the air, then crawl around on their hands and knees until they found it to try and maintain sanity. After like 40 minutes of riding down this dark long street, I began to believe I was very much insane myself.

Finally after I thought I was destined to end up in the middle of nowhere, I saw lights. Civilization! Never had I been so excited to see Walmart! Luckily Walmart is one of the only places open at 3 AM in the morning. I locked my bike up and went inside, bought some Gatorade, then basked in the warmth of the foyer sipping my Gatorade (I didn’t take into consideration that it got progressively colder as the night went on, and I was freezing.) I ended up sitting in the foyer for about an hour and Walmart security became concerned that I was homeless and was about to sleep there or something.

To make a long story short, I left went on my way, rode for however long more till the Albuquerque train station. I waited for the first northbound train (forever) and headed towards my house. I arrived home at about 7 PM, very freezing, and very exhausted.

My fun over night adventure on no sleep ended up being not so great, and actually quite unpleasant. Next time I am tossing and turning and can’t sleep, I will be grateful that at least I am warm.

Band of the Week: The Action Design
Why? I saw them on Monday and reminded myself that they are amazing, and have yet to make band of the week. I have been a long time fan of Agent M and Tsunami Bomb, but The Action Design is just as, if not more catchy than Tsunami Bomb.
Where they are from: San Fra, Cali.
Best song: Landmines
Check it: www.myspace.com/theactiondesign

Spring Breakin It

2009-03-19T00:01:00.000-06:00

Hey I hope all you cats are enjoying spring break. Stay tuned next Thursday for our regularly scheduled post. Oh yeah this Saturday in you're in the Duke City Metro Area, come hang with us, it'll be a rad show:

My 5 Favorite Gangsta Rap Songs That I Shouldn’t Like, But Do.

2009-03-12T00:01:00.004-06:00

1) Real Compton City G’s- Eazy E
This song is super funny. I love rap rivalries, and this song is a classic rap rivals song. Eazy disses Dre and Snoop, saying things like Dre wears lipstick, and calling Snoop “the Anorexic Rapper”.

2) Foe tha Love of $- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Bone Thugs are quite possibly the best rap group in the world. They definitely would have my vote. The funny thing is this song features Eazy E, who signed Bone Thugs and gave them their start. Now Eazy is not the best rapper so his verse sticks out like a sore thumb next to the Thugs but as we’d expect from Eazy, it is hilarious. I think my favorite line from Eazy’s verse is “So I dash I dust and I hide behind a tree, making sure the Po Po don’t see me”.

3) I Love the Dough- The Notorious B.I.G.
Like number two (and most rap songs) this is another song about making money. Thanks to this song I now have something new to put on my “What to do when I am super rich” list. I don’t drink or smoke, so champagne and cuban cigars are out of the question, so “playing Monopoly with real cash” will definitely be on my list.

4) Mr. Slow Flow- Evidence
Now Evidence and Eazy E graduated from the same school of rap (the school that teaches you to have ridiculous and slow raps), but I still love both of them. Evidence starts us out right off the bat with the line that could have been written by Eazy E, a contender for possibly the most ridiculous line in a rap song, “I can smoke a whole eighth in a splif, some call that a problem but I call it a gift.” The music video is interesting as well, Ev just drives around town tagging his whack looking “Mr. Slowflow” over other peoples tags that are way better. Evidences tags are whack and his flows slow, but apparently he wins his respect by his incredible ability to smoke. I still think the song is catchy though.

5) (Our favorite song about our friends the cops is what I shall call this one)- N.W.A.This is the song that helped start gangsta rap, and I hate to say this but this the fourth song on this list that you will hear mention of the name Eazy E. Eazy E is the godfather of gangsta rap. He funded and founded Ruthless records which was the home of N.W.A. and later, artists like Bone Thugs. Anyone who thanks Dre for gangsta rap doesn’t know that he started his career on Eazy’s money and in Eazy’s group. This song was the first song to ever get the attention of the police and the FBI. Let’s just say they weren’t NWA fans.

RIP Eazy E. and The Notorious B.I.G.

DISCLAIMER- I don’t in any way say that the whole rap idea/mentality is cool, smoking, shooting and all the other stuff we know it’s about. I just think some of it is funny and can be appreciated as a musical art form. Please realize that much of what I said above was in a joking or sarcastic way. Also if anyone looks into these songs, please listen to the edited songs, it'd be a good idea. The following is the edited Eazy video.

No band of the week this week. Know that if there was it'd be Eazy E.

Directions

2009-03-05T00:01:00.003-07:00

On my cell phone plan I only have 250 texts per month. Now for me texting serves one of three purposes:

1. You are at a show and it is really loud so you can’t hear anyone and they can’t hear you.
2. You are in class or at work and something important comes up (only applies on occasion.)
3. Someone tries to give you directions and instead of scrambling around for pen and paper you tell them to text you so you have it for quick reference, at no effort on your part.

So I seem to manage fine with 250. Every once in a while some of my friends get really text happy and I go over. When I feel like I am getting close to 250 I start calling people. They text me and immediately I see who it is and delete their text and then call them saying, “Hey I saw you texted me but I didn’t read it, can you fill me in?” This is annoying to people so usually they figure it out and stop texting me for any reason other than a good one.

Last month however by the time I started realizing I was running out it was too late. I was already like 10 dollars overspent.

Why don’t I pay the like 10 extra to up my text to unlimited? I look at it like this:

1. I don’t want to make it a habit.
2. I text slow.
3. Sometimes I am kind of sarcastic, and sarcasm doesn’t always work as planned on text.

Brennan’s Band Blog

Band of the Week: Cursive
From: Omaha, Nebraska
Best Song: The Recluse
Check: http://www.myspace.com/cursive

100 Missed Calls

2009-02-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

That Guy Eats Cake!

2009-02-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

So a few days ago I was taking the train to school and I sit down next to some friends and across the aisle some shady looking dude sits down and starts talking to me in Spanglish. So I talk to him for a while, then all the sudden he gets this huge grin on his face and says something way quiet. I can only see his mouth move so I'm like "dude, I didn’t catch that" so he leans closer and tells me, "Hey man, I can tell from the way you look and act that you do shrooms, so wanna go do some shrooms?" I'm like, "thanks for the offer, but no thanks." My friends were all weirded out and asked, "what did he ask you?" so I explained. Now my friends make fun of me and always ask me if I want to do shrooms. That was weird.

One time back in my working-at-Target days (years ago), I was working in electronics and some dude comes and asks for help in the stereos section. So I was helping this dude and he looks around and starts talking all quiet, and this is the conversation that ensued: "
Customer Dude: Hey man, I’m new to town, can you tell me where I can find some bud?
Brennan: Naw dude, sorry I can’t help you on that one.
CD: Come on man you can tell me.
B: No for reals man, I wouldn’t know.
CD: Come on man, I know you can tell me where to find some bud.
B: Naw man I’m not into that stuff.
CD: I don’t believe you.
B: For reals man.
CD: For reals?
B: For reals.
CD: For reals?
B: I’m not playing.
CD: Oh wow, I never would have known by looking at you.

The weird thing is those were definitely not the only times some one has assumed that I do drugs. Most people hate to hear about it because they say the solution is easy and that I could just cut my hair. I call that giving in. I say however that it is dumb to assume stuff by looking at people. My brother Jacob has already stopped reading at this point so I will say it, but Jesus had long hair and he was perfect.

The great Mitch Hedberg (RIP we miss you man) once said:
"People associate long hair with drug use. I wish people associated long hair with something other than drug use, like an extreme longing for cake. And then strangers would see a long haired guy and say, "That guy eats cake!" "He is on bundt cake!" Mothers saying to their daughters, "Don’t bring the cake eater over here anymore. He smells like flour. Did you see how excited he got when he found out your birthday was fast approaching?"

So the moral of the story is, is… I’m not sure. Mitch Hedberg is a funny dude I guess. And I miss him. And hair length or outward appearance means little to nothing about anyone. My opinion of my parents actually went up when I found the photo of the two of them with their matching afros.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog
Band of the Week: The Bridges
Musical Style: Rock, like the kind you’d expect to hear from four chicks and a dude from Alabama, only even awesomer than you’d expect.
Where They’re From: I guess I already answered that one.
Why They Are Cool: I love The Bridges.
Fact: Four of the Five band mebers are siblings and the remaining is a cousin.
Brennan’s Favorite The Bridges song: All The Words.
Check The Bridges out at: http://www.myspace.com/thebridges

More Adventures

2009-02-12T00:01:00.005-07:00

Estábamos trabajando en una área bien peligroso que se llamaba la León XIII por un tiempo. Era uno de los barrios más peligrosos de San José.

Una vez estaba caminando allí con un compañero mío y andábamos trabajando así que llevábamos nuestros bolsos. Caminamos por una alameda bien estrecha, por lo tanto yo caminaba en frente y el atrás de mí. De repente unos hombres agarraron a mi amigo, le pusieron un puñal en su cuello, y empezaron a robar sus cosas. Me di vuelta y ellos me gritaron, "no se mueva o lo matamos!" Entonces me quede allí. Luego ellos vinieron a mi y me robaron.

Después mi amigo me dio gracias por no tratar de salvarle la vida porque le hubieron matado. Fue una experiencia asustante pero por dicha no nos paso nada. Jamás recuperamos nuestras cosas pero escapamos con vida eso es lo importante. Fue chistoso porque la verdad no perdí mucho, solo un poco de plata y mi bolso donde llevaba un Libro de Mormón. Espero que lo estén leyendo.

Yo digo que son tuanis, asi que...son tuanis.

Brennan’s choice band of the week: Alkaline Trio
Where they’re from: Chicago.
Musical Style: Punk.
Why they are cool: Everyone knows and loves Alkaline Trio so this is probably not news to anyone, but I figured if a bands songs are stuck in your head for like a week, it might be time to choose them as band of the week. I dig power trios as well, and Matt and Derek are vegetarians too so those are just added reasons to my thinking Alkaline Trio is rad apart from their good music.
Brennan’s favorite Alk3 song: Time to Waste
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/alkalinetrio

Over Rated.

2009-02-05T00:01:00.002-07:00

So now with the whole Michael Phelps admitting to smoking marijuana thing, it just reassures what I already knew. Phelps is overrated. Usain Bolt was the real hero of the 2008 Olympics. That dude set world records in all his races and only scored 3 golds cause he only had three races. Give Bolt 8 races and he could have taken 8 golds and set 8 world records. Shoot if Bolt competed in 12, he could take 12 golds.

Is it any coincidence that the dude who held the record for the most gold medals before Phelps was a swimmer? Nope. It’s because swimmers have a grip of events to compete in.

What about pole vaulters or basketball players? They can only take home one medal even if they were the greatest athletes in the world.

So I know others would disagree, but Phelps wasn’t the greatest athlete of the 2008 Olympics, just the luckiest (shoot one of those medals was earned for him by his teammate.) Plus, if Bolt and Phelps ever fought I don’t even have to say who’d win, we all know.

Usain Bolt owned the Olympics, and Nastia Liukin I say would take best American athlete ha ha.

Fact: Usain Bolt beat out Phelps for IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2008.

Disclaimer: I know Bolt is a partyer, no one ever said he wasn’t. I’m not in any way saying this is acceptable behavior either.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s choice band of the week: Locksley
Where they’re from: New York, NY.
Musical Style: Rock.
Why they are cool: I first found out about Locksley in July when I saw them open for Rooney and I thought they were the most amazing thing ever. They are super catchy and have an old school sound. They are working on a new record and I am super anxious.
Brennan’s favorite Locksley song: Into the Sun
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/locksley

Indecision and Delinquency

2009-01-29T00:01:00.004-07:00

So this week I am just gonna tell it like it happened. I hope no one is offended with the content of this blog, these are true events.

So it was two weekends ago and I was hanging out with some friends. After a couple rounds of pool we hit up some Taco Bell. Now I am a Mountain Dew Baja (exclusive to Taco Bell) fanatic and I wasn’t hungry so I just threw back some MD.

After loitering at Taco Bell a while we hit to the streets. Now it was a cold night and we couldn’t decide what to do so instead of chilling in the Taco Bell parking lot in the bitter cold, we decided to take our deciding to our friends van. Now the purpose of sitting in the van was to escape the bitter cold so we could talk and decided with warm brain cells.

However, decisions were never made and the van decision making party became a van sit there and stair at each other and listen to remixes party.

This was fun for a while until the Mountain Dew started to kick in. I asked, "So…um…can we please decide where we are going and go there? I kind of have to use the services." The response was that they still hadn’t decided. Then I start making suggestions frantically. Still there was no unanimous decision. Then I said, "No seriously guys, I REALLY need to piss, so I am about to make my own plans." My friend then chimed in, "You’re a dude, just go pee in a bush somewhere." I replied, "Yeah I’m about at that point, if we can’t decide by the end of this song, I’m going behind the dumpster."

So you guessed it, well maybe you didn’t but here goes. The song ended and I opened the van door and stepped out, and walked over to behind the Taco Bell dumpster (lets remember that at this point it is late enough that Taco Bell is closed on the inside.)

So I look to my right and then to my left and the coast is clear, so yeah, I start doing my thing behind the dumpster. All of the sudden I see these lights come up behind me, then I get that weird feeling in my stomach. I finish and zip up and turn around to see a cop car facing right at me looking at me. I cross in front of the cop car and look right at the female cop inside, I give her that "what’s up" headnod thing and I start to off to the van. Once inside I’m like, "Dude! That cop totally caught me pissing behind that dumpster! Why didn’t you like call me and tell me that a cop was driving up?" "We weren’t watching you pee" was the response and I was like, "Oh, right… good. Well let’s get out of here!"

So we drove off and did a generous lap around the block and came back to find the cop car gone. We all hopped into our cars and met up at our friends house and played Mario Kart.

That was a close one.

Luckily it might have been more awkward for our lady cop friend then it was for me (yes why did she stop there, who knows) so I left the scene with my police record un- relatively unscathed.

The moral of the story is try to if at all possible try to not urinate in public places, you never know who will pop out of nowhere.

That is like some scientific law or something. No matter how many times you check, some one will come out of nowhere right when you start doing your thing. I can’t tell you how many times in Costa Rica we’d be in the middle of the jungle and I’d check my surroundings, and start doing my thing and some chick pops out of some random bush.

True stories, all of them.

Sorry again for the content.

Brennan’s Weekly Band Blog
Band of the Week: The Help
Where they’re from: Boston, Mass.
Musical Style: Rock
Why they are cool: For some odd reason the first time I heard Anyone, Anywhere I listened to it like 5 times in a row. It was so good. You can download there whole EP for free at their Purevolume account listed a few lines below. You’d be crazy if you didn’t go download it right now, or at least Anyone. Anywhere.
Brennan’s favorite The Help song: Anyone, Anywhere.
Check them out at: http://www.purevolume.com/thehelprocks

Bad Luck

2009-01-22T00:01:00.003-07:00

So one time I went to a Chinese restaurant two weeks in a row and opened up my fortune cookie to find the same fortune, two weeks in a row. It read: "Your love of gardening will take on a new meaning in your life." What’s that supposed to mean? What an unsettling fortune, I mean I don’t even really like to garden. That might be a bad sign getting the same fortune two weeks in a row. This was a good while ago, still waiting for the results.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog:

Brennan’s cool band of the week: The Hoodies
Where they’re from: Rochester, NY.
Musical Style: Rock.
Why they are cool: They sound cool.
Brennan’s favorite The Hoodies song: Elegy
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/thehoodies

It's Easier to Name a Dog Than a Band

2009-01-15T00:01:00.003-07:00

I hate thinking of band names. I mean I like it, but it is a frustrating process. If I were the only one involved it would be cool, cause I obviously think all the names I come up with are cool. The problem is everytime I have a name I think is cool, my band mates don’t like it or visa versa. Also you have to factor in the whole "is that already taken?" or the "that sounds to much like…"

Now before we go much deeper into this conversation I’ll show you what I mean. Now for example we will explore three names of bands that I played in at one time, or currently play in.

EXIBIT A: Pre-Packaged Meat (more commonly referred to as PPM.)
This was a band I played in in my early high school years. Let’s just say I didn’t have any part of the naming process on this one, I replaced the original drummer and the name was already established.

EXIBIT B: The Plastics
Now initially I’d say it was a pretty cool name, named after the plastic chair section we used to sit in at church. Now part of why I liked it so much is I am a fan of "the" names. They have a nice punk rock ring to them example: The Ramones, The Bouncing Souls, The Mr. T Experience, etc. etc.

However there were two initial problems with that name. First of all turns out it was also the name of a Japanese 80’s band (hate mail surely ensued.) Second, a certain movie called "Mean Girls" came out later and kind of ruined our good name.

EXIBIT C: Avenge Apollo
This is my current band, and I personally think it is a cool name. Do people think it is weird that our band name came from a Rocky movie? Yeah, they tend to. Avenge Apollo was the more common ground, so we chose it. My personal first choice was Bloody Snow, but that was quickly vetoed by my band mates, so we named a song that instead.
Now my current problem is I am now playing in a funk side project and we are struggling to find a name before our next show. Originally we called ourselves the BC Funk Xperience, but something very similar is already taken. Other names we had tossed around were The Firefighters of Funk, The Funk Farmers, Funk in the Trunk, and some others that due to the four-letterness of the word "Funk" got tossed out for being possibly inappropriate. Well actually I was tossing around the ideas and Cole was neutral as he always is. Anyway, we have yet to decide on any name.

So basically we are still looking for names, and we are open to suggestions. If you have a suggestion or just want to say "I think Funk in the Trunk is a great name", then by all means hit us up. Oh yeah, and by the way it is not necessary that the name contain the word "funk."

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s choice band of the week: Automatic Loveletter
Where they’re from: Tampa, Florida
Musical Style: Uh…good question. Pop?
Why they are cool: When I saw another female fronted band, I was expecting the typical Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance sounding female fronted pop-punk bands like Paramore and Hey Monday (nothing wrong with that, both are amazing bands) but it was refreshing to hear a different sounding style of music. They are really catchy.
Brennan’s favorite Automatic Loveletter song: Hush.
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/automaticloveletter

My Quest For Ambidextrousness

2009-01-08T00:01:00.003-07:00

So last weekend I went and played racquetball with some friends and family members who were in town for the holidays. I was playing in my third game of cutthroat when I did a weird angle swing and some how killed my shoulder. I’m not sure if I pulled it or twisted it weird or what but it hurt super bad. So I finished out that game playing left handed (and consequently lost cause I suck left handed.) After that I played another left-handed game with my cousin Scott and lost again, but held my own for a while.

That’s when I decided that it’d be super gnarly to be an ambidextrous racquetball player. And that became my new goal. I want to play equally good with my right and left arms.

Take Rocky for example (and I know we are talking about an entirely different sport here.) Being a left handed boxer, Rocky trains fighting right handed to confuse Apollo.

Anyways ambidextrousness is a skill that some are born with and others can develop. Take Travis Barker for example. That dude is left handed yet he plays the drums right handed. That’s because he had to learn to play right handed to play on the school jazz set in high school.

I decided that there is a plus side to everything bad that happens. So looking on the bright side, I am glad that now I get a chance to practice my left hand for a while. My goal is to one day become ambidextrous like the other ambidextrous greats.

So my shoulder is still killing me, but I take lots of Ibuprofen. It is nothing serious, and it mainly just hurts when I do backhand racquetball shots or put my shirt on, also any other overhead arm motion. Also when I move it it kind of makes this gnarly popping noise. Luckily it hardly hurts to play drums. I expect that with a few weeks of not playing racquetball right handed I shall make a full recovery and get my game back, until then I will be playing left handed and working on my quest for ambidextrousness.

Being ambidextrous would be cool, I mean how gnarly would it be to do homework and eat breakfast at the same time.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s cool band of the week: Allison
Where they’re from: Mexico DF.
Musical Style: Mexican Pop-punk
Why they are cool: Catchy bridges, songs that stick in your head, cool videos, and this cool guitar spinning thing.
Brennan’s favorite Allison song: It’s a straight up tie between Memorama and Ya No Te Amo. Ya No Te Amo was my first favorite Allison song and then Memorama came out and I had to declare a tie on that.
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/bandallison

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2008-12-25T00:01:00.001-07:00

So seeing as today is Christmas I hope you all are enjoying it and aren't expecting to read a blog this week (I am busy enjoying my Christmas as well, not like blogging isn't fun ha ha.) We will all take the week off. I just put this up for the small chance that anyone feels like I owe them an explanation. Oh yeah, and when I said we all get the week off I lied, we get two weeks off, seeing as the following Thursday is New Years Day. I look forward to seeing you all in 2009 as the first blog of the new year will post on Thursday January 8th. Happy Christmas to all.

Oh yeah, and if anyone feels like listening to some gnarly festive tunes, please hit up http://www.myspace.com/avengeapollo .

Surviving College

2008-12-18T00:01:00.006-07:00

So I am in the middle of finals and hating life right now. It sucks that the part of the semester that matters most is in mid to late December when I have a hard time even caring about school. We seem to still be taking finals while everyone else is already finished. This means friends and family are in town hanging out at my house, and that means instead of having my face stuck in a book where it should be, it is playing Mario Kart. Well, I guess it’s not your face that does the playing but anyway.

Sometimes I don’t even feel like a college student. College students have long attention spans, read textbooks and hang out at the library all day, and I’ve never had the attention span to read an entire textbook, nor be at the library longer than about 45 minutes.

So how do I survive college? I am no expert, but I have developed a strategy which has helped me. I call this "How to Survive College" by Brennan Divett.

1) Take classes like racquetball to cushion your GPA and keep you sane and healthy. Be careful though, at first I was taking like 4 PE classes a semester, then I realized that at that rate I’d never finish the classes I actually needed. Plus whenever I went to see the advisor (which at UNM is twice a semester cause they put holds on your account) she always made me feel stupid cause something about real racquetball skills aren’t important in the real world or something. Only take like one a semester is my recommendation.

2) Eat chocolate before taking tests. They say it helps your brain chemistry, but I’m not sure of that. Whatever the case it is a cool pre test ritual. It has always worked good for me.

3) Take classes with your friends, or try to make friends in your classes. This is great because then you can alternate the days you go to class and swap notes. Also if teachers give you a take home test, 3-4 heads are always better than one.

4) Try to sit next to and or associate with hot girls. There is no wrong reason to go to class. I am definitely no expert on this one, but it has helped me out somewhat in the past. Any excuse to go to class is a good one, and your grade will thank you in the end.

5) Pretend like you care about the subject matter every once in a while. Like for example, my astronomy class got way better when we got to the "Are We Alone In the Universe?" section.

6) Sometimes it is better to eliminate distraction. Everyone thinks they can multitask (myself included) but having a myspace window open on your computer won’t help you write your paper. Water travels the path of least resistance and so does your attention. That is only a lesson I have learned from sad experience. I have this gnarly blue button on my laptop that kills my wi-fi. I use that on occasion when I find myself watching Evidence music videos instead of writing my paper.

7) Going to class and not paying attention is better than not going to class at all. I don’t know how going to class and playing solitaire on your ipod helps, but the information gets absorbed in there some where. You’ll be surprised how much you can recall from classes that you paid no attention to. Now given the best alternative is going and paying attention is the best option, but it is hard some times.

8) Relieve your stress by any of the aforementioned ways stated in Jacob’s blog (http://www.jacobdivett.blogspot.com/). That point has been made, no need to make it twice.

So I am signing off for the night, I mean week. Good luck with finals prep for all my UNM homies, that is where I’m headed. Well, that is where I need to be headed.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s cool band of the week: Nikki Clan
Where they’re from: Nogales Son., Mexicali B.C., Mexico
Musical Style: Mexican Pop-punk
Why they are cool: The fact that lead linger Yadira Gianola is incredibly hot has nothing to do with their selection for band of the week I swear. They are just too catchy. Those songs just stick in your head man.
Brennan’s favorite Nikki Clan song: No Me Digas Que No
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/nikkiclan

NAZ-D-B Da Original G

2008-12-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

So I play drums in a punk band because I enjoy it, not because it makes me good money. If I were doing it for the money I would have never started, or maybe have quit a long time ago. But I was thinking you know, what if I figured out how to play drums for a living? Then I’d kill two birds with one stone, like have fun and get paid.

I always said that if Hannah Montana ever came up to me and said, "Here’s 2 million bucks if you go on tour with me and play drums in my band". I wouldn’t hesitate to say "Rad! When do I start?" I know all the scene kids would hate me for selling out, and I would lose all my underground punk cred, but a paycheck is a paycheck. The sad reality is that Miley Cyrus has never asked me to be in her band, so now I am on plan B, playing in a local punk band.

Our current plan was that all three of us in my band are in college and we plan to stick at it till we graduate and then hop in a van and conquer the world one town at a time. Kind of like MxPx only they did it straight out of high school. We figure college is easier to get out of the way now, that way when later we realize that punk rock doesn’t pay the bills then we can get suck white collar jobs with 401k and health insurance. College sucks and bands like Relient K and Good Charlotte make it worse by writing songs about how it sucks and how you don’t need it (theirs is a skewed perspective though, I mean its easy for them to say it now, they are already rich and famous.) Meanwhile we’re in college now and while still in college we are slowly, and I mean REAL slowly conquering our home state New Mexico on the weekends.

So two and a half years ago the Duke City had a happening punk scene, but upon returning to Albuquerque I found that many venues had closed their doors and many of the cool bands had disbanded. So even though the punk scene is struggling we are trying to revive it.

So the added benefit and negative side of it is my brother and our guitarist/ singer lives and goes to school in Las Cruces. The plus is now we can play lots of shows not only in Albuquerque, but also in Las Cruces. The bad side is we constantly drive back and forth and the little money made is used for gas.

So last weekend we had our weekend tour. Friday we played in Las Cruces and Saturday in Albuquerque. The shows were both good and we were well received, but the turnouts left something to be desired. Between the two shows I’d say the average turnout was 30-35 people, and both shows combined we sold two CD’s and two buttons. No complaints really I mean selling anything is cool, and the fact that 30 some people paid to see us (well not just us) is cool, you gotta start somewhere.

Then I had a life changing experience. Monday nite I got to work at the Evidence show. Evidence is a famous rapper from LA who rapped with Dilated Peoples. What made me feel better is the turnout for that show was only like 100 or so even though it was a free show for UNM students and the dude is famous. So I was like, "Well, I guess the economic problems have taken a toll on the whole music business and it didn’t just single us out." That was until I saw the merch sales. Red Cloud, a rapper from Hawthorne California (and one of the opening acts) asked me to sell merch for him. I was amazed to see the hundreds of dollars that dude raked in on merch. That’s when I realized that the real money is in the rap business.

So I decided to try my luck in the rap game. I have Frooty Loops on my laptop to make beats, and now I have some friends in high rap places, so I decided to ditch da punk fo da crunk. From this point forward people will know me as NAZ-D-B.

Jacob and Cole, I know you will take this hard, but as the great Bone Thugs say I’m just in it "Foe Tha Love of $."

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s cool band of the week: Well, this week it is a rapper: Red Cloud.
Where [he’s] from: Hawthorne, California
Why [he is] cool: Virtually no cussing. Original style, and a real cool guy if you ever meet him in person. Also the dreds got ditched for the mohawk, both are awesome and unique hip hop hair.
Brennan’s favorite Red Cloud song: "Tapatio", but be sure to check "Welcome to Shiprock" as well, he gives a shout out to New Mexico.
Check [him] out at: http://www.myspace.com/redcloud

DISCLAIMER: Brennan is not really gonna quit Avenge Apollo, so he just wanted to clear that up right away.

You Got My Back and I Got Yours Too

2008-12-04T00:01:00.002-07:00

So this one time I was living in Costa Rica working as a missionary and I was assigned to work these two dudes Elder Serpa from Lima Peru, and Elder Pereyra from Argentina. We were all pretty good friends. Elder Serpa was a very little dude and he was so funny, he always talked about how tough he was all living in the hood of Lima, and facing danger all the time. "My name is Elder Serpa, danger is my middle name" he’d say.

So one day after a long day of work the three of us returned home, and I opened the door and flipped the light switch only to find that the power was out. So in Costa Rica power outages were not all that uncommon so I thought nothing of it and proceeded to make my way into the dark house to look for candles. My two companions waited cautiously in the entrance watching.

In the pitch black house two strange dark figures jumped out and grabbed me. The figures soon broke out into laughter and we quickly realized that the intruders were some of our friends and fellow missionaries who had broken into our house and killed the lights via the circuit breaker as a prank. Oh yeah they took the sheets off our beds and were wearing them like ghosts ha ha.

The four of us all laughed and then wondered, "wait a sec, where is Elder Serpa?" Turns out no sooner had the intruders jumped out, than Serpa (our little gangster friend) was out the halfway down the street running for his life.

I guess in dark dangerous situations you see who your friends are. In our case it was every man for himself.

It was pretty funny, and ironic, but I was like, "Dude, Serpa that’s pretty messed up that you’d just leave me there, suppose they would of jumped out with like a knife, or iron skillet, or something?" I was joking obviously, I mean I wouldn’t have felt any safer with 2 foot tall Serpa next to me anyways.

OK that was mean, he was more like 4 something.

So I’m telling this story pretending like I’m a cool guy, but it’s not to say it’s not like I didn’t jump or anything, cause yeah I jumped pretty bad. I mean when you walk into your house expecting to find nobody there and some one jumps out in the dark you’d probably jump too.

NOTE: The headline was taken from the song "Gangsters and Thugs" by the Transplants.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s cool band of the week: Enter Shikari
Where they’re from: London Town, UK
Why they are cool: They just are. See why. Super catchy songs, cool dance moves, fictional super heroes, and the occasional walrus scream?
Brennan’s favorite Enter Shikari song: Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/entershikari

Turkey Time

2008-11-27T00:01:00.001-07:00

So, seeing as it is Thanksgiving and all. I am taking the day off, and giving you the day off. However, I don’t want you to have wasted a trip to this site, so here is a cool joke:

What did one wall say to the other? "Hey man, meet me at the corner!"

Didn’t like that one? Try this one:

So a nurse comes up to a doctor and says, "Hey doctor, there is a dude here that wants to see you, he thinks he’s invisible."
So the doctor says, "Tell him I can’t see him."

Still not laughing? Man, you guys are a tough crowd. Well, try this one, on the subject of doctors…

So when do doctors get angry? –When they lose their patients.

So I told you I’d give you the day off, and then I made you listen to 3 dumb jokes, ha ha.

-Happy Thanksgiving

Chips and Dip = Me and Bad Times

2008-11-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

Chips and dip is the snack I love to hate. Don’t get me wrong I love chips and dip as much (or more) than the next dude. The problem is Brennan Divett is their "target market", the type of dude who can’t calculate good the amount of dip to dish onto his plate.

Here’s the scenario: You are at a New Years Eve party and enjoying yourself. Nothing says New Years Eve like some potato chips and onion dip, so you grab a handful of potato chips and put a spoonful of onion dip on your styrofoam plate. After finishing up all your potato chips you realize that there is still a significant amount of dip left of your plate, so you go back for more chips. Part way through the chips you come to the realization that you are out of dip so you go back for some more dip, and the process continues.

At this point it is not a big deal, some people even do this on purpose, "whoops, I guess I’m out of chips again!" We all see where this is headed though. It quickly stops being a game and turns into a viscous cycle; more chips, more dip, more chips, more dip, repeat, repeat, repeat, stomach ache, misery.

And not only have you eaten like 4,000 chips, but chips are salty. This means that you have also pounded like 3-4 Dr. Peppers to chase down all those potato chips.

At this point you decide that the pain and suffering that is sure to ensue outweighs any possible enjoyment from eating another handful of chips, so you lick the remaining dip off your plate and shout "I win!"

And as if the pain isn’t bad enough. The Lays truck drives by and you read the clever slogan, and realize that you have fallen victim.
Then you feel not only sick, but stupid too.

Solution? It already exists, though not quite as fun. Thank heavens they invented chips with flavor stuck to them already.

As a recovering chip-and-dip-aholic, I approach the New Year with caution. Hopefully this new year my resolution can be "find a cure for cancer" or something cool instead of "dang! I hope next year I don’t eat so many chips."

Maybe I am the only dude in the world this happens to, but maybe someone out there can relate to this.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s cool band of the week: Fratello Metallo.
Where they’re from: Milan, Italy.
Why they are cool: Their coolness speaks for itself man, an Italian monk fronted metal band. And yeah, Padre Cesare Bonizzi is a real monk. Oh yeah the name Fratello Metallo translated to English is "Brother Metal" ha ha. That’s tight son! And the music is pretty good too, I don't want to downplay that.
Brennan’s favorite Fratello Metallo song: Bacco
Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/fratellometallomusic

My Team Won the World Series and I Wasn’t Even Aware.

2008-11-16T21:55:00.001-07:00

So I’m a dude and that means I like baseball, right? No, not necessarily. Don’t get me wrong I love sports, like racquetball, bowling, even foosball. But as for most of the typical cool guy sports, like baseball, golf, and NASCAR, I pretty much could care less. I don’t really like to play them, I like watching them in real life less than playing them, and watching them on TV, even less than that. I’d rather watch the dentist fill my own cavity then watch a game of golf or baseball on TV. Even the sports I like to play like soccer and football, I don’t necessarily watch on TV.

So why do I have a favorite baseball team? Good question. First of all, no one likes to feel like a loser. When all the cool dudes get together and talk sports it sucks having nothing to say. Second, well, I got put on the spot once.

One time some people and I got together and went to the park. Turns out I ended up at the park with a bunch of baseball enthusiasts, and we ended up playing baseball; go figure. Not everyone necessarily knew each other, so the activity started with us going around the circle, introducing ourselves, and saying what our favorite baseball teams were. When that was explained to the group, my first impression was, "Blast! I don’t even have a favorite baseball team!" So I am a pretty chill dude and so I decided to just play it off cool and make one up on the spot. I racked my brain to come up with a professional team (I figured the Albuquerque Dukes would not be a good option in this scenario.) I remembered that when I was a little kid my parents had bought me a Phillies shirt. So I went with the Phillies, because if anyone ever tried to fact check me they could find photos of me when I was a little dude wearing a Phillies shirt. Plus, as far as I knew they were a pretty bad team, and I like rooting for the underdog. So I nervously waited for my turn, and when it got to me I said proudly, "My name is Brennan Divett and my favorite team is the Phillies." A silence swept the group and after disgusted looks fell across everyone’s faces, they moved to the next person in the circle. I was proud of myself. I thought my answer was a refreshing change to the countless "Yankees" and "Red Sox’s" I heard.

After that I always stuck with my team. Whenever the topic of baseball came up I was always like "Dude, the Phillies are going all the way this year." The reaction from my friends was always the same, "Dude, the Phillies suck!"

Luckily my baseball knowledge was never challenged. To this day if you hold a million dollars in front of my face and say "it’s yours if can name one player on the Phillies" I couldn’t do it man.

Fast forward to the year 2008. Almost a month later I am just now finding out that the Phillies won the World Series. I wasn’t even aware that they were in the World Series. If I had known maybe I would have thrown a party, and we could have drank cold ones and ate bagels with Philadelphia Cream Cheese on them ha ha.

All I can say is good job Phillies, I knew you had it in you. This blog goes out to you.

Brennan's Weekly Band Blog

Brennan’s Cool Band of the Week: the Hall Monitors.
Where they’re from: Washington DC (although the drummer is a current resident of Albuquerque, go figure.)
Why they're cool: They wear matching shirts and striped ties, and the singer has a cool moustache. Oh yeah, they sound good too.
Brennan’s favorite Hall Monitors song: Girls
Check them out at: www.myspace.com/hallmonitors