It's about time.

I don't really have anything else to say.

...

I bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii today. It didn't really interest me until I saw the Gametrailers review ("one of the best 2D mario games" kind of got my attention). I'm really liking it so far. I just beat 1-4. I've heard it gets harder later on, so I'm sure that's when I'll enjoy it the most. I've already encountered a few clever situations on obtaining a coin. My only complaint is that it doesn't support cl@ssic (I still don't understand why this word is censored) controller support. I mean, seriously, Nintendo, what were you thinking? It's a very minor complaint, but it's still disappointing. This will probably be the last game I'm getting this year. Quarter 1 of 2009 is stacked with a ton of games I'm anticipating (God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock 2 etc).

School's going good. I'm getting swamped with homework, but that's nothing new. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break. I'm not too big on Thanksgiving, but it's five days off, so I'm not complaining.

Besides Robbie, I think I'm the only one that has been watching Sons of Anarchy on here. Last night's episode was so great. Next week's episode is going to be insane.

An Education and A Serious Man are being released at my indie theater this weekend. They've been praised left and right, so I'm anticipating them greatly. If I'm really enthused about one of them, I'll write a review.

Film Character Voting - Round 3 - Be sure to vote!

Well, I was tagged..four times. I guess I should finally do it..

1. My mom - who was pregnant - and my dad got hit by a drunk driver. From my understanding, the chances of me living were pretty damn slim. I was born a month and a half early.

2. I'm 3/4th Italian.

3. I'm from New York.

4. I've lived in North Carolina since I was three.

5. I hate seafood.

6. I am a sophmore in College.

7. I've been with my girlfriend for almost two years.

8. I have a man-crush on Michael C. Hall (shocker!)

That's all I could think of..

---

So I saw Paramore last night. They were in Atlanta (same city I saw blink, but not the same venue) - it's about a three and a half hour drive. The two opening acts were terrible, especially the second one. Paramore sounded great, but the crowd was stiff as a board. About a fourth of the crowd was moving. I can't stand it when a crowd isn't into the show. It pretty much ruined it.

Oh, yeah. I saw - and talked - to Hayley Williams before the show..kind of. She was standing at a window and I was behind a gate. We just shouted back and forth for a minute or so.

Yeah, that kind of made my day.

I had to drive back after the concert. It wasn't as bad I was expecting.

The next concert I'm going to be going to is Brand New/Thrice (Thrice is the opening act). I've never seen either band - and I just recently got into both bands.

Life is good. School is a *****. I've been swamped with homework.

I've been watching Lost. I finished the third season a few nights ago. I'll start the fourth season once I catch up on Sons of Anarchy.

Hope everyone is well.

I had two classes on Wednesday. My finishing time was at 12:00, but I decided to skip my last class, so I left at 10:50. I picked up my friend and then left for a three and a half hour drive to see blink-182.

I have been listening to blink-182 since 2003, when their untitled album was released (an album in which I disliked greatly for a while, but now love). I never had the chance to see them live. They split up in 2005. I thought my chances of seeing them ever again were impossible. Tom Delonge (vocalist/guiatrist) formed another band, Angels and Airwaves. Let's just say I'm not a fan. Mark Hoppus (vocalist/bassist) and Travis Barker (drummer) formed +44, a band that shares similar qualities to blink-182. I got some enjoyment out of their debut album, but it wasn't the same. In 2008, Travis Barker was in a plane crash. He had second and third degree burns. Thankfully, he recovered within a few months. A few months later it was reported from Mark Hoppus' blog that him and Travis started talking to Tom again (they hadn't talked since the break up). Speculation of a reunion was rapid.

On February 8th, it was announced, blink-182 had reformed.

Hi. We're blink-182. This past week there've been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy.

Summer 2009.

Thanks and get ready...

The drive wasn't too bad. We got to the hotel around 3:00, checked in and got ready. We were going to go out to eat, but we just decided to drive to the concert. We figured we would have to be there a few hours before the doors opened. We parked about a mile away from the venue. We arrived to the doors about an hour before they opened. There were two separate lines. We were behind about two or three hundred people. There were two things that me and my friend were dreading; sitting through the two opening acts, Fall Out Boy and The All American Rejects, two bands that we loathe. A couple standing behind us had informed us that the two acts had dropped from the show. The lead singer of the All American Rejects injured his foot. I'm not so sure why Fall Out Boy dropped out, but I don't care (no pun intended).

The doors opened. People rushed in. We had general admission pit tickets, which is right in the front. The pit holds about 700 people - and the arena holds about 19,000. It was sold out. We stood in the pit waiting for blink to come out. We had to sit through Valencia, a band that is a lot more tolerable than Fall Out Boy/All American Rejects, though they are still bad. Then we had to sit through one of the worst acts I have ever had to endure, Asher Roth, a ****ing talentless hip-hop act. He had the stage for about 30 minutes. We had to wait the longest time for everything to be set up for the blink show. It felt like they were teasing us. They threw out picks, but I didn't catch any.

Now, blink-182 is my favorite band. I am a dedicated fan. I have the smiley face logo tattooed on my body. They've shaped my musical tastes into what it is today. Seeing them live is probably the same thing as Samwel X seeing Nine Inch Nails (I'm sure he's seen them at least five times), Oblivionfan seeing Dream Theator and SaintLeondias seeing Muse (I believe that's his favorite band).

The curtain dropped. There they were. blink-182. There wasn't one silent person in the whole arena. My arms were high in the air and my lungs were at full force. It was surreal. The guitar started before the curtain dropped completely. They opened with Dumpweed, a song that is filled with an endless amount of nostalgia. I was smiling from ear to ear (yeah, that one was intended), singing along with every lyric, jumping up and down, doing every thing to express my excitement.

One thing was obvious, they are the same people they have always been. Their material is serious, but they are still the same immature people they've always been. After the first song, Tom pointed at a girl in the pit and said "Hey, little girl, we don't want you to cry! We want you to have an orgasm!". Throughout the show, Tom would mouth out sexual moves, Mark would insult Tom, etc.

They sounded better than ever. I was worried that Tom would stick to his Angels and Airwaves voice, but he didn't. He used his high pitched blink vocals. Mark sounded great, of course. Travis Barker was ****ing insane.

Setlist (I'm missing a few):

Dumpweed (opener)

Feeling This

Obvious

The Rock Show

Man Overboard

Not Now

Always

Don't Leave Me

First Date

All The Small Things

I Miss You

What's My Age Again?

Stay Together for the Kids

Stockholm Syndrome

Anthem Pt. II

Down

Josie

Reckless Abandon

Carousel

Dammit (closer)

Pictures:

I didn't zoom in on anything. I was shocked that I was that close to the stage.

I finally saw my favorite band live. It was everything I wanted and more. Now I have a sore throat, my voice is pretty much lost and my body is drained.