Book # 3 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Rodrick Rules) - Jeff Kinney

As I stated earlier, I read book one in this series as a recommendation. It was good. It follows the life of a 7th grader named Greg Heffley. He's kind of a geek, kind of a nerd, but still is always looking for a good time. The book is written as a journal and entertains from beginning to end. I highly recommend if you have kids, or love comic book type books. Part three "The Last Straw" in the series was just released, so I'm looking forward to reading that soon.

Where I was while reading: Front porch

Missed Out Rating: 3.5 Missed Outs out of 5

Album # 5 Heroine - From First To Last

So I've made it through my first 5 albums of 2009! I must say, this is quite a challenge, since I'm so used to always skipping around my 160GB iPod that I very rarely let an entire album play. One thing this little project is doing for me is allowing me to see what I might like to clean up off the iPod. For example, the 11 songs on this album from hardcore screamo/emo band From First To Last would probably be cut down to about 2 songs. I am a huge fan of their debut cd with vocalist Sonny Moore who has a pretty good set of lungs to scream all his teenage angst out with. Yet on this album I was only able to find about two songs that I may ever listen to again. The album starts off with a pretty good screaming screecher called "Mothersound." I hate to say it just heads south from there. Normally this is the kind of album I may give an unlistenable rating to, however since I enjoyed two songs out of the eleven, I'll give it a two missed outs. Don't worry, no need to go out and buy this album. Also Sonny Moore, which was about the only redeeming quality of this band is no longer in the band. Their latest release doesn't include him, but has a new lead singer. Though at some point this year I may listen to their debut album "Dear Diary My Teenage Angst Has A Bodycount," I'm pretty much done with these guys.


SIDE NOTE: I found this very interesting. I just read a review on Amazon about the album and to save you time here it is:

FROM AMAZON.COM: When I first heard From First To Last's sophomore album "Heroine", I can admit I was totally turned off. After one listen I shelved the cd away never to see the light of day again. Now this could be my own fault because in my mind I hyped the cd up way too much. I mean with Ross Robinson producing what was promised to be FFTL's "darkest and most impressive effort yet", I had to have high expectations. However if I would have reviewed this album the day I got it, I probably would have given it a 1 star horrid review, and thankfully from my experience I learned not to. Actually to my surprise "Heroine" really began to attach itself to me, and I can't explain why. While it has little in common with the previous screamo/posthardcore persona that the band used to maintain, the album is indeed a progressive stepping stone in the group's evolution. After giving it a second chance and that much needed time to work its ways on me, I actually discovered I liked the album quite a bit, if not just for its oddity. With all complaints and skepticism aside, "Heroine" is probably one of the strangest, yet addicting listens you're likely to have this year.

***With that said, maybe I should start listening to albums two or three times before I review them. Eh, maybe not, who cares! But you can buy it at Amazon.com below for .16 cents so give it a shot!

Recommended downloads: "Mothersound," "Waltz Moore."

What I was doing while listening to: Driving to and from work.

Missed Out Rating: 2 Missed Outs out of 5

Book # 2 Dreamseller - Brandon Novak

So book number 2 was one of my favorite Christmas gifts and it was a pretty good read. It's labled an addiction memoir and was written by Brandon Novak, a former professional skateboarder. No one can deny the only reason Brandon was given this book deal was because of his relationship with Jackass superstar Bam Margera. Being a fan of Bam's work, I decided I wanted to read this book to see where Brandon's relationship with Bam began and so on. The book has a co-writer and it's clear that the co-writer must have written most of the book. I believe that to be the most dissapointing part of reading the book. It goes into great deal explaning what Brandon did to support his drug habit. He was involved in everything you can imagine from stealing from family to dealing in gay prostitution. The book largely covers his stint in re-hab, and it's in re-hab where you get most of the entertaining stories. Overall not a bad book, but one I would only recommend to fans of memoirs or professional skate boarding.

Where I was while reading: Laying on the couch.

Missed Out Rating: 2 out of 5 Missed outs

Album # 4 Deftones - Deftones

Generally a self titled album is usually the bands first album. That is not the case here. The Deftones first album was called "Adrenaline" and was released in 1995. This album titled "deftones" was released in 2003 and happens to be the bands 4th album. The Deftones have been one of my favorite bands over the last thirteen or fourteen years. I feel like I kind of grew up with these guys! I guess most would call them heavy metal, or even that term I despise "nu-metal." I like to think of them as hard and I mean very hard rock. I said earlier that nobody can scream like Bert from The Used, however I must immediately take that back, because after listening to this album in it's entirety, lead singer Chino Moreno wins the prize! His growl is as vicious as a lion and his whispers as gentle as an angel. In between all the rough house metal are some catchy hooks on songs like "Minerva" and "Hexagram." I may have to coin "When Girls Telephone Boys" as my favorite song on the album. It may take you weeks to discover what the lyrics are saying, so I'll sum it up for you...A relationship gone wrong, and the guy is pissed and wants the world to know about it! If anything download that song, put on some headphones and turn it up to 11! I was stuck between giving this 3.5 or 4 missed outs. Upon first listen in it's entirety I want to give it 3.5, but know after repeated listens it may be a 4. Anyway, overall a fantastic album to help you pass time while painting the bedroom walls bloody red.

Recommended Downloads: "Hexagram," "Minerva," "Good Morning Beautiful," "Lucky You," "When Girls Telephone Boys."

What I was doing while listening: Painting

Missed Out Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Missed Outs

Book # 1 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

So my favorite little buddy "D" introduced me to this "Wimpy Kid" series of books. I was first intrigued by the fact that they are written in the style of guess what, an ONLINE BLOG/Journal. How cool is that? This book follows the story of Greg Heffley, a sixth grader. The book acts as Greg's journal, not diary as he strongly states in the beginning of the book. It follows him through his sixth grade year and summer. It will make kids laugh and made me as an adult remember all those ups and downs during Jr. High School. Overall a very good and fast read. I have also read book # 2 in the series, which I will review/post soon. The 3rd installment of the series just came out last week and hollywood studios are currently in pre-production to make a movie out of the first book. Side note, it is currently the 89th most popular book on Amazon.com. Pretty cool.

Where was I while reading: The front porch

Missed Out Rating: 3 out of 5 Missed Outs

Album # 3 Oh No - Ok Go

While driving through the California rain I listened to my 3rd complete album of 2009. I guess if you took some of the best bands in the world: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Weezer, Nirvana and others and mixed them all up and spit out all their reject songs you'd get a little something like Ok Go. The band is most famous for their song "Here It Goes Again" which became famous after their music video blew up on youtube. The video was self made by the band and had all the members dancing in unison while on treadmill machines. This album was given to me as a Christmas gift back in 2007. Believe it or not I had never listened to the whole album until today. I wasn't missing much that's for sure. There are fourteen songs on the album and I'd say I probably will only listen to maybe 4 of them ever again. The big hit "Here It Goes Again" is a good song, just as "It's A Disaster" is a really good song. The best song by far is the sleepy ballad "Oh Lately It's So Quiet" which tells the story of a heartbroken soul walking around an empty house that his former lover left him all alone in. I could listen to that song daily, however the rest of the album just sounds like industry type pop rock with a couple heavy riffs thrown in every now and then. To say the least, I was really dissapointed, but thank you Mark for thinking of me at Christmas time two years ago. And for the beef jerky this Christmas as well!

Recommended Downloads: "It's A Disaster," "Oh Lately It's So Quiet."

What I was doing while listening: Driving to and from work in the rain.

Missed Out Rating: 2 out of 5 Missed Outs

Album # 2 Lies For The Liars - The Used

The Used are a band I have been listening to for about five years. They always have kept me entertained and have provided me with one of the best live shows I saw last year. "Lies For The Liars" is their latest release, it came out in 2007. I saw The Used last February at Kat Von D's MUSINK tattoo festival and was dissapointed that I wasn't familiar with a lot of their new tunes. Well, I guess I should have listened to this album in it's entirety back then. There are several memorable songs on the album that make you want to get up and jump around, while at the same time grabbing random things and throwing them against the wall. The Used in my opinion, would be best described as a hard rock band, but their certainly is lots of emo and pop thrown in and I'm not sure many can scream the way lead singer Bert screams. For me the most memorable and best songs on the album were "Pretty Handsome Awkward," The Bird And The Worm," "With Me Tonight," "Liar Liar(Burn In Hell)," and "Smother Me." So if you are so inclined to just try a few songs off iTunes, start with any one of those. Most songs on this album seem to deal with relationships going bad "Liar Liar(Burn In Hell), and being totally in love "Smother Me." Then songs like "The Bird And The Worm" will just kind of throw you for a loop.

Unfortunately there are about four forgettable songs and this leads me knock off about 1.5 missed outs on the rating, but overall it's still a very good album.

Recommended Downloads: "Pretty Handsome Awkward," "The Bird And The Worm," "With Me Tonight," "Liar,Liar(Burn In Hell)," "Smother Me."

What I was doing while listening: Driving to and from work.

Missed Out Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Missed Outs

Album # 1 808's And Heartbreak - Kanye West

Oddly enough, for my taste that is, I started the year off with Kanye West's latest CD. I wasn't looking all that forward to it as I'm not the biggest Kanye fan. However after reading in Rolling Stone magazine that it was an instant break-up classic, I was intrigued. Now that I've listened to it completely I am pleasantly surprised. Without a doubt, I believe it to be Kanye's strongest album by far. The subject matter on the album certainly seems to only deal with a lost relationship, though the song "Coldest Winter" is clearly about Kanye's mother who passed away last year. The last song is a live bonus track entitled "Pinocchio Story" that shows Kanye at his story telling best. If you haven't picked up the album, do yourself a favor and get it now! If you have ever been in a failed relationship, who hasnt? You should instantly fall in love with songs like "Heartless," "Love Lockdown," and "See You In My Nightmare."

I remember there was a time when people compared 50 Cent to Kanye West and vice versa, after listening to this album in it's entirety I'd say that's like comparing the Monkees to The Beatles. They don't even belong in the same sentence.


Recommended Downloads: "Welcome to Heartbreak," "Heartless," "Love Lockdown," "Robocop," "Coldest Winter."

Side Note: Anytime an album on here scores 4 or higher, it would be in your best benefit to buy the WHOLE ALBUM!

What I was doing while listening to: Cleaning house.

Missed Out Rating: 4 out 5 Missed Outs!