Monday, March 31, 2014

A new record!

Well, let me brag a little bit here.
Yesterday I've crushed my own running record of km/month.
The previous record was 506 km (314.4 miles, for the lazy).
Yesterday I went over, and I've reached 562 km (349.2 miles).
Pretty awesome right?
The last 50 were pretty terrible though: super warm (as usually, we skipped spring and we went straight to summer) and sunny, with the usual wind making everything harder... I guess it's a good preparation for the El Scorcho...
I had also the occasion to try out my new hand-bottle (or whatever is the real name): not bad... It's pretty much comfortable and it doesn't bother me too much...
Anyway, I did it! Congrats to myself!!




Friday, March 28, 2014

A gift from nature.

Sometimes mother nature gives you an unexpected gift, and you realize that maybe, at least for that particular very short fraction of time, life doesn't suck (too much).

Here's the story.
It happened yesterday evening, when I went out for my second run of the day.
It was getting dark but there was still some light and it was windy: a crepuscular light with  an apocalyptical strong and warm wind: after a shitty day -as usual-, that was already enough to calm me down (I love run with a weird/bad weather).
But it became even better...
I started my usual loop, when suddenly it was there: a wall of dark, furious clouds, showing all its anger with lightnings and thunders. Epic. All the majesty of nature in front of me.
In those rare moments, nature shows all its beauty, and it looks like the world itself is not so bad.
The thunderstorm kept me company for all my run, and I was happy. Simple things.







(Pink Floyd, "Run like hell" from the live album "Delicate sound of thunder": perfect.)

Thursday, March 27, 2014

The cat.

The cat is in its corner minding its own damn business.
If you leave the cat alone, it won't even notice your presence.
The cat loves to stay alone and it doesn't care what you're doing, saying or thinking. The cat doesn't need you and does not want anything from you.
The cat is comfortable there, doing what it wants to do.
Don't bother him, and it won't bother you. But if you'll do it, well, you'll get bite and scratch.
I am that cat. So, do not bother me.





Sunday, March 23, 2014

Dirty paws, happy paws!

This morning I got dirty and I went for some trail running!
Ultra awesome: 24 km in the total wilderness surrounded only by trees and rocks and birds and small rabbits!
I need some serious trail running shoes though...


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Live report: Gorguts + Carcass (+other two but they were insignificant)

Mini-report of the Decibel tour Noisem + Gorguts + The Black Dahlia Murder + Carcass, at Trees.
Because I was late from work, I got there at 8:30. Noisem were done already, and Gorguts were on the stage.
Since I went to this show basically just because of Gorguts (and partially for Carcass), I don't care if I missed Noisem, but I would be very pissed off if I couldn't enjoy Gorguts.
But I've been lucky.
Gorguts are a war machine: huge rhythmic session (awesome work from both bass and drum) and Luc Le May is spectacular with his voice and his guitar work. They played the entire new album (Colored sands) and few songs from "The erosion of sanity", but unfortunately nothing from "Considered dead".
Anyway, I was there for them and I was (still I am) so happy!!
Here a very short/bad quality video of Gorguts in action:


After their show I had also the opportunity to meet and talk with Luc: great guy, very quite and passionate about his music!
Another point for Gorguts!

After Gorguts it's time for The Black Dahlia Murder.
Their music sucks. All their songs sound the same to me, with the same pattern and the same three chords. Music for emo kids, and that's why only emo kids were listening them.

After the suckers, it's Carcass' time.
They are professional, they know their business, and they know what they're doing.
They started with "Corporal jigsore quandary", probably my favorite Carcass' song, and I'm happy again.
They played a lot of songs from Heartwork and from their last album "Surgical steel".
They kicked ass, and the Trees was just a gigantic mosh pit: old school death metal does not fail.

Final thought on the people: two generations confronting. Classic old fat metal heads for Gorguts and Carcass (I'm in this category) and stupid emo kids for The Black Dahlia Sucker.
Off course metal heads beats emo kid 20 to 0.



Friday, March 21, 2014

Our galaxy...

This is a 360 degrees reconstruction of our galaxy, the Milk Way.
It's really beautiful.
...and (again) the only thought here is: we are really insignificant and god does not exist.
Just enjoy the reconstruction and get lost in it like I did.
I'm looking at it, and I have so many questions: what's over there? Will we be able in the future to visit those places? And what's over it? And on and on and on...
These questions are really keeping me up during the night...
If you don't have any questions, I think you're brainless.





Thursday, March 20, 2014

Not evolved?

Brief consideration.
I'm looking at old friends of mine or people that I know from many years now: most of them they have changed several times their habits and thoughts and lifestyle.
I'm still sticking with my passions and ideas.
Am I not evolved? Or maybe they haven't found yet their "zone"?

Don't answer, it's just a rhetorical question, I don't care...




Tuesday, March 18, 2014

A romantic tale about death metal.

This is a lovely story about death metal.
Why?
Because this Friday I'm going to see live Gorguts and Carcass, and a lot of good memories are coming back, that's why.
Carcass and Gorguts are heroes of a younger version me. And I still love them.
When I was young, death metal was the law.
Obituary, Deicide, Grave, Gorguts, Napalm Death, Sinister, Amorphis, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Samael, Autopsy, Gorefest, Dismember, Brutal Truth, Electrocution, Benediction, Death, Master, Suffocation, Tiamat, Brutality, Mortification, Carcass, Cancer, Sadist, Pungent Stench, Immolation, Master, Hypocrisy, and other thousands of death metal bands were my daily doses of extreme. I was living, breathing, eating and sleeping death metal.
Now I'm an old fuck, and I'm listening (often) a lot of different things, but death metal is always there.
I need to specify: old school death metal (honestly, I don't even know a new name...).
As I said, a lot of good ol' memories...
In those days (yes, i'm talking like a grandpa, but I don't care, go fuck yourself) finding the new band or just a simple information about some album form somewhere in the world, was a real challenge. You had to study, you had to search. You had to buy magazines (Metal Shock, H/M and Flash were the bibles) and read them, just to find maybe only a single sentence about what you were looking for. Now you just google it. Meh...
...and finally, after weeks of research you had the name: but the challenge wasn't done yet. You had to go to the record store, and order the album, and after that just wait.
Wait for a long time.
Maybe two weeks, if you were lucky. Often one month. Sometimes more than one month. And -sadly- sometimes it was impossible to get the album...
I was saving money for weeks, just to have enough cash to buy the vinyl (or the cassette... Yeah, in those days the CD -if available!- was too expensive).
But in the end, after all the waiting, the album was there. Oh, the joy!!
I still remember the feeling of the vinyl in my hand: holding this big and heavy square, with the big cover, so big that you could get lost in every single detail. ...and the booklet inside, with the lyrics. And the smell... Oh, the smell of those vinyl! It will never be replaced by a CD or a fucking mp3.
...and I love vinyl from Nuclear Blast: often they were colored vinyls, and every album had a different color.
Speaking of Nuclear Blast. Nuclear Blast was the new real deal in those days, and they were rocking! All the best band from Europe (but wait! There was also Nuclear Blast America! Fuck yeah, double win!) were in the NB rooster. But for them it wasn't enough and they started with this big compilations called "Death ....It's just the beginning"... The best things ever!!
I also loved (and I still do: I love it so much that I've bought the CD even though I have the LP) another compilation, called "5 years Nuclear Blast Compilation". I love it not because of the bands on the album (ok, not only because of the bands), but because I have good memories connected with it.
But I have good memories with so many other death metal albums and bands...
For instance, how I could forget Obituary? Or Samael? Or Dismember? Or Gorefest?
Name it: on every single death metal album or song I have a special memory...
The bottom line is: who cares if for you, poor ignorant Lady Gaga-sucker, death metal it's just stupid chaos and scream and noise. I have more good memories with one single album of Gorefest than you with you're entire empty and pathetic life. So, go home and listen to Rihanna while you're killing yourself, we're busy with Dismember here...

...and now, enjoy the majesty and the poetry of death metal.






(by the way: I choose to play bass, because of THIS song.)


Monday, March 17, 2014

I'm tired.

Yes I am.
Yesterday I've ran 51 km in 4 hours and 30 minutes against the strongest wind I've ever felt in my entire life.
So, today I'm really tired, I'm feeling empty.
I'm sleepy and constantly hungry. Basically I am a puppy.
Today I should go to climb, but the idea of closing myself in that stinky, dusty hole, stuffed with screaming useless douchebags doesn't increase my desire to wear my climbing shoes...




Saturday, March 15, 2014

Les Claypool Duo De Twang live report: Les Claypool for president!

If you like music, and I mean "real music" not shitty rihanna-whatever kind of music, you probably know Primus.
And if you know Primus, then you probably also know that the mastermind of the band is its eclectic bass player and singer Les Claypool.
Well, I love real music, and I play bass, so for me Les Claypool is a kind of god. I love Primus and I love his style (I've never been able to play like him. Not even close...).

Yesterday I went to see him live playing with its new creature: Les Claypool Duo De Twang.
Easy to understand from the moniker, the band is a duo, formed by Les Claypool (Primus and... Hold on. Do I really have to introduce him????) and his high school friend Bryan Kehoe (from M.I.R.V.).
The album has been out for a while now: a mix of songs with different background (Primus songs included) played in a catchy country key.
The creature is 100% Les: everything orbits around the crazy slapping of Les on his dobro bass.
If you haven't bought the album yet, please, do yourself a favor and do it right now.
The album is simply great, but it gives you only an idea of what Les and Bryan can do. The live version of the duo is something that goes over every expectation!

But let me go in order.

The location: the show was in the wonderful and vintage Sons of Herman Hall, historical building in Dallas (cute Texans, they have history too!). It was the perfect location: really old style venue, dusty and comfortable, perfect for the music of the duo. The hall is pretty small, but it wasn't a problem. My understanding is that Les wants to play in small places in order to create a "familiar" environment and to be able interact better with the crowd.

The people: every kind of folks were there. Country men, punk dudes, metal heads, young people, older people, etc. As I said, not so many: maybe 100, 150...

The show: the Reformed Whores opened the act.
The Reformed Whores it's an acoustic girls duo singing funny songs about sex.
My impression was (and still is) that a couple of songs are ok and funny, but after the third song I was bored already. It was the perfect moment for a beer, but I was in the real first row, only few feet far from the chair where later Les will sit down, and I wasn't fuckin' moving from my spot!! So, no beer for me, and I had to listen to the girls singing about their sex problems... Meh...
Anyway... Luckily (for me), their show is not that long, and after maybe 30 minutes they left.
It's Claypool' time now.
It's time for the best bass player in the world (and I'm not kidding: I consider him the best bass player in the whole world) to teach everyone how to play.
Very quietly the duo took the stage.
Les didn't say a world, and he started with a super-badass slapped solos. In that moment I sincerely thought "What an arrogant asshole: not even a words or a "hi, how are you"...".
But I was wrong.
When the solo was done, he said "That's all I got folks..." and from that moment he started a direct and constant conversation with the crowd. Talking to us, asking question, telling jokes and stories and random things. And Bryan is the same. Note on Bryan: he's super funny. For example, here is a joke from him: what's long, black, with five holes and now completely useless? (the answer is at the end of the post)
That was the level of the show: really interacting and funny. Not just a concert, but a real show.
And that's why they decided to play in these small clubs and bars. It would be impossible this kind of interaction in a bigger theater or arena.
Basically, they play a song and then they start to talk, then they play another song, and Les decides to stop and say something else, and suddenly they start to play again. And then they start another song, and Les goes "Naaa, I dont like this one, let's play something else..." and they they were like this for the entire show...
Ok, we get it: they where funny. But what about the music?
Well, if you're reading this, probably you already know Les, and you know which kind of musicians usually play with him.
Technically perfect: nothing to say, nothing to argue. Another planet.
All the songs are complete focused on the crazy slapping of Les.
I knew already what to expect from him: I saw Primus playing live a couple of years ago, and the feeling was the same even this time. Long story short: after his show I usually want to go home, take my bass and burn it. And this is because I'm not even close to be called "bass player" compared to him... Sad but true.
Anyway... They played for 2 hours in the row: they played the entire album, plus a couple of other covers, and a lot of fragments of Primus songs just because Les was in the mood for that (most of the time Bryan was "I don't even fuckin' know how this song goes...").
After the 2 hours they left the stage, but only to come back two minutes later for the "encore". They played a couple of other songs, included the Southpark theme and most important, one of my favorite Primus song "De Anza jig".
Ant that was it. They finally thank us, and they left the stage.
I don't think I have to say any other word. I'm still internally crying for the joy, and after a really shitty day like my entire day of yesterday, that was exactly what I needed. 
Les Claypool for president!
Primus sucks!






Solution: Philip Seymour' belt.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Have a bad day sir

Usually it starts like every other day.
You do what you always do in the morning, but a voice in the back of your brain is telling you that there is something wrong. It's like a weird sensation or a bad taste in your mouth.
Soon it will be a bad feeling.
A little bit later you'll know: today will be a bad day.
You don't know yet when or why, but you're sure it will happen.
It could be something that you heard, or something that you see.
Maybe something unrelated to you will bother you.
And then it arrives.
A shitload of fuckness hits you right in your face.
And from that moment, it will be a very bad day.
You think you can stop it, or maybe avoid it.
Nope.
Take it, swallow it, back up on your feet and keep fucking going.




Thursday, March 13, 2014

You don't say a whole lot.


"You don't say a whole lot, do you, Wally?"
"I guess, no, not much."
"I think talking is something you have to practice, anyway. Sometimes, if there's no one around to talk, you just kind of get out of practice."
I nodded my head. I just assumed I didn't talk because I didn't really have anything to say.


"Fuckness" (Andersen Prunty)


Exactly.












Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Cockroaches: when and why I lost the war.

Damn creatures.
In Italy they are not so common and they are really small, so the first time I saw how big they can be here I was disgusted enough to freak out. I was new in the place, I didn't know how to handle them.
I've never kill an insect in my entire life because -except for humans- I respect all the living things. Usually if an insect is in my home, I carefully take it and free it outside.
But with the cockroaches it was different. It was too much.
Just to be clear: I'm not talking about small little insects here. I'm talking about cockroaches bigger than my face... I'm talking about huge brown aliens, so big that when you see them you'll scream "What a fuck was that?"... So big that they actually need the key of the apartment to get inside...
So for those things I decided there was no space for them in my life.
In the beginning I was using heavy biochemical weapons (Raid).
But after a couple of tries I realized that it was the worst idea ever. Raid melt the motherfucker from the inside, so while the horrible creature is running away trying to save its life it also releases the content of its body, leaving a yellowish/brownish trace behind*.
Disgusting.
...and cruel.
Disgusting and cruel at the same time.
I was disgusted by the releasing-through-the-asshole thing and I was feeling sorry for the damn alien because of the Raid reaction. Too much overkill...
And that was the moment when and why I lost the war. I felt sorry for them. Too much tragedy in their death.
I'm not killing cockroaches anymore.
I usually capture the thing and free it outside. The process sometimes takes hours or days.
In the beginning I was really disgusted during the capturing  process: knowing from where they're coming from (the sewer) and knowing what they're eating (they eat shit, sorry for being too scientific here) it was a kind if challenge for me try to capture them.
Now I don't really care anymore, and I'm getting better in my capturing process (I'm using a beaker). 
Now I'm just curious and fascinated by those little (yeah, right, "little") creatures.
I'm studying their behavior.
They are smart.
They understand things, and in some way I think I can understand their primitive thoughts (it's a matter of affinity probably).
For example: one day I got in my apartment and when the light was on I saw the beast walking in a very casual way on the floor. It stopped when he realized that I was looking at it, and then it turned its head, stared at me for few seconds and started to run... I read its train of thoughts: it was casual, then it saw me and "Oh shit, is here!! Ruuuuunnnnnn..."... 
Other times they are cute.
...in a very particular way, but they are cute.
Like sometimes, when spotted, they try to fly away. Luckily those ones can't really fly (but others can) so they have this funny try in which they spread their wings and jump, but it doesn't wok... So they try harder, and still nothing... And all these trying and failing is a kind of cute...
Anyway, there are humans more disgusting than cockroaches, so I cheer for roaches...








*Note: as a biochemistry I'm wondering what kind of badass molecules are in Raid' formula...

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Advisory!

I've been very busy in the lab lately, and while I was thinking about the fact that we're just a meat-bag full of of chemical reactions and nothing else, time was running and I didn't find time for writing new posts.
...actually is not true: I am writing two long posts (plus a lot of others idea), so I need time to finish them.
Anyway, my good homie from California is coming to visit me.
I knew this dude before the kindergarten-era.
We form our first real band together (Agonia) and we made so many other things (sometimes good, often bad and disgusting) together...
What I'm trying to say here is: this weekend I won't write anything because I will be drunk and busy all the time.
Peace out.




Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Men vs Toms

A brief consideration.
If you're a man and you're wearing Toms, you deserve a special place in hell.





Monday, March 3, 2014

Dear winter, f*#k you!

Dear winter,
fuck you. I mean it.
I'm really sick and tired of going out there and get my ass frozen.
I was trying to run yesterday. Did you notice? And what you did? You drop the temperature, you unleash the coldest wind ever and you put hail on top of all of that.
Because of you, I've run the worst 30 km of my life. This wasn't fair.
Could you please stop being such an asshole?
And if you don't care about me, think about those poor Texans: when it's cold they forget how to drive, and this is dangerous.
So, please, stop it.
Sincerely.






Sunday, March 2, 2014

Unite against beauty!

The idea for this post came out from an observation I've made.
Every Saturday at the Starbucks I notice this group of girls buying their coffees at the same our I usually get mine. I think they work in the bank close to the the Starbucks.
The observations is the following: those girls are pretty an cute and well dress (the opposite of me) and they are amazingly stupids.
Their mouths are constantly open (and it doesn't matter if they are actually talking or not), phone in one hand sending thousand of text per minute and pneumatic emptiness in their brain.
They constantly talk like parrots, and I'm not even sure they're listening to each others. They just talk. Accordingly, they have very deep conversation regarding who's dating who and which car has the cute dude at the gym. Very, very deep.
They are on their middle 20s, maybe 30s, but their brains have never evolved and are still in a teenage conformation.
And this is the thing: in their entire life, they've never required a functional brain. The reptilian brain is good enough.
Why do they need a brain? They're cute: someone else will take care of their thoughts. They just have to stand there and being pretty.
If you're pretty, life is easier for you.
You don't need to be intelligent or smart. And you don't need to work hard either to show your skills. Actually, you don't even need skills. Just because you've been genetically lucky, you are born pretty and that's it. That's all you need in this society. If you're pretty, off course they will notice you, they will consider you, they will look at you.
And actually, this is what this society requires now. Look at the magazine, at the commercials, at the movies. Do they explain to you how to be smart? Do they say "read a book"? No. They tell you how to dress and how to lose weight or how to improve your six pack.
As an ugly human being, I'm reclaiming here my rights.
It's not fair being considered as a "second class" human being just because we're ugly. Actually is the opposite: we're working harder to get what you get for free just because you're beauty.
And it's not fair.
Off course, if your pretty you will never read these words and probably you'll never understand the message.