A Grave Sin/ Signing Off

While watching the Patriots vs. Giants game I witnessed one of the greatest commercial atrocities in the history of the universe. It turns out that the wonderful song by The Books for which this blog is named has become a part of the Hummer H2 ad campaign. I would say that the Books have sold their souls, but they really just sold a song. I suppose I'm glad they're making money cause they sure as hell don't sell many albums. Still, the Hummer H2 is quite possibly my least favorite modern device and it's a shame that some people may associate "Read Eat Sleep" with the H2...


For the past month I haven't been up to much. Steph visited for my last week in Scotland and many fun times were had including: camping in 20 degree weather on Loch Ness, golf lessons, hiking, touristing, walking, driving, and eating. There are lots of stories so please ask if you have any questions.

I'm home now which means this blog has met its end. Thanks for reading.

-MF

Edinburgh and Music

Went to Edinburgh with David last weekend and had a blast. Joe missed his flight. Oh well. We climbed Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh, and David got blown off by the wind. R.I.P. David.

But seriously, the wind was strong and David ALMOST got blown off. We also saw a semi-nude man jog by, no joke. Later that night we went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh and got the shit scared out of us...literally. I didn't bring a change of underwear so it was quite unpleasant to walk around Edinburgh after the tour. Eventually we slept in some smelly girl's room that was out of town. The end.

If you're at all interested (thought I don't expect you to be), I've come up with my top ten albums of the year :

10. Liars by Liars - Much more listenable than Drum's Not Dead, but much less innovative. Nonetheless a fantastic album.

9. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire - Not as good as Funeral. If you disagree with me then you're wrong...end of discussion. Poor production quality hurts these otherwise phenomenal songs.

8. Spiderman of the Rings by Dan Deacon - Easily the weirdest album on this list. For some reason Dan Deacon's geeky-ass music avoids being cheesy, which is quite a feat. Wham City and Pink Batman are two of the best songs of the year.

7. Friend Opportunity by Deerhoof - Further solidifies Deerhoof as one of the best bands of the past decade. It seems they can do no wrong.

6. Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? by Of Montreal - Works equally well as a collection of singles and as an album, which is quite a feat. Best live act at Pitchfork as well. Oh, and I figured out the answer to the the title, it's "yes"

5. Mirrored by Battles - Damn this album rocks my socks off. That's all I can ask for really. I love the part in Tonto that's all like "da da da da da da da, da na na, da na na"

4. Boxer by The National - 'Mature' music. This album seems meticulous yet completely effortless. I can tell I'm getting older because I love this shit.

3. Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective - WTF???? I thought Matt hated Animal Collective?? I do, kind of, but I don't hate Strawberry Jam. In fact, I like it quite a bit! Bonefish.

2. Friend or Foe by Menomena - Fucking spectacular album. I never would have guessed that it could be topped by another album this year until a certain band released a colorful album.

1. In Rainbows by Radiohead - duh

Honorable mentions - Cross by Justice, Cease to Begin by Band of Horses, Year Zero by NIN, and the middle third of Our Love to Admire by Interpol.

Thanks for reading!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a particulalry ridiculous city. We get there and Peter an I decide to get some dinner. While discussing what we want to eat, some restaurant owner ropes us into his Italian joint (haha) and sits us down at a nice table. He immediatley orders our waitress to serve us free garlic bread because we looked like 'nice guys.' I was somewhat confused about what was going on. He then asks us if we like the waitress. "Sure," I say, "she seems nice." With a ridiculous grin on his face he raises his eyebrows and said, "You want?" "Want what?" I replied in my state of retarded naivety. "Do you want her?" said the man. "No thanks," said Peter while kicking me under the table in a 'what the fuck is wrong with you' kind of way. Peter then explained the birds and the bees to me and I was disgusted.

After that we did the typical Amsterdam things: Anne Frank house, Vondelpark, Rembrandt house, coffee shops, red light district, etc. One of the highlights was eating at Wagamama and then drinking the finest beer in the world at the Gollumn Inn.

On the last day I had one of the strangest experiences in Europe thus far. We were walking past a pack of about 70 school children who were on their lunch break. One asked me where we were from and I told it we were American. Suddenly, seventy pre-teens began making vomiting noises to express their distaste of America. I never felt so hated.... : (

Back now and all is well. Raisin weekend is coming up which means nothing to most of you, but it should be a good time. Take care everyone.

Brass Eye

the epitome of British humor. If you're bored then take a look.


Drugs

A Little Over Half

Hello fans. Reading week is here! I'll be going to Amsterdam on Monday in order to inhale marijuana smoke, consume hashish laced confections, have sex with diseased prostitutes/animals, and visit the home of Ann Frank. I'll tell you how that goes when I get back.

For now, I can finally offer some seasoned insight on how to 'deal' with St. Andrews. First, let's get something straight: St Andrews is a thoroughly boring place. So why are there so many people here enjoying themselves, including me? I've come to realize that there are three methods for the prevention of boredom induced suicide:

1. Get a car - This way you can actually leave St Andrews. This is the most uncommon method because gas is expensive and you have to drive kind of far away in order to escape the ominous bubble of boring that covers the east coast of Scotland. Plus, this may interfere with method #3.
2. Play Golf - Golf is a highly unrewarding, yet time consuming activity. There are approximately 7.8 million courses within a 5 miles of town. Pick one.
3. Get Drunk! - Alcoholism is, by far, the most popular method of averting boredom. Everyone here is drunk. All the time. All 500 people in residence hall are drunk 24 hours a day. My professors teach drunk. The school children sip flasks in the morning and are wasted by recess. Even the old people are drunk, which is weird.

I know you're asking yourself, "What method does Matt prefer?" I've actually learned to mix all three. I spend most of my time driving around town drunk in a golf cart. It's a blast.

MTV

Easily the two best music videos of the year (sorry Justice). But which one is better? You decide ----------->

Evil Bee
Peacebone

7 beats per measure!

this is actually kind of funny


http://youtube.com/watch?v=KwWGZaGHrxU