Baker/Swole - I think the story is Swole winning, but if Brit won it could lead to some more fun matches with the two of them. That would also be kind of a bummer though. Swole has been trying to get this match for months. Plus you can play it off like Brit still wasn't entirely 100%. Swole wins.
Jericho/ Orange - This one is definitively Orange Cassidy. He will dunk the jerk and walk away triumphant. What happens after this is beyond me-- I assume he will continue his singles work, but to what end I don't know. It would be interesting and funny to see him accidentally disrupt the dark orders' ascendance just completely without trying, but I'm not exactly sure what will happen after. Either way, he wins. I don't know what Jericho does next either. Maybe continues feuding with midcarders. I expected Inner Circle to be broken up by Kingston. This is still possible.
Omega/Page Vs FTR - FTR wins. I just don't see any way for Omega and Page to keep it together considering the circumstances. I imagine a situation where they could win, but Omega/or Page can't lock it in. I think FTR comes away with a barely there victory which immediately devolves into Omega and Page beating the shit out of each other, with the Bucks coming out to back up Omega.
Shida/Thunder Rosa - If POWER was still running it would be interesting to have Rosa win. Obviously since this isn't the case, Shida retains. I imagine this will be a banger of a match though, because Shida has to carry the entire women's division on her back and for once she'll have a real equal opponent. I hope it goes long and wonderful. I love both these women. But idk how Rosa wins.
Battle Royale - No fucking clue. Obviously not Serpentico. I have no idea. This could go any direction at all. I do not think Cage wins. I imagine it comes down to Lance and a few others. I wouldn't be shocked if Darby won, but they seem to be holding back on him until the right moment, so probs not. Lance looks ascendant right now. There's great stories in all these dudes. I just don't know. I'll say Lance just to say someone.
Dark Order/Nightmare Family Revenge - Dark Order wins. They're going to dominate this next story cycle. I wouldn't be surprised if they re-tool blood and guts to be Dark Order Vs. someone else, since the elite is dead beyond a shadow of a doubt. But they definitely tie this one up.
Jurassic Express/Young Bucks - Young Bucks. If the Bucks lose, it could tie into this Kenny turn that's inevitable IMO, but same if they win. I just don't think the bucks lose to JE unless they're going to start something with FTR. I think the FTR/YB story is gonna be its whole thing later on. I don't think they're telling that story yet, but it could be the start. Which kind of changes my mind a little. If they ARE holding off on Young Bucks/FTR, then JE DEFINITELY wins. If you look at like-- Okay YB's loses and they now have a trios heel thing with Kenny while Jurassic Express goes on to lose horribly to FTR, that makes sense. Shoot man. Maybe JE DOES win here. You know what, fuck it, Jurassic Express wins. Let's go crazy.
Hardy/Sammy - I think Hardy wins here. Maybe. I have some thoughts. The stip is a leave town for Matt, and they could work around that with Matt giving in completely to the Broken persona. Matt is """GONE""". Sammy already has been a good opponent for Matt, and if they go back to the direction they were headed before with Matt trying to get Sammy out of Inner Circle it might make sense for him to win, but you also have to count in interference from the rest of the IC minus Jericho. There's gonna be a lot of blood. I think you could reasonably understand a win from either guy, but I think for my part I'm gonna go with Matt.
Moxley/MJF - MAN this one is hard. It's cool to NOT know. Honestly this is Moxley's first actual feud. COVID fucked up most of his title reign. His match with Brodie was fun but ultimately just a way to get Dark Order to be the rulers of the mid-card, and the match with Jake Hager barely was anything other than a fart on the wind while they stalled for time. MJF could do a LOT as champ. But if Kenny is turning heel, a rematch of Moxley/Omega would be AMAZING, and a great way for Kenny to reign over everything. That being said, Omega/MJF would also be fun, as would Hangman/MJF. If Hangman is the best babyface in the company, having him go up against MJF or Omega with the belt is AMAZING. So... here's my thinking. Mox is the better wrestler beyond a shadow of a doubt. But MJF is hot trash when the refs back is turned. I think he's gonna sneak out the win using some bullshit. I have NO idea what Moxley does without the belt besides just win it right back though. His whole thing is just being up top. I'm so torn on this. I really do think MJF is going to do some bullshit and win though. So, MJF. If I'm wrong, I accept it, and will take my licks on it. But I can just imagine so many ways that that story is fun and twisted over Mox running with it some more.
We were speaking of belief, beliefs and conditioning. All belief possibly could be said to be the result of some conditioning. Thus, the study of history is simply the study of one system of beliefs deposing another.. and so on and so on and so on.
A psychologically tested belief of our time is, that the central nervous system, which feeds its impulses directly to the brain, the conscious and subconcious, is unable to discern between the real and the vividly imagined experience. If.. there is a difference... and most of us believe there is. Am I being clear? For to examine these concepts requires tremendous energy and discipline. To allow the unknown to occur and to occur, requires clarity. And where there is clarity, there is no choice. And where there is choice, there is misery.
But, then, why should anyone listen to me, or should I speak, since I know nothing?
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Change one tape, and the entire process is re-geared.
Leisure-- the inevitable byproduct of our civilization. A new world, its only pre-occupation will be how to amuse itself. The tragedy of your times my young friends, may be that you get exactly what you want.
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Wonderful Wonderful
I thought I would post my thoughts here, as I previously did for Battleborn in 2012. No one uses stupid idiot tumblr anymore but Mindsay is dead and so am I.
1. Wonderful Wonderful- I first heard this song when it came on Spotify so unfortunately my first moment thoughts are lost. My reaction was generally a solid WOWOWOWOWOWOW out of ten though. I stand by it for now. This song is a real treat. I love how ti builds, I love the darkness in it. I love the urgency in the finale. I love the little touches. I love the horn starting off the album. “There are many/ Take the one that leads to the well.” “Clothesline the shame/and you will answer to the rain. Wonderful! Wonderful!” I love this song.
2. The Man- Yeah, so I did not like this single immediately. It’s an ironic take on Flowers’ Hot Fuss/Sam’s Town persona, which I can dig. It’s grown on me. It’s been popular on the charts which was unexpected. I never expect people to like The Killers anymore. USDA CERTIFIED LEAN is the best lyric in 2017. I like the beat. I like the funk, the drums, the bass, the weird guitar sounds in the background of the verses. It sounds like a duet with David Bowie, RIP. How Flowers always finds ways to make his voice sound good in a higher and higher register is wild though. I can’t hit these notes in the car anymore!!
3. Rut- Opening with this, I’m guessing it’s Brandons voice on autotune. Interesting. He has a funny drawl starting out here. I’ll be damned if this doesn’t sound like a Phil Collins song. Boy I wish this was a FLAC. This song is really beautiful. “I’m not like her, you’re not like them”. This song is written from Tana Flowers perspective iirc. “I’ll climb and I’ll climb!” Boy is that a gospel choir in the background holy SHIT this song really built into something I didn’t expect. I am a big fan of this. It ends with the autotune, which I have no strong feelings on at this time. I do wish it got a little bigger, and maybe some strings wouldn’t have hurt. Tommy Marth would have done a great job with his Sax in this song. RIP also, Mr. Marth.
4. Life to Come- Theme so far is “Tana Flowers” in this album. That’s fine. This starts immediately making me think about some of the slower songs on Battle Born. “I’ll dropkick the shame!” I love it. One thing I like already-- these songs sound like they belong together on an album, soundwise. Unlike Battle Born which could very well have been produced by ten thousand different bands. This is alright. Brandon has become such a better singer. This song is nice. It sounds like a healthy mix of Sam’s Town vigor and Day & Age gloss. A good amalgamation of all their styles all pumped together. I like the passion in his voice more than the song itself I think. This isn’t a shakedown! It ends kind of abruptly imo.
5. Run For Cover - So far my favorite single in terms of sounding like how you expect The Killers to sound. Dave said he liked this one best but sort of as a diss to the rest of the album. It sounds kind of out of place after Rut and Life to Come. That’s not a big deal. I want to hear this song live for sure. Lyrically I love this song, I love everything about it. It’s this album’s Runaways. Nice upbeat rocker. ITS EVEN HARDER WHEN THE DIRTBAGS FAMOUS! I can almost see Ronnie’s face drumming in this song. Five Ronnie’s Squinting out of five. The synths after/during the bridge remind me of Flesh & Bone a little, for a second.
6. Tyson Vs. Douglas - I’ve been so excited for this one. I didn’t listen to the live version so I could hear it here first. The synths make me feel like dying they’re so good. I knew when I heard that synth sound live I needed to wait. They sound as good as I hoped. It’s already so nostalgic. This song may as well be about me seeing the Carolina Panthers lose to the damn Patriots back in 2003 when I was 14. I’m still not over that. This song is my favorite so far. I love the whole thing. This is a fantastic Killers song man. The guitar in the bridge is fucking killer Dave. How can you resist this one live my man! Doggone. He was killing it back there. Fuckin’ love this.
7. Some Kind of Love - I’ve been holding out on this one too. I listened to the Eno track back when he said it was based on it. I wondered how they’d work with it to make a song for the whole band. The lyric “You’ve got the soul of a truck on long distance haul” is kind of goofy. That’s Brandon Flowers though. Dude’s goofy. Sincere, always, but goofy. It’s like The Killers as a late nineties soft-rock band, just missing that damn echoey wood-block sound all those songs had. Weird, but I can appreciate it. I would probably skip this most of the time. That part near the end, you can hear something that I think is supposed to be the ocean, that staticy rise and fall before the kids start singing. This song was for Tana, and the whole theme with the shell on Wonderful Wonderful is to be able to hear the ocean no matter where you are, even if there’s nothing left. I like that. It feels almost too intimate, haha.
8. Out of my Mind - Ironically this song has an echoey wood block. right up front!! lol! “I hate when it gets serious, its like we’re going blind, take the needle off the record, I can’t stand another chorus, about Juliet's control, over mystified mankind”. The lyrics flow really well here. There’s so many rich synths in this track, so many interesting and pretty sounds all over the place. Love how the drums slam there before the chorus after the second verse. Wow this song is interesting. It’s like a dance-rock song, it honestly reminds me of some stuff off of Daft Punk’s Discovery album during the “Oh, we’re falling” section at the end. I like this. It’s strange and fun and nice.
9. The Calling - Great job Woody. The rhythm and guitar and bass and everything in this track is sexy as all hell dude, that’s just me though. This probably should have been a single instead of Wonderful Wonderful, despite how much I love Wx2. This sounds more like a radio song. “Hope they fix it all up in post”. The bridge though. FUCK me. This is great. I’m gonna be all over this track this week. Brother, just lean in to the light. Even if you have trouble with Brandon’s faith in God, which I admittedly do not, it would be easy to swept in the sound of this song.
10. Have All the Songs Been Written? - I been excited for this one. His voice sounds like it’s right beside you on the mix. Guitar sounds bluesy. I love it. Very rich. All I got to say bad about this song is I wish it was longer. I could go for 8 minutes of this. I really like it though.
Overall, for once since Sam’s Town it sounds like a cohesive whole album with good solid production. I’m excited to hear the bonus tracks as well, but this is going to do it for me. I’m satisfied, I like the direction, and I’m ready to start it all over again.
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Battle Born
Battle Born Track by track first impression
1. Flesh and Bone-The song from the preview, def. oh my god this is the killers song I always wanted and always knew I wanted and kind of had but now I definitely got. It’s so huge and YES is all I can think listening to it. This is HUGE. Really weird bridge though.
2. Runaways- How could they pick this as the first single when it plays right after flesh and bone? Still a great song.
3. The way it was- Sounds like a whole other band, I can’t even imagine this being the same group from hot fuss. It sounds a lot like some stuff from Flamingo.
4. Here with me- Is this an actual slow mellow love song? That doesn’t explode into a rock song? God. Yes. Please. Yes. Oh my god. It’s so good. This song really is beautiful. “I don’t want your picture on my cellphone/I want you here with me/don’t need those memories of you in my head, no, I want you here with me.”
5. A matter of time- Definitely some elements of brandon flowers solo music in here, his lyrics and singing style and even the music seem to be following that feeling. This thing is driving, it’s unbelievable that this is the same band that did “glamorous indie rock and roll”
6. Deadlines and Commitments- I like the drums. I can also hear the bass. Hey Mark. This feels like it could have been written as a bluegrass song, haha. I like this thing they’re doing, a lot of these songs are slower than they used to be, there’s more time for some really interesting music. I’m glad that they’re using the synth again. “If you should fall upon hard times/if you should lose your way/there is a place for you in this house/where you can stay” Bass/drums breakdown in the bridge holy shit yes.
7. Miss Atomic Bomb- I don’t even have words. I think I might engrave this on my heart.
8. The rising tide- this is fun. It’s even got a hallelujah line. holy shit whoa guitar solo. THEY FINALLY LET DAVE PLAY SOMETHING TOTALLY AWESOME.
9. Heart of a girl- I like the opening here. “Daddy daddy daddy all my life I been trying to find my place in this world” God, what is this, who, how, what, I love this song. This sounds like an eagles song from like “out of eden” mixed with the sad songs from flamingo or something. This song rules. It’s got a harpsichord.
10. From Here on Out- Sounds like “Was it something I said” mixed with “the clock was tickin” I think I might need to hear this one a few more times. It’s so country twangy.
11. Be Still- Dont break character/you’ve got a lot of heart/is this real or just a dream/rise up like the sun/labor till the work is done/be still. This is like a power ballad. I’m in. Big looming bass. DAMN THIS ALBUM IS GOOD.
12. Battle Born- It’s clearly… evident to see how this was the centerpiece and heart of the album. It encapsulates the whole thing. GOD that guitar is good. WHAM WHAAAAAAM. Wow. Just wow, dude. I can’t even handle this song. I want to hear this song live in person.
13. Carry me home- B side, bonus track. It sounds really tropical for some reason. Kinda standard killers sounding filler. It’s aight. Kinda overshadowed and weird coming right after battle born like that, even if it’s a bonus track PS addendum.
14. Flesh and Bone (Stuart Price remix)- Overmixed! IT’S HIS THING THOUGH, it’s definitely at home on Day & Age. It’s dancey. I prefer the not remixed one although this will most assuredly be played at every party I can play it at.
15. Prize Fighter- Ha, this is pretty cool. Lots of piano. I actually really like this, but it doesn’t sound like anything else on the album at all.
OVERALL- This trumps Day & Age, and after a few more listens, I’m fairly confident I will rate it as high as Sam’s Town.
2. Blowback - Immediately love the synth line. This is funky, but it gives way pretty quick to a more acoustic thing. This sounds like a Brandon Flowers track-- maybe would have followed Crossfire on the tracklist. This is alright. The guitar is nice, don't know who's playing it on this track since their guitarist is still off writing pretty good music on his own. This is nice but I don't particularly love it right away. It's not offensive or anything. I like this choral thing at the end. Songs okay.
3. Dying Breed - I've been playing the shit out of this since they released it a week ago. This to me feels like a good old fashioned Killers song man. There's no fucking around, no ballad bullshit, once the chorus really hits it is OOOOOOOOOOOOFH. I also really like the backmasking and the weird echoey stuff in the production. It just builds and builds and then it takes the hell off. "There's gonna be opposotion, but we got everything we need. Baby, we're a dying breed.... FROM THE COVETED TOUCH OF A GIRL IN LOVE". The synths in this track feel like home man. I love this song. Someone online said this was "Too Springsteen" but that's when this band is at their best imo so fuck you this song is good.
4. Caution - I listened to this a few times when it came out and then just shrugged it off. As a first single they've definitely done worse. They always pick terrible singles. I liked the title track to Wonderful Wonderful but as a single on contemporary American radio what the fuck are you doing. This felt like a Brandon Flowers song, but then it sort of gives way to "A robot made a late era Killers song." This is better than Blowback tbh but I've been listening to basically every other single more than this one. However, because my tastes are confirmed weird tier, it's been on the charts since it came out and even hit like #3 or something like that. People love it! It's fine. There's just nothing about it for me to really hang onto, except for the bridge. "It's some kind of a sin, to live your whole life, on a might have been." I like that line. Love that line. The outro is good too, but thats because it's Lindsey fucking Buckingham.
5. Lightning Fields - Feels like it comes off a cassette tape you found in your first car. Brandon actually singing not at the height of his range for the first time in 20 years. I still can't believe this is the same band that did Believe Me Natalie sometimes. Oh, this is the song that has k d lang on it. Her part is really good!! I really like this song but I need to listen to it some more, I feel like there's a lot going on in here I can't get a hold of on the first listen. It sounds really unique so I'm into it.
6. Fire In Bone - I love this shit. This song rules. The first time I heard it I was like YO this is them pretending to be middle era Talking Heads. But fuck that this song is just good dude. Mark is also playing the best bass line in the whole catalog or at least his best bass since like Day & Age. I love the lyrics, I love the whole damn song. "When I came back empty handed, you were waiting in the road, and you fell on my neck, and you took me back home." The drums are good-- the whole song is just dancing away. I love all the weird shit in it. I like the line "I felt weird sin." I like the warble on "TEMPEST TOSSED AND SEA-- SICK--". If there's nothing else as good as this on the album I'm fine for having this track, seriously. This is my favorite piece of music from them since Battle Born and Desired Effect.
7. Running Towards a Place - HELLO. What is this now. This thing starts wild. Huh. I like these little riffs. The guitar is fun in this. I like this. Dude, this bridge. I think this is another good one. I want to listen to this again right away. Let's come back to this one.
8. My God - I was scared this would be the shitty bad ballad on this album but HEY NOW there's a BEAT here. What the fuck this is good! It's not shitty at all!! What the fuck I love this instantly. THE BASS LINE. This sounds like an ABBA track what the fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk this is gooooooooooooooooooooood ahghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I LOVE THIS. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
9. When The Dreams Run Dry - GONNA BE A HARD FOLLOW UP TO MY GOD HERE BUD. They said, nah, let's slow it down, let's just relax a little. Boy this just got big. This reminds me of "Have all the songs been written" right away but with better production. I liked that song btw but I never listen to it. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" lmao okay man this is my kinda thing. Brandon Flowers is such a weird dude. Oh, alright, there's a new gear. This song has had like 3 tempo changes already dog keep it going. I'm really ready for him to stop writing songs about his wife and mom some day but if this caps off the thing I'm down. This feels like lyrics to a Polaris song "and again and again". You know what this is cool. It doesn't tap directly into my seratonin like My God did but I think I'm gonna be coming back to this.
10. Imploding The Mirage - Been wondering what this would be like. Not what I expected so far! Usually they put some bombastic crazy shit at the end, that or just something they never play live. This ALSO feels like an ABBA song to me, maybe it's the lively piano. This is activating the part of my brain that likes things. I don't trust it lol. This doesn't speak to my VERY SOUL like their best music does but this is dope. The tone of this is so light and bright, totally off from Wonderful Wonderful's horror soaked vibe. Well!
The back half of this album from Fire in Bone on is just one think I like after another.
First Impressions -
Best Songs: Fire In Bone, My God, Imploding The Mirage
Worst Songs: Caution, Blowback
I think I'm gonna buy my own boat and try to do the new river. See how that works out.
The instinct is to immediately spring to your feet, which I did, and I was pounding my chest and gasping like crazy just trying to get any air at all into my body but no dice for what seemed like forever. I was blacking out-- not a good one. Knocked over half the shit in my room
So, important lesson-- it's not necessarily acidic food that does this but really just anything at all (though chocolate itself is a big no thanks). We will remember this lesson for the future. This is especially vital since Cassie reported that my snoring/sleep apnea has once more reared its head without my noticing. I have waken myself up snoring recently. Don't know why the sudden change. I've been losing weight recently and cutting back on trash, so who knows. Maybe it's just the profound amount of nicotine I'm stuffing into my blood.
Since the pandemic I've been going through like a catridge and a half a day versus the 75% of one I was doing before. I can't imagine it's doing me any favors health wise.
My room mate is practicing nursing at the moment, going through her training, and I'm her subject for all her tests and exams so I've actually had pretty thorough medical examinations recently. My blood pressure is good, resting heart rate nice, no problems with my lungs or heart or vascular system at all to report.
My regular BP the other day was 120/60 something-- which is right at the border of acceptability really-- though she did take my blood pressure the other night after wrestling/three beers, and it was 129/70 something. This is considered elevated but was mostly the result of being relatively intoxicated and also kind of mad. I know alcohol is a depressant but I didn't realize to the extent that it shrinks blood vessels.
I've been walking about a half mile every day since gyms don't exist anymore as far as I'm concerned, but perhaps I should get back to running as well. I despise, actively loathe running, but if I'm gonna be stuck at my house and fantasizing about wrestling, I may as well not be a piece of shit. Especially with my BP creeping upwards.
