The Paths of Nihilism are better left untrodden


Micah thought he was doing himself a service by asking me to scan some recent sketches. Little did he know his once confidante and comrade had been pulled under by the currents of Nihilism. Along with the amicable Joel Storie, plans were made for a nihilism magazine. The plans took form in a notorious notebook and the pandora's box was then electrical taped shut.


1. Things started well with Joel sketching a quick rough of an inside spread of the magazine.













2. I then sketched out a quick comic, surely reaching the nihilistic masses with its quick wit and social relevance.















3. Picking up on our momentum, Joel decided to construct this handy graph








4. We needed a cover with a quality masthead and strong brand identity. Easy.















5. Every quality magazine has thought-provoking editorials. Why not our Nihilism magazine?















6. Finally, Joel contributed a compelling historical piece.










After gaining such a huge momentum on our Nihilism magazine concepts, we realized that dabbling in nihilistic ideas was not only taxing on our mind, but probably destroying our souls as well. We mended over glasses of Sunkist and the February issue of Mens Fitness, featuring an expose on exercise bikes.

Once, my dad bought an obscure Movie which featured a beleaguered, drunken spy. My favorite line was "Don't tell me you're a bloody communist". This movie inspired the following lyrics.

"The Apothecary"

Your world keeps changing
Mine can't stay static fast enough
I'll take my dinner with a proper dosage
Just enough medicine to make us relate

I'd stay with God
or I'd let him go for you
We'll find our dogma in a tattered text

Don't tell me you're a bloody Communist.

I'm wearing this smirk like a weathered trench coat
I hope you'll notice my high level of disinterest
We can talk
but why mince words...
The taste of lip gloss forms the darkest chardoney

We can talk
but why mince words?
I only wanted to duck out of the rain this time

The candle is out, let us chime the sweetest bell
apothecary, with a tapestry of glass
vials and beakers: liquid, emotion, gas
My smile works like a tattered trenchcoat
the rain pours down
drown me in that sweet perfume

Do Christians Not Know Good Music?

There is a band on Solid State Records called Inhale Exhale. After seeing their review on lambgoat.com (the unquestionably credible metal/hardcore site), I decided to check out some other reviews.

Here's an excerpt from Ryan, who obviously has a comprehensive exposure to hardcore

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! October 23, 2006 Reviewer: ryan from California

WOW!!!!!!!! It was finnaly happened. Inhale Exhale is finally coming out with a full length record. This band is amazing I heard their new song "Redemption" and it was awesome. This CD is a definate must have if you like underoath, norma jean, august burns red, or the chariot.

Okey dokey Ryan, I'll keep this CD in mind since I like a post hardcore screamo band, a band with big breakdowns, a meshuggah junior Metalcore band, and another band with big breakdowns. Also, thanks for the in depth reasons as to why this band is "amazing", such as their new song being "awesome" I'll go ahead and vote and up your perfect score for this review go from 3 out of 3 to 4 out of 4. Keep letting us listeners know why your fave cds are good.

Next, we have a review from the honorable metal enthusiasts at Christianmusic.suite101.com.

Track two admits life in Christ can, at times, be scary, but it’s a real life of freedom. That freedom isn’t earned; you only obtain it “By Grace”. “Frail Dreams and Rude Awakenings” reminds us a life of this world is dead. We can “Dance All Night” around the Truth, if we like, but, denial of that Truth will ultimately kill us. The “Call to the Faithful” is that we cannot serve God and mammon. The fifth song growls out for listeners not to be two-faced, to make a choice. “Touch of Deception” begins with high-pitched feedback before offering machine-gun-fast guitar riffs to support the message of the Deceiver constantly trying to sneak up and remind you of your sin. It can be all too easy to forget that Jesus is there to watch your back. Leave your past behind. It doesn’t need to drag you down.

Nice guys...I bet the band is real happy that you made their thought out song titles the answers to a sunday school fill in the blank quiz.

And yeah its a nice review, but way too much time spent on what the music sounds like. That is not important compared to the life lessons I will get from this cds indiscernable lyrics that I will have to glean some meaning from since I have no other way to be secure in my faith.

Finally, we have a review from jesusfreakhideout.com. Now granted, this is a fairly good review which actually describes the music and *gasp* says the CD is less than perfect. However..they still say that it could be confused with Haste the Day or August Burns Red. WhaaaA? Do any Christians listen to bands not on Solid State? Is there any other excuse for a metal/hardcore reviewer to say that two bands that are relatively polar in extreme music could be confused?


Anyway, point is...Christian "metal heads" or whatever the hell you call people who direct every music conversation to As I Lay Dying need to get out and listen to a more diverse array of music before reviewing CDs. To show the bias or plain ignorance these Christian reviewers have, I'll throw out a couple lines from lambgoats reviews

"Inhale Exhale's modus operandi appears to involve writing a pretty decent, heavy metal/rock song then sabotaging it with miserable melodic singing in unnecessarily upbeat choruses"

"Each song starts off promising but inevitably turns itself into a shit pie within the first minute. "

"Perhaps one of the band's members is a terminally ill child with bad taste and they're just indulging his love of Fall Out Boy while quietly hoping for his demise."

"Bottom Line: Someone in a real band should download this record, steal its good riffs and use them in better songs."

Ouch Ouch Ouch.

Well this has been a useless post only contributing to me being a douchebag by claiming to have some knowledge of metal when I am probably in fact just as ignorant as the people I made fun of. Let me know.
I'm going to bed.

What a break

I had my side ripped up

I couldn't ski

I beat San Andreas

I was bored out of my mind

So John Mayer is with Jessica Simpson now...this just goes to prove how much of a tool he is. He probably has an innumerable amount of beautiful celebrities begging to sit on his face and he picks the biggest airhead of them all.

At least he isn't wasting his incredible guitar talent on writing cliche, dorky pop songs with the sole intent of selling them to Varsity girls gymnastics team members in high school......

I just read an article about these five cheerleaders in Texas who are in a "huge scandal" because they have bawdry myspace pictures of them being seductive and holding penis models in a condom shop. Also, they showed up to prom in a limo which was carrying people who were "obviously boozing".

huh. It looks like Mr Broquard and gang did a little extracurricular disciplinary action in Texas over break.

My sister has "never heard" of people flipping their pillows in the middle of the night to the cooler side. She probably still laughs when Stuart Scott says "cooler than the other side of the pillow" just because shes heard that Stu has zany expressions.

I drove today under a sign that warned me of crosswinds that were "41-62 mph".
Then the snow started blowing across the road
then I saw a semi tipped over
then another
then another.
holy shit...
is this normal?


I'm reading Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
I'd feel like a nerd were this book not so badass.