I mean come on… This is too easy… Hillary’s official campaign song is “When The Lady Smiles” by Golden Earring from the year 1984…. Never heard of either of those two names or that year? Well, here’s the video for said song… The word “controversial” might come to mind… Let it… . . . Let it simmer…

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In other news, if you have a next-gen system (read not a Wii (even though it really is the most next-gen of all the next-gen systems, but we won’t get into that right now…)) and you aren’t playing “Burnout: Paradise” what in the world is wrong with you… It is graphically stunning, the crashes are the best I’ve ever seen in a video game, and the driving engine is superb… I’m hooked on it right now, despite some of the terrible music in the game… with one large exception… the title song… Can anyone guess it?

My album(s) of the year..

Yes, yes I copped out… I couldn’t decide on one, and so here are my two albums of the year…

My main selection is the excellent Nine Inch Nails release (which I haven’t seen get much press on any site I read…) “Year Zero”.

I’ve never really been that into NIN, but Year Zero grabbed me by my brain and shook me until it hurt… I listened 3 times through before I took my headphones off and sat quietly contemplating for a while. Death, destruction, war, totalitarianism, fascism, religion, space aliens, drugs, terrorism…

It’s all here, and it’s a jumble at first, but repeat listens reward the listener with a focused brilliance. A melodic harmony that wouldn’t be expected from (what I thought of) NIN is found on quite a few tracks, and I love the albums quiet/loud shifts. A few songs still stick out to me as the best of the best, but I would recommend hitting play with a free hour to spare and just listening…
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Survivalism

hypnotic sound of sirens
echoing through the street
the cocking of the rifles
the marching of the feet
you see your world on fire
don’t try to act surprised
we did just what you told us
lost our faith along the way and found ourselves believing your lies

i got my propaganda i got revisionism
i got my violence in high def ultra-realism
all a part of this great nation
i got my fist i got my plan i got survivalism

The Good Soldier

blood hardens in the sand
(cold) metal in my hand
maybe help you understand
the way that things will be
there’s nowhere left to hide
cause god is on our side
i keep telling myself

i am trying to see
i am trying to believe
this is not where i should be
i am trying to believe

Capital G

i pushed a button and elected him to office and a
he pushed a button and it dropped a bomb
you pushed a button and could watch it on the television
those motherfuckers didn’t last too long ha ha
i’m sick of hearing bout the haves and the have nots
have some personal accountability
the biggest problem with the way that we’ve been doing things is
the more we let you have the less that i’ll be keeping for me

well i used to stand for something
now i’m on my hands and knees
traded in my god for this one
he signs his name with a capital G

and
The Warning

some say it was a warning
some say it was a sign
i was standing right there
when it came down from the sky
the way it spoke to us
you felt it from inside
said it was up to us
up to us to decide

“you’ve become a virus
killing off his host
we been watching you with all of our eyes
and what you seem to value most
so much potential
or so we used to say
your greed, self-importance and your arrogance
you piss it all away
we heard her cry
we have come to intervene
you will change your ways and you will make amends
or we will wipe this place clean”

your time is tic-tic-ticking away…

But even these lyrics don’t do justice to the feeling of having them pounded into you with the electronic squeals that Trent Reznor seems to force the computer to produce against its will. As I said at the outset, I’m not a NIN fanboy, so the fact that this album has stuck with me through the whole year seems to give it a deserved spot as my album of the year. It certainly has had the most rotation of any album I’ve listened to this year. Give it a try yourself!
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My second choice (which also got very little press)…

For you pure electronic fans out there, Simian Mobile Disco’s “Attack Decay Sustain Release” was an amazing album that I’ve listened through quite a few times and am still in love with. Dabbling in every genre of “electronic” music I know of, and succeeding almost across the board is quite a feat, and I can’t recommend it highly enough if you like dance-y electronica (there isn’t a better word to use, sorry)… I would hope everyone would give this one a chance too, but some might not be able to deal with it’s amazing-ness, and that’s ok… It’s not for everyone, but melodies and beats that hearken back to better days of electronic music like these short samples:

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Well, that forces me to give this album the nod many others seem unwilling to…

Fonzie to Get Bronze Statue in Milwaukee

Fonz FINALY! I’ve been saying for years that the Fonz needed his own statue. It should look similar to the bronze statues of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis and of Bob Newhart in Chicago. Price-tag, $85,000.