vism.net

Last night was the first time I attended a legitimate rock concert. I was at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal for KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas. It was a long show, but I enjoyed it. The line-up and comments as follow:

Vampire Weekend – not too familiar with them except the one song I’ve heard, but they were pretty cool, got the crowd pumped early
Snow Patrol – Another band I only know from one song. They were ok, they had a Coldplay feel to them.
Scott Weiland – When I first read about him, I was like, who? I mean he sounded familiar but I couldn’t guess what band he was from. He’s from Stone Temple Pilots which I would have much preferred because his solo effort was kinda wack. I think he went on talking to much that the cut him off on his last song as they were changing instruments, lol.
Franz Ferdinand – First band to get a major reception from the crowd, and deserving as they totally rocked the house. They were my 2nd favorite performance of the night. I don’t actively listen to them either, but I know the songs from the radio.
Kanye West – Huge surprise considering the event. I heard rumors of a surprise guest. Snow Patrol mentioned the surprise guest. I was guessing No Doubt or maybe Foo Fighters or even Kings of Leon since they gave glow bands with Kings of Leon on it. The crowd was surprised and on their feet as Kanye rolled out. I’m not a huge fan, but it was fun.
Paramore – Many are not fans, but I enjoyed them. They were solid and the girls were jumping and dancing. Don’t mind at all.
Death Cab for Cutie – After the energy of Franz, Kanye, and Paramore, I was a bit disappointed with Death Cab. That is to say, I was never a big fan to begin with, but I’ll say it was second to Scott Weiland for ‘didn’t work for me’.
The Killers – Hell yeah. I liked the Killers before, but I like them even more after seeing how they can rock the house. The crowd was totally into it. I was singing along.
The Cure – I like the Cure and all, but the music is more chilled than the Killers so it was a bit of a bring down. They had a long set too. After hearing the songs I knew, I got out of there.

It was a long night but I enjoyed it. We had decent seats, dead center all the way back, but on a raised platform so we had a good view even sitting. We were seated in a row of entirely chicks, the ones around us being pretty hot/cut, until two moved away when the real people that sit there showed up. One Asian girl was dancing like there was no tomorrow. It started to rain as we left, the only downside to the night… and Scott Weiland (sorry, just not a fan).

I got Orange Box today, which is a collection of games by Valve. It includes Half-Life 2 and the continuation episodes 1 and 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. I started right away with Portal. It’s like a puzzle game FPS with portals. Those that are unfamiliar, it’s best explained by this trailer:

The game was short, about 2 1/2 hours. But it’s design is so brilliant, and it’s very humorous the things the computer says as it guides you through these puzzles. If you played it you would know what I mean. The ending was the best. I got the mp3 of the end song, Still Alive, right here for those who love it as much as I do. Here is also a link to many of the humorous quotes throughout the game. Be sure to play the game first.

Nintendo has an interesting ad campaign going on called Who Are You? If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, you can see it here [Nintendo link dead, youtube link instead]. There’s a song that plays during it, and I kinda like it. The song is called Hatsukoi by Mayumi Kojima. I’ll put it here for download temporarily.

Hatsukoi by Mayumi Kojima