Album Review: 21st Century Breakdown

Green Day's new full-length studio album came out yesterday and I gotta say, its pretty damn good. Fans of the Dookie/Kerplunk! won't be pleased, but would you really want to listen to 30-something-year-old millionaires sing about boredom and discontent? Instead, this album follows in the footsteps of Warning and American Idiot with the blatant social criticism. Green Day teamed up with reknowned producer Butch Vig (drummer for Garbage, producer for Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream) to put forth an album worthy of praise if not for the messages, then at least for the over-all quality of a majority of the songs on the album.

Providing a loose narration of the thoughts and lives of a young American couple in post-millennial (and post-Bush) America, Green Day addresses warfare, religion, and mass-consumerism, while at times screaming for revolution and action against indifference, or the man, or whatever it is we're supposed to rebel against. That's the problem: 21st Century Breakdown is not American Idiot pt. 2. As such, the various messages tend to be a bit confusing when you blend them all together. This is no longer an apathetic America that allows politicians to do what they please, or an angry America rising in arms against an unfair and unpopular president. Instead, we are a country in transition. The America today is very different from the America four years ago, and will be very different four years from now.

That said, the message provided by 21st Century Breakdown can be a bit unclear. Personally, I look at it as a political album that doesn't really name a main antagonist (like the last album did), but instead points out all the things wrong with American society. In that sense, its not so confusing as much as its broad in criticism and musical style. Speaking of which, the album is very Green Day musically, but pushes the envelope as far as what they have done with their style. You have the title track that is reminiscent of Baba O'Reilly and Bohemian Rhapsody, Peacemaker which uses exotic chord progressions (for Green Day at least), Christian's Inferno which reeks of angst and aggression (the most since Insomniac), Last Night on Earth which is a love ballad...you get the idea. However, you can almost make a game out of recognizing familiar riffs and hooks from previous hits on some of the songs.

Okay, so my overall opinion: 21st Century Breakdown is diverse, energetic, and unapologetic. The production quality is unrivaled (great job Butch!) and its actually nice to hear more piano and instrumentation from a pop-rock trio known for bar chords. Lyrically, it can be confusing and at times predictable, but overall Billie Joe does a great job giving us picture and emotion of the story he is trying to relate. 4 out of 5 stars. Well done guys!

They may be older but they still rock!

Au revior Paris!: Semana Santa pt. 4

Here's the conclusion to the Paris chapter of my Semana Santa. After the night at John's friend's party, Aaron and I came down with the same cold and suffered for the rest of the trip, going through cough drops like crack. We did get some spray, which worked for Aaron, but not for me. Anyways, the cold had us beaten and worn, but we still managed to have a damn good time.
Uncle John's apartment was pretty well-located, only a block or two away from a really cool street with tons of shops and restaurants. Here's a picture of John sitting in front of the window.


Aaron and I shared the fold-out couch, which actually quite comfortable, except for the fact that I was sharing it with Aaron, who hogs the bed and the sheets. Honestly, I do the same thing, it must run in the family.
I preferred to sleep in mornings, but my coughing was so bad, it kept everyone else from enjoying the same luxury.


Uncle John gets fed up with my persistent cough and suggests an alternative remedy.

Anyways, the last full day of our trip, after the Louvre, Aaron and I ran around the metro to find Sacre Coeur. If you're interested, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilique_du_Sacr%C3%A9-C%C5%93ur,_Paris
Don't feel like reading something else? Here's the lowdown, after the French Revolution, the ultra-conservatives and Catholics (who were targeted and attacked during the Revloution) decided to build a basilica, but support really gained popularity after the Germans beat the living crap out of the French in 1871 and another Paris commune ?uprose? I decided that for these shots, since we both got different soft drinks, we should do some product placement.

Coca-Cola, if you like what you see, there could be more of these.

Check out the view from Sacre Coeur, built on top of the tallest place in Paris.

Yeah, this was my facebook profile pic.

Afterwards, Aaron and I hit up a cafe and read our books. This was the best shot I could get.


In all respects, I really enjoyed Paris. I didn't mind that it was gray all the time, or a bit chilly every now and then. The people were pretty cool, the sights were nice, and the overall atmosphere was very "cool," and not in a bad way either. If given half a chance, I'd go back to Paris in a heartbeat. Great place. Je t'aime Paris!

Movin 'round the Louvre: Semana Santa pt. 3

Thought the last post had a lot of pictures? HAHAHA!!! This one has a lot, so bear with me. It's not that long, just John, Aaron, and I hangin out at the Louvre: Paris' really freakin' huge museum.

Here's a view from the street:


Yeah, the Louvre is HUGE.

On the other side of that huge wall: A huge Arc that lines up with that golden obelisk in the background.


See it? Right in the center of that arc is the obelisk.
And all of that was meant to line up with these pyramids (which are really 3D diamonds, ?rectangular prisms?), but the architect was like, "Screw that, I do what I want!" So here it is.


My car salesman smile in front of the glass pyramid thingy.
And here's a statue of this dude on a horse, probably King Louis XIV, who was a pimp, but ran France into debt with all of his costly warfare.

Like I said, the Louvre is HUGE!!!
After wandering around a bit, we finally went back home to go another day... but I'll include random stories later! So, skip ahead a day. John politely kicks us out of the apartment and tells us to go exploring, so one of our stops is the Louvre! Aaron and I rent bikes and head to the Louvre, but the problem was that Aaron couldn't find a parking space (I did, haha!). So he had to walk around for nearly half an hour until he found one. In the meantime, I picked up a massive bottled water and sat around waiting for him. After much people watching, Aaron returned, and we went inside. Here's what we saw:

A headless Angel, I'm not sure if this was for luck.
This is probably Saint Francis, given the animals in the background. Notice the "Jesus Lasers."

"Jesus Lasers Fire!"

Well, I got tired of looking all these pictures of Italians and Saints getting struck by Jesus Lasers or freaking out over something or the other, so I took a seat in this one room, looked up, and saw this:

The Louvre is so pimp. So pimp.

Oh, and so we wandered around, saw a huge crowd around this one picture, and it was Miss Lisa, smiling. Honestly, I saw it so many times in books and movies, it wasn't really that exciting. But in case you wanted to see the famous smile...


I think Da Vinci was telling dirty jokes or something, that would make me smile while I got my face painted.

After avoiding the huge crowd, we walked around to the world art section and imitated it because, well, hanging around in a museum can be tiring and there's nothing like a little humor to pick you right back up.

WESTSIDE!

Smile big!

Why so serious?

The we moved to French art, and came across my favorite French painting:

Something about the romanticization of revolution...

Oh, and here's Napoleon being, well, Napoleon, and crowning himself in front of the Pope.

Then we got separated, but I made sure to take pictures of the Egyptian exhibit.

The Mexican pharoah, Jesus II

Okay, had enough? Well, you're in luck, because I'm gonna take a nap and stop writing. Aaron and I met back up and I made sure to "borrow" a very special stone from the Louvre. No, its nothing special, just a rock my Dad would appreciate. Anyways, we then made our way elsewhere, but I'll let you go for now and I'll catch a quick nap. More to come soon.

Qu'est-ce que vous fait? Semana Santa pt. 2

Ready for some pictures??? Good, because there's a few in this post. Anyways, after the fun-filled night, John, Aaron, and I went out to sight-see around Paris. Now, this post only goes over part of that day, but check out some of the places and stuff you've always heard about (or not) but have never been to. I'm not sure where or what exactly this first building is, but it's got cool architecture and its probably a government building.



We look pretty small compared to this building

Okay, next stop: Notre Dame, the cathedral Victor Hugo was thinking abobut when he created the Hunchback Quasimodo. By the way, that's a really vulgar and sadistic story, but a classic. Anyways, here's a good look at the front.


And the line of tourists to get inside was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis long.

Want a side view? Here ya go.


Notre Dame has very nice buttresses, and it was just white-washed!

Here's a nice statue of Charlemagne, "The Father of Europe." And by Europe, we of course only mean Western Europe.


Okay, so after gawking and taking pictures like nice tourists, we moved onward to Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cité.

Look at all that gold. Europeans and their gold-plated buildings.

And here's a view over River Seine:


Note: on the sides of these streets are little shops where you can buy flowers, pets, waffles, or comic books.

And here's a nice obelisk-thingy with an angel on it. Of course, the angel is plated in gold.

Anyways, that does it for this post, because the next post is about the Louvre (oooh!).

O RLY? YA RLY, I went to Paris: Semana Santa Pt. 1

In Europe, we don't call it Spring Break, we call it Semana Santa or Holy Week. This is the same thing as Spring Break in that everybody travels around to visit places. My Semana Santa went as follows: Aaron visits me in Barcelona for a day or so, then we both go to Paris for 4 days, than I back with Aaron to Madrid for a few days, before returning to Barcelona. In all, the trip cost around 400 or so Euros, including tickets, food and drink, and other travel expenses, so not bad actually (thats about $520.00 USD).


Anyways, we'll start the pictures off in Paris. We got off of the airplane and paid 6 E to catch a bus into town, where we got off to catch another bus to walk for a few blocks before coming across my Uncle John's place near Rue Sant Denis, an artsy neighborhood near downtown Paris (or in it I suppose, Paris is huge!). Before we get there, I spy an excellent and tasteless example of globalization.



Honestly, that couldn't be any worse than the KFCs here. Imagine all the nasty greasy food without the Southern charm, kinda gross. I went to a KFC in Europe once, and didnt finish my meal, instead throwing out my nasty chicken bites (cooked in olive oil, but poorly) and carbonated lemonade, which tasted awful.


Anyways, we got to my Uncle's place, made introductions, then cooked up a brief meal before heading to one of his friends' going away parties.


Here I am trying to learn how to cook...it may be a lost cause, but Uncle John's chicken pie was AMAZING!!!

So we go to the party, I have no idea what to expect, but in the end, it was tons of fun. Side note: I tried my best to learn French for this trip, and all I learned were phrases like "El chien mange du riz" which means "the dog eats the rice." Obviously, that wasn't helpful, but what was helpful was the fact that most Parisians speak English, so I was good. Anyways, the party was full of old friends, new faces, and good beats, so everyone was dancing and enjoying the atmosphere, which was honestly a very cool party.
For those who don't know, my Uncle John is gay but is honestly one of the most fun uncles that I have (Uncle Tim might tie him for that). This party was full of people who were all about having a great time. And my bias aside, it was a damn good party. When everybody is dancing, everybody is talking to each other, or everybody is eating (therefore there are no awkward people standing in corners), it is a damn good party. John claims that gay people know how to have a good time, and based off of this party, I have to agree. In fact, he told me that by going to gay functions, I could possibly pick up chicks (because honestly, everyone at a gay party can see a straight person instantly, and the girls would be very impressed by that apparently).

Anyhow here are some pics of the party:


Uncle John and Aaron


Me and Uncle John


Me and Uncle John discussing something, probably women or party atmosphere or something


Honestly, don't ask, it was his going away party

Okay, so we have a great time and eventually leave to stop by other establishments. On our way, I come across a beautiful, no, stunning Parisian woman (early 20s), so I ask her for a light and immediately get into conversation (score +1 for me!). The funny part is, I approach her asking in Spanish, and she responds in Spanish. So we start talking a bit when Aaron and John enter the conversation and we all discover that she can also speak English (+2 for me!). We talk for a while, then Aaron and John get the idea and announce they are going to leave us alone (score +3, I love my family!). Then, an unspeakable horror comes out of a bar and announces that they all want to go home. The beautiful, charming, attractive, lovely Parisian has bitchy friends who are cock-blockers. Well, nothing in life is ever perfect, and she left because of her friends. We won't go into my thoughts about that here, I honestly wish those drunk-bitch friends never existed.

After being cock-blocked by drunk-bitchy girls, John went home while Aaron and I checked out the surrounding neighborhood. We came across a suitable estabishment and had a few drinks while reminiscing over the entire night. It was honestly very interesting discussing the different ways to pick up girls with my brother. What I found is we have different styles (but you can't read those, sorry, but otherwise they wouldn't work), and we approach situations differently. Basically, my brother is better around a group of people he may know whereas I am better at random girls in random groups. I don't know why this is, it just is. And that's all you can read, the rest I will sell in my book "The Supplement to Mystery's Guide to Picking Up Women." Honestly, I don't know what I do sometimes. I have very "okay" game, but somehow these things happen.

Anyways, more to come later. Hope you enjoyed this post!

A Little Bit of Catching Up pt. 2

Okay, so since I had some down time I decided to fill you all on whats in store for the blog. First, I want to cover the Paris trip and the Madrid trip as best as I can from memory and photos and such. Second, I'm gonna upload some pics of my barrio and Sagrada Familia.

Also, to explain San Jordi's day, here ya go: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%ADa_de_Sant_Jordi. For those of us who don't read spanish or don't feel like it, here's a brief summary. This dude named Jorge killed a dragon to save this princess, so now on his death date (April 23) guys are supposed to buy girls flowers and girls are supposed to buy us books, but they don't because they claim it is too expensive (but hey, I'm not judging the double-standard) and its basically Valentine's Day in Spain. If you're good, you can get a decent bouquet for less than 3 Euro, but I was in a hurry so I got ripped off. It was kinda funny actually, I kept forgetting to bring Mama Raquel her flower for a week, so by the time I did, it was half dead, and that's being optimistic. We put some Miracle-Gro in water with the flower, but it probably needs Miracle-resurrection or something at this point.

Sant Jordi owns this dragon in the name of hot latin love