The Best-Of 2008

So it’s the second to the last night of 2008, and I haven’t made a “Best Of” compilation of all the junk I have enjoyed throughout the year. Every other blog with a nerd has one, so why can’t I?

Well, without further adue; here is a list of my favorite things that I think were amazingly awesome in 2008.

..:: MUSIC ::..
Best Album



“Robotique Majestique” by Ghostland Observatory
This year had a lot of great releases, but out of all the albums I checked out this year, no other album moved me (and still moves me) like “Robotique” by the Austin Texas band, Ghostland Observatory. Easily the best record to dance, jam, drive, talk over, walk, work, fuck, drink, or to get the party started. A close favorite with my friends, this album never gets old and is always perfect no matter what time it is. Ghostland did an amazing job with this album more than definitely raised the bar for them.
RUNNER-UPS:
“If” by Mindless Self Indulgence
“Innerpartysystem” by Innerpartysystem

Best New Band



Innerpartysystem
I was fortunate to see this band open up for Kill Hannah at the Scout Bar in San Antonio this past summer. While, their frontman came off as little cocky and kind of a prick both on stage and on their MySpace blog, their debut self-titled album is one of the best debuts I have heard in a while. Every song is solid gold, and while their name suggests parties and dancing; their music is actually really dark and takes a cue from some of NIN and theSTART’s more darker-themed tracks. Things go from heavy and soft to distorted and ambient. It’s a promising debut.
RUNNER-UPS:
Crystal Castles & Hollywood Undead

Best Concert



Nine Inch Nails “Lights In The Sky” [Dallas, TX 8.18.08]

This year I saw Radiohead in concert. I saw Eisley. I saw Kill Hannah. But none compared to the beautiful monster that was the Nine Inch Nails 2008 tour. I had never seen a tour more than once, until this time around. I saw Trent Reznor and the boys destroy the stage twice in one year. (I saw them in Dallas and on San Antonio.) This show captured the intensity and aggression that makes Nine Inch Nails such a force to be reckoned with, but most importantly, it showed the beauty and sensuality that is often overlooked by the band. The visuals to the Ghost tracks are marvelous and groundbreaking. It was a show that no photos of videos could ever capture. It was something you had to attend to really understand.
RUNNER-UPS:
Ghostland Observatory [Austin, TX 2.29.08]
Mindless Self Induglence [Austin, TX 5.16.08]

Most Anticipated Album of 2009



Untitled 8th Studio Album by Green Day

"American Idiot" was (for a lack of a better term) a timeless record. It was an album for the times we were and still are living in. Now, 4 and half years later, it's time for the follow up. With Butch Vig (Nirvana, Against Me!, AFI, Garbage ..etc.) as producer the band has come up with a new album that will feature 3 acts (Act 1 - “Heroes and Cons,” Act 2 – “Charlatans and Saints,” and Act 3 - "Horseshoes and Handgrenades"). With song titles such as "March of the Dogs", "21st Century Breakdown", and the piano-driven “Last Night On Earth” are more than enough to suggest the band is ready to take on the impossible. I for one, can not wait!
RUNNER-UPS:
Untitled 4th Studio Album by theSTART & Untitled 6th Studio Album by Placebo

..:: MOVIES ::..

Best Movie

“The Dark Knight”
My favorite hero of all time.. This movie was more than just a movie to me. Aside from it’s escalation and sinister themes, the film was an existential look at myself. I related to this film in many ways. More so than I am willing to admit. Christopher Nolan’s movie showed you how far man’s darkest intentions can go (The Joker), a good man falling into evil (Harvey Dent), and how one man (no matter how difficult life got) will stick to his moral code and prevail above all (Batman). There is a lot to be said about each character in this movie. Even though I’ve seen it like 30 times now, it still makes me gasp for air. It still makes me route for the good guys. And it still rattles my emotions, and while it’s hard to really say, I don’t always agree with Batman himself. Why? Because the unfortunate truth about this movie is, it made me realize that there is a bit of me inside mental make-up of both The Joker and Harvey Two-Face. And that really scares me.
RUNNER-UPS:
“Wall-E” & “Iron Man”

..:: VIDEO GAMES ::..

Best Video Game

“Rock Band 2”
The first Rock Band video game floored me. It had a great soundtrack and was so much fun to play with friends and family, it was undoubtedly my favorite game of last year. Now, Rock Band 2 only furthered the awesomeness. It was bigger and larger than Rock Band 1, and with the amazing DLC already available, it was a win-win situation. This game is as far as I will ever get to being in a rock band and feeling like a rock star. All the purists and haters could bitch and diss the fuck out of the game all they want but at the end of the night, they all wish they can shake their ass like me singing “White Wedding” by Billy Idol. This game brought fun back to video games. At least for me. Fuck World of Warcraft. : P
RUNNER-UPS:
“Grand Theft Auto IV”

Hangin' with Georgie

I have to say that these past several days have been pretty good for me. Fausto, Ralph, Tony, and my cousins are all down for the Holidays so we’ve been hanging out almost every single night. It’s cool just sitting out in the back yard drinking beers, Long Islands, and just laughing about anything. You know, aside from going to concerts and shows, it’s these moments that also make me really happy.



I guess that is why I love Denton, so much; because it was filled with moments like this. We’ve also been playing a lot of Rock Band 2 which is always fun and whenever new people are over I like to act like a class clown and be funny. It’s just so much fun.

Oh, the Holiday Blues.. (Yippie 4 Anxiety!!)

Aye, these past several days have been really annoying for me. I haven't really felt like myself. Yesturday my cousin Alison and fellow Denton-roomate Jesus came over and (out of all the days I could have felt like crap) it was that one. Argh, it was so annoying!! I wanted to hang out with them, but during the day I kept throwing up every single meal for no reason. So it left me feeling so "out of it".

These days it seems as if I have been feeling so physically weak and fragile; (and not to be outdone) my oh-so-amazing mental state has decided to try and one up the physical side with (my new BFF) ANXIETY! :D

Yup, since my Lorazepalm (anti-depression/anxiety benzo) ran out a few weeks ago, my nervousness and insecurities have decided to gang up on me now that I have nothing to defend myself with. For instance, late last night I had the shittiest anxiety attack that I have ever experienced. If I was just jumpy and nervous before, now I was bouncing off the walls. More than before. I mean, I've had the usual moments where I am just paranoid and being scared of my surroundings, but last night took the cake. I couldn't control my arms and my heart was beating at a faster pace and my mind was spinning and spinning. It sucked. I was trying to talk to Kay on the phone, and I just could not hold a converstation with her. On my end, I was so busy just trying to stop from ripping things apart. I tried sketching and just kept drawing random lines, stars, and squares. I also kept writing this one phrase I am not sure I got it from, but after looking at the drawing today it reads; "Die With The Rest of Us". Sounds like the usual angsty me, but last night was so bad I couldn't control it. Too bad, nothing great came out of it.

I bored Kay so much she feel asleep after I just wasn't saying anything. Can't say I blame her.

However, (my situation might actually have happy ending) after going to bed at 4:30 in the morning, I woke up to some crappy news from my mom saying I had an emergency appointment with my doctor. Apparently my heart doctor in San Antonio found some nasty things wrong in a recent CAT Scan I had and wanted my doctor here in Laredo to see me about it. So needless to say, I had to get dressed quickly and go find out what the hell happened.

Aaannnyyywwwaaayyy, long story short. Nothing was wrong, it was just some crap that happens when a person gets sick and while I have a really minor cough (not like the sickness I had the last week of November), that's all it was. Needless to say, I felt like using the opportunity to get a refill on my Lorazeplam.

And I did.

The sad man grins. ;)

It's Christmas time! PLUS: Rock Band 2 Microphone

Today I went out and did some good ol' fashion Christmas shopping. I thought I should take care of the gifts this week cause Laredo will pretty much be under lock-down starting this weekend. Everybody and their friends are getting out of school for the winter break and it's going to suck.

I don't know how things are outside of this little border town, but god damn is it annoying here. You not only have to deal with your own fellow citizen's but you have to deal with the people from across the border who just thrash EVERYTHING. I don't work in retail and they still bother me. They drive bad and they think they are entitled to everything. It sucks.

Needless to say, I just had totally buy the gifts today. It couldn't wait another day.



So aside from that I also bought a new microphone for Rock Band 2 today. It's integreted with the X-BoX controller buttons which is ssoo nice. However, according to a few Amazon.com reviews, it looks like the microphone sucks. It has really negetive reviews and that makes me sad. I have no real way of knowing if it's good or not until I play the game when Jaime comes back from Denton. It was pretty expensive and I unfortunately already opened it out of the package so I can't return it. :(

Oh, well.

"Republicans R Mean" t-shirt Avaliable!

My friends over at Monster Medium asked me to make a shirt of anything that I wanted a while back for their custom-t-shirt store. So being the good little lad that I am, I thought a well light-harded shirt bashing our Republican elephants could pass off as a pretty neat shirt.



So for a limited time only you can order a custom-designed t-shirt and add in your custom caption to the shirt as well. For more information or how to order your Republican shirt, head on to their MySpace page and send them a message. Or you can just tell me and I'll let them know.

Laterz.

New Projects, New Era, New Outlook

So I totally make my own Long Island’s now. Mmm.. Jimmy.. Acha! ..indeed friends.

I have a few projects that I am starting (or have started), but it’s a little tricky trying to get them completely off the ground. Things are going to start changing a lot during the course of this month and early next year. My website, “The Many Shades of George Gonzalez” is going to change drastically and I am finally going to fulfill a goal of mine that I wanted to do since I started taking my site seriously. I’m also in the middle of getting business cards designed and putting them together. Despite trying to get my name out to the public I have been busy writing a new personal poem and am into pre-production on some new drawings.

Once the new site is launched most (if not all) my artwork is going to go on sale and you will be able to purchase each original piece (unless otherwise stated) through Paypal. And while it’s not set in stone, there is possibility that I might have a show devoted to my artwork here in Laredo as early as the Summer or Fall of next year. I just have to get in touch with some cool people, and it might actually take off.

If things begin to really take off, then you can expect some t-shirts and stickers in the near future. I have recently been toying with a few ideas and designs for t-shirts that I will gladly give away to my friends for free. During my stay in Denton next year I am going to be much more involved with the art and alternative scene.

So things are looking up buddies. Join me for the ride, will you? Keep it locked in to my blog for the latest updates and I promise ya’ll to make things interesting for everybody. :)

New MySpace 2.0 Layout

I just spent the last 2 and half hours trying to really perfect my new MySpace layout, cause I'm that much a loser. Well really in all honesty, what do you expect when you're a starving artist/person trying to get your artwork and name out to the public? You have to invest a lot of time into marketing and advertising yourself. In a lot of ways, it’s just as important as the artwork cause you’re representing yourself and what you do. The way you present yourself in public and the internet has to reflect who you really are as a person and artist and what it is you do.

As an artist who draws, paints, and writes poetry, it’s a slightly more difficult to get a kind of audience or fan base around these kinds of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook because it’s not as conventional as artists who do music. So you’re having to compete against musicians and bands whom’s art is a lot more accessible. I mean, you can have a playlist of your favorite songs on MySpace, but you can’t really start a “favorite artwork slideshow” in your profile. It’s not fair of me to expect the website to start that kind of feature or to even really acknowledge traditional artist pages, so I’m just going to use these resources already available to me to the best that I can.

That’s why I try to go all out in my social networking profile.

Anywho, tell me what you think of the new layout. Critics wanted!