Hope for the Trailblazers

I haven't seen a NBA game in ages, but the Trail Blazers used to be my favorite team - until they faded out of my sports news radar. After landing the monicker Jail Blazers and descending to the pits, it seems that my Trail Blazers have a chance at redemption. See these Yahoo! articles: West fumes after Portland Trail Blazers win NBA Draft Lottery and Cause for celebration.

Midnight is here ... first salvo of a bewildered LP listener

Hate at first sound? Almost, but not quite.

The first time I went through the first CD of the album, I thought to myself, "Is this Linkin Park I'm really listening to?"

In the past, I would hear a LP song and know at once that it was a track by LP. The first time I ran the Minutes CD, I had to rely on my familiarity with Chester Bennington's voice and the booklet accompanying the CD. It turns out I don't know Mike Shinoda's voice when he's not rapping.

I didn't know what to make of the album. Is this the new Linkin Park, or is it faux Linkin Park? I let the CD sit for a few days. I'm sure by now that I'm not the only one bewildered by this album. Like it or lump it? I decided to sit through the CD again and it sounded better the second time around.

It's an album that's supposed to be political and comes across as a social commentary - but only if the listener is familiar with the events of the past four years.

The 1:40 track "Wake" sounds old Linkin Park, but it's so short that it's better off as an intro to a track. I was just getting into the hang of it when it ended. The lyrics of "Given Up" are oddly reminiscent of an early LP song, Crawling, I think. "Leave Out All the Rest" is a plaintive plea to be remembered in a good light, while I'm torn between interpreting "Shadow of the Day" as a modern-day dirge and as a song of curse.

"Bleed It Out" features Chester and Mike on vocals in the style of the pre-Minutes Linkin Park but the beat is slightly different. "Hands Held High" - I have to listen to it one more time, but as I go through the lyrics, I get the impression it's a dig at the American president.

"No More Sorrow" - now this is a fitting election season song:

i see pain/i see need
i see liars and thieves abuse power with greed
i had hope/i believed
but i'm beginning to think i've been deceived
you will pay the price for what you've done

---

no/no more sorrow
i've paid for your mistakes
your/time is borrowed
your time has come to be replaced
your time has come to be erased

What a day. I missed a birthday party and Fran's thanksgiving party - both held today, at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., respectively - and the latter was something I was looking forward to since the oathtaking. Blast. The bar did not stress me as much as today's events. My appetite's gone (and that is not something easy for me to lose) and I threw up and scattered my lunch and the few pieces of stir-fried kangkong I had for supper right before our front door the minute I arrived home. Sooooooo gross. I must load up on Berocca or else I'll be stressing my way to a thinner me. Not a healthy way to lose weight.

Minutes to Midnight

What I've Done Lyrics

Film list

Films I must not miss:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Lives of Others
Martian Child
Mr. Brooks
No Reservations
Shrek
Ratatouille
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
Georgia Rule
Illegal Tender
Shrek III
Journey from the Fall
Moliere
The Hoax
Burns
Poison Friends
Blind Dating
Transformers
Romantico
Paprika
Avenue Montaigne
Private Fears and Public Places