I listen to a lot of music.
There are many groups that sing so much but say so little. And once in awhile, there comes a song that just leaps out of your Ipod/Zune/Radio and tugs at your heart in the slightest way, but enough for you to notice.
You know.... those songs that makes you wish you were in high school again with your friends,songs that make you think about your first-kiss and brings back those other memories along with the nostalgic side-effect to boost.
Those are the songs I search for.
It's true, there are times where I just want to headbang my frustration out to some good punk track or some wild yet soft scream-o ,but mostly, I prefer the songs that make your eyes water a bit.
Tracks that seem more like a therapist that hypnotizes you. Transporting you to that exact moment in life, that you treasure so much.
Here are some bands and artists that do have the uncanny ability of this (at least for me):
1) Nickelback - these guys sing 2 type of songs - a) the ones that make you wish you were them (i.e. "Man I wish I could've done that")
b) songs that have you reminisce about your past.
2) Relient K - over the years there sound has changed, but they still keep the good'ol fashioned punk riffs coming. They've gone from "Life blows!" to "GET ME OUTTA COLLEGE!" to "I OWE IT ALL TO YOU LORD!", great group to listen to both when you're in a happy mood or when you're down on the ground....these dudes can really pick you up.
3) Switchfoot - they're a special group, because when their first album came out it gave you a sense of a man vs man conflict. It confronted you and yet, in a subtle way, managed to lift you up and give you hope....great pick me up songs with great vocals and nice riffs make for one well-blended group!
4) Emery - Don't be fooled by their occasional screaming, because it's not meaningless. With dueling lyrics and melodic magic, this group can make a song out of any situation that will have you head-bobbing, headbanging, crying or screaming in a span of 4 minutes. They're not a group to just listen to, but a group to pay close attention to, as they confront their listeners with the hard issues not usually addressed by any bands or groups and just throws it in your face. One of my personal favorite bands.
5) Anberlin - Great alternative rock group, with a mix of conflicting lyrics accompanied with soft yet aggressive music to happy and upbeat songs with great high-tempo drumming. The lead singer & main songwriter Stephen Christian has an unusually high voice that delivers the message in the way necessary. Love songs and memories told in the first-person takes you into Stephens life in a roller coaster of emotions and with lessons to learn as well. Another personal favorite of mine.
6) John Mayer - For some, this guy needs no introduction. For those who don't know......you don't know what you're missing. What defines John Mayer is not only his skill and mastery of his instrument (guitar) or his strangely whispery voice; it is his song-writing gift that he is able to get you to feel exactly the way John Mayer felt when writing that specific song. You can relate to his lyrics and so making him accessible and ordinary just like the rest of us. Top musician and great song-writer....makes him my number one music man.
Comment and tell me who speaks to you through the speakers of your car/room/ipod....wherever!
GBY!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
LIFE - No coincidences, just an unknown plan.
Everyday, is a struggle for me.
Yet....I smile.
Yes, I smile because even though I may not have a cellphone or my own car and even though I may disagree a lot or a little with my parents or sibling.
Even when I get in a car crash, lose a job, hit my foot on the corner of my dresser cabinet in the morning. Even when I trip and fall, spill my milk on my new pants, forget to take the food after paying at a drive-thru restaurant.
EVEN AFTER i had a bad argument with my girlfriend or with my best friend. Even if I was stabbed in the back by my best friend and/or worse.....by my own family member.
Even though I got stopped by a cop and had to pay a ticket or I can't find my car keys, wallet, glasses and get late to work.
Even when i make bad decisions and suffer the consequence later, try to help someone and i end up getting hated by that person. When i don't feel understood or I'm in a bad mood. Even when i lose a close one that has been dear to me all my life, I end up separating from my friends after high school because we are no longer obligated to see each other everyday so everyone goes on to their different paths and set of to start their new lives. Even when, i have lost trust on those who lead this beautiful country I live in.....I was BORN in..... and call home.
When everyone is against me or I against the world. Even when I lose faith in my God, when I doubt and cloud my mind with useless clutter, having lost faith in myself and I feel lower than dirt.....
I remember ...... that HE loves me.
WHY? i don't know why. What did I do to possibly deserve such love.
When I feel like ALL that I have mentioned. I remember a song that comes to me from a poet:
"I'm here again before you, in humble prayer. You don't even half to answer.....just set your eyes on me my Lord. I just don't know what to think, and I don't even know how to express..... the fear and the wonder that is in me. I still do not know, you have yet to let me know, what you have seen me for you to love me. It's just that I can't find the reason of such WASTED LOVE........who am I, for you to love me so."
and when I remind myself of this........ I smile.
Yet....I smile.
Yes, I smile because even though I may not have a cellphone or my own car and even though I may disagree a lot or a little with my parents or sibling.
Even when I get in a car crash, lose a job, hit my foot on the corner of my dresser cabinet in the morning. Even when I trip and fall, spill my milk on my new pants, forget to take the food after paying at a drive-thru restaurant.
EVEN AFTER i had a bad argument with my girlfriend or with my best friend. Even if I was stabbed in the back by my best friend and/or worse.....by my own family member.
Even though I got stopped by a cop and had to pay a ticket or I can't find my car keys, wallet, glasses and get late to work.
Even when i make bad decisions and suffer the consequence later, try to help someone and i end up getting hated by that person. When i don't feel understood or I'm in a bad mood. Even when i lose a close one that has been dear to me all my life, I end up separating from my friends after high school because we are no longer obligated to see each other everyday so everyone goes on to their different paths and set of to start their new lives. Even when, i have lost trust on those who lead this beautiful country I live in.....I was BORN in..... and call home.
When everyone is against me or I against the world. Even when I lose faith in my God, when I doubt and cloud my mind with useless clutter, having lost faith in myself and I feel lower than dirt.....
I remember ...... that HE loves me.
WHY? i don't know why. What did I do to possibly deserve such love.
When I feel like ALL that I have mentioned. I remember a song that comes to me from a poet:
"I'm here again before you, in humble prayer. You don't even half to answer.....just set your eyes on me my Lord. I just don't know what to think, and I don't even know how to express..... the fear and the wonder that is in me. I still do not know, you have yet to let me know, what you have seen me for you to love me. It's just that I can't find the reason of such WASTED LOVE........who am I, for you to love me so."
and when I remind myself of this........ I smile.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Trouble brewin' for the USMNT
Sheesh..... It's been awhile but I'm back.
There's not much time but there's loads to cover. So I'll start of first with a BIG shout out to the miners in Chile who have been trapped 700km underground with temperatures reaching 87 degrees Fahrenheit for the past 2 months. Great top see them healthy and ALIVE most of all. Thank God for taking care of them.
Back to Soccer...
The US Men's National Team played Poland on Saturday the 9Th of October. I was watching this game and I was glad to see the debut of Jermaine Jones and displeased on seeing Maurice Edu next to Onyewu.
My question is WHY? Why Bob, should a great Defensive box-to-box midfielder like Maurice Edu be used as a Centre Back? I don't understand this decision especially when you have 2 center backs in the bench who NEED to gel with the current back four?
Fine, we're past that now. On to the (sort of) good.
Jermaine Jones made his debut provided an assist not just for us but for Poland too, by failing to clear a ball at the top of the 18.
But he played well defensively while tracking back and helping little Bradley when he got in a mess.
To me, the midfield lacked the spark that Landon Donovan provides. And it's ever more clear how crucial he is to the team. Stuart Holden was given the roll of the "play maker" but has not quite gotten used to that roll yet. Still his confidence, hard work and determination had him running all over and curving the ball with his set-pieces to dangerous areas (to the point of assisting Onyewu on the team's second goal).
Holden definitely has all the tools of being the next play maker equal to (maybe) Donovan. For the next 4 years we need to (slowly) start letting go of our veterans, to make way for the new blood that will eventually take our team to (hopefully) new heights during the 2018 and 2022 cycle.
The thought is sad for me, but it is inevitable that one day we won't see Donovan or Dempsey anymore after 2014 World Cup.
Yet, not all change is bad. Or is it?
That was the question on everybody's mind. Was the changes done to the starting lineup good or bad on Tuesday night. When USA faced Colombia, the formation was a modified 4-3-2-1 made to function like a 4-3-3.
Now, let me break this up for ya:
you have 4 defenders in front of the goal (that's the obvious). Then you have 3 midfielders....what do these 3 do... well, there's plenty that can be done here. Granted, you lose an extra midfielder but, you gain a forward. This allows for the 2 higher midfielders to supply the upper 3 in front of them, leaving 1 more withdrawn closer to the back 4 for defensive support.
just look at this picture below:
RB-----CB----CB----LB
----------CDM--------
---RCM----------LCM
RW--------ST--------LW
The back four = RB (Right Back), CB (Center Back), LB (Left Back)
The middle 3 = CDM (Center Defensive Midfielder), RCM (Right Center Midfielder), LCM (Left Center Midfielder).
The front 3 = RW (Right Winger), ST (Striker), LW (Left Winger)
now that you have a clear picture on the formation used. Let's analyze the lineup:
Jonathan Spector-----Clarence Goodson----Oguchi Onyewu----Heath Pearce
---------------------------Maurice Edu-------------------------
--------Michael Bradley-------------------Jemaine Jones--------
Stuart Holden---------------Jozy Altidore------------------Benny Feilhaber
Here you have 3 Defense-minded players in Edu, Bradley and Jones. All three specialize in Box-to-Box, tackling, tracking back and breaking up offensive plays from the opposing team.
Holden and Feilhaber are given the winger spots to primarily feed Jozy. In this formation the scoring responsibility here relies heavily on him. Yet, he has support from the right and from the left.
What went wrong on Tuesday? well, It's actually quite simple.
First of all, in the middle 3 there are supposed to be 1 mid that drops back and reinforces the back 4 and the other 2 feed the upper 3 forwards. As said before, Edu, Bradley and Jones are 3 defensive midfielder there tendency is, should and will always be.... to track back and help the back 4!
So this already disrupts and defeats the purpose of using the 4-3-3 formation. Now there is a gap in the midfield leaving the 2 wingers (Holden and Feilhaber) to track back and try to bridge the gap in the middle. So the wingers weren't being fed appropriately and were dropping back more and more.
The first half of the USA vs Colombia showed, just because it works for other teams....doesn't mean it'll work for ours.
Then again, it was JUST a "friendly" and Donovan (our most important play maker) wasn't present for us to truly view the formation with all our starters.
Honorable mentions:
Eric Lichaj was a beast on a mission. On his post-match interview he stated that he did not feel intimidated at all by the 8k crowd that night, since he is used to more hostile and energetic (not to mention numerous) fans of Aston Villa (a home match is easily over 20k) back over the pond. He definitely did not take long to make an impact and showed that the right back position has new depth.
With this I will go, and please comment and Follow MUA! if you like what you read. God Bles Y'all!
There's not much time but there's loads to cover. So I'll start of first with a BIG shout out to the miners in Chile who have been trapped 700km underground with temperatures reaching 87 degrees Fahrenheit for the past 2 months. Great top see them healthy and ALIVE most of all. Thank God for taking care of them.
Back to Soccer...
The US Men's National Team played Poland on Saturday the 9Th of October. I was watching this game and I was glad to see the debut of Jermaine Jones and displeased on seeing Maurice Edu next to Onyewu.
My question is WHY? Why Bob, should a great Defensive box-to-box midfielder like Maurice Edu be used as a Centre Back? I don't understand this decision especially when you have 2 center backs in the bench who NEED to gel with the current back four?
Fine, we're past that now. On to the (sort of) good.
Jermaine Jones made his debut provided an assist not just for us but for Poland too, by failing to clear a ball at the top of the 18.
But he played well defensively while tracking back and helping little Bradley when he got in a mess.
To me, the midfield lacked the spark that Landon Donovan provides. And it's ever more clear how crucial he is to the team. Stuart Holden was given the roll of the "play maker" but has not quite gotten used to that roll yet. Still his confidence, hard work and determination had him running all over and curving the ball with his set-pieces to dangerous areas (to the point of assisting Onyewu on the team's second goal).
Holden definitely has all the tools of being the next play maker equal to (maybe) Donovan. For the next 4 years we need to (slowly) start letting go of our veterans, to make way for the new blood that will eventually take our team to (hopefully) new heights during the 2018 and 2022 cycle.
The thought is sad for me, but it is inevitable that one day we won't see Donovan or Dempsey anymore after 2014 World Cup.
Yet, not all change is bad. Or is it?
That was the question on everybody's mind. Was the changes done to the starting lineup good or bad on Tuesday night. When USA faced Colombia, the formation was a modified 4-3-2-1 made to function like a 4-3-3.
Now, let me break this up for ya:
you have 4 defenders in front of the goal (that's the obvious). Then you have 3 midfielders....what do these 3 do... well, there's plenty that can be done here. Granted, you lose an extra midfielder but, you gain a forward. This allows for the 2 higher midfielders to supply the upper 3 in front of them, leaving 1 more withdrawn closer to the back 4 for defensive support.
just look at this picture below:
RB-----CB----CB----LB
----------CDM--------
---RCM----------LCM
RW--------ST--------LW
The back four = RB (Right Back), CB (Center Back), LB (Left Back)
The middle 3 = CDM (Center Defensive Midfielder), RCM (Right Center Midfielder), LCM (Left Center Midfielder).
The front 3 = RW (Right Winger), ST (Striker), LW (Left Winger)
now that you have a clear picture on the formation used. Let's analyze the lineup:
Jonathan Spector-----Clarence Goodson----Oguchi Onyewu----Heath Pearce
---------------------------Maurice Edu-------------------------
--------Michael Bradley-------------------Jemaine Jones--------
Stuart Holden---------------Jozy Altidore------------------Benny Feilhaber
Here you have 3 Defense-minded players in Edu, Bradley and Jones. All three specialize in Box-to-Box, tackling, tracking back and breaking up offensive plays from the opposing team.
Holden and Feilhaber are given the winger spots to primarily feed Jozy. In this formation the scoring responsibility here relies heavily on him. Yet, he has support from the right and from the left.
What went wrong on Tuesday? well, It's actually quite simple.
First of all, in the middle 3 there are supposed to be 1 mid that drops back and reinforces the back 4 and the other 2 feed the upper 3 forwards. As said before, Edu, Bradley and Jones are 3 defensive midfielder there tendency is, should and will always be.... to track back and help the back 4!
So this already disrupts and defeats the purpose of using the 4-3-3 formation. Now there is a gap in the midfield leaving the 2 wingers (Holden and Feilhaber) to track back and try to bridge the gap in the middle. So the wingers weren't being fed appropriately and were dropping back more and more.
The first half of the USA vs Colombia showed, just because it works for other teams....doesn't mean it'll work for ours.
Then again, it was JUST a "friendly" and Donovan (our most important play maker) wasn't present for us to truly view the formation with all our starters.
Honorable mentions:
Eric Lichaj was a beast on a mission. On his post-match interview he stated that he did not feel intimidated at all by the 8k crowd that night, since he is used to more hostile and energetic (not to mention numerous) fans of Aston Villa (a home match is easily over 20k) back over the pond. He definitely did not take long to make an impact and showed that the right back position has new depth.
With this I will go, and please comment and Follow MUA! if you like what you read. God Bles Y'all!
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