My Top Songs of 2011

50. Rearrange (Miles Kane)

49. Uberlin (R.E.M)

48. She's Thunderstorms (Arctic Monkeys)

47. Major Minus (Coldplay)

46. Switchblade Smiles (Kasabian)

45. Kingcrawler (Miles Kane)

44. White Limo (Foo Fighters)

43. Dear Rosemary (Foo Fighters)

42. Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks (Noel Gallagher)

41. Police Station (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

40. Standing On The Edge of the Noise (Beady Eye)

39. I Hear Voices (Kasabian)

38. The Good Rebel (Noel Gallagher)

37. Back and Forth (Foo Fighters)

36. Look Around (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

35. AKA...What A Life (Noel Gallagher)

34. I Should Have Known (Foo Fighters)

33. Lotus Flower (Radiohead)

32. Library Pictures (Arctic Monkeys)

31. Inhaler (Miles Kane)

30. The Beat Goes On (Beady Eye)

29. The Daily Mail (Radiohead)

28. Dear Rosemary (Foo Fighters)

27. Acid Turkish Bath [Shelter From The Storm] (Kasabian)

26. Hurts Like Heaven (Coldplay)

25. Lotus Flower (Radiohead)

24. Piledriver Waltz (Arctic Monkeys)

23. Let England Shake (PJ Harvey)

22. If I Had a Gun... (Noel Gallagher)

21. All The Best (R.E.M)

20. Walk (Foo Fighters)

19. Arlandria (Foo Fighters)

18. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala (Arctic Monkeys)

17. The Death of You and Me (Noel Gallagher)

16. The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie (Red Hot CHili Peppers)

15. Codex (Radiohead)

14. Days Are Forgotten (Kasabian)

13. Four Letter Word (Beady Eye)

12. Stop The Clocks (Noel Gallagher)

11. Paradise (Coldplay)

10. Goodbye Kiss (Kasabian)

9. Little By Little (Radiohead)

8. AKA...Broken Arrow (Noel Gallagher)

7. The Words That Maketh Murder (PJ Harvey)

6. Bridge Burning (Foo Fighters)

5. Monarchy of Roses (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

4. Everybody's On The Run (Noel Gallagher)

3. Man Of Simple Pleasures (Kasabian)

2. Bloom (Radiohead)

1. A Simple Game Of Genius (Noel Gallagher)

In The Light#1: Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza

Will it be back soon?

(Image from listal.com)

Improvisation comedy had returned in the form of Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza where host Drew Carey would perform with a host of other known improvisation comedians in front of a lively crowd at the MGM Theatre in Las Vegas. The show brought back the well-known hilarious cast of popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?

The works of Ryan Stiles, Brad Sherwood, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten and even guest appearances of Wayne Brady performed a variety of new and familiar games which depended heavily on audience participation and reaction. The audience was used repeatedly for suggestions for scenes depending on the game, and with some members even joining the performers on stage for Duet and Moving People games. Other familiar games included the works of Change (renamed New Choice), Two Line Vocabulary (branched out into Sentences) and the old favourite Greatest Hits.

The show started off well with large popularity and anticipation of the first few episodes where even controversial star Charlie Sheen made a shock appearance in a game himself. The musical styling of Bob DerKach proved important for the main background noises of scenes and even the main singing games, and even his own game known as Bob’s Call (similar to Scenes to Music) where each performer would have to begin to sing whenever DerKach decided to play.

The show even went to new extents with the self-proclaimed “the dangerous game in Improvisation comedy” of Mousetraps. This game forced two performers to create and act out a scene completely blindfolded with over one hundred live mousetraps scattered around the stage. To add to their woe and fear, they would perform bare foot as well to add to the amusement of the audience. Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie had performed this game several times in their own private shows and more commonly at the Montreal Comedy Festival where Sherwood stated that “any toes that fly out of the stage can be kept as a souvenir.”

The show began with high ratings but they dropped quickly with one episode aired in April, 2010 only bringing up 183,000 viewers for the episode. It was cancelled in August 2010 after a run of forty televised episodes with Drew Carey himself admitting the show would not return, for now, with season two. As a result many Facebook Groups and Youtube Channels have called for the return of the Improvised Comedy game show and they join forces with the already hundreds of websites and groups created for the return of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Each of the cast members continue doing their own comedy separately with the “Colin and Brad Show” still touring around the USA and “Whose Live Is It Anyway?” also following and touring around with various comedians. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Improv-A-Ganza as I am a large fan of Improvisation Comedy and thought the show was important to keep it relevant in today’s world and television mediums. There has been little news since the cancellation of the show of what Drew Carey would attempt next, but with the amount of fans following still perhaps a new show is just around the corner.

Treated the Fool

The world is almost ending,

Still we look away,

I cannot ignore a dying breed,

And so I await the last loss.

Checking the life signs away,

Making no money in hell,

Doesn't matter, death still comes,

In a blind set of light.

Treated the fool,

Been seen out of line,

Returning a death becomes,

Another of those in the wall.

Looking at our creation, 

Lost in rhapsody,

Misunderstood conspiracy,

Crushing and Crying.

You are the lost one,

Deluded in the stars,

You are with me,

So I don't care where I go.

Heaven is Hell

Why are we all here?

Existence creeps within,

Out of control inside,

Veined Deadlines out of range.

You are all fools,

Dead fascist fools,

But you are in the void,

But you are still alive.

What if we all didn't believe,

Heaven and Hell is the same,

No difference between bodies,

I feel dead on both sides of the coin.

Now we are hitting the dusk,

But why is it even there?

Out of reach once again,

With our dreams simply shot down.

You area all fools,

Dead Fascist Fools. 

Resolutions? Nonsense!

We can change any time we want...right?

(Image from care2.com)

This is just to cover the aspect of making New Year’s Resolutions each year and to also just have a personal idea of why we even do it. New Year’s is known to be the event that triggers a change in someone’s life, almost like an excuse to have to change. But the question I wish to pose…is why do we need an excuse or a world event to make us change?

New Year’s Day is not like a once in a lifetime charity event, by the time we begin to think about resolutions we have already had probably several of these days saved up over the years. It’s not like suddenly the day appears out of nowhere, it has been around for a long period of time, but for some reason the mainstream world decides that we should all (and only then) reflect on our lives. But why do we wait so long for an excuse to change out lifestyles, and is it even realistic to simply ‘forget’ the bad things you’ve done in the past? Those things you wish to forgo and simply push away, but yet still exist no matter what you do.

I believe the answer comes in the area of the mental mind. We feel propelled to change only when we are comfortable because everyone else is thinking about it at the same time. Almost like we aren’t afraid to change our haunting lifestyles because others are doing the same thing, it’s the sheep follow sheep method that strikes again. It always pains me to see people being afraid of changing even though their lives are realistically and evidently going down a dark path. They are simply afraid to go against the dominant thought process that everyone else understands and breathes by. It’s almost like some terrible creed, a creed that says not to follow your own mind to change because nobody else is doing it.

Remind you of anything? Some sort of modern communist empire we fail to see maybe (I need to do more research…)? I believe it is why we choose this part of the year to change in comparison to a time in June, and I find it rather strange and bizarre. There’s no reason to make resolutions at all because most of the time they are known to fail unless they are life changing. So in fact, any sort of behaviour change we want to make might have an inevitable end of not actually being changed in the long run but the short.

From what I understand, Resolutions are made as an excuse to make us think we are improving as people but in fact it’s all in the mind as we can change any other day of the year. Terrible…but again subjective. Right?

A Quick Experience...#3

People have already seemed to have forgotten what has happened, and it’s rather scary. Recently I’ve put up a blog post about New Year’s Day and that whole festive period of celebration and entertainment. That post consisted of a bunch of stories about deaths or violence that occurred on the day due to a reaction to the festive period, drinking or just pure spite of wanting to hurt someone.

But already people seem to have completely ignored such large stories. I really wonder if at the end of 2012 will the same events happen, but of course they will. People will think they have become invincible and what happened to someone else won’t happen to them. It’s almost like basic human nature for us to think that we are better or more efficient than others. When in actual fact we are human, ‘just human’ as everyone else who has perished.

I have been trying to research for what sort of phenomena this is, just that feeling that things that happened to others will just ignore us completely. But I’ve come up with blanks every time, and I need to be able to explore the problem a bit further and hopefully answers will come. I just don’t understand why we avoid warnings for things like speeding, drinking and even the use of illegal firecrackers.

Why do people feel so sorry for those who perish in accidents that they should be completely aware of? For example, if you smoke even with the consistent barrage of advertisements and governmental media about its dangers then should that person really be complaining for whatever disease comes and attacks or illness? Same as should we really feel sorry for those injured in events they should never had gotten into? It’s a mind boggling question with debates on both sides.

How should we react? With sympathy or realism? It’s subjective in nature, isn’t it?

New Year's Death-Day

Deaths appear when least expected?

(Image from Sevenponds Blog)

New Year’s Day, a time known for celebration of the New Year, a time for change and revival…but also a time for death? The transition between 2011 to 2012 brought yet another round of drunken actions and activities that have led to violence and harm.

One of the largest talking points was the apparent murder of a 42-year old man in Luton, UK. Ryan Curtis, 18, had been charged guilty of murder after stabbing the 42 year-old Michael Geffken. Geffken was a German national who reportedly lived in the UK for a long period of time. It is unsure why the teenager acted in this way, but rumours have begun to point towards drinking and pure spited violence.

Horrific Family murders also hit the UK on New Year’s Day as well, with Michael Atherton blasting her partner, sister and also niece with a shotgun before firing the weapon at himself as well. Stepdaughter Laura managed to escape the scene of the crime by running for her life. Another incident occurred on the same day where Kristy Treloar was reported to be stabbed to death and shoved into a car in East London.

All of the events mentioned may have come just as coincidence on the stroke of the New Year, as similar events have occurred worldwide throughout the year of family members murdering others because of some sort of action. An example could be back in August, 2011, where an American man murdered his family upon the news that is wife had a lesbian affair.

Back here on Australian soil come the actions of a drunken maniac playing with illegal firecrackers in Melbourne. The 34 year old suffered critical injuries when the firecracker went off at a party nearby his face. Other injuries occurred when an 18 and 49 year old also faced injuries from firecrackers they held. Personally, the warnings are obvious, and fireworks and firecrackers are illegal around Australia for a reason. It is now being rumoured that the laws may start to become a pure reality in the light of the events on New Year’s Eve.

These are just a few events that have occurred spreading from pure murder to drunken accidents, but the death rate of major celebrations leads many to wonder why such events even occur so often. Do we need to rethink the meaning of the celebrations, and the amount of violence and threat that it may have within?

Tears of Forgiveness?

Rainclouds forming in my head,

I've let them down once again,

Pleading for Sunshine,

When evades me life to the death.

Light in the bright sky,

Fades in the night,

Glancing at myself again,

Is it them or is it I?

So I beg for Forgiveness

Seems so long to get,

This songs about Rainclouds,

Which just never seem to set.

As I reach the grave,

Wonder why all the strife,

But I realise that the knife,

Has just scarred me for life.

When do we forgive? Or should we ever forgive? 2012 is now upon us, but really has anything changed? Should the past be forgotten so simply and easily? Well guess what...realistically nothing has changed and what you did in 2011 is still there. It still exists. So before you go off thinking your off the hook for everything you've ever done in life, think again.

Think again. More on this later.