Kid farts are the worst.

Two records that I've been listening to lately are the newest Cursive and Nada Surf records, I Am Gemini and The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy, respectively.

Cursive is a band that is great because they are ever-evolving. Every record is pretty different from the last and incidentally, every record is great, in my opinion. The idea of this new record is one of the strangest ever attempted in indie rock; A concept record telling the story of two twin brothers that's demented, dark, and beautiful. I don't really want to talk about why I like the record as much as I just want to talk about the intensity with which I like it.

I love it. A lot.

Okay, moving on.

Nada Surf doesn't change, least ways, not in the past few records. Honestly, when I played the 1st track on the record for the first time and heard Nada Surf doing exactly what Nada Surf does, my initial reaction was "Really, guys? We're still doing this?" Maybe they don't know how to push themselves out of their comfort zone or maybe they just don't want to, but Nada Surf is comfortable in doing what they do, that much is clear. Thankfully, "what they do" is write really great songs. So after a listen or two, I found myself being pretty damn comfortable too. So while I would still love to hear Nada Surf come out of left field with something drastically different and amazing sometime soon, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy will most likely end up on my Best Of 2012 list, all the same.

In personal news, SXSW and the Austin Music Awards have come and gone and both went well. I think we're all in agreement that it was the best SXSW yet.

In the Austin Music Awards, we did well...very well, actually. We took home 10 awards between the 5 of us, so if you voted, thank you very, very much. Our awards were:
Band of the Year - Quiet Company
Album of the Year - We Are All Where We Belong
Song of the Year - "You, Me, & The Boatman"
Performing Rock Band of the Year - Quiet Company
Performing Indie Band of the Year - Quiet Company
Producer of the Year - Matt Parmenter for We Are All Where We Belong
Drummer of the Year - Jeff Weathers
Songwriter of the Year - Taylor Muse
Male Vocalist of the Year - Taylor Muse
Musician of the Year - Taylor Muse

Now, I'm very grateful for all of these but I am aware of the inherent flaws in the awards. I know it's not about who's actually the best in town and is, at the end of the day, a popularity contest. I know I'm not the best vocalist in town, I can name several off the top of my head that make me look like a rank amateur, and "Musician of the Year?" I'm not even the best musician in our band! That being said, it is with great reverence to the universe's grand indifference to rhyme or reason, that I have accepted these awards. Past that, I am so fucking thankful for everyone that voted for us. Here's to an even better year.

Facebook: Where Christians get to be the majority and the martyr

Someone on Facebook posted a meme that said:
"Dear God,
Why do you allow so much violence in our schools?
A Concerned Student

Dear Concerned Student,
I'm not allowed in your schools.
God"

I find this type of thing annoying because it's super lame how the Christian right wants to shout at you about how this is a Christian country where everyone is Christian and the majority should rule, and then two seconds later play the victim like this. Facebook is rife with this sort of thing. Well, I crafted my own "god" response and posted it, and even though it was deleted by the person who posted the original meme, I was so proud of it I just reproduced it for you here:

"Dear Concerned Student,
Jehovah here. I hope I'm who you were looking for. You just said "god" and frankly, that could be any number of people up here, and since America alone is home to hundreds of religions worshiping different deities it's important to specify.
What I meant to say is that I'm actually just as welcome in schools as I ever was, it's just that the constitution prohibits any publicly owned institution, such as a public school, from forcing you to worship or acknowledge me in anyway if you don't choose to. This has always been the case, but I suppose it's becoming more and more important to adhere to as your country's culture continues to diversify. I'm sure you can see how the separation of church and state allows both things to flourish without the other's influence or control and protects your religious, or non religious, freedoms. Your founding fathers understood how terrible it would be to have any governmental authority figure mandate how, when, or what you should worship, if anything. I don't know why this concept seems to be lost on so many conservatives. Anyway, I'm rambling.

As far as your question goes, I have to quote Epicurus:
'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?'

I hate to admit it but he did zing me with that one. Violence in school is a bummer though. Did you see that Youtube video where the fat kid is being bullied by the skinny kid and his friends and eventually he just has enough of it and picks up the skinny kid and body slams the crap out of him? That was awesome! I watched that thing like 4 times in a row. Anyway, I digress.

Look, I'd love to help you out but I don't really like to get involved, I'm more of a "hands off" deity. You guys are great, though, I'm sure you'll figure it out.
Best of luck and peace in the Middle East!
God.

I had another line in there that had god talking about watching old Wrestlemania videos online, but it just seemed like too much.