Welcome back to MONDAY MORNING COMMUTE! By the time you read this, you’ll most likely have completed your first day of the workweek and will be primed for some solid entertainment. But not if you work the graveyard shift. Which is a bummer, unless you actually work at the graveyard, `cause then you get to meet zombies and mad scientists and packs of goth kids playing Ouija!

In any case, I’m going to give you the rundown on some of the shit that’ll be keeping my spirits high over the course of the next week. Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to hit up the comments and show which sidearms you’ll be using in this workweek showdown.

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Thanks to the mind-warping that occurred while obtaining a Literature degree, there are times in which I can’t keep seem to keep myself from engaging in textual analysis. Whether I’m at the movies, in front of the TV, or curled up with a book, there’s no escaping the temptation to ruminate further, to dig deeper, to figure out what’s really going on. For better or worse, several analytic seeds have been planted in my brain-bone: authorial intent is irrelevant, structure is never as sound as it hopes to be, and genuine meanings must be extrapolated.

Truth be told, approaching texts this way can be frustrating as hell, capable of usurping all the pleasure that makes us want to experience them in the first place. But given the right piece, and the right circumstances, textual analysis can be fresh to death. Alas, I suppose it’s the academic equivalent of the `ole Peter Parker conundrum!

After giving it a few solid listen-throughs, I’ve come to the determination that the Devin Townsend Project’s Deconstruction is an album rich with meaning. So engorged is this album – sonically, lyrically, musically – that it almost demands to be subjected to an in-depth interpretation. And in an effort to entertain myself, and perhaps stumble upon something worthwhile along the way, that is what I’ve attempted.

Join me as I deconstruct Deconstruction.

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[toby cypress]

When I opened the door this morning, it hit me. Hard. Fuck the scientific calculations, I know damn well when change is afoot. And you can, too. Tomorrow, when you leave for work or play or prison, tilt your head back and suck in deep. It’s bound to tickle your nose.

The smell of summer.

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The Archetype looked into the eyes of Revolution. “How come you look so sad? Why, just a moment ago you were buzzing with enthusiasm.”

Revolution blinked. Unfeelingly. “Yes, I had been…but why wouldn’t I? I’d just bathed in the winds of change and dined on paradigm shifts.”

“And now?”

“Well, I’ve figured it out. We’re not enemies, after all. You are…you are me. From the future. Given time to settle in, you are what I become.”

The Archetype chuckled. “You’ve got it right, my boy! But don’t worry, you won’t be bored and sad forever. Someday, when you’re me and I’m you, you’re going to have to fight for your life! Such is the way.”

+++

Let’s take a peek at what I’m up to this week.

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This time next week, I’ll be on vacation. I’m hopping on the first shuttle out of Hoth and heading towards the glorious Cloud City. Once there, I plan on drinking forties with Lando and crusin’ the skies with Lobot. To top it all off, my babe’s going to be accompanying me, providing the Leia necessary to complete my Han Solo fantasy.

As long as I don’t wind up frozen in carbonite, it’s going to be a good time.

Unfortunately, this week is going to see me wading knee-deep in work-caca. So until first transport is AWAY!, I’m going to keep my mind pacified with all sortsa goodies. Check out what I’ll be doing this week, then hit up the comments and tell me what you’ll use to pass the (space)time(continuum).

–-

Rockin’ / Devin Townsend Project – LIVE EP (Free)

[obtain]

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[OCTOBERFEAST is the greatest celebration of the year, a revelry dedicated to pop-culture’s most nutritious Halloween detritus. Plastic screams and artificial sweeteners have never been more bountiful. In the old country, villagers refer to the extended party as Satan’s Snacktime]

There is no doubt in my mind that Devin Townsend is a genuine, living, flesh-and-blood hero. The man was discovered by Steve Vai and sang on one of his records. He then went on to front Strapping Young Lad, a band whose heaviness is often imitated but never recreated. And his solo records include some of the most inspiring art I’ve ever experienced.

In short – HevyDevy is the goddamn man.

As a bit of a benevolent screwball, Devin Townsend has generated plenty of material that could make its way into OL’s annual celebration of undead-pulp-malarky. For a time, it appeared as though Ziltoid the Omniscient was going to stop by OCTOBERFEAST but he changed his mind when I told him that we weren’t serving coffee, only beer and soda. Oh well – his loss!

Luckily, a suitable replacement has emerged!

To support the Devin Townsend Band’s Synchestra, a video was filmed for the track Vampira. I’m almost positive that the song has nothing to do with Halloween, goblins or even the horror-icon after whom it was named. However, this didn’t stop the video from taking the form of a live-action Vault of Horror adaptation.

Set within the panels of a comic book, Vampira shows Devin Townsend (in the same devil costume worn in Problem Child) rocking out with his band of skeleton-men. As the troupe shred inside of a cemetery, they dance about with a fearlessness only possessed by evil musicians. And unlike the Misfits, these guys actually tear shit up.

Also worth noting is the vampire babe that shows up. She’s not a ten or anything, but for a member of the undead (and a star in a Devin Townsend video) she’s worth a look. Her inclusion can probably be attributed to the desire to include a title character. Whatever, I’ll take it.

It’s the Friday of OCTOBERFEAST. Pop on Vampira, tap your toes, and get ready for the most wicked weekend of them all.

For your enjoyment — Devin Townsend Project performing By Your Command

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Devin Townsend in concert. To put it mildly, it was one of the most inspiring performances I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks to YouTube user superskum, you can sample the wonder that is the Great Canadian Metal/Nerd Hero.

While most of HevyDevy’s catalogue is worthwhile, Ziltoid the Omniscient is one of my all-time favorite records. At times, I think it may have been written just to suit my tastes –  a concept album about alien invasions, black coffee, metaphysics and puppets? What’s not to love?

Even without the skullet, Devin Townsend is a goddamn hero.

I have nothing to say. I am awaiting the great deluge. The next couple of weeks see me starting graduate school, trying to pretend I have time for Mass Effect 2, while also spending time I don’t have playing Mass Effect 2. The grind of writing a daily thing about LOST is beginning to wear on me. If you’re ever considering writing about something everyday, for a month this is my suggestion: don’t. It isn’t like I hate it, but waking up knowing I have to rip something out of my ass that isn’t my finger is daunting.

Monday Morning Commute. Every Monday I’m going to detail the various things I’m either currently or will be watching, reading, playing, and listening to in the next seven days. It’s Monday. You’ve got a long week of school, work, or compulsive masturbation to get through. Tell me the arts that you’re indulging in, to stave off suicide

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Ah, thank goodness it is the end of 2009. What a shitty year! Oh my god! Yeah, it was rough. Naw, it was pretty cool. For a second straight year, my girlfriend didn’t dump me. My sophomore year of sexual intercourse went flowingly. There’s probably a pun there. I graduated from college. Pepsibones Krueger then was like, hey, you graduated college, I’ll do it too. With a 4.0. He’s a braggart and a show-off. I began writing for Mishka Bloglin. God love them, they let me fill them with my waste. And then I was like, hey, Pepsibones, let’s get going on our blog. We need money for caffeine and firearms.

He nodded, and was like, awesome.

There were a shitload of good movies and comic books and video games. All of which I cannot remember well. I think 2009 may go down as the year that my brain decay began to accelerate at warp-drive like speeds. Without researching, and under the acknowledgment that most of what I like is the same pop-medium bullshit that I spend most of my time deriding.

I dug the hell out of the various things across a squad of mediums, and I’m sure I’m going to willfully forget and not name some: The new albums by Dredg, Baroness, Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, Lamb of God, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, MC Esoteric, Every Time I Die, Wale, Mos Def, Devin Townsend, Skeletonwitch, and other shitty pop.

I played the shit out of Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, a belated playthrough of 2008’s Dead Space, Borderlands, Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, Assassin’s Creed II, New Super Mario Bros. II, Resident Evil 5, another belated playthrough in Fallout 3, and of course too many hours of World of Warcraft.

Doing rough math, and under-estimating by a ton, and not counting dinners and lunches out, I probably consumed a shit load of Diet Mountain Dew. Let’s say I drink six cans of 12 oz a piece daily. This is way understimating. And two 20 oz bottles. 6 x 12 = 72. 2 x 20 = 40. 40 + 72 = 112. 112 x 365 = 40, 880. And again, I’m under appreciating how much I drink. 40,880 ounces of soda. Jesus Christ. And I wonder why I can’t remember…I can’t remember what I can’t…Remember?

Comic books! Alright, just the nerdy, capes and lasers kind! Fuck yes! If you didn’t read Old Man Logan, Captain America: Reborn, Brubaker’s run on Daredevil and Captain America, Millar’s run on Fantastic Four, Diggle’s run on Daredevil, Morrison’s run on Batman and Robin, pretty much anything Geoff Johns wrote, Ellis’ ending of Planetary, and his Ignition City and like, one issue of Doktor Sleepless, Hickman’s Fantastic Four, Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man, and again, a ton of shit I am forgetting, check them out!

I saw a ton of movies, and also missed a ton. A big fuck you! to me for missing: Up, The Hurt Locker, Moon, A Single Man, An Education, Food Inc, and Where the Wild Things Are. I suck, and any attempt at a list of best movies of year by yours truly would be retarded. But these are the movies I enjoyed! First and foremost, Inglourious Basterds. Fave shit I’ve seen. Then there’s Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Crank 2, Gamer – yes, both of those. Retarded, hyperreality mindfucks, okay?! Avatar, I Love You Man, Adventure Land, Zombieland, Drag Me to Hell, Paranormal Activity, Bruno, G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra, no seriously, get drunk and or use your drug of choice and laugh at it with a friend, District 9 and uh, I think that may be it.

That’s a lot of fucking movie money.

Big-Ups to Texas Roadhouse for giving away free peanuts, to everyone who came to my graduation party. A double high-five to the New York Comicon, site of drunken watertower climbing and expensive bottles of wine.

Concerts by people I should remember but can’t like uh, Opeth, Dream Theater, two servings of Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, In Flames, and Queensryche – it was like watching the cool kids from 1986 dry-hump.

I finally finished The Brothers Karamzov, I finally finished the finger-painting of Ronald McDonald I’d been working on, and I’d finally failed, yet again, at actually eating healthy. Peanut Butter sandwiches at 2 am are awesome, but even moreso if you’ve just finished an entire bag of Tostitos and salsa. Don’t judge me.

Here’s to another year of mindrot and skullfuck.