entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

I remember reading, as a kid, a dramatization of the British Antarctic Expedition, which was effectively a race to reach the South Pole for the first time between Robert Falcon Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen.  The story was told from Scott's perspective and it was somewhat tragic.  Thinking upon it now, it seems like the heroic tragedy of the failure of Scott's expedition outshines Amundsen's accomplishment, which might be a result of better British PR, or perhaps just the cultural proximity of our nations (i recall also the story of Robert Peary being the first to reach the North Pole, and of course Peary was American, except it turned out upon later determination that he missed).

I discovered I Like Trains (né iLiKETRAiNS) on Pandora (although i can't pinpoint on what station; easy guess would be Sigur Rós), and i happened to come across a video one particular song of theirs, "Terra Nova", and it was only upon viewing the video that i realized that it is a reference to the Scott expedition, which turns the song from merely gloomy into harrowing.  I didn't expect that the video, which starts out with an almost cheap feeling with obvious models, would provoke such feeling.

How could I have led these men
To their demise and they just follow?
Exploration's last great prize
It wasn't mine

And more's the shame
You will remember my name

Great God, this is an awful place
I do not think that we can hope
For any better things now

Oh, the end, cannot be far
It cannot be far, I cannot wait
Exploration's last great prize
A saving grace, it wasn't mine

And more's the shame
You will remember my name

And more's the shame
You will remember my name

This lyric from Sarah McLachlan's "Do What You Have to Do" has bugged me since i first heard it:

What ravages of spirit
conjured this temptuous rage?

I must note that i picked up the 'you insensitive clod' option from ewx, although it seems that senji has also used it.

( is it emo? who can say? )

rimrunner's song of the day stuck in my head, as it often does when i hear it, so i spent the afternoon translating the lyrics into Spanish to let it work its way out.  The meter's a little tricky in spots, but it works.

( it goes like this )

Imagine James Hetfield covering Van Halen's "I'm The One" over the concussive riffs of Helmet's "Impressionable"

nerve endings all aflare
it's all become too much to bear
i'm slowly tearing out my hair
i'm irritated

electrical impulse received
sensibilities aggrieved
the contents of my guts i've heaved
i'm irritated

CHORUS
irritated
irritated
irritated (x2)

axons and dendrites inflamed
too much stimuli to blame
i can't stand to hear your name
i'm irritated

it's like my skin has been scraped raw
or my limbs hacked off with a saw
it magnifies my every flaw
i'm irritated

BRIDGE
i can't shake the state i'm in
i'm about to burst my skin
it feels like i've been sprayed with mace
i can't stand to see your face

i'm irritated!

GUITAR SOLO

CHORUS x 2

In a world without leaders, who'd start all the wars?
The world that you're saving will always be yours

Kill the President, voice of reason
Unify that single line
Stop the man with the power of the government
A leader's not the center of democracy

In a world without leaders, who'd make people starve?
The world that we're saving will always be ours

Everyone says, "Well, maybe I'll make a difference,"
Thinking they've got plenty of time
But you're squeezed a little tighter everyday
Punished before you can commit a crime

America
All of your enemies come from within
But you lash out so it's seen
Like some frightened child in an angry world
Or the fall of Rome
Your demise comes from your own hands

In a world without leaders, we might have a chance
But we'll never see it as long as there's

Kill the President!
Kill the President!
Kill the President!
Kill the President, NOW!

IT IS TIME, OOHHHOH
IT IS TIME
IT IS TIME FOR STORMY WEATHER

This is a song from my adolescence... it's a wonderful post-breakup "go to hell" song. It's been buzzing around my head for a few weeks, and file-pirating came to my aid.

*: In Spanish, the verb for "to play (an instrument)" is the same as "to touch" (tocar), thus the untranslatable pun.

i am moonSHINE
and i lose ya

It's the third time i've listened to Doolittle today. I'm good and pissed off about this whole Ahnuld thing. It's embarrassing. Did i hear you correctly, California? You want to be donkey-punched?

Si no aprenden por las buenas... por las malas, entonces. Tarea de imbéciles.