A friend of mine got married today. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there since I had to work, but it kinda got me thinking. This is a guy I’ve known for ten or so years, I went to school with him. And now he’s married! Ten years ago the “married people” were really old and mature in our eyes. Are we that? Hell no!

When people talk about their friends getting married, the scenario comes up when that friend just disappears. His new “family” is everything. He just stays home with his wife and stuff… Well, we’ll see how it goes.

…and one day they’ll have kids. And that’ll be the end of that. Still, best of luck to them.

Edit: actually the bride is also a friend of mine… Sorry about that

Yeah, I’ve gone and done it. One thing I thought I should stay away from. World of Warcraft. A friend of mine convinced me to try out the 10-day free trial, so I thought why not. After all, it’s free and I never thought I’d get hooked on something like that. Thanks a lot “mate”!

Once again, I was wrong. Really wrong. Thank gods I’m not addicted to it, but I have to admit, it is really addictive. I still have a “normal” social life and everything like that. Normal, as in, the same it was before. I like to rationalize that, because after all, WoW is VERY social. You meet “interesting” people you don’t know every day. Most actually have real lives, some live their lives in Azeroth. I don’t really mind what people are doing with their time (or lives), I know I’m enjoying most of it (I’m a selfish prick, I know).

I’m a stereotype. A human warrior. Blerh. But what matters is that I like it.

Don’t do WoW kids, it’s bad for you!

Last thursday I woke up like never before. Late at night I checked my bank account just for fun.. Noticed I was about 17 euros on the wrong side on zero!

Of course I was like “wtf?” and checked the transactions. 2400 euros were missing!! Some f***** had somehow gotten hold of my credit card and withdrawn 400 euros six times! Of course I immediately closed the card so it couldn’t be used further.

The next morning I called the bank. Just in case it was a mistake or something… It wasn’t. Then to the police to report a crime. They wrote it as some sort of fraud. I don’t really understand these things, just the basics.

Updates will follow as this thing progresses… I really hope I’ll get the money back somehow…

This REALLY SUCKS!

Update: so nothing has really progressed. The police has pretty much stopped the so called investigation. I saw pictures from the security camera, but even that guys friends probably couldn’t recognize him. So back to the bank with the final police report and that was when? Two weeks ago or something like that… I think we can call this one. Monkeyballs.

Another update January 18th: Nothing to say really. Just that the situtation is still the same. I’m pretty fed up with the whole thing and don’t seem to have the time to go visit the bank office. Since I know it wouldn’t help the situation, nothing new would be revealed. Just more waiting and false hope. Maybe I should just e-mail those f****** and pray that SOMETHING would happen. At least send me a message saying they aren’t giving my money back! Even that would be enough, silence is just frustrating since I have no idea if they’re actually doing something to remedy the situation or not…

Even so, I’m definitely not switching banks, all other service from this one has been excellent. And I think I wouldn’t get any more out of anyone else in the same situation.

Them monkey balls ain’t a pretty sight.

Today I came across a site that suited my needs almost perfectly. It really isn’t for all you people (not) reading this, mainly for them who get their tv-shows off the internet. For whatever reason. I’m not here to judge. That. MyEpisodes.com, for those who can’t really keep track of what series they’re following, or more importantly, when those shows air.

I regularly follow ten or so shows that are available (for me) only from the internet. Sometimes it gets really hectic when one show goes to a summer break or something, and another one replaces it. MyEpisodes makes it REALLY easy to check out when a new episode is coming out. I can even click on a checkbox indicating that I’ve downloaded the episode, but not yet watched it. The perfect tool to keep track of everything I watch!

It has a calendar, so the only thing I’m really hoping for is Google Calendar-support (exportable iCal will do just fine).

Edit: this is NOT an ad

…comes the new Iron Maiden -album, A Matter of Life and Death. I always thought their previous album, Dance of Death was (as a whole) a bit too “positive” except for the title track and Paschendale. It was good, but didn’t sound like the darker Maiden that I like personally.

As my previous post claimed, this new album truly is worth the wait! I’ve listened it through some ten or so times and it just keeps getting better. No fillers, no “bad” songs. There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with this album… except maybe a few things.

This isn’t a bad thing, but once again the opening track is the worst. Different World is far better than Wildest Dreams, but not as good as Wicker Man, I’m afraid. The only bigger problem with the album is that almost all tracks start up slowly (with some acoustics). For example, The Legacy is a 9 minute track, but nothing gets started in the first three minutes. But once it ramps up, it goes through the roof.

I’m not really someone who knows how to write a review. Not even a track-by-track one. So I won’t even try. No one would care anyways… Let me just say that Iron Maiden is back on top. This is, if not better, at least an equal to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (and Somewhere in Time).

And that’s saying a LOT!

A track-by-track review might actually follow if someday I’m bored enough… and who the heck is this Benjamin Breeg-guy anyway? Maybe we’ll find out…

Tracklist:

1. Different World
2. These Colours Don’t Run
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
4. The Pilgrim
5. The Longest Day
6. Out of the Shadows
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
   
8. For the Greater Good of God
9. Lord of Light
10. The Legacy

When I read the following text, I was filled with joy. This “review” is one of many like it. It seems the new album really is going to be great.. SWEET!

When ‘Brave New world’ was released, the majority of people claimed it to be Maiden’s best work since ‘Seventh Son’..same again with ‘Dance Of Death’ in 2003. Now here we are in 2006 with their latest opus – A Matter Of Life And Death…and do you know what, this really is their best work since ‘Seventh Son’. In fact, i’d go further and say that it is every bit the equal of the 1988 concept album. Whilst the two records are very different musically, they do share a common trait that very few other Iron Maiden albums have enjoyed – absolutely no filler tracks. AMOLAD is jam packed with 10 songs that are so brilliant, you’ll be struggling to pick out clear favourites after the first couple of spins.

The album kicks of perfectly with the one-two punch of the ‘Different Worlds’ (infectiously melodic) and ‘These Colours Don’t Run’ (semi-epic yet pure grandiose Maiden) – both of which are certain to be a part of their live set when they tour later this year. Following that is another tune that’s a good contender for a live appearance – the utterly sensational ‘Brighter Than A Thousand Suns’. This is one of several multi-layered epics on the album that will have you discovering new things with each subsequent listen – brilliant Maiden, simply brilliant. Other standout songs worthy of note (to be fair they are all ’standout’ tracks) – ‘The Longest Day’ (Harris excels on bass here), ‘Out Of The Shadows’(beautifully melancholic)..and ‘The Pilgrim’ & ‘The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg’ that have Maiden getting all riffy on us.

A Matter Of Life And Death isn’t just a step-up from BNW & DOD, it’s in a completely different league. It’s almost as if the band were just teasing us on the previous two records, hinting a truly great things but not quite delivering. Well here they are with one of the greatest records they’ve ever made. This is what we’ve all been waiting for – Iron Maiden firing on all cylinders…and isn’t it just a spectale to behold.

-Amazon.uk

The title of Iron Maiden’s next studio album. One song from it has been released as a single, and it’s called “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg”. A pretty long title, even by Iron Maiden-standards, but let that not cloud our minds (lest they are already filled with thick fog, as is the case in my situation).

Their previous album, “Dance of Death”, had a lot of great songs, but the first single, “Wildest Dreams” was in my opinion one of Maiden’s “not so great”-songs to begin with. And so it was, that it was clearly the worst song of the album. Maiden has quite a few times released the “worst” song as the first single, and if that is the case now, this is going to be “The Album”, after what has seemed like an eternity after the 1988 release of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. I’m not saying everything after that is rubbish, no no no, they’re all good(*), but none as good as SSoaSS, which was pretty much perfect all the way (as an album).

The video is good, but nothing fancy like “all the other cool metal bands”, showing some history of Iron Maiden in the form of (some hilarious) photos from past days. I consider to be quite fitting, since in some ways, this album is once again the reincarnation of Iron Maiden. They’re all around fifty, and are doing for the fifteenth time what most bands can’t do even once (and this is NOT about personal opinion). You can hear from Dickinson’s voice that his glory days were in the 80’s, but they’ve managed to get an excellent style to the new song so it still fits with his sound (“Tyranny of Souls” was a vocal masterpiece and isn’t even a year old, so he still has that magic, he just doesn’t always use it ).

Didn’t really have anything interesting to say here. Just wanted to point out that “Benjamin Breeg” really ROCKS! Up the Irons! (and all that..)

Arguably, the intro is a bit long (about two minutes) but who cares..:P All will come clear after hearing the entire album. More on this subject will follow after that (or after the next single..)

(*) Yes, even “Virtual XI”. It’s not the Maiden we’re used to hearing, and it has low points (what was going on in Harris’ head when he wrote “The Angel and the Gambler”?), but also a few really good songs. Like “The Clansman”. And “The Educated Fool”. And “Don’t Look in the Eyes of a Stranger”. And “Como Estais Amigos” (although being somewhat ‘different’). And Blaze wasn’t really THAT bad, he just wasn’t Bruce..