What is going on with today?

In Red Lion PA, about 2 hours from me, a junior high school kid shot his principal and then himself, killing both.  Late last night / early this morning, a guy in Virginia killed his 3 kids -- 9, 7, and 5 years old -- before killing himself.  This morning, there was a car chase in LA, ending when the driver crashed her stolen truck into a tree.  And now, there’s a car chase in Missouri where someone driving a white van is flying down freeways and side streets evading police.  Apparently this person made homicidal threats to police officers, and did injure/kill one officer.  I was watching it on FoxNews and they had a chopper video feed on it, but the van entered a parking garage.  That was just a second ago.

Wo, it’s post-o-rama tonight.  Anyway.  Colin Powell said something really cool in regards to Earth Day on Tuesday:

In today’s globalizing world it has never been more true that the well-being of the American people depends on the well being of all others on the globe.  And whether we live in countries large or small, developed or developing, all of our futures fundamentally depend upon the well being of our shared habitat: This wonderful planet that has been entrusted to our care by a generous God.

Not that I’m an environmentalist by any means, nor that I think Earth Day is cool, but it’s encouraging to see someone in a position of power credit the Creator with creation.  You know, rather than endorsing the religion of evolution / the big bang, which says there was nothing, and then it exploded, and that created the planets, and life too.  Sure, all the evidence (and our best attempts at it) show that you can’t just make non-living matter come alive.  But perhaps if we invent a "fossil record" where the ages of the fossils prove the ages of the rocks, and naturally the ages of the rocks prove the ages of the fossils... and perhaps if we convince people that these ages add up to millions of years... perhaps then people will understand that although physically impossible, things can come alive given enough time.

Right.

Oh and speaking of car commercials, the new Hummer "Metal" spot is really rad.  First of all, they have a bright yellow H2 which is of course a beautiful machine.  They show it driving around a city, with flashy lights and all, and have some catchy techno-ish music moving things along.  And they have a really pretty girl driving the thing, but here’s the cool part: she’s apparently not half-naked, and they pretty much just show her face.  It’s not everyday that you see a cool commercial with a pretty girl where they’re not using her body to sell the product.  The tagline is the best: "Slip into something a little more... Metal."  Heh.  And at the end, they zoom way out into space for a neat effect.

Saw Thursday at the Crowbar tonight.  Man I love that band.  But I need to rant first.

I hate the Crowbar.  It is so crusty and gross.  Not only is it gross because it’s a bar, and because it’s smoky, but because it’s tiny.  The standing room to watch concerts is maybe 25’ x 25’ with one corner shaved off because that’s where the stage is.  On the two edges opposite the stage, there’s an upper level where the bar is.

So you have, I dunno, maybe 150 people packed into that 25x25 area.  150 sweaty people all pressed right up against you.  That in itself isn’t as bad as it may seem.  But at a ~hardcore show, it’s pretty bad.  Let me explain the crowd dynamics of a hardcore show for anyone who’s never been to one.  CHAOS.  That’s all.  Pure chaos.  In a 25x25 square.  Pretty much the entire thing becomes a mosh pit.  Everyone is slamming against you on all sides, pushing and pulling you so you need to struggle just to stay on your feet.  Obviously I’m not anywhere near cool enough to appreciate how truly enjoyable that is, because I was preoccupied with trying to watch the band and sing/scream along.  I knew I should have gone up to the bar and sat or stood up there.

I’m more of the bouncing/rocking in place kind of concertgoer.  Music like Thursday moves me very much... when they played Cross Out The Eyes it was just... I thought I would spontaneously combust.  There is just so much emotion in that song.  And I can appreciate the fact that people get into it, because I do too.  But for me anyway, it’s just not fun when you can’t sing along because you’re trying to catch your breath because you’re getting slammed all over the place.

So that’s ridiculous factor #1.  Number two is the smoking.  I’m not even going to get into it.  Smoking is simultaneously the most idiotic and inconsiderate thing anyone could do, and the whole place was just full of idiotic, inconsiderate people who think that it’s a good idea.

In spite of all that, I’m glad I went.  Because I just love Thursday that much.  I don’t love the fact that Jonah’s Onelinedrawing played about 20 songs before Thursday, and then Thursday played all of 9 songs... that was total crap.  I don’t like Onelinedrawing; it’s sort of the same idea as Dashboard Confessional, except not good.  But whatever, you go to a show and you have to sit through bands you don’t like, but the thing is he felt the need to stop and say a bunch of perverted nonsense in between his 20 songs.  So that was annoying.

One really cool thing about Thursday’s fans is not only do they know all the words, but they sing them all -- loudly -- so loudly at times that they drown out the vocalist.  That’s really incredible to experience.  And at a show, you can really scream the screamed parts.  I only recently started to do this when I sing along to music; screaming is fundamentally different from singing, it’s not just "singing loudly," and it’s actually quite scary in solitude.  But at a show, it just fits because all the energy is there.

I never noticed before how much the vocalist (Geoff) looks like my cousin Micah.  In person tonight, it was quite striking; the resemblance isn’t nearly as strong in photos of him.  And on the new songs that they played tonight, I thought he sounded a bunch like Nathan Gray of BoySetsFire.  Weird.

So the show let out around 12:30 and me, Jeremy, Kris, and Andy went to Jimmy John’s for subs.  Mmmm good subs at Jimmy John’s.  All in all it was a rather rocking night.

My brother Nick hooked me up with this, check it out.  Which reminds me, I saw a Honda Element the other week.  That is one..... different looking car, but I think I really like it.

So Scott Peterson is going to be charged tomorrow with a double-murder for killing his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child.  Now let me get this straight.  He kills an unborn child, so he’s a murderer.  But if he had been a "doctor" then we’d call it "health care" and "a choice" and even "a right"?  This makes me so angry.  There’s no way that any honest person can call it anything but murder when someone kills a baby.

You know, it’s not that I think all these actors and comedians are dumb.  It’s just that I’m going to trust the guys that do politics and are briefed constantly on the world’s current situation for a living more.

So I picked up a purple lizard map of the Rothrock State Forest a few weeks ago, and I’m finally going to go bike some of it.  No one’s around though, so I’m going alone, so I’m just going to do a short ride... probably the Shingletown Trail.  Should be fun.  But yeah, since I’m going alone, I wanted to post a message saying send help if I don’t reply to this within 10 hours or so.

Anyway this state forest is huge, with over a hundred miles of trails according to some of the maps I’ve seen, so hopefully I’ll be spending some time there now that the weather’s nice.