My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult

So this weekend while scouring the earth for art supplies we randomly picked up a city paper and caught that My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult was having a show at DC9.

This is a band I had wanted to see for sometime but, for one reason or another, hadn't. It seemed like every time they came to town I would find out about it AFTER the fact. I can clearly recall the very first opportunity I had to see them - they were having a show at the 9:30 Club in a couple of days and I only found out about it because I was at 9:30 for a MDFMK show (yes, you read that right - I went to an MDFMK show). And in highschool you can't just go to two shows in a row. Plus I think it was a weeknight.

ANYWAY. Why do I like this band? There is the obvious musical merit. I like the way they sound. But listening to them transports me back to a stage in my development - a crystalized moment in time. Listening to them reminds me of a sort of dark, desperate depravity but not in a meaningful way - not in a Nine Inch Nails "I am truly feeling miserable" kind of way. This was more of a chosen, masochistic kind of darkness. If you listen to "A Daisy Chain 4 Satan" you'll know what I mean.

We saw them Sunday night and the space was the right amount of full - a respectable crowd that wasn't so bad that you had to stand too close to strangers but wasn't so wimpy that you felt bad for the band. I have to say the patrons were a pretty good looking lot, which is notable since this is an industrial rock crowd (hating! I'm fired). There were lights! and video! and a fog machine!

But best of all there was good music. They didn't play all my favorites, but the hit a lot of memorable tunes (including "A Daisy Chain 4 Satan"). I danced like a madman and it was excellent. I kept saying "This was SUCH a good idea". I had some random people offer me a sip from their flask ("No thanks, I'm good"). In general I have to say it was one of the best and most memorable shows I've been to in a long time. If you're entertained by songs about sex, drugs and occult I would highly recommend catching their show/buying an ablum.

Lots of Lox

this is all you get. (here's more in the album)

WTF, loser?

I am sad to say that I've been busy and not in an entirely fun way.

I've been adjusting nicely to the new job but it takes up a lot of time. Not just in the working 8 hours kind of way - I have to wake up early to get ready (in comparison to my other job, this is not one where I can roll out of bed, slap on some clothes, and be decent for the office), and my commute is pretty ridiculous. I know for a fact that some people have MUCH worse commutes but again, in comparison to my old job that was practically down the street, this commute takes forever. Not only do I get to enjoy the beltway, but the traffic is pretty foolish coming into/getting out of the city of Bethesda anyway. As evidenced by the picture to the left.

I have also started school which is good. I do not have a very flexible schedule, though so I end up fitting working on school stuff on any spare hour I have. I'm taking four classes which is a full workload because a) I want to get this over with b) It is a financial aid requirement. So on the roster for this semester: Silkscreening, Physics, English for Art Kids, and Quark Design. Those are not the actual names of the classes - they have goofier titles but above is what they actually ARE. I was trying to figure out why this semester has been harder for me than last semester and I think I've finally got it - I'm not particularly interested in any of these classes. I kind of hate silkscreening, Physics makes me kind of barfy, English is something I feel I can do blindfolded, and I personally think Quark is a bullshit program that doesn't hold a candle to InDesign. Never the less - gotta get that over glorified piece of paper...

So, that is all. I wake up at 7am, feed the dog, walk the dog, get ready for work, spend an hour in traffic, work for 8 hours, spend an hour in traffic, feed the dog, eat dinner, walk the dog, do school work and GO TO BED.

Fall is coming...

I love Fall. It is hands down my most favorite season. People who have known me for any length of time know I get comically enthusiastic about Autumn, or specially, Halloween. It can start as early as July, but really kicks in during August when stores like Michaels start putting out their Halloween wares. I have to restrain myself from buying all the awesome stuff at once so I can prolong the Autumn Enthrallment.

The first step this year was visiting Benke's. The trip was planned out of necessity - it was imperative that the weed situation in the front and backyards were addressed in the form of getting mulch to smother them. So, since those are not my yards to be tending I wanted to get something fun as I tagged along.

Behold - Mums. They are the quintessential fall foliage. They have rows and rows and rows and thanks to genetic engineering they come in lots of wonderful color variations. I selected one called "Dark Triumph". Your plants must have sufficiently Metal sounding names. I poked around a little bit more to see what else I could find and came across a really interesting ornamental plant that looked like it had little peppers all over it. The color palette was right, and it was weird enough. Plus, it was called "Explosive Ember" and really, how could you NOT pick up a plant with a name like that if you're already getting "Dark Triumph"?

The mums haven't bloomed yet, but they're working on it. The EXPLOSIVE EMBER is fullblown, though.