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Let’s Book: Sami Zayn Returning

Sami Zayn is coming back!

To NXT.  But hey, he’s still coming back!

But what to do with him with a giant NXT roster and a thin WWE roster?  When should Zayn really make his debut on Raw?  Should he stay in NXT for a while?  The answers are simple, and it can complete the story he’s been telling since losing the NXT Championship.

So let’s start at when he comes back, probably at NXT London.  He shouldn’t wrestle; but cut a promo talking about how he needs to rise again - NXT isn’t the same beast as it was when he left, and he has to start again from the bottom.  That brings out “the bottom” Tye Dillenger.  Tye tries to cut a promo, calls Zayn a zero, and Tye the perfect ten he thinks he is.  Sami Helluva Kicks Tye, and his comeback has begun.

Every week, Sami faces someone and wins.  Zayn beats the likes of Blake, Murphy, Marcus Louis, Mojo Rawley, Aiden English, Rhyno, and Scott Dawson.  The last three are all 5 star matches, against Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, and a returning Hideo Itami.  Sami is back to the top of his game, and he challenges Samoa Joe - not for the championship but for respect.  Zayn wins, and gets a shot at the NXT Chamionship.  However, Zayn turns it down.

Zayn wants nothing to do with the NXT Championship anymore.  He got a taste of Raw, and it needs to be quenched.  He gives his farewell address to NXT, and gives one last match against Finn Balor.  Finn wins, but it doesn’t matter, because we all know he’s off to bigger and better things.

It’s Wrestlemania season (yep, we’re there), and it’s set up that Kevin Owens as the Intercontinental Championship facing a surging Neville.  The Raw before ‘Mania is going on, and Neville is facing Stardust for the last time.  Owens comes out and Powerbombs Neville everywhere - on the mats, on the apron, through a table, through chairs, and it basically breaks Neville.  

At Mania, Owens comes out happy as ever, because he knows he’ll be facing a broken Neville.  Neville comes out, bandaged and in street clothes.  Owens starts laughing in the ring, asking what he is actually doing?  Neville comes out, talks about how he can’t compete that night, but he knows someone who can.  Out comes Zayn.

At Wrestlemania 32, it’s Zayn vs. Owens for the Intercontinental Championship.  It’s a good match, even great.  But it ends/reignites the story between the two of them.  It gives them both something to do after Mania.  Each match after the first will get better AND SHOULD propel both men into main event players; Zayn is the underdog that isn’t, and Owens is the next great main event heel.

So how does this sound?  How would you book Zayn coming back?

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FESTIVE FIFTY 2013 AHHHHH!!

Last year, I got invited to be a part of the Festive Fifty, a podcast counting down the best fifty songs of the year.  I got to introduce number one last year - fun.'s "Some Nights."  This year, its a new shortlist, and more people than ever hopefully voting on this thing. AND YOU CAN HELP VOTE TOO! Below is the list of songs we voted onto the short list.  You have a top ten to pick from the list - one being the best and ten being...well not the best.  You even have a negative vote to put onto a song if you don't want it to make it.  I hope you would take some time and vote on your favorite songs and help shape the podcast for this year.  HAPPY LISTENING!

A$AP Rocky - 1Train

Alice Boman - Waiting

Allison Crowe - Words

Arcade Fire - Reflektor

Arcade Fire – It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know

Atoms For Peace - Before Your Very Eyes

Atoms For Peace - Dropped

Bahamas - Please Forgive My Heart

Bastille - Pompeii

Baths - No Eyes

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

Chance the Rapper - Interlude (That's Love)

Charlotte Church - Glitterbombed

Chrvches - The Mother We Share

Chvrches - Recover

Cuddly Shark - Broken Arm

Daft Punk -  Doin' it Right

Daft Punk - Get Lucky

David Bowie - Valentine's Day

David Bowie - Where Are We Now

Dawes - From a Window Seat

Deerhunter - Back to the middle

Dessa - Fighting Fish

Dessa - Skeleton Key

Eels - Kinda Fuzzy

Elvis Costello & The Roots - Walk Us Uptown

Escondido - Black Roses

Fe - She Came

Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM

Fitz and the Tantrums - Out of My League

Foals - Late Night

Foxygen - San Francisco

Frank Turner - Recovery

Frightened Rabbit - Dead Now

Half Moon Run - Full Circle

Here Is Your Temple - So High

High Highs - Open Season

Hive Bent - The Observer

Internet Forever - Cover The Walls (Dreamtrak Diamond Sound)

James Blake - Retrograde

James Vincent McMorrow - Cavalier

Janelle Monae - Dance Apocalyptic

Janelle Monae - Q.U.E.E.N.

Jason Isbell -  Cover Me Up

Jason Isbell -  Songs That She Sang in the Shower

John Grant - Black Belt

John Grant - GMF

Johnny Marr - The Messenger

Joseph Arthur - Saint of Impossible Causes

Josh Ritter - Joy To You Baby

Josh Ritter - New lover

Kanye West - Blood on the Leaves

Kanye West - Bound 2

Katie Herzig - Nothing! Shhhhhhhhhhhh

Kopecky Family Band - Wandering Eyes

Kurt Vile - Wakin On a Pretty Day

Lana Del Rey - Ride

Lana Del Rey - Young And Beautiful

Laura Mvula - Make Me Lovely

London Grammar - Strong

Lorde - Royals

Lorde - Tennis Court

Luke Haines - Rock & Roll Animals

Man Man - Head on

Mavis Staples - I like the things about me

Midlake - Antiphon

Moby -  Almost Home

MS MR - Hurricane

New Politics - Harlem

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street

Nine Inch Nails - Copy of A

Olafur Arnalds - So Close

OMD - Helen of Troy

Phosphorescent - A Song For Zula

Pixies - Bagboy

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Possessed by Paul James - Songs We Used To Sing

Public Service Broadcasting - London Can Take It

Run the Jewels - Get It

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels

Sam Baker - Isn't Love Great

San Fermin - Sonsick

Savages - Husbands

Sigur Ros - Isjaki

Sigur Ros - Kveikur

Smallpools - Dreaming

Sparrow & The Workshop - Shock Shock

Speedy Ortiz - Tiger Tank

Steve Adamyk Band - Had a Heartattack

Steve Mason - Oh My Lord

Superhuman Happiness - Baby can I hold you tonight

Teleman - Steam Train Girl

The Boxer Rebellion - Diamonds

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home

The Civil Wars -  The One That Got Away

The Head and the Heart - Shake

The Joy Formidable - Silent Treatment

The National - Don't Swallow the Cap

The National - I Should Live in Salt

Tiny Ruins - Cold Comfort

Tom Odell - Another Love

Tricky - Nothing's Changed

Vampire Weekend - Diane Young

Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey

Vanilla - Fancy Clown Re-flip

Vienna Teng - The Hymn of Acxiom

Volcano Choir - Comrade

Youngblood Hawke - We Come Running

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The Theory of Selective Memories

I'm at a point in my life right now where I'm kinda looking back and wondering "What did I do wrong" And only being twenty-two, that's a pretty sad point. Yesterday, I was thinking about my time at a four year college compared to my time at a two year. They both ended rather poorly, but the memories, friends, and experiences I got out of both of them are dramatically different. Though it is a drive away, I can sit at the steps of my four year place of academia and think of all the best times I had and not feel out of place or looked at weirdly. I talk to my friends from down there sometimes, but when we meet up, it's almost like hanging out with a family member you haven't seen in a while. That's not the case at my two year college. If I sit on the steps, I'm in someone's way, and meeting up with old friends might as well be trying to tell a stranger who you are and hope to play along not to feel dumb for not remembering. In a place that is remarkably smaller in all ways, I felt more like an outsider than I did at a college who recently had an overflow problem. I walked from end to end of the school and back, trying to find anyone I recognize to strike up a conversation with people I had known from the classes we took together. Those conversations swiftly disappeared; a timid hand wave is all I would get when I tried to start something. Now, I wasn't the most outgoing person at the college, but that doesn't mean I didn't attempt to hold intellectual conversations with others in the attempt to gain some friendships. And sure, there are some people I didn't see who would probably want to hear what's been going on, but that wasn't today. This wouldn't have bothered me as much if it wasn't for my trip to my four year colleges Homecoming a year ago. I was two years gone from the school and only talked to a small majority of friends who still attended. I decided to see my old marching band, maybe sit and watch them play some music that I could play to this day if given the opportunity. But instead, I was embraced by other former band kids; none of which I talked to beforehand or afterwards. It was a group of about eight or nine of us, referring to each other by name and talking about ourselves as if they really wanted to know. Even the band director called me by full name and wondered what was going on. I have two theories to why this is. At a four year college, it's a lot easier to make meaningful memories than at a two year college. You have the freedom to go out and do something stupid, or to have fun with a bunch of people you only met once. But that one time could make someone's day and would be held for longer. My second theory is that at a two year college, no one cares about anyone else besides themselves. The point of the day is to go from point A to point B, and when that's done, you either go to point C or you head home for the day/go to work. There is no time for a social life, and if you can somehow manage to find one, you're pretty lucky. So to end with my original question: "What did I do wrong?" Nothing. It just...is.

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Fact and Opinion

This post has been brewing for a while, so let me explain…

This year, I’ve done less and less music reviews than I would normally do in a year. Yeah, I’ve been busy with other endeavors, but usually I have enough time in my days to put together a 500 word or so dialogue of my own opinions about music and artists I enjoy (or on some cases, not enjoy). However, around the beginning of this year, I reviewed an album that has basically ruined my entire year.

Before I get into the review, I feel like I need to explain my grading scale. See, we all have our own scale at Having Said That, but we tend to lean on the grading scale. Some of us take it literally (a score of fifty-nine or lower is an F), while I grade that scale as what the grades mean (you get a C, it is a pretty average piece of media). So as it would go…

A+: Absolutely perfect A: Pretty fantastic, had to nitpick a bit but nothing ruins the experience. A-: Great, as a whole, but one or two things is holding it back from fantastic. B+: Pretty good, though those one or two things holding it back are featured a bit more prominently B: Good. It’s not perfect by any means, but the majority of the album hits on the right places. B-: It’s fine. There’s a lot more to nitpick about, but you can walk away from the project feeling alright about it. C+: Just above average. It has some problems, but it’s highs are greater than the lows. C: Average. Middle of the road. Just okay. C-: Just below average. There is obviously a problem with the project, but it doesn’t tank the entirety of the album. D+: The majority of this album is bad, and pretty surface level. A couple of songs are fine, but can’t hold the album. D: Pretty bad. Their might be a good song, but the majority of the project doesn’t even try to match the high. D-: Whatever redeeming things you can find cannot save the entirety of the project F: Throw it in the garbage

These grades, or as I write them “Final Grades,” are my opinion. My interpretation of average might not be yours, or what I find garbage might be fantastic to some. That’s is supposed to be the point of writing a review; to express my opinion about something.

Surprisingly, this isn’t gospel.

Now to the review. One of the first albums I reviewed this year was twenty_one_pilots’ new album, Vessel. I gave it a C-. There are some things on that album I really enjoyed (“Car Radio” is still awesome), but the entirety of the album didn’t sit well with me because of how frequent they jump around genres. It’s nice they can be diverse and all, but they were just too scatterbrained for me.

This C- grade brought a firestorm to my inbox of people who disagree. The minority were people who respectfully disagreed, who saw my points but they themselves enjoyed the album for those negative points. The majority were not so nice. In fact, one of the latest one opens

"Who gives you the right to even fucking speak."

This is just a tiny example of some things I have received this year. You can see more of these responses here. My audience is rather small, so any comments I get are usually spam or small little quips. This year, one one post, I have never gotten so much hate mail in my life. Because I gave one album a less than favorable score, I kicked a beehive and have been taking it ever since.

Grant it, if the people who commented on this post legitimately gave reasons on why they like the album, I would have no problem with that. But that’s not the case.

So for the past year, this has been happening. I can’t even imagine what legitimate sites and blogs like The Needle Drop or other user generated places deal with the constant attacks from complete strangers on a daily basis. I get maybe 100 viewers a week on my posts, while they get exponentially more than I do seemingly on an every minute basis. I wouldn’t be shocked if their personal accounts like their Twitter on a daily basis, while I just chill with all 34 followers I have.

What I really want to get at, though, is openly ask “Why do we attack each other for one’s different opinion?”

What does this accomplish?

Maybe I should look at this in a more upfront way. Why do people even look at blogs like this?

The easiest answer is to reinforce your own opinions about something you are insecure about. If I would’ve given the album in question an A, nothing would happen, because I’d be right in your eyes. If I decide to actually give my opinions on something that I don’t deem favorable, your small world implodes. Am I right in my own thoughts, and are they somehow blurring your own thoughts to the point of pure anger for doing so, making me now wrong? Or are you too in love with the artist that if anyone says anything bad ever, you go apeshit and make sure they know how worthless you think they are.

It’s about 3:40 in the morning while I type this out, but I feel like I needed to let it all go all in one post to a Tumblr I use occasionally. But what do you guys think about reviews? And people who might take them too seriously?

Alan @AlanETaylor_

Just like I normally would end a post, here is what I am listening to now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UeCmPQkjjk

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Hilarious.  Both Spin's score and this GIF

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Marlon Brando with his pet cat, 1954.

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Video Game Posters - by Joe Simpson

Follow him on Tumblr

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My Life Doesn't Matter To You

Recently, I've come in contact of a video a YouTuber posted a while back, listing the fifteen most annoying things to that person.  I know it's his own opinion and shouldn't necessarily have an effect on me, but the way he worded it is what prompted this post.

One of the things that annoyed this YouTuber was when people say "Music is my life."  He would go on and say "...you might as well go kill yourself, because your life has no real meaning."

Before I got on, I would like to say that music (for all intensive purposes) is a major part of my life, and has been ever since I was in Elementary School.  I remember trying to play Ludacris' "Roll Out" on an acoustic guitar during my afternoon lessons before finally realizing that I was terrible at guitars.  I've played violin, upright bass, and every percussion instrument under the sun.  In high school and my early college years, I played bass drum for the marching band ever fall, and in high school play whatever percussion instrument assigned for concert band.  I've even tried to make beats on my own (none never came out to what i imagined them to).  Now, I write music reviews for Having Said That..., which gives me the chance to listen to music from all over the world (Belgium is the farthest I've gotten so far).  So yeah, music means a lot to me.

But I know the person I'm talking about didn't really mean me when he told his viewers to kill themselves.  I would imagine him talking to the large amount of people who believe that a certain artist, band or song saved their lives, or pulled them out from an unpleasant abyss no one wishes to reach, or even witness.  Those are the people that I believe he is reaching for - the "If It Wasn't For Music, I Wouldn't Be Here" kind of people.

And at one point, I was one of those people.  Back in the awfulness of the middle school days, it would be bands like Brand New (their Deja Entendu days) as well as MCR that I would listen to to disconnect myself to everything terrible and find something either intentionally joyous or unintentionally close to home.  Songs like "I'm Not Okay" or "Play Crack the Sky" were songs I could always just fall back on, suck me out of the suck that I was facing on the day to day and just put me somewhere different.

It's funny, because in writing this post, I've come to fact that music might as well be my life.  It's something I talk about on the day-to-day, something I can see myself work in in the future, and even blurs into other things I'm working on (like listening to the new Knife album while finishing a film script).  If there's anything I'm passionate about - and proud to be of - it's music.

So why does my life have no real meaning?  I'm obviously having a blast in it.

And even if it's not music, I would like to think we all have something we are passionate about enough to state that x is our life.  A good friend of mine told me that running is his life, while another claims that his girlfriend is (now currently was) his.  We all have something we feel passionate about at some point in life, and hopefully until death.  My music doesn't effect your videos, and I hope it stays like that. Well that was long and drawn out.  Had to get this out there though - been bugging me all night...

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The Chicago Tribune did something very cool in the wake of the Boston bombings yesterday. Today, they ran a small section naming each of Boston's iconic sports teams and called each one The Chicago Bruins, or The Chicago Celtics to show unity with the city and all those affected by what happened. So I'd like to show my support as being a St. Louis Red Sox today.

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I don't know if I'll be able to catch German DJ, Their Hit Song Is In A Movie Trailer, and The Lumineers  if they're performing at the same time.  Might skip them all for Sounds Vaguely Familiar though.

i lol’d

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I love me some nee vinyl: Braid and Balance and on gold!

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What I Learned from Match Dot Com

John Green once said, "I don't believe in one one"

If that notion is true, then why do we think that a website knows every single "one."  We think that if our one is looking for us all over the place, that they'd even metaphorically follow you to a website.  This is something I believed in, as a friend of mine actually found someone online using the site Match dot com.

Instead of talking about what didn't happen during the time I was a part of this website, I'm going to put down a small, yet hopefully humerus list of what DID happen.

1)  At the beginning of my time, you had to put down what you like, don't like, and what is an absolute deal breaker.  My two deal breakers was that she couldn't have had children before, and she can't smoke.  Two things that I found easy to filter out and never to have pulled up for me.  Of course though, this is something that came up quite a bit - so much so that towards the end, all of the matches the site had for me were smokers.

2)  Every day, I got an email at 5:05 at night, and each time, it said it had found 20 more women for me to look at (not talk to, however.  That little feature requires me to pay monthly to be able to speak to a woman).  But each time I would visit, the numbers were actually dwindling.  20 more would actually become one.  And as those numbers dwindled, the same women came up.

3)  Winking.  If I would want to show interest in someone...I have to WINK at them?  C'mon, I feel like we all can agree that it's a bit weird.  Because I was a cheapskate, I didn't pay for the privilage to talk to any of the women the site set up for me.  I couldn't even put my Facebook/Twitter handles up there so they could see me through another perspective or profile - maybe even send me a message.  But regardless, I winked.  And as you can presume from the tone of this piece, no one winked back.  I understand that I'm not a super hero, or a giant jock, or some handsome model, but I almost figured that someone would be happy with someone like me.  And again, that didn't happen.

Safe to say, I quit Match.  I'm going to try and find someone IRL, someone who I can talk to, look at, and enjoy being around that doesn't have a computer screen blocking my sight.

And hopefully someone feels the same.  As Ben Folds once sung in "From Above," "We all have soul mates but we walk past them every day."

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Geek mail has arrived! Shout out to the US Postal Service for stuffing this into my mailbox

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I fucking love this post

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Epic late night geek readings. No shame