overcast-and-beautiful

[overcast-and-beautiful]

What was your "back-up plan" if your music career hadn't taken off like it did?

Starve haha

[overcast-and-beautiful]

So there's a reason, possibly, why Fall Out Boy did the end credits theme in The Simpsons episode "Lisa the Drama Queen"... Fall Out Boy had previously released their album, Folie à Deux. The focus of the episode? The mental illness that the album's title was based off of.

[overcast-and-beautiful]

Remember when

we’re throwing a fiesta for 2500 of our closest friends (that means YOU!) and bringing the DCD2 family with us! join us next year down in Mexico for the first ever DCD2 RECORDS HYDRA FEST. we’ll be at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya April 15-19 2015 for a 4 night rock and roll vacation. it’s an all inclusive party. that means food (guac included), drinks, concerts, and most activities are all part of the package, the whole enchilada! what you get: - two outdoor open-air evening shows - one special acoustic set - Q&A (in real life, not just on patrick’s twitter) - two shows from Panic! At The Disco, Travie McCoy, New Politics, as well as music from LOLO - hang time with all the bands - dj sets - access to off site excursions and much much more TBA! get your huaraches ready we’ll see you on the beach 😎🌴☀️ PRE-SALE + GENERAL ON SALE INFO sign up now through July 25th at 5pm EST on hydrafestival.com to get access to the pre-sale. pre-sale begins on July 30th at 12pm EST. General on sale starts July 31st at 12pm EST. GET ALL THE DETAILS ON HYDRAFESTIVAL.COM

[overcast-and-beautiful]

Hey! Don't You Just Hate That (every)Thing?

How many people reading this are fans of Nickelback? How about Dane Cook? Now, I can safely assume that, unless this blog gets reposted on a site dedicated to those respective artists, those questions would be met with tumbleweeds and the distant sound of crickets. Like Creed or Limp Bizkit or the “Dude! You’re getting a Dell!�� kid, they’ve become ubiquitously hate-able. I would not be exaggerating to state I’ve simply never heard someone admit to liking them.

Why is that? Now, I’m not saying I like them. Like you (fellow pop culture spectator) I am honor-bound by the unspoken law that, no matter what, I am not allowed to say anything positive about these artists. What have they really done wrong? Have they offended me? Not really. I’ve been more offended by Michael Richards famous rant or Sean Connery’s statements about hitting women. I still watch Seinfeld and James Bond movies. Hell, the misogynistic subtext of James Bond movies offend more of my sensibilities than anything Nickelback ever did and yet I don’t have any problem escaping to a world of fast cars and women with offensively suggestive names (Pussy Galore? Like…are we not even trying?) Somewhere in the world at this moment, some snooty contrarian is probably defending the paintings of Adolph Hitler. Yet for some reason, here I am crippled by a vague and probably unwarranted desire not to appear to be a fan of Nickelback and Dane Cook.

That’s sad. In this generation of blazing wi-fi and scathing tweets, I think it’s very easy to lose sight of anyone else’s opinion. We’re so busy broadcasting our latest cultural disdain that we scantly notice anything we enjoy. “Oh man, this Rebecca Black kid is terrible! Let’s laugh at her!” has become more culturally relevant than “I really love this new Bilal record.” I read an entire article examining why we as a society don’t like Anne Hathaway’s (in my un-necessary opinion, lovely) face. Well, criticizing art and the artists that make it is a lazier pass time than creating or appreciating it. 

I’m not saying professional critics aren’t good at what they do. On the contrary; Some of my favorite writers are and have been. The problem is that now everyone has a blog. Everyone’s a critic. Hell, I have a blog. That I’m writing on right now. I have movie reviews posted on here somewhere. What gives me the right? The late Lester Bangs knew what he was talking about. Roger Ebert has written enough scripts to know when somebody sucked at writing one. They earned their stripes as have countless current critics (too many to list here and I think to name names would be a conflict of interest). These people are artists in their own right.

I’m an artist. Not necessarily a good one (and certainly not as a critic), but I consider myself one nonetheless. I look at the music I create as art. I work hard to craft it. When I perform, I make as many sacrifices as I find reasonable in order to perform to the best of my abilities. It affects the way I eat, the way I sleep, the frequency with which I can drink, the medications I take, the nightclubs I can go to (namely: None); I have to take my entire life a little more seriously if I’m going to not sound like the Cave of Wonders from Alladin. I study other musicians. I’m always working to improve my abilities as a songwriter or a guitarist or a producer or a programmer or a lyricist, etc. I’m sure Nickelback, at least somewhere in they’re career, are or were no different. They worked (and potentially still are working) to be the best damned Nickelback they can be. All of the agreed upon pariahs throughout pop-culture history put their identities into the thing we decry. 

And yet we derive our own identities from the act of hating. We connect on the things we are disappointed in. Some may argue that nothing in history gathers a crowd like complaining about Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Near-masturbatory complaining has brought together more people than cheap liquor. “Who hates the government?” “Cheeer!!!!” “Don’t you just hate Justin Bieber?” “Huzaaaaah!”

What is it about pop culture though? We don’t have the same reactions to, arguably, more personal tastes/decisions such as food. We actually physically put food into our bodies. We are literally made of the things we eat. We don’t go into a grocery store and go “Ew! Hey, look at barbecue sauce! Don’t you just friggin’ hate barbecue sauce?” No. Because clearly tons of people love barbecue sauce and if we don’t like it, we will quietly opt out of eating it. There’s not instant value judgement in removing yourself from the crowd of barbecue sauce lovers. There’s also not a decided alternative to barbecue sauce because, hell, the whole damn grocery store is an alternative to barbecue sauce. If anything, in regards to pop culture, we don’t just go out of our way to avoid the things we don’t like; If it’s the grocery store we more or less put on our coats, brush the snow off our cars, drive across town, find a parking space, run into the aisle, and stand in front of the product going “Haaaa! Fuck this thing!"  All I can guess is this must simply be more entertaining than wasting time actually ENJOYING something.

You see it all the time in the music community. We partition ourselves off into little sub-groups. From those sub-groups, even littler still. When I was a kid I loved a Chicago hardcore band called Los Crudos. They’re reuniting and I’m excited about that. However, I would be (based on my career path) designated as either a pop-punk, emo, or outright pop-singer and therefor I feel a slight tinge of worry at my admission that I love Crudos. Part of me thinks "Wow, anyone who’s heard of that band almost certainly hates mine and will almost certainly hate me and want to disassociate themselves from me,”. I can’t watch the HBO show Girls (which I love) without thinking to myself “Oh man, these characters and maybe even some of these actors would probably be too ashamed to be caught dead even knowing someone who still owns a Fall Out Boy shirt.”

Because we define ourselves by hate. It’s an obvious insecurity we can’t see in ourselves. I can’t tell you how many times I (either as part of Fall Out Boy or as a solo artist) have asked another artist to tour together or work together on a song and been shot down on the grounds of “Oh you guys are lame.” I can’t tell you how many times I (either as part of Fall Out Boy or as a solo artist) have probably unwittingly done the same exact thing to another artist. That’s strange. A simple “No,” would have sufficed. But for some reason, we as human beings have to stamp it into the ground and shout it from the rooftops; “Let it be known that I wouldn’t be caught DEAD in a St. Anger t-shirt…just in case you were wondering. And Twilight SUCKS!…probably.”

Now, I’m not saying everyone needs to go around playing nice and never admitting that they dislike things. That’d be ridiculous. But perhaps we as a culture have exhausted (at least for a little while) whatever can positively be gained by ignorantly dismissing things as loudly as we can. I started off talking about Nickelback. I really couldn’t tell you one of their songs. What qualifies me to say I dislike them? Dane Cook? He was actually pretty rad on that Louis C.K. show. Maybe next time I’m at the proverbial pop culture grocery store and someone offers me the proverbial barbecue sauce, I’ll politely decline and head to another aisle to purchase something I enjoy.

-patrick

[overcast-and-beautiful]

i’ve got a new disease in me, i’ve got a friend that’s losing sleep

[overcast-and-beautiful]

Epic ANBY fanfic ft. House Hippos

Angle was kneeling in the bathtub, tube attached inside her nose. House Hippo walked in like "fack u guys" and left. Shlb sighed and then looked at Angle. "What flavour this tiem?" she whispered. "Mango" Angle replied softly. "How do you liek den mangoes?" Shlb yelled, popping the tube into a mango caprisun. Angle sighed as mango caprisun dribbled down the back of her throat. "I feel fruity" she said proudly. Shlb nodded with approval. "Yes that's right". "How much more Shlb?" angle whined after a few mins. "Um twenty ounces probs" Shlb said, flicking the caprisun. "Dayum dats a bit caprisun" Angle exclaimed. "Not as big as my luv 4 u" Shlb said. "Cute" a mysterious voice spoke. "House hippo fack offf" Angle frowned. Shlb quickly interrupted "ping! it's ready" She slithers the tube out of angles nose liek a slithery snake. "How do you liek dem mangoes" Shlb repeated then they did dinner so long and godnitr. The end

[overcast-and-beautiful]

the world around us is burning but we’re so cold

[overcast-and-beautiful]

the world around us is burning but we’re so cold

[overcast-and-beautiful]

say goodbye to persassy. introducing, sassico

[overcast-and-beautiful]

gotta go fast

[overcast-and-beautiful]

[overcast-and-beautiful]

[overcast-and-beautiful]

If half of one of my ships has brown eyes and the other half has blue eyes you bet your ass I’ll spend hours imagining the blue-eyed one convincing the brown-eyed one their eyes are beautiful

[overcast-and-beautiful]

"Dan, free maltesers!"

wow

│x│

[overcast-and-beautiful]

So sometimes dan’s all philosophical 

but then I remember

[overcast-and-beautiful]

Friendly reminder

Just because you watch someone on YouTube does not mean that every single detail of their life needs to be exposed. You don’t “deserve” to know who they’re dating, their sexuality, where they live, who their siblings are… Nothing. If they ask for privacy, then give it to them. Don’t be a twat. Thank you.

[overcast-and-beautiful]

Jenna Marbles talked about how nice it was to be given credit for the Photobooth Challenge in Dan and Phil’s photobooth challenge video. Dan also talked about asking for permission from charlieissocoolike for his how to speak northern video. 

Creaters are always happy to be acknowledged. Don’t steal ideas. If you want to do what someone has already done. Take permission, give credit where credit is due.

tl;dr give amazingphil some goddamn credit when you copy his ideas.