The best in the game

He's the best for a reason. This play to save the game.

Future Hall of Famer

Backspacer

One of the benefits I have begun to really enjoy about working at the Kernel has been receiving promotional copies of forthcoming albums before their release dates. The most recent and MOST exciting album I received was a copy of Pearl Jam's "Backspacer" due out next Tuesday.

Backspacer is plain and simple, the return of Pearl Jam. Gone are the overly activist lyrics. Vedder deals with real life emotions and feelings once again as he did in the days of Ten and Vs. and my God is it refreshing. The lyrics are not only poignant, but positive. The musics major tonality compliments this extremely well and makes for a positive listening experience all around. These are happy, borderline dance-able songs. A perfect example is the albums first single, "The Fixer." A fun fact: Cameron Crowe (the greatest writer/director of all time) directed the music video for The Fixer. Check it out here.

Whats most important to note is that Vedder's vocals have their punch back. And let us be honest: Pearl Jam lives and dies by Eddie Vedders voice.

The heart of the album is its upbeat music, but Vedder shines just as well on the albums ballads, "Just Breathe" and "The End." Both are off kilter love ballads that recognize not all relationships are perfect and that life does end.

This album doesn't require you to touch the skip button. Put it on shuffle and be ready to enjoy whatever you hear, because you will.

Below is the audio from the fantastic ballad, "Just Breathe"

Amping it up

As the school year progresses and the Kentucky Kernel is back in full swing, I am finally starting to see the resources I have at my fingertips as an editor for the paper. I've decided to make it my goal to amp up the content in our Features section. Last year we refocused our mission to stay focused on local bands due to the regurgitation of national news. While I agree with this goal, I believe I've come up with a solution that would allow us to continue incorporating national acts. The answer: grow a pair and start pursuing the national acts. I've already begun my work to try and bridge the gap. We've interviewed Tucker Maxx about his upcoming movie, "I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell." Just yesterday I confirmed an interview with Sister Hazel. I have interviews with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Breaking Benjamin, Train and Three Days Grace in the works, all regarding their forthcoming albums. I hope these larger pursuits greatly adds to the Kernel's content, and I do believe that it will. I'll be interested to see how things develop.

Ch-ch-changessss

As I'm sure you've noticed, things are looking different around The Ktulu these days. That's the intention. With my newfound inspiration towards making this thing a worthwhile read, I've decided to shake things up a bit and make this blog even more connected to me. If any of you have noticed (which you probably haven't because I'm not sure anyone reads this anymore) the template has changed, and I've added an application over there to the right for people to read my 5 most recent tweets. Just small steps in my progression towards making this blog more intimate. The main task is to simply post more often, about more topics. I love music and UK, and I'll continue to talk about them, but I realize readers aren't quit as interested in those topics as myself. I'll do what I can to cover a wider spectrum. Hope the changes around here, and the faster pace of posting (try saying that 10 times fast) is starting to regain some interest. Time will tell.

PS: I love comments. Interaction is what blogging is all about so I hope to have people do that here, and I hope to do it on other's blogs as well.

Speaking of comments, let me know what you all think of the new look and whether I should keep it, make some changes, or go back to the old one.

Career suicide. Again

I don't understand someone can get away with career suicide so many times, but Kanye may have finished the job tonight. In the past, cockiness and lateness have been the perpetrators, but never an attack on an artist. Not only an artist, but a sweetheart like Taylor Swift. Unbelievable. Disrespectful. But it made for good VMAs. Too bad they came at the expense (or what should be the expense) of Kanye's career.

Heartbreaker

The Bengals 3 min drive to score the "winning touchdown" was inspirational. Brandon Stokely's lucky grab was heartbreaking. But there is more to be taken from this game. The Bengals offense is more dangerous than the scoreboard suggested when the score read final. They were able to move the ball when they needed to. What does this suggest? It suggests that the Bengals need to understand their offense is most damaging when it isn't predictable, when they are in MUST win situations. They need to stop being conservative. What needs to be recognized in this game was the defense. They allowed 6 REAL points. That is something worth noting, and even including the bullshit touchdown, allowing 12 total points is impressive enough. Now its just time for the offense to stop playing not to lose, and its time to start playing to win.

Class act, that Serena Williams is....

The display by Serena Williams tonight, foot fault or not, has single handedly made me lose any ounce of respect I had for her. From here on out I assure you I will root for whoever her opponent may be, and I'm glad she behaved that way on a match point. Are you really going to say to the line judge you're going to "shove a ball down her fucking throat" Umpire made the right call to send her home packing. And her oblivious press conference that was completely void of apology only made things worse in my eyes. Good riddance. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Oh, and keep your feet off the line next time and there won't be a problem.

For those that want to see the controversial footage, click here

Most important post (to me at least) I've done in a long time

As an editor for UK's independent student run paper, I find myself extremely short on personal time this semester. But I like it. I feel like I'm contributing to something bigger than myself, something worth while. The paper has won the Pacemaker Award for excellence in college newspapers multiple times in the past few years and I look to become a part of the tradition. However the changing landscape of journalism is beginning to show me that blogs are beginning to gain immense amounts of power due to their ability to unleash information directly to the reader without censorship. This is a great ability, however it comes with its disadvantages, particularly the fact that no one is verifying whether or not the information they contain is true. It is this lone fact that leads me to hope there will always be a place for the written word; a place for journalists to maintain their positions as "Guardians of Truth" and deliver information without bias. I realize that party divisions have led multiple outlets to lean one way or another, but this isn't necessarily terrible so long as the two keep one another in check. The most important thing is that when it comes down to raw information, speed is nice, but accuracy is essential.

The Kernel may not be the New York Times, but these are the qualities we hope to embrace. Being a part of a college daily paper has been a trying experience, but I feel it is starting to show me the true meaning of journalism. I'm learning what is newsworthy, what readers want to know, and what makes a paper function on a daily basis.

Newspapers aren't dying, they're merely changing. Embracing multimedia is essential at this day in age. Video, slideshows, pictures, audio. They all are just as important as the story itself. Online should supplement news, not replace it. That is exactly what the Kentucky Kernel looks to do. We strive to have multimedia for at least one story per day, if not more. We look to share as much information as possible in an effort to compete with the local paper. And we do. The Kernel recieves advertising daily, and we are lucky enough to have people compete for space in our paper. Averaging in at 8 pages a day, we are a force to be reckoned with on campus, a fact that people have personally acknowledged and thanked me for. The Kernel played a key role in keeping the library open 24 hours a day, when it wanted to close at midnight every night. The Kernel played an enormous role in encouraging UK to lessen its carbon footprint. The Kernel called out President Lee Todd when he asked teachers to be team players and live with their bonuses when the school was under the pressure of enormous budget cuts, and he turned around and accepted his $500,000 bonus. No task is too big to take on for this publication, and that is something I am proud of.

I'm involved with the entertainment side of the Kernel, not that I don't contribute ideas to news (I in fact gave them the idea to run a story about UK citing mopeds who park on campus, which is now giving the UK security a lot of pressure due to the response the article recieved) but my heart lies in writing about the arts. As the Assistant Features Editor, training to be Features Editor this winter, we have organized interviews with multiple national personalities. Via twitter, I got one of our writers an interview with Tucker Maxx. I have personally interviewed Zoey Deschanel, Vampire Weekend, All Time Low, the founder of the MTV Woody awards and many more. These are all experiences that have been completely mind blowing for me. I am doing what I set out to do (albeit not exactly at the caliber I'd like but I'm trying).

My internship with CityBeat taught me so many things I didn't know, but my thirst for knowledge on the topic is insatiable. I have been offered an internship for NBC this summer in New York City, and I think I'll take it, unless I get the coveted internship at the place I set out to work for in the first place: Rolling Stone Magazine. My inspiration, Cameron Crowe, began his career there and what better place to start than at the premier music magazine in the country (No I wasn't inspired by Almost Famous. I did love the movie though). People can spew their displeasure at its tendency to mainstream, but I could care less. I like what the magazine has stood for, and I hope I always will.

I'm sure most of you have given up on this extensive post by now, but you haven't, thank you for giving a shit. This means a lot to me. I didn't know what I wanted to do until months before heading to college, but once it hit me, there was no turning back. I want to be a music journalist, and I'm proud of the strides I've taken so far. The support of the people around me has meant a lot, and its something I wont soon forget. There are others that I wish would be more supportive, but I'm not giving up on trying to change their minds. Sure I'd like to hear more from some of the closest people to me, and maybe soon enough I will. Hopefully my writing will win them over. Some discourage me because of the money, but it isn't about that. My response has always been the same "I'd rather make $50,000 doing something I love than make $500,000 doing something I hate." I'd be lucky to make $50,000, but that isn't the point. This is my passion, and if it means living in a box, so be it. All I need is my pen and my paper.


For those interested go to The Kentucky Kernel Website

Some of my work so far this semester:

One regarding the re-opening of a bar in Lexington

A review of a good Cincinnati-based band called Elmwood

One covering the "Bak 2 Skool Bash"

A review of Skillet's Awake

I have been waiting for this for a long long time

I know it have been a while since I've last posted but this was just the thing to bring me out of hibernation. The original Boondock Saints film is one of my favorites of all time so I have been anticipating this sequel for a while.

If you aren't excited by this I don't know what to tell you

Enjoy

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day at IGN.com