I always know where you're coming from.

It's late at night here, but I just remembered that Bell X1 will be releasing a live acoustic album soon and wanted to share this with all the music fans out there:

http://www.bellx1.com/shop/FieldRecordings.htm

For those who don't know, Bell X1 is an Ireland-based band that is, frankly, a lyrical beast. Go listen to "Beautiful Madness" if you don't believe me. Or "Eve, the Apple of My Eye." They are just that good, my friends. :)

And for those who aren't huge fans of awesome music, there's always the new film The Amazing Spider-Man. Why, yes, I do occasionally go to the movies. And let's just say that this one lives up to the adjective in its title. Majorly. So go see it. If you disliked Tobey Macguire as Spider-Man, go see it (Andrew Garfield is nothing like him). If you have a fondness for C. Thomas Howell (who played Ponyboy in the film The Outsiders), go see it (he's not a huge character, but he has a few lines and is definitely cool as usual). And finally, if for some strange reason you like the Sheen family, go see it. No, Charlie thankfully does not make an appearance; Martin Sheen plays Uncle Ben winningly. :)

Now you've been recommended some Bell X1 and even a movie. Hooray! Also, here's a picture for reading my opinions:

This here was taken by me. It's Jason Castro, y'all, from when I saw him in concert last month.


Finally, I will leave you with some things I've learned lately:

1. Stand up for yourself and others. Sometimes speaking up is the right thing to do. It may be hard to tell someone you're angry with him or her, but if it's a serious matter, you should definitely confront them. Why go around pretending all of the time? We're not puppets on a string. And I don't ever want humanity to lose the freedom to choose what is right from what is wrong. God gave us that freedom, and humans have no right to take that away.

2. Life is hard, unfair, and good all at the same time. Appreciate it. Even in the midst of struggle and disappointments, there are still always going to be things to look forward to. And for that matter, there are things that are good right now. The present is a wonderful time.

3. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are the best fictional couple ever, and credit is due J.K. Rowling for making them up.

Okay, so the last thing listed wasn't all that intelligent, but I wanted to lighten the mood a bit. :) And what better way to lighten the mood than to make a Harry Potter reference? I love that series.
All right. I know when it's time for me to get some sleep. So enjoy the life you have, and don't look back so much at things that don't matter. Here and now is all we have on this earth. Don't waste your time, and look to God for the answers. Always.

~

 ^"Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other." - Deuteronomy 4:39

Keep looking for the reason why.

So, I had the good fortune to be able to purchase a physical copy of Switchfoot's remixed album, "Vice Re-Verses." I'm usually not a fan of any sort of remixes, but considering this was Switchfoot, my favorite band of nearly eight years, I figured I would buy it. The album includes new takes on Vice Verses songs such as "The Original," "Blinding Light," and "Vice Verses." Artists involved in the remixing were none other than Darren King of MuteMath (who also released a remixed version of "Yet" from the album "Hello Hurricane" that was temporarily available online), Adam Young of Owl City, and JT Daley of Paper Route, among others. More information can be found about "Vice Re-Verses" here:

 http://www.switchfoot.com/switchfoot/blog-article/news/568/

That being said, I've listened all the way through the album once so far. At the moment I don't like it. However, I am so biased where Switchfoot's concerned that you can ignore my opinion on this if you want. Original Switchfoot simply trumps fake, overly technological renderings of what used to be awesome songs. But of course there is a part of me that has to own anything remotely Switchfoot, so I'm happy with my purchase if for no other reason than it's Switchfoot and it's a physical copy. The digitization of music has annoyed me. I like a nice, old fashioned CD. You can touch it. It's aesthetic.

Anyway. Yay for Switchfoot! :) If you want more of them, you can visit their official website linked above or check out the informative fan site, Land of Broken Hearts (named after a lyric in "Golden" from Switchfoot's arguably best album, "Nothing is Sound"), linked here:

http://landofbrokenhearts.org/

Also, I just realized I neglected to mention that I attended two concerts in the past two weekends. The first was a free show by Jason Castro. If you're unfamiliar with the name, he was a contestant on American Idol a few years back and is known for his astounding covers of "Hallelujah" (of Rufus Wainwright fame) and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." He's also great with his own songs, too, as "Let's Just Fall in Love Again" and "Changing Colors" suggest. He was friendly and positive both on and off stage, perfectly willing to meet fans even before the concert (that would be me and my friends...haha) and sign autographs with a smiley face. Jason Castro's smooth voice is just as beautiful live as it is on his recorded tracks. And the fact that he was willing to do a free show for Father's Day? Simply wonderful.

As this post has grown sufficiently wordy and long, I'm going to leave the description of my second concert for the next post. But here's a preview of it: it was packed. And I'm talking about over 68,000 fans. Excited?

~

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" - Lamentations 3:19-24