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Lynam Family Christmas 2010: Setting Up The Tree

by slynam on December 21, 2010 in Straight Livin

This year in the Lynam house… we did things a little differently (check out these two vids from 2008 as reference). You see, our house has changed this year. My Mom decided to do a lot of redesigns around the house, including new paint, new carpets, and in some rooms, removing the carpets to the cold, bare, old hardwood floors below. I’m definitely going to be getting used that that part for a while…

However, perhaps the biggest changes in the house would be the relocating of the Christmas tree from the sunroom to the living room, and by going fake. I know, I know, I never thought we’d be one of those families that does a fake tree, but I have realized its advantages. Those being:

No pine needles on the ground or poked into my skin.
Pays for itself after two years.
We can leave the lights on in the off season so we don’t have to do it every year.
We don’t kill trees.

The only problem with all of that was that the lights that came on the tree didn’t work. So, cue really fast paced video with all of us removing the old lights from the tree, where the wires were wrapped around each little branch. It took a whole hour to get these off!

Stay tuned for “Lynam Family Christmas 2010: Decorating the Tree / Electric Boogaloo”

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Aaron Lewis: Please hang up your guitar and voice box

by slynam on December 17, 2010 in Tuneage

Alright y’all. This is a hate post.

First of all, Aaron Lewis has a new single out, called “Country Boy.” He might as well have called it “Well I Guess That Whole Angsty Scene Really Is Gone So Here’s Me Trying To Act Country (Like I Have Been All My Life, You Guys)” GAAAASSP <>…..

My story with Aaron Lewis started a long time ago when a good friend introduced me to the song “Raw” by a band called Staind. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Staind were the original angsty rock band, which was a slight yet certain departure from emo rock. I guess these guys just had lower voices and weren’t as skinny

Staind did fairly well for themselves in their time, but eventually everyone (or was it just me) that they wrote the same song and hook over and over, and then everyone got tired of making angsty faces all the time.

After three or four albums (plus that “Outside” single with Fred Durst that I absolutely hated), Staind was over. Perhaps it was then that Aaron decided to see if there was any angst left in America. He had already hit the bummed out mid-westerners with his first band, so why not go country. I can’t stand this song! It’s pathetic and typical attempt at a country song–alright not like I know a lot of those, but it brings nothing new to the table.

Also, it’s called “I’m still country”?? So what does that make Staind, a practical joke?

“I’m still country y’all. Just like I always was. Staind was just a truck I built with my bare hands to take me to my country career all these years later.”

-Aaron Lewis

I wonder what all of those angsty kids (adults?) who have been missing their favorite band must think of this. Surely working class angsty music fans from ten years ago didn’t take much a liking to that there country music.

Anyway here’s the song.

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The Amazing Cast That Was Resident Evil: Afterlife

by slynam on December 16, 2010 in Flix

This movie was awesomely awful.

First of all, there are a total of twelve characters. Not main characters, but TOTAL there are twelve characters. That’s kind of ok cause there are plenty of hipster/indie movies with like two characters so whatever, but they kill off these characters like it’s nothing! Two of them will be mid conversation with a third, and then BOOM he gets sliced in half by a mutant dude with an ax bigger than me.

ABOUT FOUR SECONDS LATER

Also I should mention that that big mutant axe dude is basically Astaroth from Soul Caliber. How the hell they don’t ever see that thing coming is just silly. Like seriously.

Let’s see, who else is in this movie… ah yes, Wentworth Miller is in this movie. He plays a guy who is stuck in a prison cell and has to get out.

Just doesn’t seem to be getting any easier for you, does it Wentworth.

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Tron Soundtrack and Nightclubs

by slynam on December 7, 2010 in Straight Livin, Tuneage

The other night I went with a friend to a listening party for the Tron soundtrack at the Hudson hotel. It was my type of event, music industry folks and all, but it definitely wasn’t my kind of venue or what I expected.

I’ve been to a few other listening parties. I went to one for Chiodos’ Illuminaudio at Angels & Kings, which was basically twenty people we were lucky enough to get off of work at 5 PM to head over. There were also a few actual fans (non-industry people) there, but it wasn’t promoted a ton so it wasn’t packed. Haha one of the kids there even asked if I liked prog metal, so I said yeah of course, so he told me to check out his band. Only problem was he wasn’t sure what his band was called. Lame, kid.

This one was at a club. Now, being in a club is cool. I don’t get to do it often, so when I do it’s kind of a treat. Everyone is dressed well, the music is great, and they turn the lights down low so everybody looks a whole lot better then they really are (unless you’re in a bad lighting area/pose). Its getting INTO the clubs that I hate.

Waiting in line, I am wondering to myself (or really making myself panic about):

How cool my shoes look. Are they hip enough? Or should they be more classy looking? Are they too hip?? Are they hip but just too dirty???
Pants. They’re definitely jeans (cause that’s all I have) so how does the bouncer feel about jeans? They’re skinny jeans so at least they look kinda cool. Or are skinny jeans out of style now?
How many girls do I have with me? Probably at least one, but that’s definitely not enough. Must make friends with loner girls in line, just for the sake of getting in.
Do I look like a baller? I mean, I sure do feel like one. But between me and the 27 people in front of me, how am I gonna figure out how to look like one?? Flash some benjamins up front?

Anyway, dive bars rule.

But about the music. While what I heard that night was some very good tunes, I realized that Daft Punk really made a score, not a soundtrack. So beyond the couple of songs that you could turn on and bob your head to, most of the rest of the tracks are more texture based, and were clearly written to go along with the visual scenes from the movie.

Here is clip of Daft Punk’s “Derezzed.” I can’t WAIT for this movie to come out.

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#MusicMonday – Yelawolf

by slynam on December 6, 2010 in Tuneage

I came across a video on Yelawolf last week, but of course I can’t find it now.

Anyway, I’m not crazy about hip hop, but when I’m taking a break from some of the heavy, hectic sounds of metal I’ll check it out. After going through his album Trunk Muzik 0-60, I came to track eleven, called “I Wish (feat Raekwon),” and definitely dug it.

I would have to say I’m more into the idea and message behind the song more so than the actual music itself, but this hook is so awesome. It’s basically Yelawolf asking for people to say he’s not X, so that he can reply by saying “b*tch, you ain’t X.” Haha so simple and so great.

If I had my turn on this hook, I’d say something like

I wish a muthaf*cka would…

Tell me that I ain’t tall, b*tch you ain’t tall!

Tell me that I ain’t metal, b*tch you ain’t metal!

Tell me that my email signature is too long, b*tch your email signature is too long!

Here’s the video for remix of the track, now tell me it ain’t sick…

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Beer, Malt Liquor and Caffeine: A Story of Friendship

by slynam on December 5, 2010 in Shenanigans

Last night I got together with some awesome friends to brew some beer. Here is the kit we used, courtesy of the Brooklyn Brew Shop:

It was one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. Good friends, good times, and oh…what’s this? We also had some folks stop by who we thought had recently left town…

While I was tending to the brew and and conversing with my friends “Fruit Punch” and “Orange Blend,” Alex and some other friends took hold of my camera to document the evening, as seen in the video below. I know, it’s kinda long but I thought there were so many awesome moments so I had to include them all. Check below the video for a breakdown of what happens.

0:00 The Start
0:42 Second hour – The Sparge
2:30 Couch time, I takes a break
3:41 Jug time (we pour the boil into the jug)
6:46 This is the part where I add way too much yeast
7:21 Shaking, aggressively
8:56 Vuvuzelas, and a missing recap
10:32 What we did today
11:50 One more thing…

SO. MUCH. FUN.

Now all we have left is to bottle the beer, in like two or four weeks. I’m not really sure yet. Also we were supposed to have enough for ten bottles, but I think we boiled too much of it off so we’ll maybe get three or four. We’ll see. I wonder if the “bottling” party will be as fun as last night’s “brewing” one…

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Well now I know what my legs would look like if I wore jeggins

by slynam on December 5, 2010 in Tube

Or really, what I’d look like if I had red hair, a talk show, and wore jeggings.

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Black Friday: The Movie

by slynam on November 26, 2010 in Straight Livin

For Black Friday 2009, my bro and a couple of my cousins woke up at 4:00 am so I could go to Target to buy a TV.

This is my story….

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Why Modern Family is My New Favorite Show

by slynam on November 25, 2010 in Tube

Happy Thanksgiving folks. Take today to curl up with your fam and Hulu/Netflix to catch some eps of this show.

After hearing about Modern Family winning so many Emmys, I picked up the first season a couple months back. Holy sitcom batman, is it funny.

Modern Family

Reasons I like this show:

Best character is definitely the Dad, Phil Dunphy. He wants to be so cool all the time, but just falls short and ends up being…well his own version of cool. His side-eye glances at the camera are always so well timed and add a lot to the feel of the show. May or may not want to be like him when I have kids.
Huge, hilarious cast. The rest of em make up such a great ensemble. Luke is an idiot, but you love him. How in the heck to they get Lily to stay quite ALL OF THE TIME. The two little girls are ok, but they aren’t in there a ton.
Huge ….. um.. Gloria Pritchett. Yeah.

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Things I Learned While Watching “I’m Still Here”

by slynam on November 24, 2010 in Flix

Celebrities speak in metaphors almost constantly.

They don’t seem to do anything DIY.

JP likes cocaine.

JP’s rhymes weren’t that bad. I don’t know much rap, but he talks about how awesome he is and how everyone else sucks. Sounds about right.

“Never be late. Never, ever be late.”

Writing hip hop songs is harder than it looks/sounds. Sometimes the songs seem so simple. But finding something that’s simple and also COOL is hard. Apparently.

JP has balls.