A Decision Has Been Made

Earlier this week, I debated if I should buy the new Queens of the Stone Age album ...Like Clockwork.

As you can see, I made my decision after reading several positive reviews and listening to the album on Spotify.  There are a few songs that are immediately likable, but several others are of the type that take several listens to appreciate.  Overall, I like the album so far.  However, the only way to know if it stands the test of time in my ever-expanding and shifting iTunes library (my main playlist has 2,244 songs as of this writing) is to see if the songs on it end up getting skipped when on shuffle, a test that will last months and years.

And my frustration with taking pictures continues.  This pic was taken with my parents' camera, which I'm pretty sure was purchased when I was in the 8th grade, but remains the best camera I own.  It really makes me want to get a more modern camera... or at least a smart phone instead of the LG Xenon I've been using since I ended my sophomore year of high school.

Like Clockwork

Queens of the Stone Age, one of my favorite bands of the modern era, are releasing a new album on Tuesday.  This will be the first album they've released in 6 years.  When it was announced late last year that Dave Grohl would be drumming on the album, I became very excited for its release.

For those who don't know, Dave Grohl is arguably the most prolific rock n' roll personality of the last 20 years.  He was the drummer for Nirvana when they hit it big, playing on hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart-Shaped Box."  After Kurt Cobain died, he went on to form the Foo Fighters, playing every instrument on their debut album and continuing to play both guitar and drums on the follow-up.  Foo Fighters have gone on to become massively popular, though he still takes time to do various side projects.  He released a metal album titled Probot featuring a different metal vocalist on each track while Grohl again plays every instrument.  He played drums on Queens of the Stone Age's best album, Songs for the Deaf, which is why the idea of him coming back excited me.  He also played in a supergroup known as Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme, the vocalist/lead guitarist of Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones, the multi-instrumentalist of the little known band Led Zeppelin.  At the 12-12-12 concert for Hurricane Sandy relief, he reunited with the remaining members of Nirvana to play with Paul freaking McCartney.  So it's safe to say he's had a pretty successful career.

Dave Grohl

After the jump, some samples of Grohl's work and the main point of this post - my debate over whether I should buy the new QotSA album or not.

Taylor Swift and the Penguins Curse

     This image has been making the rounds... well, around the internet the past couple days, so I thought I'd give some insight into what the big deal here is for those of you who haven't been spending the better part of each of the last few days hitting refresh on all of the major hockey sites (like myself).

     This picture was taken in 2009, in the fall following our third Stanley Cup victory.  Since then each Penguin that took part in this iconic picture has died a slow, painful death.  One by one.  Or they each left the Pens by various means one by one.  Not sure which.

Alex Goligoski (2nd from the right) was the first to make his leave from the Penguins, being part of the deal that sent Matt Niskanen and, more importantly, my homeboy James Neal from the Dallas Stars to Pittsburgh, PA.  No complaints there.

What else is going on in this image??  Better continue reading to find out...