I'm a gamer/non-gamer.

I have never really been intrigued by video games, nor am I video game fanatic.We only have an X-Box 360 'cos my little brother is a gamer, and we thought it would be a more fancy DVD, and plus, we could hook it up to our iPods. Now with the uproar in musical video games (i.e, Guitar Hero, Rock Band), I have been addicted to playing hours of the same songs again and again until I can finally play a song on hard and eventually on expert. Right now I have Guitar Hero 2, but now it's time for an upgrade.

This past week, CSULB had a Guitar Hero World Tour stage set up on campus, and everyone could come play and get free prizes. I went there out of curiousity, and as one thing led to another, I sang Living On A Prayer infront of tons of people with complete strangers. I triumphantly got a shirt and water bottle.

Some of the other songs on the set list that caught my eye were Everlong by Foo Fighters, Float On by Modest Mouse, Love Me Two Times by The Doors, and Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar. Still, I thought that Guitar Hero World Tour was a complete ripoff of Rockband. (I'm biased on this subject.) I decided to look up some of the details of Rockband 2, and I'm convinced that I'm going to spend $190 on it. The setlist looks so much better, and it even has some of the songs that Guitar Hero 2 has.

Here's some of the songs on the setlist that I can't wait to play:
Interpol - PDA
The Donnas - New Kid In School
Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
The Go-Go's - We Got The Beat
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Motorhead - The Ace of Spades
Rage Against The Machine - Testify
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer (Also on GH World Tour)
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
Billy Idol - White Wedding
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Blondie - One Way Or Another
Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
Beck - E-Pro
Devo - Uncontrollable Urge
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf

There's tons of more songs, but here's a preview of what to expect from Rockband 2. All I know is that soon I'm going to have an excuse to bring people over to my house and spend all day in my living room.

Reporting live from the mind of a college student;

This life is expensive, to say the least. I used to complain about spending at least $80 per school year on books and at most $50 for uniform, and I guess I had nothing to complain about before. I guess financial aid is okay, but I've already blown away half of it in less than 2 weeks, and it's still going away. Now, I've become so frugal, I won't even buy food even if I'm on the verge of passing out while riding my bike to class. Nope, I'll wait to get home. Basically, for everything other than food, college has made craigslist, ebay, thrifting, and sales my best friends.

And the commute is ridiculous. Driving a total of an hour, and sometimes even more depending on traffic back and forth to school makes me the most grumpiest person when I arrive home, and my parents are always complaining about my frequent naps. I should be dorming; really, I should, or at least live in an apartment here in Long Beach, Seal Beach, or by Belmont Shore.

Yesterday after class I stayed on campus for a while, and found la.cityzine.com. I feel kind of late because probably everyone else has taken a look at the site, but I guess I'll catch up soon enough. Anyways, they're having free ticket giveaways to see Tokyo Police Club and DeVotchKa. Hopefully I get at least one or the other. Basically, all you do is reply to the post, and for DeVotchKa, you have to write which is your favorite instrument. If you don't recall DeVotchKa, you might have heard some of their tracks while you watched Little Miss Sunshine.

Speaking of shows, I have to buy my tickets to see Lykke Li...

I'm a happier camper now. Fall is right around the corner, and Southern California has become much much chillier. No more sweat, no more hyperventilation after riding my cruiser to class, and more layers to wear! Finally, I can wear my coats,sweaters, and scarves that have been stored in my closet. Cold weather, oh I have missed you so!

A good song for a good mood and the good weather:

Theatre of Disco - YOA
(click YOA for download)
Theatre Of Disco is one of my recently discovered bands from Australia. Their electrically delicious track that I've been hunting down from DJ Lady Byrd's Live at Robot Rock Mixtape (click for download), which is also pretty snazzy as well, is a new sound that has played on repeat on my head since I first heard it. Give these tracks a listen, and you'll be a happy camper just like me. (Disclaimer: Happy camper-ness not guaranteed.)