The What Made Your Day Thread

[mr.negativity]

[lhb412]

What's made my day is the knowledge that, despite all the hemming and hawing about newspapers dying and the death of substantive journalism it's been newspapers who've done practically all the legitimately great reporting about this election cycle.

So pour one out for newspapers, y'all!

[canofhumdingers]

My birthday is coming soon, but I’ll be traveling for work, so my wife threw me a little party today. There was a subtle theme to the celebration

The balloons



The cake (baked with a vintage 70’s cake pan no less)



The gift

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

This was yesterday but I won the Playstation VR from Taco Bell using the free code they gave out. I should get it in a week or so.

[klen7]

[mr.negativity]

[Henry88]

had cataract surgery the other day,the first time i could see out of my left eye in five years.

[lhb412]

^Whoa, cool! Congrats on the depth perception!

[lhb412]

Just think: soon the election will be over.

That makes me happy.

[O.Supreme]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Got my new computer chair in today. I got this one: http://www.dxracer.com/us/en-us/product ... oh-sj11-n/

My new phone came today I got the iPhone 7 Plus and finally I got my car back from the shop and it was a lot cheaper than what I thought it was going to be. Now going to watch some Godzilla and go to bed.

[klen7]

Was at a museum with the kid today and out of the blue the assistant director of paleontology walked by and asked if we wanted to go into the archeology lab. They were pretty excited about a softshell turtle from the Paleocene era that has not previously been identified. It was about 4.5" across. Also got to see some other cool fossils and when he showed us teeth marks on an extinct dolphin (they had a snout more like a Marlin) he showed us how to tell if the bite marks were likely post mortem scavenger marks, fatal attack marks or something they survived. It was all very cool.

[Psycho Soldier]

I've been enjoying the new Metallica album. There's something reassuring about getting good, fresh material from this band. James Hetfield is no longer a table.

[canofhumdingers]

A table?

[Psycho Soldier]

A table. On Metallica's collaboration with Lou Reed, the album Lulu, the song "The View" includes James Hetfield repeatedly singing/shouting the line, with all conviction and seriousness, "I am the table!" This came to symbolize at least part of what's wrong with that album. (In case the timestamp in the link doesn't work, he starts around 2:06.)

[canofhumdingers]

That link looks like it only works in Canada, but I found another one. And that was AWFUL. I didn't even know that album existed, but I really haven't followed Metallica since they totally alienated their fan base with their fight against Napster. The last thing I aware they did until this new album was St. Anger. I only heard one or two songs from it, but wasn't impressed.

Glad to hear the new album is good. Maybe I'll check it out.

[Benjamin Haines]

Metallica have put out three albums since 2003's St. Anger. There was Death Magnetic in 2008, Lulu with Lou Reed in 2011, and now Hardwired to Self-Destruct in 2016. Lulu is really more of a Lou Reed album, his last before his death in 2013. It's a concept album conceived by Reed based on two German plays by Frank Wedekind that are over a century old. Most of the songs aren't my cup of tea but there are a few that I still like listening to, particularly .

Death Magnetic is a good album, definitely worth seeking out. It was Metallica's 'return to form' album after St. Anger rubbed everyone the wrong way with its lack of guitar solos and the snare turned off on the snare drum. The structure of the songs on Death Magnetic and the way they're sequenced on the album evokes Metallica's 1980s output, but what makes the album a winner is that they're just darn good songs. There's also a 2012 EP called Beyond Magnetic featuring an additional four songs that were written at the same time as the others but didn't make it onto Death Magnetic due to space limitations. It's 14 songs altogether between them.

I picked up Hardwired to Self-Destruct earlier today and I'm really impressed with it. This is not Metallica trying to chase the nostalgia ghost but rather embracing what they are today. Songs like and remind me of Black Sabbath with their slower, heavy grooves while intricate thrashers like deliver the slam-bang wallop that Metallica is known for. This is certainly a fresher and more ambitious album than Death Magnetic and a great new direction for the band.

And how cool is it that they've gone and made music videos for every song on the album?

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

The new Metallica album is AMAZING. Definitely put a smile on my face all day yesterday in what was an otherwise rough day.

I like St Anger, for what it is, but a LOT of its problems come from producer Bob Rock basically insisting that he wanted it to be like a concept album, to an extent, with the concept being: this is Metallica just jamming and not worrying about songs and structure. But they overthought trying not to overthink. They put an outright ban on guitar solos and just threw riffs together in editing. They complicated the notion of simplifying. Still, Frantic, Some Kind of Monster and The Unnamed Feeling are great songs, and St Anger and Sweet Amber are great ideas, just underdeveloped, and it's a very personal album with the band openly, lyrically struggling with the Napster case, James' rehab, and Newstead's departure. St. Anger, if nothing else, is a really important, cathartic album.

Death Magnetic is VERY good, borderline great. Ultimately, it lacks a little focus and is again maybe too much of a "concept" album, with Rick Rubin telling them to intentionally try to re-create And Justice for All. But I don't think there's a BAD song on it, and tracks like That was Just Your Life, All Nightmare Long and My Apocalypse are spectacular.Death Magnetic is Metallica just trying to be Metallica.

Hardwired to Self-Destruct is Metallica creating NEW music, not focusing on a concept and just making the best songs. I mean, a song that's CLEARLY Lovecraftian like Dream No More butting up against a futuristic apocalypse of machines in Spit Out the Bone, butting up against a strange twisted love song in Now That We're Dead butting up against a tribute to Lemmy in Murder One. This is the band completely unburdened, forging a new path and doing things I've never quite exactly heard from Metallica (parts of Atlas Rise sound VERY Iron Maiden) all while still being irrefutably METALLICA. It's awesome.

Standouts so far are Dream No More
Spit Out the Bone
Atlas Rise
But I've only given it a listen and a half

[Henry88]

got back from the eye doctor doing a check up after my surgery i went from 20/70 to 20/20 safe to say i am very happy to hear that.

[lhb412]

I haven't been to my public library in a while. I went through a bit of a funk for a good portion of 2016, and it was hard to even muster up the enthusiasm to even watch a movie or read a book for a while... anyway, I went today and holy cow! They must have spent thousands on DVDs and now Blu-Rays! They seem to have bought the entire Criterion Collection, Cohen Media, Warner Archive releases, new movies... really astounding. I was thinking about subscribing to FilmStruck or Hulu (which will soon carry TCM and TCM on demand, from what I've read) but this'll hold me for a while!

[DannyBeane]

I was just hired for a new job that gives me more money than I make now. Gets me off nights, weekends, and holidays. Its also a much shorter drive.

[klen7]

[mr.negativity]

[Benjamin Haines]