I was amazed when The Rentals completely ditched that Moog sound for their second album and still fuckin' rocked it. Best of all, they even got Damon Albarn to sing a song on it, which managed to kick even a little more ass than the rest of the album.

...

and don't even think about bashing Blur, Rubang. I will drive up to Oakland and kick your Patchouli-smellin' Berkeley ass if the thought even crosses your mind. Remember that I can be there in 6 hours, I own guns, and I voted Republican last election.

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Wait, I'll have to wait until you get back into school. That won't scare one damned person in Oakland, excepting the mayor. Berkeley, on the other hand, that will send those damned hippies back into the trees where they belong (so fine red-blooded Americans like myself can cut them down with people still hanging from limbs).

I have no problems with Blur. I've listened to a couple albums and liked them, but I can't remember which ones. I guess I like them. But I do remember Damon Albarn had a kickass solo song on the Trainspotting soundtrack which was all groovy and the lyrics were just listing James Bond film titles. And I liked the Gorillaz.

I'm right on the border between the hippies and the crazy fucking ghetto. At least, I thought I was until somebody got shot 3 houses from here in February. You'd have to find me at school when I'm surrounded by helpless hippies and I'd be easy prey... or I'd be loaded with human shields.

In the course of my life, I've found that's the best place to be while living in your 20s. At times, it scares the shit out of you. Other times, you unexpectedly get a bit of enlightenment.

I wouldn't trade my 20s for the world. Cheap drugs, scary people, crazy hippies, all in one neighborhood.

Good times.

I honestly feel sorry for people who haven't lived in a truly sketchy neighborhood at least once in their lives. It's a nice wakeup call (and no, I'm not talking about the gunshots waking you up at 4am). 

OMG, not five minutes after I typed that last post did I have one of the greatest experiences ever...

A homeless guy passed out on my porch about 1 1/2 years ago. I tried to wake him but it just wasn't happening. He was blocking my door. So I called the cops. A police officer showed up 10 minutes later, tried to wake the guy and also got no response. So the cop puts on the rubber gloves and tazers the guy... For a good three minutes.

Well, it's tonight. I see the same guy (haven't seen him since that day but Goddamn if I don't recognize him from a block away) and flag him down for a conversation. He's shitfaced (of course), but so am I and we sit down and have a talk about his history. Turns out he's a Sioux Indian (which explains his affliction with booze, I'm from Minnesota and have seen enough of that shit to verify it) and is a Vietnam Vet (shocking that he's a fucking mess, right).

It turns out the guy graduated from State here in Long Beach (even has the papers to prove it) and is so completely fucked up from alcohol, drugs, and Vietnam that he never really recovered.

Simply amazing how someone (even a Lieuey like he was in the Marines, again had papers to show it) who is educated and ready to grapple the world can be so completely ruined as a human being by war.

Like I said in the last post, you never know where enlightenment may come. If I hadn't flagged him down and offered him a smoke, I never would have experienced this last 30 minutes.

Good story RP. Yeah I grew up in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. Everyone on our street was robbed at least 3 times except for us cause we always had a very large and loud dog. Never even locked our doors with that dog. Scared the shit out of anyone dumb enough to come near the house. I went to public schools, and never had any sheltered illusions about what the world was really like.

I don't own any guns, but I do own a compound hunting bow with 60-70lb draw weight which hangs on my wall, and I keep a set of arrows with broadheads on them in the quiver right next to it. I've killed bears with this bow and these arrows. I have no idea what it would do to a human, but I'm guessing it would be extremely messy, and I don't miss. You learn not to miss much when you're shooting a black bear that weighs 500 lbs.

This thread was very entertaining to read again. Worth bumping just to have on the front page of the now horrible Section 8.

umm, the video dosent work for me