So, Pearl Jam is a band that I’ve identified before as being very important to me. Several years ago I attempted to review all eleven of Pearl Jam’s previous albums and I was surprised and how unimpressed an immemorable some of them were. Now I haven’t been listening to a lot of alternative rock or grunge lately. It’s been a lot of country music, some jazz, lots of podcasts, and classical piano music when I’m writing at work (it helps me focus). When I heard the first single “Dark Matter” I was mostly unimpressed. The first time that I attempted to listen to the album I wasn’t really impressed. It felt like typical Pearl Jam and it really didn’t distinguish itself from what they’ve already released.
My review at the time was this:
There is a new Pearl Jam album.
It isn’t bad but it really isn’t great either.
It just exists.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t finish the first listen through to the album. I shut it off and found something else to listen too. However, Pearl Jam is IMPORTANT to me so I knew I needed to listen to it again. So I listened to it again in a different environment at a different time and this time I actually enjoyed it. What has turned me off about Pearl Jam in the past has they have come off as unbelievably pretentious but it just doesn’t feel that way on this album.
I look forward to adding the physical media of this album to my collection.
Click to read a review of The Gray Havens “Blue Flower” here.
SPOILER: This album is awesome.
Currently reading:
The podcast Pints with Jack which attempts to bring an in-person C.S. Lewis reading group to an online environment so more people can participate is going to cover “The Four Loves” by C.S. Lewis for their upcoming Season Five. What I’ve listened to of past seasons be C.S. Lewis have been great. I recommend getting a copy of “The Four Loves” and reading and listening along.
Click here to read a review of Pearl Jam “Lightening Bolt”.
1.) Nate and I saw Jamey Johnson! Aimee came over and hung out for a while but she was more interested in checking out the fair than the show.
Jamey Johnson (The camera on my phone could be better…)
2.) Fergus had a checkup appointment. So far so good. In two weeks they will do another X-ray and make a decision on whether to remove the last pin.
3.) My son start AYSO soccer last week. Monday was his first practice. This Saturday will be his first game. He played a few years ago, so it is technically his second season.
Click here to read a review of Pearl Jam’s album “Backspacer”.
1.) Jamey Johnson is playing at the New York State Fair this Tuesday. Pay for parking and $3 admission to the fair and the concert is free!
2.) Fergus has his followup appointment this Friday. Hopefully everything is as it should be.
3.) Dave Sim, the creator of Cerebus, has been releasing comics poking fun at comic book culture and society as a new #1 issue every months. The one released this month is called “Crisis of Infinite Quarantines”. I honestly could not resist picking this one up and giving it a look. I’ll let you know what I thought after I finish reading it.
4.) My best friend Nate moved back into the area. Previously he lived over five hours away. It’s so great that he lives only 30 minutes away now.
This week has been challenging so I did not get a chance to listen to Pearl Jam’s next album “Riot Act” or read any reviews of it. This week I decided that I would use an old joke that I have had rolling around in my head for a while. Originally, this joke came to me around Mother’s Day and had I created and posted it in that schedule it would have posted the day after Mother’s Day. I really didn’t feel that it was appropriate to do so. Parenting is very rewarding, but also very challenging. I turn to resources such as Focus on the Family and Family Life Today, both have daily podcast programs that average about 25 minutes each. Both shows bring on great guests and are really encouraging. Family Life Today is hosted by Dave and Ann Wilson. Dave Wilson was the chaplain for the Detroit Lions for a while, (even during the 0-16 season), so there are some great football stories every once in a while.
I am still reading “A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War”. (I’m a slow reader).
However, I got my kindle out the other day and found some very inexpensive audiobooks so I downloaded:
The Norm: Night of the Wookie
This is a collection of Michael Jantze’s The Norm comics that deal with the Star Wars prequel movies. I have always enjoyed The Norm comic strip ever since I found a collection of the strips at my local comic shop. I really enjoyed this collection (it was a quick read and I read it in one evening) as it details Norm’s transition for a deeply invested fan to the Star Wars fandom to a casual fan that doesn’t allow new additions to the fandom be a major concern to him. The collection is very heavily focused around the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and follows Norm camping in front of the theater so that he can be the first to get tickets. By the time the collection gets to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Norm is not invested anymore and doesn’t even see the movie in the theater. I connected with this collection so much because I have done the same transition several times with several fandoms.
I was also able to get a collection of works by G.K. Chesterton that includes Orthodoxy, Heretics, and The Everlasting Man and it was only $0.49! I have been wanting to check out Chesterton ever since I first heard him talked about on the Audio Mullet podcast. I found some of the Father Brown TV episodes on a DVD set at the library a few months ago so I watched them and found them very interesting and entertaining.
Speaking of podcasts, here are some I enjoy:
Like Trees Walking
372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back
Audio Mullet
Pints with Jack
Cultish
Pints with Chesterton
The Babylon Bee Podcast
Stories are Soul Food
The Tolkien Road
Focus on the Family
Family Life Today
I intend to talk much more about all of these podcasts as I think every single one of them are great. Also, I didn’t really mention sports podcasts but there is Mission of Truth: Keeping it Real with Nick Foles and Chris Maragos and Soup with Coop. To be honest I can’t believe that Tony Dungy doesn’t have his own podcast but their are several episodes of different podcasts on Spotify that he has been a guest on.
I picked up a copy of A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis a few weeks ago and am considering reading it next after my current read; however, I also have Five Against One: The Pearl Jam story. I think this would be a good read as I am finishing up writing about Pearl Jam’s albums each week.
I am planning on reading alot less comic books in the future. I am enjoying Usagi Yojimbo Color reprints, everything that IDW is publishing with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, and currently the Spawn comics have become very interesting to me. What has turned me away from the Spawn titles in the past had been artwork that I didn’t like but what Todd McFarlane is doing with the “Spawn Universe” has me very interested. Todd also holding the line at $2.99 cover price also has my attention and respect. The upcoming Gunslinger Spawn is very interesting to me. Look at how awesome this Redeemer action figure is!!!
Our puppy Fergus broke a growth plate in his leg somehow this week. We had to send him to a specialist surgeon they are going to have to put pins in his bone to hold it together. It’s been quite an ordeal and is going to come with a significant financial burden but God has been blessing us with acts of love and kindness.
This week I was feel particularly disheartened and even as we’ve been facing challenges recently God has been protecting and providing for us. There have been several other challenges over the past two and a half months but also many blessings. One thing that God has put on my heart, through the bible study at the camp we attended in July, is that I need to surround myself by other Christian men that will hold me accountable and that I can also hold accountable.
Additionally, I have struggled significantly with my faith since I’ve been committed to it as an adult and every time it follows the same pattern:
I seem to be walking well in my faith;
something happens and I feel overwhelmed;
I begin to neglect bible reading and prayer to the point that I feel that I don’t do it at all and shouldn’t tell anyone I’m a Christian because of it.
Thankfully God has pulled me out of these ruts and put me back on the path every time. But another thing that God has put on my heart is that a maturing Christian can “feed themselves”. What this means is that my soul encouragement cannot be a bible study or Sunday morning worship. A Christian that can feed themselves is disciplined about prayer and reading their Bible. Also, I need to develop a circle of Christian men who can hold me accountable and can count of me to hold them accountable.
Click here to read Metal Reviews review of Pearl Jam “Binaural”.
Click here if you want to read the overly pretentious Rolling Stone review of Pearl Jam “Binaural”. Feel free to ask yourself if the writer of the review at Rolling Stone, Jon Pareles, wanted to write a review of a Matchbox Twenty album instead because guess what? He found a way to work a Matchbox Twenty album review into a Pearl Jam album review.
Good grief.
When I first bought a copy of this album. I was really attracted to the artwork of nebulas in the packaging and since I was such a huge fan of prog rock and Cave In’s album “Jupiter” I was somehow hoping that this album would be like that. It isn’t. At the time I listened to the album I was hoping for it to be something it was not and was disappointed. Upon a new listen in anticipation of this writing I enjoyed this album very much.
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