The National - The Ying & Yang of The Sweet & Sour. "Sob" comes directly after "Soaring" [pic below]

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

THIS.

The sorcerer/1920's Yiddish Farmer's hat needs to go. However, the bass player can remain.

The National (not The Veils [above]) on Thursday was truly Epic². The setlist was the following (* denotes new song, whereas boldedness refers to personal favs); Start A War, Brainy, Secret Meeting, Baby We'll Be Fine, Slow Show, Squalor Victoria, *Vanderlylle, Abel, All The Wine, Mistaken For Strangers, Ada, *Blood Buzz, Apartment Story, Fake Empire, *Runaway, Mr November, About Today . I was a bit pissed off that England and So Far Around The Bend were not played but that sentiment lasted for all of two seconds. I felt it a bit odd why The National opened up the show with Start A War because it's a bit dainty for a rock band to open with. They did, however, change it up a bit to be slightly more *UNF* in yo face. Most of my favourite, more popular songs were played and were in top form. It should also be stated that during Mr. November, Matt Berninger (lead singer fella) went, in customary fashion, apeshit -- The most apeshit, I've ever seen him go in any performance of the song. If Matt Berninger were a dinosaur he would be a brilliantskisaurus *geeks out*. It should also be documented that I have been to many a soldout concert at the Kool Haus but I have never seen that venue so packed. Packed to the point whereupon I could smell which version of Axe the guy in front of me was wearing :/ [sidenote: just a lil FYI for all in possession of a penis -- Axe deodarent/spray smells horrid. Don't use it anymore, cheers!] Regardless, it's just great because it's high time The National get all the accolades they've been getting in the last half year. I was a bit in shock in observing the demographics of the audience. It basically comprised of; 30% Frat Boys, 30% Borderline Yuppies, 10% Certifiable Yuppies, 20% Normal Concert Goers, 10% Scenesters. OMG and I saw 3 Straight-up/Off The Boat Chavs, it was so fucked up, y'all. In being mortified by the presence of Frat Boys, I felt I had to follow the mandate of logic. Which, essentially, dictates that although Frat Boys are shit, they must share some measure of good taste in music. However unfortunate this is, these are the ways things are.

About the only drag of the evening's festivities was the inclusion of a token Awkwardly Generic Singalonger. I shall now define this to you. Awkwardly Generic Singalonger is a woman who shan't peep a melody for the entirety of the evening until a familiar song, namely the most popular song played that evening, commences. When this chain of events unfolds (off key), you and your friends, who are unfortunately situated directly next to said Awkwardly Generic Singalonger, will become uncomfortably irritated. The moment shall indeed pass, in good time, but not before your moment has been temporarily ruined. I can share with you the rules & protocols of The Singalong, should you request them.

I normally pride myself on discovering all the bands I love so much but The National was brought graciously into my life via someone else in such an ironic manner. In an attempt to return the favour to anyone else, I'll pay it forward by now hyperlinking my personal favourite National songs in order of priority to further big primp this, my second favourite, band (ever). It's all about SHARING n'shit. Cheers! xo

1. 90-Mile Water Wall <-- The greatest song by The National. Epic in every sense of the word. But maybe it's not wise to play this on a Monday morning, uhhhhhhhhhhhhh lulz.. 2. England (Unreleased as of yet) 3. Guest Room Never has this song been performed live. Tis a shame. 4. Driver, Surprise me Very rare song 5. Mistaken For Strangers Argueably their most well-known song. 6. Looking For Astronauts (particularly this version, click on the second offering) 7. Secret Meeting If this song were a book, it'd be considered the greatest work of modern literature. 8. Blank Slate A tune one would practice their best Charlie Brown dance, and stuff 9. Mr. November Hell's yeah, jigga! 10. About Today

For the past couple of weekends I've been invested in family bidness. I've meant to highlight some of this in here but I've only had a chance to allocate some time to properly do so, now. A couple of Saturdays ago, I met the wife of the president of Poland at a ceremony at the Polish Consulate in Mississauga. This was in honour of an event my father attended, whereupon he received an award from The First Lady [of Poland] herself. It was kind of an honour, so, WIN.

Not this last Saturday but the one previous, my mother returned from a whirlwind trip to visit my sister in Malawi Africa. I am now going to post photos I took of my father's big day as well as photographs my mother took from her travels.

Happy African People Win

My mother flew to Manchester and took a short train ride from Piccadily station to visit my uncle in a place called Mytholmroyd situated in Yorkshire.

This is where my uncle lives. Atop a hill overlooking the village of Mytholmroyd. I've been there twice -- The last time I was there was a little while back when I had initially gone to England to take part in a youth-related initiative to restore Hadrian's wall in Carlisle (the very north of England). Everyone in my group was a pretentious dick with their heads up their asses reading William Faulkner, so I, already with my head enough up my own ass, fucked off to The Lake District where I found God. Which begs the question; Sean what does God look like?

This.

photo credit: This random spritely chap

I digress.

My sister lives in Malawi for the past couple of years. She initially worked for the United Nation in Sudan but left in wake of personal and (I'm guessing, by the gravity of that particular situation) psychological reasons. She might be returning to work for the U.N. at a posting elsewhere but currently lives in Malawi. The above view is from the house she rents.

That's her backyard.

That's my momski. Since forever, my mother has made fun of my love for Oasis. In the above photograph, you'll observe that she resembles a rather cute female version of Liam Gallagher. That's the best working definition of irony

That's my uncle, uhhhhhhhhhhh, hugging a tree. He and his wife accompanied my mother to Africa in visiting my sister. My sister set them all up in rooms at her abode. It is important that I represent my family relatives and do so well. I'll be a bit condensed with this, but my uncle is from my Polish side of the family. He's Polish but was born and raised in England. He can speak Polish but he has a native English accent, or Yorkshire accent.

His mother was a Polish Political prisoner and was imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp. Yeah, THE infamous Auschwitz. Not only that but she was there from its inception to its demise -- which is to say she served the entirety of her imprisonment, there. She rarely spoke of the horrors witnessed there, for obvious reasons. From there
she moved to England and raised my uncle years later. My uncle's mother was very much a mother-figure to my mother, as it turns out and my uncle was and is very fond of my mother.

Stranger still is the fact that one of my favourite, if not my single favourite, book is Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. It was revealed to me, rather recently, that many years ago my mother impressed this book upon my uncle and he took a profound interest/love in all of Joseph Conrad's novels. But it was Lord Jim (the most epic of tales regarding the sea) that stuck with my uncle. Years would pass and he would then join -- through his mother's rank -- The British Royal Navy. This was all my mother's doing. Win.

It's just a coincidence that uncle looks like Joseph Conrad. A lil bit.

I should also inform you that my uncle legally changed his middle name to Conrad but spelt with a K. LOL

The lake that my sister is situated by is one of, if not the, largest lakes in Africa. It's infested with crocodiles and hippos that eat people who don't like/listen to oasis. In her area it is safe to swim in the lake but it's not advised as per you can contract foreign illnesses and fucking die.

'Blur fans?! You shan't pass!' *chomp chomp*

I didn't know this but if you see a hippo opening it's mouth in such a fashion (above) it's a signal that the hippo is preparing to attack you. I just thought I'd inform you of this in the event you are starring down the path of a hippo. Jaws open, run the other way!

More happy african people. Yay! I should tell you that Malawi is not a place for the fat German tourists spreading about, poolside, at fancy five star resorts. These things do not exist, here. Contrary to the happy display in the above photograph, there are a lot of hardships in these parts. The recession has hit the world fairly hard but you'd never really know it in Malawi. Apart from the fact that a jar of Mayonaise costs over 10 euros, if you want to eat something you walk into the lake. If you want something to eat you walk into the mawfuckin' LAKE. You want to fry your fish with some butter? Here's a cow. Make it! I'd surely die in such a place :[ Moral of the story: if you have nothing to lose, you've lost nothing. I just made up a proverb. WIN!

In addition to visiting my sister, my mother's other point of interest was seeing some petrogliphs [sic.?] Photos not included.

The photos I took of my father's International All Things Polish Appreciation Day.

The first lady of Poland standing next to a man who is apparently rather keen on himself for having worn a suit made of, what appears to be, a space-age fabric from the future.

Insert some random brilliantly written bit about dashing out for a smoke only to suck on a nicotine dispensing inhaler all the while dreaming of the day of owning a house near the lake/sea with the inclusion of that thing in the middle, there -- whatever it's called.

I haven't gone through all of the photos and shall eventually include the ones of my father. I've really not had a lot of time to devote to this.

I should also mention that my dad's English and speaks flawless Polish.

POLSKA!

Fashionistas. We don't need ya!

The National - The Ying & Yang of The Sweet & Sour. "Sob" comes directly after "Soaring" [pic below]