S H I E L D H O U S E

         I will start this post with a bit of a foreword, so here it goes: I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to spend my birthday in London on this big fun practically year long honeymoon Justine and I have been on since February. Justine and the blog she runs with her friend have kind of inspired me to post more regularly and  more personally, though my posts will never  be as practical or helpful as their posts are. That's just a fact.      The reason for this foreword is to lay out some of our upcoming plans. The truth is that though we have loved our time here, we'll be getting ready to come home in around mid-late October. The very real drawback of a "very extended honeymoon" is the fact that we have been living out of suitcases since February. On top of that, Justine and I are intense homebodies, and we are sort of ready to just be at home with friends and family (not to mention the ability to get a dog.)  ...

DISCLAIMER: The two introductory paragraphs written directly below were written when this post was started, almost 2 weeks ago. The concluding paragraph was written as I finished this post, just a couple hours ago. I thought I would abate confusion by explaining having 2 timelines occurring at the same time.        As Justine and I were cleaning last night, I put on some of my local file music from my computer as opposed to streaming music from Spotify and it reminded me just how much certain songs matter to me, whether they are sentimental, nostalgic, or simply just great songs! Base it on the fact that 3 songs had elapsed and I exclaimed at each one "Ugh! I love this song..." There are songs which I can put on and love no matter what mood I'm in and I've listened to each of them so often that I know every movement, drum fill, etc. and I thought it would be fun to try and cram a group of these mismatched songs together in a quantified list.   ...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: Relapse Records Album Link: "Your heart brings me home "      Some of the best music comes through in times of raw emotion, that is undoubtedly true. Many artists write their best music when morose, or angry. It is unfortunate yes, but it is true for many artists. On the other side, some of the best lyrics are written to reflect emotions and lay bare the writer's true feelings. Now you throw Doom Metal in the mix, a genre whose name has literally come from the feeling it tries to evoke, made famous by bands like Black Sabbath, Candlemass, and Witchfinder General, and you get YOB. YOB, like many bands were once all about the Doom  and Gloom that came with their chosen sound, and were good at it.      However, something happened between their last album: Clearing the Path to Ascend  and this one. Vocalist and Guitarist Mike Scheidt was diagnosed with Acute Diverticulitis last year, and it almost killed him....

       The spring season of anime has come to an end, with remaining shows for the most part wrapping up this Saturday. Spring 2018 was on the quiet side, at least in terms of new original anime, but there was a handful of big name sequels airing to keep fans satisfied. Here's what I've been up to during this anime season. What I Watched Airing This Season Darling in the FranXX        Continuing from a strong first half that aired over the winter, Darling in the FranXX set up a large hype following, with many expecting this Trigger and A-1 Pictures anime to be a revival of the mecha genre. With mecha continuing to be more and more of a niche genre- a far cry from its glory days -what better a studio than Trigger, who is composed of ex-Gainax staff of Gunbuster, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann fame, to bring back a resurgence in popularity?  It certainly looked that way during Winter 2018, with interesting character developments, and a ...