Blog Posts

Just did a number of upgrades to various libraries used by the site. Please let me know if there are any issues, especially with styling and buttons or links not working. There were decent version jumps, especially with Boostrap, so it is possible something is failing that I have missed.

Another short post. One day I will make these longer and more meaningful, probably. Anyway... started checking out some new music over the week, so figured I would share. Some is new, and some I just finally got around to listening to.

A Place to Kill - APTK

This one I have been looking forward to for a while. I heard Richard Patrick talking about this in some interviews as a new, heavier project with Jim Louvau. Believe the first album dropped on June 5th. Not exactly in the style of Filter, but still pretty enjoyable. I also started checking into Jim's other work in There Is No Us. Watch on YouTube

Joe Holmes - Joe Holmes

I was just checking out some news and saw a post about this album. I believe it said Joe was an Ozzy guitarist, but I saw this project includes Robert Trujillo (Metallica and various others). Figured it was worth checking out. Watch on YouTube

Superheaven - Jar

This album is from 2013, but technically I was kinda just listening to various songs from all of them. Seems like this is one of their most played songs. Heard about them from a Rick Beato video a while back, and figured I would check them out. Have a bit of a grunge sound going on it seems like. Watch on YouTube

Thrown - Excessive Guilt

This is probably another band I added to my check it out later list from that same Rick Beato video. I haven't listened to enough of this album yet, but I have seen it described as nu-metalcore. Think I can agree with that from what I have heard so far. Watch on YouTube

I had a big post created, but managed to lose it. This is the remnants with a quick recreation. These are my top ten favorite songs, not necessarily the best. These change from time to time, but here is the list with some quick comments or info about the songs! Also, I think my next site functionality update is going to be a draft with auto save functionality for these. Like wiping on a boss at 0% health losing this...

10 - Check My Brain

First song I heard with William DuVall on vocals. Watch on YouTube

9 - What the Hell Have I

This one I missed for a while as it was on the Last Action Hero soundtrack. I believe Jerry Cantrell used a sitar-guitar to get this more unique sound. Watch on YouTube

8 - Them Bones

This one I can relate to, not just because it was one of the inspiration songs to the classic Doom soundtrack from Bobby Prince. I recall the lyrics with this one being about death and dying from a dream that Jerry Cantrell had. Welcome to my world. I believe them bones are me too. Watch on YouTube

7 - Sea of Sorrow

Something about this one just hits. Plus they mention a smiling skull 💀 Watch on YouTube

6 - Get Born Again

This one feels like it has a bit of a unique sound as well to me. Obviously, I can totally get behind the theme of the lyrics. This is one of Layne's final songs he recorded. Watch on YouTube

5 - Nutshell

One of their slower songs, but that might make its haunting lyrics even more powerful. Including the MTV Unplugged link below. Great opener to that show. Watch on YouTube

4 - Rooster

Another great one with a story behind it. This song is basically what Jerry Cantrell assumed his father's time in Vietnam was like. He rarely talked about it, hence the assumption. Sounded like it hit pretty close though. Song starts a bit slower, but definitely picks up. Watch on YouTube

3 - Again

This one goes hard. Always a great listen to get pumped up to. Watch on YouTube

2 - Man in the Box

Probably the most famous AiC song? Everyone knows this one, right? Great riffs, vocals, and inclusion of a talk box for the sound. Including the uncensored version below. Watch on YouTube

1 - Would?

One of the reasons I got into playing bass is this bassline (which I still can't play). Here we have another song about drugs and the loss of vocalist Andrew Wood. Watch on YouTube

Quick update on the recommendations/picks page today.

I have added in a Top Picks section that will be visible at the top. These will, obviously, be the ones I find to be top tier. I wll keep this number small. At this time, I only put a couple there, and will probably rotate things out over time. This is just a good way to draw attention to some of the best things. Note that this section will go away, by design, upon filtering by a category.

Additionally, I populated several additional picks to include books and more YouTube channels. I did drop in some additional games as well.

The challenge I am running into with recommendations, such as books, is that often it will be a series. Do I want to list every book, in this case, individually or just the first book in the series, as I have done for now. The same thing can apply to games, tv, movies, music, etc. Does it make sense for me to list (almost) every Metallica album, for example? I may need to revisit how these are handled and add some additional option for a collection, not just individual recommendation. For now, with some of the books I started linking to additional ones in the series. If anyone has any feedback on a preferred way to handle this feel free to let me know however you talk to me or via the contact page.

Made a few more small updates and bug fixes, primarily focused around the history page.

• Fixed syncing adding incorrect and old raids
• Fixed sequence getting reset on sync
• Fixed main status getting reset on sync
• Added class color to character names in the raids
• Added additional management controls behind the scences

Also made some minor tweaks to the about page tonight.

Additionally, I have recently resolved the sitemap not being updated properly, fixed some contact page issues, and added an rss feed. Sure there is a bunch of other minor stuff I forgot to mention.

I have mostly been working on getting the forums on my old Age of Conan guild site updated, cleaned up, and open again, not that I expect anyone to use them going forward.

Been thinking about some actual topics to post besides site updates here, so I hope to start doing something with that soon.