Kittaan wrote:N.Y.H.C. wrote:so in 2014 is MOG saying he will listen to some Dream Theater ballads? come on in bro, the Octavarium is fine.
Ya know what NY? I have come to appreciate your sense of humor, your film recs and some of your taste in music... but the DT still baffles me. That and the cage match shit.
There are so many bands out there who do what I assume you like about DT better than DT does it. Just the vocals alone are so cringe worthy they are a parody unto themselves. Anyway, what do you see in them? Honestly curious.
I've been a fan for about 6 years of DT. so I'm 32 now and it's not like they've been a part of my childhood. my friend John gave me Scenes From A Memory and I got hooked. it's a great concept album that start's off acoustic, then goes into an instrumental, then into "Strange Deja Vu" which is one of their most popular tracks. I like the different types of songs they put back to back in that album. it helps my ADD. plus it's similar to why I like Tool being I appreciate each musician's skills. the singing is an acquired taste but so was Rush for me. Scenes is why I'm such a big fan. it's a great concept story as well. the opening song sounds like Floyd then the harder tracks sound like old Metallica. keyboards, piano, heavy riffs all on the same LP. I like extreme contrast in music sometimes. I get shit for liking Radiohead and Scale The Summit as well, two completely different bands, but it's the contrast I dig. slow, then fast, easy then hard on no notice whatsoever. plus they're local boys from Long Island, I always support local music, sports. growing up in NYC I was big into New York Hardcore, obviously.
As for the UFC I watched it two decade's ago because I was a kid and it was brutal, we rented old UFC shows when we rented like, Faces Of Death on VHS. but then it got old as I grew up. nowadays, again 6-7 years ago, I've come to appreciate it as art. my friend is a black belt in jiujitsu, the other was big into wrestling, the other is a boxer so I've learned to see the duality in it all. it's a sport but it's a brutal one on one combat, it's not like soccer or football. it's just you and your opponent in an octagon competing to see who's truly the best at what they work so hard for. most of the people I've spoken to who compete are very interesting people, most of them are geeks. big readers, sci-fi nerds, maybe picked on growing up, moved around a lot, fucked up dad's. they train as a release, it's more like chess than boxing is because of the grappling aspect. boxing is too one dimensional for me. that's why I enjoy the UFC more than kickboxing or wrestling. it's a hodge podge of all of the different aspects of martial arts. even my girl is a huge fan, one of her family friends is currently one of the top ranked fighters in the world. the fighters have great stories man, they overcome a lot of adversity to be the best. it's definitely not for the money, I don't appreciate the money aspect in sports because it's not very important to me. you don't fight in the UFC to "get paid" at all.
with the UFC and DT if you put some time in you come to respect it, you may even start to enjoy it. I thought when I was 20 I liked what I liked and that was it, forever. I was very wrong. being we're on Fourtheye let me relate it to Tool. I put them in with Rage, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, NIN some great bands I grew up with in the 90's, they did their best work back then and that was it. when Lateralus came out? It changed my perspective on them, it pulled me in deep. I might have been perceived as a casual fan until 2001 but again, I was thick headed. so in conclusion:
Scenes From A Memory pulled me into DT deep. the Diaz brothers from Stockton California, one of the toughest neighborhoods in the U.S., pulled me into the UFC. so to understand why I enjoy these things, start at those points. do some research, you might be surprised at what you find.
Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, not excuses.