I think I posted in the past before that I’ve been listening to a lot of pop, dance and R&B music lately. I continue to listen to that stuff today… recently I just purchased two of Aaliyah’s albums “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number” and “One In a Million”, now I see why Aaliyah music matters ’cause she was really good. A great talent gone too soon and I just purchased the Olivia Rodrigo album “Sour” from Itunes not too long ago. Haven’t listened to that one yet but will soon.

I’ve been getting a lot of Pop, dance and R&B music lately. Not sure why. I guess this stuff is really growing on me. Thanks to listening to David Bowie music over the years ’cause as you all know most of his music is “pop” music than rock n’ roll and I guess I got used to listening to pop music ’cause of of him really.

If I want to start writing pop songs of my own, I’m gonna need a keyboard synthesizer or some kind of midi controller in order to make EDM music (Electronic Dance Music). When you want to make EDM music, it requires rhythm and timing. You gotta know your time values. If you want to make “good” dance music, it requires a little bit of metronome knowledge than anything. When you want to dance to a song, you gotta have good timing skills. That’s why so many dance hits out there like Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Prince and artists such as those are danceable ’cause of timing. It’s really about the “beat”, ya know? That’s all it takes. Making dance music isn’t hard as it sounds. Most dance music is just 4 or 5 chords anyways. Very simple, that’s all it takes. I could probably make my own music like you would hear at a nightclub.

I could probably make my own dance songs for sure but I’ll never ignore rock n’ roll & metal ’cause I still want to do that too. I’ll probably do the rock & metal thing first and then the dance music later.

I do want to get back into songwriting again.

Kev

Hope all you readers had a great Christmas weekend. It was a good one for me.

I did pretty good for gifts this year. Just got a new bicycle, some movies on BluRay, a book about Eddie Van Halen, a few Batman graphic novels, two video games for my PS4, gift cards and a few other assorted things.

Last week, I took Christmas week off from the gym ’cause I came down with a cough. The cough/cold wasn’t too bad but I decided to stay home from the gym for a week ’cause I didn’t want to go in gym while “pandemic” is still going on… they might kick me out if they catch me coughing and that’s what I was afraid of, ya know? So I was like, fuck it, I’ll take Christmas week off of the gym but I went back today for chest day. Had a good chest day and feel good. Now relaxing.

I’m planning to go see the new “Spiderman: No Way Home” movie really soon, maybe even this week so I’ll post a review of that movie but I’m gonna give “Spiderman: Homecoming” and “Spiderman: Far From Home” a re-watch this week. Yeah, as you can see, even though movie theaters are slowly disappearing, I still go to the movie theaters ’cause I love to, ya know? I love going to see the new releases when they come out in theater. Movies were meant to be seen on the big screen, not the small screen.

Also last week, I spent most of last week watching a Star Trek movie marathon on Hulu and watched all 10 Star Trek movies last week. Who needs to watch Christmas movies, ya know?

Now onto New Year’s.

Kev

You know those Funko Pop dolls that’s gotten so huge nowadays. You see them being sold in stores pretty much everywhere. They’ve gotten huge. You see everyone collecting them.

Why do people buy them like crazy? For the value? Is it just for decoration at their home? A hobby? A combination of all three? Some may not think it but those Funko Pop dolls can be pretty valuable just like the comics and action figures, ya know?

I’m thinking of starting a Funko collection myself but I’ll try not to get too addicted and obsessed with them though. I’m only gonna get ’em of my favorite characters and famous people of Funkos, ya know? I’m just gonna buy the ones that I like… for example like my favorite movies and TV show characters, favorite actors, WWE wrestlers and musicians/bands. They are starting to make Funko’s of bands & artists now too. I’d like to get Funko’s of Rocky, The Terminator, Superman, Batman, Harley Quinn, The Joker and things like that.

I’m just gonna collect ’em for decoration and to show my appreciation for pop culture too. Just a small collection, I won’t go too crazy with these. Thinking of starting in 2022.

I never started yet ’cause I kept thinking these dolls were for the little kids but strangely enough, it’s mostly adults collecting them. I’m just finding that out.

Kev

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Yesterday, I decided to buy some more music from Itunes for my massive digital library.

I know Dream Theater came out with another new album already this year, “A View From the Top of the World” and I’ve been wanting to get that album for a while so I got it. I’m a huge Dream Theater fan and own every studio album they’ve done so I get everything they come out with now.

I also got the new solo album by Jerry Cantrell, the Alice In Chains guitarist who has a side solo career but he only releases occasionally, not very often ’cause he’s mostly focused on AIC. Well Cantrell finally released a new solo album called “Brighten” which I also got. “Brighten” is his first solo album since “Degradation Trip” in 2002 so that’s a long time. I love Jerry Cantrell solo music as I love his first album “Boggy Depot” as well and I’ve seen Cantrell perform live in concert years ago during the “Degradation Trip” tour. I wish he would release solo records more ’cause he’s great at that.

I also got the new album by Mastodon “Hushed and Grim”. I love the band Mastodon as I’ve just started getting into them and been listening to them for a while. I only have a few albums by them, though and trying to get more of their stuff. I also have their albums “Blood Mountain” and “Emperor of Sand”. Along with “Hushed and Grim” their new album, I also bought their very first album “Remission” along with it yesterday. Mastodon is a great band and been loving them the more I listen to them.

I did get a couple of other older albums as well…

I ended up getting Neil Young and Crazy Horse “Everybody Knows this Is No Where” and Neil Young’s latest album “Colorado”. Yeah, Neil’s politics sucks ass but he’s still an amazing musician and songwriter, I still love listening to him despite politics. I stayed away from buying Neil Young albums for a long while but think I’m gonna get back into them. I’ve been listening to Neil Young music ever since I was a teenager pretty much. Loved his music for a long time and still do admittedly.

I’ve also got the classic CSNY album “Deja Vu” also Neil Young which I’m a huge fan of that album and never really had a copy of that album until now and I would like to get a copy of that album on vinyl too.

For something different, I decided to get a pop and R&B album by artist named Aaliyah, her hit album “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number”. Yeah, I do like some pop and R&B music believe it or not. Sometimes I gotta listen to different stuff. Honestly, I’ve been getting into pop and R&B more. It’s good stuff… some pop can be really good so I decided to start getting into Aaliyah. I’ve been buying more pop, R&B and rap albums myself lately.

Kev

Hope y’all had a good and safe Halloween yesterday. It was alright for me.

I spent the whole month of Oct. watching a horror movie marathon. Not all in one shot but like one or two movies a night. On streaming, I watched all of the Phantasm movies, all of the Leprechaun movies and re-watched the first 6 “Nightmare on Elm St.” movies all on the Peacock streaming.

I’ve also watched a bunch of old horror classics like “Phantom of the Opera” (1943 version) and “Nosferatu The Vampyre” (the 1979) version. I’ve also watched “The Bride of Frankenstein”, “The Invisible Man” (original) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon”. I also watched a few movies with Bela Lugosi “The Raven” and “White Zombie” which were also really good. I also watched the Frank Langella version of “Dracula” (1979) and “The Brides of Dracula” (1960). Another monster movie classic I watched is “Frankenstein Meets WolfMan” also awesome.

I’ve also watched the first three “Wishmaster” movies on Pluto TV but they took the fourth one off, bummer. I’m planning to get the “Wishmaster” movies on BluRay in the future anyway ’cause I love them.

On Hulu, I watched the three “I Spit On Your Grave” movies… loved the first two but hated the third one. The third one sucked.

I also watched the first “Fear Street – Part 1” on Netflix last week which was really good and gotta watch the other two sometime this week.

What did I watch on Halloween weekend? On Saturday night, I re-watched “Midsommar” the Ari Aster horror film on BluRay and still love that film. That film got mixed reviews but I fucking loved it. Totally original and different.

On Halloween night itself, I decided to binge watch 4 horror films. “Dracula” w/ Bela Lugosi (1931) , “the Wolf Man” (w/ Lon Chaney 1941) and the 1977 version of “Suspiria” all on BluRay… and then I watched George A. Romero’s “Day of the Dead” (which is a movie I’ve never seen before but really good, I loved that one too).

That’s it for horror movie marathon for Oct. but hey, I can watch horror movies anytime I want to… they don’t have to be just for Oct. or Halloween ’cause I’m a huge horror movie buff. I just love the horror genre. Loved horror fiction all my life! I’ve been into horror films and books ever since I was a kid really.

Kev

Over the years of my life, I’ve let go lots of friends that I thought were pretty toxic to me. People that I thought were cool and were a true friend but suddenly they turn into a toxic person. Give you so much drama and negativity and all that stuff. They argue with you all the time and get a bit dramatic, blah blah blah.

It’s so funny though, seeing people in FB complaining about how fake they’re friends are and always complaining about them but they don’t do anything about it. Hmmm, if someone is being toxic to you, all you have to do is eliminate them from your life.

What I do is when I kick out toxic people from my life is I don’t bother telling them. I just block them on social media and they just never hear from me again, that’s it really. There’s no sense of telling them you no longer want to be friends and no longer want to talk ’cause there’s no point in arguing. It’ll just make things worse. It’s best that you just ignore that person and pretend that they are dead to you, know what I’m saying? It’s that easy really.

I’ve kicked out plenty of people out of my life that gave me too much of a headache. Other people may not like it, some will go, “why are you kicking out people that were your friends”? Well? It’s my life, ya know? So it’s my choice of who I want to be in it or not. If I no longer like someone, it’s my right to give them the boot out of my life. That’s your right too and it’s totally okay to take out toxic people. If they give you trouble, then why continue to talk to them?

If you don’t want negativity and drama, it’s best to get ’em out. Only allow people in y our life that you like and accept people that likes you for you ’cause you will find out who your true friends are.

I’ve got friends in my life sure, not a whole gang of ’em but I hang out with a few cool people and talk to some online regularly. I know who are the good people and who are not. If someone is in my life still then that totally means that I like that person and totally believe in them.

You deserve peace and happiness and you gotta let negativity and drama go. Don’t be afraid to get rid of people that give you trouble, it’s totally okay. Life is short and don’t let negative people bring ya down.

Kev

Yeah, my powerlifting training in the big three: deadlift, bench and squat continues. I’ve been making some pretty insane deadlift gains lately. Last week during my deadlift session, I was able to smash a 300 lb. deadlift for 2 reps to end my set with which is a new one for me. Finally, I’m on my way to do smashing 300 lb. deadlifts for reps which was the goal I wanted. 300 lb. deadlift are starting to be easy for me.

So since I was able to do 300 lb. deadlift for a double, I thought, “maybe I can be able to smash a 315 single next time”? So a week later which was this week, I had another heavy deadlift session earlier this morning. Ended my session with trying a 315 lb. single with three 45 lb. plates on each side which I never did before… a missed lift. I was only able to get it up to my knees so I had to put the bar back down but I was still proud of that lift. That was something I never did before. I missed that 315 ’cause I didn’t leave room in the tank due to doing 375 – 380 heavy sets for a few reps each.

I’ll be able to get that 315 lb. w/ three 45 lb. plates on each side another time but I think I need a de-load week next week, though. “De-load” which means lifting a light week. I need those more often ’cause it isn’t good to lift heavy week after week.

I’m proud to finally starting to get into the 300 lbs. deadlift finally. Now the next goal is to be on the road to deadlifting in the 400 lbs. or up but I’m gonna take my time to get there.

My bench and squat numbers are still okay, though but gonna try to improve those too. My bench and squat numbers are still around the 150 lb. – 160 lbs. around there.

I really want to do another powerlifting meet at some point. My subscription to the USAPL went out so I’ll have to subscribe to them again. I would like to have my first USAPL meet but wasn’t able to do it ’cause Covid stopped me. Now powerlifting meets are back, I’ll try to find one for me to do ’cause I love doing those. Haven’t done a powerlifting meet in a long time. Those are a blast to be a part of.

I’ll never give up powerlifting, no matter what anyone thinks and I know that people enjoy watching my powerlifting videos which is a part of why I keep at it. A lot of times when I’m doing my deadlifting at the gym, I get random compliments from complete strangers which is feels amazing really.

Powerlifting is an awesome sport but my only gripe is that powerlifting is kind of expensive. Other than that it’s a blast to be a part of. I support other lifters too and enjoy watching others lift.

Kev

Yes, Geddy Lee known as the bassist, singer and keyboardist of Rush really said that. He said that in an interview somewhere, the original quote is…

“For me, there is a lot of room for improvement and there are a lot of things I would like to be better at. Music is all about wanting to be better at it. My diet, my regime, the whole life I have on the road has always got that little bit of stress because I’m always afraid I’m going to get a cold.” – Geddy Lee

When you’re a musician or a singer, it is always about wanting to be better. No matter the skill level you’re at… whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or an advanced musician, you gotta keep pushing forward and keep getting better at what you do.

I’m always trying to improve at both my guitar playing and singing. I don’t necessarily care to become a virtuoso but I do want to become more technically advanced at guitar playing and learn to play a little more professionally. I just want to become a way better guitar player. I’m working very hard and have gotten better some, I’ll say.

Trying to become a better lead and rhythm guitarist. A lot of guitarist like to pick one of those but I like to do both. If you’re going to be a guitar player, might as well be both lead and rhythm. I do want to become a good lead guitarist like my heroes…. for example Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Joe Satriani, Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, etc….. but I’m not rushing it.

I do want to become a more technically skilled guitarist and I’m working hard to get there. If you want it, gotta practice with a metronome a lot more and I have. Understand timing and rhythm and you can play just about anything.

I want to be able to play badass and tight rock n’ roll. My goal is to be able to play more than just basic open chords and power chords. I’m tired of being that kind of guitar player and now I want to branch out and expand my skills even more. No more being stuck in a rut.

Kev