Local music

Is the local musicians community a toxic community? Yes, it always has been and always will be…

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Some of you may wonder why I always have negative feelings toward the local musicians community and toward the music scene itself. Well, I don’t have negative feelings toward the local musicians community for no reason. I’ve been a part of the musicians community for like a decade or a little over. So I’ve experienced a lot of what goes on over the years… some good and some bad.

A lot of people like to make the mistake that the musicians community is a positive community. People mistakenly believe that the community is fun and all musicians are good people. Well, I’m about to give you a major truth bomb, y’all.

The local musicians community isn’t always a positive experience. All I’ve experienced over the years in the musicians community is nothing but negativity, lots of egotism and so much drama. The community can also be pretty cliquey as well. Not all musicians are the same. They’re all different. Yeah, you will meet some nice musicians… there can be some pretty nice ones out there but not always. In the music scene, you’ll also meet some egotistical attention whores and you’ll meet a lot of douchebags and assholes.

One thing that I’ve learned through the musicians community is that you can’t be trusting everyone. I made the mistake of trusting everyone too easily in the musician’s community and I’ve gotten much better at not giving a fuck about everyone anymore. The scene might be cool to be making friends with other musicians but I don’t really care to make friends with other musicians anymore. I’ve made friends with musicians in the past but many of them turned on me, stabbed me in the back and I don’t speak to a lot of them anymore. Some people would think it’s my fault and some may think I brought it upon myself and burnt too many bridges but not really. When will people realize and wake up that some musicians can be real douchebags out there? I’ve had musicians who I thought were big supporters of mine but now a lot of them turned into haters and enemies.

Interesting on how a lot of this is. Some people wonder why I talk about the musicians community in this way, well… I’m just doing my best to wake people up more and hopefully try to give people the red pill about what the music scene really is.

If you’re a musician, you just got to realize that not everyone is going to like you and you won’t get along with everyone either. You just gotta stay above this stuff and only focus on you and your own music. Not worry about everyone else. You need to be focusing on your own dreams and goals. You want to grow your own fan following. You don’t want musicians supporting your music anyways ’cause it isn’t good really. You want non-musicians to be supporting your music is what I mean.

Some of you may ask, why would some musicians turn on you when they supported you in the past? Is it you that they don’t like? No, I don’t think it’s you at all. I think musicians turn on you and stab you in the back for maybe a few reasons: 1) You’re doing stuff with your music while they aren’t 2) They know you’re more talented than them.

Why would other musicians hate you and not get along with you? Well, not only ego and jealousy is a huge part of that but there’s more. The music scene online and offline is a pretty cliquey scene, ya know? They’ll hate you if they feel that you’re not talented enough. I’ve experienced this a lot. I’ve had musicians harshly criticize my music in the past and they felt like I didn’t belong ’cause they felt I wasn’t “professional” or “established” enough like they are. They’ll make you feel left out for those reasons. I think these could be the reasons why I have a tough time getting along with some out there. If you’re not talented enough, these musicians will feel more superior than you.

On top of all this, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing when musicians dislike you. It means that you are probably a good musician and you’re doing good stuff with your music. So let ’em hate and don’t worry about it. Just ignore ’em and fuck everyone, ya know? That’s my attitude. While I do have a lot of musicians as haters, though, despite all that… I’ve got some pretty loyal musicians who stayed supportive to me even to this day and they never turned on me at all which is awesome. The more haters you get, the more supporters you’ll get too so don’t worry about it if they don’t want to like you anymore. Just keep making your music and that’s all you need to worry about and nothing else.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I do love live bands and I love other local musicians but gotta be in red pill mode and be realistic about everything, ya know? Nothing wrong with that and it’s a good attitude to have.

Kev

 

movies, Stallone news

Sly Stallone shares behind the scenes footage of “Rambo: Last Blood”, they use lowbudget handheld cameras like in “First Blood”…

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Sly Stallone dropped this cool behind the scenes footage on his instagram page. Showing some scenes from “Rambo: Last Blood” and it shows them using smaller handheld cameras like they used in the first Rambo film. Very cool.

As you can see, there’s a scene where Rambo is shooting a machine gun. Yep, I just knew that Rambo would be shooting machine guns again for this film. Rambo may have cut his hair for this one but the only thing that hasn’t changed is the violent Rambo. Despite the short hair, we’re still gonna get the same Rambo we’ve always had.

Not too worry, Rambo fans. “Rambo: Last Blood” will be an action packed and violent movie like Sly’s been promising. He won’t disappoint us at all and will make ALL Rambo fans happy.

I can’t wait to see this one in Sept.!

Kev

movies

Saw “Avengers: Endgame” last night… best superhero film since “The Dark Knight”…

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Went and saw “Avengers: Endgame” last night in the movie theaters. A few friends of mine invited me over the weekend so I said “Yes, I’m definitely down” and so I went with them.

I’m a huge Avengers fan. Saw all the films in theater and re-watched them all on BluRay last week. Now that the fourth Avengers film, “Endgame” is finally here, I went and saw it last night. After the movie was over three hours later, I was like, “Wow”… my mind was blown. Honestly, I was expecting the film to be “okay” or “pretty good” but it ended up being more than “okay or “pretty good”. The film turned out to be amazing and it’s definitely a masterpiece. If there was a superhero film that deserves to win “Best Picture” in the Oscars for the first time, “Avengers: Endgame” should definitely get that award even though it would never happen.

I really was blown away and speechless when the movie got over with. The film had a great story and great plot. The film was well-acted by everyone in the cast. The film has a crowded cast and it’s mostly big name stars all over. They all did a great job but I was most impressed with Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. Those three guys are great actors for sure. Yeah, Mark Ruffalo is a die-hard liberal and his political views are awful but still, his acting talent can’t be denied. I was impressed with the direction of the film too as the Russo brothers did a great job.

The film had many emotions throughout the film… it can be enjoyable, funny, sad, intense and action packed. While the previous three Avengers movies had some pretty good action scenes, I thought the action scenes in “Endgame” were a blast to watch, though. The action scenes in “Endgame” gave me goosebumps and I was fucking floored. Holy crap!

This is a non-spoiler review so I’m not going to talk about the story at all. Just what I think of it and that’s it ’cause there are some big surprises in the film.

I thought it was a very impressive movie and definitely the best superhero film I’ve seen in years. Yep, “Endgame” is definitely gonna be the final Avengers film. I don’t see how it could continue after this. It’s all over for the Avengers so it’s an end of era. It’s understandable ’cause Robert Downey Jr. spent years and years playing Iron Man and he wants to move from the character finally.

Even though it was a three hour movie, it certainly didn’t feel like it ’cause it went by fast due to the pacing.

Before you see this movie, though, I suggest you see the first three films first ’cause if you don’t… you’re going to get completely confused of the story so definitely watch ’em all in order.

I definitely loved the film and can’t wait for the BluRay already.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

I’m gonna need a new Ipod touch anyways…

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For a long time now, I’ve been thinking about buying a new Ipod Touch and I’m definitely gonna do it real soon. I’ve been saving up for it. I have the old Ipod Touch 4.  It’s getting old and having all sorts of issues. Plus the IOS on it is really old and can no longer update to the latest updates. I’m noticing that I can’t sync music from Itunes to the Ipod Touch 4 since the IOS is so old on it so yep, I think I’m definitely gonna buy a new Ipod Touch and hoping to hit Best Buy next week to go buy one.

The Ipod Touch I’m planning to buy is the Ipod Touch Generation 6th, the 32 GB. Reading the reviews, I hear it’s real good. It has some more disk space on it and I’ll be able to have more albums on it. Plus it has a way better camera as it has an HD camera on it which is cool. The camera on the Ipod Touch 4 is shit.  I just want an Ipod Touch with a better camera so I can take videos and take pics for instagram, youtube and facebook and all that stuff.

So yep, I’m definitely gonna buy a new Ipod Touch next week and can’t wait. I’ve been meaning to buy a new one for a long time.

I’m planning to get a new Ipad too but I’ll get that sometime later this year. I’m in no hurry for a new Ipad but I’m planning on getting one sometime down the road, though.

Kev

Health and Fitness

See me do a 150 lb. squat for a triple…

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During my squat session at the gym earlier this morning, I ended my session with a 150 lb. triple. It was pretty easy. Could have been a little deeper but definitely next time.

While it isn’t my max out week, it is still okay to do heavy triples, doubles and singles to end your sets with.

Like I said in the Instagram post, I’m thinking my estimated pr on squat for a 1 rpm might be 160 or 165 lbs. Maybe 170. I’m on the road to a 200 pound squat and I think I can get there this Spring/Summer. I’m just about there.

I hated doing barbell squats at first but I’m loving it more and more now.

Kev

Health and Fitness

To get more strength in powerlifting, gotta mix it up with hypertrophy style training too… big muscle also gets big strength…

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I look at powerlifting forums and debates online and most powerlifters believe you only gotta focus on heavy sets and few reps to get more strength. That’s what most of them told me in that Tnation forum during that heated debate. I agree and somewhat disagree. It’s important to do a lot of heavy sets and few reps, but you don’t want to train like that all the time. If you train like that all the time, week after week on a non-stop basis you could drain your body out. It could really fry out your cns (central nervous system) and training super-heavy all the time is also asking for injury too. Many powerlifters will never admit that they get injuries from training heavy all the time but they do.

How can you tell when your CNS is fried? Here’s a good little article about CNS when it comes to strength training:

http://www.warriorsciences.com/central-nervous-system-fatigue.html#.XMDP-ehKiUk

It’s not good to be lifting heavy in the gym all the time. It’s good to pick some light days too.

In the gym, I’m going to do another week of strength training and then the week after that, I will do nothing but hypertrophy style training on the big three for a long while.

To get more strength, many powerlifters just like to lift heavy all the time during their off-season training. Not me, though. There’s gotta be days where I got to lift lighter sets and high rep sets and I’m going to be doing that a lot more. To get super human strength and if you want to get the bigger PR’s, you gotta mix hypertrophy and strength training together. You gotta build muscle and size too ’cause that helps get you strength gains.

On my other exercises other than the big three, I train hypertrophy style on everything else but I know I’m getting stronger with all of my lifts. An example of this, on my bicep curls with dumbbells, I’m starting to do 40 lb. dumbbells for 8 – 10 reps for each set and I’ve never done that in the past. 25 lb. – 30 lb. dumbbells used to feel heavy for me but not anymore. Yeah, powerlifters will never admit that hypertrophy lifting will give you more strength too but it really works.

Sometimes you gotta leave your ego at the door and do some lighter lifting, ya know? Soon, I’m going to experiment with hypertrophy style training on squat, bench and deadlift later this Spring to see how that works. I’ll have to pick light days and heavy days which I will do from now on. In the past, I used to start off light and go heavier every set on the big three but I’m going to do things differently like train hypertrophy and strength training separately.

I will continue to train for heavy sets and few reps on squats and deadlift this week. I will continue to train like that for the big three next week. The week after that, I will train hypertrophy for a long while. Don’t wanna beat your body up too much.

Kev

TV

Finished watching “Black Mirror” on Netflix over the weekend… most of it was real good but I didn’t love every episode, though…

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I know I’m late getting into the show but I finally watched “Black Mirror” on Netflix. Finished watching it over the weekend. Since everybody’s been talking about the show, I thought I would finally get into it to see what the fuss is all about. “Black Mirror” is a UK science fiction TV show exclusively for Netflix. You don’t have to watch every episode in order ’cause each episode has its own story kind of like “The Twilight Zone” or “Amazing Stories” a little bit.

From what I saw, this show isn’t just a science fiction show. This show included every genre out there: drama, mystery, suspense, horror, thriller, romance, etc. Every genre is pretty much in there.

Throughout the show while there are no big name stars in the cast there were a few big names that made special guest appearances. The biggest names I’ve seen who appeared in the show were: Jesse Plemons, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jon Hamm and Daniel Kaluuya (the star of the “Get Out” movie).

Even though the show is very popular and a lot of people loved it; however, I didn’t love every episode. There were some I thought were pretty good and okay but there were also some that were my absolute favorite. Here’s a list of bad and good episodes of the show:

Episodes that I hated: “Nosedive”, “San Junipero” and “The National Anthem”

Episodes that were my absolute favorite: “Metaldhead”, “Arkangel, “Crocodile”, “Black Museum”, “Playtest”, “White Christmas” (the one that Jon Hamm appeared in) and “Men Against Fire”.

Even though I didn’t like three episodes, I thought it was a great show for the most part. I’m gonna check out the “Bandersnatch” movie later this week.

I’m glad to finally get around to watching “Black Mirror”. I think next I’m gonna start watching “Stranger Things” ’cause I’ve never seen that show before either.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Even though I train like a powerlifter now, I still haven’t given up bodybuilding, don’t worry… I do both!

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Since I got into powerlifting, some of you may think that powerlifting will make me fat and lose my bodybuilding physique that I’ve worked so hard for. Not too worry. I haven’t given up bodybuilding training even though I’ve gotten into powerlifting. Both training styles are different and I continue to do both. Some people think it’s impossible to do both but yes, it is possible.

All powerlifting is it’s just strength training. In strength training, you just do heavy sets and few reps. That’s it. When I work on squats, bench and deadlift… I mostly concentrate on strength training on those. When powerlifters do their training splits, they only focus on the big three anyways and pretty much nothing else. They do a few assistance exercises but that’s about it. Powerlifters only work out like two or three days a week. They squat, bench and deadlift a couple of times a week but not me. I like to do the big three once a week to give some space to repair and recover, ya know? That’s how you get more strength in my opinion.

Everything else I do in the gym are all hypertrophy style training. Bodybuilding is hypertrophy style and powerlifting is strength training. Big difference between the two. I’m noticing that the more I squat, bench and deadlift each week, I’m getting stronger on the big three.

I’ve had my bench session earlier this morning and I was able to bench 135 lbs. for around 4 – 6 reps so I know I’m getting stronger on bench pretty quickly. My goal this year for bench is that I’m on the road to a 200 lb. pr. I’m hoping to hit 200 lbs. or over this year and I believe I can get there and I’m halfway there. I’m hoping to get a 200 lb. p.r in time before the push/pull meet at Albany Strength in August. I believe I can get there quickly the more I stay consistent with benching and I will.

In powerlifting, I don’t want to be a fat ass powerlifter at all so I gotta be careful with my nutrition. I don’t want to boost my calories ’cause that’s gonna bring up my bodyfat and I don’t want that so back to eating less it is. As a powerlifter, I still want to be able to have my bodybuilding physique still.

When you’re a powerlifter and bodybuilder at the same time, it’s actually a good thing ’cause hypertrophy training will still give you strength too. Big muscles will give you more strength so you got to continue hypertrophy style training. I want to be muscular and strong at the same time. In powerlifting, you can eat what you want but not me. I’m gonna keep my strict nutrition going. Big muscles is all part of strength training, remember that. That’s why I gotta continue bodybuilding too. I’m gonna try and continue to lose bodyfat even when powerlifting.

No more boosting my calorie intake ’cause I’m noticing it’s bringing my bodyfat up a little bit but not too bad. I’ll get rid of it, this summer. No more eating ice cream and Cliff Bars on the weekends ’cause that’s what I do for cheats. I’m going to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. Do a lot of cardio this Spring/Summer.

If I want to pack on more pounds to move up a weight class in powerlifting, you do that with strength training not pigging out on food. I gotta be careful with that.

I’m gonna train hard this Spring/Summer for the upcoming push/pull meet. I’ll want all my powerlifting meets to be better than the last one, that’s how you want to do powerlifting. Doing powerlifting and bodybuilding both at the same time is a lot of work but it’s all worth it. I want to look big and massive and I can get there without getting fat ’cause that’s what I don’t want.

Kev

 

WWE

The WWE lost their viewers and now they are losing their superstars… when will Vince McMahon wake up???

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For a long while now, the WWE have been losing their ratings, big time again. This is nothing new with WWE. Sometimes they are good with the ratings but most of the times the ratings have been horrible. Both RAW, Smackdown Live and the ppv’s have been at an all time low.

Why have the ratings been going down? Some people blame it on 3 hours of RAW and blame it on the many commercials that are aired during Smackdown Live. During Smackdown Live the blue brand, they air a lot of commercials… they even air commercials during the matches and that could be what drew viewers away. That’s what I think. People also believe that people turned away from WWE ’cause they are for the Saudi’s. WWE does live shows with Saudi Arabia and fans protested against them for doing it ’cause of the Saudi’s killing of that journalist. Fans didn’t want WWE to continue with the Saudi shows but they did anyways so maybe lots of fans are boycotting WWE ’cause simply they are for the Saudi’s. That could be another reason.

Those could be some pretty good reasons that people are pretty much done with WWE. Other reasons I could think of: 1) People are fed up with the PG era 2) Bad wrestling matches 3) Terrible booking 4) The superstars aren’t being used right 5) Fans are fed up with WWE ramming Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey down their throats.

I think the main reason why people are turning away is ’cause of “wrestling” really. That’s what people watch these shows for, they want to see “wrestling” but the WWE haven’t been giving us that. All they’ve been doing lately is too many wrestlers cutting promos, long boring storylines and feuds. None of us wants to see that. We want to see great matches like the good ol’ days, ya know? This is why NXT the WWE’s third brand is doing better in ratings than the main roster ’cause NXT focus’s on wrestling more than anything. They have some good wrestling matches on NXT which is why that brand is getting hotter than the main roster.

Back in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s years, WWE was really good back then but now they are complete shit. Even the current superstars are realizing this. Many superstars are quitting WWE nowadays and many are joining the new wrestling company that just got formed called AEW (All Elite Wrestling). Many superstars in WWE have asked for their release and many refused to renew their contracts. Why? Because many feel they aren’t being used right by Vince McMahon. The latest superstar to ask for WWE release was Luke Harper and now it’s looking that Sasha Banks is gonna quit WWE. Sasha hasn’t quit yet but it’s looking like she’s going to.

Superstars don’t like how they are being used and I can’t blame them. Superstars work for the company hoping to become champions and become main event stars but Vince never takes them there. I have nothing against Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey but there are many other great talent in WWE worthy of main event status but Vince keeps holding them down.

WWE is trying all they can to bring the ratings back up but they keep failing. Why? It’s because they never listen to the fans. The fans want to see “good wrestling” but they never give us that. We want to see our favorite superstars get pushed to main event status but they keep getting held down. Gee, no wonder more superstars are leaving.

Ya know, when All Elite Wrestling (AEW) gets a TV deal, the WWE better watch it ’cause I can absolutely see AEW taking over the WWE’s spotlight pretty quickly. Who knows, maybe AEW will be way better than WWE. We’ll have to wait and see. I can see AEW exploding quickly and they already are but wait until they get a TV deal. Could AEW be bigger than WWE? Yes, I can see it. That’s why WWE is scared of them ’cause they know it’s gonna happen.

I love WWE and I love pro wrestling but I want to see WWE get better ’cause what I’m seeing now is very sad. They did do a great job with Wrestlemania 35… I was impressed with that show. A lot of times I take long breaks from WWE ’cause they get so bad. I’m thinking about taking another long break again myself, not sure yet. I keep watching ’cause I love Asuka who is on SD Live and I’m a huge fan of AJ Styles. WWE is cool, I just want to see them get better like everyone else. Seeing all of this is really sad and such a shame.

WWE used to be amazing in the old days.

Kev

Health and Fitness

People who love deadlifting should watch this video…

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Kind of an old video but I think this video by Steve Shaw is worth sharing.

People who love to deadlift in the gym wonder why their backs are always hurting. Well, I agree with everything this guy said in this video. If deadlifters wonder why their lower backs hurt all the time is: 1) Their form sucks 2) They max out every week. Either one of those two will hurt your lower back.

Deadlifting maybe the best workout in the gym and maybe a blast to do but deadlift carefully and responsibly ’cause many in the gym don’t. Everyday at my local gym, for the hell of it, I like to watch other people deadlift while I rest in between sets during my workouts. Well some people deadlift in good form but most deadlift horribly, it’s crazy, ya know? I see too many lifters deadlifting with rounded backs all the time. Some deadlift with their hips too damn low that it’s almost like a squat. People deadlift by standing too far from the bar and I can go on.

I try to make my deadlift form as perfect as possible. I made one mistake on deadlift that I’ve been maxing out every week which was why I took out my back at one point a long while back. The back pain wasn’t that serious and it went away in a few days. That gave me a pretty good lesson not to max out every week.  Plus, maybe my form was a little off when that happened.

When deadlifting, you can not only hurt your lower back, you can hurt yourself in other places on your body too. Deadlift can be a fun and simple exercise as long as you do it right. If you do perfect form on every rep, you won’t hurt yourself at all and you’ll be fine.

Deadlift is very good for the back and one of the best back exercises in the gym. Deadlift is not just a back exercise, though, it works out muscles throughout your entire body pretty much except for the chest.

There’s a reason that deadlift is the most popular exercise in the gym. It used to be that bench press was the king of all workouts but now it’s looking like that deadlift has taken over the bench press’s spotlight.

Kev

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