Here is my draft results for the first year fantasy football keeper league I joined on Yahoo. I had the second overall pick in a snake style (alternating order) draft. The league I am in includes both offensive and defensive players. Yahoo ranked me as choosing the best sleepers (Hilton, Ballard and Leshoure). Let me know what you think.
1. Adrian Peterson
2. Russell Wilson
3. Andre Johnson
4. Marques Colston
5. Tony Gonzalez
6. J.J. Watt
7. Seattle Defense
8. DeAngelo Williams
9. Josh Freenman
10. Lamarr Woodley
11. T.Y. Hilton
12. Vick Ballard
13. Aldon Smith
14. Shayne Graham
15. Troy Polamalu
16. Mikel Leshoure
17. Malcolm Floyd
18. Richard Sherman
19. Brian Hartline
20. Anthony Spencer
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Riding the Runaway Train: Appreciation of Soul Asylum
I like Soul Asylum. Like many 90s bands, they had a moment to shine and quickly faded away with only hardcore fans following. But Soul Asylum deserved better.
David Pirner, vocalist and primary lyricist, is very underrated especially when it comes to song writing. I know this may see blasphemous to many fans of 90s rock, but Pirner rivals Kurt Cobain in song writing talent. There is strong emotion in Soul Asylum's songs. Pirner brings angst, sorrow, pain and even the occasional glimmer of hope in his lyrics. Let's not even focus on the band's mega-hit, "Runaway Train". How about we take a look at some of the less popular songs.
Consider "Black Gold" for a moment. Pirner approached the issue of racism with a poetic quality that wasn't in your face or abrasive. That in itself made the song stand out even more. The band's "Just Like Anyone" might be one of their lyrical best. The metaphor of using an outhouse as you fantasize about being just like everyone else is genius. And when you consider the contrasting lyrics Pirner added about people who are just like everyone else, trying to be not like everyone else, this definitely comes out as one of Soul Asylum's best. (Claire Danes was in the video, which didn't hurt things either.) "I Will Still Be Laughing" to me is kind of a middle finger song. I'm not going to tell you how you should interpret the lyrics, but I see it as a song that says, "despite the bullshit and the struggles and people trying to put you down, just keep fucking laughing". I know that approach may be hard to do sometimes, but it's worth a shot, right?
Soul Asylum had a big time celebrity fan in film director Kevin Smith. The band provided music for Smith's films Clerks, Clerks II and Chasing Amy. Pirner wrote the score for Chasing Amy.
Soul Asylum also did something noble with the video for "Runaway Train". They placed pictures of missing children in the video with a hotline to call if you believed you had seen any of them. They also shot separate versions for the UK and Australia. In several cases, children and parents were reunited. In others, there was not a happy ending, but closure was brought to the families.
David Pirner himself looks like a cross between Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose. His vocals were also typical of that time period. I'm not mentioning this to slam him or take away from how under-appreciated Soul Asylum was an on overall basis. Sure, Grave Dancer's Union went triple platinum, but why the drop off in sales afterwards? They were just as good on each album following. The loyal fans know just how good they were though. That's all that really matters.
Thanks to you all for reading. I have a list of music related entries I want to write so expect more of that in the weeks to come. Until the next time, if you cannot be a poet, be the poem.
"Like" my page: www.facebook.com/JTLovecraft
Follow me on Twitter: @JTLovecraft
David Pirner, vocalist and primary lyricist, is very underrated especially when it comes to song writing. I know this may see blasphemous to many fans of 90s rock, but Pirner rivals Kurt Cobain in song writing talent. There is strong emotion in Soul Asylum's songs. Pirner brings angst, sorrow, pain and even the occasional glimmer of hope in his lyrics. Let's not even focus on the band's mega-hit, "Runaway Train". How about we take a look at some of the less popular songs.
Consider "Black Gold" for a moment. Pirner approached the issue of racism with a poetic quality that wasn't in your face or abrasive. That in itself made the song stand out even more. The band's "Just Like Anyone" might be one of their lyrical best. The metaphor of using an outhouse as you fantasize about being just like everyone else is genius. And when you consider the contrasting lyrics Pirner added about people who are just like everyone else, trying to be not like everyone else, this definitely comes out as one of Soul Asylum's best. (Claire Danes was in the video, which didn't hurt things either.) "I Will Still Be Laughing" to me is kind of a middle finger song. I'm not going to tell you how you should interpret the lyrics, but I see it as a song that says, "despite the bullshit and the struggles and people trying to put you down, just keep fucking laughing". I know that approach may be hard to do sometimes, but it's worth a shot, right?
Soul Asylum had a big time celebrity fan in film director Kevin Smith. The band provided music for Smith's films Clerks, Clerks II and Chasing Amy. Pirner wrote the score for Chasing Amy.
Soul Asylum also did something noble with the video for "Runaway Train". They placed pictures of missing children in the video with a hotline to call if you believed you had seen any of them. They also shot separate versions for the UK and Australia. In several cases, children and parents were reunited. In others, there was not a happy ending, but closure was brought to the families.
David Pirner himself looks like a cross between Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose. His vocals were also typical of that time period. I'm not mentioning this to slam him or take away from how under-appreciated Soul Asylum was an on overall basis. Sure, Grave Dancer's Union went triple platinum, but why the drop off in sales afterwards? They were just as good on each album following. The loyal fans know just how good they were though. That's all that really matters.
Thanks to you all for reading. I have a list of music related entries I want to write so expect more of that in the weeks to come. Until the next time, if you cannot be a poet, be the poem.
"Like" my page: www.facebook.com/JTLovecraft
Follow me on Twitter: @JTLovecraft
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