i am so getting "alter bridge's" 1st cd... i can't believe the talent that mark tremonti exhibits on it, just by listening to the samples on the website... it sounds so much like ol skool rock. GOOD ol skool rock. i don't think i could play any of the songs he plays on the cd anytime soon... all these awesome techniques that you ONLY hear from ol skool stuff, and never find these days... and i'm not just talking about the riffs; it's the way he's playing them that make them stand out. utilizing the wah pedal to full effect, how he hammers with his left fingers to play the note, instead of strumming it, bending to emphasize the note, pull-offs, vibrato, etc, etc... not to mention his left finger speed is amazing... he's seriously way... too... crazy... yeah, it's hard and heavy. but the techniques... i've seen my bro do stuff like this, so i know... i have a visual picture of what mark is somewhat doing with each song... it's too crazy. maybe that's why i like hard rock so much... you don't see ppl in any other genre doing stuff like this on their guitars... they just strum it... the rare gems of hard rock and classic rock are top tier guitar, period.

and i'm scratching the fantasy of getting an electric violin a while after i get a job; after listening to yellowcard, a punk rock band which SUPPOSEDLY sets itself apart from other bands by having an electric violinist, i don't hear the difference. i really don't. i couldn't even figure out that they had a violinist until reading it; just sounded like a 2nd guitarist.

here's to the warriors making the playoffs this year... it's about time...
here's to the pistons repeating(if warriors don't make finals, of course :D)... and proving the doubters wrong again, and showing that they play the best d in the league(who else can hold so many teams under 70 pts? right after they got rasheed last year, their d just REALLY caught on fire and they even held the showtime lakers to under 70 pts one finals game... that was sweet)... ben wallace better go crazy blocking shots again... it's why i love him so much.
here's to the lakers not making the playoffs... given that they're the lakers, they'll probably be in the post season eventually, but if they could not make the playoffs this year, that'd be so sweet...
here's to the celtics actually doing better this year... paul pierce better be on fire now that he doesn't have to do the majority of the dribbling...
here's to the mavs sucking... because quite frankly, i hate erick dampier for leaving us, let alone leave to dallas, of all places... it's like the equivalent of giving up shaq for gs... i dislike him the same way sam dislikes arenas for leaving... if i ever go to a dallas vs gs game, i'm booing damp everytime he touches the ball...

here's to someone stapling shaq's mouth shut for the rediculously stupid things he says, and somebody else crushing kobe's love for money...

there's probably more nba shoutouts of mine, but these are the main ones... damn... the west is like one huge power struggle right now... just for fun, if i were to name the top 5 of each conference:

west:
1.spurs
2.twolves
3.kings
4.grizzlies
5.nuggets

1 and 2 are no-brainers, maybe even tied, or exchangeable; both are well-balanced, and can pretty much hang w/anyone. i put spurs over though, cause their backcourt talent is slightly better, and duncan has a better center to help him out; IF(and that's the big word), parker gets on fire, he can be very hard to contain and then just draws d to him like metal shards to a magnet when he's running amok. after that, it gets kinda iffy, IMO; you could throw in rockets, maybe even dallas(or a ton of other teams, to be honest; utah you could make a case for). kings i'm still wondering about, cause they lost divac, and it seems a bit of their chemistry, but if they learn to play d again and just torch others on the perimeter, i think they can hang. grizzlies did surprisingly good last year, that's why i put them there. nuggets have kenyon martin, so yea... i am P.R.A.Y.ING DOT COM that lakers don't make this list... but then, they DO have kobe...

east:
1.pistons
2.pacers
3.heat
4.celtics
5.cavs

no 1's a no brainer; they can hold any offense down, and easily the deepest team, so they're the obvious number 1 dot com. i put pacers above heat because they're deeper, and j.o. bulked up during the summer. but that doesn't mean heat sucks; if you have a selfless player and shaq, that's already a good team. 4 and 5 i'm still kinda iffy about. however, both seem to be well-balanced teams, so they stand a chance. on the celtic side, mark blount seemed to get better. and the addition of payton means pierce can concentrate upon shooting. cavs have lebron, so yea... you could also make a case for philly since samuel is only going to get better defensively. nets aren't there cause they lost kenyon martin.