Is This a Teaching Hospital?

I found my Meatloaf poster from 1978!

Teh wOOt!

(Yes, that was gamer talk.)

Apparently, I didn’t realize that every update goes into a master blog that everyone can read.

So, since no one knows me, I guess I’ll do a short intro.

My name is Ryan. I am a Graduate student here at USF. I recieved my B.S. in Physics from Florida State, and now I am pursuing my M.S. in Engineering Science/Electrical Engineering.

I love music, both playing and listening to. I am efficent and adept at Drums and Percussion, with a little bit of Bass experiance.

Thats about it.

My closest friends…and even my no-so-close friends, know that my favorite artist of all time is Meatloaf. No, not the food you fools, the singer. The (formally) 300 pound guy from Texas who tore it up on the football fields, got randomly recruited to be in the original production of “Hair,” sang “I Would Do Anything For Love,” and made a guest appearance in Fight Club.

I used to have this nifty original poster from 1979, but my sister misplaced it when she decided to redecorate my room while I was away.

I love his music. I’m not entirely sure why…It must be my love of rock operas. Almost every single song ever sung by ML told a story. It had a purpose; an overall vision. Most music nowadays just stems from the “bunch of pitifull teenagers who are pissed at their dad” syndrome. ML sung from the heart, and he sang about stuff that people actually cared about: love, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The all time greatest Wagnerian style Nookie quest.

For many people, his voice takes some getting used to, and for many others, his music just isnt appealing. Whatever, you are entitled to your opinion, even if it’s wrong. His music was written by a genious by the name of Jim Steinman. I’m sure you have heard of him…if not, stab yourself with a soddering iron.

The original Bat Out of Hell was a masterpiece of music. Widely regarded as one of the best rock albums ever produced, it also has been said “There is no other album like it, unless you count the sequel.” Paradise by the Dashboard light, as well as the title track, Bat Out of Hell, are very often included in lists of the greatest rock songs ever. But putting that aside, BOH has sold 40 million copies (worldwide), making it anywhere between the 7th and 4th best selling album of ALL TIME (depending on the source).

At the CBS Record Convention in 1979, Meatloaf was realitivly new, with little respect in the music community. He was to perform a musical piece to an audience of world class celebrities and musicians. He performed a small piece, then noticed that the audience sorta liked his music. Then, out of nowhere, he told his band to “Do BAT!” …The rest of course, is history….He performed the song flawlessly. In fact, it was so good, that the audience all stood up. Many of them started jumping on their tables and dancing (including a very famous Billie Joel, ever heard of him?) The only other person to EVER have that kind of reaction at the Convention was Janis Joplin. Don’t ever say SHE wasnt a famous rocker.

Bat Out of Hell 2 was a worthy followup. He did exactly the same thing he did with the original, just with new songs. “I Would Do Anything For Love” is still being played on rock and pop stations to this day. It also happened to win him a couple of grammy’s. Finally some respect.

So Bat Out of Hell 3 arrives. Near 30 years after the original, and 13 years after BOH2. I am EXSTATIC. I run down to Best Buy at 9 in the morning to be the first to get it. I slap it into my cd player…and…then…erm…what is this noise coming out of my speakers?!…it sounds like…like…like suck.

Dissapointment. I mean…its not entirely that bad, but its NOT Bat Out of Hell. First of all, very little of it is written by Steinman (arg). The world needs to understand, there is only one person that can write songs for Meatloaf. Everyone else tries, and fails miserably, as evidenced by almost every single other Meatloaf song not written by him. The songs dont have the type of magic that made his others so powerful. They lacked feeling. Don’t get me wrong, ML’s voice is still top quality, and he puts his own emotion into the songs. But, the songs sound rushed, and not very enthralling. They are almost childish…and many can make the argument that almost ALL ML music sounds somewhat childish, but again, we are talking about songs NOT written by Steinman, which automatically puts them in a lower category. There are a few cool songs, ones that I can listen to more then once, but there are no songs that really stand out. There are no Bat’s or Paradise or Anything for Love’s, and that is a disspointment. “Cry Over Me” is probably the best song on the album, ML’s soaring high pitched vocals are very apparent.

Still, it’s Meatloaf, and I am a little biased, so I give this album more credit then it probably deserves. If you are a big fan, get it, if not…dont waste your time. Download a song or two and then make a decision. But, if you have never really heard ML and want an example, then DL “Bat Out of Hell” and experiance it. Because, as they say, there is no other album, or other music for that matter, that is like it.

So, I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Allmusic gave it 2 out of 5 I think.

Just for perspective, Allmusic (which very rarely gives ratings above 4 stars), gave both BOH and BOH 2 4.5 out of 5 stars. Something must be right about those albums, wouldn’t you say?

In a weeks time, I have managed to do all of three things; watch The West Wing with Tyler, play FIFA WC 2006 with Jacob, and apply for a few jobs. Honestly, I fear for my survival next semester. Living with my two best friends could be a bad choice; failing out of grad school or dying in a gutter are both reasonable outcomes.

It’s ok though, because our house search is almost complete. We have found the perfect house, now it’s a matter of convincing some parental units to actually buy it for us. I’m sure we will be sold into slavery in order to cover the cost of the monthly morgage, but it is well worth it.

What can my future hold? Will I be an Engineer for the rest of my life? Maybe its just wishfull thinking, or an over abundance of West Wing, but I might just try politics later in life. My daily discussion with Ty about the state of the union has peaked my interest in the field. With all the problems of todays world, and all the lunitics who make it into office, I’m sure I might have a slim chance of actually doing something interesting.

White, moderate-independant, upper middle-class christian to the rescue!
*cough*

Tyler told me about this cool blog thing that all USF students get…so I decided to give it a try. I have a myspace blog, but it didn’t seem quite as fun. I’m hoping to post things of profound interest on this thing, but knowing me, it might just sit here for months with no updates… or it will degrade into complaining about my inability to get anything done while living with these fools.