I have come into possession of far too much music recently.
Well, that's wrong. There is no such thing as too much music, but rather I just have not had the chance to digest everything I've acquired. I routinely find myself at the gym and a song comes on and I go "holy shit, I have this song?"
Of course this sometimes means I'll spin (spin, as if I even have CDs anymore) an old album and just relive the memories.
Not too long ago I was at the gym listening to "Evildoer's Beware" by Mustard Plug. This was the first album I ever saw of theirs (not the first I owned). I was at Dan's house, and he had this job where he made good money (for high school) and invested quite a bit of his earnings in CDs. He was really into punk and ska at the time- he helped nurture my love of the genres- and showed me this album with a tube of mustard wearing sunglasses. I knew I loved the band from that moment on.
When I got the album, it just brought the image to life/ Songs like "Box," "Mendoza," and my personal favorite "You" are perfect examples of the Plugs punchy pop laden brand of ska. "Go" is an incredibly punchy and uptempo song punctuated by some great bass work. The almost yelled lyrics just punctuate the urgency in the song and accompany the fun and simple nature of the band.
"You" consistently makes my top songs of all time. It has too many things I love, including dueling vocals and relatively simple lyrics. The shifting tempo and sing- along chorus, well, it makes for some interesting moments for the people next to me in traffic.
The album ends perfectly with the ultimate Plug sing along "Beer Song." Take everything I said about the previous song and apply it here, only this one is all at once more upbeat and more depressing, while also featuring a great horn line that really feels like a tightly wound kick in the teeth.
I had a chance to see these guys live at some dive bar in Buffalo, and man, it was everything I wanted. Yes, I was 23 at a ska show, but it was so much fun. It just reminded me what Mustard Plug means to me.
It means hanging out in summer with my friends. It's beer on the porch and the early days of college. It's ska for when I want something simple and driving, uncomplicated and (here's that word again) punchy.

This weekend is the first Premier Event for Pauper on Magic Online. I'm excited for it and hope to show up and do well. I am pretty sure I know what I am going to run (something I have a ton of practice with) and feel I have an edge on the field. Of course, I'll probably end up unhappy with my result, but that would happen no matter what.

The hardest thing about being a nerd is getting involved. I mean, my biggest complaint with the Transformers movie was that there were not enough robots and the time we spent seeing them, well, stunk- the camera was moving far too much.
Please, in the future, we want more robots fighting and less shaky camera.