A Very Long Countdown Now Begins

After 2 failed attempts, I got my tickets to see Nine Inch Nails this November! Words cannot describe how excited I am for this event. It's been five years since I last them tear it up live and in five months, I'm going to bruise my palms and lose my voice once more. I can't wait!

Please forgive the lack of activity for I am without a stable internet connection at the moment. I am, however, still working on those Nine Inch Nails album reviews. Those will be completed. For real. Please don't look at me that way; I'm serious.

Thanks

Eau

The concept of fragrances has always been something of an attention grabbing mystery with me. I can appreciate people smelling nice (and hygiene) in general but I never understood the concept of fragrances enough to use one regularly, or even occasionally. I'll stick with deodorant, thanks.

Prior to last week, I hadn't worn cologne or any fragrance in about 3 years and when I did, I only did so for one day. Prior to THAT, I had only worn cologne once in my entire life.

I think the reason I never really gave it much thought was because my sense of smell has always been fucked up. I've only begun to notice this fact in recent years. I think it stopped working at full capacity a few years ago, or I just never really noticed until recently when I had seemingly run out of things to occupy my mind and as such was forced to think of other things.

Really grasping at straws, my mind's eye is.

That being said, I appreciate good hygiene and smelling good. It often makes me feel ashamed when I walk somewhere on an errand and a girl who smells really good walks past. I feel bad because I probably skipped a shower and have absorbed the smell of the city, and sweat. Fun.

"If I can smell her, she can probably smell me."

It's not like I do this on purpose, it just seems to happen frequently that whenever I'm on an errand, I skip a shower because I'm gonna come back home and do nothing for a while anyway. Similar to that, "why clean up when you're only going to get dirty again?" phrase. The only difference is I'm not going to let myself smell like a dumpster.

You ever smell that? It's fucking disgusting! It's one of the few things my sense of smell CAN register. I know it registers because it makes me wince, recoil in disgust, and gag.

With that, I'll probably start wearing cologne more frequently. Once I figure out the unnecessary complexities behind selecting a smell to adopt and present.

Maybe someone will say, "Damn, you smell GOOD!"

Review: The Fragile

The Fragile

Nine Inch Nails

1999

I don't remember when I first heard The Fragile. Nowadays, all I can tell you is that this album never really connected with me the way the first two did even though it follows the same themes as The Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine, or the stuff Trent Reznor writes about in general. Despite that, it didn't reach me on the same level as the two or even Broken (if we're going to start grasping at straws). That being said, it's always difficult to live up to the hype and anticipation and follow up an amazing album four year later. And it must be more difficult to be expected to deliver masterpiece after masterpiece and this is where my review starts.

It must be a daunting task to live up to the expectations set by your previous work which was received so well, with such enthusiasm and acclaim. It sets the bar very high and makes the fall much higher and probably hurt more. That being said every time I listen to The Fragile, it sounds like a chaotic if not sloppy attempt to blend everything that's come before into something new.

I really don't remember what the circumstances were when I first listened to The Fragile. I was probably still in high school finally discovering Nine Inch Nails. Or I might have listened to it after I graduated, I don't know. I do know that the title of the album can work as an indicator of his condition but also the condition of the album.

While I wouldn't call The Fragile my favorite NIN album, or even put in the top 3, I have to admit that in its flaws and shortcomings there is a some art, albeit unintentionally rehashed and watered down.

Because there really isn't much for me to say about this album is probably why this review is so short. There's something missing in the Fragile. Yeah it has some great tunes like Starfuckers Inc, The Day the World Went Away, Into the Void, which carry a lot of anger and traces of that Nine Inch Nails ferocity but there's something missing that keeps it from becoming a good kind of stand-out. It doesn't make any sense either. Everything is there, Trent is still at the top of his game, the themes that he writes about so well are there, the music is good but it still doesn't click. Maybe it's treading on familiar ground in such a way that feels overly disconnected and detached.

It drones on more than it destroys and that's probably why The Fragile feels so fragile.

7/10