Album du jour #9 - Would you like a jar of flies with that?

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies (1994)

Utterly outstanding weather. A whistle-while-I-work time at the office. A little shopping, a lot of wine, some sublime correspondence, the best NBA game of the regular season (Dallas and Phoenix in double over time, Phoenix won but I can't complain too much), a little God of War II, and now my favourite Alice in Chains album to top it off. A la Ice Cube, I'd have to say it was a good day.

Prior Relationship to Album: I associate Alice in Chains predominately with late angsty nights as a frosh in college. In particular the songs on this album...just mesmerizing. I don't even know how to describe it, but some music for me has a dark, harmonic, just immensely powerful feeling - and this is the epitome of that type of music (DJ Shadow being another).

High Point: In a "Nutshell": listening to this song (and Rotten Apple, and Whale and Wasp, the other two nearly tied for the top spot) after midnight, on max volume on headphones, when you're coming down from being drunk and/or high (although not the latter anymore!), breathing in the night breeze as it wafts in through the window....bliss. I have goosebumps big time. This and "Midnight in a Perfect World" are the last two songs I'd want to listen to if I was seconds away from death.

Low Point: No, it is all necessary. I refuse the question. I'm sure if there were more than 7 songs there'd be one that wasn't absolutely essential, but it is a tight grouping.

What I Learned/Realized: Jar of Flies was the first and only EP ever to reach #1 on the Billboard US album chart. And this is the first work of theirs to feature bassist Mike Inez!

Future Relationship to Album: Try to have it available at all times in case impending death is imminent. Am I the only one who has "just before death, press play" songs?

In other news, I finished my NCAA bracket this afternoon. Now, I'm not trying to go for complete accuracy. My theory is that it is impossible to win any kind of pool or competition if you go with the likeliest picks (not that I am in any actual non-online pool - my philosophy friends don't like sports, my roommates don't like college basketball, and my co-workers...well, after a scandal in which BC bball players were throwing games due to betting pools 3-4 years back, they make a HUGE stink about disallowing any such pools). This is because everyone makes those same picks - so even if you get the final four right, to have any shot at winning everything you have to get every single early round pick correctly, which is basically impossible.
So instead, you have vastly greater odds to gamble on a long shot and be one of the people who picks some crazy shit. For example, I have Oregon going to the final round. Now this is partly loyalty for my home state (I was born in California, but that doesn't count...and I've spent hours and hours arguing with JP, Russ, and Paul about this), but mainly because I think they have a fairly decent shot considering the versatility of their guards, etc....and if they actually do make it that far or even to the Final Four, then that will get me a leg up on nearly everybody else. In any case, here's my bracket for anyone interested.

Insane weekend! I'm looking forward to every bit of it (and yes, the weekend begins the minute I get out of class Thursday evening).