YOUR MISSION

If you choose to accept it.

YOUR WILDEST DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE

Colour Revolt's album "Plunder, Beg, and Curse" is available on emusic.com.

Right now.

RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Buy, buy, buy!
Click, click, click!
Listen, listen, listen!

Just suggestions, really.

(did any of you ever think when you woke up this morning... that today could really be the day? be honest - you didn't. and now it is. NOW IT IS!!!!!!)

It's time to celebrate... HORATIO CAINE STYLE.



And if that wasn't your cup of tea (unimaginable), may I direct you to Garfield Minus Garfield.



I think that's it!

I'll say it. I am on a roll.

Goodtimes in Brighton

For those of you that might be interested, I uploaded a set of photos from our trip.

HE FEELS IT, HE REALLY FEELS IT

I was on wikipeida today and found this gem:

"When tonsillitis is caused by a virus, the length of illness depends on which virus is involved. Usually, a complete recovery is made within one week, however some rare infections may last for up to two weeks."

There! I am special again.

(my complete recovery took EIGHT days)

So.

I don't really have anything else to post. I just typed in "this day in history" and found absolutely nothing. In 1919, Oregon became the first state to impose a state tax on gasoline.

If you watched the Oscars last night (which I did, kind of), you saw "No Country For Old Men" win Best Picture (which I didn't, I was caught up dominating word worms in Cranium). If you haven't seen the movie yet... well, I've been staring at the blinking cursor in front of me for a few minutes and I haven't been able to think of what to say.

There is an old man. He is being passed by. There's lots more, too.

That doesn't help at all.

Here, though, is probably the film's most memorable scene. Javier Bardem, last night's Best Supporting Actor, enters a Texas gas station with both (thanks Jon Stewart) "Hannibal Lector's murderousness and Dorothy Hamill's wedge cut."



And if you're in need of a palate cleanser, I think Colour Revolt's recent rendition of "Twist and Shout" ought to do it.



Not kidding.

"WHOA, THAT'S A BIG BURGER"

Now that's what I call a guilty pleasure.

THE HUMAN BODY IS A MIRACLE

So we're back in the States. Let me tell you about our last week in a roundabout way... with my trip to the doctor yesterday:

me: hello.
nurse: well follow me back here. how are you today, Mr. Wallin?
me: TERRIBLE.
nurse: (pause) oh.
me: /half smile
nurse: well, that's no good! here, sit on this. now tell me your symptoms.
me: I was hit with and a sudden and severe sore throat last Friday night. it hasn't improved in six days. hardly any congestion. swollen glands. fever. chills. no fun.
nurse: no, that doesn't sound fun.
me: I've been on google a lot, too, and I'm pretty sure this has to be strep throat. I took the self-diagnosis test and passed 4 out of the 5 questions. I am a shoe-in.
nurse: /stuffs one of those swab things down my throat
me: ouch.
nurse: the doctor will be right in to see you.
me: /waits
doctor: hello bret, how are you?
me: my throats hurts. it hurts really, really bad.
doctor: well, the good news is that you don't have strep throat.
me: WHAT.
doctor: right. no strep throat. just tonsillitis.
me: but I self-diagnosed myself. if it's just tonsillitis, I didn't even need to come in. I didn't even need to give you my money.
doctor: well, it's good that you dropped by. I'll still prescribe you some antibiotics.
me: okay.
doctor: so I've given you this prescription for antibiotics. and I want you to take four ibuprofen at every meal.
me: excuse me?
doctor: four ibuprofen.
me: at every meal?
doctor: yes.
me: that's twelve ibuprofen a day.
doctor: yes, just make sure to take them with a meal so they don't upset your stomach.
me: well. okay.

I am finally starting to feel semi-better.

I know. Exciting stuff, right? But that's why - my apologies! - there aren't any pictures from our last run of UK dates. What a great time, though (minus my throat exploding). An especially huge thank you to everyone at the London show on Tuesday. It was, sincerely, one of the greatest memories that I'll take with me from Anathallo. Our first headline show overseas and for the entire room to know the words... well, thank you.

More thank you's, of course, to:
Manchester Orchestra (DID YOU KNOW THEY READ THIS BLOG? IF YOU LEAVE ANDY A QUESTION IN THE COMMENTS SECTION, I'M SURE HE WOULD BE HAPPY TO EXPLAIN HIS LYRICS TO YOU)
Kevin from Big Scary Monsters
Boots Drug Store
The cast of One Tree Hill (we finished season one)
This guy, especially.


So while I don't have any pictures, Manchester did make a couple videos from our shared adventures. Here's the first, a collection of scenes from their flight, camera tricks, watching Gilmores in the van, Steven their tour manager/driver, and our night in Glasgow:



It was a van with mixed feelings towards Logan Huntzberger.

Bye!

A NICE SENTIMENT

(if you can't tell by the pictures, our showgoing nights have cut into our sightseeing opportunities)

(and by "showgoing nights," I mean "Lucas, Nathan, and Dan Scott marathons")

(okay, I mean both)

(perhaps a Manchester Orchestra tour video will be coming your way tomorrow?)

Happy Valentines Day all!

Especially Sarah, Heidi, Kim, and Taylor. Sorry we can't be back home tonight.

Goodnight UK friends! And have a good night, stateside friends.

BACKSTAGE LONDON

THE FACE OF A MAN WHO WOULD STAY UP UNTIL SEVEN IN THE MORNING WATCHING ONE TREE HILL

Ummm, best tour ever?

I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT I ATE

Mmmm... hot dog pastry lined with a mustard glaze.

Your jealousy is so unflattering!

I spent the day in Manchester's van watching Gilmore Girls as we
travelled the Scottish countryside.

Is this heaven?

I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT I SAW

I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT I SEE

DAY TWO PART TWO

DAY TWO

HELLO FROM THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

Hey all! Everyone else is sleeping right now (are we six hours ahead
of you? seven?) but I took an unfortunate nap earlier this afternoon.
The hostel we're set up at in Galway is great (free wifi, what's up?!)
and I thought maybe you'd like to see how we spent our day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3kviCdvLhg

Hopefully mobile blogger technology will allow you to click the link
instead of resorting to cut and paste. The weather is pretty similar
to what we saw today... wish you could have been here.

Highlight of the flight:
watching Everybody Loves Raymond under two blankets while eating
breakfast.

Lowlight of the flight:
being completely convinced we were going to die when we hit a rude
jetstream and contemplating non-existence in a (generously) half awake
state.

Winner goes to:
Ray!!! Oh Ray. And my croissant. Oh croissant.

I should probably get some sleep now, though.

Love to all!

BLOGSEARCH DOT GOOGLE DOT COM

More mobile blogging from yours truly:

Happy Super Tuesday! The above picture is a touch screen, my friends,
and I'm happy to report that I voted in style. Right now Matt and
Jamie are reading magazines, Danny and Seth are discussing dinner
options, and I'm typing this out as we all wait at the airport for our
flight to Dublin.

"Our flight to Dublin." Such a nice sentence.

I hope you've all been well! A confession: I'm still frightened by
phone posting. I like having the whole post in front of me. I like
going through google image searches and youtube threads. This... is
different. My proofreading is shakier, the content a little loose.

But!

But but but. I haven't been at a computer in over a week and - I'm
guessing - any post is better than no post... even if the days of drum
playing gorilla embedded videos have been temporarily suspended.
Please forgive! And thanks for reading.

The anticlimatic news.. if you've been to our myspace (also woefully
neglected):

We're going on tour with Aloha! One of our favorite bands
(honestly)... and maybe the first instance of our touring with a band
that we LOVE that we really don't have a relationship with. Think of
one of your favorite bands - maybe you've seen them once - but you
really have no connection to them except for hitting play on your
iPod. Now imagine touring with that band for a few weeks this spring.
Not a bad daydream, right?

(imagine that I just posted a video of their live show)

(SIGH)

(I will get over this! I promise! I just need to get into the habit)

So yes, an Aloha/Anathallo tour after SXSW. Excellent.

And good news! The cd will be out ______! And we're naming it ______!

I'm sorry - I wish I had the answers... hopefully soon! We just got an
e-mail from _______ and that would be exciting if they wanted to put
out the record in the states. And Big Scary Monsters will be releasing
the Hana 4/Entropy vinyl any day now overseas. We're ecstatic to be
part of their family and can't wait to meet everyone.

Sad news that I hate to break so casually: it sounds like The Format
broke up today. It's over on their myspace - hopefully if you're a fan
of theirs you had already heard and I'm not the bearer of bad news.

Old tourmates June broke up over the weekend, too. So strange.

A bit of great news for me and good news for you:

I HAVE THE NEW COLOUR REVOLT RECORD.
ALL TEN TRACKS.
THEY ARE INCREDIBLE.
LIKE REALLY.
ALL-CAPS WORTHY.

I'm excited for you all to hear it... but, to be honest, I'm probably
more excited that it keeps me company on train rides now.

Hmmmm.

Sorry to my scrabulous friends, I haven't been able to play a move all
week (and for the next two). Patience?Please?

I think that's it. Wolf Blitzer keeps showing up on the airport
television but I know he won't have the primary results until after
we're already in the air. C'mon Wolf... I KNOW you have those exit
polls.

He's taunting me.

I should go.

Bye!

P.S. Blarney Stone here we come!