I now have Skype! My username is k.r.langer, and although I'm unlikely to use it any more than I use my landline (i.e. not much), it would be cool to at least be theoretically able to contact other people using the program, so please, please send me your Skype name if you have one! I'm hoping to be able to eventually entirely replace my landline with Skype, and this is sort of a trial run to see whether that's actually going to be possible.

Also, I like this song. I like it a lot.

There's a mini music festival going on in Waterloo this weekend, and last night was its first night. It was a pretty fun time, though I foolishly allowed myself to fall into a bit of an introvert's paralysis and so didn't end up talking much with other people, although they mostly seemed pretty cool. Probably in large part because they seemed really cool. But, whatever, I was mostly there for the music, and the music was good.

Well, okay, some of the music was good. Some of it was pretty terrible. I could sing better than some of the so-called singers there, which should give you an idea. BUT. The last band that played was really fantastic. They're called 'The Burning Hell', and, well, I'm just going to link to some of their music, okay? I never quite got the hang of music reviews.

• The band's MySpace page


• Grave Situation Pt. 1


• Grave Situation Pt. 2

(Multiply the awesomeness of what I've linked to there to get some idea of what the live performance was like. They've got a great stage presence.)

Sadly, I haven't been able to find any copies of what was probably the most unexpected of their songs, a little number called Berlin Conference, or something quite similar, sung from the perspective of a wildly gesticulating Otto von Bismark. It may not have been their best number, but the idea of it alone was pretty thoroughly delighting. Though that could just be the inner history geek speaking, I guess.

I don't think I even want to admit how much time I just spent listening to Gregorian chant covers of pop songs on YouTube. What was I thinking? Why? How did this even start? Truly, I have no idea.

(Their 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'Comfortably Numb' are also oddly compelling, IMO, though the synth is pretty unfortunate. Oh, and their cover of 'My Immortal' continues to prove that Evanescence songs are approximately a hundred times better when sung by anyone who is not Evanescence.)