They came here to make me dance tonight.

It surprises me that everyone says Fall Out Boy are horrible live, considering that the other Fueled By Ramen bands are some of the best live performers I have ever seen. While Panic at the Disco tops them all in terms of live quality, no band can beat the show put on by Cobra Starship.

Gabe Saporta is one of the most entertaining vocalists in this industry, and when combined with Cobra's tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the songs are just as laughable as they are danceable. Most people know Cobra Starship for their movie theme song, "Snakes On a Plane (Bring It)". While I love that song, it's really not a representation of who Cobra is today, considering that all but one of the vocalists and instrumentalists on "Snakes On a Plane" are not actually in the band today. To be perfectly honest, "Snakes On a Plane" is probably better quality the the band's new songs, but it just isn't as funny. Some people also know about Cobra, or at least about Gabe, because he used to be the lead singer for the band Midtown.

One of my personal favorite songs is "Damn You Look Good and I'm Drunk (Scandalous)". Cobra was accompanied in the studio by the V.I.P Party Boys for this song, and it is beyond outrageous. Go listen to it... unless you're easily offended. But so long as you can take a little vulgarity, I promise you will enjoy it, and "S-C-A-N-D-to the A- to the L-O-U-S" will forever be stuck in your head.

I highly suggest that everyone listen to Cobra Starship. Especially to "Guilty Pleasure" (video posted below), "City Is At War," "Prostitution is the World's Oldest Profession (And I Dear Madame am a Professional)," and "Kiss My Sass."


Cobra Starship's "Guilty Pleasure" Home Video, produced and recorded by the band.

If any of the links don't work, I apologize. YouTube is currently in a legal battle with Warner Music Group and that has caused all Fueled By Ramen (and many other) videos to be removed.

Photo of Gabriel Saporta by Sarah Maloy at Bogarts Music Hall in Cincinnati, November 22, 2008.

I can't believe you take it so serious... seriously.

I'm tired of everyone trying to document everything. I hate Facebook and I hate everyone's desperate need to take a million pictures to put on Facebook.

I wish we could just live in the moment.

Not that I'm not guilty of doing all these things, but I wish I didn't.

Earlier this week, we had a few inches of snow and a lot of ice, so classes were canceled. Now if there is one thing that can motivate college kids to go outside and celebrate, it's a snow day. Everyone slept in until past noon, something which was particularly noticeable when girls were lining up for the shower around one-o-clock, and then got ready to go out in the snow.

And what did everyone have to grab before heading out? Their camera. So we proceeded outside; ten friends, ten cameras, and very little fun. We quickly realized that there was no point in taking pictures... since everyone was taking pictures. The majority of us returned our cameras either to our rooms or our pockets, and the day was fantastic after that.

But the point I'm trying to make in this very random and likely to be deleted blog is that there is no point in trying to record everything... if you aren't even going to be there to experience it in the first place.

One of my favorite bands, Cobra Starship, set up a camera to film them while they wrote their new album in a cabin in Pennsylvania. One night, after hours of work, a few bottles of wine, and a bottle of vodka, they began calling fans. My friend came into my room to inform me of this development and I pulled up the website at once. The first person whom they called after I began watching spent the first five minutes of her conversation telling Gabriel Saporta, the lead singer, to "hold on a sec" while she tried to find her camera and begin recording the conversation.

As I watched, I thought how pathetic she was to be blowing an opportunity to talk to him, but then I realized that I would probably do the same thing. Because otherwise, what would I put online for everyone to see? How would I prove to anyone that he had actually called to talk to me? Our society has become one in which the experiences we have are not as important as the stories and the proof that we had them.

Gabe told the girl on the phone, "Stop trying to record this. You're wasting the whole conversation; just live in the moment," and after she kept ignoring him in favor of a camera, he hung up on her.

Since that night I've been thinking about my life and about all the things I've missed while trying to capture proof of the moment-- while looking for a story to tell. I'm determined to stop wasting my life taking pictures and trying to have something to brag about. I'm just going to enjoy my experiences and live in the moment. Next time I go to a concert or some sort of event, I may take my camera, but it will stay in my pocket for everything except a meet-and-greet. Anyone with me?