Battle for the Sun

It's here!!

My favorite band in the whole of the world is Placebo. They have managed to hold that spot longer than any other musical act in my life. When I was 14 I discovered their album "Without You I'm Nothing" and felt a strange sense of auditory belonging. The words and sounds made sense in my twisted and confused world of teen angst. They have managed to stay contemporary with my life as I have changed.

Their sound has evolved greatly since they released "Without You I'm Nothing"(WYIN) and changes from album to album. Each new album has shown new levels of lyrical complexity and musical challenge. Their first album had a very raw and untrained sound but "Battle for the Sun" has a much more refined sound, so much so that the band seems more comfortable playing around with the musical structure of their songs.

The musical logistics aside, the lyrics have certainly moved from drug fueled crazy to clear messages and metaphors built surprisingly well. I've learned to not expect much from my lyrics but Placebo has blown me away with "Meds" and now with "Battle for the Sun".

If you have the chance you should listen to this album a few times. The first time you hear it you won't get the full effect. The more you hear it, the more you grow to appreciate the nuances and craftsmanship.

It's a great album from a great band. I'm psyched to see what they do next but for now I am more than happy to enjoy their latest work.

Blog Response 3: blogging bipolar for the females

I believe most people have their own brand of crazy and mine happens to be Bipolar II with a mix of other lovely things including Ovarian Cysts and Fibromyalgia. Why am I telling you all of my medical problems? Because sometimes the best cure is a really good blog.

After looking around at various male oriented bipolar blogs I decided to see what technorati could find about blogs that included the words "women" and "bipolar" the results? Not much. At this point I turned to Feministing and discovered the joyous wonders of The Trouble with Spikol, a blog by Liz Spikol about her struggles with life, mental illness, bipolar disorder, and mops. Feministing featured one of her YouTube videos in a post about "Mad Pride" several months ago.

I love what Spikol has to say about life and bipolar disorder because it is what I live every day and being bipolar is sometimes a very, very lonely existance. The advantage to having resources like this on the internet is that they allow me stay within the comfortzone of my corner of the couch while allowing me to reach out to the world. Not only does Spikol blog about her own life she also talks about medications, treatment options, and the realities of ECT or electro shock therapy as it's better known.

I particularly appreciated her post on her recent move to a new apartment talking about how she was coping with the massive change: "Dealing With Life? Yes and No". Does it say anything particularly profound? Not really, it's just nice to not feel alone in struggles like this. I also think it's a huge help to have a resource that keeps tabs on the new information that emerges about the effects many of the psych meds used to tread bipolar disorder have such as her post informing people of a new required label for certain meds including Lexapro, Cymbalta, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, and others.

I've come across blogs about many things such as PTSD and Post-Partum Depression but this was the first really good blog about being a female with bipolar disorder or really any mental illness that I've found yet. It's brilliant.