Saturday's Deerhunter show at Metro was not so much the experimental sounds that the band is known for, but more of an overall musical assault on the ears.  The aggressive mix of guitars layered the room for 75 minutes with storming drums and strangely likable front-man Bradford Cox.  Their latest songs are a little more accessible for the common fan which might explain why my three friends that watched along with me also loved the show while having little or no experience with the band. 

Songs from Microcastle mix many different styles from 60's psych to 00's strangeness, stopping in between for fiery instrumental blasts and clear vocals that could barely be heard above the expansive sounds that included fragmented dance rhythms.

pi[Wrote this as the second half began, and scheduled it to post overnight. So hopefully there was some monumental comeback to make this seem silly in retrospect, but I doubt it]/i/p pDidn't count. You see...Vinny started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes./p pAaron Gray. And Larry Hughes. Hughes at SF! Gray at a basketball position! In a regular season NBA game!/p pSo, yeah...think of that as preseason. Didn't count./p pI came home with about an hour of saved game to catch up on. I saw that Larry Hughes and Aaron Gray were starting, thought: "what the hell". Then the Blazers clowned a team starting Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Expected. The Bulls couldn't quite match up, because they had Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes in their lineup./p pAfter seven and a half minutes, the first substitution. Noah for Gray. The Bulls are down 23-7. Why it took that long to realize that it wasn't working....well I guess if you don't go into the game realizing it won't work in the first place, the chance that a few minutes will change one's mind is remote, no matter how bad it looked./p pAround then I muted the TV and was liberal with the fast-forwarding. No reason to listen to analysis of a game where one team started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes, and the other didn't. (I mean, if the Blazers started Gray and Hughes too...I suppose the game could count again)/p pSpeaking of analysis, wasn't it cute how we tried to discuss how the Bulls would match up with the Blazers today? Now it's not really fair, we were operating under the premise that the Bulls would treat it like a real game. Where the record counts and everything. Nah, they started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Wish I would've known that ahead of time./p pI'm glad Aaron gave them a big body (or whatever VDN stammered pre-game), and Hughes was able to stick that big guard, Brandon Roy.../p pMatchups!/p pI suppose as the first quarter drudged on, there was a chance of another comeback like the one against Dallas. But that was a home, against a leadfooted veteran team. In this one, the Bulls maintained the suck, and were down by 30 at the half.nbsp;/p pNobody else gets much blame, they were dealt a crappy hand (what with Hughes and Gray on their side, and the Blazers getting to play against them and all), and when after 7.5 minutes the game is already extended garbage time where guys are on their own on offense, and the opponent has a hell of a confidence boost going against you....well, I don't really care how the team performs, as it wasn't a real game. Everyone gets a pass, they were sabotaged./p pEat a turd sandwich, Vinny and Pax!/p

h3a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-20-bulls-hughes-chicagonov20,0,945416.story"Larry Hughes isn'tnbsp;happy/a/h3 divpemstrong[From the FanShots. Listen, we had to know that Larry Hughes would eventually sabotage the team, and the organization (who from the GM to the announcing crew refuse to treat this guy as the garbage-time player he now is) would be complicit in it. I guess we didn't have to know this, but this is the Bulls after all. -ed.]/strong/em/p/div

pI'm writing my post-game already, this game didn't count./p

Today in my office’s sales meeting our loan consultant talked about seller interest rate buydowns. That’s when the seller pays to lower the buyer’s mortgage interest rate.

If home buyers will be living in the home for at least 5 years and staying with that loan, it can be a great deal for them since they’ll have a lower payment every month as long as they have the loan.

If home buyers don’t plan on staying in the home or staying with the loan for 5 years, it may be better to ask for the amount the seller is willing to pay for the interest rate buydown in the form of a closing credit or reduction in price.

It typically takes roughly 5 years for buydowns to pay for themselves. If buyers have the loan less than 5 years, it won’t have paid for itself, so it may be better to get the money up front. However, if buyers stay with the loan for more than 5 years, it probably will more than pay for itself. The longer the buyer stays with the loan, the better the savings!

As with any financial decision, the results will depend on your financial situation and the details of the loan buydown program. Talk with your accountant first!

pib[Thanks to Big D for today's game preview. - ed./b/i]/p pThe Bulls will try to even up their record on the road trip tonight when they face the Portland Trail Blazers (9:30 Central, ESPN amp; WGN)./p pOn the national broadcast, the focus will probably be on the last two number one draft picks.nbsp; It should be an interesting battle to watch, because Oden has managed to stay healthy for four games in a row and is playing well.nbsp; He had 22 points and 10 boards last night, and caused Blazer fans to a href="http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-36-72/Greg-Oden-Arrived-.html" target="new"salivate/a a href="http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/11/19/665449/oden" target="new"over/a him the way we salivate over Rose.nbsp; Of course, he may have just been excited over getting to face the Bulls' interior defense tonight.nbsp; For better or worse, I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of Aaron Gray tonight.nbsp; Maybe he can go up to Joel Przybilla during a timeout and ask him how a stiff center manages to get a big contract./p pOn the other hand, the Blazers are also coming off of a loss last night.nbsp; They were a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=AsRD191KmR6vh9DZCl5uKv.K0bYF?gid=2008111809" target="new"lit up/a by undrafted free agent Anthony Morrow.nbsp; I haven't seen Morrow play yet this season, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that he is not quite as explosive as Derrick Rose.nbsp; Needless to say, Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez will not be able to stay with Rose, and if they try to put Brandon Roy on him than Gordon might be able to go off.nbsp; This presents VDN with an interesting dilemma - Rose probably needs to play fewer minutes (especially since this is the second night of a back-to-back), but how can you afford to take him out?/p pBlogging With the Enemy:/p pa href="http://www.blazersedge.com/" target="new"Blazer's Edge/a/p pa href="http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/" target="new"Behind the Blazers Beat/a/p pAs noted a href="http://www.blogabull.com/2008/11/19/665137/ok-lu-you-get-a-pass-this#comments" target="new"below/a, Deng may be out tonight.nbsp; That puts even more pressure on Rose and Gordon; in fact, the entire offense tonight may come down to Rose and Gordon, along with Noc chucking up threes.nbsp; Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Oden and Rudy Fernandez.nbsp; The Blazers have the nucleus of a great team, but they desperately need a point guard.nbsp; I can think of at least one a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3710" target="new"point guard/a who might be available around the trade deadline . . ./p