What is R.W.A?

Prior to answering the question which is both poignant and pertinent I wanted to address the current state of blog affairs. After a monster Wednesday which saw R.W.A power its way up the blogosphere, advancing David Christie to a Y-level internet celebrity, the blog continued its assent. Taking a page out of the Allies' playbook circa 1945, R.W.A conquered Germany. Take a look at the map in my previous post below. Now imagine Germany as "light green" instead of white (I really could just update the map on this post but I want to give you all the gift of "visualization". Teach a man to fish.....).  Today the blitzkrieg continues.

So anyway, continuing down the rabbit hole with hard hitting journalistic questions, the topic of the day is What is REM Without Atonia? I suppose this question is best tackled from multiple angles. Starting with a literal answer lets break it down as follows; REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement (Also Michael Stipe's once relevant band from the 80's/90's. Following a similar career arc as U2, they have been irrelevant since the release of New Adventures in Hi-Fi in 1996. I give Michael Stipe bonus points for not being as preachy as that asshole Bono) or more directly REM sleep. This stage of sleep is characterized by (not surprisingly) rapid movement of the eyes but also brain wave patterns that are similar to that of a person who is awake ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep ).

Atonia is simply the lack of normal muscle tension. When we are sleeping there is generally a temporary loss of muscle tone in order to help us sleep better and prevent us from hurting ourselves by moving around while we are not fully coherent. When you put it together REM Without Atonia is simply the presence of REM sleep without the typical loss of muscle function that occurs in the general population. This affliction is common in people with narcolepsy or unsurprisingly those who sleepwalk (does restless leg syndrome count? I don't know).

More importantly is how this pertains to the blog at hand. The short answer is that it doesn't really but we all know that choosing a semi-cryptic name that with deeper meaning can elevate any artistic product (Note to the following bands, I'm looking at you: I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Velvet Undeground, etc). .....And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead has executed this technique to perfection (if anyone knows what the shit an Isis is, please tell me) utilizing song names that sound like they have been pulled out of a deck of magic cards ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_cards ).  Without getting too deep on you on a Friday night though R.W.A can almost be a metaphor for the term "Sleeping Awake" (not the shitty, yet somewhat catchy, P.O.D. song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiPS-JUAZdA&feature=fvst ). I'll leave that one with you to dissect because I don't have any better evidence to offer you.

Anyways as I mentioned previously, my goals for this blog are to offer insightful commentary, sarcastic/sardonic wit, and out of the box revelations on a number of everyday topics. A large proportion of the writing will integrate musical topics/references as music has/does/will played/play a significant role in my life. Reading this you are probably not going to be  exposed to new bands/scenes/music that you aren't already aware of (well, if you have any sort of indie/hipster/scenester cred anyways) but you will get a unique perspective and a fresh take on topics other blogs parsed over months/years/decades/centuries/milleniums ago (except the years 700 - 1200, they were down years for midevil blogging).

That's all I've got for tonight, but I'll leave you with some deep questions to ponder this weekend:

Who is the bigger asshole - Bono or Oprah?
Should Bono and Oprah get married and rename themselves Bonoprah and further increase their status by having only one name for two people?
Is Bono a descendant of Bonobos?
If left alone could Bono fashion a "tool" out of a stick to eat ants out of a log?
Do the song names of .....And You Will Knows Us By The Trail of Dead (AYWKUBTTOD) offend you?
Should "Trail of Dead" merge with NKOTBSB to form a "super-band" with the longest acronym ever?
Is Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All pissed at NKOTBSB for having such a long acronym name and stealing their thunder?
Why do they always use roman numerals when denoting World Wars?
Which syndrome would you rather have - Restless Leg or Irritable Bowel?