What’s better than a southern punk rock sounding band comprised of tattooed boys who have some serious chips on their shoulders? A southern punk rock sounding band comprised of tattooed boys with serious chips on their shoulders who are FROM ENGLAND.

Most people call them Gallows, but after spending a couple months on Warped Tour alongside them this past summer; I call them The UK’s Answer To The Shitty American Hottopic-esque Bands Polluting The Minds Of Today’s Teens, instead.

They’re angry. But they’re honest. They don’t prepackage themselves with the sorta fashion you’d expect out of a festival like Warped Tour these days. In fact, Gallows pretty much don’t give a f*$k about anything.

The singer literally spits lyrics about a girl cleaning his cum off of her face. Now, hold your feminist horses….because believe me….I have a point. Maybe you don’t like the idea of this dude singing with lyrical content like this, but let me ask you:

If you were a singer who was angry and writing lyrics about an ex, can you swear to god that you would never ever arrogantly reference your sexual past with that person as a sort of bargaining power for an even more vengeful song? I certainly cannot.

It’s not like Gallows are womanizing or degrading…they just tell the truth. I LIKE the fact that the singer is so brutally honest. I LIKE that he’s not some eyeliner wearing emo boy trying to serenade his way into a girl’s pants. And…I know I might be crazy, but I like the way he simulates jerking off while singing the above lyrics at a show. It’s not proper. No freaking way. But if you are into punk music and have been asking yourself:

“What the hell happened to the scene? When did it become so lame?”

Then go listen to Gallows. Now.

http://www.myspace.com/gallows

Plus, you might as well admit it: British guys can get away with talking a lot more shit than American boys. It’s the accent. End of story.

Obviously, there are tons of perks to dating someone: someone to snuggle with, someone to act silly with; someone to share the bed with (wink wink).

Building relationships, however, takes some time. Not time in the sense that it will take months before you feel comfortable with the person; time in the sense that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done and have wild passionate sex. That may not be so true for those of you still in school – getting to class/that meeting isn’t that important – but once you enter the real world, responsibility comes a runnin’ and finding the time for a relationship gets a little more difficult.

Take my friend, for example. He met an awesome girl. She is sexy, smart, funny and – as he felt the need to tell me – amazing in bed. In fact, after spending the night (on a work night!), said lady friend woke him up with a little taste of her bedroom abilities.

“That is the best way to start your day, Lauren.” He said. (Actually, he made some reference to the Folger’s coffee song, but it was so cheesy I didn’t want to repeat it here.) “But, I am a little mad about the morning sex because I couldn’t get to the gym.”

His reaction may seem crazy to most people, but I totally understood what he was saying. For the past two months I have been really busy doing things for me. From morning workouts to yoga to writing to catching up on my reading, I have been incredibly busy.

Sure, I haven’t been dating. Sure, I wish I was dating. But when it came down to it, I really got into my own schedule and was finally doing the things I never had time to do when I was in a relationship.

How could I get to the gym at 5:30 when there was a boy sleeping soundly next to me? Not that I had the energy to get up after staying up far too late doing…stuff. And when was I supposed to catch up on my list of books to read when my man always wanted to hang out, talk, or go see some movies? I know it sounds so lame, but it is true.

Being in a relationship can really mess up your personal life!

It is not as if having someone special in your life is a burden, it is just that when you start dating someone it requires a lot of time. You have dinners, sleepovers, and nights out. Even if you aren’t actually doing anything, the beginning of a relationship consists of a whole lot of together time. Which is less time to get to the gym, or to do your laundry, or get to the grocery store.

Do I stand alone in this? Does anyone else feel the strain a relationship brings?

There were some presents given and drinks were drunk and my mom even called to sing me a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

However, I noticed this a year a disturbing trend I hadn’t seen in years past: The ever so casual Facebook birthday message…which is both really typical and totally impersonal.

I must say that while it was totally nice to see my comment page fully loaded with birthday wishes I had to remember that not every single one of my friends had dutifully remembered my special day. Facebook had kindly reminds everyone that I am connected with my birthday was coming up.

I find this to be a good reminder tool, but friends should not rely totally on the Facebook birthday wish. A card would be nice kids, or even a phone call. My address and number do happen to be listed right on my profile.

The Facebook birthday wish only says, “I feel an obligation to post on your birthday that I didn’t remember, but I have no time to do anything else.”

Lame, kids. Really really lame.

So, as an experiment, next year in the month or so prior to my big day, I’m planning on removing my birthday from my page and see exactly who remembers. I know some of them will, and the ones who don’t I now have more information on.

I am imploring all of you to do the same.

The five year old inside of me has decided to come out, and she doesn’t want a dozen Facebook comments. She wants presents, lots and lots of presents.

• Authorities in Park Slope say that a little girl who draws on the sidewalk is to be fined for graffiti. Well, good! I needed just one more reason to think that Brooklyn is totally, totally lame. (Brooklyn Press)

• Pirates vs Zombies! Apparently, they couldn’t wait two more weeks. (Pioneer Press)

• Best/worst quote of the week: “[She was] Just holding the baby out of the window and I was like ‘Oh no … no … no.’” (Baynews9.com)

• Kinda like the story above, except reverse! I can’t help but think the little guy is adorable (and a better driver than me!). (Yahoo!)

• Parents who sign their kids up for pole dancing lessons are f*cking idiots…but, like, if you’re 9 years old and dancing on a pole while your other friends are playing T-Ball…wouldn’t you kinda know something isn’t quite right? (COED Magazine)