ENG 001: Language & Writing

Sound Triggered Brain

2008-05-07T15:34:00.013-05:00

Coheed and Cambria's In keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3. from In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3

This Song is from Coheed and Cambria's second album, it released during the summer of my eighth grade year. I'd been listening to them a lot when the were still sort of unknown.

I remember my friend Derek had bought the CD and he showed me this song one day while we played badmittin. (Don't judge me, it's a sweet game.) It was the most awesome game of badmittin I had ever played. He had two brand new rackets, a black one and a gun metal one. Naturally I chose gun metal. We had been playing Badmittin in gym class for a while so I was used to the feel, but this racket was different, it was lighter but felt more stable all the while, It looked as though it were very well made, It had a brown leather handle which felt good in my hands.

When we started playing to the music the game seemed to have fallowed it. It was very slow at first and quite relaxed but then morphed into a very competitive almost war like game. And much like the song, the game became very intense. Spikes, lofters , side arms, and speeders. The game eventually ended and everything relaxed again. Derek and I spent most of that summer hanging out together. He and I remain best friends to this day. Every time I hear this song I think of Derek, and the times we had that summer.

Tool's Lateralus from Lateralus

I've liked Tool since I can remember, and this song to me is the pinnacle of their glory. Each of their albums embody a different emotion. From Disgusted, Humorous, Pessimistic, Optimistic, and Dogmatic. This is the Optimistic Album.

When I first started listening to Tool this was their most recent album, so this song was probably the first of Tool's work that I had heard, I've always been very big into poetry as well as music since I am a classical musician as well as a contemporary one. When I first started listening to Tool I loved the lyrics, they really spoke to me with meanings that were really pertinent to my life. Particularly the lyric "Over thinking, over analyzing separate the body from the mind." I liked Tool for a long time and then sort of fell away from them. I have revisited them recently and have developed a new love for them in a new way.

Through my musical training In theory and technique I've come to love the way this song lives it's message. it starts as one melody, almost as though a heartbeat, then it begins to mature rapidly through adding different instrumentation and the enhancement of vocal tone. It continues to spiral upward and mature through its climax and then falls out. The lyrics do the same. they go from "black and white are all I see in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be;" to "Spiral out, keep going, spiral out, keep going."

As my skill in music had evolved so had the complexity of the song that embodies evolution. It had evolved into a new song just as I had evolved.

Thursday's Steps Ascending from War All the Time.

Though I'm not a big fan of this type of music I've always loved this band, for as long as I've had a CD player I've listened to their music. I don't know where I first heard them. But they're an "Emo," band from New Jersey. The song is about trying to say goodbye to someone you've lost, particularly to guns.

DISCLAIMER: The event that inspired this writing is true and should not be looked upon with any pity, view it simply as a writing.

April 15th 1997 my father committed suicide by shooting himself through the his left side into his heart. He was an excellent father, attorney, and a hard worker.

I inherited the gun that my father committed suicide with. It's a Ruger KP90, it's aluminum and is mostly coated in polished chrome, it fires a .45 caliber round and has an eight round clip. I'm extremely accurate with it and it's still my favorite gun to shoot, however Ironic, morbid, or strange it may be. (I recognize that that is the case, I just don't think about it.) This gun is the only possession that I have that has a memory tied to my father. Every time I touch It I think of him.

This song, about a boy that was shot has lyrics that really match up with how I feel about my father as well as the gun. "Freeze the frame between the gunshot and the hole it makes, the spinning bullet hangs in the middle. There's no way to stop it, it will surely hit the mark." And the repeated use of the words "out of reach." This song always reminds my of my father, every time I listen to it, as well as the gun that reminds me in turn of my father.

Most of all when I hear this song, or clutch that Ruger, I think of the way that my fathers suicide impacted me positively. I would be a very different person today if he hadn't.

Rest in Peace John Arthur Rodenburg.

Modest Mouse's Bankrupt on Selling from The Lonesome Crowded West.

This Song was the very first song I ever learned how to play on the guitar. Though the message is the same as a lot of songs, which is that being genuine is the way to be happy. thats not why I love the song.

My brother is the spitting image of my father he begins to look more and more like him each year. He's about 22 now, an athletically built ectomorph with big lips and a smile just like mine. He's got unmatched dexterity, and is incredibly logical and intelligent. Though he's a sad fellow, because he lacks emotional connection. He and I have been great friends, rivals, and even enemies since we've been around. It sort of fluctuates between the three. After my father had died I looked up to Zach as well as other older males in my life as sorts of father figures as children often do. He played this song all the time, I never got tired of hearing it. I hadn't even heard the real song, only my brother play/singing it. I thought he wrote it.

I had him teach me this song one day and now I play it all the time, I even wrote a harmony part to it so that we can sing/play it at the same time (and we have at a few public occasions.) I have no idea what it means to him. But to me this song is all about him. Intelligently written, rough around the edges and melancholy as hell.

Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees from The Bends.

Radiohead has been one of my favorite artists since I was in seventh grade. This song was the very first song I ever performed at a coffee house in my hometown of Council Bluffs Iowa. I can still remember how clammy and cold my hands were clutching my John Lennon 1965 Casino Epiphone. It wasn't actually my guitar, but my uncle Aaron's guitar that he had let me barrow long term to learn how to play. It had a very sweet sound, it resonated very well, almost as well as any acoustic guitar. Though it did have an amp outlet, which I jacked into and played often.

Playing this song is really coincidental at this time because being that this song is about falling in love with an inanimate object or something unreal. In this case I created music that I love, and subsequently developed feelings for making music, and therefor my guitar.

The Mars Volta's Inertiatic ESP off of De-Loused in the Comatorium

I heard this song at first at the beginning of my Junior year I always thought that this song seemed to bring about confusion almost as a by product of listening to it.

This song bombards your senses with synth, bass, guitar, drums, and enhanced voice. Each bombarding or destroying your senses to the point where you can no longer dissect the music. The synth both plays re-enforcing chords, as well as creating another guitar part at times. The bass, plays a steady chord re-enforcement to the beat of the drums. The Drums go nuts during this song whenever the crazy chorus is raging the drums accent and accompany the insanity through use of time in 3, and syncopated patterns. The guitar manages to create an incredibly confusing counter melody to the warped vocal line that suggests confusion through it's lyrics. "Now I'm lo-host, now I'm lo-ha-ha-ha-host."

Many things in my life during the time I listened to this song were confusing, school, relationships, time, job, and especially home. This song is meant to be confusing and resembles quite well all of the different aspects of confusion that a person can experience just through audio perception. This mirrors quite well all of the forms of confusion a person can experience about any given subject, or multiple subjects.

Deftones' My Own Summer off of Around the Fur

This Song by the Deftones was the closing song for the band I was a part of my senior year of high school. I had been a fan of the Deftones for a short time before we played it, since then I've grown to really love them.

This song suggests a lot of power and confidence. A dethroning of an oppressive power. The words "Cloud come shove the sun aside," suggests a sort of desire to combat the oppression of whatever the sun represents, all the while the main riff has been emboldened from single notes into chords. Then during the bridge the song seems to evolve into a serene or glass-like surface, as though all is right.

Once I performed this song I felt as though power had been transfered to me from some other place I became supremely confident in my abilities as well as who I was every time I sang it. And with startling speed, developed a reputation as being confident, and calculated. I had destroyed the socially inept me and created one that had a reputation to precede it in that setting.

Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek off of Speak for Yourself.

This song was first shown to me by my girlfriend whom I've been with for four and a half years. She's a huge fan of European music, and Imogen Heap is a European superstar.

My girlfriend's name is Kristin, and like this song she's a very subtle person. She's very short and petite. She has a more round face with green eyes, mahogany hair and very pale skin. She manages to bring out the best in me always. Whenever I need to make a decision and I go against what she suggests it always turns out to bite me, when I listen to her things turn out right.

This song always reminds me of Kristin in that, like her it suggests a deeper understanding of things in life. This song refers to unveiling lies and other misleading things. It's harmonies are very tight and smooth in their progression, while building to a point of release which resembles a sudden clarity and understanding. All in all it resembles Kristin very much.

Worst video, EVER!!!

2008-04-22T18:00:00.001-05:00

A quick note to whoever reads this: You MUST watch the entire video.

This video by Bonnie Tyler is quite possibly the best and worst video of all time it has everything for everyone, battle scenes, swimmers, ninjas, flying alter boys, psychotic people of every sort, winged crazy men, football players, dancing diaper men, and last but certainly not least, greasers.

I find this video absurd for the above reasons but also because our protagonist Bonnie Tyler often appears to be wearing very fine sheets, combined with her hedgehog-esque quaff we have a formidable foe to overcome in terms of taking a video seriously. The dramatic use of sheets juxtaposed in front of open doors to the journey being made by our protagonist through all the various walks of life. And let's not forget about the tremendously overdone effects to the eyes in this video, whatever it may mean, whether it's a reference to the lyric "bright eyes," or if it's some sort of symbol designed to demonstrate that when your heart eclipses you loss sight of who you are or something of that nature.

However let's not forget that this all could be taken as brilliant humor, the moment I watched the alter boy take flight I knew that we might possibly have the most genius comedic video in the entire world (Exaggeration). Nonetheless the video is actually worth something in the realm of entertainment for me because it's so bad. If it doesn't being a smile to your face, I don't know what will

2008-04-21T21:29:00.002-05:00

This is The Greatest Lie by Circa Survive. This is by far my favorite band as of late, because simply put I think their instrumentals in combination with their vocalist is a perfect match, they change time signatures to fit the text of a song and go nuts in concert. Currently they are on tour with Thrice and Pelican, two more very good bands.

For some reason every time I listen to this song I seem to find one more really cool musical moment that's hidden in the layers that make it up. There's so much counterpoint
in this song it's almost hard to believe. if you listened to each part individually or listened to one and stacked the rest you would have what would seem like a very well written drum solo, groovy bass solo, progressive guitar solo, and a voice part that you might think would never mesh together. This is the primary reason why I love this band, they are considered to be what's called a Mathematical Progressive band. Which refers to the counterpoint involved in their music as well as their frequency of meter change. They may be in a simple quadruple meter and then switch to an irregular compound meter for only a few seconds. This can be seen in the chorus of this song in both the drum and guitar parts.

I have been writing music both for voice and guitar with the use of classical theory as well as guitar technique for about 2 years. And I still can't manage to understand how the guitar parts for this band are written. They are so unique that I just can't get enough of them. It's safe to say however that even though I'm a vocal major I don't really care about vocals when It comes to band. In this video the lead singer pushes himself sharp on several occasions. As well as having the voice of what seems like a 13 year old boy. But the passion with which he sings makes all of those things disappear for me. The lyrics to this song also have a very deep personal meaning and relation to my life. But that will be left for another day. Overall I think it's very safe to say that this is an incredibly talented band, thank whatever deity there may be that the record companies haven't taken them with their icy claws.

Thoughts

2008-04-17T12:17:00.003-05:00

I sometimes wonder whether or not I might be crazy, I always have the strangest stuff pop into my head. And since I've been told that my family has a history of mental illness, I sometimes wonder. Though I'm sure that if I had anything other than a hefty case of Attention Deficit Disorder some sort of symptom would have shown itself by now. In any case all suspicions and worries aside I will tell you what my strange conversation was.

I few days ago I was asked the question of what I thought would be the worst way to die, as well as which would be the best, a strange and morbid question. But I'm no one to turn down any sort of discussion of a philosophical nature. As I thought of what would be the worst way to die, many different emotions popped into my head. PAIN, SUFFERING, SURPRISE, anticipation, loneliness, regret. "Which of these would be the worst?" I've always had a huge tolerance for pain, it might be because I've been a martial artist since I was 6, or because I've seen a lot of pain in my days elsewhere, who really cares, I don't think I'm afraid of that. As a matter of fact, none of those details of death really bother me. with the exception of surprise. It's a strange thing, most of the people I've talked to about this since then have said they'd like to just die suddenly, in their sleep would be the best way. I think that that would be the worst. As someone who lost a father very suddenly I'd say the idea is very selfish because it hits the family harder. I feel as though dying, separated from the ones who hold dear suddenly would be the worst way to go.

On the flip side of that I think the best way to go would be to drown. Which is something that most people said would be the worst way, And I realize It contradicts what I said in the previous paragraph because you can't really know if you're going to drown but my argument is pretty good. You're brain releases a chemical called DMT naturally, this chemical is commonly regarded as the cause of your life flashing before your eyes, interactions with deities, and life changing experiences or philosophies associated with death. Basically it makes you hallucinate like crazy. And drowning is a unique way to die because of the human body's reaction to water. Humans have what is called a mammalian diving reflex, which slows down oxygen use while submerged, as well, when water is inhaled or swallowed suddenly you experience a laryngospasm.
These two things in combination are said to release a massive amount of DMT to the brain causing a sense of euphoria and warmth, you relax and let go. That's my conclusion.

Enough of this dreary talk it's time for some entertainment.

This is Tony Vs. Paul, an excellent stop motion video that has an awesome song!

Swimming.

2008-04-16T21:47:00.002-05:00

I've always loved to swim, ever since I became a life guard as a part of my training in scouts; I've always loved to swim. When I moved to the residence halls at Wesleyan I searched for some way to blow off steam and relax from the tense world of college. I then realized that we had a pool, so I started swimming 4 times per week. There's something very calming about swimming, I always swim front crawl style because it offers the most consistent speed and muscle usage. When I started swimming again last semester I could only swim about 25- 50 meters at a time, and rest in between. After that I decided to double until I reached 100, and 200. Finally I decided that counting only distracted me from my relaxation and goals. It was then that I discovered the beauty of long distance swimming. When I stopped doing laps I started swimming against time. I would swim for a set period of time and not stop, I started with 10 minutes and grew to 15. This was a tremendous challenge but I found it much more rewarding and relaxing. As I kept doing It I focused less on pacing myself or swimming at a relaxed pace, and started to see how far I could push myself. Now I push myself for 20 minutes and I am going to make the jump to 25 or 30 before the semester's up.

This footage was taken from the FINA Swimming Championship in Manchester England this year. The world record was broken for the 400 meter relay at 3 minutes 8 seconds. which is a speed for about 2.13 m/s (4.74 mph) this may sound slow but it's a breakneck speed for swimming, my fastest time is 50 meters in 40 seconds (about 1.25 m/s) and that's when I'm hauling, using every ounce of energy I have for that short period of time. I still only measure up to half of the world record average speed for a race 8 times longer.

When I swim I am lost in a world of repetitive motion and pulse. I find that this environment allows me to breach my mental walls and focus on a metaphysical level. Nights after I swim I find myself feeling renewed and sharp, a form of self baptism. any other workout leaves me feeling weak, sick, or dead. Perhaps it's the fact that I immerse myself into the building block of life on this planet in order to exercise.

Rhetorical analysis of 1971's Keep American Beautiful PSA

2008-04-03T11:20:00.007-05:00

This PSA for Keep American Beautiful Aired the first time on Earth Day in 1971, and is widely credited for inspiring environmental activists and begetting change. The commercial features the now iconic figure of chief Iron Eyes Cody who is now the primary source of recognition for this commercial. As he makes his way down an American river the original beauty that possessed is transformed into an industrial and mechanical world of black, oil, soot, coal, and garbage. He makes his way ashore with his canoe and has a bag of garbage thrown from a car on an interstate on his feet. We are then told that people start pollution, and people can stop it. Fallowed by the symbol for Keep America Beautiful. The comparison and contrast appeal to pathos, the cause and effect appeal to logos, and the comparison and contrast appeal to ethos are the strongest arguments that are made in this PSA.

The greatest arguments made by this PSA are its appeal to pathos through comparison and contrast, as well as logos through cause and effect. as the commercial starts we can see chief Iron Eyes Cody in what we could consider to be his native land, he sits proud and tall as he paddles downstream, we can see his eyes and his face, he looks as though he has bad news to bare. The shot pans out and we see his silhouette against a gold stained river, pristine as can be. Then the beauty of our reality comes to a crashing halt as a piece of a magazine floats by the canoe, the music takes a turn from a sort of native sounding melody into a mechanical booming sound. The silhouette of the chief and his canoe, the only reminder we have of what nature is intended to look like is then superseded as we reach the apex of filth; garbage ridden water, smoggy air, oil and a barge as scary as the Mobro 4000; a harbinger of refuse that dwarfs his canoe, the music begins to sound desperate as it reaches its peak. The chief is turned transparent, a ghost of what respect human kind had for the earth and is juxtaposed against what is now; smoke stacks and pollution. Defeated the chief pulls his canoe ashore still more waste permeates the surroundings. "Some people have a natural abiding respect for the beauty that was once this country, and some people don't." We now know who is responsible for this tragedy, it is ourselves and our sense of logos is triggered by the cause and effect we have just seen. The magazine articles, the smog, sludge, smoke, muck, oil, grease, fumes and most of all garbage. They are everywhere, and we now know that we are the cause, it is our fault, humanities fault, "people start pollution, and people can stop it." The comparison and contrast appeal to pathos then reaches its pinnacle as the chief sheds a tear for what we have done to this country. It is confirmed by our acquisition of the appeal to logos through cause and effect.

The most prominent feature of this PSA is the image of chief Iron Eyes Cody. He shows us how different the world is becoming due to pollution, and he is the one who demonstrates to us that we need to change our ways. Chief Iron Eyes Cody is an example that appeals to our sense of ethos. When one first thinks of the American natives they think of how they taught us to live off of the land that they had occupied for centuries before our arrival. One thinks about the huge abiding respect that the American natives had for the land and nature. It's mentioned in the PSA that "some people have a deep abiding respect for this country, and some people don't," this comparison and contrast highlights chief Iron Eyes Cody as the example for this respect. He is seen at first traversing a river in his canoe in what appears to be a pristine environment, a place that most likely does not look all that different from the land that the American natives lived on. As he continues his way downstream we begin to see more and more filth in the water and on the landscape. Finally as he goes ashore and approaches the highway we are shown that this is not some sort of accident as a young man tosses his trash out the window at the chiefs feet, he looks at the camera with an expression that asks "when will this end?" This is the chiefs way of demonstrating to us that this is our doing. He takes us on a journey that slowly opens our eyes to what we are responsible for, nature. One might even suggest that the chief may be analogous to the earth itself. As the pollution thickens the image of the chief fades, from a vibrantly dressed native chief, to a silhouette, until he becomes a ghost of the past. Just as the earth begins to fade from its hight of beauty the more we pollute it. The chief does nothing to change the pollution, nor does he attempt to change it, instead he observes it and feels it with remorse and despair. The only thing that the earth can do.

After we've been exposed to the appeals to ethos in the form of chief Iron Eyes Cody, as well as the appeals to pathos through comparison and contrast as well as cause and effect we are given the message that "people start pollution, people can stop it." We are then given a 5 second display of the Keep America Beautiful symbol as well as (in this version only) the website where we can access information on how we can keep America beautiful. These two arguments compliment each other as an appeal to logos. When it is illustrated to us that since we are the cause of pollution and we can stop it, we want to. Our next question is "how can we do it?" We are then shown the website for the Keep America Beautiful the masterminds behind this PSA.

And it's not over, pollution is just as prominent today as it used to be. As this PSA shows.

Rhetorical Analysis of Ron Paul

2008-03-27T16:07:00.003-05:00

As an OB/GYN doctor, I’ve delivered over 4,000 babies. That experience has made me an unshakable foe of abortion. Many of you may have read my book, Challenge To Liberty, which champions the idea that there cannot be liberty in a society unless the rights of all innocents are protected. Much can be understood about the civility of a society in observing its regard for the dignity of human life.

I wanted to start with this quotation from the Ron Paul 2008 website because it is one of Ron Paul's most convincing arguments that he has made at several debateswithin this last year, whenever he states the key point that he was an OB/GYN in a debate alongside his stance on abortion opposition always decreases. And it is successful in most part due to the fact that it is an appeal to ethos. When we read the above quotation we are immediately convinced regardless of our stance on the matter that this guy knows what hes talking about on this issue. Why? Because he's been delivering babies for years. The appeal to ethos is done through illustration, as we learn that he is experienced on the matter our view changes to one of a more sympathetic nature. I was impressed when I first saw this because I believe that politicians are full of shit. But this argument actually managed to get me to stop and listen due to the credibility that it demands.

This advertisement for Ron Paul is a diet version of what is called negative advertising which ties quite a bit into rhetoric. The advertisement appeals to our sense of Pathos through comparison and contrast. On the one hand we have a national debt, and on the other we have a strong desire to get rid of it. We are shown the "cause" of this debt embodied in the oblivious character of our current president. it is illustrated that he is oblivious when he doesn't seem to understand that he cannot go to the camp. This puts him in our frame of mind as the "cause" of the debt. And embodied on the other side is Ron Paul who is giving our President a ride to camp in his bi-plane, we know that he embodies the side that wants to relieve the debt when our President asks "How much do I owe ya?" Ron Paul responds with "Oh, about nine-trillion dollars. " The comparison and contrast isn't set until we have someone embodying each side of the issue.

"Today, the federal government burdens us with one of the most dangerous taxes it can impose — the inflation tax. When the federal government finds that it cannot afford its out-of-control spending, and is unwilling to directly tax the public, it resorts simply to creating the money out of thin air."

"Inflating the money supply is the easiest form of financing the government. The Federal Reserve, an unelected and unaccountable private organization, pumps more dollars into the economy whenever it chooses. Because the public is forced to accept these bills, the Fed essentially gets away with legally counterfeiting. We cannot possibly expect the government to control spending when it has a blank checkbook."

These two paragraphs which are about "inflation tax," which really isn't a tax at all but more of a cause and effect form of making the public pay the difference. Ron Paul uses narration to demonstrate how the "inflation tax," is done. This appeals to us through logos, pathos, and ethos simply through narration, when we understand the concept of the "inflation tax," it immediately strikes us as though it is not right and definitely not advantageous to anyone except the government. Then we start to realize that unless something is done about this problem it wont go away, which isn't fair at all. Finally we feel as though Ron Paul is our friend or ally for sharing this vital piece of information with us. Then we find him even more credible.

Rhetorical Analysis of Apple commercial

2008-03-13T13:37:00.002-05:00

In the commercial that I made an observation about in the previous post there is evidence of each of the rhetorical strategies that we learned about in class. Logos is an appeal to logic or thought, pathos is an emotional appeal, and ethos is an appeal of character. Each of these can be seen separately in this commercial.

The first that can be seen right away is pathos, as the sheep drone into the propaganda room we get a feeling that life in this world isn't so great and that we wouldn't want to be a part of it all too much. The next thing that we see is a woman completely different from the rest of the people in this society, she has hair, colorful clothes and she is liberated from this society, we know this because she can run. This is an ethos sort of appeal, we see this person and we know that whatever it is that she is going to do it will be good and we want to be the same. Finally after she has hurled her hammer into the screen we are told that the reason why life wont be like this is because of the Macintosh that will be released by Apple in the year 1984 then we logically fill in the gaps. "I don't want to be like those people, I want something that will keep me liberated like her, this is logos at work.

I chose this commercial because right away I saw the different rhetorical strategies at work through different symbols, I also wanted to choose a commercial that isn't current so I could see if they were as prevalent then as they are now. It appears to me that they are.

Apple Computer is the only way to combat the communists

2008-03-11T15:58:00.004-05:00

This Commercial was first released in late 1983, it is a commercial for Apple's Macintosh it depicts a world were everyone looks identical marching through a hallway to a room with a lead figure delivering a speech of how the residents are one and as a whole. This represents the most easily identifiable feature of a dystopia. More specifically the dystopia described by George Orwell in his novel 1984 which is the year Apple released the Macintosh. The commercial then shows a women who isn't as pale as the rest of the people shown in the commercial and she is wearing unique clothing and running with a sledge hammer. We then see that she is running from the enforcers of this dystopia's ideals and we are certain that it is a crime to thing freely in this society. As she continues to run the speech being given by the omnipresent figure is reaching a climax, and everyone is hypnotized in his words. The woman stops in front of the screen and hurls that hammer directly at it, destroying the oppressor of this society and liberating all who live in it. We then see "On January 24th Apple Computer will release the Macintosh, and you will see why 1984 wont be like 1984."

A Zairynchronized Expirience

2008-03-06T13:27:00.005-06:00

I really liked The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka that we took part in on Tuesday. I had done synchronization experiments before, both with Dark Side of the Moon with the Wizard of Oz and Laturalus with the Nightmare Before Christmas. I enjoyed it then, so being able to do something similar for a class was a pleasure to me. The part that I thought was best about the whole thing is that the experience is completely unique each time it's listened to, and in that regard is like listening to a new song each time. On the contrasting side of that, with the idea that you could sync up the stereos perfectly with the other it would create a sort of surround sound. Which was slightly before its time when the Zaireeka was recorded. I found our particular experience with the Zaireeka to be a definite exaggeration of how much it is supposed to run out of sync but enjoyed it very much nonetheless, if anything I like that we had such an unsynchronized rendition of the Zaireeka because that supports my claim that each experience is completely different. The way that the album unfolded I found to be very exciting because the music had a very familiar flavor alongside a sort of juxtaposition of intentions. Until we did this experiment I had only listened to Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, which I really enjoyed. This however really solidified my taste for the Flaming Lips.

The Flaming Zaireeka

2008-03-04T15:43:00.003-06:00

I walk into the classroom to find the desks in disarray, and ghetto blasters surrounding the room. Then I remember that post that I read a couple days prior. Oh today's that Flaming Lips Thing I sit on the ground with my back to the heater behind me as a support for my back and get out my composition note book to write down the observations I had and will make.

Finally we start and I hear four different audio tracks coming from each boom box "Track number one," from all of the stereos fallowed by a subsequent "one..." from the front "two.." from the left side "three..." from the back of the room where I was sitting "and four..." from the right side of the room. I thought that it would be four different songs that were meant to mesh with each other but it's something else entirely, each of the Cd's had a different part to the same song. The first song begins with some sweet bass guitar grooves and evolves quickly one instrument at a time until it's a complete song, at this point the stereos are almost right in sync, I enjoy the song.

The second song begins with drums that sound as though they are meant for battle, the different stereos are slightly out of sync now and each of them fight for beat supremacy. An eerie whisper is sounded by each of the stereos and as each one is ahead of the other it sounds as though the whisperer is circling around us as he does so. I see the title to be you're invisible now. I feel as though it is really reflecting the hollowing and translucent feel that the song, it's fallowed by a frightening scream that is sounded from all of the stereos. The song ends.

Next I hear the start of the next song. the stereos are more out of sync now. The song is called Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair, but so far it doesn't have any feeling of despair at all, just the sound of jet turbines accelerating. Ambiance builds through the dis junked parts and the music feels very weightless. Then the music shifts into it's parallel minor key and begins the sounds of despair as the name would suggest, the turbine sounds turn into synthesizers and clash even more to make the song sound desperate.

The fourth song is entitled A Machine in India and though the stereos are very very out of sync it manages to keep some sort of rhythm between the four competing tracks. One track has a what sounds to be a song with all of it's parts while the other tracks have mechanical sounding noises that pop in and out and random intervals. It's beginning to sound very much like an orchestra tuning. The underlying tracks take a dark turn as the above happy sounding music. It begins to sound very confused as the four separate tracks split into what could be four different completely different songs. Inhaled screams begin to sound from one player to the other until i felt I was in the middle of a holocaust, it's then melted away by an orchestra.

I can't believe how much farther ahead this track is than the last one. The fifth track is called The Train Runs Over the Camel but is Derailed by the Gnat. The song has a very sauntering feel to it sort of resembling the walk of a camel. It is then hurled by the percussion into a traditional song backed with vocals and the whole nine yards. That yet again changes into raw choral singing in a language I don't understand. Finally all three different parts intermingle and are thrown in with an organ. The organ is the last thing to die out, right after the sauntering feel returns.

The sixth song How Will We Know (Futuristic Crashendos) turns out to be the shortest one. It incorporates extremely high pitches in with quiet four part music which gets quieter until it's over.

March of the Rotten Vegetables is completely out of sync the fourth track is completely ahead of all the others and which have been competing for second since it took the lead. A piano playing in the treble clef takes the focus of the song and is matched by percussion, a windy sort of static then emerges and dominates all of the stereos and fills the room. Harmonics and overtones can be heard above these.

I'm told that this is the last song Big ol' Bug is the New baby Now. We're met with a story of a residence that has several dogs. Childish sounding music plays over the story. The story ends with a song emerging and at it's climax the vocals say "this big ol' bug is the new baby now," almost as if in slow motion as the music ends each of the stereos cuts to dogs going wild until the last one sounds, and you're surrounded.

Oh what a day!

2008-03-03T22:46:00.003-06:00

I park my 1984 Oldsmobile Firenza about forty spots back at the Mall of the Bluffs. It’s packed, great! I don’t want to get out of the car very much, I don’t particularly like malls. I see families, some carrying children, others carrying parcels as if they are their children. I decide to get out. I notice how warm it is today, after passing by about ten gentlemen my age smoking and complaining of their “bitches,” I open the door, a warm blast of air makes that familiar low gurgling sound that wind does as it passes by your ear.
I enter on a white and brown, gold snow flaked tiled floor, a medley of smells enter my nostrils mostly dominated by pizza due to the Sbarro near the entrance, and the smell of butter, but I have no idea where that’s coming from. I decided to sit at the nearest table to the door just to survey my surroundings, a consistent buzz of conversation dominates the air. I open my notebook and almost all at once the people at my neighboring tables begin to stare at me, little do they know that I’m writing all about them right as they do so. It’s funny how whenever people see something out of the ordinary they just can’t seem to not stare. As I continue to write they go back to talking quietly I hear an angry mother call out to her son to “come over here this instant,” and almost as a mimic I hear a Spanish mother call to her child in a frustrated tone--What the hell is that man carrying? Is that a… … .. wow! that’s the longest telescoping pointer I’ve ever seen, although I haven’t seen too many. The man teases his son with the pointer that’s about 5 feet long as if he’s a cat after the tip of the pole. Interesting.
There’s tons of commotion in a food court. People come and go and just can’t seem to not stare at other people’s food while they satisfy their most powerful instinct. This I’m sure gives the onlookers the same idea and sure enough a majority of them get in one of the many lines for food. I notice more people are entering than exiting, it must be getting busier. Well I’ll be damned, it’s the lone ranger, a red faced bow legged security guard wearing a white police esque uniform sporting a cowboy hat and a handle bar mustache decides to make his way over to the entrance that I’m sitting near to check out some suspicious activity. His keys jingle reminiscent of spurs as he saunters on over to the trouble at hand. Suddenly a group of women sit at the table behind me. They must have been mall workers considering that when they sat down they discussed when they all got off work. My thought process concerning the three women was halted due to a baby’s piercing cry repeated in the same nasally, nasty, noisy manner, “wah wah wah … wah wah wah…” spitefully rhythmic in its crying. The sound reminds me of the sound of a winning vulture begging for more animals to die so it doesn’t have to. The crowd lulls in conversation and my ears are graced by Christina Aguilera over the PA system, yay, more lovely noise, and almost in rhythm I hear carbon dioxide gas being hooked into the fountain drink dispenser. Fifteen minutes have passed since I sat down, where does the time-- a man of Asian decent sets his Taco Johns cup down on my table in a declamatory way almost saying “what are you doing here?” But did so only to check his wristwatch.
I hear some funky beats coming from the children’s play area down the hall, time to get up and head over. A one hundred foot walk takes me by a Barnes and Noble, GNC, and The Picture People, the funky beats are coming from a DDR machine inside Aladdin’s Castle, and that smell of butter that I had smelled upon entering intensifies as I pass by Didoughs pretzel shop.
I circle around the play area to a table at it’s rear, it’s utter chaos, about seventy kids running around an area of about 200 square feet. All acting like chickens with their heads cut off. So many of them are screaming all at once it forms some sort of rhythmical progression: low, long, low, high, high, squeal, screech repeat, it reminds me vaguely of the introduction to Pink Floyd’s hit Money off of Dark Side of the Moon. A few families summon their children to go carry on with their other mall business, and more start to almost as if they had hijacked the idea from the other parents. The children sigh as they’re separated from the other children, frogs, logs, lily pads, and the giant dragonfly eating frog. They walk with incredible effort as if someone had dosed them with diethyl ether before they started walking.
Suddenly I feel as If I’m at Lied Jungle at the Henry Doorly Zoo looking out at the artificial landscape listening to the birds. My vision then reverts back to the play area, a small girl dressed in a pink jogging ensemble runs around and screams high and in rapid birdlike succession it pierces the atmosphere, she does it once more.
I glance over at the Sprint booth directly across the play area and am reminded of a time when I was asked to step aside by one of their workers, it was the same one who sold me my plan and phone about two months before hand. I made direct eye contact with the gentleman pointed at myself followed by pressing my finger into my lips and then holding it next to my ear, this is how a deaf person tells you that they are deaf. Needless to say it worked, it works every time, when someone realizes you can’t speak or hear they know pretty well that you have no need for a phone. I remember the good laugh I had about that with my friends. I decide that the play area no longer holds my interest.
I decide to walk to Starbuck’s, fortunately the walk takes me into Barnes and Noble which is the same path I walked from the entrance to the play area. I enjoy the opportunity to walk without having to write as I do so. As I enter, the chaos of the mall almost instantly shuts off, I’m met with a quiet light jazz atmosphere and the smell of books, ahhh books, that smell will always bring me comfort. I’ve been in here many times in order to buy a book that I was excited to read, and the smell takes me right back to those great moments of anticipation. I arrive at the store, sit down and write about how I had just sat down at Starbuck’s. I feel rather parched and consider ordering a Frappuccino, I then hear one of the workers behind the counter say “I hate making Frappuccinos, they’re just the one thing I don’t like to make.” I found this quite funny and then decided that a nice cold TAZO wild berry black tea would suit me just fine. I pick up the cool glass bottle and walk up to the counter hand him the drink to scan and say “I’d also like a dozen Frappuccinos,” the gentleman who rang me up found this rather funny, but the gentleman who had said it looked like he was caught with his hands in a cookie jar.
Smug, I sit down and crack open my tea. An ambient acoustic band plays over the PA system slightly muffled by light conversation. My tea smells like flowers, I find that odd. I sip it. The tea is quite sweet but then is overcome by the eternal bitterness of the black tea. A song by Radiohead comes on the sound system and is then blasted into a million pieces by an announcement for one of the workers to come talk on the phone or something to that effect. I laugh to myself as I look around the sitting area. Everyone around me is drinking Frappuccinos.
I gather my effects, tea in the right hand, notebook and pen in the other. I weave through the maze of volumes and head for the exit. As I open the heavy oak doors that lead out of the bookstore and out into the warm winter day I think to myself, I should have bought a book.

Cheat Muse Act

2008-02-21T15:43:00.003-06:00

I suppose as a student studying music that this is sort of an unfair pick for me to get. I'm really familiar with this whole scheme, there's a grand staff at the beginning fallowed by two clefs, the treble clef and the bass clef, then fallows the time signature fallowed by the key signature the time signature delineates the beat of the song and amount of notes per measure and the key signature corresponds to the pitch that the song is centered on. the various forms of notes are the eighth, quarter, half and whole note the refer to the amount of a 4/4 bar that they consume in time. Each of these notes is then placed on the staff in position of corresponding pitch. Now that I've had my boring talk.

I think music is a form of art and science. There is an exact science as to how to make "good" sounding music, and in that science lies the art from, for once a person understands the science it is used to create what is considered to be art. This I agree with but I feel that art can be many things. It's interesting though that in todays musical world, many bands don't know the first thing about the theory of music, and yet they can make music and in some cases good music. It makes me sad to say but I think in this age we're approaching a time when the ability to read traditional sheet music is becoming less important all the time, It's being lost to computers and most of all tabiture, which I will admit that I have used and still continue to use in order to play the guitar.

I sincerely hope that things can change and the majority of people can change to see the beauty and science that can be found in traditional sense. I still feel that the best music comes from those who know theory.

Desert Island Top Five

2008-02-20T16:16:00.002-06:00

My first choice for the artist that I would take with me on my deserted island is the late great Mozart the album I would then choose is The Essential Mozart

Next I would have to choose the band Tool and I would have to burn my favorite Tool Songs onto a blank CD.

I would also have to have to take a compilation of Coheed and Cambria songs with me as well.

I'd have to take the Rolling Stones album Hot Rocks 1964-71

And finally I would take On Letting Go by Circa Survive.

This was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I probably changed my mind about 15 times in the course of creating this list. I don't have a pocket five artists that I swear by, because I love so many different bands for different reasons. Some bands that I really love I still couldn't listen to everyday because their songs either make me feel melancholy or I would just get tired of listening to them. So what I decided on was to go with a variety of stuff.

I had to pick Mozart because his music is timeless to me, what I've heard anyway which is why I picked the album that I did. It has many songs that I don't think I've ever heard. At least then I would be able to listen to new material.

Then I went with a band that would help me maintain my mental sanity through symbolism and metaphor, I don't think any other band does that better than Tool, they used to be my favorite band until my musical great awakening.

Next I picked a band who's songs would make me happy and that's Coheed and Cambria to me. Their songs shred real hard, great vocals, funky bass, and good poetry. I've been listening to them for years and haven't gotten tired of them yet.

Stones... One of the greatest blues bands ever. The best part of it all is that most of their songs aren't sad but about hope, I'd need that on an Island.

Finally I picked Circa Survive, this was a hard choice to make because I was introduced to them just recently and I'm listening the hell out of them right now. Their music is very passionate, but also mathematical at the same time which is why I feel as though they would be a perfect closing point to my Desert Island top five.

Writting project w/ dilemma

2008-02-14T13:29:00.002-06:00

I've considered many different ideas for our writing projects that are just ahead. Most 0f them are flawed though and I would not be able to make them into a suitable "project." However I had an idea last night as I tried to sleep and couldn't. There is a spot in my hometown that overlooks all of the neighboring city of Omaha. It's not a lookout point because almost no one knows about it it's too far out of town.
To my friends and I it's known as "The spot." Now obviously it's a place that I'm familiar with so it wont work either, but the act of finding it in the first place would work. "Ninja," we called it. Late at night traverse the town to a set destination, and be seen by no one. Diving into bushes, hoping fences, tuck and rolls, anything to not be seen. I experienced some of the more brilliant things in my life playing this game. It changes every time. Now carrying/writing in a notebook while I dodge cars is impossible. But perhaps a nighttime walk to another hidden vantage point, one more gem I could add to my collection of sights now that is something to write about. (I probably would have anyway.) As a kid most of what I did was exploring, I would find quick routes to anywhere in my hometown through the thick wooded bluffs or crevasses that my home town is known for.

I have been to the far reaches without even touching a street. But there are areas of my hometown that I haven't accessed, or anyone has for that matter, maybe I'll make that my project.

Key to life.

2008-02-13T23:07:00.002-06:00

Yet the water is murky and was said to be condemned and you were not supposed to eat any fish that came from it or go swimming in it. It is next to the dog park and they share a stream. After they found many accounts of dead or mutated fish they had to dredge the lake, I remember it to be a very unpleasant smell.

-Kate Nootz

The reason I chose this particular quote is two fold; I wanted to pick something that pertained to the project that we have coming up in this class, as I have almost no Idea what I'm going to do for mine. Kate chose to go to a park, sort of cliche in it's roots but it's an understandable choice. Second as I thought about the lake the first thing I thought of was swimming, I'm an avid swimmer, I swim probably 4 days a week, it's common place to me. It made me think about how much of a role water plays on humans, though my point is obvious and trite, when you actually think about it it's still crazy. Almost everything that comes from the water is beneficial to life.

Swimming preserves your joints and works you harder than most other forms of excercise. It's necessary for almost all forms of cooking. Food from the water is has the highest amino acid and fatty acid content in the world, these are essential building blocks of life, no organism exists without them. Life on this planet has been scientifically backed that it began in the water the first complex organisms were only able to develop in the water. Enough Science.
Since man came to be from water why is it that man treats the water as he does. The first places that man resulted to for landfills were bodies of water. Maybe it's due to the face that if something is assimilated in a vast body of water people think that whatever they offer it will just disappear indefinitely. But this isn't usually the case. To trash a lake is almost like destroying mankind. If for some reason all bodies of water were to become condemned all people would die eventually. Water should be the first thing we respect. There is a reason that the Egyptians, Greeks/Romans, and Norse all had gods whose soul function was the control of water, It is a god in it's own right and should be respected as such.

Minus the Bear

2008-02-07T14:09:00.000-06:00

Don't get me wrong, This band's lyrics are not why I listen to them. If I want "deep" lyrics I'd listen to Tool or Floyd or something like that.

My favorite thing about this band is they're ability to make me happy in a sort of melancholy way even though that's a complete contradiction it's the only way that I can describe it. As a guitarist it could be the main reason why I love this band the progressions do just the right thing to my brain for some reason. Some music in my opinion is better off not dominating your senses, I think that this song definitely falls into that category. You get to feel the song more than you have to think about the song.

I like this video because of the use of the center mirror split that lets the video play various tricks on your brain.

I've listened to a lot of music. Almost too much as a matter of fact, I continue to eat it up and spit it out. I was given the opportunity to be exposed to this band not long ago and they've stood the test of time where other music has not. This is the first song of theirs that I got to hear and it's still one of my favorite bands. The music that is created by this band feels perfect to me. When I visualize these songs they take shape as moments in my life that are made more beautiful through the eyes of music.

I believe that music is the one thing that everyone can connect with, I've yet to meet someone who was cognizant of sound that doesn't love music. It's a mean to enhance and inspire life in general. Everyone wishes to be an individual and become something special. The expirence that we have with music is sometimes the one thing in life that can make an ordinary person feel like an individual.

Webbing.

2008-02-05T15:46:00.000-06:00

"No matter the starting point, we are led from topic to topic, every person making a contribution with ideas and observations which are unique to themselves." Cady Russell

This Idea that Cady made in her response to a quote by Susan Sontag, really stood out to me. I have often thought of how a conversation progresses through different ideas or perceptions being brought to whatever is being discussed at that instant, and how those responses can twist and contort the direction of the conversation through realization or anecdote. It seems to be a perfect mini model of how chaos and chance happen to drive everything around us and how one misplaced step, inspiring anecdote, or drifted thought can lead to what might be a life changing action or event.

Picture of a wormhole

The worm hole is a bend in space time that essentially puts any two points right next to each through a gravitational gateway. I choose this image because it encompasses in my mind the same concept of conversation. There are an infinite number of places that a conversation can go, and sometimes they don't necessarily progress to a field or subject that is directly linked to the subject before hand, therefore conversation is like a worm hole.

My comment to Drew Placek

Quotation from Atwan02

2008-01-31T14:15:00.000-06:00

"Mulched perhaps in its contradictions it (essay) promises no sure objectivity just the condiment of opinion on the base of observation." - Edward Hoagland.

This Quote by Edward Hoagland stood out to me during the reading of Atwano2 because of the imagery that it created in my brain as I read it. The word "mulched," is what first caught my eye. As I think of "mulch," the image of a solid limb or small tree being inserted into a mulching machine that is violently thrashed as it is torn apart, and watching the little bits of wood fly in every direction on the other side. I believe that though this quotation is small, it is open to several meanings depending on how it is interpreted. One might think that the use of the word "mulched," might be illistrating how an essays contradictions may shred it up or make it lose its credibility. I however percieve the meaning of the word "mulched," to illistrate the innumeral amount of ways that a writing can be created or interpreted, which I believe is also true.
The rest of the quote also simply makes sense to me, because simply put, an essay is materialized inside of a persons head as the matter of the essay pertains to an expirience or observation that the author may have made. And the subsequant opinions illustrated in essays are the child of those observations that where made. This is characteristic (In my opinion) of all forms of expression from painting, to music. As a writer of music I know that my music is written off of particular feelings or emotions that occur when I observe something about life or events that I take in and those observations turn into formed opinions that dictate my feelings on the matter.

Test Post

2008-01-24T14:28:00.000-06:00

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