I don't really know what to expect from this group writing project thing. It could be helpful and fun but it could also be the exact opposite. I never get serious writers block and if I do get a little, it doesn't last long. Figuring out what to write about is pretty easy for me to do as well. I'm not trying to sound narcissistic, but I don't need much help in those aspects. I think some constructive criticism would probably do some good. I could definitely help other people. I could collaborate with them to create new post ideas, help them edit, all that good stuff. Although I'm not always the greatest explainer, trying never hurts.
I think it would be a good idea to work with friends along with people who write about similar subjects. With friends, you're not afraid to point out their flaws in writing and all around more comfortable. Working with people of the same writing genre is also a good idea because there would be cumulative understanding about the subject within the group. Some good guidelines would be: 1) Don't be an ass. 2) Do your work. The first one takes care of a lot of them but to name a couple, be nice when criticizing and help people who need it. Well, that's my perspective on this, take it or leave it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hella Indie
Now I'm not as big of a fan of Indie music genre as some of my friends, but I like several Indie bands. It's my understanding that Indie is short for independent artists, but my colleges inform me that it is much more than that, it's a "lifestyle". I've also been told "if you can't sing for shit and you're in a band, you're indie." I guess the indie that everyone else imagines is different than mine. What I think they think is indie is bands like Okay, that have very strange vocals and little dinky guitar riffs and clappy drums 'n stuff. I prefer good music, I mean, I don't know about everyone else but that's the kind of music I like. As long as it's good, I don't care if it's mainstream or from the dark, dark depths of the indie garage.
What I further cannot comprehend is there are mainstream bands that are indie. Pardon my French but what the fuck? How is Metric indie? They are signed, labeled, and playing shows at BFD (Live 105.3). And Radiohead, according to myspace the last time I looked, is the most popular indie band. What??? If that isn't an oxymoron I don't know what is. I'm probably just talking out of my ass here but does anyone else get what I'm saying? I feel like I'm on an island here.
Bands like Mike Falzone and the Peppermint Trick that are totally independent but have good vocals, and good guitar, and bass, drums, synth and whatever else I can totally listen to. But if you're listening to a really shitty indie band or "mainstream-indie" bands like Metric just to seem indie, then go jump off a cliff or rid the world of your stupidity in some other way. Remember, there's nothing wrong with good music, but don't listen to anything to appeal to a certain crowd, it just makes you look like an ass.
What I further cannot comprehend is there are mainstream bands that are indie. Pardon my French but what the fuck? How is Metric indie? They are signed, labeled, and playing shows at BFD (Live 105.3). And Radiohead, according to myspace the last time I looked, is the most popular indie band. What??? If that isn't an oxymoron I don't know what is. I'm probably just talking out of my ass here but does anyone else get what I'm saying? I feel like I'm on an island here.
Bands like Mike Falzone and the Peppermint Trick that are totally independent but have good vocals, and good guitar, and bass, drums, synth and whatever else I can totally listen to. But if you're listening to a really shitty indie band or "mainstream-indie" bands like Metric just to seem indie, then go jump off a cliff or rid the world of your stupidity in some other way. Remember, there's nothing wrong with good music, but don't listen to anything to appeal to a certain crowd, it just makes you look like an ass.
New Stuff
Two pretty big bands(fan base-wise) recently put new CD's. One I was pretty happy with, the other was pretty disappointing. I'm talking, of course, about Muse and 30 Seconds to Mars. If you like these bands and you aren't just into popular music, you know which one is a disappointment. If you happen to be one of those types, The Resistance is basically a big sell out, it's definitely not the Muse I fell in love with. It sounds way to pop-y and like it was meant for everyone to listen to, and I feel they lost some of their identity as a band. On the other hand, This Is War, by 30 Seconds to Mars, was a good album. Sure it was meant for a bit wider audience, but they advanced and expanded without losing their sound.
When I heard the first single for The Resistance, I was not very impressed. The Uprising sounded like a huge Marilyn Manson knock off. It has huge drums and bass and not as much guitar as the Muse I know experimented with. The keyboard was not traditional muse piano, it was some warbly synth thing. And there was clapping involved! How much cornier can you get.I thought, well maybe they had this depth-less, catchy, song to bring people into the album, this was not the case. The album is littered by all this new heavy drums shit and was totally unlike them, I was a bit shocked. I kept trying to tell myself this is just moving forward, but it never sat well with me, I'm sorry.
Now 30 Second's, they did a very good job. Their single (Kings and Queens), at least I think it was a single, anyways it was the most popular song off the album and had a video and all that jazz, was a good song and the video was pretty amazing. It sounded just a bit like U2, nahhh, it actually sounded very much like a U2 song but it really worked for them, and they put their own influence on it. I could tell it was a 30 Seconds to Mars song before he started singing. This Is War and Night of the Hunter went more back to their roots but with more of a major (as in the key) and brighter sound. All in all it was a pretty good album, nothing disappointing and some good songs. One thing I found odd was the children's choir in the backround of each song.
When I heard the first single for The Resistance, I was not very impressed. The Uprising sounded like a huge Marilyn Manson knock off. It has huge drums and bass and not as much guitar as the Muse I know experimented with. The keyboard was not traditional muse piano, it was some warbly synth thing. And there was clapping involved! How much cornier can you get.I thought, well maybe they had this depth-less, catchy, song to bring people into the album, this was not the case. The album is littered by all this new heavy drums shit and was totally unlike them, I was a bit shocked. I kept trying to tell myself this is just moving forward, but it never sat well with me, I'm sorry.
Now 30 Second's, they did a very good job. Their single (Kings and Queens), at least I think it was a single, anyways it was the most popular song off the album and had a video and all that jazz, was a good song and the video was pretty amazing. It sounded just a bit like U2, nahhh, it actually sounded very much like a U2 song but it really worked for them, and they put their own influence on it. I could tell it was a 30 Seconds to Mars song before he started singing. This Is War and Night of the Hunter went more back to their roots but with more of a major (as in the key) and brighter sound. All in all it was a pretty good album, nothing disappointing and some good songs. One thing I found odd was the children's choir in the backround of each song.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Mixing
I feel that mixing music is one of the greatest innovations that has developed fairly recently. It's a splendiferous (yes it's actually a word) form of creativity and there are limitless possibilities and expressions. You can take one song that has some vibe and another that's totally different and combine them to make something that is totally unique. Now i have yet to be able to mix my own music but I will be getting the software and hardware to be able to do that and then the doors will open, because there are so many things you can do with music. Take the drum part of one song combine it with the vocals and bass/synth part from another song, take the vocals of a totally different song and put that in the backround, and make something crazy.
Mixing is my favorite form of UGC (user generated content), but as some may have learned, there is a war going on against UGC on Youtube® and other places that think it is copyright infringment. That's complete b.s. in my opinion because they're killing the creative juices that we've slowly been losing as a species. It's also not really copyright, as someone Larry Lessig from TED (Watch this!) adequately put, the land people own also consists of the space above it, yet airplane's can still fly over your house. This is the same thing with the copyright people cracking down on ser generated-content. Plus people aren't doing it for money, they're just doing it for fun. I could understand punishment if it was for profit, but since it isn't, Youtube® just looks like a Nazi.
The strange part is, mixing music is not illegal, yet people get money for doing it. I find it strange that the non profit people that create these imaginative videos are the ones that have to suffer. Hopefully we can eventually get Youtube® and other Nazi corporations to change their mind, haha.
Mixing is my favorite form of UGC (user generated content), but as some may have learned, there is a war going on against UGC on Youtube® and other places that think it is copyright infringment. That's complete b.s. in my opinion because they're killing the creative juices that we've slowly been losing as a species. It's also not really copyright, as someone Larry Lessig from TED (Watch this!) adequately put, the land people own also consists of the space above it, yet airplane's can still fly over your house. This is the same thing with the copyright people cracking down on ser generated-content. Plus people aren't doing it for money, they're just doing it for fun. I could understand punishment if it was for profit, but since it isn't, Youtube® just looks like a Nazi.
The strange part is, mixing music is not illegal, yet people get money for doing it. I find it strange that the non profit people that create these imaginative videos are the ones that have to suffer. Hopefully we can eventually get Youtube® and other Nazi corporations to change their mind, haha.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Muse
Muse is probably my favorite band. I almost have their entire discography and there isn't one song by them I don't like and that's over 100 songs. As I said, all their songs are amazing, but none of them really sound the same, but they still feel right with the band. Some song are R&B influenced but they use really distorted guitar and give it their own edge. Muse is truly one of the best bands, and unlike most bands now a days, they are great live. I suggest, if you haven't heard them, go download or buy Black Holes and Revelations, Absolution, and Showbiz, plus they have tons of EP's and a couple live albums.
Now let's get to the heart of what Muse is. Muse is a British rock band formed by Matthew Bellamy (vocals,guitar, piano, keyboards, synth, and programming), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, back-up vocals, synth, and double bass), and Dominic Howard (percussion, synth, and programming.) Matt uses an armada of pedals to get many, many, many sounds out of his guitar. His guitar also has an effect pad on it (for more information on his guitars check them out, they're really cool, http://www.mansonguitars.co.uk/Muse%20gallery/index.htm). Matt's voice is a combination of falsetto's and a pretty much constant vibrato. I've also been told "his voice makes me want to jizz in my pants", if you listen to them you'll understand. Chris is mostly the bass player, but he's not and average bass player. They use effects on it. Mostly distortion but sometimes they use other stuff, but it sounds reeeeally cool, listen to Hysteria and Time is Running Out if you would like to hear it. Dominic's a good, solid drummer, they do have some difficult drum parts though, like in Assassin (particularly the intro), which is a great kind of hardcore influenced song. They have a few of those Drop-D gems (Assassin, Dead Star, Stockholme Syndrome are some great examples).
They recently came out with a new album, The Resistance, I haven't yet had a chance to listen to it though so if you have, let me know about it. They have an almost countless number of albums and EPs. From first to most recent: Muse EP, Muscle Museum, UNO, Cave, Sunburn, Unintended, Plug In Baby, New Born, Origin of Symmetry, Bliss, Feeling Good/ Hyper Music, Dead Star/ In Your World, Hullabaloo, Stockholme Syndrome, Time Is Running Out, Absolution, Hysteria, Sing for Absolution, Butterflies and Hurricanes, Supermassive Blackhole, Blackholes and Revelations, Starlight, Knights of Cydonia, Invincible, Map of the Problematique, HAARP (Live from Wembley Stadium), The Uprising, The Resistance, and Undisclosed Desires. Most of those are singles but still, that's a very large armada of music and not one bad song, in my opinion.
Now let's get to the heart of what Muse is. Muse is a British rock band formed by Matthew Bellamy (vocals,guitar, piano, keyboards, synth, and programming), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, back-up vocals, synth, and double bass), and Dominic Howard (percussion, synth, and programming.) Matt uses an armada of pedals to get many, many, many sounds out of his guitar. His guitar also has an effect pad on it (for more information on his guitars check them out, they're really cool, http://www.mansonguitars.co.uk/Muse%20gallery/index.htm). Matt's voice is a combination of falsetto's and a pretty much constant vibrato. I've also been told "his voice makes me want to jizz in my pants", if you listen to them you'll understand. Chris is mostly the bass player, but he's not and average bass player. They use effects on it. Mostly distortion but sometimes they use other stuff, but it sounds reeeeally cool, listen to Hysteria and Time is Running Out if you would like to hear it. Dominic's a good, solid drummer, they do have some difficult drum parts though, like in Assassin (particularly the intro), which is a great kind of hardcore influenced song. They have a few of those Drop-D gems (Assassin, Dead Star, Stockholme Syndrome are some great examples).
They recently came out with a new album, The Resistance, I haven't yet had a chance to listen to it though so if you have, let me know about it. They have an almost countless number of albums and EPs. From first to most recent: Muse EP, Muscle Museum, UNO, Cave, Sunburn, Unintended, Plug In Baby, New Born, Origin of Symmetry, Bliss, Feeling Good/ Hyper Music, Dead Star/ In Your World, Hullabaloo, Stockholme Syndrome, Time Is Running Out, Absolution, Hysteria, Sing for Absolution, Butterflies and Hurricanes, Supermassive Blackhole, Blackholes and Revelations, Starlight, Knights of Cydonia, Invincible, Map of the Problematique, HAARP (Live from Wembley Stadium), The Uprising, The Resistance, and Undisclosed Desires. Most of those are singles but still, that's a very large armada of music and not one bad song, in my opinion.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Homework
This being my first post on the educational system id like to have it on the thing I like least about school; homework. It is my belief that homework was also forged with the Ring in the dark depths of Mordor and is pure evil. I'm mostly okay with school, but I think that school needs to stay in school. It's enough work as is! And then i have to go home and spend the rest of my night doing more school. The only time i get off of school is the weekend, but wait, I still have homework! It's totally redicilus (pronounced ruh-di-kill-us) , and then there's all the vacations, but we still have a report in almost every class due at the end of them. There's no escaping school, and I think teenagers need a break.
Homework is everywhere; elementary, middle school, high school, college. That's at least 16 years of it, then after a wonderful 16 years, most of us get a job, YAY, MORE WORK! Hurray for life and all of its monotonous splendor. Now some teachers (Mr. Martin, I thank you) feel like we should have a life over the weekend, totally fine with me. Now I only need them to feel that we should have a life in its entirety, but I think that's a looooooooong way off, unless I'm going to go live in Germany. From what I've heard, school in Germany consists of no required homework, and a few big tests. That is my ideal educational system. This system allows students to live their lives and still excel in school. I'm tired of the restriction in our educational system.
That's about all i got this week, just remember, we all have to work together to turn the homework book pages back one by one. Our lives our being constricted by school, I don't find that very equitable.
P.S. I think blog posts should be due Sunday because they are called weekly blog posts, not business weekly blog posts. And i know this is about weekend homework being bad but due Friday night is really difficult.
Homework is everywhere; elementary, middle school, high school, college. That's at least 16 years of it, then after a wonderful 16 years, most of us get a job, YAY, MORE WORK! Hurray for life and all of its monotonous splendor. Now some teachers (Mr. Martin, I thank you) feel like we should have a life over the weekend, totally fine with me. Now I only need them to feel that we should have a life in its entirety, but I think that's a looooooooong way off, unless I'm going to go live in Germany. From what I've heard, school in Germany consists of no required homework, and a few big tests. That is my ideal educational system. This system allows students to live their lives and still excel in school. I'm tired of the restriction in our educational system.
That's about all i got this week, just remember, we all have to work together to turn the homework book pages back one by one. Our lives our being constricted by school, I don't find that very equitable.
P.S. I think blog posts should be due Sunday because they are called weekly blog posts, not business weekly blog posts. And i know this is about weekend homework being bad but due Friday night is really difficult.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
New Statement of Purpose
In my statement of purpose I said I would write about "the pressing issues in society", and I haven't really been living up to that, and I think it would be healthy for my writing if I did so. I also said that I would write about skating and education. Nothing about education has been a major topic in my blog except for little tid bits here and there. I've done a couple on skating but nothing has captured my attention as much as music. I still want to keep that a major subject but i need to expand my horizons in writing.
My second blog post was about the skating society, that was a fun topic. I got into some really deep stuff that I wanted to elaborate on in later posts, but I never really got around to it. I also got a little crazy/vulgar towards the end, but I just felt really frustrated by all the shit skaters get from figures of authority. Anyways, it would be goo to elaborate more into the important issues of the skating community. The next post was my intro to music, I really just outlined what music is to me. I'll admit, my writing was a little repetitive, but I needed 300 words, so it was the best I could do.
Next post was my first review. It was about the 5th generation Ipod Nano, and i reviewed the hell out of it.The only thing about it I regret not mentioning was the very short battery life, that's definitely my least favorite thing about it. I believe I portrayed how much of an awesome piece of equipment this thing is very well in that post. My next free write post was to give a band that very much needs some credit, its dues. I got a response from a person outside of school saying it was a good post and how much he liked the band. Obviously, my writing has improved. My next post... lets just skip that one.
In conclusion, my statement of purpose said that I would be more involved in the world and its politics, I haven't really done that so much, but I intend to. I said I'd write about skating and education, I talked about skating. I don't really plan much to talk about education in the future, maybe 1 or 2 posts. I'm definitely going to focus on music, I love it too much to ignore it.
My second blog post was about the skating society, that was a fun topic. I got into some really deep stuff that I wanted to elaborate on in later posts, but I never really got around to it. I also got a little crazy/vulgar towards the end, but I just felt really frustrated by all the shit skaters get from figures of authority. Anyways, it would be goo to elaborate more into the important issues of the skating community. The next post was my intro to music, I really just outlined what music is to me. I'll admit, my writing was a little repetitive, but I needed 300 words, so it was the best I could do.
Next post was my first review. It was about the 5th generation Ipod Nano, and i reviewed the hell out of it.The only thing about it I regret not mentioning was the very short battery life, that's definitely my least favorite thing about it. I believe I portrayed how much of an awesome piece of equipment this thing is very well in that post. My next free write post was to give a band that very much needs some credit, its dues. I got a response from a person outside of school saying it was a good post and how much he liked the band. Obviously, my writing has improved. My next post... lets just skip that one.
In conclusion, my statement of purpose said that I would be more involved in the world and its politics, I haven't really done that so much, but I intend to. I said I'd write about skating and education, I talked about skating. I don't really plan much to talk about education in the future, maybe 1 or 2 posts. I'm definitely going to focus on music, I love it too much to ignore it.
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