Classics part 2, country seyet reading

This may be tough to watch… just sight reading the melody here

Throwing it back to the classics part 1

Wiener Marsch… haven't played this in months… sorry!

Greenday

When we watched a documentary on Greenday's album being transformed into a play, I was shocked initially. It sounded horrifying. You want to take a punk-rock band and make a musical out of their work... It sounded destined for failure and I'm still going to say that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the performance. That doesn't mean it was bad though, it just means it wasn't my style!

The more important part of that whole occurrence was that people went out on a limb and tried something completely new. I respect Billy for trying out something that seemed to be absolutely out if his nature... And he enjoyed it. It reminded me that I should approach college with an open mind so that I can explore the world and thereby myself. Maybe something like choir would interest me, who knows?

State Run Radio

I remember that at one point in class we mentioned that there is a startling correlation between the lineups of major festivals in the US this year. This is probably due to the music industry being largely dominated by three major labels. Essentially this means that three labels control what music is being performed and fed to the public. This reminded me of the following song…

It may be a little excessive in that it claims government involvement in all of this but… put record labels in its place and…?

This Week's Feel

I think it's an understatement to say that this week has been turbulent for Anderson High School. While students were already thrown in the frying pan with EOC's for the 9th, 10th and 11th graders, AP and IB testing took its toll on the upperclassmen. To stir up the pot some more, the whole yik-yak (I don't know how it's spelled…) deal escalated to epic proportions… So this brings me to two key points.

1. By banning the use of cell phones within class and not allowing students to have certain apps (which they can't really control), what are they accomplishing. Yes, bullying is bad. Basically everybody experiences bullying at some point in their twelve years at school. Yes, yik-yak makes it easy for kids to cowardly demean each other, sometimes purposefully, sometimes thinking that it's a funny joke. The app is/was being heavily abused at Anderson… Yet, instating these cell phone rules isn't going to solve the problem of bullying… It may stop bullying in one technologically advanced form but people are creative and it will manifest itself in another way, shape or form. I believe that the issue is being approached from the wrong side. Bullying will occur regardless of the rules in place, unless you create a super harsh authoritative regime. Rather than trying to squash bullying, it would be much more effective to teach kids how to handle bullying and provide them with emotional/social support. This means that the problem is approached front the positive side and helps kids mature, to learn how to respond to adversity as once they become adults, the world isn't going to coddle them. If a coworker or stranger calls a kid-now-adult a bunch of names, unless it's a threat or a disturbance in the work place, the world won't shed a protective tear around the abused, that's the sad truth. It's key to learn to stand up for yourself and to become comfortable with who you are, to not listen to the caustic remarks of others and know your worth. All alternate perspectives are welcome and appreciated, especially considering how little student input the administration seems to be seeking on a matter that mostly pertains to the student body.

2. The good news. By the above paragraph, one might get the impression that the AHS student body is morally filthy but this is far from the truth… Considering 911, we should remember that the actions of a few should NOT determine the judgement of the character of the many. While some students abused technology to post cruel and crude comments about others, the Anderson student body on average is awesome. I say this as I attended Trojan Live this Friday and the audience's support of the performers  was overwhelming. One particular girl clearly got stage fright, she was trying to sing "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men and she couldn't get started. The audience took notice and rather than booing or just sitting in scary silence, the entire theater began to clap and yell words of encouragement. It took about 3 rounds but once the girl got started, she did REALLY well AND overcame her stage fright! Also, I want to acknowledge that all of the other performers were fantastic as well and I admire the guts it took for them to get up on stage!

All Black Everything

In the light of the upcoming IB History test, I'm choosing to breakdown Lupe Fiasco's song "All Black Everything". The song is basically his rearrangement of history, mostly defined by switching the roles of African-Americans and Anglos. It's pretty playful and powerful stuff if you listen to it.

I concede ahead of time that I used rap genius here a decent amount.

[Hook]
You would never know if you could ever be You don't know what you can do unless you try,
If you never try, you would never see How would the role of blacks in the United States have been different if slavery had never occurred? 
Stayed in Africa, we ain't never leave
So there were no slaves in our history
Were no slave ships, were no misery
Call me crazy, or isn't he?
See I fell asleep and I had a dream shout out to MLK
It was all black everything A world in which people's complexion is irrelevant, all black = blind to color

[Verse 1]fairly creative rhyming occurs here
Uh, and we ain't get exploited
White man ain't feared it so he did not destroy it Alludes to: MLK and Bertrand Russell within one line regarding race relations- pack mentality stimulates picking on minority
We ain't work for free, see they had to employ it 
Built it up together so we equally appointed since = job opportunities and salaries were provided in the past instead of slavery, slave codes etc., the distribution of power is equal and the nation is content overall
First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Constitution written by W.E.B. Du Bois <- civil rights leader being part of Founding Fathers, once again "equally appointed" makes table even or even better, irrelevant regarding race
Were no reconstructions, civil war got avoided if there hadn't been slavery, no civil war… basid
Little black sambo grows up to be a lawyer
Extra extra on the news stands
Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan flips race relations, patriarchy and the path to the 15th amendment upside down
Malcolm Little dies as an old man
Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him bringing two assassinated civil rights activists with differing ideas together naturally
Followed by Bill O'Reilly who read from the Quran
President Bush sends condolences from Iran
Where Fox News reports live
That Ahmadinejad wins the Mandela Peace Prize now flips current politics upside down, to be honest, the fact that he can get the name Ahmandinejad to fit smoothly into his song is astounding

[Hook]

[Verse 2] I'll stop annotating/explaining lyrics, they can be found at http://rapgenius.com/Lupe-fiasco-all-black-everything-lyrics
Uh, and it ain't no projects
Keepin it real is not an understood concept
Yea, complexion's not a contest there are no "desirable" colors as colors don't matter
Cause racism has no context no reason for racism to exist if colors are ignored
Hip-hop ain't got a section called conscious
Everybody rappin like crack never happened
Crips never occurred nor bloods to attack them
Matter of fact no hood to attack in
Somalia is a great place to relax in
Fred Astaire was the first to do a backspin
The Rat Pack was cool group of black men
That inspired the five white guys called the Jacksons
Eminem fitted in but then again
He inspired a black rapper tryin to mimic him
And thats what really rose up out of Michigan
The "sounding white" rapper by the name of 50 Cent 
so many civil rights related messages in one song
[Hook]

[Verse 3]
Uh, and I know it's just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can't it be
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make it fast or we can make it last
Every woman queen and every man a king and
When those color lines come we can't see between
We just close our eyes till its all black everything

[Hook]

Not all that much internal rhyme but the density of the lyrics of this song is ridiculous. There are an ungodly amount of allusions in the verses and a lot of shots from Lupe at Bill O'Reilly. Ends on a very hopeful note!

ACL (Another round)

At some point this second semester, we were checking out a couple of new bands and we happened to listen to Ozomatli's think-hop (not going to lie, that's a really lame label for a genre) songs. Now that I've looked at the ACL lineup, it happens that Ozomatli is attending ACL. To me, this is terrific, as this will be the first time that I'm sure to know a band's music that: 1) Sofie and Kendall don't really know, 2) Since the band is fairly unknown, it'll be easy to check them out without dealing with the hassle of a big crowd and 3) Their music is actually very interesting, the one that stood out to me the most was probably the one with cat meows in it (my goal is to find out why, why, why???).

What's not to like about the weird compilation of sounds thrown together here?

Iscariot Take 2?

It Ends Tonight

The Big Fishes

Looking at this year's ACL lineup, the big fishes are not that exciting to me. I think Eminem's new stuff is pretty bad, it lost the good inspirational undertone that was present in his earlier stuff. Pearl Jam isn't my style of music. Listening to Beck yesterday, I didn't find it particularly stimulating either. I'm willing to give Outkast a shot. Listening to Calvin Harris and Lana del Rey was disappointing. To me, both of their styles are boring pop. Izzy Agalea has good dance music but her lyrics are absolutely sub-par. The Replacements are before my time and will be super crowded so I'm tempted not to go. I can see myself having fun at Skrillex because they'll probably have a good light show and fun music to dance to, yes it's that simple. Foster the People needs to leave Austin... I'm willing to give The Avett Brothers, Zedd and Major Lazer a chance, they each have a unique and very different sound. That was my assessment of "The Big Fishes". I personally think they could have gotten better headliners. ACL went for some fairly boring pop artists this year with Lana del Rey etc...

Guitar Round 2

Apologies ahead of time!

Nirvana

What connects Nirvana and The Beatles on a spiritual level? Nirvana's title is derived from a Buddhist/Hindu philosophy, the absolute clearing of the mind that achieves "egolessness" or a release from the suffering of the world. The Beatles dabbled in meditative yoga, a Hindu practice. I'm not sure what draws these great bands to the Hindu religion but I find their fascination very interesting. There seems to be a huge amount of respect from Western artists for the tranquility of the Hindu practices. I guess one valid question to ask here is if the bands' have success because they reflect interests that are already present in their fans or because they bring a "new" way of thinking, a new culture to their audience.

However, I think that Nirvana, as they weren't as big as The Beatles, had a much smaller target audience and sung songs of protest that were more domestically aimed than The Beatles. The Beatles, since they traversed the globe, naturally composed more worldly tracks. Regardless, both bands had a respectively revolutionary impact on the music of their time and should be appreciated for their cultural contributions.

I apologize, this may be the worst blog I've written all year...

First Attempt at Collaborative Music

This is the first time I've tried to seriously put something together with other people. It's the very beginning and essentially what we accomplished after 30 minutes but considering those facts, it's not bad at all. I apologize for the delay but this is the earliest I could get my hold on this.

30 MINUTES- NO JUDGING

Tupac's Murder… Authoritative Corruption?

When watching Tupac's murder documentary, it became fairly clear very quickly that the circumstances of his death were too suspicious for it to be carried out by accident. The car that pulled up alongside him would have had to have known in which seat Tupac was sitting and the fact that insufficient evidence was produced for a murder that occurred within city limits suggests that something is off. While I don't think that the US government would secretly assassinate Tupac themselves, I think it could have easily turned a blind eye to the knowledge that it was happening. I find it likely that one of the police officers under Suge Knight's control could have done it. The scary part of the assassination is that it is extremely likely that someone in a position of power abused it and got somebody killed.

While not the same, the escalating scandal of what the NSA has been capable of doing and what hasn't been disclosed to the public is frankly terrifying. It makes me want to not use the internet for anything financially or privately important, although in this day and age, that is essentially impossible. Here's a link to recent developments regarding the NSA. I understand the need to keep these operations secret but a little bit more public disclosure would make an astounding difference.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/nsa-said-to-have-used-heartbleed-bug-exposing-consumers.html

Journey- Hair Metal?

So from watching the performance of Don't Stop Believing by Journey. I feel like they may be on the edge of Rock and Roll and Hair Metal. Keep in mind that I have a very limited perspective on the history of all of this music. Dress wise, some of them seem like they could definitely be hair metal. Although this is a video of their performance in 2005, take note of the shirt of the singer… if you call that a shirt…

Now to the songwriting part: (honestly there's not much...)

Just a small town girl

Livin' in a lonely world<- this girl is looking for a partner, notice the repetition of L's here though, so far this looks like it may be the biggest lyrical accomplishment of the song

She took the midnight train

Goin' anywhere<- and she's VERY DESPERATE

Just a city boy

Born and raised in South Detroit<- hopeless, in search of hope

He took the midnight train

Goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room

A smell of wine and cheap perfume

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on and on and on<- the two find "dirty" (smokey, cheap, smell of wine) love

Strangers waiting

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows searching

In the night

Streetlights, people

Livin' just to find emotion

Hidin' somewhere in the night<- this joint is desolate

Workin' hard to get my fill drinking?

Everybody wants a thrill addiction to: drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex?

Payin' anything to roll the dice GAMBLING

Just one more time

Some will win

Some will lose

Some were born to sing the blues the gambling doesn't really matter but they're stuck in a cyclical game that's draining their life

Oh, the movie never ends

It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows searching

In the night

Streetlights, people

Livin' just to find emotion

Hidin' somewhere in the night

[Instrumental interlude]<- the entire song if you think about it

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Streetlights, people

Don't stop believin'

Hold on

Streetlights, people

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Streetlights, people

Honestly, not much to gain from this song except some good guitar playing at points… This was pretty disappointing once I revisited

Revisiting My Own Song

Lisa Fry (backup singer)->Musicians Who Are Getting Inadequate Recognition

When we started watching "20 Feet From Stardom", I started thinking about the people that I know personally that should receive more musical attention than they get right now. The first person I thought of was Daniel Ethridge, a graduate of Anderson High School last year, currently attending Belmont University to study music. I've been trying to keep up with him and he's putting up some great stuff. I feel like he would benefit from recording some of his tracks at a higher quality but considering how good his band sounds with the equipment that they're using, I think the only way they an go is up. The kid's talented and I wish the best for him. The fact that I know him and that I personally know that he's a good kid is really making me root for him. I've been trying to find out whether he's released an album because I would definitely buy it to support him. He probably doesn't know I'm a fan but that's alright. Here are most of the useful links to his music that I have found!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Ethridge-and-the-Wild-Things/334189343384222

https://danielethridge.bandpage.com

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-ethridge/whenever-youre-around

Also… completely unrelated. Here's a German satirist from the 70's-80's that few people in the US know? See if you can understand what's going on?

Étude Practice

Currently, I've been trying to get a little more away from playing the same pop music that I play ALL THE TIME. It gets repetitive after a while and as a result, like pretty much anything else, starts losing its appeal; so I've started trying to learn Étude, op. 10-3 by Chopin. I think the reason that this is so much more difficult for me is because pop music tends to play boring chords on the bottom, or something else that's similarly easy to pick up! With classical music, my left hand is usually challenged more, having to contribute to the melody. This is where I'm currently at...

Radioactive on "Guitar"

Life Theory

Here's a short life theory that I came up with regarding why more intelligent people are more unhappy. Generally speaking, more intelligent people tend to be people who are adept at critical thinking. Critical thinking usually involves breaking things down and analyzing what is wrong. This is useful if one elects to fix those things that one perceives as wrong as this usually brings about a sense of fulfillment, a sense of action! However, I believe critical thinking usually culminates in identifying that which is wrong and not doing anything about it because one can't for some reason or another. Therefore, a critical thinker is left identifying a whole bunch of things that are wrong, "negatives". A critical thinker often has difficulty turning off his "critical thinking" and therefore dwells on "negatives". There are, however, "positives" and I would define these as instances where the critical thinker is surprised by excellence through creativity.  Making an analogy to music, a critical thinker would be bored with the stereotypical, average pop music because... Well it is average. However, when somebody does something new, "redefines the game" (credit goes to Gavin here I believe), a critical thinker is impressed by this excellence. However, since this is not the average, it occurs by definition less frequently. Therefore, a "critical thinker" is stuck with a majority of things that bore him/her, "negatives", and a minority of "positives". The math speaks for itself. My conclusion is that to be happier, one has to involve oneself in activities that cause one to focus so much on the activity that one doesn't have time to critically think (#flow).

This saved as a draft originally, sorry!

Conflict Diamonds- Lupe Fiasco- Round 2 (Shorter)

Simply in-rhyming annotations. I think this song is precariously balanced on the edge of valid social criticism and politically skydiving without a parachute.

[Intro] Blah blah blah

Diamonds are forever,
they wont leave in the night i've no fear that they might.
Desert me!!

Uhh, F and F, uhh

Diamonds are forever

Yeah, ya no what im saying
I figure, I feel like i should just, ya no
Show people the other side that wonder where, ya no wat im sayin, that are presently unaware.
They dont know about it, ya no wat im sayin, ya no jus show em theres another side to this thing right here,
its called bling!

[Verse 1:]
Allow me to break down the game,
behind the bracelets, earrings, chains, 

watches and rings. The bling,
the crystal encrusted, princess flooded, 

canary studded, blue coloured and blood stained.

Yeah the older brother of the drug game,
that give her a fame, then take awayer of lame.
the empowerer of the kings that came to claims and disease
believe what the native people were saying.

Believe, my engagement ring received and flossed 

at the cost of a bondage child minus pain.
Long ago kings use to wear em in their armor,

when they fought other armies, because it use to scare em.
If you wasn't rich couldn't wear em.

Witches use to marry, and they'd shoot you before they share em.
The gift and the curse, the venom and the serum.
Most hated ladies best friend get murked for a clip.

[Chorus]

Diamonds are forever...

[Verse 2:]
Cecil Rhodes sold war and genocide<- Fairly clever
To the countryside just to get his shine on!
I fear what De Beers and his peers use to do,

before the world really knew, just to get their "mine" on!

Making paper with slave labour and hittin little kids

with life time bids making em cut and shine stones.
Inflating the price and making em look nice

and i wasnt thinking twice when i was putting mine on.

About a young shorty in Sierra Leone

or other conflict countries that people call home.
I figured i would never go to Angola 

so it never did affect me 

though maybe indirectly.

That my necklace was funding a rebellion or a military coup,
Started by militias that dont believe in following none of Geneva's rules.
I was brushing off the haters, trying to be cool.
Didnt have a clue that the rapper was helping the rapers, 

raiders of the villagers, pillagers of the schools.

Shooters of the innocent, torturers of the witnesses, 

burners of the businesses And my bracelet was the fuel.
Uhh, i aint pushing an agenda homie,
Im just pushing the facts, Fuck Bush!<-pushing an agenda, regardless of political affiliation

Cuz theres people doin worse on this earth and there black,
I took it for years now let me bring it back,
We all know on foreign shores that they finance wars, 

but asks yourself do they finance yours.

When i first got mine i took em out on tour, 

they only lost half the value when i took em out the store.
Or it was full of moissanites and cubics

but the jeweller knew i was stupid and that i couldnt prove it.

Feeling like i need it because i do music,

to impress the groupies and the interviewers.
So i didnt appraise it, nor did i loop it, 

even gave em to my girl, thinkin i was cupid.

Homies was all hate hoping they could make me lose it, 

creeping through my own hood knew i had to remove it.
I see the Russian Mafia, the Jewish Mobsters, 

the undercover terrorists and the traps for the hustlers.
Homie its a rap for the nonsense rhyming, 

props to Kanye i call this Conflict Diamonds.

[Chorus]

Lupe Fiasco- Bitch Bad (Breaking It Down)

I like Lupe Fiasco for a lot of reasons. Although I think he may be politically extreme, he sends out some legitimate, educational messages to kids. I believe that his rap lyrics are intelligent and that if he elects to cuss, he does it based on appropriate grounds. When somebody like me hears the title of his song "Bitch Bad", one may be initially put off but if one actually listens to it, I think one can't help being impressed, at least a little bit. I'll let you make up your mind about that first.

First of all, I appreciate the fact that he manages to convey his intelligence via in-rhyming and appropriately specific large words while keeping it at the level of cognizance of his target audience. His rhyming is in part, pretty clever. I personally appreciate the rhyme of the last verse: but bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way, but she think she a bitch, what a double entendre. Finally, he manages to breakdown the issue of expletive rap and its effect on adolescents in a way that's easy to follow. I identify with his protest so this song hit home. Further analysis is present below. 

Internal Rhymes

Clever Rhymes (Rhymes I haven't hear before in rap)

Vocabulary greater than that of an average 7th grader or greater than 3 syllables

[Intro]
Yeah
I say bitch bad, woman good, lady better
Hey, hey, hey, hey

[Verse 1]
Now imagine there’s a shawty, maybe five maybe four
Ridin’ ’round with his mama listening to the radio
And a song comes on and a not far off from being born
Doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong
Now I ain’t trying to make it too complex<-
But let’s just say shawty has an undeveloped context<-
About the perception of women these days
His mama sings along and this what she says
“Niggas I’m a bad bitch, and I’m bad bitch
far above average”<-
And maybe other rhyming words like cabbage and savage<-
And baby carriage and other things that match it<-
Couple of things that are happenin’ here
First he’s relatin’ the word “bitch” with his mama, comma<-
And because she’s relatin’ to herself, his most important source of help,
And mental health, he may skew respect for dishonor<-

[Hook] Short
Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, they misunderstood
(I’m killin’ these bitches)
Uh, tell ‘em
Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, they misunderstood
They misunderstood
(I’m killin’ these bitches)

[Verse 2]
Yeah, now imagine a group of little girls nine through twelve
On the internet watchin’ videos listenin’ to songs by themselves
It doesn’t really matter if they have parental clearance
They understand the internet better than their parents
Now being the internet, the content’s probably uncensored<-
They’re young, so they’re malleable and probably unmentored<-
A complicated combination, maybe with no relevance<-<-
Until that intelligence<- meets their favorite singer’s preference<-<-
“Bad bitches, bad bitches, bad bitches
That’s all I want and all I like in life is bad bitches, bad bitches”
Now let’s say that they less concerned with him
And more with the video girl acquiescent to his whims
Ah, the plot thickens
High heels, long hair, fat booty, slim
Reality check, I’m not trippin’
They don’t see a paid actress, just what makes a bad bitch

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
Disclaimer<-: This rhymer, Lupe’s not usin’ bitch as a lesson<-
But as a psychological weapon<-(slant)
To set in your mind and really mess with your conceptions<-<-
Discretions<-, reflections<-, it’s clever misdirection<-<-
Cause, while I was rappin’ they was growin’ up fast
Nobody stepped in to ever slow ‘em up, gasp
Sure enough, in this little world
The little boy meets one of those little girls
And he thinks she a bad bitch and she thinks she a bad bitch
He thinks disrespectfully<-, she thinks of that sexually<-
She got the wrong idea, he don’t wanna fuck her
He thinks she’s bad at being a bitch like his mother
Momma never dress like that, come out the house, hot mess like that
Ass, titties, dress like that
All out to impress like that
Just like that, you see the fruit of the confusion
He caught in a reality<-, she caught in an illusion<-
Bad mean good to her, she really nice and smart
But bad mean bad to him, bitch don’t play a part
But bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way
But she think she a bitch, what a double entendre<-

[Hook]

[Outro]
Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, they misunderstood
You’re misunderstood
Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, greatest motherhood
(I’m killin’ these bitches)

P.s. 

Rap Genius also does a good job of explaining the lyrics.

A Couple of Things

It took me a long time to decide what to write about this time but I think I've narrowed it down to two things. SXSW and it's ITunes festival and the ridiculous amount of food samples that can be attained at Whole Foods. I will go into more detail tomorrow as I just found time to write this down now but I promise the time delay will be rewarded with a proper appreciation of at least one of the two topics!

So… The choice of the day is free food as we will probably discuss SXSW in class throughout this week and after Spring Break as well! Walking around Whole Foods yesterday, I sampled an Orange Custard, Fish, BBQ sauce on sausage, cheese, more cheese, a cracker with a ridiculously awesome, disproportionate amount of sausage and… cheese on it, more cheese, a piece of cake… Being a hungry teenager perpetually suffering from the affliction of hunger, I must maintain that these sampling opportunities are a blessing. I'm positive that Whole Foods loses money on me. I give them that they do manage to trick me into buying a small bite to eat (reciprocity principle) but that total is a minimal 89 cents. Their bakery is not bad at all. Also, the new Whole Foods (domain) has a pretty sweet seating area set up ranging from the hearths outside to the biergarten benches by the food trailers to the lounge style seating upstairs on the inside to the climax of the upstair outdoor seating looking out over the… highway… Yeah that part's a bummer but I've found it to be a great place to study and since even being in the proximity of so much food makes me happy, why shouldn't I be there? Whole Food's prices are at large ludicrous, but a small snack from the bakery is not a major threat to my wallet.

Recently, I've also been spending way too much time at Central Market. I found out that I could survive fairly well off of getting free samples there as well. However, if I wanted to legitimately feed myself, buying a quality loaf of bread there and then spreading either garlic butter or quality jam (preferably strawberry, blackberry or raspberry) on the delectable slices would/will be a great option in college. I just rambled for a while about food but the fact is I'm only scratching the surface. Next time, my ranting will be more focused.

Prison

While I'm sure a lot of the rappers were truly guilty of whatever crimes they were accused of, I acknowledge that the police may very well be racist, at least in certain areas. I think the assassination of Mac Dre was interesting and I wonder if it was due to racism, people disagreeing with his content or personal disagreements. I think the segregation does set up racial tensions for when jail mates are released and I've seen these tensions unfold on my soccer team before. The necessity of prison is clear but I think that the US overdoes it, especially in terms of fairly unimportant drugs such as weed. I think that private business interests in prison are clearly an issue. Rather than encouraging the reform of criminals via psychological therapy, it motivates the prison employees, guards and private companies (immortal technique & rad kass) to keep inmates returning into "slavery". I actually found this extremely interesting!!! This was the best documentary so far this year!

Attention Spans

Yesterday, a couple of my friends came over to film a birthday video for their good friend. They know I play piano and we're quite interested in the songs I could play from my piano sheet music. However, it seemed like they only wanted to listen for short segments at a time and then go onto the next song. Furthermore, they started loudly talking and didn't even seem to be paying attention to the song they had requested me to play. Maybe that's because our generation is accustomed to having so much beauty around us (i.e. music on the radio) that we are accustomed to putting it on the back burner and tuning (👀see what I did there) in to other things. Amateur musician frustration...

Sofie's Music

I enjoyed listening to "I Turn My Camera On" for a plethora of reasons. Primarily, I enjoyed not having to listen to repetitive, unneccessarily explicit rap. Add the fact that the song picks a creative topic and expresse in a unique fashion and I have sufficient grounds. I think the beginning of the song sounds a little bit like the beginning of the baseline of "Eye of the Tiger" but I'm probably wrong. The guy's voice is a little strange but in a mysterious, enticing manner!

What My Classmates Played?

I found a great deal of the songs that were played in class appalling. I think that a good majority of the kids were playing the songs just to say that they played the most explicit song they could find on their iPhone in school. One of the kids chose to play Tyler the Creator for what seemed like 30 minutes and it was awful to have to hear. I found it sad that everybody chose to play rap/hip-hop but I guess that's how things worked out. I was hoping that somebody would mix it up and I guess Anton did when he played his guitar tunes. Overall, it was fairly disappointing to listen to a conglomerate of cussing and talk of "smacking hoes", shooting people up and you get the idea hopefully. I wish that my classmates were listening to slightly more refined music although I concede that the song I played hides some questionable lyrics behind guitar playing as well.

You Need Me, I Don't Need You

The piece of music that I chose to showcase was a version of Ed Sheeran performing his non-radio, live version of his song "You Need Me, I Don't Need You". A good amount of people were grateful that I did not play it for the full 11 minutes. In my opinion, this song is either a complete hit or miss; if one enjoys it, then it's 11 glorious minutes; if one dislikes it, then it's one long hour of listening. I was hoping the kids in my class would like it because it was a crossover of rap, singing and guitar. I find it extremely impressive and I think that Ed Sheeran is hugely talented but my taste in music is apparently different from my peers. The video is posted below.

The Story of the British Dog Being Caught by the Taliban

I want to keep this blog short due to the length of the last one so here's a short opinion on the recently trending story of the Taliban holding a British dog hostage. The story has gone rampant in the news but people may be failing to see the heavily biased style of reporting the story from simply one perspective. The dog is claimed to look sad and have received a demeaning haircut in some articles. This is all based on one video with the dog on a chain-link metal leash surrounded by a group of armed extremists. I personally doubt that the style of leash affects the dog particularly and the haircut could be seen more as a gift as cruelty considering that the surroundings are most likely fairly hot. The tail and ears did seem to be drooping at the beginning when the dog is mostly still but once he began to walk, it seemed like he lightened up. This is all conjecture on my end as well. However, even if the critics are right, the dog definitely doesn't seem to be starving and I fail to see how his captivity is any more inhumane than forcing the dog to live a dangerous life of servitude hunting down extremists. The most neutral report of the situation I could find was from NPR and I posted the link to it below.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/06/272490481/taliban-release-video-of-captured-american-military-dog

The Difference Between Trust and Respect

I've been raised by two parents who have very opposite views on how an individual deserves to be treated based on the minimal knowledge that you have of them while first getting to know them.

My mom believes that you should always respect and trust people (or institutions) when you first encounter them. Of course a decent amount of signals are included in this idealistic perspective to avoid naivety, say, not simply investing in a company because the person says it's a good investment. My mother would instead research the company herself and then determine the credibility of the person/statement as he is asking for a leap of faith and my mom is not willing, intelligently, to run that risk.

My dad believes that you should neither respect nor trust an individual until they demonstrate their competence. I suppose that my father's undergraduate/graduate students have suffered due to his suspicious demeanor but there are clear benefits as well. First of all, by making people earn your respect, they feel that you genuinely appreciate them because they are aware of what it looks like when you don't and they may feel accomplished as a result. Making people garner your trust ensures that you weed out danger. You understand to which level you can trust the individual and thereby avoid placing yourself in a vulnerable position.

The drawback is that people tend to treat you in a more compassionate/friendly manner if you choose to open up your vulnerabilities first. Therefore, social adeptness could be defined in this category as appropriately walking the line of giving/withholding respect and trust. My personal suggestion in getting people to trust you is to slowly open up about small things and then escalate. The same tends to happen for the person receiving your openness and along the way, you can evaluate whether the person is worth trusting. Since most people want to be on good terms with one another, they will continue to trust each other more as they get to know each other better and voila, a friendship happens.

All of Me- John Legend

As ironic as this may be following the last blog, I really like the song "All of Me" by John Legend. My friend Paul Sommerdorf and I share this in common and we both liked the cover of the song by Lindsey Stirling and Legend himself. This is where the idea to do a violin-piano cover came from. I've found a pretty decent sounding cover although I'll stay on the lookout for a better one. He has yet to find a violin cover but if he does, we may be seen trying out for Trojan Live.

The Grammys

I think that the way that the Grammys are televised to the general public, they have become a joke at large. All one sees is the bands that one has heard all year, the bands that have been pushed by big record labels, the heavy concentration of pop music. I understand that it is difficult to evaluate all the artists in the world and choose the best out of this ridiculously large compilation. However, a little more appreciation should be shown for the music that isn't necessarily recorded professionally or at least in modern studios. Maybe I'm just venting on pop music. Maybe not even pop music itself as that often enough still sounds good but the fact that pop music is aggressively pushed onto the general population from the radio, commercials and even the restaurant that I worked at this summer. I want to be able to expand my musical "horizons" but I feel like these opportunities are suppressed by pop music. Needing something to take it out on, I think I pick the Grammys as the ringleader of the source of my discontent.

Changing to Happiness

This may be very random but here's a list of things that I've realized make me happy throughout high school.

1. Sleep- sleep fixes everything, better coordination in sports, higher concentration in the classroom, a more social attitude, etc.
2. Eliminating Procrastination- getting things done ahead of time frees up my schedule. This relieves stress and develops a buffer in case something extraordinary happens.
3. Self-Reward- if something was difficult and was overcome, I've begun rewarding myself for it, mostly by food.
4. Attitude- there are a lot of things that are out of my control but to worry about these things is demoralizing and useless. Working on the things that can be changed makes oneself feel accomplished and improves one's life.
5. Relationships- don't spend too much time around people that you don't like, it drags both you and them down. On the other hand, socialize with the people that you care about and don't try to find time for them, MAKE time for them.

-------feeling like a woman-------

Music Appreciation

We started talking about the under appreciation of Austin musicians in class. I started thinking about it and I think I have a decent theory on why it is that they don't receive as much attention as other artists. More popular artists get more publicity and therefore more people know their songs, identify the songs, the artist and therefore want to go see there shows. Now Austin has three large music festivals that I can think of: SXSW, ACL and Fun Fun Fun Fest. A grand portion of the audience at these festivals attends to see the headliners. This year headliners among ACL were Passion Pit, Walk the Moon, Phoenix, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Muse, et cetera. The issue is that all of these bands are out of town so all of the publicity at ACL is directed to external music (music not originating in Austin). In one sense this is good because it should diversify the music people in Austin listen to except they have a tendency to rely on this exo-music. It's shopping big-business vs. local, pop vs. rock. The issue is that big businesses make more money and in this sense, all the festivals want to make more money as well. The festivals rely on the musicians they know are going to make them money, the pop artists. This is good business and it is hard to criticize the event organizers for wanting to maintain financial stability. However, these festivals are often sold as being part of what makes Austin the "Live Music Capitol".

Austin has music year round heavily relying on local artists but I think it is too disorganized. So many
people attend ACL because it's time, and cost, efficient. It's a buffet of all you can eat music with a whole lot of healthy vegetables (small bands) in which you have no interest and tantalizing deserts (pop). You can consume the entire meal in a matter of up to three days and then you're done. In this seemingly long amount of time, one has consumed so much music though, that it's extremely efficient. This is the challenge Austin artists face in my eyes, time efficiency.

For the average individual, dedicating a night to one band may seem like a questionable commitment but if it were for multiple deals, if it were a PACKAGE, like ACL, people might become more interested. Also, a radio station playing the "sounds of Austin" wouldn't be a bad idea either, although this might not be monetarily sustainable or already exists. Considering Austin's "Live Music Capitol" claim, maybe the station could be subsidized and sponsored. Just some food for thought.

Simon and Garfunkel

Piggybacking on the last post about songwriting, my god they produce eloquent dreams of songs. The combination of guitar and SMOOTH singing lulls me into the most relaxed state of being. This music is yoga to my ears. Pleasantly tranquilizing. For some reason it reminded me of Colbie Caillat. I can't listen to her music around sunset because I'm so calm driving that I start drowsing off and can't pay attention to the road. I guess I could classify her as a Siren? Either way, the above mentioned artists are spectacular both vocally and instrumentally although I think Colbie Caillat is a little more on the happy/cliché side.

Songwriting

Songwriting seems so easy when you just listen to someone else's lyrics. As a child there seemed nothing to it except in many cases having to find words that rhyme (oh no...). That same deluded place of knowing-it-all as a child is where I begun when I started trying to write songs. You write a couple of lines, they rhyme and whoop-di-doo you have a song. However, when I read over the lyrics I realized that something seemed off. That's when I started looking up basics of songwriting and I found myself embarrassed, realizing that I knew very, very little about songwriting. I was like a house cat that thought he'd discovered all of his environment until he escapes outdoors one day and finds himself surrounded by a complex diversity that blows his mind... and often enough, he, the house cat is so shocked by the vast expanse of unknown that he tucks his tail in and immediately returns to the shelter of what he knows, the house. After, looking up the basics of songwriting, I crawled back into my previously imagined "mansion of intelligence" and recognized it for the shack that it was. I didn't know squat about songwriting. The blow struck deep...

But I've never been the kind to give up on things that interest me so I kept writing. The lyrics were and often are still crap but I've learned about writing with a melody in mind (at least sometimes). I've learned that metaphorical language doesn't automatically mean quality. I'm improving though and that's what counts. My greatest issue right now is trying to be so complex that my wide web of creativity is impossible to fit into one song. But... I have to start somewhere!

Iscariot- Walk The Moon

The video for me playing this unfortunately won't show but this Iscariot is the first song that I've "learned" simply looking at the lyrics and then figuring out the upper half by myself! I could tell that I'm still in the process of memorizing the song and it's interesting relying on myself to stylistically match (or actively not match) the way the song was recorded. Either way, I apologize for the video not uploading and I'm working on fixing it!

Recording a Record

I'm one of those kids who actually finds How Stuff Works very interesting. While others may regard it as geeky, the fact is that the show highlights how most of the things that we're interested in buying as consumers are made. At the same time, looking at how things are made can help me think about how to make my own things, a skill that has been used many-a-time at my house and will be key to biomedical engineering. The whole assembly line ideology always interested my brother and me and even as small children we would specialize our jobs when washing and putting up dishes to conserve time. We were meticulous in building and managed to erect a 2x1 meter house made of clay in our backyard. When we moved to the U.S., our backyard's mud wasn't up to our standards so we instead constructed a lego city with each individual having a certain income and corresponding "quality of living". The lego city even had weather. Lightning was the flickering of the light in the room and rain was simulated by utilizing a sprayer. While that part may have been idiotic, I believe it was still time better spent than playing video games or watching TV. I think there's an extreme importance in how things are assembled and at least for me personally, it has, is and will play a vital function in my life!