refrain. huh.

I actually spent the better part of 8 hours on my bliss assignment. I went on a photo excursion around the city. Got some good shots, too. It'd been several months since I'd taken a photograph. I'll post some of them here once I'm done fiddling with them.

Also...I'm going to refrain from commenting on the movie until I see it again. I think I'll rent it this week.

whoa.

[:-]

Where the hell does all my time go? I just realized I have about 90 things to do before Tuesday...

follow.where.you.lead

I keep wondering if anyone actually reads these posts besides you, Beth...

Baby Emery

So I guess I forgot to post yesterday. Oops. It was in my head, though.

I came to the realization yesterday that I'm much happier when I'm making music. I've been ignoring my instruments lately because of how busy I've been with school and work. This weekend I started to pick them up again when a friend came over to jam.

It felt great.

I really needed something to break the monotony.

Also, I found out something really cool today. One of the guitarists for the band Yes, Trevor Rabin, is now a film music composer. He did the soundtrack for Gone In 60 Seconds, Rock Star and Snakes on a Plane. Among others, of course.

I thought that was really neat.

P.S. Why does software have to be so damn expensive??

---

Edit ::

I forgot to put this link on here:

AmpLive - Rainydayz Remixes

I assume you all know about Radiohead's new album release a few months ago. (Free...online) Well, AmpLive did a bunch of remixes of the album and after a tiny legal battle, its now free on the web. Check it out...cool stuff.

That is all.

New Music Day!

I didn't have much to share today other than I got some new CDs!

Massive Attack - Mezzanine
The Presidents of the United States of America (self-titled)
A Place to Bury Strangers (self-titled)
Feist - Let it Die
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling into Place (single)
Freight Elevator Quartet - Fix It In Post

P.S. I just discovered the amazingness that is the Amazon Music download store. You should check it out. (High Quality, DRM-free mp3 tracks!)

Is an apple still an apple if it grows on a pear tree?

When thinking about this assignment, I initially found it quite hard to find something that moved me. I guess I either don't pay close enough attention or I'm completely jaded by my surroundings. However, I managed to land on a subject that has had the most impact in my life: music. I can't count how many memories and stories are tied to different songs and albums in my mind.

So with that in mind, I was going to assemble a collection of music videos and concert recordings to share with you.

None such luck...that would keep us here until next month or so.

Instead I focused on one event--a concert--in particular. The band Sigur Ros did a tour in 2005 supporting their Takk... album. For those who don't know who Sigur Ros is, they're a post-rock/ambient style band from Iceland.

Ever since that concert, Sigur Ros has come to embody everything that is beautiful and ethereal in my mind. I can be walking along and immediately something with catch my eye and their music will immediately start playing in my head.

It can get rather distracting.

I don't want to spend the time trying to describe the experience, so I found the most accurate video from that tour.



P.S. Sorry for the dumbass cliche "Music is the soundtrack to my life...!" post.

My Adventures in Traffic

Today's class went very well, I think. I've never been in a class quite like this (Are we still allowed to call it a class, Beth?) so I'm not quite sure how to judge if the class is good or bad.

During the first part of the discussion, everyone seemed to come out of their shell a little bit. I liked our little foray into free speech and what exactly that means. Doug had a good point when he said, "You can say and do whatever you want, just know that there are consequences". I just quoted him and I think I definitely made that up (Correct me later, Doug). Anyway, it was a very good point.

The more I thought about it, the more my entire view of creativity and expression was erased. This class is supposed to be our haven. Our sacred grounds as students. The room is a place where we can completely free our inhibitions (if our minds will let us) and be completely creative; go for the moon. Then, that idea was brought to a screeching halt when the subject of the discussion turned to offensive speech. If what I am saying is offensive to someone else, then I am infringing on their rights to a non-hostile learning environment. If there are no rules, then what the hell was that?

I just remembered another quote...this time from Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol...what a complete bullshitter. He should be on one of those PBS art specials. Actually, he's probably been on several.

Warhol said, "Art is what you can get away with."

How true.

An artist can create whatever they want, then society comes along with the Stick-O-Good-Taste and determines what it christens art and what is obscenity. Anything that meets the requirements--or "what you can get away with"--is art. If you understand it, then great, if not, you're an uncultured ass-clown who doesn't understand modern art.

The problem with this theory is that not all things that are not obscene are art. Most of it is bullshit. For example, my previous (before the puppet) post about the artist on Art:21 who claimed his looping video of sports figures was art. There is nothing obscene or offensive about this; however, the artist has a complete lack of artistic talent, which makes it bullshit.

I'm pretty sure that most people in the class who have listened to me rant long enough think that I hate all art. I can see that point. For you, I'm going to list a few things that I consider art:

All forms of Photography regardless of Subject (This excludes snapshots of your stupid dog with the barking disorder)

Painting (realistic to abstract; Michaelangelo to Pollock)

Music (this is a toughie...I'd say most things on the radio don't qualify)

See? I don't think everything is bullshit...

Offensive? Maybe.

Art? Bullshit.

First of all, let me state that I don't regard all abstract art to be bullshit. This being said, the first Art:21 video segments we watched in class were--for the most part--bullshit. One segment stood out to me in particular. The guy who took segments of sporting events then removed either all the main figures or all but one main figure and looped the result...WTF? He then proceeded to preach about the deep relationships between the silent basketball player screaming amid the flashing bulbs and cheering fans. "What is he screaming about? We don't know!" Give me a break. It's obvious that he's just done something good in the game and now he's 'bragging' about it--for lack of a better word--much like football players have touchdown dances.

The second segment that caught my attention was about a large public art piece using a series of "organs" and played music using compressed air and horns. I liked this piece a lot. First of all, the artist wasn't claiming it to be something it was not. The piece wasn't supposed to make people realize they are 'a spec in the ocean of life' or some other quasi-emo cliche. He created it so that people could interact with it and walk around it being engulfed in the enormity of its size, scope, and volume. Public art pieces like that in which people can either draw their own conclusions or not any at all gain my respect a lot quicker than most of the pretentious, abstract bullshit out there.

I just thought of a quote that I heard in the movie Almost Famous several years ago that I think applies here:
"The Doors? Jim Morrison? He's a drunken buffoon posing as a poet. Give me The Guess Who. They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic."