I know that I already signed off with my last blog post but I just stumbled upon the Weekend’s version of Can’t Feel My Face and its so dope, I had to share.
Not usually my type of music but this one is too groovy to deny yourself the pleasure of listening to it. So check it out!
Okay now I sign off, good luck to everyone!!!
After going back through all of my blog entries, I have realized that my writing pretty much remained the same quality over the semester. The one thing that improved was my ability to get my thoughts down quicker without having to review sentence after sentence to make sure everything came out perfectly.
One blog post that popped out to me was the open topic blog post 12. Like many other students in class I wrote about the attacks in Paris, Lebanon, and Beirut and the world media coverage they received. This one stood out to me because it was about something that really mattered to the world. All my other blogs have been about my music tastes and purely subjective material. The attacks were the first thing I had encountered in a long time that really made me think, and express genuine feelings. The blend of thought and emotions shared by not only myself but by everyone else who wrote about the attacks really amazed me.
Out of all my classes this semester, this one has been my favorite, allowing me to look deeper into and think harder about music in all its different forms. One thing I particularly enjoyed was reading everyone else’s blog posts. I had never before had access to so many different peoples viewpoints and opinions. I was made aware of so many new artists throughout the semester and some that I will definitely continue to listen to.
I want to thank everyone of our Professor and classmates for such a great semester of writing. Thank you all for sharing with everyone!
Here is the cheesiest goodbye I could think of.
I chose to review and analyse an example resume of a Marketing Manager. Click the link below to see the resume.
http://www.super-resume.com/ResumeBuilder.jtp?query=Marketing+Manager
This example resume definitely gets the job done, but it seems to be a tad bland and boring. There is not much that catches the eyes besides the headlines of each section. There is room for some individuality to be included but a certain level of professionalism is achieved without it.There were a few things that really impressed me. In the “summary” section, he sells himself and displays some of his drive, instead of describing himself in the “special skills” section. In there, he only included legitimate skills that he has acquired on the job. I was always taught that you should sell yourself in the skills section, but this resume does a really job job of selling the guy in only a few sentences, and then sprinkling some legitimate skills on top at the end. Another thing that impressed me was the extensiveness of his job history, without a single break in between jobs. The resume is very effective at achieving its goal of selling the marketing manager to the firm where he is applying. I think that it could be arranged a little differently but all in all, it is very well written. It speaks to the sociocultural expectations of businessmen and managers to be very responsible, organized, impressive, and kind of bland.
While I was writing this blog post I was listening to The Motet’s Halloween 2014 live recording on sound cloud. I don’t usually listen to music while doing my assignments but I figured I should give it a try for this post. I choose The Motet because they are one of my favorite bands and I wanted to relive the show I attended last year. I think this music is not very conductive to learning but very much so to just working. Having a good beat to bob your head to and listen to in the background helps the ideas flow sometimes but too many lyrics or too high energy may get distracting.
Like many other students, I will be blogging about the attacks of terror in Paris, Lebanon, and Beirut. I am deeply saddened by the attacks and hope that we are not headed into World War III. I have been following the story using the least biased news sources I have been able to find.
Since the attacks over the weekend I have seen hundreds of #PrayForParis tags on posts and countless people on Facebook changing their profile pictures to the colors of the French flag. My post specifically brings up that while changing your profile picture color and praying for Paris may make someone feel as if they are showing that they really do care, it is only creating an illusion of compassion and not doing anything to help the situation. You would have to be either a sociopath or an Islamic extremist to not feel deeply troubled by these events. I think its great that people are “hoping” that things will get better for Paris, but that will achieve next to nothing. Due to the way that the events are portrayed to us through the internet and mass media, the masses are not realizing that Beirut and Lebanon were also attacked, and they are actually thinking that by changing their profile pictures and praying, something will improve. Maybe it is simply a campaign to boost the morale of the French, but then what about the morale of the citizens in Beirut and Lebanon?
An online article I saw on Facebook made me think about this and how people around the world have been showing their “support”. Click the following link to read the article. *Disclaimer: This is not one of the non-biased sources I mentioned earlier, as you could probably tell from the website name alone.*
http://theantimedia.org/the-dalai-lama-just-told-the-world-to-stop-praying-for-paris/
It is not significant to me that it was the Dalai Lama who said this, any rational human being knows that whichever god they are praying to will not have much to do with the resolution of these issues. I have always been taught that history is linear, but it is seemingly cyclical, with the same wars repeating over and over again between different teams. Everyone thinks that they are the “good” guys, but being “good” is rather subjective, so is anyone actually on that team? World peace is the end game, but history so far has proven that where there are humans, there is conflict. I think that is something rooted deep in what makes us humans, but what do I know.
One thing that I do know, is that I have no idea what should be done. So for now, with everyone teetering back and forth on the edge of World War III, there is not much for the average joes around the world to do except hope.
The live performance I chose to analyze is Guitar Center’s 2011 King of Blues Final between Joe Bonamassa and Warren Haynes. The performance is unreal, I can only imagine being present at an event such as this one. If you are a blues fan or a fan of “good” music in general, then check out the clip below, and you will not be disappointed (It is long but very worth it).
The jaw-dropping performance given by Joe and Warren is amazing to say the least. The musical conversation that occurs between the two guitar titans at 5:35 leaves the listener in a state of awe. The entire King of Blues competition creates a once in a lifetime experience for the audience because it brings together musicians from all around the world that would not usually have performed together. Even though it is a “competition”, it is a very friendly competition. As you can tell from the video, Warren and Joe are having a blast together on stage melting faces in the audience. By the end of the second half of the song, the immense accumulation of energy and the timbre of Warren’s voice has got chills running down the spine of the listeners. One of my favorite things about live performances is seeing the emotions of musicians being portrayed through their body and language and facial expressions. Throughout the song, Warren and Joe’s expressions vary across the spectrum from gasping for air, to ‘stank face’, all the way to angry turtle (if confused, re-watch the video from 5:35 and pay special attention to their expressions). The flow of the jam back and forth is flawless, at times there is only a one beat separation between their licks.
I think that this being a video doesn’t dampen my ability to appreciate such a performance but I can say that if I was there, I would have cherished that memory for the rest of my life. This video is one that always motivates me to pursue my musical goals. I have listened to this jam countless times. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
The scene I chose to analyze is from the film Kick Ass, and the song is called Banana Splits – Tra La La Song by The Dickies. The scene is violent and there is some foul language so VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Check it out below! (the actual song starts about a minute and a half into the scene)
In my opinion, this song was the cherry on top of the scene. Sure it may be filled with seemingly pointless violence, but the almost insane sound of this song paired with such violence was very captivating. The scene is aimed to show how skilled in crime-fighting (or killing) this young girl called Hit-Girl is in comparison to Kick-Ass who calls himself a “superhero” but can’t even defend himself.
The fast paced insanity of this song matches perfectly with the intensity and confusion in this scene. It definitely challenges the genre norms of typical intense fight scenes in superhero movies. Instead of being very dramatic, this song is up-beat and cheery. The Dickies actually covered this song which was originally the theme song for a children’s show called The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. The director continually is cutting back to Kick-Ass’s reaction to everything that is going on around him because he cannot handle what is going on and is simply terrified. The song does a good job of portraying both Kick-Ass’s fear and Hit-Girl’s almost insane enjoyment of the slaughtering that she is doing. It goes along with the whole movie very well because it is not the typical superhero movie.
The music video I chose to analyze is “Dashboard” by Modest Mouse. I have always been a huge fan of this song and finally got around to watching the video a couple weeks ago. It tells the story of a fisherman sharing his tale about him chasing down an elusive giant fish but there is definitely more going on than meets the eye. The video does a good job of keeping the audience visually entertained and mentally stimulated. Give the video below a watch!
In the music video, the lead singer of Modest Mouse is playing the role of the story-telling fisherman who has had his hand replaced by a microphone. The story behind the song/video is the story of Modest Mouse’s pursuit of fame, a record deal, and “making it big” which is represented by the fisherman going after this giant fish. He goes out into the ocean alone and tries to catch the legendary fish with nothing but a CD and a cassette tape hooked on a microphone at the end of his fishing rod/microphone stand. This represents the leap of faith taken by the band when they decided to pursue a career in music. When he finally gets a bite, he is taken to a very unfamiliar place and gets his hand bitten off by the fish, which is then replaced by a microphone. This could represent the members of the band getting so caught up in the pursuit of success that they lost parts of themselves along the way, and then the music they created took the place of what they had lost. These are all interpretations I made, but I could be wrong.
I think the video they decided to shoot was perfect to portray their pursuit of “success”. It is represented very well by the typical fisherman tale of chasing down such a large fish. Because everyone is familiar with the type of story, most people could probably tell where the video is heading. Then at the end they surprise you with the entire island of musical fish worshipers. A very good video that accompanies an even better song.
The song that I have to agreed to disagree with was posted by Anna Shoemaker. In her sixth blog post, she wrote about the “pop” song “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette. It’s not that the song is really bad, it is actually decent once it picks up tempo and goes into the chorus but the timbre of this woman’s voice makes my skin crawl. Something about the sound of those first opening words ruin the entire song for me. First of all, I have to disagree with the catagorization of this song as “pop” music. This song was actually Morissette’s first rock song after her transition from performing pop music. Secondly, I have to disagree that this song has transcended generations in any sense. It was made twenty years ago and our generation has already forgotten all about Morissette, replacing her with thousands of new artists who have released a plethora of break-up songs in the last few years alone. Luckily the amount of angst has been toned down in music today and the amount of soul has been increased drastically. Lastly, even thought this song song isn’t pop, it is definitely ephemeral.
After Amanda wrote her blog post about Damien Rice, an interest sparked in my mind. Another song of his I really enjoy is “I Don’t Want to Change You”.
The combination of his soothing vocal timbre and mellow acoustic grooves really gets to me. I have always had a soft spot in my musical tastes for folk singers like Damien Rice. Their ability to evoke such a wide array of emotions is amazing. Whenever listening, I can’t resist the slight grin that progressively grows across my face from ear to ear as I plunge deeper and deeper into the created soundscape. The power of music to inspire and mesmerize will always amaze me. I completely agree with Amanda on every point she made about him. His music is full of such raw emotion and talent, which speaks to anyone and everyone who is willing to give an artist a chance. I think anyone who gives an honest listen, could not resist the unintentional grin.
The song that I have chosen to discuss is “Bridgeless” by Umphrey’s McGee. UM performs a wide variety of genres but are considered by many as a progressive rock jam band.
This song definitely falls under the progressive rock genre. It features a tempo and melody that seem to be constantly changing, moving forward in a way, hence the label “progressive” rock. From the soaring guitar solos to the head-banging breakdowns, there are new flavors always being sprinkled into the musical mixture. Umphrey’s McGee and this song in particular opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of what music can be. Before this song, I blindly listened to the radio and what my friends did, basically never forming an opinion of my own. One luck day after deciding to open up my mind a little, my girlfriend shared some of her music with me and those few bands changed me. I would say that was the first time I had ever heard real music but growing up I heard plenty, I just never stopped to actually listen. Now with an open mind and a new found passion for jams, I have realized that I personally lean towards either funk that makes you dance even if you don’t want to, or harder rock that blows your mind and melts your face. I wouldn’t say that I am a big fan of most metal, but I am excited to for my genre assignment on it because if you subtract the pig squealing, you are usually left with something very cool. Progressive rock speaks to me because there is nothing I love more than a meaty breakdown and a gnarly bass-line. If anyone has any cool bands to share I would love to give them a listen, so please let me know!
Writing on Music, Fall 2015 