If you have been following me for a while you know that I'm generally very punctual and never miss a post but some rather difficult situations have come up right now and I'll be busy for the rest of this week. The blog will begin it's normal routine this coming Monday. If you are a religious person and find the time to shoot a prayer my way I would appreciate it, if you're not a religious person and want to send luck I'll take that as well. Hope everyone has been having a great week and pray that it'll be a safe one.
This will conclude our section on the trinity of musical influences, there is only one person that could fit the bill, the one and only Leonard Cohen. As stated in the previous posts in this series, one should never say much when dealing with such icons, anything that is said can never measure up to how legendary these three figures are, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen. These are three figures that everyone should be aware of and well versed in, the three God's within music who will live on forever, it'll do you good to know these three artists, your soul will benefit from the adventure. Enough has been said already though, let's let Cohen speak for himself.
Love from your humble blogger,
Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --
She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear --
If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that when it comes to tragedies, I'm a man of few words, there is a time to talk and a time to mourn. I feel like sometimes during tragedies people seek to provide comfort with words that carry little weight, as if to produce some sort of false hope in the midst of chaos. Personally I feel that silence is more appropriate and more respectful. Our prayers go out to Tony Scott's family and friends, may you find love and comfort among each other during this tragic time. There have been many videos in memory of Tony Scott that have begun to encircle the web, I found this one to be the most appropriate, it's a few scenes from Top Gun where he is grieving over losing his best friend, let us remember the value of life and cherish those close to us right now for you never know what tomorrow might bring.
Last Wednesday I hosted Tom Waits and some of you got to be introduced to one of the three gods within the trinity. Today seems like an appropriate time to introduce the second part of the trinity, the one and only Bob Dylan, whose music is not only deeply poetic but also contains more soul than anything you could ever find on today's market. Dylan was a pioneer, he changed the game forever and will be remembered throughout time as a legend. These three posts will be shorter posts, for good reason though, when speaking about the trinity one shouldn't muddle the grounds with one's own words, no, we should let the gods speak for themselves. Bask in the awesomeness that is Bob Dylan and do yourself a favor and buy his albums if you do not already own them, they will change your life.
Love from your humble blogger
Bob Dylan - "The Times They Are A-Changin'"
Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin' It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin' Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin' And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'. [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan/the+times+they+are+a+changin_20021240 ]
Dubstep had humble beginnings as per most electronica styles that arise new. As per tradition the Europeans were the first to release the "better" songs and the Americans struggled behind trying to make the new style work with their own previously recorded music but failing at every turn. The dubstep community was small and the rest of the world either did not take notice or thought of them as a "weird electronica thing" that would soon pass away, well weren't they surprised when dubstep not only became big but became a part of everyone's lives. Sometimes you really don't know what will succeed and what will fail when it comes to art, dubstep started as an interesting experiment but it has evolved into something new now, something greater, it has spread and created various sub-genres within it, it spawned various artists and allowed for an expression within music that previously had never existed, thus deserving some respect.
The issue found here is that now dubstep has become mainstream, it is being used in overtime, meaning, it's everywhere. It is tough finding a movie preview that does not include some sort of substep within it, the whole thing is becoming ridiculous, I wouldn't be surprised if soon we get a FOX News intro with dubstep in it, "*womp womp womp*'coming at 6, breaking news,' *womp womp womp* 'that will change your life' *womp womp*. You think this impossible? Well, it isn't. As soon as something becomes this mainstream it is sure to be picked up by everyone trying to "up" their ratings a little bit. The issue here and the cause for this post is that the name "dubstep" has been tainted by the amount of bad dubstep that is being used around us today, and that is sad really.
Believe it or not but there is good dubstep out there, like legitimately good artists that have perfected the art of dubstep and taken dubstep to the next level, a true evolution to the art, and these artists should be not only commended for making dubstep sound awesome but shared, for good music should always be shared with everyone. Due to the heavy amounts of crap that is being produced some of you might think that good dubstep is an impossibility, well, here is my defense of dubstep, my first defense mind you, if you are still not convinced then I'll do a second post and take things to the next level, but for now I feel that these four artists defend the art nicely. Enjoy.
Mt Eden Dubstep: Sierra Leone
Kayne West - all the lights (pretty lights dubsted remix)
Booty Luv - Say It (Nero Remix)
Alex Clare - Too Close (By far my favorite, something very different and awesome)
And there you have it, this is where I take my stand in defending dubstep, I truly think artists that are following Alex Clare's example are changing the game completely and should be shared more often, remember that there is good dubstep out there. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
So there won't be a post today, I've spent the last 8 hours helping my younger sister move from home to a new apartment, though rewarding to see a smile on her face, the affair was rather tiresome, but I cannot leave you all with nothing, so I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite sketch comedy crews online, funny or die. I thought that everyone knew about them but apparently there are still a ton of people that have not gotten involved in their awesomeness, follow this link and you'll be seeing is the reason why I didn't go watch the new Bourne movie, I'm sure it was super entertaining and all but honestly, wasting 10-15 dollars on a reboot/sequel just seemed too much for me, I'll wait for Netflix, much better idea. Without further ado here are some awesome videos from funny or die, also check out their site: funnyordie.com for more content. Oh, one important bit of information about funny or die is that it was started by Will Ferrell and some of his friends, so the videos host a large class of awesome talent, like a ton of celebrities have gone there, so give it a look, I assure you that you will be entertained, they did a few really funny sketches about the Olympics, they haven't posted them on youtube yet so I can't show them here but look on their site, its really funny stuff: (please put your sense of humor hat on before watching the videos please)
Well I hope that these videos might have brought a smile to your face, and hope you have a great weekend,
Sometimes it isn't about what we say that will change anything in life, it's about what we don't say. There are times that writers need to put their pens down and listen, where artists need not pick up their brushes and imagine, where actors need not perform but observe, but most of all, where we need to sit back and allow our mind's to fully grasp masterpieces in music, pieces that have changed time, pieces that give you words, dreams, inspirations...this is one of those times, and this is one of those pieces. Sit back, put some headphones on, listen to this tune and read it's lyrics; allow yourself to bask in the moment and notice what you previously had not noticed, lose yourself for four minutes, these might be the most important four minutes of your day.
Love From Your Humble Blogger
Tom Waits - "Time" (Rain Dogs)
Well, the smart money's on Harlow
And the moon is in the street
The shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East St. Louis
And the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
His invisible fiance is in the mirror
The band is going home
It's raining hammers, it's raining nails
Yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here
[Chorus:]
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
That you love
And it's Time Time Time
And they all pretend they're Orphans
And their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember
Tell the things you can't forget that
History puts a saint in every dream
Well she said she'd stick around
Until the bandages came off
But these mamas boys just don't know when to quit
And Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams
Or are those prayers
So just close your eyes, son
And this won't hurt a bit
[Chorus]
Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars
And splash into the street
And when she's on a roll she pulls a razor
From her boot and a thousand
Pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window
And a kiss upon his lips
Till the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And play the fiddler off till I come back again
High School is an
interesting place, you don’t really learn a ton, the whole construction behind
High School is that you learn how to learn, you learn the social dramas you’re
going to face for the rest of your life and basically in a general sense learn
who you are and where you fit in this world. This transformation takes time and
there is a very real distinct evolution that occurs in each and every student,
even those that seem to not have evolved at all have done so, everyone takes
something away from High School, some love it, some hate it, but in the end one
thing is true for everyone, High School was a little preview of what you would
face for the rest of your life.
This
introduction to High School is important, the fact that through your four years you experience a bit of the world at large is a big deal and the people
you share those experiences with become a large deal in your life later on.
It’s not like you talk to everyone you knew in your class or that you
particularly care about any of them but there is a thread there, a chord that
keeps you all in touch and thus the High School reunions came about as a
logical conclusion to this ever occurring phenomenon. High School reunions have
always been a bit silly, there are always some people that care a ton about
them and some people that could care less about them. There are those that have
grown in stature and as people, and those that have wrecked their lives and
clearly need help. In short it feels like you’re back in High School again.
The Concept
behind a reunion was simple, after graduation the majority of your High School
class will disperse and you won’t talk to them again, some will stick around
and you’ll see them from time to time, and if you’re lucky like myself then
you’ll remain close friends with your best friends from High School even years
after graduation. The fact is that reunions where created so that people in the
class could come together and catch up on life, where they could be whoever
they choose to be and either mock the event or have fun with the event, the
whole point was that you haven’t heard news about one another in years and want
to catch up now. Even though High School Reunions are a good idea they
can’t be executed anymore, they no longer are relevant, I predict that reunions will soon become a thing of
the past.
The concept
here is simple actually, reunions will soon be a thing of the past because of
one life changing bit of advancement, Facebook. Social Networking has made the
whole point of High School reunions become obsolete, everyone is connected to
everyone and by the click of a button you can find out what they are doing with
their lives, who they are married to, what job they have, where they studied,
and if you feel like you can even have a conversation with them and learn all
the grimy details about their personal life or marriage, the world got way
small and reunions began to be unnecessary. Here’s something that would not
surprise me one bit, Facebook High School reunions, I’ll be very surprised if
this is not already happening on the site, it’s just the logical step, it’s
convenient, simple, cheap and you only engage the people you really feel like
engaging, sounds like a dream really.
High School reunions
are kind of a drag, yeah there’s the element of seeing some people you really
love and have missed over the years, yeah there’s the element of being able to
catch up and have spouses being introduced to you and so forth but with
Facebook in the picture all this meet and greet becomes redundant, someone will
go “hey I just had a kid” and you’ll be thinking “yeah I know, you only posted
50 freaking pictures and blew up my feed with the little guy”, it just ruins
the whole point, thus I propose the prediction that in coming generations
reunions will be a thing of the past, because, well, they are a thing of the
past, they are outdated and silly, specially with us all now being friends with
each other and connected through social networking, the point is just not there
anymore.
Go go social
networking, destroying bad traditions and allowing us to stay close with people
we love and those we don’t all in one place in harmony. Hope you had a
fantastic weekend and that this week might be awesome.
You learn a lot about writing and different styles in which you can write as a blogger, this blog for instance has a variation of topics ranging from very serious to silly to movie reviews to displaying good music from an age long forgotten, after a while the flow of each article becomes second nature and something interesting occurs, you gain the ability to write your way through articles that you know nothing about, I've never done this and though the temptation is there I feel like it would be a waste of anyone's time to read me write about something I know nothing about, which brings us to today's topic. Well here's the truth, I had a lot on my mind yesterday and needed some time with friends so I did not get to watch "Total Recall" as originally intended and I won't be able to give you a proper review of the movie here, but instead I will show you the steps one would have to take in order to write a blind review of this flick, basically a bs/fake review, following this logic you can write you own awesome review and never leave your seat, I find this to be unorthodox but hey, I'm not everyone right?
The first step in writing a good review is being familiar with the actors within a movie and the crew in charge of the movie, this will tell a lot about the movie already (IMDB is your friend). Every actor and director has an m.o., they have a pattern which they always follow and for the most part will always do. Very rarely do we see a lower class actor giving us a pro's performance, as in there is no way that Colin Farrell will ever give us a Gary Oldman performance on the big screen, it's never been done and will never be done. This tells us a lot about the flick already, if you have seen any Colin Farrell movie then you know that Colin is a fun actor to watch but he's not the best actor in the world, every movie he's in seems fake somehow like something is missing, like no matter what he does it always feels like he's playing the same character in a bad movie, thus we can expect the same type of performance from him here.
Jessica Biel is beautiful no doubt but she's also not the best in show, she's pretty to look at but she's not the best female actress out there, she's no Scarlett Johansson, but she does get the job done, so we can expect her to do alright in this flick, kind of a "eh" performance, so her and Colin together already make this movie lean towards the "fun but not great" side. Kate Beckinsale is the wild card here, she's fantastic, a true star and a great action movie actress who is not only radiant but lovable, as in most people just can't help but to love her, she's awesome. Anyway, Kate is big into Sci Fi stuff so we know what to expect from her, probably another "Underworld" performance which is a good thing really, "Underworld" was great, so maybe she'll be the saving grace to this movie, in a scale from 1 to 10 the movie without her would be leaning to a 4 right now but with her we're looking at a 6.
Before we go to the director let's keep in mind that this is a reboot as well, by watching the original movie you already basically know the full story before going to watch the new one, even if he changed a lot of stuff the movie will basically have the same flow throughout it, this helps us in being able to write about the movie even though you haven't seen the new one for you'll know some elements of the first movie that will be in the reboot, little details that would only be known to someone that has seen the movie were in the original so taking a bet and placing some of those elements in your review will give it some legitimacy, when doing this though look to the previews to find the elements that are the same and go from there, that would be the best way to go about it. K, on to the director.
Len Wiseman has pretty much one movie under his belt, well one movie franchise I guess, "Underworld", the guy wrote the five movies and the video game, which means that he's a good writer and he knows a good bit about directing. Taking on a big project like this one might be difficult for him though, it's a big project with tons of money and more well known actors that require more "attention" then his previous films, plus it's a reboot so that's even harder. With Len placed in the scene the movie, in my mind, would jump from a 6 to a 7, this is only the first step out of four though (one being watching the original and previews for the new one) keep that in mind before writing anything. Now that you basically have a good feel for the movie the part comes where you put the already formed theories in your head against already existing reviews, the core thing here is that you won't be copying a review, plagiarism is repulsive, but you'll be putting their perspective as a rival to yours, take some of the good points and agree with them but disagree with other points as well, here's an example, watch this review and then we'll talk.
So our buddy Jim here thought the movie was good but not impressive, he disagreed with us on Colin and feels that he was the best in the movie and that Kate was a far second in show, IGN gave the movie a 6/10, which is exactly where we had the movie pegged to begin with, in order to not cheat I didn't watch the review prior to writing this whole post just to prove that a blind speculation is possible, it's tough but it is possible. Anyway, so here's your choice now, you can either write a review praising this movie and give it no more than an 8 or you can write a negative review and go no lower than a 4, that's a good scale to go by cause even though this movie wasn't a fantastic flick it also wasn't a horrible one, a score between 4 and 8 would be adequate. So now you can just spend a paragraph or two talking about the actors and third one praising the director, the fourth paragraph would be where you would compare this new movie with the old one and in the last paragraph give your little two cents, like "I really enjoyed this movie it was entertaining to boot, but in the end it's just not a blockbuster", use big words and people will generally just think you're legit, make sure to include some pictures from movie as well, pics are always a good choice.
And there you have it, this is how one would write a good review about a movie you had not previously watched, congratulations you now can deceive the masses and get more pageviews in the process. I don't actually recommend this, I think it's a bit unethical but I get tired of reading bad blind reviews, now you know how to properly do it, go out there and write gold. For aspiring writers out there though this might be a fun exercise, just to see if you can do it, it'll help with your writing for sure and it's a challenge, writing blind is always a challenge, just include something like "J/k I didn't watch the movie, gotcha :)", I have found that if you add a smiley face in the end of a sentence people are more prone to not be angry, you could text something like "you look ugly today :)" and get away with it because of the smiley face, it doesn't apply to all situations but it's a random observation I've recently made, just sharing some knowledge.
Hey, I hope your week was good and that this coming weekend will be a restful one for you, if you watch "Total Recall" you might regret it, but if you don't watch "Total Recall" you might also regret it, watch it or don't watch it and you might regret it, so do whatever you feel like and have a blast this weekend.
Life is not easy,
you will face many tragedies throughout your time here on Earth, there will be
times where your throat will ache from so much crying and your stomach will
churn from hiccuping, your mind will race and everything will feel lost, like
you are falling down a never ending hole, with no one there to aid you, at
these moments there is one feeling that continually purveys your mind, “Why me?
What have I done?” Many have sought to find quick solutions to these issues,
some have written books on it: “10 steps to getting over this moment”, “5 steps
to getting your life together”, “3 easy steps to get you smiling again”, but in
the end of the day all these exercises only teach you how to brush your
problems aside. It’s as if all of them really should be titled “How to forget
your troubles and pretend you are happy”.
Life is tough,
I’m not here to tell you it’s not and that there are easy steps to making it
easier to bare, what this post is trying to teach is that sometimes true living
comes from embracing life to its fullest instead of ignoring the negative
aspects you generally try to ignore and forget. This journey isn’t an easy one,
it in fact is the toughest journey you’ll ever have to go through but it will
be the most meaningful journey you’ll ever undertake, this is not a three-step
process but a very real way to deal with pain and suffering, stick with me on
this, even if you disagree, read this post to the end and maybe, if nothing
else, you’ll get a new insight into your life which might aid matters for you
in the future.
When going
through despair, true fear, there is no answer or book or advice that can help
you forget what you are going through. Everyone on this Earth will find
themselves at this point sometime in their lives. When you reach this point
stop what you are doing, take a deep breath, and take in the situation, take in
everything that is going on and embrace the suffering that is going on around
you, cry as much as you need, truly allow yourself to suffer, through this you
will begin to face the darkness around you. It is through an understanding of
what true suffering is that one can come to an understanding of what true
happiness is, you cannot have happiness without suffering or love without hate,
you cannot have a complete understanding of how the world works if you do not
allow yourself to come to a concrete understanding of what darkness is, it is
through this experience that your life will be changed forever.
After embracing
suffering something interesting begins to occur in your life, you begin to see
the world in a different light and you are presented with a choice, you can
either choose to stay in the muck of your own suffering or you can choose to
look around yourself and see the light around you. It is while we are in the
dark that we truly see the light that is around us, only when you have come to
an understanding of what suffering feels like can you come to an understanding
of what joy feels like, before this moment your happy memories were on a
superficial level but now after understanding despair those memories are
treasures to hold on to, they are beacons of light in a dark world, by
understanding suffering you will be able to look upon the blessings in your own
life in a new light, as if everything has been magnified, you’ll come to
appreciate the small things in life, the laughs with co-workers, the friends
you have, the family that loves you, the career you possess, the dreams you
long for, how blue the sky can be during the summer, everything will take on a
new light, everything will shift and your world will never be the same. It is
through embracing the reality of life that one can finally start living. By
understanding our own finality, we begin to live anew, we see what was
previously hidden to us and understand that there is good in our lives, that
there are blessings all over and that there is more to this world than just
despair and suffering.
Both the
blindfold of negativity and eternal optimism are ways to live your life but they
are missing key elements that allow you to truly existentially embrace life,
the pessimist fails to see the blessings in life, the beauty in art, the love
in relationships, never opening his eyes to the good around him but the eternal
optimist fails to understand what true despair is and therefore can never
understand what true love is, it is through an understanding of what suffering
is that we learn about what love is, what happiness is. Think about it like
this, it is only through having a cold that one can come to an understanding of
what it means to be healthy, if you’ve never had a cold then you have no
reference point to understanding what feeling healthy means.
This isn’t a
post about the easy steps one can take in order to be happy, or in order to
ignore your problems, this is an advice on how to really live, how to embrace
life at its core, head on and push forward. It is through this embrace of life
that you may come to a very real existential understanding of life, and through
that begin to appreciate the raw moments of beauty around you, moments which
were hidden to you previously but now are everywhere. Life is tough but it is
also good, as a wise man once said “For everything there is a season…a time to
weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…a time to
embrace and a time to refrain from embracing… a time for love; and a time for
hate”, it is through this existential embrace of life that you begin to live a
full life, so go and start living.
