I was in my paste

blogging!?

2008-08-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

should i continue blogging, i wonder. i just read over the mdk pimpom blog posts. i feel shame after reading some of them. oh well, no harm done. i have decided that i am just the sort of person that feels shame all the time. i am so ashamed. specifically, the charlie bit my finger post, the long incoherent rambling post about music, and the post about being slightly homesick. those are the most shameful. i guess i never really realized how ghey blogging is. how depressing! i like to create things that you can look back on without feeling great shame.

i am going to continue though. why not?

next week i am going to virginia to meet nycole, both sides of nycole's family, robbie, kasey, and possibly but probably not jono. i am kind of nervous, but very excited. i am going to take many pictures and make a gigantic blog post about it. yes, that is my decision. mostly, the things i am scared of are these: roller coasters at busch gardens. they are very scary to me. i know this makes me a coward. oh well, i will ride them. i will do my best not to make shrill squealing noises.

The Final Post, probably not though

2008-05-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

Last night, part of my tooth fell off/out. Then I spat it out into the garbage, and had no proof that such a tragedy had occurred. But today, a bit more came off. I took a picture or two. It is really painful now. The tooth isn't, but the edge is sharp and cuts my tongue.

Also last night, I got somewhat drunk to make my mouth feel better. I talked to nycole for two hours on skype. That was a lot of fun. We left a message on Robbie's voicemail. Apparently you can no longer pay him for his services with anything buy cash or check.

Speaking of Robbie: I want to call a truce in the blog war. I think I have lost. I have lost the strategic advantage I once had and the war of attrition is costing me a lot more than him. My forces are few, and his are great. I can only hope for a white truce now, perhaps with a disarmament treaty. When he started deleting my comments on his blog, I realized I had lost.

NO!

2008-04-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

I just have this video to post. I don't have anything to say, and this doesn't count as the final blog post.

genius

This is the end

2008-04-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

This will be my 2nd to last blog post before I get back in September. That's just the way it is. I will take any requests for my final post. Seriously, just ask it will happen maybe. Pictures of what. Today there will be no pictures and hardly any text. That's right.

But I did get my cds yesterday. Very exciting. I feel like superstar now! LOL

Another post about tea.

2008-04-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

I know I make too many posts about tea. But I don't care, it is a regular subject for me. I would like to explain how it is I make tea.

It may shock you to learn that there are different practices, theories even, about the proper way to make oolong. I use what they call the kung-fu method. It has nothing to do with the martial art. I think it probably has something to do with the Confucian tradition though.

Anyway, this method involves two unique things that you might not have realized: The teapot must be pre-heated so that the tea brews well. Also, the teapot is nearly filled with tea leaves. You use a lot of leaves, and you infuse for only a short time. These are pictures:

This is the bag the tea comes in. There is a lot of it, so I left it in the bag rather than put it in a tin.

These are the tea leaves in question, pouchong which is an oolong that the chinese call 'green tea', loosely translated of course. They call tea colours based on the color of the leaves rather than on the colour of the steeped tea. In chinese, black tea = red tea, oolong tea = black dragon tea, pouchong = green tea, green tea = yellow tea, etc.

Here are my teapots, of course. I am using the one on the right for pouchong and ti kuan yin. The smaller one is for tung ting/ten lu/ten wu oolongs exclusively.

It has a little squirrel on top, but his tail is broken off. How sad. I still have the tail, for some reason, I kept it.

Anyway, making tea begins at this point 1 time out of 5. Cleaning the teapot. It is gross until you are used to it. There is something upsetting about slimey gooey old tea leaves on your hands.

After nearly all of the leaves are scooped and wiped out, I take the teapot to the sink and rinse it out with hot water, removing old leaves and pre-warming the teapot. This is a picture from before I had done that.

Here are the leaves in the pot, ready for the water.

This is my electric tea kettle.

Here is the glowing red light on my kettle to show it is on. I use boiling water for tea. A lot of tea sites will tell you just hot water for green and oolong. They are wrong, ok. Just use boiling water. Not full boiling, but just when the bubbles start to move to the top.

These are the cups I use, just regular old cups.

After the water has been in there for 5 seconds, it is time to pour into the cups. This is the moment of truth. pour!

I really need a haircut

Oh, I should give a special tribute to my tea towel. He is responsible for soaking up all tea and water off of the desk and tea boats before any damage occurs. That is why he is so stained. He used to be white.

the last one

2008-04-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have an idea after listening to a lot of je these last two days for my last pseudo-classical electronic instrumental monstrosity. There will be no effects whatsoever. I am going to make one the same way I always do. But when it comes to recording, there will be no reverb, delay, EQ, banding, distortion, etc. Instead, I will do a facsimile of all that with the synth. If I want distance or room, I'll mix in low amounts of noise and detuned sine waves. For delay, I'll record a separate part with different parameters on a straight delay, for more substance than a digital delay. No EQ, i'll just my band pass filter array. No distortion, except my diode ring. It will be 100% analog, just all mixed down on a jeskola buzz. Which I guess still isn't 100% analog, but no digital effects. This is what ronnie seems to do a lot of, although you do hear delays and some other things

But first I have to do some spambots songs. I am looking forward to those, actually. Maybe I should try the above practice with one of those

It is final

2008-04-14T23:05:00.001-07:00

I am going back to Indiana and the strawberry farm. I messaged one of the owner's on myspace just today. So, for good or bad it is final. Here is a basic outline of my summer, then

May 2-5, I drive 2,000 miles. I hope my car makes it. If not, I ditch in cowtown, prairie province and hitchhike from there carrying my only valuable possessions and leaving the rest.
May 6 or 7th, I start at the farm.garden center. In may, it is just a garden center, no strawberries yet. It is hard work, but not so bad. I will work all day every day except sunday mornings, when I will go to church.
End of may/beginning of June, that is strawberry season. My job now moves out of the garden center and into the fields. From 6am until 8pm I am on the farm, much shorter on sunday. My duties alternate between picking strawberries, manning the U-Pick field (where people come to pick their own strawberries), and moving irrigation pipes around.
End of June/beginning of July: strawberry season ends. Now, I pick other produce in the mornings and work at the garden center (and produce stand) with fewer hours. This adds up to about 50 or 60 hours per week. I will probably get my first day off somewhere after the 4th of July.
Middle of July: This is where corn season begins. From here on out, I work about 50 or 60 hours per week picking, bagging, and carrying corn in the market. corn, corn, corn. It is way easier than strawberry season, but mind-numbingly boring. I practice my whistling skills.
End of August: I go back to calgary a little more insane and knowledgeable in the ways of corn and strawberries.

This amount of work, because there is no alternative, means some bad things for the internet and me. I have an addiction, and here I will be quiting cold turkey. There are also some other drastic changes. I won't log on to myspace, I won't check the bomb shelter, I won't make music, I won't upload music that hasn't been made, I won't drink tea very much (just black tea in the morning), I will only respond to emails once a week, I won't answer phone calls from people from california, I won't use skype, I won't.... well, etc.

Anyway, it is mainly worrisome to me because I won't be making music. I have gotten used to making music when I want to. I remember last summer and the summer before how frustrated it made me that I came up with melodies but couldn't preserve them in any way. I am always whistling while I work, but I can't make pseudo-classical electronic music while I work, which is sad. This summer will just be much worse in that department.

On the other hand, the food will be really good. One of the perks of working at this place is free produce. And my mother is a cookaholic. Also, I sleep outside in a hammock when the weather is good.

Charlie Bit My Finger

2008-04-12T18:45:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: This blog post was written over the span of three days. I decided to finally publish it, why not? I am not crazy. The proof is, I think I am. Because I think I am crazy, there is no way I am. But, if you read this post you may either determine I am stupid, or I am crazy. The evidence suggests I may be one of the two options, but I really hope I'm not

I have recently come to the conclusion that there are only a very few important things in life. Also, ways to obtain/maintain these things are not apparent. I feel that I am coming to a crossroads soon in my life, and I don't want to take the wrong path. I feel like the internet Siddhartha after writing that, lol. So, in the following blog post there will be a little ill-informed pseudo-philosophy mixed with pop psychology. Anything with the prefix pseudo in front of it is what I do best.
here are the only real important things in life, as far as I can tell. They are interdependent on one another
1) happiness
2) god
3) family/friends
4) not hurting other people's happiness

1)You are supposed to be happy, right? That is a major goal in life. Not only for you to be happy, but hopefully to help others be happy. Happiness, being the abstract concept that it is, is hard to measure. Like I may have said elsewhere, I am always happy. Nothing gets to me. But I am not sure that this feeling is the same as what other people call happy. I wish I knew what other people mean by happy. I tend to think that I am no different than most people, but I am not sure in this case. It has always seemed to me that the people who go out of their way to say how different they are, are the ones that are most normal. That is a definite possibility.

But anyway, happiness for me is not the opposite of sadness, they are really quite distinct. Happiness seems to come to most people as a result of a 'Good Thing' that happened to them, like the happy in their mind is a reward for them. And sadness (just general sadness, nothing major like depression which seems to be like a sadness mechanism that gets stuck in the on position) is the opposite, it seems to be a sub-conscious self-inflicted punishment. Either way, I think what I think I mean by happiness is like contentment. No, it is more like anti-contentment. I am not happy with the ways things are, but I am always happy. That makes no sense. I can worry, even though I am happy, but I have a general sense of detachment from things that I should be worried about. I find myself faking emotions and actions related to worry, anger, and sadness just to fit in, in a way. I have decided recently to stop doing that.

2)I generally refrain from talking about christ or religion in general on the internet, since I am very uninformed on the subject. I generally end up sounding like a child or some kind of crazy person. I am not a very good christian. But the happiness, what I call happiness, I think is a direct result of God.

3) Going to school thousands of miles away from my family and friends was the worst decision I have ever made. Really, it is the only major decision I have ever made, so I am not doing very well as far as averages go. School is basically useless, a grand scheme designed to make you think like the men behind the curtain. Perhaps that is cynical, but it is no secret. I do really well at school, and it has nothing to do with intelligence or the capacity to learn. It is basically based completely on my ability to pretend to think the way other people do. I can fake it. Also, it is expensive. I have gained nothing, and lost much. My friends are no longer my friends, they have moved on, which is understandable. Now, my only friends also exist thousands of miles away. God bless the internet

4) Not hurting the other people's happiness. This is of course what God would have me do. My happiness (the regular kind, not the constant) though important, is not as important as the happiness of others. Since my happiness (the other kind) is a constant, and generally kept apart from daily occurrences or even major trends in my life, I owe to people who lack this ability the courtesy and grace to not cause any of the 'Bad Things' that may cause their sub-conscious self-inflicted punishment. Of the four listed, this is by far the most difficult. Not only I am not supposed to hurt the happiness of other's, I am also supposed to somehow benefit it in some way.

All of the important things in life have led me to believe that humans have it all wrong. Society is backwards, and really is a threat to all of the important things. Not just modern society, which I think is actually a lot better than most historical cases. So my plan in life is not to make money, or have a nice house. I don't want to acquire very many material goods or drive a nice car. I would be quite happy to not breed or fall in love, though I wouldn't shun these options. All I want is to exist in my happy state with family and friends while doing what god wants and not hurting the happiness of others. Also, I will need a computer that can run jeskola buzz and a source for good chinese tea.

Material goods and self-interest are the main problems for people. Now I sound like I am reading from the Hare Krishna, but they do have that part right. Have you ever stopped to consider how beautiful the world is? I don't just mean the beautiful things in this world, I mean all of it. Sometime, I just stop and breathe and feel the blood running through my arm and smell the rotting orange peel in the garbage can, and realize this world is just a beautiful complex place. It is so completely arbitrary and weird. I feel like I am on a drug trip when I think of the things god has done for me. I have no physical pain, and no current worldly hardships. I am better off than 99.9% of the population of the world that has ever existed. This is true for most people in the modern western world, but yet we are still unhappy and unsatisfied with anything. It seems those in a position to be the most happy, if happiness could be acquired through material gain, are in fact the least. I think our senses are like that flower from Little Shop of Horrors, the more you try to satisfy them, the bigger they get, the more blood they need. People should realize the important things in life. There is god, there is family, there is happy. Don't hurt others, and don't support those who hurt others. If you come to a point where it may seem necessary to hurt another to maintain your happy, keep in mind there is no evidence to suggest that your happy is as important as his. I am writing this like I have it perfected, but obviously I have the same problems as everyone else. Not everyone else, but most people.

I didn't even say all I wanted to say, but there is a concern that I will start going in circles. If you made it this far, and actually read the whole thing (I know nobody will, without major skimming), congratulations.

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Charis/Spambot/Hector (I never know what to call him) has turned my attention to the Charlie Bit My Finger videos. You can see the original at his blog post here.

I wonder what those two kids will get as a result of those videos in the future. Will they forever be known as the 'Charlie Bit me Kids'? 18 million views on that youtube link alone is quite an accomplishment.

Here is a tribute to that video, done by two teenage goons. The comments on the youtube site are quite mean, but I thought they did a good job, and it is funny.

Today's blog post was supposed to be an in-depth treatise on how I make tea, with examples in pictures, and even a youtube video. But then I realized I don't have time and have really got to get this paper done. It is a troublesome pest, this assignment. It isn't a very long or in-depth paper, but it is on a subject I have had no prior dealing with, Roman poetry. bah!

Carrie Underwood: All American Girl

2008-04-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to develop an obsession with my hatred for this song. I am not one of those people who call all country music crap. Some of it is quite nice, really. As well, many of the reasons people say they hate country music can easily be applied to any form of pop music. I also don't hate it for some anti-patriotic reason. Even if that were the original cause, it is not like it has anything to do with the subject of the song. It does in a way, in that 'All-American' is equated to what it takes to be perfect. Also, there is the patriotic pandering that is so common in country music. It sells, just like sex. This song has both. Read the lyrics:

Since the day they got married,
He'd been praying for a little baby boy.
Someone he could take fishing,
Throw the football and be his pride and joy.
He could already see him holding that trophy,
Taking his team to state.
But when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket,
All those big dreams changed.

CHORUS
And now he's wrapped around her finger,
She's the center of his whole world.
And his heart belongs to that sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American Girl.

Sixteen short years later,
She was falling for the senior football star.
Before you knew it he was dropping passes,
Skipping practice just to spend more time with her.
The coach said "Hey son, what's your problem? Tell me, have you lost your mind?"
Daddy said you'll lose your free ride to college, boy you better tell her goodbye.

CHORUS
But now he's wrapped around her finger,
She's the center of his whole world.
And his heart belongs to that sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American...

And when they got married and decided to have one of their own,
She said "Be honest, tell me what do you want?"
And he said "Honey, you oughta know... Sweet, little, beautiful... one just like you. Oh a beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American..."

Now he's wrapped around her finger,
She's the center of his whole world.
And his heart belongs to that sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American Girl.
Oh American Girl.

I hate this song for the way it glorifies breeding as the main focus of life. Basically summed up, the lyrics go like this:

Man and woman breed
man wants boy to play football, gets girl instead

man loves his daughter
she is perfect and all-american

16 years later, girl and senior-football playing star want to breed

footballer star 'loves' (wants to breed with her, there is no other explanation in these lyrics) the girl
she is perfect and all-american

football star and girl breed
football star wants baby girl

Here is why I hate that song. It makes the concept of love out as nothing more than reason to breed. It is cyclical. She goes right from singing about a baby, to singing about how that perfect baby is meant to breed with the football star, so they can have a child who will breed as well. Ah, love. Such is the nature of life, of course, but this song is passing over some very major points. I wish this song was honest. It makes love and life out to be purely biological functions, as if that were a good thing. There is a great deal of songs about sex and breeding (or facsimiles of), but they are usually honest. They don't hide it behind a veil like this song. It equates perfection, all-americaness, with breeding.

and the other reason is I hate the phony accent that Carrie Underwood employs. I don't usually hate music like this. If I don't like a song, that is all. It is very rare for a song to bug me like this. 'Soulja Boy' came close.

Here is a picture of Carrie Underwood. She is quite good looking. I suspect that is why she is famous. more than anything. I mean, she can sing really well. But why does she have to sing such a stupid song? I can't think of any others by her, I admit it

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2008-04-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

There's something about a few inches of snow to put you into the Christmas spirit. I love this time of year. I am an anti-grinch. I really only like christmas when it isn't anywhere near Christmas. I think I will make some cards and mail them off to people. What's that I hear? Are those sleigh-bells? no, it's just the washing machine

My car is really bad in snow

Now, on to more pressing matters! Charis has made it clear that he would like me to comment on his blog. I realize that blog comments are a reciprocal exchange. That is why I feel that his comments are somewhat lacking. His non-comments are in my opinion, deal-breakers. Here is a recent selection of what he has had to offer to my blog:

i am waiting for comments from you!
i already read this post on the bombshelter.
i didn't read this. sorry.

Another common theme that Charis enjoys, if that is his real name, is to completely ignore what I posted, and instead just say that I should go to California.

I will comment on your blog, Charis, in the same manner as your comments on my blog. Then you will know my pain and anguish!

concerns

2008-04-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

i went to look at this city/provincial-run off-campus student housing building today, to apply to live there. i knew it would be a little low-quality, being only $425 a month. but, my gorsh! It is the crappiest place imaginable. The entrance is like the apartment building from A Clockwork Orange, minus the artwork. The lady in the office is Russian and was in a very bad mood. She took me up to see this room. I started laughing when I saw it, at my own expectations. I knew there would be a catch. I did realize it wouldn't be a penthouse suite. But this is bad. It is one room, and a closet/bathroom that doesn't have a door. The one room is so incredibly small. There is barely enough room for a bed and desk. There is a stove, a half-size fridge, and a cupboard above those with no counter-top space. The floor throughout is covered in peeling linoleum. The ceiling was about 8 feet from the floor. There was one sliding window. It is on the 24th floor though, so a good view at least. There is one lightbulb hanging from a chain in the middle of the room, i bumped my head on it.

I assumed it would be something along those lines, just a little bigger maybe. I applied anyway, because I don't have many alternatives here in Oil-boom times. But I don't think I will get in (thank god). She basically told me that they probably aren't taking anymore white people, since they have to keep it racially balance. I love Canada.

Here is a very flattering picture of me looking skeptical about this whole operation:
I see it the options before me, after this revelation.
I can stay in that prison cell sucking moisture out of the linoleum, or rent a room in a stranger's house. I would have a small amount of money, and plenty of spare time to work on music while school is out. I could do a live show or two, and drink lots of tea. I would be alone, and would probably go insane after spending some time in that cube. But all the greatest composers were at least a bit insane, the biopics would have us believe. Maybe that's my problem, maybe I haven't imbibed enough heavy metal (not the music, mercury or lead).
Alternatively, I can leave for the summer and go live at home. I like being there, that would be nice. But, I would have to quite my current job. Also, it would be really hard to get back here in September with no place to stay. Also, I would have to work at the stinking Strawberry Farm, which I don't really want to do.

Neither option is very good.

how not to make oolong tea

2008-04-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

WARNING! incredibly boring blog post ahead about tea:
Oolong tea is a glorious substance if made correctly. But sometimes, I screw it up. When it is made way too strong, it can kill you. The main cause of incredibly strong, oversteeped oolong tea is forgetfulness. Also, another cause is a clogged teapot spout which can prevent proper drainage. Just now, I was making oolong tea. The teapot is very small, so after it has steeped long enough (10 seconds or so) I turn it upside down and set it on top of the cup I am using. I left it there for about 10 minutes not realizing that the spout was clogged. I have been doing this sort of thing a lot recently. Strong oolong is worse than other strong tea. It's not sour, but it has the effect of biting into a lemon, uncontrollable response in the form of face-scrunching. It doesn't really taste bad, but it is a very potent. It tastes a bit like alfalfa.

Here is the culprit. The teapot has a built in strainer, which is a wonderful thing. It is currently clogged.

album art, notes, and title

2008-04-03T22:40:00.001-07:00

I am so lost. I have to come up with a title, album art, and notes/bio for that thing. I am worried. I have been asking a lot of people, both internet friends (you, if you are reading this blog), and real-life people. Nobody gives serious answers, which is understandable. This is the hardest part for me, the music is easy enough. I don't mind silliness, I just don't think it should be quite as ridiculous as the spoo releases.

I like everything to have a hidden meaning, a secret. This is acronyms, anagrams, inside jokes, the first and second letters of each word, that sort of thing. An HKL. Everything I do always has something like that. I don't have anything in mind at the moment though. This seems to me to be a bad sign.

Right now, my ideas are:

Circles and Squares
Poor Young William (as suggested by tofuik)
the n-word in question (not that n-word, the artist n-word. nXiXkXmXiXs
My Last Name Backwards
Windside Trout (I asked someone at school for something silly)

Then there are pictures to worry about, and notes/bio. I am not talking about myself in there. That doesn't happen. And no pictures of my face are allowed. So I guess I will take pictures of my synth(s) and teapots, that sort of thing. Maybe outside. Maybe I will take my paia fatman and chocolate teapot to the park and take pictures of them in the sun. That seems crazy

I am sure I will think of something. In other news, I spent a great deal of money on tea. I need the tea. Well, i suppose I don't need it. But I like it. I am always ashamed to spend this much on tea though. I buy in bulk, and well I use about 12-15 lbs per year i think. That is an incredible amount of tea, it's true. That is not an accurate statistic, really, since that is roughly what I used last year. The year before, I think it was more, and the 3 years before that I was new to oolong and maybe used 2 lbs. Before that, I only drank tea-bag black tea, and not very regularly.

student housing

2008-04-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am excited. I may have found a place to live for less than what I am paying now, and with no roommates. Canada is basically a socialist country. Much like the U.S, except they admit they are socialist here. So poor students who make less than a certain amount per year can get into provincial government-run apartment buildings. Originally, when I saw this ad I was sure there was some horrible catch like white slavery or brainwashing or something. It is only $475 a month and is in a wonderful location south of downtown. I mean, it is way off-campus, a long way and the wrong side of the city, but it is still closer than I am. No roommates, and it is a real apartment building. If you wanted to get a place like that apart from student housing, it would be $1500 in this city. So I still have problems believing it's real. I meet the requirements and there are rooms available. I am scared there will be some sort of painful initiation rite, because there has to be a catch.

There is a picture of the place:

Right now I am listening to Bob Marley for some reason.

blog post

2008-04-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

I have not in a while, my ability to blog is waning. I just don't care anymore. Not that I cared before, but whatever. So I think I will do a randy green-style post and just write a few sentences about random nonsense.

Some guy got beat up pretty badly here for being an Oilers fan. That is the hockey team from Edmonton. Edmonton is the other big city in Alberta, about 1 million just like Calgary. He was wearing an Oiler's jersey and some Flame's fans didn't take to kindly to his kind around these parts and beat him up. No doubt a lot of alcohol was involved. I hate hockey, proof that I am not really Canadian.

What else, what else. I am looking forward to the April Challenge, and hearing new Embers of Avalon. I am not ashamed to admit it, that is what I am really looking forward to hearing.

I just finished an April Challenge entry too. I plan on doing 2 a week.

I also can't decide about what to do for the summer: rent a room, stay here and work or go back to indiana and work. september though, i would be scrambling to get a place. I hate being away from the family this long though. I haven't learned anything at university, really, except that the only important things in life are friends and/or family. In my case, I have no real friends so it is family. I think I could handle the september scramble to find a room. maybe

Jenkem

2008-03-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

I just recently discovered the idea and possible existence of Jenkem. I just think the idea is absolutely hilarious. I am not usually a fan of bathroom humour and that sort of thing. But if this Jenkem business is real, a hoax, or a gross exaggeration, it is still a very funny concept.

If you haven't already googled "jenkem", I will tell you what it is. It is a drug that kids are allegedly using in the U.S. I really doubt it, personally. It seems like a complete fabrication. What it is, is gas produced by fermented sewage. Poo and Pee, in a bottle, and left out in the sun with a balloon tied to the top. Then, the gas from the balloon is inhaled. This is Jenkem.
Personally, I don't think it is real. There are so many drugs and substances available even to children, why would they inhale aged farts? Dear children, don't do Jenkem. Steal your parent's booze, trade your bike for pot, sell your body on the street for crack money, but don't poop in a jar and inhale the stench that issues from it. That is wrong.

The scariest part of this to me, is that the news media seems to have taken it seriously in a couple places:

a long rambling post about music

2008-03-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

I wrote this long rambling nearly incoherent post for some reason.. Turn away before it's too late. no, seriously

I have always wondered what the purpose of music is, and why people make it. I often ask people on the half dozen message boards I am addicted to. These people are usually musicians themselves, or at least are big fans of music and spend a lot of time listening to it. The strange thing is, nobody ever gives a real answer. I find it rather strange that people who spend so much time with music, making it or listening, never have given any thought to the reason or purpose. I generally get jokes and guesses, but nothing of substance. Or there are people the artists who say things like "because the voices tell me to," "because I need to", which was my response when I first asked the question. I do need to, as I have made making music part of my psyche, but that is not the purpose of music nor the reason I originally started making it.

It is fun to make electronic music, that is true. Especially now with all of these audio workstations with fantastic GUIs, it's like a video game really. But still, people are proud enough of their finished products to put it out there, dream of record deals, and dream of making money from it. from here on out, I am going to refer to any electronic music that is in this similar genre as techno. If it is instrumental mainly, with drums and all that jazz, it is techno. I know trance/dnb/house/jungle/IDM/ambient are all very different, but I am calling them techno here.

I don't have an answer, or anything. I don't know why I do it and I can't explain why other people want to. It is a pastime, I suppose. Wanting to be like celebrities or idol musicians is another reason, I guess.

My concern is that a lot of this hobby music, all the new electronic music made on computers mainly, is very inartistic. That sounds a bit pretentious, but it really isn't. Music is an artform, right? There should be a reason to it, a motive. There should be a theory of beauty to it. If you compare audio to another sense, such as sight, most of this techno music is very ugly. It is coarse and jagged, as well as patterned in a boring manner. It is in some way akin to abstract modern painting, except in the case of painting there is a theory of beauty to it.

Continuing with the visual theme, as a fan of music in song format, pop though rock all those genres, I can say that most of it looks like a brick wall or a flannel shirt. Joy electric usually looks like solid colour with sparkly dots in it. I am not saying what I do is any better, or even different, this is just my assumption. And of course I listen to music like this on a regular basis, so perhaps a flannel shirt is not a bad thing.

Some people do very nice things with this medium. I listen to joy electric all the time. It is great music, but it isn't beautiful. My reaction to pop-rock-country, and all the many sub-genres beneath those headings, is that it is folk music. It is simple music with poetry on top. The main focus should be the poetry, or the simple emotions, because that is what it is about.

This is especially true of the hobby techno/trance/etc/etc/etc music that is so common. Ugly music, that is how I see it. It's not even a flannel shirt. It is a mustard stain on a flannel shirt. The very structure of techno music, however, in all its forms, is nearly identical. The same emotions (which I am sure are not intended to be expressed by the creator) are in every single song. Generally there are no lyrics or tonality to express any artistic motive. If techno music was visual, it would all be a square, sometimes differently colored or turned to the side.

Nobody making instrumental electronic music seems to have a theory of beauty to their music. My simple conclusion, in my mind, is that music is supposed to be noise that sounds good. I can't think of any other purpose for artistic expression in the aural sense, other than to make noise that sounds good. Expressing emotion with tones may be the hidden cause, but even things like anger and hatred expressed in musical form 'sound good'. Obviously good is a subjective term, as well varied depending on cultural constructs. So in one way, my conclusion seems very conservative (small c, mind you). But I wish experimentation was more prevalent in other areas than it is now. I like new things. I don't feel that a lot of what gets passed as experimentalism is very experimental at all. It is easy music, not experimental. I wish there was experimentation in the way emotions were expressed and resolved, and in the way tones were used. Stockhausen is not experimental in that regard. What he did is easy music, and passed off as experimental.

So my conclusion to my conclusion, is that music is about sounding good or expressing emotion, but hopefully both. People who make song music, or expressive tonal music, should think about their motives and theory. It's not something that takes a great deal of thought at all, really. It's just a hard concept to communicate. In fact, I am sure people making good music do it as a matter of course, without realizing it. Just think of our hero Ronnie Martin, he expressed himself with pop music very well. I think that is largely the reason for the pre-legacy favoritism among his fans (even if nobody wants to admit it), is that he was more expressive in his older music.

Only one person I have ever asked actually answered my original question, and he said "to express myself". I think that is what people like about music, expressiveness. Because if you are only looking for what 'sounds good', pure white noise is the most beautiful aural experience. But it obviously isn't expressive. There is a huge range of emotions, logic, moods, and emotions about emotions that can be expressed in art. Ideas and thoughts can be expressed in lyrics. Also, humor and silliness count among these, so it is not like only serious things matter. I think it is an issue for anyone making music to consider. If you are going to take your music at all seriously, as more than a pastime, something worthwhile, make sure it expresses something other than clichés.

That nuclear bomb is to show the end of the long rambling post. I am sorry if you felt compelled to read that. I know there are a lot of unfinished thoughts and points made that had little to do with the argument. I was just following kris avalon's advice about blogging, to just write whatever is on your mind, and then it got out of control. Not that I really need that advice since I made 70 posts on my old blog in about 40 days. But you know

live shows

2008-03-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

I went to a show last night to see electronic music, downtown at a night club/bar thing. It was fun at least, although not very exciting. The first guy, Chris Tenz, (who will be joining me when I do my first show apparently) played his guitar a bit and midi controller the rest. He actually played, and the music was really nice. The second guy, however, just sort of sat down at the front and clicked around on his laptop. He looked bored and didn't really do anything at all. He might as well of just played a completely pre-recorded set. The music was really fun though, just the guy was boring.

So I have decided, live electronic music is pretty boring generally speaking, at least visually. For my first set, I want to use my paia fatman with a midi controller and perhaps try out my upright bass. If we use backing tracks for most of it, Chris on midi keyboard playing one track, me on the paia fatman for another, maybe it will be somewhat interesting. Also, for a couple tracks I think I should like to mic my upright bass, play it with the bow, and put the audio into jeskola buzz on a laptop for fun delay and other effects. That might sound good, maybe. I have never tried that, it is just a dream of mine.

I will not be using my standard music, instead I will be making abbreviated versions that have drums and more repetition. MeOPOtter and SleberOPOdish have already recieved this treatment. The OPO is to block google hits. You can't be too careful with mothers on the prowl.

I think I will repost this on the other blog.

I am a little homesick

2008-03-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

Isn't that sad? not really though. But I wish I were there. I hate being away from everyone. I miss family and friends who want to do more than get drunk and watch hockey.

Also, a certain someone is now engaged to her boyfriend. She sent me a myspace message to tell me the 'good news'. I am not happy for you! I am jealous, really jealous, ok? Stupid girl. and Stupid internet. I could have gone on blissfully unaware for several months, if it weren't for the internet. This really should bother me though, but I don't feel it anymore. I am jealous, a little angry, but still illogically happy all the time. Happy happy happy. I am like tiny tim singing that song "happy days are here again"

Anyway, here are some pictures

This is nick, my nephew. I talked to him on the phone yesterday. He said something about grumma mak kookies, but it was hard to understand.
This is the living room as it looked in January. Nick had been over that day, which is why it is trashed, with things lying everywhere. That is Farley the dog and my dad.
There is part of my synth setup from january.

I lied to kris avalon

2008-03-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

I told kris avalon that I would post everyday. But then I had work to go to and sleep to lay in bed while doing. So I lied to kris avalon. One day he will be famous and this blog will get 1,000,000 hits because of all his fans searching for him on google. I dream of the day my blog is popular. That is assuming that nobody on the excluded list finds my blog again. This is my last new blog. I have only been doing it for 2 months and It kind of stinks to keep starting over.

I don't have anything worth blogging about. My roommates are annoying still. Tonight was my designated night to make everyone dinner. So I made pizza. After I finished it and put it in the oven, I notice nobody is home at the usual time. 10 minutes ago I found a note on the door telling me that I shouldn't bother making dinner for anyone, they won't be home. This was posted on the front door, a door I never actually used, as I park in back. Oh well, it just means leftovers. And leftover pizza is good.

my new job

2008-03-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have a job during the school year for the first time. I always just lived off my summer work/the kindness of extended family before. I always called it the not so politically correct term, "Indian living". Because working in the summer, and not so much at all for the winter is like that. I mean, I usually made really good money at the strawberry farm and with the ice cream truck. But these days, there is rent to worry about. In previous years I lived off my aunt while at school. But this year is different.

So here is a brief job description. There is this big warehouse for this chain of thrift stores/department stores. This is the sort of regional warehouse thing, for the stores in Calgary. Trucks come and drop off pallets full of crap, then they are sorted and either put out on shelves at the store next to the warehouse, or they are sorted to be shipped again to other stores. Rejects from the other stores are also sent here to be thrown in the trash compactor or compacted and baled and shipped to foreign countries to be sold there. So my job is to move stuff around for other people to sort or drive elsewhere. So I just basically move boxes and bags all day. I move them off of trucks, onto trucks, on pallets with a forklift or pallet jack, or just on carts.

It is kind of a nice job, compared to what I was used to at the strawberry farm. The bosses just sit and work in their offices. They come out once an hour maybe to check on things. I am free, basically. I don't do any work in the store place, so there is no dealing with customers. I have to take the donations that people leave at the back door, but they aren't customers, just people dropping off their crap. I have certain tasks that need to get done, 'unload these two trailers in the next 5 hours', but for the first two days there has been no real hurry. I have an mp3 player in my pocket and the only other people around are little asian ladies who do the store sorting and don't care what I do as long as I empty their garbage cans on time.

I make $14 an hour, at about 30 hours a week while school is still in, hopefully a lot more once it's out in May. The people I have told in Indiana seem to think that is a great deal, but my rent at my new place (a room in somebody's house or apartment) will probably be around $600 a month. So 14 isn't that great.

I am going to do this one last time.

2008-03-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

I do need a place to complain about nonsense and talk about the important thing in life like tea and synthesizers without my parents and acquaintances reading it and identifying it with my music.