adorable. 

classic.

I reference my high school econ class a lot- probably more than I realize. Something I came across today almost instantly reminded me of a similar moment I had in that class almost two and a half years ago. I was doing research for a project that I am working on right now and I came across this. This is the most amazing thing that I have seen in a while and it reminded me of when my econ teacher showed us an article about the what was then the upcoming release of the iPhone. I remember how much the capabilities blew my mind and how excited I was to see the device.  Technology sometimes scares me, but in this case it's freakin sickkk.

continuing my brief art phase...this is Guardian Spirit of the Waters by Odilon Redon

You know how I know you're gay?

Word. Great interview.

Paul Rudd is the man

cool stuff

Holy shit.

I've been really into commencement speeches recently. Here's two really good ones:

David Foster Wallace- Kenyon 2005

J.K. Rowling- Harvard 2008

 They're great for these days in college where I'm finding that I need strong external motivation.  Anyways, I'm having difficulty picking a favorite, so I'm not going to. Is there a word for being impressionable, but not because you're intellect or critical thought is lacking? It's like openness to new ideas that leads to capriciousness. Still not there. Fuck it.

Wallace's best points are definitely on how being the center of our own universes influences  us. It actually changes a lot of day to day interactions if that is on the mind. Thinking about discussions with people as discussions with beings who are in the same boat as you: not knowing any other experience but the one out of their own eyes, explains a lot.  I find that I'm much more understanding of things that I don't like about people when I actively think about this idea. If it's the case that I've changed my approach to life for the better, then I think it suffices to say that this is a good speech.

Now about that Rowling lady. I think she's like an author or something. The British avant-garde literary society love her apparently. I guess they like wizards. Anyways, her speech is phenomenal. Now I must admit that I'm down for any rag to riches story, but hers is so insightful and so well woven into the speech that I can't help but like it.  This part in particular really, really made me think:

 "Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared."

Is art, then, a powerful tool for saving humanity? I think that given this quote Rowling would definitely think that it is true. I understand that she isn't necessarily equating imagination and the artistic imagination that made her famous, but I think that the parallels are interesting. Journalism is important for shedding light on the issues around the world, and articles like the one on Dubai that I posted are very important for allowing people removed from a situation to sympathize with those in one. But in addition to journalism, art, especially in literature and films must be aiding empathy worldwide. One movie that I saw in the past six months was Defiance. I can remember one scene in the movie where the people in the forest camp caught a German who was out to get them and the emotional scene ensuing his capture was one that I don't think I'll forget for a long time. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes but (since im a registered badass in 34 states) I didn't let a single one out. I don't know if it was great scoring, acting, or cinematography, but somehow I could feel their pain, anger, and fear. I could just feel how much they wanted to avenge the wrongs done to them and their loved ones. These were actors, and yet in a theatre, I somehow felt closer to people who had suffered over 50 years ago. Films like Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda, Last King of Scotland all make it easier to empathize with people who live a world away and it humanizes them. This has to make some sort of positive impact on the world. It's so easy to dehumanize people, or allow people to be dehumanized when you see them as less than human or not at all, but the ability to see them as such becomes much harder when you can see yourself within them. So yeah, I guess art can save lives. Weird thought.

A song of the day

A song of the day

A song of the day (same song, but in English by the original author/singer

A song of the day

This commercial almost made me choke.

great live performance

[warning]

-this post is going to be rather incoherent-

This is sickkkk

First off, the song of the day is not the song of the day. It's the album of the day. It's called InTheFlowersMyGirlsAlsoFrightenedSummertimeClothesDailyRoutineBluishGuysEyesTasteLionInAComaNoMoreRunninBrothersport. It's also known as the Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective. I simply do not have the command of enough adjectives, nouns, adverbs, and certainly not nearly enough hyperbolic expressions to describe how amazing this album is. I had a Shakespeare teacher who claimed that King Lear had an infinite relevance to the world in which it was written and that it's words could spread out into the cosmos forever. I knew what he meant, but I always thought that it was sort of a cop-out thing to say because even metaphorically that just couldn't be the case and it therefore was just an easy way of saying it's a deep work. To say that a finite piece of literature has infinite implications is downright ridiculous and if I had the persistence- and with him as a teacher- the downright apathy for my grade, I would have asked many more "why" questions as to why he felt like he could make claim. With MPP, however, I feel like it's place doesn't have to be trivialized to infinity. (I'm in paradox heaven right now) This album is a very deep, which is great, but it also happens to be the most pleasant album to listen to that I've ever encountered. I feel good after listening to it the entire way through. Every time I finish listening to it, I feel as if I have just awoken from an hour nap. What makes this better than a nap though, is that the actual "nap" part was the best part. I was consciously having a good time as opposed to that fake dreaming crap. (I love sleep btw) This album is so refreshing. For example, My Girls is about relationships and not needing all the superfluous stuff that we're programmed to think that we need. That's fucking fantastic. I'd much rather sing that at the top of my lungs than sing about how low my chain hangs or how much I'd like to Superman that ho. They go even deeper too in songs like Taste where they ask "Am I really all things that are inside of me?" That line repeats over and over again; it's a question worth thinking about. There's so much more to this album and it is definitely worth a listen: THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH. This is the 55 minute song of the day.

On a related note of great entertainment, there is an absolute atrocity being committed as we speak. NBC's new show, Kings is hands down the best show on television. If there is a modern day counterpart to Shakespeare, the overall production of this show is just that. There aren't enough good things I can say about this show. Go to hulu.com and watch all of the episodes. Now. The atrocity that I mentioned is that this amazingly brilliant show is not being marketed properly and is therefore getting terrible ratings. First of all, the show was bought by NBC. That brings about so many limitations that it is undoubtedly stifling the genius of this show. My second favorite show would have been awful on any American television network. Imagine if Entourage, Weeds, or Band of Brothers on NBC? Ugh. Another crime was that they made the show air on Sunday nights and that didn't work. They then moved it to Saturday night which is just a bad sign and an awful remedy. This whole situation of genius going to waste just saddens me. And all the while American Idol gets ridiculously high ratings. FML.

I almost died this week, but not really. More on that later.

My roommates watch Gossip Girl. FML. More on that later. 

(exeunt.)

song of the day: Emily by Joanna Newsom

This doesn't seem very fun. I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled upon it, but I can assure whoever is reading this that I wasn't searching for sex journals and that I certainly do not read New York magazine. Now I'm not sure if this was self-dubbing or an editor stamping the label, but the title of the diary is "Self-Obsessed, Emotionally Detached Hedge Funder," which I must say is a very apt description.

This does seem fun. Before I go into another introspective/societal critique/analysis, I want to try to start what I hope to continue on for the rest of this blog's life: happy shit sharing. When I read people's blogs like Kanye's or my new hero, Tim Ferris' I really like how they have cool stuff that they have encountered that week on their site. I saw a commercial for this and it made me happy. People helping people always makes me happy I guess. Anyways, back to the matter at hand- 

As promised, I plan on talking about the first link of this blog through the speech found in the link of the previous post. In Rev. Gomes' short talk about the youth of today, he talked about how we are searching fulfillment. I would argue that in general this search for fulfillment is not as much of a greater purpose search as he would suggest, but more of a hedonistic seeking. Now I don't want to project my sentiments on my whole generation, but I think it would be safe to say that the myspace generation is realizing that seeking of wealth or power is not going to bring about the most long-term pleasure. We want pleasure. We want it to last. I'm used to shopping around for the best deal and that's pretty much what I'm doing for life goals right now. This would be a 20th year well spent if I could get a little closer to understanding what direction I should be heading in. This douchebag hedge fund bro clearly defined success in the "New York/Material" sense and is having a crazy hectic life that he says will probably kill him ten years before his time. Now I'm sure this crazy lifestyle can be good for some people and for some it may work out just fine, but the reason why I'm so critical right now is actually conveniently in the title: the emotional detachedness. I sincerely hope that there is never a point in my life where I would be described as emotionally detached. To me, that word either means that you've become miserable or a dick- probably both. 

hmmm

Wow. This is great and I think I'll spend the next few of my posts talking about what he said.

http://failblog.org

I wish there were ways to quantify really abstract ideas. I want to be able to substantiate or allay the the theory I'm about to pose with some convincing statistics.

So yesterday I was studying for a test with a girl I had never really talked to before. She, like almost every other person in that class, had put much more effort into studying and preparation than I had and  I wanted to make sure that she would be able to get in contact with her if I needed to. So I did an action that triggered an equally introspective and outside world analysis a few minutes later. At the moment that could have proved potentially awkward if I had asked for her number, I realized this situation for what it was or could be, and I did NOTHING. Well, ostensibly I did nothing, but at that moment I realized that I could just facebook friend her as soon as I got home. Wow. Through technology I was able to cop out. The very loaded action of asking for a phone number was averted through a simple click.

My theory is thus: we well connected Americans are constantly compromising depth. The thing is, I do not necessarily think that there is any less depth out there. I just think that it's being spread out all around us. A good illustrating parallel to this would be our generation and knowledge. We know a lot about a little. Using things like Wikipedia, we can easily find out a detailed summary about almost anything we want. And we often do.  I'm not sure if it's for better or worse either, but that's my theory. QED?

Song of the day: Golden Age by TV on the Radio

just listen

Is that...Harry Potter? Harry, what do we know about the business cycle?

This is a formal challenge for Rubin to keep up with his blog. I'll be damned if I become the guy who is made fun of all the time for being nostalgic and blogging.

GOD DAMNIT RUBIN! Those words mean a lot to me because they sum up everything I want out of life. Here's how:

A few falls ago Rubin and I embarked on a journey and that journey was called Grim's econ class. I'm really glad that I chose to take that path because now I look at it with a sort of fondness, those were the days that I had the privilege of suffering through econ. The thing that made it so fun, and this is the reason for this anecdote, is that Grim hated Rubin. And although he never said "God damnit Rubin," we always assumed that those words were forever in his mind whenever he would ask Rubin a class. Now, partly because I truly enjoy reflecting back on those days and partly because I feel this claim needs some anecdotal evidence, I will share with you one of my favorite Grim-Rubin moments. 

It was parent's weekend at Loom Chaff and everyone's parents were in attendance for our econ class. The audience, needless to say, was one that was very impressionable, proud, and in their own respective rights, quite successful. In fact, this was in the Goldman Sachs era of sheer dominance and we happened to have a VP in attendance. The stakes were high. Most of the kids in the class were spending the day with their parents for the first time in months and were trying to impress them with whatever knowledge they could muster up about economic issues. This was also probably Rubin's first day with his parents in months- despite his day student staus, but that is just a normality of the household; I digress. I also should mention the fact that at Loom Chaff, on parents weekend, there was sort of a tradition of teachers asking nothing but easy questions so that we students would look good  in front of our parents. Teachers were known for having you raise your right hand if you knew the correct answer and the left if you didn't. Either way you had the opportunity of looking good. And the same was in Grim's class. Everyone that day got easy questions, and although he did not do the hand thing, if you didn't know the answer- unlike every other day in class- he wouldn't call on you. But for some reason, fuck that, we all know the reason, Grim decided to single out Rubin on one question that he hadn't raised his hand for. The usual "umm umm umm" mixed in with the classic reddening of the face ensued; I think some random boarder bailed him out, but the message sent was clear:

Grim wanted Rubin to feel embarassed. Grim did not like Rubin.

While this story may illustrate an extreme extent of Grim's cruelty, it would definitely suffice to say that we were worried every day we entered that class. Sitting through those classes was rarely fun in and of itself. What makes me able to look back on that experience with such fondness is the fact that there were so many things that became funny for no real reason. It became a joke  how late Rubin and I could show up to first period. Maybe this was because it wasn't me and I wasn't ever really worried about not passing, but probably the most entertaining part of econ was the fact that Rubin was convinced he was not going to pass the class spring semester. The funny thing was that our response wasn't to study harder, it was to just joke about and to contemplate what would happen if Rubin did, in fact, receive an F. Many a conversation was devoted to this. And i guess now that everything has ended well, we can look back on it and laugh. 

This kind of stuff is all I want in life. I don't mind working hard and going through shit to get to where I want to be, I just really want to be able to look back on it and smile. Just like this blog post, even now I'm looking back on it and laughing at how cheesy this overall message is, but I don't care. I kind of feel like Zach Braff and that end of a Scrubs episode.  Tsall good tho, I'm smiling right now and that's all that matters.

interesting night. 

Hackneyed, Banal, and Trite

TODAY...is the first day, of the rest of my life.

Daily Routine by Animal collective

What are we going to do with all of this information? If by some miracle I continue this blog for even 5 years, when will I be able to read it? Since a lot of people blog or keep online journals for the sake of documenting history, I just wonder when we will be able to view all of it. And if we, as I'm sure will turn out to be the case, realize that we will not be able to play back all of these memories, are these private memories going to be for public viewing, just so that there can be eyes to witness what has been documented? 

The purpose of this article in the Onion was to make fun of people's obsession with Barack Obama's historic presidency. In so doing, I think it touched upon a rather important idea that is the central theme of this blog post, which is the accessibility of information storage with this generation. Maybe this isn't an attempt to keep everything on record, it's just like having a life ipod- which is to say that you have the accessibility to all of your memories even though you will most likely never view them, similar to the way that no one listens to most of the songs on their ipod. I just wonder what will become of all this stuff. And as much as we think it may, this stuff will not last forever- that show Life After Humans on the History Channel (an interesting network choice) shows that after humans these records won't last that long. 

Song of the day:

9 Crimes by Damien Rice (the live youtube version from Abbey Road is the best)

Information doesn't scare me...yet. Two things that come off the top of my head make me a little nervous about my future sentiments toward information, technology and knowledge: the fact that the more we know, the more we realize we don't know; and the fact that technology is allowing us to greater realize mutual destruction. Hobbes theorized in his work, The Leviathan that we need a greater figure of government because man is weak due to the fact that anyone could destroy anyone- whether that be through gaining numbers against another or by some other means. This fear encompasses that other means. The fact that the US government has the technology to read a license plate from space scares me because although it means we have a very secure military, it also means that in the wrong hands, technology has the capability of enormous privacy infringement. When my privacy is lost I have all the reason to be suspicious and scared. Since it is, at least to my knowledge (i probably wouldn't want to know if it were otherwise) still in the right hands, these kinds of technological capabilities do not scare me, they only make me wary of the powers that be.

What brought me to thinking about this topic was a trip with my sister to a science museum in Baltimore today. We were in a planetarium watching a show on dark matter and the narrator basically said that we only understand 5% of the matter that comprises the universe. The matter. Not the structures, the matter. So all we have come to know in this world- our laws of everything being made up of protons, neutrons and electrons- falls short by 95%. The reason behind my fear of science and knowledge in general has to be the fact that we are beginning to realize that the more we know, the more we do not know. I guess one could argue that what we don't know is constant and what we do know is only increasing, so it is merely our ignorance and the bliss that comes with it, that is what I am feeling. The discipline of science is based on empirical findings and to know that most of the research that needs to be done to understand the world lies in the future, for me, makes science a place where I am not able to store my confidence or trust. This is all of course in addition to the fact that the knowledge in science changes or leads to changing conclusions as time progresses.  I love science/knowledge/technology/information, but the fact that it may not always love me freaks me out.

That is what Maryland does!

I'm writing this post from Maryland. I'm having difficulty getting online, or else I would have written earlier this vacation. Definitely in the blogging mood. But in the words of Kenny "Special-K" Fisher: "No thanks, no time." All I have to say right now is that the seafood is amazing.

I wonder how much we identify with those we choose to help whenever we choose to help them. I wonder if it is that, or is it pity that causes us to look upon someone and want to help them. Could it be the fact that we feel obligated to do some charitable activities every once and a while or is it the fact that we are looking for some sort of reward from either an outside source or the resulting inward feeling of accomplishment or meaning.

I'm asking these questions because of a New York Times article I saw that was concerning corporations and individuals trying to illuminate Africa. I think it's safe to say that it is almost becoming a culturally cool thing to do, give back to the third world. I can't quite put my finger on why people would want to do this for a number of reasons. One thing I think of is why some societies and cultures would want to help preserve a culture that they really do not stand anything to gain from while others would be so bent on destroying it. Why are there regimes in the Congo that want to destroy entire races of people and effectively destroy their own homeland while there are other groups across an ocean that have invested so much in helping. I know from a corporate standpoint, it is definitely beneficial and good press to look like a humanitarian organization, but I am still asking why. Why is our society so into helping these people. One conclusion that I have come up with is that, while it is true that we are helping these people, we are also hurting them at the same time. The evils that we are bringing upon these people often are not as clear or widely talked about because they're taboos and issues that we simply choose to ignore. I am just as guilty as everyone else for the very same reason that we are all guilty- inadvertent benefit and failure to realize, identify, and renounce the injustices made every day. Now the one that we would all have difficulty doing at first would probably be the first part- just because it is hard to calculate and understand. I'm honestly not sure what the extend of these injustices are, but I hope I would not be considered presumptuous in suggesting that these issues are not worth noting. Because this idea is so abstract, it cannot be the basis of why we do what we do. It is just something to keep in the back of the mind. It also does not detract from the idea that people are helping, it can just be an indication of the extent to which we would be inconvenienced to help others. If our true assistance of the Third World required us to give up the things we hold dear, I wonder how "cool" it would be to do it. 

I guess this gets into another point. I'm picturing a Whole Foods Market and the people who go there in my head as I write this paragraph. It tends to be a more well-off group of people who go to Whole Foods, primarily because of the prices. They have excess money to buy everything organic and they can afford to worry about how many pesticides are put into their food or how much it saves their carbon footprint or how few animals were hurt in the making of the product. I have no problem with this, but it is these efforts that come from excess resources. Those people who are less well-off in America do not shop at Whole Foods because they are simply not looking to save the world through their spending, they are trying to get the best deal that can best feed their family. So tying this back to my first point, maybe some of the reason people give is because it is a status symbol. If you have enough to give away, you surely must have enough for yourself. I don't want to suggest that those who have money give more or those who have less give less, because that is not necessarily the case. I'm only stating that this could be a trend because it is now the cool thing to do when you have money. Being more conscious about the world around you is now becoming an issue and a true sector that others will gladly judge you by. I didn't answer the first question in the first sentence I posed, but I guess I'll get to that later. I sort of took the idea and ran with it. Word.

Song of the day:

If Rap Gets Jealous by K'naan

This table is still there from the weekend. I'm going to reserve my comment on it for now, just because I feel it would be best. Word.

Mouthwash by Kate Nash

Insert Title Here

Facebook album titles...I wonder how much you can really tell about a person based on their facebook album titles. I think you can tell something about someone first of all based on whether or not they feel the need to have a creative or funny or painfully hackneyed cliche as the title. Another insightful cue could be the amount of titled albums that one has on his/her facebook: if we're nearing 20 I think it's safe to say that this person, while they may have a life (as too well documented online), spends way too much time and care on the fbizzle. So with that being said, how does one go about understanding those who have a normal amount of photos and albums? I have no idea. All I can say is that I think that there is something to these names. It makes life artistic in a way. People take all these pictures- which usually are taken while they're drunk- and they put a title on it. It's like a metaphorical bow on their present to facebook and the resulting rest of the world. They're either trying to sum up the night in a few words, quote their favorite line, or maybe even just get some sort of statement out that they think would be a great addition to their overall profile. One reason why I think these titles are so important is that they are being published. What you add to your facebook matters because your closest friends see you and judge you based on what you have up. So everything up there becomes your art and your presentation to the world. It's not some essay or a piece of art that you are titling it is other's perceptions of your life that you are titling and that is something that tends to bring out the creativity in people. People want to impress others and I think this is an interesting medium. I could be wrong, but I think this is rather interesting. 

Song of the day: Brothersport by Animal Collective

This is a response to a response. I was on youtube the other day and I was reading the comments under a Sigur Ros video and the usual emotional responses or the descriptions of the emotional experiences that people had when first listening to the group were definitely the norm. I did stumble upon one however that was at first understandable and then as I thought about it disheartening. The person said something to the affect: "I love Jonsi (the lead singer of the group) but I wish he wasn't gay. It's not that I have anything against gay people, I just wish he wasn't." I think this quote is significant for a myriad of reasons. It suggests first of all, that there is something undesirable about being gay, second, that one should be apologetic for saying the first sentence, and lastly, that sexual tendency affects a fan's relationship with an artist. I'm sure as hell not going into the first argument to the extent of whether or not that statement is true. It's a discussion better left alone- for now. This first part does raise an interesting point though and I'm going to relate it to something that I know. I'm black. I wonder how many times someone has met me, or introduced me to someone else, or hung out with me and wanted to drop the "n" word or pretend like he/she was an expert on hip hop and really wished that I was just another white person. I know there had to have been times in my lifetime when that was true and I was unaware of it. Now this case may be slightly unique because America is such a politically correct place and people may just not want to slip up or seem offensive. It seems like nowadays that being deemed a racist is up there with being a child molester and so people may just not want to be careless and make a mistake. A.k.a. when the black guy is gone, we can now relax and say whatever we want without fear of something bad happening. I definitely want to say that I do not think that this is not the normal case, but I'm sure this has happened before, and that's the only point I'm trying to make. (Now I've become the apologetic one) There is also something at play here though, and it is a comfort with those who are like you. This can also be a black/white thing and I'm sure those who do not know me probably assume that we have much less in common than we actually do. This is slightly beside the point though, because I think it is natural for people to be comfortable with those types of people who are from the same place, like the same things, act similar ways, and look a certain way. I think this "look a certain way" transcends color more than you'd think, but once again, I digress. So back to the original statement, I think there is something there when someone says that they wish one of their favorite artists wasn't gay. Now I may be being a tad presumptuous when I say this, but I am pretty sure that the person saying this was not gay him/herself. And if this is the case then it does not matter whether this person is a girl or guy. This is because girls probably want to admire a guy they think is in touch with his feelings and is a creative genius. They might want hope that some straight guy actually possesses these qualities and this could be a very innocent reason to wish Jonsi was staight. If a dude said it, he probably said it wishing that he could identify with Jonsi better as a straight dude as opposed to a gay one. These reasons seem relatively harmless, but think about those people that are on the outside, those who are in those "less desirable" groups. It hurts to know that you are not as well liked or looked up to being in a certain group, no matter what it is. What makes this so weird is that this is so far from an expression of disdain or hate, it is very much a flattering statement with a tiny bit of opinion. For the most part, people are moving away from prejudiced speech and this is where we get the second part of the implication of the quote. Some people feel a natural urge to apologize for statements like these because they feel that they are being judgmental or erecting walls up that may be offensive. People need to stop apologizing and they need to start empathizing. The worry about being sexist, racist or offensive goes away if you can properly put yourself in the shoes of those you are talking about and assessing whether or not they would be hurt. In fact, this is not just not being prejudiced, it's becoming a more loving person because you are connecting with others. There we have it. One step to transforming from a racist to Ghandi, now if only we could take those holes out of the sheets...This is all relevant and good but I once again am going off on a tangent. To tie back into the third part, it definitely does affect the relationship of fan to artist when there is something undesirable about the artist to the fan: there were a lot more A-Rod fans a few months ago. This is definitely a lesser point, and probably something I'll get into later, but there is one thing worth noting. The paraphrased quote that I have definitely over-analyzed assumes that Jonsi would still be the great artist he is today if we removed a large part of him. I guess that's something to think about. God is love, Rev Run.

Song of the day:

Sleepyhead by Passion Pit

What's the song of the day? easy. Family business by Kanye West is by far the song of the day. for some reason i became kinda homesick, but not for things or places, my nostalgia mostly was derivative of old relationships. i don't really mind not seeing the people i grew up with on a daily basis, it's just knowing that if i wanted to see them, it would be very difficult, if not impossible to do so. it's a strong feeling of distance that happens i guess when you dedicate at least 9 months of your year in madison wisconsin. i miss being able to call up certain people and just being able to stop by and say hello or even have the chance of running into the somewhere. there is zero chance out here.

these non-capitalized sentiments lead me to my point that i want to make. for a while i thought that one of my biggest struggles was living in the past. i thought that whenever i wished something was the way it used to be that i was somehow acting within a safety blanket or in a wimpy manner. while i believe that to be true if someone is constantly nostalgic and woeful about their present condition, i'm not exactly sure if it is at all wrong to even have a constant remembering of where you came from. so here's my point...i think most of our lives are lived in the past anyway, so why should we fight the feeling of remembering it so much. almost everything we do in life is based off of past knowledge that we've acquired over the years. this is to say that whenever someone is weighing the outcomes of certain actions, they are really just digging into their past to decide whether or not they should actually do the action. this is of course assuming that all memory that has been made was in the past and that therefore by digging into it, one is living in the past in some sense of the word. if this model were true, then the only thing current in life would be the sensory experience. wow. i'm tired and i need to chill. much more on this later. i think my psych class has me on to something. hollaback.

songs of the day: Devil Town by Bright Eyes and Down and Out by Cam'Ron

Does "celebritizing" usually add to a situation's overall well being? Through the media, I think a lot of us are bred to think that becoming famous is a beneficial end, when in fact, it seems like those who use it as a means are those who are far happier. This is a double edged sword, however, because it seems as though being a celebrity can become a liability. (Just ask Kanye West about what he really thinks of "Flashing Lights.") 

But I want to get a little deeper than just the annoyances of having to shelter your children from flashing cameras or hundreds of annoying fans wanting your autograph and I want to talk about what it must be like to having your life/ ideas being filtered through the various media.

I must confess that I am a John Mayer fan. He is an amazing guitar player and it is entertaining to watch. This is relevant for two reasons: one, because me having to lay this down as a confessions shows that there are preconceived notions of John Mayer fandom that are ideas that I would like to separate myself from; and two, he has talked about being constantly misunderstood as a person due to his celebrity status. Why should I have to apologize for liking someone's music? It can only be the case that the person that John Mayer exudes must be different for me than for those that would judge me for liking him. This is not really saying anything unique or interesting because the very nature of relationships among people creates differences of opinions. What is interesting, however, is what makes me want to justify my feeling of difference, because again, the difference is not a big deal, it is why I'm doing it. The reason is simply because the consensus among people my age is that liking John Mayer is a girly thing to do. I see this as a distinct contrast to normal reality (between two non-celebrities) because no one would ever deem liking someone else as a girly state of mind. Because John Mayer is a celebrity who was made famous for his music and his music has been deemed girly, liking John Mayer has become synonymous with being girly. The two things should not be congruous, however, and this is why being a celebrity can be a problem. His meanings, messages, and art can all be misconstrued in the eyes of the their respective beholders because of their preconceived notions.

This leads me to the second reason of the relevance of me being a John Mayer fan. In his concert and very brief documentary "Where the Light Is," Mayer feels misunderstood in two different ways. Being a musician with diverse talents, he talks about the frustration of being type casted in a genre, which is understandable and slightly related to his celebrity. His other concern, and this is related to my main point, is that when he is seen on things like TMZ or entertainment shows, he is not usually getting to effectively convey his personality to the audience. In this case, he was not sure that the message of how much he loves his fans was getting across because he seemed upset when people were taking his picture. There then becomes a large difference between his message that he is trying to send and that that is received. In my opinion, being an artist is all about trying to send a specific message through your art- even though it can be interpreted different ways- and not being able to do so effectively almost can be thought of as a defeated purpose.

The is v.s. the should be. This examination of this contrast is probably at the heart of every piece of art there ever was. This assertion, I should add, is rooted in my assumption that every artistic creation is a form of social commentary. Where am I going with this? Well I thought that it was an interestingly coincidental parallel of my feelings toward what seems to be all over the television right now. Nowadays I feel as if every channel is being bombarded with advertisements for a myriad of award shows. It just seems strange to me how much we idolize celebrities. It seems strange because it seems as if we obsess over people who are rarely the full artists of the work that got them all of their acclaim in the first place. This is not to put down accolade for a job  well done in being a part of a team, because it is very uncommon for someone to do a work, especially one as complex as a movie, without assistance. I am only puzzled at how much we obsess over these people who only the face of a work but far more concerned at how much we choose to worship people as opposed to praising the work itself.

Today's winner is Backyards by Broken Social Scene. This is a song that has almost caused my roomate (who will from now on be referred to as Chuman, Chu, Chuu, or sometimes even Chuuu) to go crazy. As sad as it is to admit that I listen to a band named Broken Social Scene, it's even sadder to admit that I have in the past and that I continue to draw a small sense of inspiration just by the ending lyrics of the song: It's a hard parade just, be courageous.  It's those ethereal vocals of Emily Haines mixed with BSS glory...shit's contagious. 

hmmm

i hate malls

hmm

better stuff tomorrow

same story

bros by panda bear

I got nothing.

so very tired.

song of the day:

"A Little Priest" from the Sweeny Todd soundtrack

numero uno

Hmm...well this is the beginning of the chronicling of my 20th year. I was supposed to start this 3 days ago, but in this case it is better late than never. I guess this is sort of a resolution to see if I can in fact write something once every day for an entire year.