BPA is in your food! it is plastic, it is legal (as of now) and there are plenty of studies that show it is harmful for humans to consume
an op-ed calling for the US government to let the middle east keep fighting so we can solve our own problems. actually very interesting points.
an EXTREMELY LONG article about what should actually happen in the health care reform. I read this while i was waiting 8 hours at a doctor's office (true story)
some smart Harvard ladies are starting a netflix-style dress rental service. i am furious. how come this gets an article in the new york times when my underwear-by-mail service idea never got past the venture capitalists??
new studies about dreaming and what it actually does PLEASE READ THIS ONE.
apparently, there is a giant blob of trash the size of texas in the middle of the pacific ocean. finally, a place where we can put all the extra people from new jersey.
an article about a woman who reads a book a day for a year. talk about free time…
the french try to do something communal and ideal, but the anarchistic youth screw it up for everyone. when will the French learn that the youth will always rebel?
dogs so dog garn smart that they can predict medical emergencies. one of many articles in the times recently about how animals might be smarter than we thought.
my dad was right. although i figured this out by repeated controlled experimentation in college, its nice to hear it from a credible source.
a guy from Wisconsin who em-barks on a journey to make houses from whole trees and other environmentally-friendly things. going into my folder of people to call once i build my ranch.
a good review of the star wars robot phone.
an interesting article about an anachronistic all-girls residence right in midtown that is still alive and well. I can't help but ask how they determine whether or not someone applying to live there is a bona-fide woman and not an impostor.
an op-ed article about how to make america smarter. I agree with most of this article, but as usual, implementation is the real issue at hand
people pretending to be farmers on facebook. the only person more bored than virtual farmers are those who read an article about virtual farmers in the new york times.
a dope and mean article about an amazing zany brain chemical.
a story about crazy chinese bureaucrats who make kids salute automobiles. funny but true.
on a hot day, a human could beat a horse in a marathon race. the science behind crazy marathon runners.
an interesting article about feminism and how women still aren't equal with men in many statistics. "hey sweetie, stop reading that article and come help me lift this refrigerator."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
2009-10-02 art imagination
creating art
at what point do your inner thoughts, your daily flow of emotions, senses and instincts, become art?
it is when you decide.
your pounding headache, the taste of coffee in the morning, waking up starving and then slowly replenishing your body of nutrients and fuel, being in commute, traveling to work by bus, train, car, bike or foot, that sense of transport, then you arrive at your job and are in a box being yelled at to complete tasks for someone, you get a lunch break and the food briefly tells the chemicals in your brain of another time and place.
your body is happy because you feed it, so your brain rewards you with feel-good chemicals.
O sandwich, transport me to that other place, the cliche palm trees and tangerine sunset above with the heated sand seeping through your toes below, the chair below you made of a living organism, a tree, tells you its story, of growing up in a forest on a mountain, tranquility, feeling the seasons, the excitement of spring, the blissful arrival of summer, the fleeting dread of autumn, and the cold hibernation of winter.
the chair under you on the sand in the beach under the sunset in your head, a creation of brain chemicals triggered by the sandwich you eat at your job in a building, in a city, in reality
i breathe tangents. they are just geometry, which is a rule explaining an aspect of reality created by man to explain himself and his surroundings to himself. someone told me theoretical thinking is an art. "art is the umbrella" i said. art is just a word you designate to an idea. words are only one part of art; they lie under the umbrella. words only function as a protocol for interaction between two brains. like the http of brain waves. the ethernet jack from the back of my head into yours. communication=art
see? these words, they are working on something. it is a seed of an idea in your head that can grow into a tree in a forest. a forest in your head. the same forest that i got the wood for the imaginary chair in my head. the chair i sit on when i eat my sandwich during lunch at work at my job in reality (o boring listless reality.)
Oh food, please fuel me so i can zoom around in my imagination. reality is here and real. terrible things happen. innocent black children in the sahara desert die of starvation because some fat white man wants to zoom around in his private jet in reality. we were given brains and imaginations so we could realize these things (reality) but also cope with the horrors of reality (imagination)
duality, the dual-spouted funnel that all my ideas unintentionally end up traveling through.
//and on that note, my surf wave of creativity has reached the beach and dissipated into the sand. …the same sandy beach that i sit on while i eat my sandwich at lunch time. im getting hungry. need more fuel. my tangents, my geometry poured in my head from the thought cloud of electricity in the atmosphere have somehow built a shape, a shape that looks like a strange mysterious seed, a seed that will grow into a tree in the forest on the mountain in my head. the tree will grow, experiencing the seasons peacefully, until some day, my imaginary hero/villain character in my head will chop down the tree with a lazar beam and craft himself a chair that he will sit on the next time the reality me (Ben is what they call him) eats a sandwich to fuel his fragile, slowly dying body.
2009-09-24 mossy rock love poem
I need to be transported to a new world where we can wake up next to each other in the mossy green comfort of a tribal temple, glowing with the mystical radiance of 3000 years worth of ghosts, waiting, lurking the forest for something explaining their meaningless, overplayed lifetimes. with an orange yellow sunlight peering through the hazy blue green misty morning woodsy air, the birds chirping as we simultaneously are awoken from our intertwined state of unconscious subconscious drifting, the birds lazily chirping their morning song, as we lie on the mossy green temple entrance, looking up upon a canopy of leaves and shadows, coming back to the dream within a dream, awoken peacefully without a stir, only the sound of you breathing on my beating, slowly rising ribcage, my chest cavity nonreluctantly supporting the weight of your head. as we float on the rock, our body masses sinking into the damp moss, leaving a human fingerprint, a ghost disappearing with his brain love chemical creation of past experiences combined with a pinch of unconscious otherrealmly exploration…
but we sit there, a two-human figure, intertwined bone to bone, skin to skin, your mental mindset created from a culmination of past experiences of you, in a creek trying to find our sentimental relic, in a dusty dead classroom of 14 year old skeletons, us together ablaze with life and passion and naivety. looking into each other for a brief moment as our insecurities slowly settle, gold and silver flecks around us falling like silent dust to the concrete floor, as we gaze into each other's souls for a brief second, finding complete tranquility in the bonding of two incomplete humans, seeing past, present, and future as one single moment…
the silvergold dust settling, forming into a pure sphere of interlaced complexity, completeness, and infinite unity, just for a brief second, until the insecurities of the world mute the gold silver flecks, the divine dust of freefloating human interconnectedness, a dirty glass of water with metal particles allowing the electricity of love and life to complete a circuit, ad infinitum, the infinite feedback loop of love, of completeness, of non-singular human existence. the pulsating intertwined rhythm of infinite humanity combined with the droning harmonious melody of everlasting infinite true love… as we sit on that aztec temple, the mossy sacrifice stone, the stone that tasted the blood of a thousand human hearts, pulsating out red and white blood cells, the soul of this human carcass falling through the floor, through the decomposed soil of human history, down to the hell of it's warrior brothers.
we sit on the rock, our souls stirring with the morning air, the scent of fresh pine creeps into our unihumanbody's nostrils. we move our neck muscles, looking around at the light creeping through the overgrowth, the canopy of greenery providing our lazy shelter, the slightly shady misty morning mountain air flowing in our nostrils, telling us more than any book, than any movie or magazine, a chemical released by the army of pine trees guarding the true bliss of life from humankind.
we slept under a blanket of stars, a quilt of the cosmos, wrapping our internal subconscious journey with a fresh coating of the unfathomable. our mind journey a single moment of uniting, of universal understanding and tranquility and nirvana. exploring and knowing the whole universe and nothing simultaneously.
good morning my dear one. let us silently walk barefoot through the foothills. let us feel the morning transcend into the depths of our soul. let us die in these woods that bore us, along with three thousand years of simultaneous souls.
2009-08-12 HMech Manifesto
Art is communication. Art is only communication. Communication of Ideas.
The way to judge an artist is to judge how well they take the ideas in their head and transfer them into a medium. An artist can be their greatest judge, but they also need people to hold them accountable to communicate as clearly as possible. This is why as an artist, it is very important to surround yourself with people who understand you and your art.
Anyone can be an artist- anyone who wants to share their ideas is an artist, a communicator. The first step is to realize, then decide your ideas are valuable. The greatest artists explore and pursue multiple mediums as vehicles of communication. The next step is to learn different ways of communicating. Writing, Drawing, Music, acting, fashion, even the way you speak can be art. Word choice, even inflection is art- these things rely on your decision to communicate an idea- sometimes deliberately, oftentimes subconsciously.
The truth is, Art is everywhere.
You can live your whole as a gear in the American machine, or you can be your own human machine. You can decide everything about your life, or you can do as you’re told. You can decide that this writing is true or false; that’s the beauty of writing—of clear writing—which is one aspect of the human machine.
Here at the HM, we want to communicate clearly and concisely, we want our ideas to ring true. We are artists so it is in our nature to express. To elaborate, to find tangents, to seek beauty, to present ideas, to point out our humanity- to do all of these things by SEEKING TRUTH.
We want the truth. We want balance. We want to express. We want to learn, both from ourselves and from you. We want you to be a part of our movement- this dual-natured movement. We want idividualism and collectivism. We want a greater understanding of art and science, men and women, weapons and tools. We want to understand the value of being rich or poor. The value of bliss and anguish.
The only way to achieve balance is to be familiar with extremes, with dichotomies. **The only way to eliminate injustice is to find social equality, to have peace is to understand that knowledge and empathy are required.**
Men and women, gay and straight, black and white, rich and poor, individualist and collectivists, everything in between. Humans and machines.
This is a movement; movements require resonance, they require agreement. They require participation and hard work.
We understand the world through dichotomy. Through recognizing the extreme ends of a spectrum, and everything in between. We are not democrats or republicans, we’re both and neither. We are people. Humans. We live in a machine. We cannot let the machines destroy us. Join our cause. Decide to become an artist and a scholar. Expression and knowledge. COMMUNICATE. Support the Human Machine and we will do all we can to further our cause; your cause.
2009-09-30 spirit funbox
internal conflictions interfere with the funbox and its desire to freely interact with the colorful, pulsating cloudforce outside the skull cavity. the electric oatmeal moves at its own pace, but sometimes aligns with the polarity of the spirit cloud. the cloud of subconscious homosapien history, vibrating in unison with chest cavity, feet, and skull cavity. the conflictions sometimes can be shaken out using strategic pulses and waveforms. the bounce of freedom and hypnosis. the treasure of being in this mindset, this time, having the spirit cloud plugged in using a plastic tube, gasses being freely exchanged back and forth as I become an appendage of the creative collective subconscious. on the brink of the blade, the break of the wave, floating in the cloudforce, in inner and outer space, with the breath of life pushing and pulling your dead human corpse around like a puppet. the machine sleeps. the human (singular) awaketh! the megazord of life, staring death and meaningless boredom and routine in the face with eyes of glowing crystal. fly into the stratosphere, O great hero! breathe your delicious spirit into the AC outlets at the base of the lifeless corpse pile.
2009-10-16
The Great Human Race
The unfathomable depths of the processing power of my genetically perfected, Darwinian wet dream of a brain will overwhelm your short-sighted lemming logic any day.
Prepare to be melted, flesh to bone, by the radiations emitted from my brain.
I will eat you alive.
I will pick you up by your head and repeatedly pummel your stomach with my monster fists, watching with delight as I, the hungry sadist monster, observe your organs collapse from within your body using my x-ray vision.
I will laugh to myself as the horror on your face decays into lifeless nothingness.
A dial tone.
A punching bag disguised as a cadaver.
Your cold, limp body devoid of electrical nerve endings, unable to withstand the brain-numbing pain delivered by my radiating rage.
As your translucent soul floats above the scene of ongoing brutality, watching the carnage unfold with a continued look of horror, I shall separate my warrior soul from my manifested monster vessel and float into the spirit realm to further torment your existence.
My new (parallel, coexisting) manifestation is an eagle, the almighty dominator of the sky, sitting atop the food pyramid with fearless, unchanging eyes.
The eagle flies down from his pyramid and lets out a mountain-shattering screech that sends a brisk chill of fear down your spinal column. This well-respected eagle has chosen his prey.
Even the mice do not run when they hear the familiar sound of his war cry, the same war cry left ringing in the ears of those taken by the blood sacrifice necessary to sustain modern human existence.
You see, my dead friend, you are simply a casualty of war.
There is no human race.
The only race that exists is the marathon of life.
All you are is a person who lost the human race.
To those still running, you are as insignificant as the 10,000 trees left in their wake.
Now that you are dead, wake up and smell the vomit.
Now that you live in eternity, you have the privilege to observe reality realistically, because you failed to do so in the great human race.
Edited Newspaper (2009-10-22)
I read the newspaper (NYT) constantly and keep track of articles that I think are worthwhile. I email the articles to myself, and when my inbox fills up with these articles (usually every week) I email them to other people, along with my own commentary, hoping that it will fuel interesting conversations. In addition to emailing them to my family, I have decided to post my so-called "Edited Newspapers" on this blog.
I realize that I have not been posting a lot lately. It's not that I haven't been writing (I actually have been writing more than I usually do) Its just that I have not been posting things here. I hope to post some of the better writings that I have done on here in the next few days so that the five of you that read my blog can enjoy/hate on what I am thinking.
Writing is all about getting your thoughts out on a piece of paper (or computer screen) and being able to share them/see them for yourself. the way I write is intended to be "stream of consciousness," direct from my brain to the paper. if my writing sucks, then my brain sucks. if my brain sucks, then i know to make my brain better. if my brain is good, then i know I'm doing something right.
ok, so here is this week's "edited newspaper"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20brooks.html
a psychological review of WTWTA (my favorite movie of the year so far) : a movie written about my childhood daydreams
an interesting article of the fellas at pandora objectifying music and creating their "music genome project." sorry buddy, but i think i got it figured out. have fun with your formulas, ill keep listening to music at my own (blindingly fast) rate.
Bono asserts America that America is an idea, that we live for greater things and Obama is still a great leader. a beautifully written article, but then you finish it and get over the patriotic endorphin rush and realize that America (and Obama) are still greatly flawed and need to be DESTROYED (or reformed)
an article discussing and debating conceptual art's relevance, then going to examine my favorite question(s) "what is art?"/"where does it come from?" pretty interesting. debate/discuss it with me sometime.
good to know. a Mediterranean diet helps you live longer. If Sam stops cooking mediterranean food, I'll know to behave better.
definitely true! my favorite article in a while. short, concise, and confident. beautifully written as a dialogue, keeping the argument strong and blaring.
THE FUTURE BEINGS CAME BACK IN TIME TO SABOTAGE THE HARDON COLLIDER! but seriously, I have been reading about physics a lot lately and this article only further fans the flames of my science-related questions.
an article about a bunch of smart young people who will make a lot of money by figuring out and explaining how cultural brains are programmed.
This should be more than enough for you to read. Read a few of these and get back to me. I want more people to talk to me in my life. I am actually a very interesting person (intentionally of course)
-Horse
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Toilet Issues
why is it a man's job to keep the toilet seat down?
are you saying every time i go into the bathroom, i have to first put the toilet seat upright, then pee, then put the toilet seat back down?
when a man pees in this situation, he has four (4) steps. a woman has four steps as well. if the toilet seat and lid are both down, either party has to pick the lid up, pee, flush, then put the lid back down, leaving the seat in its original location during the whole process.
if a woman is lazy, she picks the lid up, pees, flushes, then leaves with the lid still up, eliminating one step in the process, still leaving her with three steps. this, in my opinion, is just as rude as keeping the toilet seat up. however, no one complains when the lid is up but the seat is down. For some reason, the emphasis is always to put the seat down, not the lid. *
if you are being courteous in either situation, the lid and seat are BOTH down when you walk in the bathroom and when you walk out.
now let me ask you something: why are toilet lids such a universal household item? in my eyes, there is virtually no function to a lid. if you ask me, it probably stems from the days before flushing toilets when you had a deep hole full of shit with a lid over it and everyone pooped and peed in that. well you know what? most of us have indoor plumbing. it seems to me like somewhere along the history of plumbing, someone would have ditched the whole idea of a toilet lid.
when you go to most public bathrooms, toilet seats do not have lids. this in my opinion makes sense. the lid certainly isnt keeping anything unpleasant from exiting the toilet, because when you poop, all of the smelliness goes down the drain as new water replaces the bowl when you flush.
the only argument i can see for a toilet lid is if someone has a thirsty dog and likes to keep their bathroom door open. this makes sense because it prevents the dog from drinking your toilet water. however, many people have toilet seats and do not have dogs.
in my opinion, having cats would be yet another argument for not having toilet seats because cats can be trained to use the toilet just like a person.
so what is my solution to this societal problem?
in coed bathrooms where there are no large thirsty animals wandering around, the toilet lid should be eliminated. the seat should still exist, but the lid part should be removed altogether. when a man walks into the bathroom and pees standing up, he puts the lid up. when a woman walks in, they put the seat down. this way, both parties only have three (3) steps, sometimes only two (2) steps if a person of the same gender used the bathroom prior to them.
it works this way: man following man= 2 steps (peeing + flushing)
man following woman= 2 steps (putting the lid up + peeing + flushing)
woman following woman= 2 steps (peeing + flushing)
woman following man= 3 steps (putting the lid up + peeing + flushing)
there you have my solution to that one.
the other issue i have with toilets is touching the flush lever. think about it this way: after you poop and wipe, your poop is still on your hands when you use the flusher. we claim to be so technologically advanced, but we still havent found a way to avoid touching common surfaces between pooping and washing our hands.
while automatic flushers may seem convenient, the technology is not as reliable as i would like. these automatic flushers work sometimes, but not often enough to be hailed as a victory in bathroom technology.
in my opinion, there should be a flush button on the floor that you can step on with your foot. in my lifetime, i have only seen this once, which was in my elementary school. another feature they had in the boys' rooms was toilet seats that were spring loaded to automatically be in the upright position. when you walked up to the toilet, you had to push the seat down as you sat on it, which was sort of frustrating, but completely eliminated the problem of people pissing on the seat. as i recall, the toilets also had the flush mechanism built into the seat, so that when you got up after pooping, the seat would go up and the toilet would flush. while it was scary the first few times, after a while, you learned to hold the toilet seat with your hand as you got up to avoid getting poo water all over your bare ass. while this solution is clever and effective, it should only be implemented in elementary schools where little boys are still learning manners.
if you ask me, in women's bathrooms, there should be no moving seat at all. the only functions for a seat in womens' bathroom habits are so that their cute little tushies don't fall in the toilet bowl and so their adorable little behinds don't freeze. who says that the seat needs to move up or down at all? what woman is ever going to need to put the seat up before they pee/poop/puke?
if i become ruler of the world, the first thing i would do is change basic things to make our lives more efficient, starting with toilets.
since i probably wont become ruler of the world or even a state senator, i will probably just implement my ideas into the house that i will build someday. if i ever had a bathroom, i would have a toilet that had one single piece (integrated seat/bowl combo) with no lid and then a urinal right next to it. both would have buttons on the floor that acted as their flushing device. i would build some sort of poop detecting mechanism that made the buttons on the floor glow red. after you got up and the pee pee sensors detected activity, the sink would automatically start running. i would also have an extra obnoxious illuminated sign that by the door that said "WASH YOUR HANDS." if someone failed to wash their hands or flush, there would be a red police light outside the door that would spin and light up once the person opened the door to leave my bathroom.
you think i am joking, but wait until i am rich and eccentric. ill invite you all to my party, but remember to flush and wash your hands.
THE END
(flush)
* note: if either party is extremely rude, they skip the flush, but lets assume that everyone in your household holds this basic level of cleanliness. if you honestly have this problem, tell your roommate to pee outside.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tribal Music vs Brain Music
I am going to write a lot this time because it has been a while since i wrote before.
Let me first preface this by saying that i am in no way attempting to write in any sort of standard scholarly format. I have always tried to write in a way that best describes the way i think about things in my head. since i have been mentally multitasking for the last two weeks, I might have a more varied post. If i have multiple points that i expand on quite a bit, i will try to repost them as separate blog entries.
I have always been into thinking about thinking. sometimes living in my thoughts comfortably and happily, and other times when things arent right, or when something is new in my brain, i try to separate my observational part of my brain from the active part of my brain and observe. separating my consciousness: this is why i have had brief moments of stress-induced schizophrenia in the past. i wont elaborate on that right now...
I have thought to myself, who is myself? what is this me that i speak of? who am I? who iz ME?
i was hanging out with my fiancee, Sam at the columbus circle fountain and went on somewhat of a trail-blazing stream of thought, dividing separate aspects of myself into a sort of primitive diagram. i will draw up this diagram and put it up here eventually. (oh god, this is a whole essay waiting to happen, which i will do at a later date...)
another thing i have been thinking about is "what is the function of music to us as humans?"
Based off my diagram, i have come up with a few different functions of music. The first function is the most primitive one, and coincidentally, also probably the hardest to comprehend.
I often ask myself, "why do i like this?" especially when i am really grooving out to something that is incredibly basic in terms of its use of harmony and rhythm. unlike most people who go to music school, I don't disregard a certain kind of music just because it doesnt appeal to the brain. ok, so an example: electro/house. in a previous post, i mentioned my fascination with Wolfgang Gartner, who is a brilliant electro producer. the fascination is purely physical, similar to the one when a gorgeous woman walks down the street in a thin dress on a windy summer's day. there is some sort of animal instinct that says "DANCE" similar to the instinct that says "FUCK." obviously, since i am an evolved human being and understand the concept of ego and super-ego, i can choose whether or not to act on my primal, animalistic urges.
i wont get too psychological because i am not a psychologist; i am a musician and an engineer. i am also not a writer or philosopher (but i am hoping to change that.) my goal in life is to be a renaissance man. a well-rounded well-educated creative individual who solves problems, creates brilliant art, and advances society as a whole. i dont read a lot of books, but i read wikipedia and the new york times every day (obsessively.) i read the new york times because i want to know what is going on. the choice of the new york times over any other newspaper is one that is obvious to intelligent people who live in Manhattan (I dont want to sound pretentious, but i also dont want to explain my choice of newspaper in this essay.) the reason i go on wikipedia is because i am a person who likes to have questions answered.
i have no sympathy/empathy for people in society who have no urge to ask questions or try to have their questions answered. often when an argument comes up, i will say to two people "I will not participate in an argument that could be solved by wikipedia." in this day and age, arguing over the birth dates of a basketball player or a young, attractive actress starring in a movie about wizards is a waste of time.
ok, so back to my point on the function of music. the first one, as i have stated, is a physical, tribal, communal, dance-inducing one. many people in society regard this as the highest function of music. i will not argue what the highest function of music is because it is my job to keep that belief to myself. it may be that i think that there is no highest function of music, that they are all equal.
equality. (another tangent)
equality is something i think about a lot. i tend to think about words that are used as reasons to send 18 year olds off to die for our country. equality, liberty, freedom. all words with multiple meanings that can be skewed to fit your context. I believe that people are not equal and that they are equal at the same time. it depends on the context of the conversation. individual people are not equal in intelligence, creativity, physical ability, or any sort of objectively measurable way. it is stupid to think that this is the case. if people were all equal in this sense, the world would not be exciting. it is the inequalities that exist in this world that create beauty. the inequality between man and woman, between different cultures, between different intelligence levels, between different sexual preferences. inequality in many ways is more beautiful than equality. "Ben you are racist!" no i am not. it is a shame that you are programmed to think that my belief that inequality exists (and is a beautiful thing) is a racist belief. it seems that those who most often preach (and i mean preach) tolerance are some of the most intolerant people i have met. before i end this tangent, i must say that i do believe that everyone is equal in terms of basic human rights. every person in america should have the right to all of the things explicitly given to them in the constitution. if you want to understand specifically what i interpret the constitution to mean, then feel free to come over, have a few drinks and argue all night.
ok back to music. another function of music is the part that engages the brain. this function is the reason why babies are encouraged to Mozart if they want to become smart someday. Music blatantly has an effect on the brain. i treat music like a drug most of the time, treating my music library as a pharmacy, trying to diagnose my emotional state, and spending time trying to find just the right remedy to treat my emotional disease.
oh have i ever mentioned that i treat emotions as a disease? well kind of. i think of myself as part human, part machine, a cyborg who decides his own fate. emotions are part of that human thing. some are harmful and useless to the task at hand (if the task is more utilitarian), and others are catalysts for tasks that are more "human" tasks. humans are innately emotional-driven, illogical creatures that learn things so they can get control of their animal side and become productive members of society. i sound like a total utilitarian right now. "how can you create art, you robot?" you ask. but i never said i get rid of emotions altogether. i live for emotions, for the good emotions. this is why i love music. music is a drug with no side effects except ringing ears (on occasion.) all art is a drug in some sense. this is how i run my life. i am a complete junkie. but i love it.
music treats the brain and the body. Mozart makes your kid smart; Beethoven makes your kid into a triumphant badass (...waiting for science to back me up on this one.) but understanding what music/art in general does to your mind/body will make you much more capable of controlling your emotions, or making your emotions go totally out of control (which is fun too.) i have had music overdoses before.
since i am a music scholar, i make a lot of music for my brain. HORSE FORCE is brain music. i wrote a sonata using bits of noise i collected from the internet. ROCK HOLE is a blend of the two, lyrically brain music and rhythmically tribal body music. my new project that i am working on with my Viking friend (STRIKING VIKING) is pure tribal body music. it is music you listen to before you fight someone.
anyway, i got quite a bit out. i hoped you enjoyed my Willy Wonka boat journey into the depths of my brain.
PCZ OUT AND EQUALITY FOR ALL
-Horse Man
Sunday, July 12, 2009
OMG I LUV MYSPACE
its cool to listen to new music. everyone knows this. however, the best place to find new music is myspace (contrary to popular belief.) this is no secret to those of us who actually use myspace for musical purposes.
there two reasons Why myspace is cool. 1) anyone with a computer can put music on myspace, rather easily at that. 2) unlike review sites, myspace lets people speak for themselves. 1st amendment ftw! the "bio" and "about me" sections are nice, but i personally think the top friends feature says the most because it says what artists are actually listening to. (or at least should be used that way)
if social networking sites were equated to systems of government/economy, Facebook would be democratic socialism, Myspace would be a free-market democracy, and twitter would be communism (not only because they limit how much you can say, but for the fact that the "trending topics" section encourages people to think like sheep.)
and for those who were wondering: anarchism would most likely /b/ 4 chan (which many people wouldnt consider a social networking site to begin with.)'
also, in this allegory, making your own website would constitute an Absolute Monarchy.
alright i am done allegorizing. back to myspace.
i have a few myspaces for different music projects, some are very old, and one is a huge inside joke. without myspace, i would not be able to deliver my music to so many different people, for absolutely no cost other than a little bit of my time.
Myspace fact:
the greatest and worse decision myspace ever made was to allow users to use limited html to modify their pages. the reason why everyone older than 12 decided to say goodbye to myspace and hello to facebook is because facebook doesnt let you put rainbows as your background when people click on your page. i hope someday facebook changes this. having html enabled on myspace is very useful if you know what what youre doing because you can actually make your page look cool. however, most of the pages you encounter on myspace look like a 12 year old girl's bedroom (note: i do not frequently spend time in 12 year old girl's bedrooms.)
so the layout of your page is very, very important. (<--- take note, musicians.) almost always, if someone has amazing art on a myspace, i will spend more time giving the music a chance.
when i made my HORSE FORCE myspace, i intentionally made the most flashy page possible and for some reason, it has gotten the most visits out of any of my myspaces (by far.)
i get probably 5-10 friend requests and LISTEN TO THEM ALL (like every good A&R guy should.) this might seem like a waste of time (and most of the time it is) but every once in a while, while listening i find something i absolutely love. sometimes its someone who does a specific genre very well and is unheard of outside of the genre. sometimes it is someone who is a bedroom producer or garage band that has very good ideas, but just needs someone to help record and refine their stuff (these ones i take note for obvious reasons.)
but my absolute favorite kind of unheard artist is one who has an inconspicuous page with hilariously good music. these kind of artists are like good barbecue places. i am not going to explain my metaphor.
a good example of one of these kind of artists is a guy by the name of MMIFODA who friend requested me today. this german guy says that he is "experimental/j-pop/breakbeat" and that is about as accurate as a description as anything. it is techno/hardstyle influenced (in the most comical way possible,) it is driven by breakcore-ish programming (i am a sucker for good drum programming) but its the subtle use of blatant samples and ironic superimposition that makes me love it.
the first song on his player is untitled. it starts with some goofy german sample, goes into some drum and bass pad, and then BAM smacks you in the face with the most unexpected tempo change ever. love it. honestly the only reason i listened to the whole thing was because of the goofy german sample, but when the second half of the song kicked in (which actually sounds good and could be a whole other song) it FUCKED me up. i guess i like music that fucks me up. good electronic music should be danceable, but it should also laugh in your face at how much better than you it is.
i realize i am over-glorifying a myspace page that is not as genius as i make it out to be. it is true that a lot of good electronic music comes from dumb people making genius mistakes. thats probably why i like it so much. its the common man's music.
electronic music doesnt like you either
let me start out by saying that i love all music, including electronic music.
just in case you didnt know, electronic music is the way of the future. 90% of what you hear on pop radio was created using electronic instruments. for those of us in who record music, we are somewhat split. most of us (at least those who have real engineering jobs) embrace digital technology as a faster, more efficient way of working. the old ways of recording music to tape with real instruments are pretty much a novelty in the current day and age. although it might be trendy to track to tape or print vinyl (i love vinyl by the way,) it is still a trend, and should not be treated as an alternative. side note: if you are into this kind of music or interested in music recorded on analog tape, check out Jack White's new project, the Dead Weather. it was recorded on 8 track 2-inch at 7.5 ips. ill assume you know what that means...
just so you know, i think electronic music is pretty cool. these days you dont need to buy a guitar or take guitar lessons or play drums or even sing. all you have to do turn on your computer (which you do every day anyway) and mess around with some audio software (i realize I'm over-simplifying.) some people are amazing at it, and these people (with the right guidance) usually see some sort of success, especially in Europe. sometimes i wish america wasnt so into bruce springsteen. bruce springsteen is ok i guess...
quick question:
How many americans can name 5 electronic musicians outside of Hip Hop (which i consider electronic music) that arent Daft Punk or Justice?
Answer: id say probably 10% or less.
i went to music school and learned nothing about the history of electronic music. there is a history you know. how many people know the difference between drum and bass and house music? or how many know that techno refers to a specific kind of electronic music? or that "electronica" as a genre is not a real genre (begin argument here)? stupid americans.
i love rock and hip hop and pop just as much as anyone else. i am a music lover. but 99% of Americans who are also self-proclaimed "music lovers" are complete idiots when it comes to the exponentially expanding world of electronic music. most people thought auto tune was a talkbox, like the one stevie wonder used. it wasnt until Jay-Z said that auto tune was dead that people actually googled it and found out that it was a plug in. well thanks Jay-Z, i guess...
i am not one to get frustrated easily over other people's stupidity. i learned at an early age that doing so is a waste of time. i dont like to rant either, unless it is a rant of passion. i guess this is a rant of passion.
ok ok, im almost done, just do me a favor and next time you claim to listen to "everything but country," do yourself a favor and say "everything but country and the endlessly vast world of electronic music."
remember, listening to justice and daft punk doesnt count. they are merely a drop of water on the surface of an even greater ocean of music.
heres an idea: how 'bout you scroll down on justice's or daft punk's page and click on SebastiAn. while youre at it check out wolfgang gartner (avoid tunes with lyrics) and fake blood. like what you hear? this is commonly called "house music" or more recently "electro." electro used to refer to the early 80s music popularized by Afrika Bambaata, but now it is synonymous with the term "house music." there you learned something today. now you're cooler than your friends.
hey you know what? if you like this kind of music, check out my friend's blog. he does all the work for you, you fat, lazy american.
you know why europeans dont like us? because we're stuck on acoustic instruments. those damn europeans and their advanced use of technology.... boom chic ack chick boom chic ack chick...
well if youre mad at me by now, it probably means you have some work to do, so get on it. im gonna go away now and advance music into the 21st century.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
10 rules of blorg
from Horse Force
to Horse Force
2. if you do post drunk, please edit it later or delete it
3. as a matter of fact, edit posts as much as you can to make them as clear as possible (thanks Ed and Derek)
4. post frequently
5. use as public board for ideas
6. remember that writing is about brain--->page
7. when it is blorg time, blorg with all your might
8. post links to stuff so people know what you are talking about
9. reply to all relevant comments pertaining to a thread, no matter how old it is (lower priority rule than rules 2-8.)
10. the most important rule: its about sincerity. do not post things you do not mean. you may post things you feel, but if your feelings change, remember rule 3.
ahh there we go. 10 rules to insure good writing.
now to work on them...
why i make blorg
awkward blog post
i guess anyone can read this so im gonna use a bit more discretion than i use when i write things for myself.
i mostly want to use this blorg not as a diary, but more as a monologue to incite dialogue.
the cool thing about the internet is anyone can access anything (unless you want pronz in china) the other cool thing is you can say/view whatever you want (except CP. if you dont know what CP stands for, then that is a good sign. you havent been exposed to enough internets)
i have many ideas about how to best use the internet. in fact, my long-term goal for my life pretty much centers around the idea of contacting people through the internet.
i know this sounds weird and pathetic, like i am going to just be on myface and spacebook all day. what i mean is that like most artistically-minded people, i want to express myself in many ways.
i define "Art" or "art" or art as anything people create with the intent of expression. so when you post twitter posts, or update your facebook status, or decide what color shoes to wear, or even talk to someone with the intent of expressing yourself, you are making art. you are an artist.
so the next time someone brags to you about being an artist, tell them they arent special. then they will have something to write their sad poetry or indie folk songs about. im not saying that sad poetry and indie folk are bad, sad poetry can be good and indie folk rock can be good, just as much as any other form of art. but just because something is art, doesnt mean its good.
art exists so people have something to talk about other than the weather. i think the reason we talk so much about the weather is because it is such a complex thing to understand. it has to do with air turbulence, ocean currents, atmospheric pressure as well as many huge (literally) ideas that take some time and metaphor to grasp.
the other reason is that it changes from day to day. the weather is interesting to discuss with anyone any day for about 30 seconds.
those 30 seconds seem so meaningless to many of us. we see "small talk" as this sort of necessity, when it really is just a social tool. its sort of like when a dog sniffs another dog's ass. however, ass sniffing as well as ass kissing might be the two most valuable skills you have to get ahead in the world. at least thats what we're taught...
ass kissing is all fine and dandy and so is ass sniffing, as long as deep down inside, you know who you are. most people walk around everyday not knowing how their own ass smells.
a lot of people use art as a sort of mirror to figure out who they are. it is a valuable tool for this. i think everyone starts as an artist this way, even at a very young age. children who carry around a specific toy or belonging are in a way doing the same thing that duchamp did with his "fountain" . Duchamp's fountain may be one of my favorite pieces of art of all time. It literally embodies my whole view of art and accomplishes nothing else. he defined art more so than any other writer ever could. he may have been a chaos-obsessing dadaist, but sometimes the best realizations come out of chaos.
i also love chaos, by the way. like duchamp, i also value the idea as above the object. if you disagree, i would love to discuss this opinion with you.
but i digress...
art exists first to identify ourselves, but later it becomes a means of communication. the highest form of art is that which communicates the best. (again if you disagree, please point out flaws in my argument, after all, it is an argument, not a scientific thesis)
the way i arrived at this conclusion was through the study of an instrument. every instrumentalist that i talk to all seem to have the ultimate goal of "saying" whatever they want with their instrument. their instrument is to exist as an extension of their brain. just like your hand reaches for something without you consciously telling your muscles to move, an instrumentalist wants their instrument to be able to play with as little physical or mental effort as possible.
i really think that this is true of all art. you learn your tools, you master your skills, play your rudiments and scales, learn your color theory, your harmony, learn how to mix certain kinds of clay, paint, or channels on a console. you learn to tie your shoes, you learn to brush your teeth, you learn to write. you learn to use the internet. you learn to speak. you learn to do a lot of things, but these things are all tools. tools for you to express yourself. tools for you to get to know who You really are. (intentional upper-case)
a skilled artist is one who masters these things to the best of their ability.
ok you have done that.
but why?
well michelangelo didnt even consider himself a painter. what an asshole. he considered himself a sculptor first.
he was a master in every sense of the way, but it was his endless curiosity and insatiable hunger to communicate that drove him to create in every way. (note i said create and not express. this is my point)
to be like God, mankind needs to create. this is the first encounter we had with God as a species, our inception. our creation.
i mean this in an artistic, non-religious context, for those of you easily offended by religion. if you are offended by religion, or anything that people believe, you are wasting your time in life. another discussion to have later...
first expressing, then creating. i think a pretty good way of looking at things.
the reason i starting this blogging thing today is to practice writing. i dont care how many people read it at first because i am approaching this as the way one approaches a college education. expressing and creation are not the goal, familiarizing oneself with one's tools are the goals. to become a master before you become a creator.
not to say that expressing or even creating can be a useful byproduct of an education. (behold my masterpiece I completed while in college, my college thesis if you will...)
did i get you to visit my site? this is another thing i am learning as an artist. everything i do, i approach with the intent of becoming a better artist. this may sound pretentious, but if you replace the word "artist" with the word "human," perhaps you will get a better idea.
i think human and artist should be synonyms. = one of my life goals
* * *
i dont know, have i made my point yet? if i havent, feel free to ask me questions via any social networking site. i am making a point not to edit myself too much. i honestly havent read this from the beginning before posting. it is a test of whether or not i can write from my brain to the paper without removing myself from myself, similar to the way Mozart wrote music. it was in his head before he "copied" it down on to paper.
you will notice that i make many music references. one of the main things i will use this blog for is for posting links to things i find interesting on the internet. those of you who dont like to hear people's opinions or read things like this should just click on the links and enjoy them out of context. many links i will post out of context anyway.
such as this one. i never liked this song until i saw the video. if someone can tell me why, i think it might reveal something about myself to myself.
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