Matrimony

Well, I believe that one of the first real steps into adulthood is the first marriage of a friend. A friend of the same or similar age. Check that sucker off.

Soon I'll be watching the 6 o'clock news with a cup of tea, grunting at the politicians I don't like, while my spouse knits me a cardigan. I think the very fact that I know what a cardigan is testifies to my advancing age.

Do you have "adult-itis"? Common symptoms are:

1. Little or no tolerance for bass (not the fish).

2. A designated chair.

3. A minivan (I actually drove one today).

4. Getting that where-are-you-from look after using an outdated cliché

5. The realization that they don't make things like they used to.

And many more.

But enough of that, the true intent of this blog post was to celebrate the beautiful unity of two really great friends. May Rob and Ruby have many, many happy years together with God's blessing. Hallelujah! It's a beautiful thing when God brings two Christian people together, that we may see his grace in this in a fallen world like ours.

I was going to write a poem, but I think it would turn out killer cheesy. Instead, I'll just post this somewhat (hardly) related previously written poem.

Matrimony

Under the seats
Of a school bus.
A kiss on a red
cheek.
Fingers bound
with twine
and a half eaten
Ring Pop.

Meat, lots of it

Alright, by popular request (one person) I must post my horrible poem of culinary puns. I hardly like to call this poetry, and believe me, it is not my favourite poem that I have written. However, others seem to enjoy it. Give the people what they want, right?

If I could fry,
I would give you some
wings.
Together we'd fry
in the sky.
There we'd meat
others.
Play some poker.
High steaks.
We'd get slaughtered.
But your tender words
would save our bacon.

If I could turn back thyme
I would go to that night.
It was anise night, but chili.
Our lives were cloven in two.
We separated,
I was held at bay
by your sage advice.
It was sub lime.

To call those puns bad... would be an understeakment.

A Poem!

Inspiration has been scarce lately, when it comes to poetry. I have had a longer drought than I remember since I really started writing it. But, with the drought comes... the end of the drought. (You see, not so poetic). But fear not! There is hope. I've finally written a poem. Inspired by a beautiful trip to Oregon with three great friends. I really don't care if this isn't the best poem I've written, because I know that my drought is over!

I'm not sure I've expressed the concept in the final stanza sufficiently. If you think it could use some elucidation, comment.

The Language of the Mind

A mile of sand behind me

and many more miles of water

ahead,

my feet sink deeper,

the sand sliding away

like an unformed thought

at the sight of true beauty

A fluorescent glow sets an

undefined shadow

that swims and bobs on

each new wave.

The glow is dimmed

and my shadow is lost,

waving.

The cloud,

a luminescent hand,

brushes the face of the effulgent moon

with an extended finger

before fleeing off.

My shadow waves hello.

An unborn thought,

untainted by human language,

is in the dialect

of the ocean

More Musical Musings

Dilemma: Do I write about subjects that I know interests my audience? Since I do know who reads my blog, I know fairly well what is mostly of interest among them. Or do I write about what's on my mind? What I'm interested at the moment.

Solution: Meh, I'll write what I want to write.

I've been thinking lately about taste in music, and why people like what they like. I like to think that I have a fairly broad taste in music, and because of that, there is a lot of music that I like that other people cannot stand. Often people describe some of my music as "weird".

When I think of a band I would describe as weird, I think of Radiohead. Though it is among my favourite bands, there is a fair bit of music by Radiohead that I cannot enjoy. It's just too far out there. When others I know listen to some songs by Radiohead that I love, they often don't know what to think, or they just flat out can't stand it. It's too weird.

For example, the album Kid A is the type of music that I only ever listen to by myself, since I know almost nobody who would enjoy it with me.

This semester at college, I've been taking a German Culture through Film class. It is incredibly interesting. Lately we've been watching a couple of silent films from the 1920s such as Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), and Nosferatu (an early vampire movie about Dracula, but with a different name due to copyright issues). In the way of audio, these movies involve only a score that plays continually, as the speech is shown by way of intertitles (a frame with just words, since there is no audio from the movie itself). The original scores for such movies are often lost, so new scores are written to accompany the movie, but any soundtrack that matches the mood will do.

So my professor (a Radiohead fan) decided that we would watch Nosferatu with Kid A as the soundtrack. In my opinion, the music fit the mood perfectly. Eerie, unsettling, but at a fairly even energy the whole time.

I looked around the classroom, as I was interested in what others thought of the music. I saw bobbing of heads, eyes glazed over, and the occasional admiring grin as the music matched up perfectly with the scene. This surprised me. Most people would not enjoy this music.

I have concluded that the music worked because of the context. It seemed right, and not out of place, therefore people enjoyed it. If we had listened to the album without the movie, I'm sure there would be more frowns.

I have also come to the conclusion that those who enjoy such music without the context of the movie are those who are willing to conform their mood to the music. I've often heard people say that music can affect one's mood, but in this situation, the listener is intentionally changing his or her mood to match that of the music. This is my theory. Some are not willing to adapt their mood to the music because they do not feel any sort of dedication to the music itself. They would rather stay in the mood they are in than change just in order to enjoy a piece of music. This leads me to believe that those who are lovers of music, rather than the casual listener, are more willing to adapt to the music and therefore have a wider taste in music.

I'm sorry if that came of as elitist in any way, but it's impossible to deny that some people are more dedicated to listening to music than others.

A Silly Child

Behold! Here lies the slovenly student, sickly and sleepless, as is not uncommon among those of a scholarly tendency. An empty can of some generic soft drink sits close at hand, the sticky contents lining its metallic walls. A forgotten, or just ignored, cereal bowl is its companion, and the spoon inside shows the residue of what had once been milk. Not skim milk, alas, and therein lies a cause to the young man’s ever growing waist.

Ha! Such silly things to be preoccupied with, as much more important matters engrave yet more lines in an already furrowed forehead. Forsooth! Schooling and education present difficulty and stress, but what young man in his proper mind with all of his functioning emotional apparati would even let such inconsequential elements of young life occupy so much as a quarter of his mind when there are women at hand? Indeed, the female gender beguiles even the most solid and grounded men, and her charms wage insidious war on the psyche of Man!

However, THIS particular specimen of masculinity suffers not from a certain feminine presence in his already heavily burdened brain. No, this foolish oaf is bothered by the lack of any dilemmas of the female sort. Child! You are currently free! Fear not, for romantic predicaments will inevitably fall on your path! Wish not for that which will surely come uninvited.

Musical Composition

The composition on music, and how to go about it, has been a large topic in my mind for the past few years. As I have struggled to write what I would hope to be “beautiful” music, I have tried a few different methods. What I have found to be most effective for me is to just “fiddle around” with an instrument (in my case guitar or piano). While experimenting, often absent-mindedly, I often stumble upon something that sounds appealing. It presents a certain mood that either pleases me, or complements my current mood. The product of this experimentation is then refined over time, and sometimes introduced to others for outside opinions. After that, I add lyrics (or leave it as an instrumental). My lyrics are usually taken from a store of poetry and lyrics that I’ve prewritten, in the hopes that I’d be able to write a song with the appropriate emotion for some of the lyrics. The writing of the vocal melody is more of an improvisational process. I just play the music on the instrument and see what melody my brain makes up.

So that’s my whole writing process. But now I will describe to you what I believe to be the proper process. I think many famous composers of music had the ability to transcribe music directly from their brains down to paper. Beethoven, for example, still wrote music towards the end of his life even though he was deaf. This deafness would make my own process useless. So the only method he had left to him was to write down his music directly from his head.

I do have the ability to write music in my head, as this is the basis for improvisation (probably my favourite part about writing music, maybe a future blog post). But when it comes to bringing the music directly into reality, I am lacking. With a small, single noted melody, I could probably figure out it out on guitar or piano. However, anything more complex (and therefore actually worth composing) is very difficult and time consuming. I think it’s just a matter of knowledge. I need to know notation better in order to be able to write the notes down straight from my head. (HA! I haven’t used traditional notation properly since my second or third year of guitar... when I was 13 or 14). I don’t know the nature of chord progressions quite well enough to bring them directly to the guitar or piano after creating them in my head. If only I could find a method of bringing my mind-music (which never stops, by the way) into reality. Then I believe my composition would make a giant leap, and I would progress greatly (oh, if only).

What made all of these classical composers so great (as well as some today, there are geniuses among us, many unrecognized) was the combination of both musical talent, and knowledge. I myself write and play music mostly by ear. Technicality is my weak point. But saying that I use my ear is no excuse. I’m sure these composers all were “ear-musicians”, but they had their knowledge as well. It is something I should work on. I need to learn more technical music knowledge (or relearn).

Maybe when I have more time... (like when I’m retired).

Sigh.

(Thanks for the prompt, D-tin)

Handlebars

Hip-hop, or rap, is a genre of music that very much misunderstood. There is a very small amount of rap that I actually enjoy and listen to on a regular basis. However, I don't think this is because hip-hop itself is an inferior type of music. Far from it. In truth, I believe that hip-hop is just a more difficult style for writing a truly good song. (Now what a "good" song is, that's something for another debate.) But when one such song is successful, it is a beautiful thing.

What needs to be understood about hip-hop is that not every emotion can be expressed by this means. It is not easy, if not impossible, to write a joyful hip-hop song. If that is your desire, steer away from hip-hop. But that's not to say that it is always angry/hateful. It's true that it is easy to write a hateful hip-hop song, because of the aggressive nature inherent in the genre itself. But one can make better use of this aggressiveness.

The one song that I am thinking about right now is called "Handlebars" by the Flobots. It's a song that came out in 2007, and the first time I heard it years ago it hit me as a comical song. "I can ride a bike with now handlebars", it seems a silly line to open up with. Now, listening to the whole song with a more critical ear, I realize that this song is extremely aggressive, and has a message. Through the mish-mash of ideas, the song comes together at the end as an anti-war song. And more than that. This song is about the great potential humanity has. We progress so quickly. However, a lot of this blessed progress is being misused. Where we are finding new ways to help with the problem of poverty and hunger, the progress regarding new ways to kill people is years ahead in technology.

Such a subject needs an aggressive approach, and the Flobots do just this. This song may not be appreciated by everyone, as it is not the style that many like. But give it a try. The music video also helps with the ideas that the band is promoting as well:

Now on a more musically critical note:

When I first heard this song, I thought the rapping sounded somewhat amateurish, as well as the singing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was different. I've realized that what is different is that the rapper does not change his pronunciation. He doesn't slur his words, or abbreviate in order to sound "gangsta". He speaks normally, as he does in everyday life, just with a bit more aggressiveness. It is raw, and I find it is more emotional. The singing is also bare-bones. Not extraordinary talent is found in his voice, but it has its own emotion as well.

This song gives me chills.