Blog 10a

http://changethis.com/manifesto/45.02.FreakFactor/pdf/45.02.FreakFactor.pdf

I didn’t agree with most of this manifesto. I understand the ideas behind it and where David was coming from, but I just think he’s flat out wrong on a lot of things. One step I did agree with, however, was step number three entitled “Flawless: There’s Nothing Wrong with You.” I actually already thought this myself. Other manifestos we’ve read have also touched base on this. One of the biggest flaws about media majors is that we wouldn’t be able to engage completely in a normal nine to five job. Instead of calling that a flaw, we see it as a strength and that we have something in us that desires to work a different type of job. One thing I have to call him out on though is that just because someone is humble or even self-confident doesn’t make them weak or arrogant. Weakness can be strengths, but I wouldn’t consider strengths to be weakness in all cases. Another step I didn’t agree with was number four about not fixing your weakness. I truthfully think that is a complete load of crap. On one hand, you don’t want to waste time on something about yourself that you are never going to change. However, for example, if you aren’t a nice person to people namely seeing that as a weakness, would you just completely not try and be more considerate to people and be a little nicer. Abstract idea, but I think I got the point across. Some things about people shouldn’t be changed about people; it’s what makes us who we are. But to say that you are who you are and that no one can change is a very stupid idea especially considering his first quote from George Elliot stating “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” I think the continuity along with stupidity of this manifesto is problem its biggest problems. But whatev. Step number nine about putting your quirks to work had some high points and some lows also. His first part of it mentions increasing your energy efficiency. I think he’s pretty much trying to say that you should put yourself in situations that will only benefit you and your strengths which I agree with, but is kind of needless to say. Next, he says to engage in permanent procrastination in things that you don’t like doing because they’re a waste of time and you won’t finish them. So, goodbye college degree? Part three is finding people who are strong where you are weak. I half agree with this. You should be realistic. If you know there’s something you can’t do, then find someone who can do it. If you think you can do it, but not yet, then learn how. Lastly, he says to find the freak in others. Agreed. You should always have empathy for others and understand who they are while accepting it. If you can’t, then don’t associate yourself with them. As far as my strengths and weakness go, I can say that I’m not very good at staying on task or having a permanent scheduled. I wouldn’t say I’m lazy, but I get bored knowing how all of my days will start and end. That said, I don’t plan to have a career where I will be bored with doing the same thing over and over. I plan to do a lot of different things after I graduate. I want to be an tech guy for a touring band, do live sound for venues, record/ produce music, and play out in a band. Most of these won’t be able to happen all at the same time so hopefully I won’t be too bored with myself. I definitely have the strength of learning quickly and having good people skills which is vital for most people. I’m well rounded, but not mediocre. FIN

Blog 9a

I think our least covered concept for our gaming presentation was the rules of the game. There wasn't much of a story for our game so it was hard for the class to see what the rules were if you didn't really know what was going on. We did, however, explain the goals and objectives well. Your primary goal is to get as big as possible. In doing this, you will reach each objective of finding growth hormones and steroids to get bigger. We also mentioned in mechanics that you fight so I think the class understood that another objective was to fight other body builders. I think rules were the hardest to explain because there really aren't any in our game. Our only rule really was "don't die." FIN

Blog 8B

 

I could find Joe Balyete's character on his blog. It looked like he tried to post it, but couldn't. Next is James Myers' villain character The Tax Man. He has an affinity in his parallel movements to his arch nemesis Mr. Money Bags. Seeing as they both come from the same world and both are very powerful in their own respects, this isn't a surprise. Both of the two evoke weight into the animation. The power of Mr. Money Bags bags of money and the force of The Tax Man's axe emit a sense of destruction. The next character evaluation is for James Esterkamp, but he didn't post his either. FIN

Blog 7

Our jokes couldn’t have contrasted each other more. The two almost have literally nothing in common. Our goal was to make the videos in two different genres from two different perspectives. One was a darker, more sinister approach with the two characters being the mom and the son. The other movie was from the perspective of the toys with a more conceptual dream-like world. Since they were both short films, we decided to use tension and release setup for the entire “horror” movie. The entire film builds and foreshadows the son’s evil intentions until the very end where you see the boy with the knife for the last time with a somewhat cliff hanger ending. We also focused on space more in the horror film than the fantasy film. The space both was limited in both, but in terms of actual area being show in the shots, the horror film covered more. Since the toys can’t actually move themselves, there was really no point in having more than one area being shot. Our main focus in the fantasy film was the lines. There are tall point structures and people standing up in most of the movie. This was to show that their whole focus on life was on their master, the son from the other movie who played with. As the one toy loses his faith, he lies down on the bench indicating he doesn’t follow the boy anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5e2t3jrVZ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPZQIBoa97g

Brainwashed

Seth Godin's Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself
Though I couldn't figure out why he called it the "lizard," I think Seth brings up a valid point. The Lizard is in everyone. Some are more affected by it than others, but everyone has at one time or another felt like avoiding doing something for fear of being laughed at. I think a lot of students were probably skeptical about having blogs for fear of making dumb posts or what have you. They defeated the lizard by being willing to try something new and share it with the class and rest of the world. I don't know if you can necessarily ignore "the resistance," but I'm sure you can fight it.

I thought the section on failure was interesting. It goes hand in hand with the lizard section. Failure is one of my biggest fears probably because I don't want to be laughed at. But life without failure wouldn't be life. You can't expect to succeed all the time. Failure brings experience which brings success. You have to be willing to try new things, possibly succeeding or failing, and have the experience to come out better next time. I don't know that failure should be expected, but it definitely shouldn't be unexpected either.

I wouldn't say these exercises are a complete waste of time. I personally like Finding Your Howl more than this exercise, but I still wouldn't say it worthless. I just feel that most of the things explained in Brainwashed are things I've already known or assumed. Other students, however, might not have thought about such things or related it to their major/projects/career goals. Now it's time for me to sleep. :)

Sound Scape Reviews

Music Project

Exploration of Cover Songs

The two artist that I chose are Billie Holiday and NoFX. The latter covered Billie Holiday’s song “All of Me.” Both versions of the song are excellent though very different from one another. Both songs were performed by artists in two very different genres. That said, the end result is two amazing and amazingly different songs though they are somewhat similar at the core.

            Billie Holiday, or Eleanora Fagan, was an American jazz singer popular through the 1940s through the 1950s. She is still celebrated today as a pioneer in music and very big contributor to American pop-culture. Billie performed her song “All of Me” on television several times in 1949 and one last time in 1958 before her untimely death a year later. Her song is actually a version of Belle Baker’s song “All of Me,” but isn’t actually considered a cover of Baker’s version though some lyrics are identical. “All of Me” is a very casual and rhythmic song. It follows a the common 4/4 time, or simple quadruple time. The harmony of the piano and saxophone humming in the background give the song a very soft sound with little to no intensity. Howevery, Billie’s vibrant melody give the song it’s power and intensity. The song is very slow and ordered with an affinity to most of Billie’s other songs. Early in the song, Billie reveals that she is part of a one-sided love affair. The songs lyrics continue a pattern of listing various body parts that the singer wishes her lover would have taken from her. She then reveals that her lover took her heart. Though she lists prior to this the body parts she won’t need and the reasons she won’t need them, she literally and textually means that she wishes her lover would have taken them though he never literally took her heart. She simply fell in love with him and won’t have any use for her arms, lips, or eyes. Thus, why not take “All of Me.”

            The NoFX version of the song is similar at it’s core, but very different on the outside. Lyrically, the songs are identical. The singer of the band sings every word that Billie Holiday sang. The harmony of the NoFX version is very different, but serves the same purpose. They both carry the song. The only difference is that the NoFX version has a harmony filled with distorted guitar chords and very fat bass lines that punk rock fans can appreciate whereas Billie Holiday’s version has a very soothing, graceful feel that everyone who doesn’t like punk rock can like. The melodies are same in that they follow the same chord arrangements, but are in different keys. The melody comes from the words being sung and sound identical in casual listening sense. NoFX sped up the tempo of the song finishing it in 2:07 whereas Billie completes her song at 3:01. Again, this is because punk rock fans like fast music and jazz listeners like slower rhythms. NoFX also follows the same 4/4 time in simple quadruple beat and meter. The interesting thing about the NoFX version is most fans of the band have no idea it’s a cover song and definitely wouldn’t guess that it’s a Billie Holiday song that originated from Belle Baker’s version in 1939. This is another reason why I like NoFX so much. All in all, I like both versions equally. My mood determines which version I feel like listening to.

SoundScape YouTube video

14 steps to get new breaththrough ideas

Mitch  Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas” isn’t a bad read, but all in all, it isn’t anything that really amazed me. It’s very similar to other writings on the steps to innovation, leadership, or what have you. Though the steps listed are all very important things, I feel like they are somewhat redundant and fairly obvious. Most of these steps are simply just signs of being dedicated though there were a few I found interesting. I guess it could just be that maybe since I’ve read so many things like this in other classes that I just understand these things and don’t really need to be reminded them. Steps one through five tackle topics like being immersed, following fascination, and fantasizing about work. Most of this can be said in one step: be dedicated. People that are truly dedicated to their work often do all of these things unintentionally because they care about their jobs so much. You often will find yourself thinking about a problem at work or talking with someone about it even if you’re not at work. Step six is about defining the right challenge. I feel that this is one of the better steps on his list. People can be rushed for whatever reason and be left without time to prepare or plan for a project, but if you don’t know what final outcome you are working towards, you’ll never reach that goal. This is true with small and large problems even when they seem obvious. Step seven is about listening to your subconscious. So in other words, it’s pretty much the same thing as step five: fantasize. This was a very vague step and truthfully didn’t impress me. Step eight is also an easily overlooked step. This step was about taking breaks when you are stumped. This couldn’t be any more true. I know that when I take another look at something with a fresh mind, I often can spot a problem much easier than before even after I had been looking for it for hours. Next is step nine which is about noticing and challenging existing patterns. This made me think a little bit and I realized that this is also the same thing as being proactive. If you’re one step ahead of the game, it’s a lot easier for you to notice these trends and have the first chance at changing or innovating things. People that understood the immense power of the internet and what vast changes it could have on society and media saw patterns relevant to things like marketing, shopping, and communicating online. The fact that they saw these things before other people allowed them to have the upper hand in having a chance to get in the door first and make crazy amounts of money off of it. I also liked step 10 which was about communicating or associating with different groups/kinds of people. I like this a lot. Different people who live different lives often produce different ideas. The convergence of these ideas is what real innovation is about. This is also why I like media classes. You have so many different types of people put together to work on projects and often end with interesting results. Step eleven is about brainstorming with other people and is pretty much an extension of step ten. Step twelve is about noticing “good accidents.” Though it’s important, this step is also very obvious. If you did something on accident and ended with a good result, obviously you would consider staying with that result rather than correcting it. I think he could have left that out of his steps. I liked step thirteen, but I would have put it differently. I think what he was really trying to say is that if you are stuck and feeling uninspired, reach for new forms of inspiration such as a book, different kinds of music, art, whatever. Either way, it’s an important step and I liked it. Step fourteen is what you might think is an obvious step, but is a rather important step. It relates to suspending logic and being creative. It’s easy to lose touch with that part of you as you grow up, but if you have the ability to be creative and not worry about the world, innovation will come with that.

Step six lists questions at the bottom as so: “State your most inspired challenge or opportunity as a question beginning with the words “How can I?” Then write it in five different ways. Which is the real question?”

How can I get a great internship for my major with a company I’d like to work with in the future?

How can I get an internship with a company that hires young audio producers?

How can I get a job with a company in the future after college?

How can I make sure I have a job that I like when I graduate?

How can I gain enough experience in college to get a job after college.

I think the real question is a combination of the above. I also think that the answer to some of these questions is another question.  The real question is, for now at least, “How can I get a great internship for my major with a company I’d like work with in the future?”

Three Creative Influences

Although I like a lot of different genres in all different mediums, most of my creative influence comes from different musicians. I can honestly say I like most all music or that I can find at least a few things about the music that I like even if it's not something I would listen to regularly. As far as genres go, I have listened to faster punk since I was about 9 years old. It holds the best balance of what I can call a musical home. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't like other music. I also like a lot of folk and hiphop among others. One of my biggest musical influences is Fat Mike and the band NoFX. They have been around since the late '80s and have put out roughly 16 full length albums. The song I choose to use by them was Linoleum. The song starts off the album Punk in Drublic with a tension and release process. The song is very quiet with an acapella singer. The tension erupts via a screaming guitar riff. It then releases into a more calm, yet still fast paced wordless chorus. The song also uses text and subtext in their lyrics. The singer describes different people that are attracted towards his band towards the end of the song. He then repeats the lyrics "that's me inside your head" textual meaning that his music is stuck in your head and sub-textual meaning that he's just like all of his listeners.

Another big musical inspiration to me is Tom Gabel and the band "Against Me!." I honestly feel that Tom Gabel is one of the best singer/song writers of our time. He's the total package. His lyrics touch base on many different subjects and are always sung with enthusiasm. His guitar is usually based off folk acoustic ideas turned electric guitar riffs which probably accounts for a lot of my drawing towards folk. His band also has an amazing aesthetic that sets them apart from other bands that are normally placed in the same genre. The song I picked is called Unsubstantiated Rumors Are Good Enough For Me(To Base My Life On). Though this isn't a typical Against Me! song, it's still an awesome example of front man Tom Gabel's writing abilities both lyrically and musically. The song contrasts to much of their music though it is also an affinity to others. Most of their music past their first album is comprised of a full band consisting of rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. This song, however, is solely acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar and vocals. It is still an affinity to some of their music considering they still release a few acoustic tracks every so often.

The last band I wanted to share is The Bouncing Souls. They are a four-piece punk band band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. One of my favorite things about them is that, though each album is excellent, they continue grow musically on each album without worry of fan base or paycheck. They make music for themselves. Literally. They are a D.I.Y. band with their own record label entitled Chunksaah Records. I picked their song "The Break-up Song." The verses of the song are sung solely by their lead singer, Greg. The choruses, however, are sung by the entire band. These gang vocals subconsciously make you feel like you are part of a large crowd. I think this was an intended effect considering that the song is about breaking up with someone. The chorus is meant to make you feel like you are not alone and that other people have felt your pain. So that sums up a few of my favorite musical groups. I hope you enjoy their music as well!