Radiohead

I’m a rather big fan of Radiohead, and I just wanted to put that out there! Before coming here I told myself that I would introduce someone (who had never heard of Radiohead) to one of my favorite bands. Sadly, I’ve yet to do that. So if anyone reads this and feels inclined to expose themselves to a band they’ve never heard before (Radiohead), then I have only a few suggestions. The band has 6 major albums out: Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Amnesiac, Kid A and Hail to the Thief. If you do intend to listen to them, I would recommend that you start with

1) Pablo Honey

2) The Bends

3) OK Computer

4) Amnesiac

5) Kid A

6) Hail to the Thief

And I feel that if you do so, you will experience the sort of Radiohead etymology that is so interestingly progressive!!!!! I could tell you what it is, but you should listen and find out for youself!!

Love/Hate...Anyone?

Just here listening to Dave Matthews, specifically Dancing Nancies at the central park concert in New York City!

I love/hate (yeah I said love/hate!!!) when songs give you a nostalgic feeling. What I mean to say is that…when going through a phase, by phase I mean a country phase or a James Blunt phase; a phase where you spend, say a good 2 weeks digesting just one artist that is specific to a particular genre. So, what I love/hate, is when going through a phase, the music in this phase becomes synonymous with whatever emotions dominate you life during this particular phase. I love/hate this because sometimes the nostalgia isn’t always good, but at the same time this effect, for me at least, seems to play with time. I can listen to a song and suddenly feel as though I’m back home driving down the busy streets of El Paso with my windows rolled down, taking in the warm midsummer evening air. Or I can listen to another song that takes me back to a time that was very stressful for me; and it’s this part that I hate. I hate it because the song can be just downright awesome, but it seems to be ruined by the fact that it reminds me of such a crappy point in my life!

Does anyone know what I’m trying to say?

Anyone?

A Girl's Face

This is a response to a blog I recently read about a particular someone discovering the wonderful range of sound delivered through a medium of music called country. I myself don’t really enjoy country that much; this is not to say that I completely dislike or hate country music. I just wanted to point out a sort of music phenomena.

When I started to listen to music, at the age of 11 or something, I didn’t like a lot of genres. I’m not sure why, I just didn’t. But now that I look at it, I think that music is like a girl’s face! When we first listen to a new type of music, we are mostly unfamiliar with the style and arrangement, but as we continue to listen and become more acquainted, we familiarize ourselves with the style and this brings about an appreciation for the genre. Equally, when first meeting a girl, we can say that she is pretty, attractive, etc. But I don’t think we can truly appreciate the imperfections in the girl’s face until we continue to talk to her and see her on a regular basis.

I do apologize for being a guy and objectifying girls to my curious gaze.

Noon's Jamboree

After having had the chance to wonder around a bit on the day of Jamboree, and learning what other booths looked like, I came to the conclusion that our section had by far the most interesting set up. Despite what I think to be a good booth, our location pretty much prevented anyone for knowing where we were, although we did get a few people to come down and dance. Had we been located in Oyate like everyone else I think we would have done really well; in terms of attracting people to our booth. Other than the location conundrum, I think the only thing we need to work on was tightening up the bands performance. More practice definitely would have benefited us. Also, had we started to practice earlier, say maybe 2 weeks in advance, we would have sounded a lot better. But, what is done is done and we did what we could. So with that said…

Possible future FYS theme

I’m not sure about the other section, but the noon section had a rather in depth conversation in class about potential FYS theme(s). I feel that this derived itself from a feeling of dissatisfaction that came with out experiences from Jamboree. As part of this discussion, I felt enthusiastic about the fact that the “current issues” idea very well may be something future freshmen will enjoy. Granted there will be those students who will want to revolt against “the man” and will thusly revolt against having to take a FYS to begin with. But regardless of this indelible fact, I personally feel that this theme would be generous in adding to our campus’s global awareness. Along with this I feel that it is essential, as students institutionalized in academia, to be aware (and humbled) by serious events and situations across the world. Slowly our campus would become “alive.” I’m not sure if my point is coming across, but, this is how I feel. I hope that, if Nic presents this idea to what ever board, they will consider this idea. I think the general consensus in our class was that things would definitely need to worked out (details). But in the general scope of things, this “theme” wouldn’t be a bad idea, if done appropriately.

Radio Show

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the radio show; then, what else could I expect, besides a radio show. I found the radio show to be quite enjoyable. I somewhat figured that we were going to stick to a strict play list, but I soon found out that pretty much anything (like congotronics) was up for grabs. At least this is what I found to be true for the second half of the radio show (the noon’s section half). If I was upset or disappointed by anything, I might have been the fact that more people were not interested in being on the radio; to each their own…I guess. Oh, there is one thing I was very much upset by: when Mary Beth called Richard Bona’s music “elevator music!” What!? I consider it to be very well constructed modern jazz. I’m not sure if anyone in the studio actually enjoyed it as much as I did. Perhaps Nic did, but Nic a very appreciative person, at least in the realm of music. Well, hopefully someone was listening that enjoyed it; that’s really all I can hope for I guess.

Jamboree

I wasn’t exactly pleased with Jamboree. I somehow managed to gain an understanding that this would be an event with more substance to it. The only thing I saw the day of Jamboree were seemingly unmotivated people in Oyate, there only because they had to be. Granted I was there towards the end of the day, and this may have had a negative effect on those manning their stations. So perhaps this is reason for my experience with Jamboree.

The one interesting booth that I did come across was the “Insects and Human Culture” FYS booth. A little show was taking place that involved poems about insects. Apparently there were three sections for this FYS class: insects and food, insects and medicine and insects in arts and literature. I happen to stop by when the last of these three sections was “performing” an caught a very interesting show involving poems and songs all about insects.