My blogroll

1. http://monttmardie.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=6

2. http://secret-music-box.blogspot.com/

3. http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/lifted-from-njoros-blogspot-interesting-reading/

4. http://allspinzone.blogspot.com/

5. http://antubrunei.blogspot.com/2009/02/sleep-paralysis-dihimpit-ketika-tidur.html (Very interesting. I have this condition described in this blog. Frequent Sleep Paralysis)

My favorite works of art

My Favorite Works of Art

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Enjoy. And give the player a few minutes to load.

Free Post

I'm going to use my free post honestly to reach out and try to get people to be more open minded. Somebody once said "Be nice to everyone you meet, for everyone is fighting a hard battle."

This holds true in life. Do not judge one another or discriminate. This seems random, I know, but think for a second. If we all did this, we'd be finished as a human race. We'd be extinct.

Thank you. Love your friends. Love your families. Love your music. And love your life. Hopefully at least one person will take this to heart. And I hope your day will be better because of it. :)

Goodnight, Earth.

My photographic eye

Water. The most basic form of continuity of existence. And one of the most beautiful elements about our unique Earth. It is our lifeblood.

On the Graffiti Beat

I did an earlier post on the Poole's Mill bridge in a natural park about a mile from my house back home. It is a very interesting place. The bridge itself is covered with graffiti. Many may not consider it graffiti in the traditional sense of the term since the park itself isn't very well watched and no one really cares. As well, most of the graffiti is words, phrases and expressions, with a few drawings thrown in. I went there this weekend, and unfortunately my camera crapped out on me so I do not have any pictures (There may be some on google images, although I could not find any good ones of the art inside the bridge). However, I can tell you all about it. I've been going to this little hole in the side of Earth park since I could barely toddle. I've swam in the still-water section, slid down the natural water slides made at the shoals and even gotten eaten by the river a couple of times. The inside of that bridge, which almost every local person has seen at least once, details the last several decades of history of the people coming there. It has thousands of names, love promises, phrases, dates and other historical memories. I can walk through the bridge and point out many people that I went to elementary school with. I can even point out a few of their mothers and fathers names on it. My own father taught me how to dive out of the bridge into the water hole, which is only about 5 feet deep. With the bridge 15 feet in the air, of course this likely wasn't the best plan. But I'm trying to illustrate everyone's great memories of the place as it has grown throughout the last few generations. As I said, I wish I had pictures, but I can only tell you that if you'ree ever near Ducktown in Forsyth county to ask a local where Poole's Mill is. They'll know what you're talking about, and then you can see it for yourself. It's absolutely beautiful.

I'm having a catharsis (2)

What exactly is trust? Is it receiving the expected result in any from another person? Is it believing that tomorrow you'll wake up, when it's impossible to be certain? It it guesswork? Lately, I've been thinking it is. How can anyone ever truly know another person when that person has just as many deep catacombs hidden inside themselves as any other person? Smiles, kisses, they do not show us the way. They only lead us in a direction that could end with further life or immediate death.

I don't trust almost anyone to be their best. It's sad, of course, but true to me. I've come to believe that human beings are so fundamentally flawed that basic compassion has been all but wiped out in our day to day lives. Even those I love in a stupidly extensive way, they really don't get my trust, because they've proven to be able to abuse it. There are a few that I would hand my very existence to in a paper bag and believe in them fully to care for it. Unfortunately, and strangely, most of them have parted ways with me. They are very random people. Old friends, ex girlfriends. Genuinely good people. And, unfortunately, no one in my family can be given that.

I ramble. But isn't that what this is supposed to be about? So I sit here, taking allergy pills every day, writing my music, drowning in schoolwork, keeping up with relationships that don't often amount to what I put into them. And I try to seek comfort in God. Without a doubt, I believe that he watches us all daily and puts us through these hard times to test us. Reminding myself of that gets very, very hard. Guess we gotta keep pushing. We all deserve to be loved.

Good night, everybody.

Iceland is notorious for its natural beauty. Every year, countless people flock there to see the rolling hills, wonderful weather (especially to us southerners), and interesting culture of people. Not surprisingly, this natural beauty spills into the country's art. Looking through much of their most prized pieces of art, I'd say 80 or 85% of them consist of or are illustrations of some portion of nature. Being a fairly technologically simple place, many of its citizens find their beauty in the wonders of the Earth. The result is artistic masterpiece.

Interestingly, having listened to much of it myself, these natural, simple elements spill over into the country's music as well. (I relate a lot of things to music. Sorry if it gets annoying. It's what I do) Musical groups like Sigur Ros and the Album Leaf, who both have deep roots in Iceland, deal mainly with similar themes as the artwork we see. They play very beautiful, calm, ambient music, so it's safe for the masses to check out if you want to add a relaxing new musical sound to your collection. In fact, The Album Leaf has a record out entitled "In A Safe Place" in which all of the songs are not only ABOUT nature (and I'm using the word "about" in a musically analytic tone, since most of their works are without vocals), but they are entitled many natural themes. Songs like "Streamside," "Over the Pond," "Thule," and "The Outer Banks" are excellent examples. I cannot reccommend either of these groups enough.

Through this connection, we can now see that Iceland takes much of its artistic influence from one of the most obvious and beautiful sources available to mankind: Nature.

Fashion as Art

This is geisha. Translated as literally as possible, geisha means "performing artist." They are not prostitutes, contrary to popular Western belief. And to us, they look absolutely ridiculous. HOWEVER, this is quite common in Japan and we would probably look funny to a geisha. Because of their profession (which is basically and type of performance that's not prostitution), they seek to dress extravagantly for maximum entertainment. In fact, this is expected of them, especially in the young training geisha. They wear traditional white face makeup (A LOT) on special occasions, as well as these dresses called kimonos. Kimonos can be up to 15 layers thick (whoa) and are generally made of a silk-ish material to make the geisha look shiny and.. slick. (Pictures of these dresses are easily found on google images. Just be careful what exactly you search for) Training geisha have additional heavy attachments to the dresses and "pocket sleeves" which really only serve to get in the way. Kimonos can take years to complete, and the style of them depends on the current season being experienced. Prestigious geisha have storehouses of hoarded kimonos (reminds me of my girlfriend's purse collection), and are rated in the geisha heierarchy on a scale from poor to awesome based on how often each kimono is worn. If a geisha wears a kimono only once, it shows that she can afford to do so and has high economic placement in society.

Sweet. Check it out. It's.. sort of interesting.

Poetry Slam

This is something I thought about writing a while ago, and this prompted me to give it a shot.

---------------------------

Where to go?
Wandering through a forest alone.
I sit and watch the lake be still and hope for the hint of a ghost.
The wind mocks me with your smell. Collapses into pressure upon the water.
The Earth is thirsty and I cannot sleep.
So where to go?
The forest suddenly becomes treeless. Lost souls cry out and moan.
"They are looking for homes," explains an angel beside me.
"And where will they go? Does God even know?"

"And what about me?"

I see your face on the moon as the rain begins.
You smile at me as the ground cracks and I descend.
The reaper leaves my side, and he takes to the sky.
"At least it will all be reborn again."

--------------------------------------

It's about a dream I haven't had.

Dance

Moshing. Don't hate.



Listen to me before you hate. Moshing is not hostile. It's a form of ridiculous self-expression and indulgence in the music being played. The object, contrary to popular belief, is not to hurt anyone or be hurt. In fact, when people enter a mosh pit swinging their fists around, they are immediately handled by the surrounding members of said mosh pit.

Mosh Pit: Noun: The spontaneous dance floor created in front of a stage when people mosh.
Moshing: Noun: Brit slang a style of energetic sinuous dancing done in a crowded space especially to heavy metal or thrash music and usually done in a moshpit, the area in front of the stage at a gig.

It's scary. Yeah. Definitely, because you can get hurt if you're a moshing n00b (hahaha), but ultimately it is a form of self-expression, and it's really, really fun. REALLY fun. Look up some other videos on youtube if you'd like to learn more. You might find some really entertaining ones.

I love this piece of architecture

This is a covered bridge from a very small public park called "Poole's Mill" within a mile of my house back home. I've been coming here since I was basically born. The bridge itself, while having to have been restructured a few times, has stood strong the entire time. Many come here to relax, fish, have picnics and camp. I personally come to Poole's Mill to hang out with friends and play in the water like a small child. Yesterday, three friends and I had a sort of accidentally extended adventure down the river to a place we had not been before. I almost went over a waterfall. Oops. Some of my fondest memories, though, from childhood and recent times took place here. And they will continue being made I'm sure. This bridge is covered with graffiti from the last 30 years and is incapable of handling vehicle weight. It's run down and tired. But it stands for an excellent place that I've been spending time my entire life. And it's one of my favorite pieces of architecture and, because of its vast history, certainly one of my favorite structures.

My right brain, my left brain

I guess I would categorize myself as a mixed thinker. My major is IT, which, next to business, is one of the most right brain majors one can have. My minor, however, is music tech. I would love more than anything to record and play music for a living one day.

Left Brain:
I think logically. I count the steps I take and end a staircase with my left foot. I view situations, arguments and nearly everything that crosses my path like an equation. Example: "Here is what has happened. Here is the solution. There is no sense in talking emotion and feelings when we have the numbers in front of us." Without a doubt, this is both a good and bad habit. Throughout life, it has caused me to be a fairly intelligent person in the fields of math and science, but has caused me to perhaps fail at understanding human motivation. I have friends like this as well, and we know that it can be our savior or downfall, depending on the events at hand.

Right Brain:
The way that I express myself personally, however, is absolutely creative. I spend every shred of free time I can find writing and playing music, writing in general (meaning words. In English), drawing all over anything I can find (badly, but nonetheless), or talking philosophy, religion, Creationism vs. Darwinism, and purpose with my counterparts. Ask anyone who knows me what I love. They will answer music. Right now, I spend my free time writing and playing music (mostly metal with a hint of blues) with a few exceptionally talented musicians from our very school. The band is young and yet nameless. However, when we do find a name and begin to feel comfortable enough in our material to start playing shows, you're absolutely right it's going on my blog. And you better all come.

I use both, as we all do at times, I suppose. I use both heavily. And hopefully, through this, it makes me a more, cliche as it may be, complete person. Gross, I know. I hate that phrase. But it stands anyway.

This music video is a work of art

I've been listening to Sigur Ros for six or seven years. That's a guesstimation, but it's certainly been for longer than they've been well known. They are an Icelandic band that just about anyone can enjoy listening to. This song is called Hoppipolla, which literally translates in English to "Hopping in puddles." Watch the video and see why. It illustrates the childlike qualities in every person on the planet in a visual way. And it's a fairly moving video, if you're open to interpretation. Enjoy.

Art on Youtube (2)

And then, check THIS out!

Art on Youtube (1)

Check this out!

Meet This Artist I Know

This is my friend Mark Reagin. He is 19 and currently attends UGA where he is a ceramics major. He's really, really good.

He's been making pottery for about three years, and he has begun to sell his works at local stores that carry these types of things as well as private showings. He generally focuses of throwing ceramics (bowls, plates, mugs, and weird sculptural pieces of nonsense that are for some reason eaten up by "cultural America"), but he also does pieces occasionally that do not require throwing. To be quite honest, he's so excited about his work that it bugs me and the rest of our friends as he individually gets us to inspect each piece he's brought home (and sometimes there can be a couple hundred) and expects us to show the same outrageous enthusiasm that he himself feels. I probably do this as well, however, when I write a piece of music that I'm very proud of. So I can't fault him too hard.

Anyway, he's an excellent artist. He's got his work on facebook, and you should probably go check it out if you have the time. And I've known him for ten years, so he's cool to talk to. Enjoy. :)

I'm having a catharsis (1)

I have not dealt with much hardship in my life. When I say this, I mean of course that I have not starved, been left shelter-less, contracted malaria or had anything go massively wrong. None of my friends died today. When I see well-off, middle class people in America complaining about their lives or that raise they weren't given, a friend saying something behind their backs, or even something as trivial as a less-than-current cell phone, it truly irks me. I would love more than anything to run up to these people who claim to have it bad and say "Did you not eat dinner tonight?" or "How many of your relatives were shot to death today?" We, as a developed, technical society, have become absurdly self-centered.

This being said, I try not to complain very much. I know that somewhere in the distance there is someone at all times who would make me look like a little brat to even think about giving poor marks to any part of my life. This year of my life has truly, truly tested my strength as that type of person. The details are personal. This is a semi-personal blog (if those nouns can for one second be compounded), but even so I would like to not discuss them. Throughout this, I have been looking for strength in many different places. I look in my friends, my family, my music, my school work, I look anywhere for an answer and find none. Nothing to answer everyone's one question: why? As I sit on my back porch tonight with my laptop, a bowl of cereal and a cigarette, I've realized that nothing on this Earth can answer me why stylized, American life can be so challenging, yet so unfulfilling. Why do children die by the thousands every day at the hands of each other? And throughout this, why do I sit here waiting for lung cancer and doing nothing about it? And what've I found.

Ask the creator.

My favorite artist

To begin, I am musician. If I don't make music, my fingers start to itch. So my favorite artistic is, of course, a musician. His name is Paul Waggoner, and he is a part of a technical metal band called Between the Buried and Me. (To anyone reading this, I would appreciate it if you would not judge this man or this band by the name or the genre of music they play. They also incorporate everything from smooth to jazz to blues to latin music into their music. If you're musically open-minded at all, I suggest that you take a listen. If you're anything like me, you might just have your life changed by it).

The man, who happens to be the lead guitarist for the band, is a musical genius. Even those who do not appreciate metal for what it's trying to do (which, contrary to popular belief, is not to be angry with the world, complain, or use violent imagery purposelessly) will likely appreciate his guitar work. He can run 16th notes at and above 250 beats per minute. This is a CRAZY speed. He is fluent in jazz, rock, blues, neoclassical and thrash theory, and his work alone (apart from the other members' contributions) has literally changed my life (musically and overall) since I was introduced to them in 2005. I have since seen them in concert four times and am going to Atlanta on thursday night for the fifth. I have talked with Paul as well as the other band members several times about their music and what it has done to many of us as musicians.

A few good examples of his work (you can find videos on youtube) are in Between the Buried and Me's songs entitled "Alaska", "Selkies (The Endless Obsession)", "All Bodies", and "Roboturner." As stated earlier, this music is much heavier, louder, faster and more complicated (view by many as "noise") than most popular music (which is what I consider noise). I beg of all of you to try to see the art in it. I have a feeling most will not, but it has changed my life as a musician and as a person. The other members are Tommy Rogers (vocals and keyboard), Black Richardson (Drums), Dan Briggs (Bass guitar), and Dusty Waring (rhythm guitar), and are certainly not to be ignored either. Check it out.

This film is a work of art

Darron Aronofsky's The Fountain can be considered (and is widely considered) a true work of art. The movie features stunning cinematography, a beautiful soundtrack, a wonderful cast, and a very creative, science-fiction-esque plot. It features a man (Hugh Jackman), following a triple storyline in three stages of his life. The end will surprise and shock many viewers. To me, this movie is the epitame of a well-handled artistic movie. I recommend it to everyone, although one must be fairly open-minded when choosing to watch it.

Diorama Commentary

1) This diorama evoked a strong emotion in me: Children in poverty. It accurately illustrates the issue and reminds us to be thankful for what we do have. There is always, always someone who has less.

2) This diorama taught me something I did not know: Deaths due to Iraqi Invasion. I agree with the Iraqi invasion. But it did give me a strong statistic that I wasn't previously aware of.

3) This diorama is very creative: Heart to Heart-Childhood Education. I think it's safe to say that this one had a little bit more time put into it than some of ours.

4) I have something to say about this diorama: Barrack Obama. I couldn't see what exactly it was arguing. It simply had a collection of information about our president. The diorama didn't include any opinions or ideas. At least, I felt that way.

5) The message in this diorama could be considered propaganda: Deaths due to Iraqi Invasion. It's using a strong death toll number to sway the public opinion without giving the statistics on the MASSIVE death rate in Iraq when Hussein was in control. Also, it didn't give the death rate in the Middle East during the Kuwait invasion. It's very one-sided.

Shoebox Diorama

I did my diorama on the theory of global warming. My main concern is the fact that we, as nation, (and as a world on a smaller scope) are dumping an insane amount of time, thought, and money into it, though it is still just a theory. As you can see (hopefully), I created a beach with lawn chairs and a beach ball (or yellow ping pong ball). There is a penguin hanging out in one of the beach chairs. This is to show the irony of the polar ice caps supposedly "melting" hurting the animals. Polar bears and penguins both are almost just as much water-dwellers as land mammals. There is also a severe lack of research in this field. So, even though you might not agree with me, I hope you at least enjoy the creativity.