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.