Hey, everyone. No posts this weekend. Going to West Virginia for a family reunion. I will say that I hope tensions between the U.S. and North Korea don't erupt into nuclear war. For now, I'd like to enjoy the present for what it is by being with my family even if things go badly.
Sorry, everyone. Still got a lot of unpacking to do for the new house. Of all the stuff I normally write about, I'm most disappointed to be missing out on discussion of the crazy impeachment rumors coming out of the White House. Suffice to say I should have the new pad organized by next week when we may have something more solid to go on regarding our dear leader's situation. Who knows? Maybe by the time I'm fully moved in, Trump will have finished moving out.
Hey, gang. Just wanted to let you know that I'm moving into my first home this weekend. So I won't have time for any blog posts. I should be back in action by next week though. Stick around until then. Got lots of unpacking to do meanwhile.
It's my birthday and instead of reviewing a book or movie, I'm reviewing my life thus far. 25 is a big year for me. So I spent the day taking it easy while taking my entire existence into perspective. I'll have a news commentary ready tomorrow and I'll be back to the same schedule next week. Thanks.
Hey, Itchy Writing Pad enthusiasts! Just wanted to let you know that I'm making some posts this week that are outside the norm. Since I finished my first book in my "Omega" series, I'm taking a sort-of break from it by posting a short story I made instead. Book 2 will then continue the series next week.
Sometime between now and then, I'm also posting an opinion post about a popular musical genre that I hate. Should be fun. Other than that, the rest of the week should be the same. I'll post my review of the new Star Wars (an indie series you'll love) on Saturday and some news story Sunday (nothing to utilize yet this week). Until then, thanks for reading! Which egocentric pic will look the best on my latest Country album?It has stalked every intercom broadcast at almost every job I've taken over this last year. It's apparently the most popular style of music in my region. It's called Country music, or as I like to call it: modern-corporate-honky-tonk, and by Guthrie do I hate it. Perhaps it's been the years of hearing it on and off, hearing it endlessly all this past year, or (more likely) it's deplorable garbage. Yet for whatever the reason, I want to give this smug sect of the musical industry a beligerant dressing down.
So let's saddle up for this rodeo by beginning with aesthetics. Each musical genre has a stylization that it's most often associated with. This could vary from the kind of instruments used therein or the form of the melody. Normally, even genre marketed music at least tries to appear to have some independent worth so as to identify as unique among its somewhat similar peers. Maybe the melodies break the usual rules, or the instruments are portraying a tone never attempted. Anything can happen in the endless combinations of music even if some of it is found in the same genre. Country music never makes any attempt at this. The same 3, or 4, beats are playing in every song. I should know. I've banged my head against the wall in time to this when the monotonious repeats of drums and guitars finally drove me mad. So this means that this music is more lyrical in nature, which isn't always a bad thing. I'm not the biggest fan of rap music, but what it lacks in instrumental virtuositiy, it usually makes up for with even more impressive word play at astounding rates. Most Country doesn't even have this going for it. Country dulls out a morosely low or shrilly high pitched set of southern drawls that are so exaggerated at times that they distract from the lyrics. These lyrics also follow the same boring pattern as the melody, not really offering any creative attempts in choral demonstration at all. This, again, is because the themes of said lyrics are often all-to similar. Songs like: "Getting Drunk on a Plane," and, "Drinking Class" (both of which you'd swear were sung by the same guy if you heard them) go out of their way to conform to Country music's pandering to their alcoholic demographic, and perhaps as a convenient ad for Bud. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with that until some of these same fans of the genre may critique the likes of Rap and Rock for 'glorifying' drugs. Although more legal, alcohol is a strong drug that can do great harm if consumption goes unchecked. While Rock and Rap songs usually utlize drugs anecdotely to tell a larger narrative, such as Thourogood's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer." Whereas rappers like Machine Gun Kelly's "Lead You On," uses drug addiction as a double-sided metaphor for bad relationships as a possible vice causing such problems. Country often uses alcohol in a jovial, stimulating, or derisive manner. No bad consequences ever seem associated. Again, this is a matter of variety. Why can't song writers in Country music use alcohol in a new way within their songs? There's more than one tone that can be established with such a beverage. A slew of other themes are drilled in to the listener's head: one-dimensional relationship ballads, working class pride contradicted by an obsessive desire for a fast influx of wealth, and church going pride for the sake of bringing it up as a mark of morality without giving any kind of transcedent reverance. Let's also not forget to mention most song's small town values and roots with little substansive detail. Tell me all about your good ol' boy upbringing without any context except to make the song more Country so it can be more commerically acceptable. Perhaps the culmination of these aspects in a few songs wouldn't be so bad if they didn't make up almost every song in the genre's library. One can only stand to hear about a honky-tonk gal pal, or woman who 'used me' with no moral grey area in between. Pride in one's work within any class is no problem if this message didn't come from people making big bank from lazily scribbling this dribble on a double-decker tour bus. Singing of your religious habits wouldn't be so agravating if it wasn't always a means to back-track from constant drinking and playing the field. And for the last time, no one cares if you come from a small town or not. My favorite awfully made Country song to laugh at is "God is Great. Beer is Good. People Are Crazy." It is the perfect case study. The story takes place in a bar. How innovative. The first-person protagonist bellies up to the bar while belting out his nassily drawl in telling his tale. He happens upon a fellow drinker and strikes up a conversation with him. The singer wistfully brags about discussing religion and politics with his new buddy. Aside from these being subjects normally not too wise to be bringing up when meeting someone for the first time; the song's tone seems to suggest this was some sort of accomplishment though what exactly was discussed is never properly delved into (you know: stuff that would've been more interesting to utilize instead of the asinine climax and conclusion). The twist is that the stranger that our hero had a pleasant chat with was a secret millionaire who convenientally dies later on. The singer almost seems to balk at the rich man not leaving any money to his heirs but instead the kindly singer he met over drinks once. It's so self-strokingly wish-fulfilling that I actually clucked with mad laughter on the grocery floor when I heard this on the intercom while stacking shelves. People probably thought I was crazy. If they said so, I would have told them that God is great and beer is good too. It was at that moment I snapped and decided to listen to every cringy Country album at my local library just to embrace the morbide pile of corporate sell-out slop that lacks an ounce of artistic integrity or imagination. Aside from affirmations of what some critcs of my writing here may call generalizations, I also discovered a few diamonds in the rough. Unsurprisingly these came from the likes of classic Country, a genre not even meant to make as much money, but as a means of folk expression in our relatively young nation. Johnny Cash, while a little morbide in tone and theme too often for my taste, brought something fresh to the table by making melancholy works rather than inanely upbeat toothy-grinned smugness that comes with today's territory. "Asleep at the Wheel" is a Country band that manages to combine the genre with that of swing-era jazz. That's really thinking outside the box. It made listening to them much more intriguing than listening to a 3-4 beat meter drone on. My new favorite artist coming out of this is the one and only Willie Nelson. Combining acustic versitility with folksy humility rather than obnoxious beats, along with having a personal self-deprication towards his gambling and drinking vices that landed him into his infamous financial debt, he's a joy to listen to. Is it any wonder that his worst album, Moment of Forever, is the one that desperately tries to emulate the modern style? If there's a standing rule to glean from this, I'd say it's for musical artists (or any artists for that matter) to make sure that no matter their genre's niche, an effort of creativity must be attempted to push the bounds of the genre as well as the artist's abilities in order to better stand out. To always stick with 'what works' for others always creates a mass of trite, commercially desperate trash that clearly shows the little thought or work put into it. Now if you'll excuse me, I got my own Country Album to work on: Tonky Honk After a Hard Day's Plow Over a Cool Beer Before Church. I'm sure some of you readers may have noticed that my articles have been getting posted a day late (a little past midnight at times, but late nonetheless). My work schedule, and inaction in dealing with it, has left me behind. Well, now I'm acting so as to deal with it. I don't want to confuse or lose readers because my schedule isn't consistent.
I'm going to start posting a day later than I normally do every week. Instead of Thursdays, Fridays will see me posting my novel serialization. Instead of Fridays, Saturdays will see my reviews. Instead of Saturdays, Sundays will see my commentary on current events. Things have been hectic. I'm trying to maintain two jobs while searching for a new one too. Managing my blog has been pretty anxious as a result. I want to have more time so that I can put out work of a better quality. Keep in mind also that my primary job's schedule changes in some new way from week to week. So this schedule could very well change again. If it does, I will keep you updated. I'll change what my schedule is on my main page too. As a result, my impressions of the final debate will come out tomorrow. Thank you to all of my readers. I appreciate having you as an audience for my writing passion. About a week ago, I was lazing about the house when I got a call. I let it go to voice mail as I usually do because I hate hearing from telemarketers all the time. Except this one took the rare opportunity to actually leave a message, and boy was it one show-stopper of a message. Here's a written sample of what I mostly understood what this wild and crazy guy called to say:
"My dearest friend, [I've sworn relationship (?). I was draining(?)] That was causing you to be putting you down. But the Lord would come to speak to me and say: over the next several hours there's a particular anointing that is about to begin to come over you. Oh my dear God, I've never felt this before! I'm about to pass my phone to the blessed assistant. He's going to give you a number to call me back. I need to hear from you A.S.A.P. I need to hear back from you today. He's going to give you number. Call it urgently. I'm waiting for your call. For there are some things that I've seen, some things that you're about to walk into over the next several hours. I'm about to pass the phone... now. Here he is." End call. The only anointing that came over me in the hours to come was in feeling compelled to do a few things: laugh relentlessly, and then share this awesomeness with the world. Funny how I can't recall the name of my 'dearest friend.' I also got to say, this scammer put more heart and soul into his crazed religious character than most Hollywood actors. I loved laughing at every second of it while considering the conspiracy behind the evil forces about to best me according to my dearest friend's vague warning: could it be demons from hell? Government agents come to censor my pithy social commentary tab on my blog? (Which you should also check out by the way) Or could it all possibly be just a dumb, bloated scam? Hmm. Either way, I've uploaded a video of the call being visually lampooned by my lame art skills and some meh puppetry. The real star of the video is "my dearest friend" providing the stellar voice talent. Seriously though. Scammers are scum. I think it should go without saying that if this guy or some other nut calls you with similar offers, don't take it. Hang up. Try to block it and forget about it. The way this call worked was, before and after the dramatic warning by my dearest friend, a computerized voice told me to call a certain number to block this call. Right. And from there, all I probably had to do was provide my social security number. Oy. To avoid any legal problems with these people over using their voice mail, I cut out their actual number and just left in my dearest friend's rant. With that, question time: any of you out there receive a call like this one, word for word? Or perhaps you've received one equally as funny, entertaining, passionate, or just-plain bizarre. I'd love to hear it if you have a recording. Or better yet, I encourage you to upload it and find unique ways to make fun of it, whether it be through a puppet show, an animation, a silent sketch, whatever you want. If these annoying calls aren't going to go away, we might as well have fun with them I say. Just don't reveal the exact company or their phone number in your video in case they want to sue you for making fun of them. Even then, what you'd be doing is what I'm doing: it's fair use. This means you're free to express the call's content in a creative way as long as it's transformative from what the call originally intended. My dearest friend was originally intending to most likely make money off of some gullible religious person out there. I transformed it into a silly puppet show as well as a P.S.A. against scammers. That will hold up in court no sweat. Speaking of annoying folks, if I don't walk into something demonic in the next several hours, expect the final part of my Advocates of Annoying story tomorrow. Come to think of it, my dearest friend might be a standing member. I'd rank him at Minor Annoyance if I had to guess. Until then, I'm about to send you to the link of the video... now. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97K5by6JPoE&feature=youtu.be On our last day of Virginia's Historic Triangle, we visited the actual Jamestown and Yorktown. The two were reduced to more realistic modern standards compared to the glorified tourist traps that the generic brands of the places that were described in my previous entry. Jamestown is currently an archeological dig-sight that visitors are guided on tour of, and today's Yorktown is a still thriving community. On top of being the actual places, they easily capture the spirit and history that I felt was lacking in the others in some way. Let's examine this by looking at what each place was like.
The real Jamestown had a museum nearly identical to the faux one. It talked about the same history as well as featured a film highlighting the importance of Native Americans, Englishmen, and Africans all contributing to the first permanent colony of what would become the U.S. We went outside afterwards. The weather was a dull medium between the previous two days: no sun coming through the gray clouds, but no rain came down either. At least the temperature was mild. The climate of Virginia seems just as topsy-turvy as back in Ohio. We saw the sights on the path over a bridge past a small swamp. The first attraction was a Washington-esque spire made as a monument to Jamestown the 20th century. We then suddenly came across a crowd listening to what would be our guide. This guide led everyone to the various digging plots about the old settlement. He made lectures on what was found, what buildings used to be over the plots, and how they divined that from their findings. I grew tired of the guide's diatribes when he brought us to the second sight outside the very gates of the Jamestown I started wandering off from my group to snap pics. The first of many that I got was of a statue commemorating Pocahontas. They say touching her hand is good luck. Not sure if her tragic life story should be connected to luck, but I touched it for the heck of it. I later went inside Jamestown, what was left of it. Most of the wood for the fort's walls was still erected, or at least rebuilt. Nearly none of the buildings were left, only the excavation sights under were they once stood. Their church was the only structure still standing. Its interior was not barn-like as the supposed facsimile was. This had coble-stoned flooring about it. Outside the church's side door by the altar was the skeletal frame of another house. The guide had, by this time, led the crowd into town. I stayed away to take more pictures, including a statue of Virginia's first governor: John Smith. With the boresome tour ended, we came to another museum that showed off archaeological remains that have been discovered. Not only have they found pottery and clothing, but skeletal remains of humans as well. Sadly, this was another camera-free zone. Satisfied with what we saw, we left the old settlement. We drove on to the real Yorktown. It's currently a still-standing community by the river, with its own businesses and neighborhoods. Of course the main attraction is found closer inland up the hill wherein one can find the museum and fields of the famous final battle of the Revolutionary War. We stopped first in the museum. Our time inside yet another museum was spent like a ritual by this time. We watched a short film about the famed events. We explored the exhibits that featured ship interiors, important objects, and paintings. After seeing that the guide to the battlefield had a similar tone of dullness as that of the guide in Jamestown, we opted to drive the road routes to see the major sights on our own. Patches of fields near these roads saw ditches and hills wherein major positions were held by the U.S. soldiers and the poor British squeezed between these American ground troops and the French navy destroying their own forces past the treeline, and down the hill towards the harbor. I did a little run that the Americans would have probably made in the general direction most likely taken to surround the British, just for yucks. We next visited the Moore house afterwards. Mr. Moore's home housed the Revolutionaries while they drafted the surrender terms for the British. We drove further on to see the monument of Yorktown that overlooked the river at the mouth of the sea. It has to be one of the best designed monument spires that I've ever seen. At its base is its well-wishes to the heroes who won our country's independence. On up is a pillar held by a group of people. I think they're meant to symbolize each colony, but I'm not sure. At its top is Columbia, the female embodiment of liberty. She was pretty much our humanoid mascot long before old Uncle Sam. At this fantastic memorial, I sign off from my writings of Virginia's Historic Triangle. If I had to ham out an actual conclusion, it would be to say that anyone going for a trip here should take this moment to appreciate the country's history and where that leaves them today of course, but I recommend doing it in the original locations being honored and not for the lesser copies found at the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. While they had their own small merits, I simply preferred going to the actual places I discussed in this post, despite my whining about the guides. I got every nuance of pleasure that I got from the copy cats, and even more. That's just my sentimental opinion. Victory Center has released claims that it is coming out with new attractions later this summer, so perhaps some improvements will come of that. Above all else: have a good time on your visit. Also: Yay 'Merica! |
Archives
October 2016
Categories |