Monday, March 30, 2009

Home, Sweet Home indeed

I rarely like remixes and covers. Recently, however, one of my favorite Japanese bands, Home Made Kazoku, re-did one of their most famous songs. Here's the original:

Give that a good listen. Let it sink in. Love it. Now listen to their re-born version, and prepare to have your mind BLOWN:

Thursday, March 26, 2009

-___-

Ever have one of those moments where the cold just runs up and down your spine like children on an escalator and you keep telling yourself to stop thinking about why you feel sick to your stomach but it just won't listen?

Those are the worst. I wish I wasn't having one of those hours...



On the upside, I might actually get some sleep tonight. I looked at my face in the mirror today and I saw such a tired girl glancing heavy-lidded glances at me in return. I shook my head at her and she shook hers back. "You look like you haven't slept for a week, dear."

"I'd probably feel better if I actually hadn't."

What a shame.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Well.

I decided to change my major. Music therapy is not what I thought it was going to be. I expected a lot more psychology than music, and it turned out it was a lot of music and virtually no psychology. I'm not letting my GPA suffer from music theory. I'm going to do something that I love and that interests me, even if I "can't do anything with an undergrad in psychology," as my music therapy advisor said. My psych advisor is actually the professor I had for PSYC 121, Intro to Psych. She's awesome and really helpful. Yay!

Monday, March 23, 2009

ART! And a funny thing.

Hey there, all! One of my favorite artists on DeviantART has just opened up her own website, and it's a fantastic place. Come check it out!
http://www.ingunndybendal.com/

Also, Ernest Hemingway looks a little bit too much like Sean Connery to me.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

UGHHHHHHHH,

What is thissss? Ugh. I'm pretty unhappy with my music-ness. I like Music Therapy alright, but music theory and the shit that comes with it I do NOT like. It doesn't make any sense, and I'm never going to use it. I thought I was going to come to college and take classes I liked and enjoyed. It just feels like high school again.
I added a Psychology major. Next semester we'll see how it goes, but I have a feeling that I'll end up just being a Psych major because being a double means I have to be here for 4.5-5 years. (Most likely 5). If I switch to just Psychology sometime during the fall semester or in between fall and spring, it seems I can still get out of here in 4. I'll have to take 15 credit hours for the rest of the time, but that's fine. It's high for a "regular" (is that how I phrase that?) major, but I think I can deal. Haha. And my effing MT adviser is trying to convince me to tailor my Psych specialization to something that would help me out in music therapy, like cognitive or developmental. I'm doing clinical social work, dammit. Maybe clinical psychology, I haven't really decided yet. Gah. Plus, my Psych advisor is AMAZING. I had her for Intro last semester, and I love her! She's great. Plus, she lives on campus. Haha.

Friday, March 20, 2009

I am SO glad I left before this dumbass came in.

The Pope is an absolute idiot, and a disgrace to the previous Pope.
Reason one:
http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/pope-decries-selfishness-while-wearing-gold-robes/
Reason two:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7797269.stm
And the most recent, reason three:
http://www.dailymotion.com/us/featured/channel/news/video/x8pwpq_nbc-today-show-popeys-controversial_news

This list will most likely be continuing, so check back every few weeks.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

No more procrastinating!!!

Okay. So...yeah. I'm basically in the process of procrastinating right now but I've gotten a lot of work done! ^_^
I've been looking through the books I got from the library, and I've figured out that some of them aren't very helpful : / ...but OH WELL. I need at least 5 book sources, and I've used 4 books so far, so I'm almost there! ^_^

So yeah...I have almost 3 pages ^_^ And I'm nowhere near done. YAY...


But, as I've been extensively researching this topic, I have come to the conclusion that the American government is run by idiots.
There have been SO MANY STUDIES AND SO MUCH PROOF that marijuana is a really effective and helpful medicine...YET NO ONE THAT CAN DO ANYTHING REALLY CARES. They like marijuana where it is...classified as a Schedule 1 drug, aka a drug with NO MEDICINAL VALUE WHATSOEVER.

BULLSHIT.

Like...marijuana could honestly save lives. ...REALLY.


Why do people have to be so ignorant and stupid?



Anywho...rant over :P BACK TO PAPER

Just thought of something.

I can't feel anything when I think about Sage anymore, which is seldom in and of itself. Not anger. Not hurt. Nothing.

...

:D It's like a mental shrug. And then a smile. Because all the feeling I remember is attached to Nate. And they're good feelings. Happy ones.



... damn. :D

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ohcrap.

So. After sleeping through all three of my classes on accident, I am sitting here eating cereal. Honey Bunches of Oats: Vanilla Clusters. It has little bright blue things in it. I am unsure of what they are. I have not died yet. They do not taste bad nor do they have a bad smell.

The blueness melts a bit into the milk. But my milk is not yet blue.

I am not alone, so surely someone will find me if I go into sudden cardiac arrest or something.

But god, I wish I knew what these were...

Ugh.

I really don't want to go to Algebra. It's such a waste of time. Luckily, I don't have FYS this week, so I have nothing at 12. At 1 I also have nothing, which I normally don't. Then work-study from 2-4, Jazz Band from 5-6:30, but there's a men's basketball game (I just lost the game) tonight and we have to leave at 6. Then at 9 I have my weekly SAI meeting. Then I have to practice for 3294832094809384098 hours. Okay, more like 2-3. I'll probably practice after I get lunch, I have two hours in there. Ughhh. It's just... like, non-stop from 5-10. It's fine, I'll make it. Just thought I'd say what's up.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It's okay today.

St. Patrick's Day is the best day in the world to flash your underwear. I plan to be taking full advantage of this fact. "What's that? I'm not wearing green? I DISAGREE!"

Friday, March 13, 2009

Oh, music fraternity and music therapy life.

I'm pledging SAI, a music fraternity for women. As a pledge/member in training I am required to think of 10 questions and ask them to all the active members, other pledges, and the faculty advisors. Being the awkward person I am, I asked awkward questions such as:
"Was your first kiss awkward or special?"
"If you could go on 1 date with anyone in the music department, who would it be?"
"What has been your wildest college moment so far?"

Haha, I even asked the other music therapy professor the date question, and she isn't even an advisor. She said she would go on a date with the guitar professor because he could cook for her and play guitar. Haha...then of course I went to my fellow MT major Greg and told him that he had to make a drawing of her and the guitar professor's date (he likes to make drawings of/for said MT professor). We collaborated, and it was a great success. I'll update with her reaction.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Bitch, PREASE.

So anyway. That movie "review" that I asked Laura to link me to? (please read March 4th Entry) I wouldn't say this to her face, but I thought it was reminiscent of, oh, say... mmm... PROPAGANDA. All the cons, none of the pros. I thought I'd send her a letter, no worries, it wasn't exactly hate mail but she'll probably consider it so. I critiqued a point she made and then described the route a proper critique should take, ie:
1. Point out positive aspects
2. Point out negative aspects
3. Suggest improvements to negative aspects in order to make the piece more effective.

I thought I'd post a copy of my letter. See if there's anything I did wrong or should have done but didn't, or y'know. Critique it. Don't bash like she did. Critique, plezburger chez! X3

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Subject: As per your review of "Watchmen" - I implore your attentions to this matter.


Dear Miss Schlussel,

Greetings and hello from a college art student from Indiana. I was recently reading your review of "Watchmen" over the shoulder of a friend who was reading it aloud. Aside from a few misspellings, most people would probably take it for a decent review. I, however, took issue with it, not because of the content, but from the handling of the material and the style in which you write. I am not qualified to argue on content, as I have not seen and probably will not be seeing the movie based on the amount of gore described by friends who have seen it, but I feel I know the nature of an effective critique well enough to take issue with what you have written.

I fear I must regret to inform you first and foremost that your "review" was lacking in actual critique. I am sure you have heard of "bashing*" and are quite familiar with it as it is employed very heavily within your review of the movie "Watchmen." I searched online to make sure I was using the word "review" correctly, and I found the following definitions for the word "review":

-appraise critically; "She reviews books for the New York Times"; "Please critique this performance"
-an essay or article that gives a critical evaluation (as of a book or play)
-(slightly less applicable to this letter:) a periodical that publishes critical essays on current affairs or literature or art

Notice I have placed the words associated with "critic" in boldface. I have been a serious art student for about five years, and I have been through many visual art critiques within that time as well as critiques and revisions of writing in English and Literature classes. My apologies, but I was under the impression that a movie critic would do critiques, seeing as the words both have similar root parts. I was slightly ashamed and amazed to be found wrong.

That aside, I do have a serious critique of a point that occurs several times throughout your review. I do agree with one of your points. Parents who bring their children to an R-rated movie and have the children see what they are not meant to see at such a young age are obviously wrong to do so. However, it is not the fault of the movie's creators, because they were not creating the film with an audience containing children in mind, but it is the fault of the parents and their poor decisions to bring their young children to an R-rated film. Furthermore, however poor these decisions are, it is neither your place nor your right as a movie critic to begin name-calling. This is not becoming of a critique, nor is it praised in one. Rather, it has no place.

Thus, I fail to see how your constant obsession with kid-unfriendly movie moments are in any way relevant to the movie or review or anything connecting therewith. The Motion Picture Association of America views movies and gives them a rating of G through R, and sometimes X, based on content and whether it contains "adult" material that children should be aware of and restricted from viewing. R, "restricted" generally means that no child under 17 years of age should be admitted due to instances of sexual scenes, nudity, extreme gore and violence, etc. These are things that adults should be able to handle, but are not meant for children.

Do not place blame where it does not belong. This helps nothing. The true blame for this catastrophic mess of virgin eyes exposed to extramarital and gratuitous sexual intercourse is upon the parents of said virgin eyes. This is where you should have been directing your anger. There is such a plague of poor parenting in this generation it is absolutely condemnable, and your refusal to place blame in the hands of the guilty only perpetuates, subconsciously, parents who feel they are doing right by their children, when in reality they are destroying their children.

To move on to the actual critique, I will integrate what I have learned from critiques in the fine arts field. A critique involves keen appraisal of a piece in both its positive and negative aspects. In some cases it is near impossible to find a positive aspect. We are told to look harder and find some way in which the artist has used a technique, design principle or element or the materials well, or at least decently. There is always something that can be found, even if it is a tiny, well-arranged space or some decent handling of material.

Secondly, one will point out weaknesses. "This was not arranged well." "The artist used improper handling of materials, paint, tools, etc." "This movie used too many instances of gore-based violence to overcome weaknesses in a seemingly contrived plot."

After pointing out the weaknesses, one should, and will (if one is doing a proper critique, and not just bashing or pointing out pros and cons of a piece) suggest improvements to the weaknesses. For example, to continue with aforementioned hypothetical weaknesses, "Perhaps this could have been arranged like this to enhance the mood and have better color harmony." "The artist should have been using tool X instead of Y because of the delicacy and viscosity of material A." "Perhaps the movie should have been shot at angles that artfully hinted at the savage destruction of limbs in order to create more interest and rely less on gratuitous violence, instead of shooting them head-on, which would have better compensated for lack of solid plot."

It is not enough to have an opinion on something. I expect you hoped to rely on your audience's willingness to act like good little lemmings and brandish pitchforks and torches at the movie you so dearly bashed, not critiqued, in your "review". I will not be seeing the Watchmen, as I have no stomach for gore, and sadly the starving artist stereotype is true for many of us and I will be spending that money on boxes of mac and cheese. But your clear lack of regard for actual critique in any sense angered the true artist in my soul, and I had to write you and let you know.

Disregard this as hate mail if you see fit, although I assure you it was neither intended nor written to be. I have said my piece, and have done as my soul instructed I ought. Simply stating the negative aspects of the subject of review does little to completely assure the viewer or reader of your point of view. Sometimes it will alienate the reader and frustrate them. With this in mind, it is my profound wish that you think over, even for a little while, what I have written to you. Perhaps if you would keep in mind the basic requirements of a critique that I have described above while writing, you would find your words to have a greater effect as a complete, persuasive and helpful movie review and a wider base of readers. I would enjoy seeing you step up your game a notch, if you would accept a little advice from a simple, hungry art student who only wants the world to be a well-thought-out place, if only in writing and art.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerest wishes,
Kait Nurrenberg

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But then again, why would she listen to a simple, hungry, but well-meaning art student when she's already God? X)

Forgive me my little chuckle. I'm afraid it was inevitable.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

It was chocolate and peanut butter. He fell into a hole full of chocolate and peanut butter.

If you haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire by now, do yourself a HUGE favor and see it as soon as possible. I offer this as a preview: