King Still King? No Question.

There's a reason Obama called for a national day of service in honor of King's birthday this year. His messages of tolerance ad equality are more important now than ever. I could go down a list of what I would consider civil rights violations for women, LGBTQA persons, and minorities, but I wont. Not because I feel like it would incite an argument or something like that, but because we can all think of at least one. These issues are things that I feel like Dr. King's philosophy would advocate that we fight for.

Dr. King was assassinated. He died and yet his ideas lived on. Ghandi will never be forgotten for his bravery and pacifism. Dr. King will be remembered the same way. His goal would still be unfulfilled if class determined your access to services, glass ceilings and discriminatory hiring techniques were put in place, and people were unable to get to the life they wanted not because of their own abilities being lacking, but because they weren't given the chance to succeed in the first place.

No ones work is ever complete, and people can be powerful even, no, perhaps even because of their deaths. He died fighting for what he believed for, because people wanted to stop that. I don't think King will be dethroned for a very long time.

Oops... Thankful

I apparently didn't do this blog, so let me do it now while I'm thinking about it.

I am thankful for a trio of people: Thyra, Catherine, and Sonia.

These three people, unbeknownst to them, are people who I have always thought were really cool, and people I thought I would like to get to know better. I feel like the three of you guys really help drive discussion in the class, even if it's one or two comments a class period, and I really love hearing your insights. Specifically for Thyra I'm happy that when I make snarky aside comments during group works that you'll hear me out instead of just thinking I'm weird.

So as far as a direction for the class, I really like this class. I'm not going to lie, I didn't sign up for it (I meant to be in your class anyway, just Creative Writing), but I love this class. I love group discussion, I love incorporating different media, and anything along those lines is alright by me.

Progression: My Music Blog

This isn't a direct transcription of what I say, but you'll get the gist. For a more coherent version, I'd watch the video. Ignore the thumbnail, I just look crazy. All the time. It's fine.
Click Here for Super Mash Bros. Albums

The first time I did a music review, I was fourteen. I didn't want to do anything too "mainstream" so I set out on Google to find unknown bands I liked. It was closer to the beginning of the year, if I remember, and I hadn't started a tradition I will mention below, so I decided to do a sextet called Canasta, whose music I still enjoy to this day.

However this time the music blog comes a an opportune time. Each year I make a "Most Played of 20__". This years playlist is finished. My top song is "Domino" by Jessie J, but I'm not going to review that. What I am going to review is the album that is taking up 10 of the 25 top played spots on my iPod: Mile(y) High Club, by Super Mash Bros.

For those of you who aren't familiar with mashups, they're what happens when you take two (or more) songs and put them together to get an amazing beat. For those of you who have seen them on YouTube, DJ Earworm does a "United States of Pop" where he mashes up the top 25 songs of the year, there's a place called bootiemashup that does (really erratic) monthly updates with these types of songs and a Best Of CD at the end of the year, GirlTalk is an amazing example of the type of these kinds of songs, I could go on forever.

The thing is it's really hard. I have so much respect for the people who do it because I tried to make one (between Pearl by Katy Perry and Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic(!) At The Disco), and it's incredbly difficult. You need an intricate knowledge of music theory, DJ skills come into play, and its ridiculous.

So to make a whole albums of mashups? Wow.

This album averages out to mid-tempo, I would say. It's split into sixteen tracks, so that finding the part you want is easy, but it's meant to be listened to without stopping so there's no real breaks in between any of the tracks. Because of this you get parts like the beginning, Tour de Franzia, or a mashup section between "Hollaback Girl" and the iconic drum beat from "Poison", which are upbeat, danceable, and easily make my workout playlists, and then there's slower parts in the middle, like a mashup section between "Seasons of Love" and "My D***" or the section with "In The Air of The Night" and "Wait (The Whisper Song)". It can also be really fun, like a mashup between "Kick Push" by Lupe Fiasco and the Rugrats theme, or an overlay track of Buzz Lightyear talking over dubstep. But overall the album's BPM are all over the place, just like the song selection, and it makes for an intense listening experiene.

Mashups touch on all of my loves of music. If you know me, the genres I love branch in a crazy fashion. Alternative, 80s Rap, Broadway, Generic Rock, Pop, Hip-hop.... the list goes on. Mashups let me listen to all of that music, and discover more. I will admit it has ruined some songs for me, in that I love the mashups more than the actual song, but it's always fun and always insane.

If you want to learn more about mashups, just google these terms:
Bootie Mashup
Girl Talk

These are great ways to become introduced to mashups. Some of my favorite mashups off the top of my head are:
Payphone Lights
Gucci Gucci Girl Power
Good Case
Eine Klein Big Booty Bonkers

Go and explore, like I said in the video, they're free!

Frankly Speaking...

When I was younger, I thought the Holocaust was fascinating. That sounds really bad, bus from a psychological point of view I was horrified and intrigued: how could people live through those horrors and not become mass murders, or die mentally? How can people, at the same time, sit back and watch? Camps like Dachau were set in relatively residential areas. How did people condone the mass murder and exile of 12 million people? After visiting Dachau and seeing a mural with no black, brown, or pink triangles (the Roma and homosexuals), and finding out that the Jewish group presiding over the camp had vetoed their inclusion, I was left to wonder how those who had been discriminated against could turn around and judge others in the same way, and marginalized their experience.

Frankl answers these questions, and to a lesser extent so does "Life is Beautiful". The Holocaust brought out the best and worst of humanity, and changed people fundamentally. I think learning about it in a book that isn't a textbook, or a book that isn't explicitly about the holocaust is the best way to get some of those answers.

Voltaire/Camus would vote for...

I almost believe that neither Camus or Voltaire wouldn't vote. I think they wouldn't see the point. Camus takes an absurdist viewpoint and seems to think that life doesn't have much of a point. If he thinks this, than of course he wouldn't be for casting his basically anonymous ballot with millions of other people until his voice means absolutely nothing. If economists don't like to vote, than Camus wouldn't.

On the Voltaire front I feel like if he had to vote for any candidate he would probably be a socialist, a party which isn't very strong in America. Throughout Candide he seems to advocate for helping your fellow man, and equality throughout. He chastizes France for its promotion of glitz, glamour, and wealth. He also makes a point to put Candide into the garden where communal work gets rid of the evils of the world. That makes me think that he would cast a vote for the Communist or Socialist party, if we had one.

Meaning in My Life

I find a lot of things in my life meaningless. Homework, video games, watching TV, etc. These are mindless activities that I either use to relieve stress or to further my goals. It is in my personal goals that I find meaning. My goal is to get to college and learn, really learn. Not rote memorization, although I suppose that is a type of learning. Not doing things for a grade that will affect the rest of my life (unless I go to grad school), but learning things that I want to learn. That's part of the reason that I have the list of colleges that I have. They all have very flexible curriculum requirements so that my one activity I find meaning in can be reached sooner rather than later.

Beyond that, I have taken the risky path of choosing an academic path that may not lead to a stable job. I didn't go for engineering or pharmacy, or something solid and well known. I found that my interests led me towards Anthopology and thats where I plan to follow. While people may find meaning in those other occupations, they don't interest me, and I don't enjoy them. I don't believe there is much meaning in a life without a little bit of happiness, no matter how absurd that happiness may be,

Candide's Punishments

For this question I'm mainly going to focus on Candide's first two punishments: his exile from the castle, and his floggings and abuse at the hands of the army.

Of course Candide's first punishment was too harsh. A simple kiss, whether towards your daughter or not, should not warrant you being kicked out of your only home you have ever known. This is especially true since he sincerely did not know what he was doing was going to be considered "wrong" by the Barron. This one incident in his life leads to him living terrible life filled with abuse, broken hopes and dreams, and murder. His punishment also in a way saved him, but as we see several other people survive the ordeal with the storming of the castle. Therefore his punishment was far greater than the crime: greater than I think the Barron intended.

As far as the army goes, they are guilty of the same crime of over punishing poor Candide as the Barron is. Another misunderstanding, another instance of Candide doing something utterly innocent like walking away from the camp to go on a stroll, leads to a punishment that is basically equalled to death. Beyond this his other punishments, such as being flogged for doing well are equally ridiculous.