Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Wonderful World of Humans

One of the world's most pressing problems today must surely be that of making heads or tails of the dominant species on earth, who don't actually have tails. And barely any heads. Which may be part of the problem.

Hello and welcome to the Wonderful World of Humans. I'll be your guide through this harrowing, but ultimately very. . . harrowing, experience. Call me Ishmael. It's not my name, but first lesson here, quote classics, and humans will call you intelligent. Even if you're insulting them. What fools these mortals be. Lesson number two: humans cling vehemently to the classics to the exclusion of all else. Come up with original ideas, and humans will call you insane. At least until some "authority" makes your ideas "official." Then, they'll believe even if you were insane. Can someone say the theory-- I mean, FACT of Evolution.

Now, at this point, your head might be spinning. It might seem impossible to master understanding of humans now. You might be regretting the day you changed your major from Quantum-physical-mechanical-superminutae to Humans. You might be feeling a sudden urge to clean litter boxes and septic tanks in favor of grasping the basics of this sad batty species. Worry not! With time and incremental steps, you will understand humans better than the backs of your keyboards.

We shall begin at the beginning. Babies. Awww, so cute! But not really, though.

Moving on, humans like keeping it real, which is why fakes make it farther than anyone. Humans spend a lot of time forming opinions on pop culture figures, which is why they just accept it when Kanye West is derided for embarrassing the angelic Taylor Swift who's worshipped even when she's humiliating scores of people in her songs and interviews without the guts to say it to their faces because she's better than Miley Cyrus who never badmouths anyone but isn't the "In" person to worship like Taylor Swift is. Humans want to be unique, which is why they copy all their friends and everyone else who's trying to be unique by, for instance, wearing converse. Humans want to be normal, which is why they copy all their friends and everyone else who's trying to be normal by, for instance, wearing converse. Humans want to be true to themselves, which is why they say whatever will make people like them. Humans are self-aware, which is why they respond to comments they don't like by telling people not to comment on stuff they don't like.

Let's take a look at the human brain. Humans have grey matter in the form of the cerebrum so that they may think for themselves, understand irony and sarcasm. . . No. Wait. I'm thinking of cats. Why do humans even have that part of the brain?

Anyway, when considering human courtship rituals, it is useful to remember-- Aw, forget it. This species doesn't make any sense at all. You're better off studying Quantum-physical-mechanical-superminutae. I'll see you there.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I'm through with Playing by the Rules of Someone Else's Game...should "through" be capitalized?

I just finished my first ever college exam. Yay! It's done. I did okay. I missed, like, three questions. One was worded badly, the other was a trick question, and whatever was wrong with the third it wasn't my fault!

To celebrate, I treated myself to writing this blog post. I also treated myself to an early luncheon, and not just any early luncheon, a food-based early luncheon, more expensive than its comparative non-food-based early luncheon. Also, I called it a luncheon.

Here's a song I listened to while studying.



Concerning the filmishness of this video, at 0:20 where it starts at her feet and pans up as she walks? Usually, that would be done in slow motion, but I think it looks even stronger for the fact that it's in regular motion. She's walking normal. It looks cool.

Also, I have a really hard time distinguishing between music genres. What constitutes pop? What constitutes rock? What constitutes hip-hop? I like any music that sounds like music to my ears, and that encompasses a wide range of genre songs that just happen to mesh with my soul. I do find most of them in pop/rock, though. From what I can TELL, the above song is kind of rock, because it's heavy on the guitars and drums. I like that. It meshes with my soul. It's also kind of techno, though, because it repeats itself a lot. Some techno meshes with my soul, too, especially when it repeats CATCHY phrases again and again. I've never heard of rock/techno before, but I bet this would be it.

I have no idea what the lyrics mean. And THAT means, while I can't say they mesh with my soul, I can't say they do the opposite of meshing with my soul. Actually, a word or two may almost certainly not mesh with my soul. Did I say the word "mesh" yet? I hope it means what I think it means.

Anyway, to be honest, I just found this song yesterday, but still.

There's a song I listened to while studying.

Here is a song I listened to while...happily bobbing my head. (It contains a swear word, but I couldn't find a version without it, so just ignore it.)




Here is a song I listened to while psyching myself up to write a terrifyingly long paper last year.



This song actually makes me feel like I can fly. It's the combination of the loud Broadway-style singing, the beautiful high notes, the uplifting and determined lyrics, the euphoric melody, and the instruments in the background. It makes me feel like I can take over the world! "I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so! . . . To those who ground me, take a message back from me! Tell them how I'm defying gravity! . . . And nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down!" All the sentences earn their exclamation marks. Do any among you love this song as much as I do?

Here's the song set to some neat storyboard sketches at this blog: http://heidigilbert.blogspot.com/2010/09/dear-stephen-schwartz.html


Here's a song that makes my heart burst in the gentlest way.



It is just so, so, so PRETTY. I'd heard Vivaldi's Rain before this of course, but I'd never heard it with words, and the vocals just heaven-ize it.

Here's another pretty song, but one much sadder.




Well, I want to do another post soon. I'll see if I get to it today...But I probably won't.