The Moon Landing

 

Everyone has the Kennedy Assassination moments of their life.  the Lunar Moon Landings, the 9/11, the Berlin Wall comin down.  A # of parallels to earth shattering moments in our lives.  My buddy Zane introduced me to the concept.  We decided to kick it and watch Matrix in HD DVD, and he described the first Matrix flick as and i quote “dude that movie is my kennedy assassination!” i reply “What!?” he says “my moon landing bro, that movie changed everything for me”.  And then i began to gather an assortment of memories that are just such beacons of significance.  The Matrix film may be up there in that pantheon of world changery.  But definitely when i purchased a Tool Album, Lateralus it was.  One small step for Mike in the real world, one giant leap for my interpretations of reality.  That was the straw that broke the camel’s back on going into a rabbit hole of musical experiences that continue to this day.  My whole understanding of that creative outlet just shifted completely with the purchase of that album.  Spiritual, transcendent, whatever you wanna call em, they just change things.  A similar moment occurred when i was lying watching History channel HD, “The Universe” the series is called.  I just got this ridiculous overwhelmed sensation of how small i was.  It wasn’t humility, it wasn’t feeling how insignificant i was, it was just knowing that I can be satisfied in life knowing that i am not even a microscopically visible scratch on the surface of the history of outside reality, and i can sleep much more soundly at night knowing that I don’t have to act like the world must be changed by me.  I want to list them all, these epiphanies etc.  But i actually more then anything live to experience such moments with other people and know that i either participated with them in or allowed them to describe to me such moments.

I believe my roomies and I recently have partaken in such transcendent moments.  Something as simply enjoying each others company watching a show called Sons of Anarchy.  Who knows if the show is so poetic itself or philisophically stimulating and important, but something about viewing it as buddies has resulted in a powerful human connection.

to try to describe completely seems futile.  Just knowing those things happen seems sufficient enough.  Personally I’d like to know other peeps such moments of significance and have them briefly share in the comments section.

Mikey V returns to the blogs and is happy to be back PEACE

I have no excuse for myself.  The blog has been on unintentional hiatus since early spring.  The ideas are always floating around, so I cannot claim writers block.  The summer has been a season of many stories and experiences that could fill a book.  Basically, I should have been blogging and i didn’t.  But it is back now, that is all that matters!

I return to discuss the state of rap/hip hop.  Since I last blogged some serious stuff has gone down.  Eminem released his first album in over 4 years.  Jay Z released his third post retirement effort.  Lil’ Wayne and Eminem collaborated on a track for a documentary about Lebron James.  Lebron James is known as “the king”…well damn Em and Weezy have their own thrones they occupy, so the release of “Forever” (also featuring Drake and Kanye) is a “We Three Kings” epic occurence.

I want to talk about this track first.  I’ve listened to “Forever” prolly 30 times plus.  I don’t tire songs out normally, I am very careful so that i don’t ruin good songs.  Usually twice in a day is too much.  I’ve broken many rules with “Forever”.  The song is just straight Independence Day alien ships blowing up skyscrapers epic!  New comer Drake, who isn’t even a typical representation of posing and bloviation type rap brings some serious smack.  He knew he had to with the titans he had backing him on the track.  He’s got plenty to spout about, Drake hasn’t even released a full length and he’s cozy with the best rappers alive.  His best line:  “labels want my name beside an X like Malcolm, everybody got a deal, i did it without one“.  He’s signed now, but knows it wasn’t required.  Kanye West does his thing, I’m used to him sounding out of breath and am amazed how he himself can inflate his ego, no stroking by others required.  I’m pretty sure Kanye continues doing ridiculous things so he can keep having the “haters” from many a corners so that chip on his shoulder never goes away.  Best lyric from Ye’: “you would think I ran the world like michelle’s husband , you would think these niggas would know me when they really doesn’t, like they was down with the old me no you fucking wasn’t” Go Kanye, screamin bout the haters, nothin new, but he does it well.

When we get to part 2 of the song, we get quite the contrast of styles and content.  Drake and Kanye compliment each other well in the first half, talking bout haters demonstrating well what keeps them motivated.  Then Lil Weezy kicks in and says he’s a martian.  From there you know that the talent is simply in another stratosphere. People like Drake and Ye’ need a reason, whereas Wayne and Em just seem to conquer the game in their sleep.  Haters and whoevers are just like the rest of humanity to them….that is lesser life forms in relation to their clout and ability on the mic.  Best line from Wayne = “life is like a fucking roller coaster then it drops, but what should I scream for this is my theme park “.  While Lil’ Wayne does his ET philosophizing, Eminem asserts that if he’s gonna be on this planet, he’s a psychopath, Hannibal Lecter.  While straight lyrics don’t make this Eminem’s best verse, his delivery is proby the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen from him.  He clearly knew he was rapping on a song with the self proclaimed best rapper alive in Lil’ Wayne.  I don’t necessarily feel he was trying to show up Wayne, he was just demonstrating that the title for the greatest is ambigiuous at best.  Best line from Shady “when i slap the taste out your mouth with the bass so loud that it shakes the place, i’m hannibal lecter so just in case your thinking of saving face, you aint gonna have no face to save by the time im through with this place‘”

The beat on “Forever” is nothing overly complex, but up to the task of epic status.  The hook comes from Drake and is semi generic, and gets a little popcorn when he’s talking about shutting down the malls and talking to the girls.  Doesn’t match completely, but forgiveable with how well it’s made up for in every verse.

Since the blog is being resurrected, I’m not done on this post.

Jay Z dropped The Blueprint 3.  It’s interesting his use of this concept periodically with his albums, because every album in the blueprint canon is vastly different from the others.  The first Blueprint is prolly the only one worthy of being termed career defining, as parts 2 and 3 dabble more in collaboration and commercialized sound.  This isn’t necessarily bad, but Jay doesn’t carry those albums on his back like he was able to do with part 1 and say on the Black Album.  But with that being said, Blueprint 3 vastly improves upon Kingdom Come, which was his first attempt at documenting the business/skyrise/corporate existence he now occupies.  Kingdom Come tried a little too much for crossover appeal and definitely was harder to connect with since, well, no one is Jay Z as he is now and fans likely better connect to the story of the streets, overcoming, and “getting my own”.  How he makes up for that disconnect with the glitzy/commercial polish that is present on Blueprint 3 is just by making infectious beats and having pitch perfect collaborations.  Whereas at times on Blueprint 2 collaborations just seemed tacked on, each one on III makes sense and compliments the particular song.  Drake is here, Alicia Keys, Kanye naturally, and Rihanna amongst others.  Cuts to check out: “Empire State of Mind”, “On to the Next One”, “Run This Town”.

And I’m still going.

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday.  That was listening to Kid Cudi’s debut Man in the Moon.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, as “Day n Nite” is chill but radio.  You can call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but I was able to spin Cudi’s album like 3 times and not be sick of it.  There is a variety of sounds, dippin’ into rap, r&b, pop, and rock.  There is really something for everybody.  I have a feeling Kid Cudi will be a regular name and something the DJ can reach for both in the club and at the raves, it’s that diverse.  Check out “Make Her Say”, “Pursuit of Happiness”, “Simple As…” but really listen to this entire album.

Battlestar Galactica Comes to an End

Call me a HUGE nerd for loving this rebooted version of a complete dweeb cult classic from the late 70’s, i don’t care. But the truth is, the new Battlestar Galactica has run longer than the original, and is only loosely based on the mythology and concepts. And you have to call a lot more people nerds who basically are of the opinion that this is, under the radar, the best show on television these last 4 years, forget sci fi, the best drama on TV.

This isn’t a defense of the show however, this is a review of the finale. Yes, the show is over! And it was well worth it. So Ron Moore, producer and writer on the show had an epiphany while penning the final hours; that he needed to stop worrying so much about this final battle and rescue sequence staged by Admiral Adama and bring the finale back to the resolution for the characters themselves. There have been some huge, long running story arcs for an incredible ensemble cast in this show, and really its been about them. If you break down Bstar as plot driven, you can find a lot of logic loopholes and a lot of missteps and unanswered questions. But if you look at it as a case study of flawed, conflicted but lovable characters in a most intense environment, you always have a winner. And that’s what the finale really is, the resolution of all these arcs, almost all of which are totally satisfying

The final conflict surrounding the Cylon colony and saving Hera is rather epic, and there is lots of eye candy. But some of it felt semi-rushed, and the significance of why they are near a black hole, and why they were all there at that time isn’t fully addressed, you basically accept that they were meant to be there at that time to do certain things. Some people might say in the end, its kind of a cop out to say that there is just an invisible force at play, that this was their destiny. But that’s been a theme throughout the whole show!!! I’ve seen tons of complaints on boards and comments about how they think the show turned into a right-wing evangelical cop out, and these people are totally ignorant. First, the show has always dabbled in metaphysics and mysticism, 2nd, Ron Moore and many of the individuals on these shows are no where close to conservative right wingers. Ron Moore was a big part of controversial, liberal story threads when writing and directing on Deep Space Nine. So that complaint is just lame.

So a lot of my questions don’t get answered directly. That is, there is no tidy explanation (in the scientific practical sense) for some of the long standing mysteries in the show. Essentially the show says, as what told us from the beginning, that God, the Gods, or some guiding hand was involved all along. Starbuck was “an angel blazing with the light of God.” And Baltar and Caprica were seeing “Angels/Demons”….nope, no microchip in their heads. Roslin was the dying leader to lead them to “earth”.

The biggest ? of them all is “this has all happened before and this will all happen again” being left open ended for re-occurrence. And why does the so called “God” allow the cycle to continue. Who, according to the Baltar and Caprica angel/demons doesn’t like that name. Some might say that the creators get a little preachy in the end, but i think it is legit to ask the viewers, to challenge us not to continue the cycle represented in the mythos of Battlestar Galactica. The end brings us to present day and says “you have a choice”. They managed to take all the political, cultural, societal parallels in the show and make them relevant by having a message in the end. Look what happened in this invented universal history we are unaware of, will we follow the same path?

And i don’t think that the message leans to any political preference. I don’t believe it is anti technology, pro-green, or anti-war. I believe the story was pro-humanity, meaning what needs to be done to extend humanities existence into the future. And the answer is really left to us to determine. The creation of AI machines that destroy us is allegorical for any number of methods we humans might concoct to bring about our demise.

The finale was not without plot flaws, but I really could care less, when you create a show as rich and complicated as this, the plot naturally gets into a painted corner. It really was about the characters. They should be particularly applauded for the process that Gauis Baltar was brought through and his ultimate redemption. James Callis, the actor, should never be forgotten for bringing one of the most fascinating characters in TV/Film history to us. I thought they had created a situation where Baltar was truly not redeemable; and so i thought that he was going to be forever ambiguous or outright evil in the end. But they brought him to a place where you wanted him to be good, despite his incomprehensible selfishness and his multitude of sins, and his final actions are not only convincing but masterfully worked into the overall resolution. I believe his path parallels the path that humanity in the Battlestar universe had taken. And as he recalls, “you know, i was a farmer”, rediscovering a true facet of human ingenuity, one of creation, rather than destruction.

BSG will be missed yo!

A few thoughts

There is no particular topic I wish to bloviate about.  I could select one and go off I am sure, but there is enough on my mind to give a few quick thoughts that may be of interest to those who might read this humble blog.

-Watchmen

I lost much of my respect for Zack Snyder when I discovered that the sex and over the top violence of the film was not nearly as in your face in the source material.  What purpose does this exaggeration serve?  In my own opinion, absolutely none.  The movie is utterly robbed of all depth and significance when it spends much of its time on demonstrating the utter patheticness and supposed wayward nature of, basically, all human beings.  Why do I want to watch something about that?  And worse yet, the most sympathetic character was a psychopath, and the psychopath was the only one who was truly dedicated to truth and justice.  Is that how sad humanity is…I should hope not.   The movie gets a 6/10 from me.  There was some serious directorial interference here that was obvious and glaring, the film is saved by the individual performances.

-American Idol

Supposedly is fixed!!!!  The final 4 are already decided.  Well, Adam, Alexi, Danny and Lil Rounds are the 4 best anyway, and those are the ones the fix is supposedly in for.  So i have no gripe there.  I do get tired of Kara’s constant gripe about song choice, and I really get tired of her thinking every word she speaks is utterly profound.  And…when it is all said and done, I think Simon is the only one really saying how he feels, all the others I get this puppet and strings feel going on.

-Current Readings

I am reading Ender in Exile, an interquel to the Ender universe from Orson Scott Card.  The plot itself is quite simple in comparison to the far reaching ideas and themes of his other books.  That’s really not a complaint, but I’m not finished, so perhaps he will surprise me.  If anyone has not read Ender’s Game, where this all spurs from, get on it, forget that the book is sci fi and read this classic of modern fiction.

I’ve also started Bill O’Reily’s Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity, i got it on my Iphone Kindle app.  Say what you will about the man, but his narrative is extremely readable.  You feel like you’re having a conversation with him as you read the tellings of what experiences impacted his philosophy.  Even if you disagree with that philosophy, I still would say it is fascinating to learn how any human being became the way they are.  Especially if they are this readable in their biographical account.  People in general are just fascinating, and I love coming to understand how they perceive the world and why they perceive it that way…and O’Reily seems to give a pretty honest glimpse into the formation and workings of the brain of one of the media’s most fascinating figures.

Sucking at Life

Some people just suck at life and that’s the way it is.  There are consequences for being challenged in you methods of existence.  Or is there?  If you were to ask the government lately, we seem to have this philosophy that we stave off the natural process of making mistakes and learning from them.  Some people suck at life, some people just suck at life sometimes.  But for sure, the banks were and still seem to be royally reeking at existence.  If I grow up to be an epic failure and choose to flip burgers for a living, I expect to earn under $15,000 a year and live in a cubicle, no more and no less.  Luckily, this isn’t my ambition in life, or lack thereof.  But what I am saying is, if I choose to suck at life I don’t expect to get any free handouts or to get more than i deserve.  Is this not a philosophy that has permeated throughout all history.  “What you reap is what you sow”, teach people to fish, don’t just give them the fish, etc.  Failure is a natural part of the system, and we are trying to remove that from the process.  You try to eliminate failure from the system, you in effect remove the reward for success and ambiton, you foster an epidemic of complacence and mediocrity.  I wish i could articulate this better, but I think history has enough examples of this, and I fear we are about to see history repeat itself.

OINK OINK OINK!!

Anyone wondering what pork is?  I got a big poo poo platter of it right here, this is the crap that’s in the “economic stimulus package”

$4 Bil For Anti-Smoking cessation activities & anti-obesity

$357 For National Institute of Standards   (WHAT!)

$50 Mil For new TSA uniforms (yeah, that’ll really stimulate the economy)

1.1 Bil To create the federal coordinating council for comparative effectiveness……huhhbehudWHAT!!!!

$50 Mil For habitat restoration of San Fran Bay (HAHAHAHAHA, how do we let Nancy sneak that in there!)

this is just 2% of the 925 billion thus far proposed.  You can bet that this bill is LACED with this crap.  I am ashamed to say this is what our politicians do.  Absolutely no faith in the system.  It has reached ground zero.

A Ridiculous Proposal

I read Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” which I thought was very clever.  The prose piece is political satire to the highest degree.  In a period of time when Ireland was getting sucked dry by England and everything was reaching a point of ultra crappiness, Swift dropped this slice of brilliance.  The narrator suggests that the poor folk who could not provide for themselves or their children provide the rich with a new delicatessen, their children.  “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled…”  After all, at the most desperate times, in the most dire of circumstances, these children may have even been retroactively aborted, so why not make good use of them?! That is the suggestion of the narrator, and it is as if Swift may have even been suggesting that he wouldn’t leave it past the people to give some minor consideration to something so preposterous.

The narrator goes on, “…let no man talk to me of other expedients…taxing our absentees…using neither clother nor household-furniture except what is of our own…manufacture…curing the expensivesness of pride, vanity, idleness.”  He says let no man consider these.  In Reality, Swift had these as his practical solutions to the problem.

So let us consider what “modest proposals” we have begun to toy with.  On a peronsal basis and on the grander scale.  Maybe I’m not so bold as to point out a wealth of these modest proposals, where many should seem ridiculous, they don’t seem to be seen as such.  I merely present this as food for thought, to consider, when things seem their bleekest, or injustice seems to prevail, whether in the smallest of dealings, or in the greatest of matters, what ridiculousness will be modestly proposed, and dare it be said, even implemented.

Not to say change and revolution never be considered, but as the narrator states: “I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are ovious and many.”  He says clearly that obvious and many are the advantages to making children prior to the age of 1 a commodity, to be sold as FOOD!  So others will come forth with the idea that the advantages are many and obvious, professing “sincerity of [their] heart” and claiming humility in their efforts “for making [benefit] to the publick.”

And perhaps even common sense, personal responsibility and accountability, will become the most ridiculous of proposals.

2009

I don’t really have a topic I wish to write about, I just knew it had been awhile and I needed to blog something going into the new year and new semester.

I’m taking on 15 credits, the largest load of classes I’ve ever had.  Which, really is a normal load of classes.  But I’m not normal.

I’m freakin stoked for Battlestar Galactica final episodes.  Forget that we have our first black president taking office and big change coming in the political realm.  I’m going back to my dorkdum and watching me some Sci Fi.  And to increase the geek factor, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the release of the Star Trek reboot.  (It’s being done by JJ Abrams who at least adds some hip factor)

So I’m reading this book called Getting What You Came For.  Basically, it gives you the skinny on graduate school and getting a Master’s or Doctorate or both.  The book should actually be entitled “What to Expect From 3-5 Years in Hell”.  Undergrad stuff hasn’t been to shabby, but reading how the system works beyond is rather intimidating.  I’m glad the dude who wrote this book is so straight forward, however, because I don’t want to be one of the ignorant or naive types who the system is essentially designed to weed out before the end.  Hey, Universities gotta pay da bills too I guess.

Operating on 4-5 hours sleep and typing has become rather difficult.  Here are some of my 09′ resolutions:

1) Write in my journal more often.  I filled up 2 journals in a 14 months span, and now I’ve spent the last 3 years taking up only two thirds of another.

2) Blog 3-4 times a month

3) Read more books, including keeping up with text reading

4) Eliminate some time wasters

Ok, this was very stream of consciousness, I’ll have some more focus on the next post. PEACE!

Dictatorship or Democracy?

No, desptite what the title might suggest, this is not a political post.  This is an album review for Guns N’ Roses……Axel Rose’s……recently released Chinese Democracy. I’m not going to delve into the history behind this album, but needless to say the compilation process of these songs is the stuff that Days of our Lives couldn’t even create.  Wiki it and find out for yourself.  The short version, Axel Rose started running Guns N’s Roses like a dictatorship, alienated everyone in the band, went through several lineup changes, promised the release of Chinese Democracy a few million times, and 17 years following any original material from the band, Nov. 23rd 2008 we have it.  The album kept showing up on many a “most anticipated” releases lists and with time I’m sure most music connoisseurs came to think of the album ever existing as a colossal joke.  But criticisms of the band’s frontman aside, and the only still existing member, it’s all about the music! and here is the review.

….And, the album is actually pretty good.  I’ve never latched onto GNR’s sound like some, but to Rose’s credit, he’s got some crazy combinations going on from beginning to end, lefts, rights, and uppercuts.  The likely criticism will be that there are too many things going on here.  But the album is still rooted in crunching rock riffs.  Mixed in are some strings, some piano, some Nine Inch Nail style production, and never forgotten nods to the guitar solo.  And Rose can still sing, in fact he puts to shame most anyone you hear spun on modern rock stations.  Nickelback….uhmm see ya…Daughtry… PLEASE!!  If we are comparing Rose’s pipes and pure music IQ to 90% of what rules the rock airwaves today, Chinese Democracy is like Michael Jordan having no business coming out of retirement and playing for the Wizards, still dropping 40 points and sinking buzzer beaters.  The sound is epic, and while not as tight and purposeful as Metallica’s Death Magnetic, it is far bolder, as Metallica really just stuck to what works.

The largest criticism I may have is the over use of a quiet to loud pattern in many of the songs.  Often culminating in some sweet guitar solo, which often led into Rose vocals over the top of some guitar freestyle.  I won’t complain, but its kinda like 3-4 tracks were competing to be the November Rain or Sweet Child O’ Mine epic masterpiece.

I was a big fan of how hard the sound hits on nearly every song.  This album is actually pretty dang heavy.  I always thought in the past that GNR was somewhat tempered with their metal sound to maintain a more mainstream appeal.  Chinese Democracy, however, packs a serious punch and doesn’t have the same party and good times feel as say Appetite for Destruction.  There isn’t much of a hint at “good ol’ rock n roll”.  Most every track is heavy, layered, and at times overwhelming.  While listening to it, I swore I was looking down at my pod every minute or so thinking i must be on the last track, my listening equipment was exhausted.  There could have been an attempt to be more radio friendly, perhaps some sentimental love ballad, but it would have been wholly out of place with the cinematic/world in turmoil feel.  Even the curtain call of “This I Love” and “Prostitute”, while tugging more at the heart strings, are accompanied with over the top guitar elements, piano, and strings.  Somehow I doubt you’ll ever see Axel Rose prop himself up on a stool and give us an acoustic arrangement of anything that is present on Chinese Democracy. He’s not apologizing for what’s gone down the last 17 years nor should he with respect to the music.  How do they say it in sports…….let your game(music) do the talking. I’ll give the album a solid 8 out of 10!

If you want a good sample, check out the opening track “Chinese Democracy” and the more daring “If the World”.  And I’m pleased to say that the vets are pulling their weight lately, three of this years biggest rock releases AC/DC “Black Ice”, Metallica “Death Magnetic”, GNR “Chinese Democracy”.

Been a long time!

The end of the semester approaches and my brain has possibly reached overload.  Just a lot of stuff going on.  But it’s all good, i just haven’t blogged in awhile, despite really itching to do so.  What has happened since my last post…

-Obama is President-Elect and I hear about a new “bailout” plan every day.

-The stock market moves closer and closer to a rigged system…can anyone say “roll the dice!”

-I saw The Roots in concert for only 25 bucks and it was off the chain.  Truely they’ve channeled their talent towards being about the live experience.  The albums are coo, but on stage they were pure magic.

-I went to the midnight showing of Twilight, ladies outnumbered dudes like 10 to 1.  I sat next to my friend and I’m pretty sure we were the only males sitting next to eachother in the whole theater… and we were laughing at all the same moments, which was usually in unison with a bunch of giggling 12-17 year olds.

-I had to do a Social Psychology lab where we browsed Craigslist peronsal ads…I’m scarred for life.

-Could Time magazine put Obama’s face on the cover one more time…PLEASE!!!! I DON’T THINK I’VE SEEN IT ENOUGH…you to Rolling Stone!  Has anyone noticed this guy is totally hiding from the media now?  I don’t blame him.