Gobbledigook

New Sigur Ros album is very good.

Lately I've been obsessed with acoustic guitar. I cannot get enough of the blues-folk genre. I have been listening to Rod Stewart and Bob Dylan like crazy lately. Rod Stewart's old albums, I mean. His new stuff (mid 80's and on) were terrible. His music went from beautiful blue's-folk driven mandolins and resonance guitars to synth pop crap. Luckily I got into Rod Stewart's old stuff before finding the albums that ruined his career- in my eyes, at least. If I had listened to "Do ya think i'm sexy" first, Rod never would have been given a chance. Anyway, back to the guitars. I went to guitar center the other day and was just awe-struck when hearing this resonance guitar played by this strange young man in the acoustic room. It was beautiful! Rod Stewart used it in his early albums, which I love. I love the sound- it is so wonderful. I found a twelve string Taylor acoustic that I played for about an hour. Now, that isn't that long of a time usually- but, I know only four songs. I am pretty new; I am a bass player..recently converted to the lovely world of acoustic guitar. But, I tell you, I played those four songs for an hour, loud and proud. Well...not too loud. So this twelve string guitar just brought a whole new level of acoustic guitar to my plate. It was as if I were playing with another person on another guitar. Or two of me playing the same song at the same time. It was beautiful. I want that guitar.

I am a very big dreamer. I get caught up on some idea every once in a while (more like every 2 weeks) and become obsessed with it, making plans, doing research. But, guitar has been more than a two week ordeal. I'm still on it, and it has been 2 months.

I have always bounced around on instruments. I play one, slightly "master" the concept and playing, and then move on to bigger and better things. I did that with my first keyboard, piano, tuba, clarinet, bass clarinet, acoustic guitar (for a week), bass guitar and now the mandolin and resonance guitar. But, I will learn both. Otherwise the obsession won't end.

Music

You know when someone does not have a life at all when they have time for two blog posts in one day. That is where I am right now. Don't judge. I am at work, so I am doing something.

Music...who doesn't like it?

Actually, I can name a few people. Let me rephrase then. Music...you've got to like it. Love it, really. It surprises me that some people I know do not care about music whatsoever. But, I guess everyone is different.

I feel that there are two different types of people in the world. People who like music..and people who don't. The people who like music (and dare I say, love it) are usually the more interesting of the bunch. Those who don't...well I don't have much to say to them. I find that music is a highlight of many of my conversations.

And when I say "music", I do not just mean any music. Not just any genre. Because we all know not every musical genre is "good" and could withstand the test of time. I am meaning the music that is well made and is full of intellect and substance. Not all rap is good. Personally, I think all the music on popular radio stations are crap. I don't listen to it, and I don't usually respect the people who listen to them, in a musical sense that is.

Good music to me is that is genuine, intelligent, and provides a wonderful musical experience to the listener. I love folk. I love indie rock. I love good old fashion blues rock. Artists like Bob Dylan, Who, Eagles, Beatles, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors,... you cannot find bands like that anymore. Compare that music to today's music. Their music stood the test of time. Their music was part of the foundation for the modern day rock genre.

Reasoning behind

Here I am, sitting at work. I've spend my past 47 minutes reading wikipedia. I found an informative page on Andreas Vesalius, a 16th century physician, who made countless discoveries of the human body through cadaver dissection. During this time period, it was highly illegal to dissect human cadavers. Previous anatomists, such as Galen, used various animals to perform his research. He even performed live human dissections- vivisection, which I am somewhat disgusted by. Vesalius moved a step further from Galen to put right his mistakes. Since Galen used animals for research, such as monkeys, much of his findings were not fully correct. Some blood vessels present in animals were not, in fact, present in humans. Again, human cadaver dissection was illegal, so Vesalius was often rebuked by the government to continue his research. Though persecuted, he continued his work and laid down the foundations of anatomical research and knowledge. He is known as the founder of modern human anatomy.

I learned a lot about Vesalius via anatomy classes a few semesters ago. I have been fascinated by his research and discoveries and have managed to find much of his work through an online version of his Corporis de humani fabrica literature: all of his work put down to paper with anatomical drawings and informative explanations.

So that is the man behind my photo.

Anyway, that is all for now.

Movies I have recently seen

I have managed to be completely unproductive this whole winter break. Before the break started, I set up a list of a bunch of things I wished to accomplish. It wasn't too big. Nothing special. Somehow I only completed one: watch as many movies as I possibly could before the break was over. I knew once the semester started back up, I would never see the light of day- or just the light of the TV- until spring was over. I cannot count how many movies I have seen, but I will list a few. Here are a couple of them, with my own commentary aside:

I'm not there: I was very excited to see this movie. After about 30 minutes, though, I could not keep track of what was going on. 6 different characters were playing Bob Dylan. Each one representing a different aspect of his life. I wish I watched the whole thing. Maybe next time when I'm not taking sudafed.

The Killing of John Lennon: Very good. Very enjoyable; Psychoanalysis of Mark Chapman's obsession with John Lennon and eventual homicide committed. Based on Chapman's own account of his thought processes. The entire film, he is battling with himself on whether or not to kill John.

Eagle Eye: I really did not want to watch this movie. It seemed like the plot was just like every other movie plot out there. I gave it a try, and it was pretty good. It was entertaining, and Shia LaBouff's acting surprised me; he was better than I thought.

Valkyrie: I enjoyed this movie. An account of one of the many failed attempts to assassinate Hitler. Tom Cruise's performance as Stauffenberg was okay I didn't quite understand why Cruise could not pull off a German accent. I think it could have been better if he actually had an accent. I also think that the story could have included a little bit more about the emotions and personal life of Stauffenberg as a person. The movie seemed to be totally directed at just to kill Hitler. I would have enjoyed a more prominent attachment to the characters, by seeing some depth in their emotions and personal lives a bit.

I watched a lot more than that, but those are a few.

I am at work now. It has been one and a half hours. Many many many more to go....

Very First Blog

So I decided to take up blogging to give an account all of my deep thoughts that swim through my brain while I sit staring at a computer for eight hours a day, five days a week. Although I hardly do anything at work, I am getting paid. Actually I am being paid right now, as I write this blog. So, in all reality, this isn't such a bad place to work. Not everyone can get paid to surf the web...or write in a blog. I have been here since eight in the morning and, so far, have done not one work-related activity. In fact, I have been snacking on cookies all morning. I often wonder how people who work desk jobs survive. I mean, I can go, oh, thirty minutes straight staring at the computer. After that, I have to look away due to the burning sensation radiating from the back of my eyes. How does one sit all day behind a computer? Also, how do you sit in a chair for that long? I swear, I get up at least ten times a day just to walk around. I was reading an article that stated that 80% of people who work at a desk job are overweight. That doesn't surprise me. I also read this other article, among the fifty articles I read to pass time every day, that a new machine has been created in which people who are trying to lose weight install this treadmill contraption in the office. Basically, the concept is that the obese person has to walk or climb a stair stepper while doing their desk work- the desk that is connected to the front of the treadmill. Great idea. Just think, if these treadmills were set up in every office around the world (or maybe just America, since this is the fattest country) think about how many calories would be burned a day? I guess it is not the most practical concept; to have ten or so treadmills sitting around the office. The office would probably have a foul smell, too. Actually...bad idea. I think that if every one of those people went to the gym for thirty minutes after work, people would not be so overweight. But, I do see how desk-workers don't have the energy to work out after work. It's pretty tiring sitting at a desk all day, I have found. After a full day of "work", I am usually ready to go take a nap. It's pretty pathetic. Typing and staring at a screen actually takes all of my energy.

So this morning my boss handed out this Christmas Quiz packet to all of the staff in the office. We sat around and took our individually packaged quizzes and, after, went over the answers. Now, the questions, I thought, were pretty simple. "Where was baby Jesus born?", "how many wise men were there?". I could have sworn I got all of the questions right. So we finished looking over the answers, and out of 24 questions, I got ten right. It seems that all of the Christmas stories and songs I have known since a child have not an ounce of truth. Apparently, Jesus was not born in a manger. The answer was "it is not known". Also, like every nativity scene and movie out there, I was given the impression there were donkeys, sheep, camels present in this manger (not manger, i was wrong on that one). Right? Apparently, no where in the bible does it say that those animals were present at the birth of Jesus. Where on earth did these stories come from then? I have been given false information my entire life through these tales. They are simply just extravagant stories made up through the years to make learning more fun. I guess they are fun. Though they are exaggerated, they are fun. What would the manger scene be without the sheep and camel figurines around? I always liked the animals. I also found that there were not three wise men. The correct number is not known. In fact, a coworker said she had a manger set at home with four wise men......Maybe I should read more.