Day 8: Some Songs

There are two songs that I feel define me in that they are always with me.

The first should be no surprise to anyone who's ever walked with me anywhere. I sing it randomly, half the time without really realizing I'm singing it.

It takes a crane to build a crane
It takes two floors to make a story...

Recognize it? It's Life is Wonderful by Jason Mraz. It's just this quiet song full of the extremes in life and how you can't have polar opposites without having both. A smile just wouldn't be a smile if every once in a while there wasn't a frown. Life is circular, and that's what makes it wonderful.

The other song comes to me when I'm in a certain pensive state of mind, again, often while walking.

It's a love song, a tale of awakenings with quiet strings pulling you along. I think part of the appeal is because I'm a morning person and the opening lines are Sunrise/Sunrise/Looks like morning in your eyes/But the clock's held 9:15 for hours. I call it my morning/sun song and it makes me smile.

I also love Norah Jones's voice and how the music is used to complement it rather than the other way around. It's the same with any acoustic song really. That simplicity draws me in.

Day 7: A writing mood

I'm inspired by words today.

Something inside of me wants to be said, so I have a document open and I'm letting the language flow free form to see what comes out. It's been a daylong process with many interruptions (like going to class), and I don't know if I want to post it, since some of the thoughts contained therein are on the private side, I'll definitely say though that I'm satisfied with the way this is turning out.

Poetry and the language of poetry are somethings I enjoy greatly. It's the same way an computer engineer can have fun tinkering with programming or a mechanic can spend hours working on an engine, I do that with words.

Synonyms are not always synonymous and often have vastly different connotations in actual meaning. Sick, ill, weak, unwell, they all throw different lights on the idea of not being healthy. I like playing with these in poetry, changing the meaning to manipulate my reader. It's a subtle mind game, the connection between author and reader and one that's not always conscious. I'm trying to make it conscious on my end.

Day 6: Quiet Tuesday

The above video was taken at my salsa group. Two of our better leads as a joke decided to dance with each other. I have a lot of respect for them that they were able to do this and do it well. There are days when I wouldn't mind following. It appeals to that submissive side of my personality, but at the same time, I recognize that no matter how confident I am in myself, I still need to work on using that confidence for myself. I'm constantly being told I have amazing presence on stage and in person, but I don't think of myself as forward. If I want something I will only ask if there's no alternative.

I feel Salsa has helped me with this because to be a good lead, you have to be a certain kind of aggressive: You are directing your follow where to go, and if anything goes wrong, it's automatically assumed to be your fault. I'm not very aggressive even when I know I should be. It's something about my personality that while not inherently a bad thing can be a burden if I let it get out of hand. For the most part, I live to serve, but there are times when you have to look after your own best interests and learning a little gentle aggression helps with that.

Maybe it's because I'm tired from staying up until 3 again, maybe it's because I woke up cold on a grizzly gray day. But today just feels quiet to me. Or rather, here, let me say it another way:

Day 5: Dialects in movies

Have you ever noticed that in movies the language and accents the characters speak in reflects something about the character's personality and background?

We're learning about this in my English class and it kind of scares me, especially when this happens in children's movies and television shows. What are we teaching our children when we show them that the bad guy speaks differently than the good guys?

Remember Yosemite Sam? That angry, red-headed hick Southna' who was always holding up trains. How stereotypical of the animators to portray him that way. Why couldn't he be an angry, blonde New Yorker? Oh wait, the position of fast talking city slicker was already taken by Bugs bunny.
This is by no means the only example of this kind of dialectical characterization, though that might be a little more obvious.

We discussed the Disney film Aladdin as well. Notice how the heroes, Aladdin and Jasmine speak a more standard form of English while the villains have a more pronounced pseudo-Arabian accent, despite the fact that all the characters (with the possible exception of the flamboyant blue guy in the bottle) are from more or less the same regional area. So is this saying that people who speak in the accent are bad, while the good guys speak more like we do in more standard forms?

Not to say that all uses of dialect take on negative or sinister connotations. Look at the intelligent characters in movies. Count how many of them speak with a British accent of some kind. A lot, right?

But what is this saying about our culture that we allow even these subtle stereotypes to influence (however slightly) around our children? If we're so concerned about racism, why are we perpetuating these unfair portrayals of language and how certain races speak? It's just something to consider and keep in mind next time you watch movies.

Think about the audiences the shows/movies are aimed at as well. Many times in the more adult targeted entertainment, language is used as a commentary to bring to light and make fun of such blatant stereotypes within our culture.

Day 4: Something different

I was inspired again by that mischievous DJ who's recently entered the realm of what I call my life. He posted a video and told me about it, which, as I sat window gazing, made me want to try something.

Now, I'm not sure exactly what the video capabilities of my little Fuji Finepix J10 (affectionately named Earl Jr) would be as I started this, so I didn't really know what to expect as far as sound/image quality goes. But it seems to have turned out well, and I don't think I look completely like a fool, so I'm posting my first vlog ever. It's nothing fancy, but it's not supposed to be.