Creation: an obtuse example of saying too much
We all have pondered the question at some point in our existence - and in fact the question has been with us for generations and generations, ever since the beginning of structured thought and consciousness. Maybe animals wonder about it as well, in their own ways of which we do not understand. The question is simple - where did we come from?
It's a question that has developed into a way of life for many people in the form of religion. They pick a story, or sometimes are simply told a story, and stick with it, believing it is the truth and not accepting any line of logic outside of their own. Scientists crunch numbers and look for evidence as to the beginning of time as we know it. But even the scientists, as they get ever so close to discovering the "truth" of our creation, could never be sure if they were correct. And also there are those who ponder the possibilities and never see the option of settling on one idea because the probability of being correct is so slim.
Yet another way of looking at things is as follows; do we really need to know? Is there really a single simple answer that will relieve the human race of all troubles in the field? And even if there is one answer that is proven in one way or another (God speaks to the entire race and spells the story out as it was intended, not through the clouded and misinterpreted stories of the bible which has continuously evolved with our culture; Aliens decend to the planet and communicate with us their intentions for putting us here and the “master plan” of our race; it is proven mathematically and with concrete evidence that we simply came to be out of nothing), people will still have an incredibly tough time coming to a unanimous decision on what the beginning really was.
Stories of creation shaped many cultures over the course of time. The stories weren’t present at the beginning of time itself, however, because if such was the case there would be one story and one culture. Many stories of creation were, in fact, created as well. With this never ending string of opinions and perspectives, is there really one way to answer the question? Not everybody will ever be satisfied by any “results” and such a conclusion would most likely arise even more conflict than has already occurred in the timeline of civilization.
The way I can answer the question in a way I feel accurate is as follows:
We do not know where we came from, for none of us have lived a life long enough to tell the story first hand. All we have is our mental image of what the past was, and each person’s perspective is played out in their own way within the confines of their mind. All that is, is the present moment; what we experience day in and day out, but is rarely appreciated to the fullest extent. What came before us is irrelevant. To try and describe what is the past will indefinitely be skewed in one way or another. If we were meant to know the true occurance that spurred our being, it would have been figured out by now. The truth is inconceivable in the way we process information and think about life. The beauty of creation comes out of possibility, and accepting that we do not and will not ever fully understand the concept. It is best to accept what is than to assume what could be or what was. There is know way of knowing, so saying that you do is in fact, saying too much.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Horror blog
It was a Monday. Just like any other Monday, Dave grabbed his paper bag lunch and headed to his garage, ready for another week at school – not as a student who sits in his classes half asleep and bored out of his mind, but as a janitor. The one responsible for the thousands of adolescents, in his mind still children, who haven’t learned one thing about being respectful for their environment. He was an ardent employee, one of the most tenured janitors that Farmville High has ever had.
He had no idea that this Monday was going to change his life forever.
The first half of the day went smoothly – he cleaned the tables after breakfast, went out for a smoke, cleaned the tables after lunch, took out the trash and had another smoke, then ate his own lunch. After he finished eating, he started to head towards the basement – a place off limits to all students and teachers, and rarely visited by anybody of authority. It was an unclean and unappealing place to be. He had to get some paint to cover up the superfluously spray-painted outer walls.
As he entered the stairway to begin his decent, the dank smell of which he was oh so familiar hit him. It was like a mix of mold, mud and tomato soup. The light switch was located at the bottom of the staircase, so he left the door open so he could safely make his way down the narrow path. He flipped the switch, and headed to the right towards a large metal door. The door had a sign on the front in big red letters that said “APPROVED PERSONELL ONLY,” for there were cleaning chemicals that could be dangerous if used in rowdy ways.
He unhooked his key ring from his belt loop and browsed for the correct match. He found it, the key with a blue cover on the top, and put it into the keyhole on the doorknob. He turned it to the right and shoved his shoulder into the door and bounced right back off; it hadn’t opened. He tried the key again, to no avail. Inspecting the perimeter of the door, he found nothing that was keeping the door shut and became quite perplexed as to why it was not letting him pass.
He backed up, eyes still focused on the door. His hand went to his chin, slowly rubbing the goatee which he was quite well known for. Suddenly, the lights all went dark.
He glanced around, trying to find a point of reference so he could find his way back to the stairway. But it was completely dark. He couldn’t see his hands as they were right in front of his face, and he could no longer see the prominent sign on the door which (he thought) was right in front of him. Panic began to overtake him, and he turned and tried to use his memory to get out of the basement. He put his arms in front of him, following the wall to the stairway. He made it back up to the exit door, and sprang out as fast as he could. What he saw next left him in such a state of shock that he could not move at all.
He stood, gripping the railing, staring out into the light that now streamed into an environment of which he was completely unfamiliar. There was no sure form to the world he was staring into. It was luminous and impressive, but he could not comprehend with words what he was seeing. His pupils dilated and out of nowhere he was face to face with a being. It was not human, but it looked as recognizable to him as his own wife. He hadn’t a clue where he had seen the face, the shape, the persona before, but he knew that it was not the first encounter with this thing he’d had.
It opened it’s mouth to speak, and what came out sounded like the roars of lions and the flow of water, and it echoed throughout his entire head. Somehow, he felt like he knew what the being was saying to him.
He was not entirely present in his body; in fact he looked down and saw that the body he had known was not there at all, instead he was soaring through what he could only comprehend as “the heavens.” When he looked back up, the being put his “hand” between the eyes of the perplexed and incoherent janitor and he completely dropped from his own state of mind.
Images of his childhood and what looked to be him as an old man, in yet another unfamiliar environment. He heard a sound that was as loud as a thousand claps of thunder and it was all gone.
It was a Monday. Just like any other Monday, Dave grabbed his paper bag lunch and headed to his garage, ready for another week at school – not as a student who sits in his classes half asleep and bored out of his mind, but as a janitor...
He had no idea that this Monday was going to change his life forever.
The first half of the day went smoothly – he cleaned the tables after breakfast, went out for a smoke, cleaned the tables after lunch, took out the trash and had another smoke, then ate his own lunch. After he finished eating, he started to head towards the basement – a place off limits to all students and teachers, and rarely visited by anybody of authority. It was an unclean and unappealing place to be. He had to get some paint to cover up the superfluously spray-painted outer walls.
As he entered the stairway to begin his decent, the dank smell of which he was oh so familiar hit him. It was like a mix of mold, mud and tomato soup. The light switch was located at the bottom of the staircase, so he left the door open so he could safely make his way down the narrow path. He flipped the switch, and headed to the right towards a large metal door. The door had a sign on the front in big red letters that said “APPROVED PERSONELL ONLY,” for there were cleaning chemicals that could be dangerous if used in rowdy ways.
He unhooked his key ring from his belt loop and browsed for the correct match. He found it, the key with a blue cover on the top, and put it into the keyhole on the doorknob. He turned it to the right and shoved his shoulder into the door and bounced right back off; it hadn’t opened. He tried the key again, to no avail. Inspecting the perimeter of the door, he found nothing that was keeping the door shut and became quite perplexed as to why it was not letting him pass.
He backed up, eyes still focused on the door. His hand went to his chin, slowly rubbing the goatee which he was quite well known for. Suddenly, the lights all went dark.
He glanced around, trying to find a point of reference so he could find his way back to the stairway. But it was completely dark. He couldn’t see his hands as they were right in front of his face, and he could no longer see the prominent sign on the door which (he thought) was right in front of him. Panic began to overtake him, and he turned and tried to use his memory to get out of the basement. He put his arms in front of him, following the wall to the stairway. He made it back up to the exit door, and sprang out as fast as he could. What he saw next left him in such a state of shock that he could not move at all.
He stood, gripping the railing, staring out into the light that now streamed into an environment of which he was completely unfamiliar. There was no sure form to the world he was staring into. It was luminous and impressive, but he could not comprehend with words what he was seeing. His pupils dilated and out of nowhere he was face to face with a being. It was not human, but it looked as recognizable to him as his own wife. He hadn’t a clue where he had seen the face, the shape, the persona before, but he knew that it was not the first encounter with this thing he’d had.
It opened it’s mouth to speak, and what came out sounded like the roars of lions and the flow of water, and it echoed throughout his entire head. Somehow, he felt like he knew what the being was saying to him.
He was not entirely present in his body; in fact he looked down and saw that the body he had known was not there at all, instead he was soaring through what he could only comprehend as “the heavens.” When he looked back up, the being put his “hand” between the eyes of the perplexed and incoherent janitor and he completely dropped from his own state of mind.
Images of his childhood and what looked to be him as an old man, in yet another unfamiliar environment. He heard a sound that was as loud as a thousand claps of thunder and it was all gone.
It was a Monday. Just like any other Monday, Dave grabbed his paper bag lunch and headed to his garage, ready for another week at school – not as a student who sits in his classes half asleep and bored out of his mind, but as a janitor...
Monday, April 25, 2011
IP Blog 2 - Walker Leonard Onion Article
"Death Metal" Band Heavily Discriminated Against after Recent Music Awards
At last week's BOB (Best of the Best) Music Awards, many awards were won and presented, followed by a chorus of cheers and applause by the excited audience of privileged and famous Americans. Many big-time artists came out on top, and the winners more often than not had songs in the Billboard Top 40 at some point in the previous year. Lady Gaga won best live act, Kanye West won best song, and Jay-Z won album of the year. All was smooth.
Except for the results in one category; Best Metal Performance. Traditionally, the award has been presented to the mainstream of the metal category – bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Tool. Although the winners have definitely been the most popular of metal bands, many “true” fans of metal argue that they are not anywhere near the best of the choices out there.
This year, the tables were turned. Relatively young band Between the Buried and Me campaigned for musicians to “vote their hearts out” in hopes of opening the doorway for their progressive style of music, incorporating genres from across the board. Apparently, the number of votes for the metal category in previous years had totaled about 2,000 votes, compared to Pop and Hip Hop, which receive about 15,000 annualy. This year, between the buried and me racked in 5,000 votes alone. They were given the award, accepted it and walked off stage according to plan.
Everything changed in the post-show interviews.
The owner of the BOB organization made this quick, stern comment about the band’s winning: “I am offended and distraught that a Death Metal band was allowed in the voting of my awards show. I know that others will feel the same way and back me in getting the award revoked due to offensive content.”
Between the Buried and Me’s fanbase immediately revolted after the clip was posted on the band’s Facebook page. They argued that the lyrics had nothing to do with what is defined as “Death Metal” and that the owner had based his argument off of hearing the music, not listening to it critically or interpreting the lyrics. They also countered that winners of previous awards had made direct references to violence and were not confronted after the fact.
Here is a section of lyrics in which we will compare those of Between the Buried and Me to former award winner Eminem.
BTBAM:
I'm in the middle of black water.
No sign of human life in any direction... the most peaceful event of my life seems to have typically turned into a struggle.
I'm in the middle of black water... no sign of human life.
Panic takes over my body.
I have indeed floated due to a non-reversible decision to flee.
Just for a day I told myself... my survival skills were lost years ago
Slide into the water
Become one with the sea.
Life seems so much smaller.
Swim to the moon.
Eminem:
Sult, you think I won’t choke no whore,
Til’ the vocal cords in her throat don’t work no more?
Texas Chainsaw, left his brains all danglin’ from his neck,
While his head barely hangs on
Blood, guts, guns, cuts, knives, lives, wives, nuns, sluts.
Between the Buried and Me was, after all, stripped of their award and labeled as a “sporadic Death Metal band lacking structure and ease of listening”. The band has since announced that they are working on a new album entitled The Death Metal Diary, a concept album about the struggles of a fictional death metal band striving for success in a hip hop- and pop-dominated radio world.
Eminem’s latest single features the lyric:
Well I can be as gentle and as smooth as a gentleman
Give me my venom, an inhaler, and two Xenadrine,
And I'll invite Sarah Palin out to dinner, then
Nail her. Baby, say hello to my little friend.
THE END
(That said, Eminem is one of my favorite musical artists, as is between the buried and me, and was just used in this post as an example. He has songs with very insightful and honest lyrics as well, but is generally perceived as simply vulgar and repulsive.)
At last week's BOB (Best of the Best) Music Awards, many awards were won and presented, followed by a chorus of cheers and applause by the excited audience of privileged and famous Americans. Many big-time artists came out on top, and the winners more often than not had songs in the Billboard Top 40 at some point in the previous year. Lady Gaga won best live act, Kanye West won best song, and Jay-Z won album of the year. All was smooth.
Except for the results in one category; Best Metal Performance. Traditionally, the award has been presented to the mainstream of the metal category – bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Tool. Although the winners have definitely been the most popular of metal bands, many “true” fans of metal argue that they are not anywhere near the best of the choices out there.
This year, the tables were turned. Relatively young band Between the Buried and Me campaigned for musicians to “vote their hearts out” in hopes of opening the doorway for their progressive style of music, incorporating genres from across the board. Apparently, the number of votes for the metal category in previous years had totaled about 2,000 votes, compared to Pop and Hip Hop, which receive about 15,000 annualy. This year, between the buried and me racked in 5,000 votes alone. They were given the award, accepted it and walked off stage according to plan.
Everything changed in the post-show interviews.
The owner of the BOB organization made this quick, stern comment about the band’s winning: “I am offended and distraught that a Death Metal band was allowed in the voting of my awards show. I know that others will feel the same way and back me in getting the award revoked due to offensive content.”
Between the Buried and Me’s fanbase immediately revolted after the clip was posted on the band’s Facebook page. They argued that the lyrics had nothing to do with what is defined as “Death Metal” and that the owner had based his argument off of hearing the music, not listening to it critically or interpreting the lyrics. They also countered that winners of previous awards had made direct references to violence and were not confronted after the fact.
Here is a section of lyrics in which we will compare those of Between the Buried and Me to former award winner Eminem.
BTBAM:
I'm in the middle of black water.
No sign of human life in any direction... the most peaceful event of my life seems to have typically turned into a struggle.
I'm in the middle of black water... no sign of human life.
Panic takes over my body.
I have indeed floated due to a non-reversible decision to flee.
Just for a day I told myself... my survival skills were lost years ago
Slide into the water
Become one with the sea.
Life seems so much smaller.
Swim to the moon.
Eminem:
Sult, you think I won’t choke no whore,
Til’ the vocal cords in her throat don’t work no more?
Texas Chainsaw, left his brains all danglin’ from his neck,
While his head barely hangs on
Blood, guts, guns, cuts, knives, lives, wives, nuns, sluts.
Between the Buried and Me was, after all, stripped of their award and labeled as a “sporadic Death Metal band lacking structure and ease of listening”. The band has since announced that they are working on a new album entitled The Death Metal Diary, a concept album about the struggles of a fictional death metal band striving for success in a hip hop- and pop-dominated radio world.
Eminem’s latest single features the lyric:
Well I can be as gentle and as smooth as a gentleman
Give me my venom, an inhaler, and two Xenadrine,
And I'll invite Sarah Palin out to dinner, then
Nail her. Baby, say hello to my little friend.
THE END
(That said, Eminem is one of my favorite musical artists, as is between the buried and me, and was just used in this post as an example. He has songs with very insightful and honest lyrics as well, but is generally perceived as simply vulgar and repulsive.)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Documentary Blog 10
Progress:
We've been in and out of MTN editing quite frequently. We are happy with the project so far and are excited to see it when it's finished. I've had people calling me from the School of Rock asking where and when it's going to be screened, and it's advertised on the St Paul School of Rock's facebook! I've invited many people who were featured in the filming and hopefully will have a bit of a fanbase there to see it.
That said, I have been doing pretty much all of the work on this project. I guess I'm the only one truly invested in it. Zack and Ian don't have the ties to the school of rock that I do, so it's harder for them to care. I've done all the editing, and was the only one at 3 out of the 4 shoots. But I'm not complaining, just thought I should say it.
Reading:
I don't really have any emotional connection to this reading, me and all of my family are white and have been in America for quite some time. But I can understand how it would feel to be looked at initially as being from somewhere else. That is one of the first things noticed quite often. The piece showed the author's feelings about the subject well, and was pretty strong.
We've been in and out of MTN editing quite frequently. We are happy with the project so far and are excited to see it when it's finished. I've had people calling me from the School of Rock asking where and when it's going to be screened, and it's advertised on the St Paul School of Rock's facebook! I've invited many people who were featured in the filming and hopefully will have a bit of a fanbase there to see it.
That said, I have been doing pretty much all of the work on this project. I guess I'm the only one truly invested in it. Zack and Ian don't have the ties to the school of rock that I do, so it's harder for them to care. I've done all the editing, and was the only one at 3 out of the 4 shoots. But I'm not complaining, just thought I should say it.
Reading:
I don't really have any emotional connection to this reading, me and all of my family are white and have been in America for quite some time. But I can understand how it would feel to be looked at initially as being from somewhere else. That is one of the first things noticed quite often. The piece showed the author's feelings about the subject well, and was pretty strong.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Blog 9
The last few weeks for us were productive and exciting. We finished all of our filming, got a magical interview and began compiling our clips into iMovie. I have a much better feeling about where our project is now than I did the last time I blogged. Now we must just venture deeper into the realm of editivity. We've been working together much better and zack and ian are contributing reasonably.
Reading:
Cuba is a place with less civil liberty than our home country. Their freedom is restricted and their actions more or less controlled. This piece did a good job of conveying one difference, that of free speech. Newspapers are controlled and shut down because of the political viewpoint they have. I think that somebody should slap some respect into them young commies and tell the to treat people right!
Reading:
Cuba is a place with less civil liberty than our home country. Their freedom is restricted and their actions more or less controlled. This piece did a good job of conveying one difference, that of free speech. Newspapers are controlled and shut down because of the political viewpoint they have. I think that somebody should slap some respect into them young commies and tell the to treat people right!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Semester dos blog six!!
Reading: As I read, I thought it would be a cheery story type passage. But it was not at all. I feel that the message of the text was that others tend not to conform at your command. Accept that not every person you have interactions with will be a desirable type. And that for each person there is a negative relationship, there are more who do not shed a dark light on the situation.
We shot 40 minutes of footage at the school of rock this Wednesday. Our topic has shifted to how involvement with the school of rock program influences your choices and life path after discontinuation with the school. We are taping a rehearsal next Wednesday and I have many videos of previous shows with both me and the people I interviewed.
We shot 40 minutes of footage at the school of rock this Wednesday. Our topic has shifted to how involvement with the school of rock program influences your choices and life path after discontinuation with the school. We are taping a rehearsal next Wednesday and I have many videos of previous shows with both me and the people I interviewed.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Blog - January 28th
We decided the change the direction of our documentary to how the School of Rock organization affects how teenagers grow and make decisions through high school. We will be using the point of view of the parents and students, not any instructors. I will be discussing the short film with the people who are in charge of the program to ok the idea. I think this will be a gold topic because it will involve strong personalities and characters. I will also be able to have a good set of questions for the interviews. I will not be the one conducting the interviews, however, because I don't want the fact that I am asking the questions change the subjects' answers.
Reading:
I never really considered the fact that you could be an aspiring documentary filmmaker and not be a people person. Therefor, it may be tough to get solid and entertaining interviews out of your subject. I don't so much like the idea of directing the participant, because that holds them back from telling their whole story. I want to see comPlete honesty and truth in a documentary. This seems hard to come by in the world as it is today. However, in the case that somebody does not want to go too deep into a subject, it is a good idea to guide them. It's a way of possibly getting them to tell their story without saying it up front. Interviewing in a relevant location is key. They will be more comfortable that way and more prone to giving the answers that you want to hear.
Reading:
I never really considered the fact that you could be an aspiring documentary filmmaker and not be a people person. Therefor, it may be tough to get solid and entertaining interviews out of your subject. I don't so much like the idea of directing the participant, because that holds them back from telling their whole story. I want to see comPlete honesty and truth in a documentary. This seems hard to come by in the world as it is today. However, in the case that somebody does not want to go too deep into a subject, it is a good idea to guide them. It's a way of possibly getting them to tell their story without saying it up front. Interviewing in a relevant location is key. They will be more comfortable that way and more prone to giving the answers that you want to hear.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Documentary blog post 3
This week, as everyone did, we pitched our documentary to the voices class. We hadn't done much in the research stage, so I'll admit that it may have been a bit weak. The point that John made about keeping it visually interesting as well as telling the story that we want to get across was the most valuable piece of information I received from the feedback. I am leaning towards focusing on the school of rock, usig one or two of the important people in the business to get the message across about what they stand for and if they feel they have been successful up to this point. I have a strong personal connection to the place and the people, so I feel like we would be able to get good quality interviews.
I regret to inform you that I did not read the reading we got. If I could, I'd like to request getting it on the first day of the week. I will indefinItely do it if that happens!
I regret to inform you that I did not read the reading we got. If I could, I'd like to request getting it on the first day of the week. I will indefinItely do it if that happens!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Documentary blog post 1
The group is chosen, the topic approaching. We're on track so far, getting along and enjoying poking at different documentary ideas. Me, zack and Ian are together in a group this time, chosen because I enjoyed working with ian, and have known zack since kindergarten so I'm confident in his work ethic. Zack was also a bit less than pleased with his group members' cooperation on his PSA.
We are thinking at this point that our topic will be on the history of one or a few local musicians. Not so much their history, but their story. I'm very excited to dive into this project and hopefully get some really good material.
We are thinking at this point that our topic will be on the history of one or a few local musicians. Not so much their history, but their story. I'm very excited to dive into this project and hopefully get some really good material.
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