Redefining Hodgepodge

Song of the Week: Gerard Grisey's 'Partiels'

2010-05-19T23:16:00.001-05:00

Gerard Grisey was a French contemporary composer of spectral music. The song I chose for this week (and the dozens before when I didn't put anything on here) is one of his from a series of six; the series being "Les Espaces Acoustiques" and the piece being "Partiels" (1975). The basic idea of the piece is that it spectrally analyzes the attack of a low 'E' on a trombone, and then has other

A Personal Story

2009-12-09T23:25:00.007-06:00

I don't share the following story because I want to make you laugh, or because I have delusions of inter-fame. I don't share it because I want you to like me more, or for the ad-revenue your page view elicits (well, that's not entirely true, it turns out all of the poor college student stories I had heard weren't exaggerations; on an unrelated note, check out the various fine products offered by

Ganked: A Tale of Two Teens and an Unexpected Visitor

2009-10-11T23:17:00.003-05:00

So, a while back, when I was 17, a friend of mine and I drove over to Milwaukee to see a show. We got there, enjoyed the show immensely, and left. We decided that, since it was fairly late, we'd drive halfway back to Madison, stop for some food and a chance to relieve our bladders, and then go the rest of the way home. Unfortunately, my dolt of a friend went the wrong way out of Milwaukee. We got

Zak and Sara with an Orchestra

2009-09-27T13:30:00.017-05:00

Back in early 2005, Ben Folds did a concert in Perth, backed by the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra. He played versions of his songs that had been arranged by Australian composers and it is probably the best live DVD I've ever seen. Case in point: Zak and Sara, the very first song performed: This just illustrates how totally awesome Ben Folds is. For those of you that want more (

Video Dating

2009-09-26T10:37:00.002-05:00

I can't decide if this is funny or sad. Probably sad. Some of the best phrases:"I'm an executive by day and a wildman by night.""Perhaps a nice bath with some champagne and candles.""What I'm not looking for is some big, overgrown monster that's always thinking about food.""I'm looking for the goddess. Are you the goddess?""No fatties, no hamsters, no dopers, no smokers, no alcoholics, no Donna

Song of the Week

2009-08-21T13:59:00.004-05:00

If you haven't heard of Sly and the Family Stone, you've been missing out. The epitome of the '60's funk/soul movement, they had big music and bigger hair.'If You Want Me to Stay' comes from their 1973 release 'Fresh,' around the time the band started to get heavily into cocaine, but before it could too heavily affect their music as it did later. The leadman, Sly Stone, was the primary

How People Spend their Time

2009-08-12T19:35:00.003-05:00

The New York Times has put together a very nice graph that shows how different groups spend their time throughout the day. It lets you view the graphs of 18 different categories that include sex, employment status, race, and more. I could try to explain it all in great detail, but it's much better to just experience it.

Song of the Week #???

2009-08-11T22:45:00.003-05:00

Quiet, you.I have lately gotten really into Icelandic music (partially due to a documentary I highly recommend entitled 'Screaming Masterpiece') so you can expect to see several Icelandic songs in the next few weeks.This week's song is 'Romantica,' by The Apparat Organ Quartet. This Icelandic band is comprised of four people playing on various electric organs (and occasionally a vocoder) and a

The Irony of Religion

2009-08-03T19:26:00.002-05:00

The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge having in key decisions made by religious people. By irrationalists, by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of

Indisputably Epic

2009-02-25T20:28:00.001-06:00

Alright, so I am a longtime fan of epic music. The time has now come for me to share the cream of the crop. The Epic-est of the Epic. Now, I realize that there are many 'epic' songs that I omitted, and much of this was intentional. I wanted to stick primarily to heart-racing percussive brassy music, so you won't find any Adagio for Strings on here. In fact, I don't think there's anything adagio

Song of the Week #4 -- Plea from a Cat Named Virtue by The Weakerthans

2009-01-27T22:12:00.001-06:00

The Weakerthans are one of the bands that everybody should know about, but no one does. It's supremely disappointing, that. There's really nothing dislikable about them, and everything likable. Their light but powerful guitar with nice, not overpowering drums are fantastic, but the vocals..See, I usually don't pay much attention to the vocals of a song. And you will know that right away when I

GHASP The Meaning of Life!

2009-01-15T19:01:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Yahoo! Answers, but if you're not, you probably should be. It really is a pretty good tool for getting a question answered, and quickly, though it certainly has its fair share of weird questions (Should I be letting my child play with asbestos? Why cant i get boners? Men what would you do if you went to get your hair cut and the man doing it has his

Song of the Week #4 -- 'Comme Des Enfants' by Coeur de Pirate

2009-01-14T20:54:00.003-06:00

I realize that it's been more than a week. But bite me. This is hard work, listening to music and all. This week we're moving out of the US of A into Canada. Quebec, to be specific. But before I talk about the song, lemme just say, French singing blows American singing out of the water. The language is eight-hundred times more awesome. It'd be a lie to say that I don't miss speaking it. But,

Hey Folks; Song of the Week #3! How to See the Sun Rise by Ben Sollee

2008-12-27T23:14:00.003-06:00

Ok, so my first instinct is to apologize for not posting in a while. But no! I will not become one of those people, the kind that think they absolutely must post regularly because people actually read their blog, and if they don't post, said people will be up in arms. And I won't let myself become one of them. So no. I'm not sorry.But on to the topic of discussion!So I'm guessing a good amount of

Song of the Week -- Week 2-- A Kiss to Build a Dream On by Louis Armstrong

2008-12-20T13:58:00.003-06:00

Moving away from rock this week, we'll take a look back to the golden age of jazz. And who better to demonstrate that than Louis Armstrong?Case in point: A Kiss to Build a Dream OnDiscover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io I really don't have much to say about this song. Gotta love Armstrong's vocals, and there's that absolutely fantastic trumpet solo in the middle. And the dixieland

College Reps: A moment of your time, if I may--

2008-12-18T13:06:00.002-06:00

Dear College Reps: Stop sending me crap. I know that this is a difficult concept for you to grasp. I know and appreciate that you want me to go to your school. I'm sure that you've got a whole panel full of smart, zany people just waiting to review my final as soon as you have my official ACT scores. But really? I appreciate your holiday wishes. I really do. But, in my ever-so-humble

Social Networks And Desirability!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-17T20:20:00.007-06:00

Note: Number of exclamation points is directly correlated to the interestingness of the blog post.So I've wondered for a long time what the optimal number of friends to have on a social network (I'll be focusing on Facebook) is. It's important, of course, to have enough friends to exude popularity (or at least the fact that yes, you do have friends), but on the other hand, you don't want to be

Song of the Week -- Week One -- Magic Hours by Explosions in the Sky

2008-12-12T17:42:00.002-06:00

Alright, so I'm going to try and do a weekly 'feature' type thing, creatively entitled "Song of the Week." My plan is to expose you (the loyal reader) to a new song, and hopefully band, that you haven't heard of before. It's my goal to try and vary the genre, and I'll TRY and update regularly, but if I forget, let me know and I'll put a new one up.For the first week, let's take a look at a band

Twilight Review!

2008-12-11T18:55:00.001-06:00

Twilight, for a long time, was an enigma to me. And, far as I could see, an enigma it would remain. After all, I had no urges to join the tween girl phenomenon. But eventually, through forces beyond my control, it was pushed into my hands and I was forced to read. If you're pressed for time, here's my review in four words: What's the big fuss? I suppose it's easiest to compare Twilight to the

Hey Stumbler!

2008-12-10T22:04:00.001-06:00

Click the thumbs-up button!Please. I have kids to feed.This ad revenue helps ever-so-slightly.