Webs’ Random Ideas

Pandora Internet Radio. Ok for those of you that do not know, this is one of the coolest things ever. So essentially Pandora is an Internet radio station that allows you to listen to what type of music you want to, whenever you want, and only to the music that suits your fancy. I recommend creating an account, which is free, so you can go back to listen to your music.

So you start out by entering in an artist you like. Pandora then tries to find music that matches the artist you choose. And the music that you listen to, you can rate so that Pandora can do a better job of selecting your tunes. Then what you have is an Internet radio station that doesn’t play crap. If you get tired of listening to one type of music just create a new radio station.

The only downside I came across was when I tried to skip too many songs. Be weary of this, you can only skip about 3 or 4 songs before it stops you. But mine were about back to back.

Regardless Pandora is an easy way to listen to what you want, and it has a beautiful, easy to use interface. It will be my new IT work, music listening, one stop shop.

Thanks goes out to my beautiful girlfriend for pointing this site out to me.

I am a huge fan of liberal arts. I think the arts are one of the most important things our society has. Not only in terms of self expressions and a means for an outlet, but in terms of creating a community and a language and cultural barrier. An artist of any kind, whether it be in music, games, drawings, pictures, movies, writing, etc can take a message, and make it so clear that anyone can understand. That to me is power. How many times have you ever said something in your life that never needed to be repeated to someone that had already heard it, and that was so powerful that everyone stopped what they were doing and paid attention? How many times have you had your message repeated to others in an attempt to share your communication with the world? Well as far as I know I have never had that profound of an impact on anything, but then again my mission in life isn’t to be immortal.

What I like to do though is write about issues that I feel are important to me, but more importantly, should matter to the rest of the world. My friend DOF is also writing about this issue, but in terms of education as a whole. I think his ideas for lower education are wonderful and are fantastic ideas, and I like his idea on drawing as a communication skill:

(Trust me, you will not need to “encourage creativity” if you equip children with with an ability like that. If kids are not creative it is because we have deprived them of the tools to be creative with. How creative can you be if your reading comprehension is poor, you can’t write a clear sentence, you don’t know anything, and you can’t draw?)

I will tend to agree with this but take it one step further. I think art classes should be mandatory at most levels of schooling (Maybe on in primary and elementary school, and then one for each year of junior high, and then another for high school). And we should make sure that more than just drawing get touched on. Children of all ages need to learn the importance of all forms of art at all levels within a functional society, and I think DOF’s idea is a step in the right direction.

The thing that inspired me to write about this was the documentary Street Prophetz. What a wonderful film this was, and right now it can be seen for free at Google Videos. The film follows underground artists in Hip-Hop, Skateboarding, MC, freestyle danncing, and Graffiti. I had no idea how beautiful graffiti art could be till I saw this film. But I really like how the artist said that graffiti art also creates a community where artists can come together and collaborate. And I think this was an underlying message in the movie, that all of these forms of art lead to a community where people work together to come up with some amazing results. Take skateboarding for instance. Many skateboarders on the streets work together and skate together, and this creates a project of collaboration, and the results are stunning. Just watch the street competition of a skateboarding event sometime.

The film also follows a couple hip-hop artists and really dives into their history and how they got started. I am a fan of hip-hop, not rap, but hip-hop. For those of you wondering, there is a difference. Hip-hop to me is more natural, because it doesn’t have to be mass-produced. It’s not about telling people what your going to do with your bitches, and coming out with the same shit year after year. Rap is overplayed, washed out beats, and lyrics an 8 year old could write (which I guess is why there used to be a couple of 8 or 10 year old rappers). Now there are a couple of main-stream rappers I have respect for, such as Common, Mos Def, Kanye West, and probably someone else I am forgetting, but for the most part, I try not to waste time listening to it. Hip-hop started as an underground movement, and it is still strong and thriving today. A good way to hear underground music of any form is to listen to the local college station, or hop on the web and do a simple Google search. Also try going to bars when a local band or a small band is going to play. The money spent on the cover charge for hearing a local or small time band is better spent, versus buying a CD from Best Buy.

I really like the way the film shows you how a lot of these underground arts got started, and how they function. Most people put graffiti in the same category as littering, but I think if they see another side to it, their perception will change.

I actually like this video, because if you stay with it long enough, you get to hear more of his benign speech.   Tubes eh.  Man it makes me feel good that a moron that knows nothing of computers and technology is in charge of the Internet in our government.

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to Chicago to see my brother and his girlfriend.  It was a great time.  I haven't had a chance to see my brother in awhile, so I was really looking forward to it.  The trip started when we met my brother and his girlfriend at the Ravinia Festival.  The particular day we went, the festival was celebrating the works of George Gershwin.  It was 1936 when people climbed the trees at the festival to see the performance of An American in Paris.  The concert was great, people we just spread out relaxing listening to some great classical music.  The food and drinks at the place were outlandish, so we all held our appetite as best we could.  The concert was at 7:00P so by the time we got to my brother's it was around 11:00p, this includes the time spent driving around trying to find a place still open.  After hanging out for a bit, we all decided to crash, since we would be getting up around 8:00A to make it to the museum as early as possible. 

We got to the Field Museum around 10:00A, and to our dismay tickets for the King Tut exhibit were already sold out (however, tickets are an extra $15, so maybe it was better this way).  This was one of our main reasons for going to the Field Museum, but we made the most of what we had, which was three floors of science.  The first thing we went to was the evolving planet which taught you about where plants and animals came from, as well as theory into the evolution of the planet.  One of the first diagrams we came across was one of cells in plants, and how they turn energy from the sun into energy the plant can use as food.  To show this there was a the picture of a cell in four states (the cell was a little guy that had small arms, legs and two eyes).  The first state, the cell was in was taking carbon dioxide and water.  The second state, the cell captured the sun's energy using photocells.  The third state showed the cell using heat from the sun to change carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen.  The last state showed the cell displacing it's bi-product known as oxygen.  But it was how the cell was shown here in this state.  It appeared as though the cell was farting it out, and had his arms open to the sides as if to say, excuse me.  The thing that made this whole diagram great was the cartoonish drawings used to display the message, and it was a very effective way of showing the process.  After the evolving planet exhibit, which was quite long, we went to grab a bite to eat at the bakery in the museum, and then proceeded to ancient Egypt exhibit.  We called it the "I couldn't afford to see King Tut" exhibit.  I really enjoyed this as well, because the museum recreated what they pictured one of these societies may have looked like.  They had some really interesting facts and information, such as a piece of Egyptian engineering.  The Egyptian engineers actually figured out a way to track the river heights over the years.  They did this because the river fluctuations really affected Egyptian crops, some years the river would be high, and kill the crops by flooding, and other years it would be low, causing drought.  What the Egyptians did was mark stones along the river with the height of the river from previous years using there own system.  This way they could make predictions.

Next we headed to an Exhibit dedicated to the Tsavo Lions of Kenya.  This was pretty interesting as well.  Apparently these lions are known to get rather large, and were first reported to have killed 28 British railroad workers in the 1800's.  We then made our way out of the museum and ended the day in Chinatown which happened to have a festival going on at the time.  What a great weekend!!

Within the last year or so I have stepped up my guitar playing.  Instead of being a novice, I would say I am an advanced novice… if such a thing exists.  But lately I haven't found much time.  I have been busy doing other worthless crap.  So I decided to start playing more.  Music is one of those wonderful things people on this planet have come up with.  I don't know what I would do without it.  I could seriously sit in a room completely silenced and have the music in my head to keep me company.  I just wish I was better at the guitar so I could play all my favorite songs.  But anyways, I started again and I really enjoyed it.  The thing that really amazed me was that I was able to pick up the guitar and start playing as if I never stopped.  I thought I would have re-teach myself some things, but I was able to play a lot of things I was able to before with little trouble.  And I quickly taught myself some new things.  If any of you have never picked up an instrument in your life, or if you've set one down, I strongly urge you to pick it back up and give it a shot.  I bet you'd be pleasantly surprised.

Check out this funny video.  It's a decent protrayal of what things would be like if Iran was next. 

Let's bomb Iran?

Last Saturday night I went with my family to the Blue Moon Coffee House.  This is more an event then a place.  It is a night of music sponsored by Wesleyan University in Bloomington.  Those that run the event get independent musicians to play.  Last Saturday was the last one of this season, and the musical talent was Kristina Olsen and David Jacobs-Strain.  Kristina Olsen is a fun, witty, and an amazing musician from California that spends most her time in Australia, performing and recording.  David Strain, is from Portland and has a southern blues style that is unique and absolutely wonderful to hear.  At a young age his voice and guitar skills rival most seasoned veterans.  Links to both of their websites as well as a website to buy independent artists' music can be found with the rest of my links.  I highly recommend looking into some of their music, you'd be surprised at what you find.

Here is a link to a great music video: Outlandish - Look Into My Eyes.  For those of you that are unaware, this song is about the conflict between Israel and Palestine.  The song is told from a Palestinian point of view, and has metaphors to help show what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, such as the wall that was built to "cage in" the Palestinians.  Other references include the checkpoints that are everywhere that keep the Palestinians from leaving, and being treated inhumanly.  I really like how Outlandish used the story of Little Red Riding Hood to get the message across.  It's simple but effective.

The song itself is based off a poem written by, Gihad Ali, and follows the same premise as the song, but I do like the poem more because there are lines that were left out of the song, and I believe those lines are powerful and help to signify the message being said.  My favorite lines from the poem are what Outlandish used as the chorus,

Yet do you know the truth
of where your money goes?
Do you let your media deceive your mind?
Is this a truth that no one knows?

Excellent questions because I think many Americans do not realize where their money goes all the time.