Shock Wave: Part 19- I Listened
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
Cindy and I woke up the next morning and left the small motel in the town of Tracy behind after fueling up the gas tank and our bodies at what seemed like the town’s only gas station. We had roughly six hours left, of driving through the Northern part of California that everyone forgets about, before we could even cross the state boarder into Oregon and I wasn’t really sure where we were going after we got up there. The hitchhiking passenger in my car’s front seat was still being incredibly mysterious, and I still didn’t know anything about how she was related to this strange story. As we made our way back to the five-freeway I decided to make it my mission to find out more about the stranger sitting beside me. (more…)
You & Me by Diamond Rings
I just think this video is so cute.
Diamond Rings, whose name is John O’Regan, is a Canadian artist and musician who got his start in music as one of the founding members of post-punk quartet The D’Urbervilles (later named Matters) with Tim Bruton, Kyle Donnelly and Greg Santilly. He also formed the Casio-pop duo Habitat in 2006 with his partner at the time, Sylvie Smith of The Barmitzvah Brothers. His first release was a limited edition split 7-inch vinyl single titled “All Yr Songs”
Writing Through Writer’s Block
Via David McQueen
“Bad writers are bad because they stop too soon. In fact, let’s take a step back. The only quality, I think, that marks the writer as different from everyone else is simply an unwillingness to quit. Others give up when they learn writing is hard; the writer struggles on. When I sit down in front of the blank page, it’s no easier for me to fill it than anyone else. The non-writer looks at the blank page and — quite sensibly — says, ‘forget it, I’m outta here.’ But if they had to, they could put a few words down there — just like I do. Only the words wouldn’t be any good. So the non-writer gets frustrated, gives up and leaves. Me, too, I get frustrated… but I sit there, and work to make it better. Anybody who’s willing to struggle, I think, can write. The real work is to stick at it until you find the gold. To get to that funny line. To do the hard work no one else wants to do, but everyone wants to have done. To discover the great character bit, the clever story turn. Until you have it, you don’t have it. Until it’s there, it’s not there — and you need to stick at it until it is there.”
— Terry Rossario
It seems as though the only way to pull a writer out from the depths of absolute nothingness is to force a gun up to their head and tell them to write. It’s as if the stern actions from their jacked-up ridiculously terrifying action hero of a muse has the power to lift the verbal blockage that releases the most wonderful stories known to man. Why is it though that I have to force myself to write in order to overcome the mind boggling pause in my creative stream of consciousness? (more…)
Shock Wave: Part 18- The Nightmare
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
There it was again, an attractive woman with short blonde hair wearing jeans and a white button up t-shirt that was two sizes too big sat before Sarah in a car.
“Ready?” The woman said to Sarah as she threw the old blue Chevy pickup truck into gear.
“Yes,” Sarah said.
The woman scrunched her tiny nose and let her bright sparkly blue eyes peek through behind her long lashes as she smiled at Sarah. “Okay, this is it then. There’s no turning back.” (more…)
Party Talk by Craft Spells
Craft Spells is a band whose members are made up of Justin Paul, Vallesteros, Jack Doyle Smith, Javier Suarez and Andy Lum. Craft Spells is sort of purposely in that “bedroom pop project” realm. Captured Tracks has released 7 inch single for the song “Party Talk.” I don’t know why, but lead singer, Justin, is a California native who lives in Stockton, California. Regardless of where they live and what part of California they’re from, the music is great and their beautiful melodies sound so chill. I dig it.
Let’s Talk About Dieting
As posted by Miss Millennia Magazine.
“I stopped dieting when I figured out that you just have to eat regularly and properly within moderation,” wrote Now magazine quoting Jennifer Aniston. “The fads are too much.”
Seeing ads and articles promoting popular “fad” diets in the attempt to try and find facts and figures about the diet industry only proves the point that there are a lot of people out there spending money on quick fixes instead of changing their lifestyle. And the $40 million a year going into the pockets of the diet industry doesn’t help the argument in favor of crash diets. (more…)
College: Take It with You When You Go
As published by Miss Millennia Magazine.
It’s that time of the year when thoughts of self-reflection and planning for the hot days of summer come rushing like cool fresh water of a rapid river in to your mind. Your anticipation for the future is overwhelming and the possibility of new adventures feel just like the subtle changes of the coming season within the air. This time is also an important one for graduating seniors at the high school and college level. You think back at all the hours you have sat at wooden desks and metal tables and you wonder how it will all play a part in the time yet to come. As the realization of reality hits, you wonder about your career, and dare I say, you wonder if you will be successful. (more…)
Shock Wave: Part 17- The Escape
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
Sarah Liera had been trapped underneath her psychiatrist’s desk in the middle of the night for over an hour before that same psychiatrist got up and left to use the restroom again. If it wasn’t for the hot tea rushing though his body at the moment Sarah could have been trapped there all night.
She made her move quietly and quickly when she heard the door shut and threw the file back in to the cabinet and shut it all in one swipe. She then shuffled off into the front room and eventually out of the window nearly hurling herself outside of the building. She never stopped running once her feet hit the dirt and she traveled into the dark with no newly acquired knowledge that she so desperately sought. (more…)
Microphone Fiend by Eric B. & Rakim
I went back in time again to look for some classic hip hop with lyrics that flowed dangerously smooth like volcanic lava gracefully killing everything in its path. Microphone Fiend, by Eric B. & Rakim, is known as one of the signature songs for Rakim when comes down to lyrics. Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim, born William Michael Griffin Jr., are from Long Island, New York, and produced some amazing music during hip hop’s “golden age” in the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. They are arguably the first MC/DJ combo in hip hop and they “built on the hard-hitting sound of Run-D.M.C. by adding James Brown samples and Eric B’s scratching, setting the stage for hip hop’s late-1980s/early-1990s infatuation with samples from Brown.”
Times Are Changing
In a matter of five months my life has went from incredibly depressing to surfing the skies on cloud nine, and the rapid shift in my life’s progression has left me with the strangest time-elapsing whip lash. So much has happened that at times I feel I can’t comprehend the amount I’ve accomplished in this period and, oddly enough, I feel I haven’t finished this trend of quickly occurring positive changes yet.
Recently, while sitting in my comfy office chair, located inside the Bakersfield Californian building, I was offered to cover a quick feature story on one of my old high school teachers. After getting in touch with him via email, he responded to my inquiry and agreed to be interviewed by his former student. (more…)
Shock Wave: Part 16- Big Sky Country
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
“Tell me a little about yourself,” I asked the hitchhiker lying in the motel bed next to mine. I had met Cindy that morning and traveled with her for that entire day but I didn’t really know anything about her.
“I suppose I could give you that much since you haven’t kicked me out yet and that you’re actually driving me all the way to Oregon,” Cindy said. “I really didn’t know if you were going to go through with it.”
“I’m being coerced though.”
“You’re just really nosy and want to hear the rest of my story.” (more…)
Stay Don’t Go by Spoon
Heading back in my iPod again this time to a band that got their start in the 90s. Spoon is an Austin, Texas band that’s made up of Britt Daniel (vocals, guitar); Jim Eno (drums); Rob Pope (bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and Eric Harvey (keyboard, guitar, percussion, backing vocals).
According to Wikipedia, “the band was formed in late 1993 by the lead singer and guitarist Britt Daniel and the drummer Jim Eno, after the two met as members of The Alien Beats. The name Spoon was chosen to honor the 1970s German avant-garde band Can, whose hit song “Spoon” was the theme song to the 1985 movie Das Messer aka Jagged Edgein the United States. Eno describes Spoon’s music as “rock ‘n’ roll.”
Stay Don’t Go
For the Mind, Body and Spirit
“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” ― Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Finding an outlet that can ease away the tough struggles and stress of the day, is key to a long happy and healthy life. And finding that outlet in a practice that can reshape the mind, body and spirit is even better. Yoga, one of the six astika schools of Hindu philosophy, incorporates these three aspects of the self and is also found in Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and in less spiritual and more popular practices of the mainstream. (more…)
An Exchange of Power: A Letter from the Former Editor
As Posted on Uloop News.
Eleven months ago I answered my phone on speaker while barreling down the busy 405 freeway, on my way to one of my internships at the time, during heavy rush hour morning traffic. I had the most disastrously successful interview for the campus editor position at Uloop News and had gotten the job. Now, eleven months later, I have learned what it really takes to manage and lead a group of intelligent individuals in order to achieve a common goal of starting a conversation with our readers and reporting the news, and I’m passing along the torch of editorial power to one of the students who used to write for me. (more…)
Cut to Black by Lemaitre
I just really like this song, Cut to Black
Okay, here’s what I found out about this lovely group from their site: “Lemaitre is a Norwegian indie-electronic duo who formed in the summer of 2010. Together, Ketil & Ulrik create raging disco beats, mixed with soft synthphrases and gripping melodies. When playing live they combine live instruments, not so live instruments and good old live vocals. In their short career, Lemaitre has gained a following from all over the world.The Friendly Sound EP was released at the end of 2010, and the duo are currently working on new material and playing shows wherever the music takes them. Lemaitre is influenced by artists like Justice, Phoenix, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Noisia, Ratatat and Röyksopp (all bands that I love).”
April Is National Autism Awareness Month
As published on Miss Millennia Magazine.
In recent times it seems as though more children are being diagnosed with autism and, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this observation seems to be true. 1 in 88 American children are diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and out of those figures, boys are commonly associated four out of five times than their female counterparts. In the U.S. two million individuals are diagnosed and tens of millions fall within the spectrum worldwide. The 10 to 17 percent increase in rates however is suspected to be a result of research conducted and by improved diagnosis and awareness. (more…)
Shock Wave: Part 14- The Break In
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
Subtle sounds of snoring slipped out from the body lying next to Sarah. It was now her chance to sneak out from the large wooden house in the woods and off to break into her psychiatrist’s office in town. It was a risky operation, but she was running out of time before someone caught on that she wasn’t taking the mysterious medication that was making her forget her past. She couldn’t mess up either tonight, because her husband and her psychiatrist were forcibly drugging her to forget something she couldn’t imagine what they would do to her if they found out she had started to remember. (more…)
Concrete Wall by Zee Avi
Before you say anything, yes, I did here this song on the television show, “Gossip Girl,” a while back at first, but it started playing on my iPod and this song is just freakin’ fantastic. Zee Avi, or Izyan Alirahman, who is also known as KokoKaina, is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player whose twitter bio suggests that she likes pancakes, which is so incredibly wonderful. She actually studied fashion design at American InterContinental University in London, but after she posted a video on YouTube for one of her friends who had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur in 2007, she kind of got discovered in the music biz.
After being featured on YouTube’s front page, Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs passed the link to Ian Montone, the manager of The White Stripes, The Shins, The Raconteurs, and others. Montone passed her music on to Emmett Malloy, who signed her to Brushfire Records, a record company which is partly owned by Jack Johnson. Her song “No Christmas For Me” is featured on Brushfire Records’s 2008 Christmas album This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday. Her single “Bitter Heart” was first to become available on the US iTunes Store, and her full self-titled debut album was released on May 19, 2009, co-produced by Brushfire Records and Ian Montone’s Monotone Records.
On the day of her album’s release, YouTube featured her on the front page in Spotlight: Music Tuesday. From June–August 2009, she toured the United States with Pete Yorn. The final concert on her first U.S. tour was at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, California on August 27, 2009. Avi’s song “Monte” was featured in the second season finale of Private Practice. Her song “Concrete Wall
Shock Wave: Part 13- Remember Who To Trust
Catch up before you continue on with the story.
The plan was incredibly simple. Slip outside the house while her husband was sleeping and sneak into Dr. Aislinn’s office in town to look for some answers to her past and possible help restore her memory completely. The problem, however, was her ability to actually pull this off without getting caught by the individuals who wanted her to forget something important. (more…)
Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert
I know that everyone and their brother has already seen this video, but I just wanted to put it on my blog to show how fantastic this was. Mackemore, or Ben Haggerty and formerly Professor Macklemore, is an amazing rapper who, according to Wikipedia, “began independently releasing music since 2000 and now collaborates with producer Ryan Lewis, violinist Andrew Joslyn, and trumpeter Owuor Arunga. He has gained a significant online fanbase.”
“He has released one mixtape, three EPs and two albums, although none on a major record label. His music video “Thrift Shop” has been viewed on YouTube more than 200 million times, and reached number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, selling more than 2.2 million copies. Macklemore released his debut studio album The Heist on October 9, 2012, which charted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 78,000 copies in the first week.“
Macklemore’s support of gay rights, including same-sex marriage, is expressed in his single “Same Love”. The song also condemns homophobia in hip hop, society and mass media. He does not follow organized religion, referring in “Vipassana” to an “atheist Jesus piece,” symbolic of his spiritual and philosophical views.
Several of his singles elaborate on symbolism and a philosophy of the term “God” defining not a being, but in what and how an individual is able to realize a faith and happiness. Macklemore has said to have realized this in hip hop music. In “Church”, Macklemore contrasts established religion’s collectivism to the subjectivity of realities he would face growing up, including almost losing his life to drug-use. The ink used for his writing is described as God in place of Jesus Christ; hearing his music play out of speakers, “communion“; the South Bronx as “hip hop’s Egypt“; and his savior being hip hop music by way of referenced originator Kool Herc. In 2008, Macklemore went to rehab for drug-addiction, alcoholism and related obsessive behavior. He spent most of his twenties “trying to fight [his] way out of that (way of life)”.
“I want to be someone who is respected and not just in terms of my music. I want to be respected in terms of the way that I treat people. The way, the subjects in which I choose to .. address through my music. And not because I’m, like, trying to make records about them. It’s just that’s what’s important to me. Music is my creative outlet in terms of expressing what is important to me; what has importance, what has a value. And I wanna be respected for that.”—Macklemore, Jabari Presents
The Reward of Giving Back
As published on Miss Millennia Magazine.
Why is it important to give back to the community? There are some people that walk around aimlessly chasing material things. They find everything that they are looking for, nothing of what they need. We connect with each other when share what’s in our minds, spread what’s in our hearts, and give what’s rooted deep down in our souls. On some level we have this deep urge to help one another and find a common place within each one of us, and we can do this every day by giving back what was shared with us. (more…)
