Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Pink Floyd: Another Check on my List.
When I was 12 I owned four Pink Floyd albums. I wasn't sure why, but I had them. I listened to them, and I liked them, and that was essentially all that mattered. I had no idea that there were somewhere near 26 recorded products by the band. I didn't know anything about the members. I didn't understand the ideas of musique concr`ete. I didn't really get the point to a concept album. I was just amazed that a band could make an album with two tracks clocking in at a combined 26 minutes that I could listen to in succession and be absolutely captivated for the entire time. Even more fascinating is the fact that an entire album could sync up perfectly with a movie and then the creators of said album could deny the fact that they made any effort to do such a thing.
When I was 12, someone much older than me saw my four Pink Floyd albums and made the statement that Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left was hardly Pink Floyd. I had no idea who Syd Barrett was and agreed because 12 year olds that deny you are so much less cool than 12 year olds that agree with you. Eight years later I would like to say that I firmly disagree with his statement and my own.
I've done some research. This means reading some reviews and personal accounts and watching videos and so on and so forth. I have, from this, determined that Syd Barrett may have been the most creative and inspired member of the band. I will even grant that he was the most important and influential member of the band, but this has nothing to do with his work with the band.
Three of Pink Floyd's best and most critically acclaimed albums (and three of the four I actually own) are Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. These albums were recorded and released in this same order. Dark Side of the Moon was released in March of '73. Syd left (or was removed --- I can't seem to find conclusive evidence either way) in '68.
Syd's departure from the band was attributed primarily to the fact that he was insane. This was a combination of preexisting mental problems (Syd was always sort of charismatic, apparently. But, you know, in the crazy person kind of way), and his recreational use of LSD after Pink Floyd's initial success. The Dark Side of the Moon is primarily about mental illness, hospitalization, the frailty of the human psyche, and the human condition. It would be nieve to believe that the leaving of Barrett had no influence on Roger Watters, who was a major creative force in the band, as he and Barrett had been childhood friends. In recent years and interview was published in Rolling Stone with guitarist David Gilmour. He suggested that a large part of their lyrics had been too indirect in the past, and they [then] should be more candid in their song writing. He suggested they discuss the hardships of their way of life, particularly the effects it had on their friend Syd.
September of '75 brought another release, Wish You Were Here. This album was written primarily by Waters. The album stemmed from some demo ideas such as "Raving and Drooling" , and "Gotta Be Crazy" and what would eventually become "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". These tracks were turned into an album's skeleton work by Waters, who felt the band lacked the comradery they once felt while Barrett was still a contributing member. The meandering preamble to the the lyrical body of "Shine On...(I-V)" is alegedly an homage to the progressively improvisational style Barrett was so much admired for in the early days of Pink Floyd. Moreover, the lyrics seem to reflect Barrett's situation, stating "Remember when you were young, and you shone like the sun?... Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky."
The irony of this, of course, is that during the finalizing of the tracks for "Shine On", a strange, over-weight man with a pale face and shaved head and eyebrows (an image which would later be used in "The Wall") entered the studio. He inquired about Waters, and was after a few moments was discovered as Syd Barrett himself. This was the cause of great distress to many of the present members, especially Waters, who reportedly wept at the sight of his former friend and fellow musician. This was the first anyone had seen of Barrett in seven years. They sat, talked, and even asked Barrett to critique the tracks for "Shine On". He was ultimately unaware of the song's relationship to his then current state, which had been finished musically as well as lyrically. According to Waters, Barrett stayed and conversed with the band for several hours, but never seemed himself, or entirely there. This would be the last time anyone would see Barrett before his death in 2006. The title track for this album, "Wish You Were Here" expresses the longingness for the return of the once vibrant, creative being that was Barrett, and juxtaposes his absence with the idealist, romanticized nature of Waters.
In January of '77, Animals was released. This album featured the two tracks "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" reworked and renamed as "Sheep" and "Dogs", respectively. This album marked the turning away from psychedelic marketing, discussing primarily Orwell's "Animal Farm". The band, disillusioned to psychadellia by the state of Barrett, moved to a downtrodden area of Islington, known for its crime rate and racial tension. The hope of the band was to return to the scene which birthed them. During this era, Waters embraced what he called the "punk rock insurrection" and began working on the next album and the attached film "The Wall". Some cite the former relationship between Barrett and Waters as the catalyst for the more vulgar style adopted while writing the following albums .
I have 4 percent left of my battery. I think, though, that it is apparent my stance. Syd Barrett was possibly the most important part of Pink Floyd; gaining them notice, writing all of their preliminary material, and inspiring them all to create more extravagant works. Even so, the best thing Barrett could do for the band was lose his mind --- and so he did. Pink Floyd was most definitely not the same after Syd Barrett, but I think we're looking at this from two completely different perspectives.
When I was 12, someone much older than me saw my four Pink Floyd albums and made the statement that Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left was hardly Pink Floyd. I had no idea who Syd Barrett was and agreed because 12 year olds that deny you are so much less cool than 12 year olds that agree with you. Eight years later I would like to say that I firmly disagree with his statement and my own.
I've done some research. This means reading some reviews and personal accounts and watching videos and so on and so forth. I have, from this, determined that Syd Barrett may have been the most creative and inspired member of the band. I will even grant that he was the most important and influential member of the band, but this has nothing to do with his work with the band.
Three of Pink Floyd's best and most critically acclaimed albums (and three of the four I actually own) are Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. These albums were recorded and released in this same order. Dark Side of the Moon was released in March of '73. Syd left (or was removed --- I can't seem to find conclusive evidence either way) in '68.
Syd's departure from the band was attributed primarily to the fact that he was insane. This was a combination of preexisting mental problems (Syd was always sort of charismatic, apparently. But, you know, in the crazy person kind of way), and his recreational use of LSD after Pink Floyd's initial success. The Dark Side of the Moon is primarily about mental illness, hospitalization, the frailty of the human psyche, and the human condition. It would be nieve to believe that the leaving of Barrett had no influence on Roger Watters, who was a major creative force in the band, as he and Barrett had been childhood friends. In recent years and interview was published in Rolling Stone with guitarist David Gilmour. He suggested that a large part of their lyrics had been too indirect in the past, and they [then] should be more candid in their song writing. He suggested they discuss the hardships of their way of life, particularly the effects it had on their friend Syd.
September of '75 brought another release, Wish You Were Here. This album was written primarily by Waters. The album stemmed from some demo ideas such as "Raving and Drooling" , and "Gotta Be Crazy" and what would eventually become "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". These tracks were turned into an album's skeleton work by Waters, who felt the band lacked the comradery they once felt while Barrett was still a contributing member. The meandering preamble to the the lyrical body of "Shine On...(I-V)" is alegedly an homage to the progressively improvisational style Barrett was so much admired for in the early days of Pink Floyd. Moreover, the lyrics seem to reflect Barrett's situation, stating "Remember when you were young, and you shone like the sun?... Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky."
The irony of this, of course, is that during the finalizing of the tracks for "Shine On", a strange, over-weight man with a pale face and shaved head and eyebrows (an image which would later be used in "The Wall") entered the studio. He inquired about Waters, and was after a few moments was discovered as Syd Barrett himself. This was the cause of great distress to many of the present members, especially Waters, who reportedly wept at the sight of his former friend and fellow musician. This was the first anyone had seen of Barrett in seven years. They sat, talked, and even asked Barrett to critique the tracks for "Shine On". He was ultimately unaware of the song's relationship to his then current state, which had been finished musically as well as lyrically. According to Waters, Barrett stayed and conversed with the band for several hours, but never seemed himself, or entirely there. This would be the last time anyone would see Barrett before his death in 2006. The title track for this album, "Wish You Were Here" expresses the longingness for the return of the once vibrant, creative being that was Barrett, and juxtaposes his absence with the idealist, romanticized nature of Waters.
In January of '77, Animals was released. This album featured the two tracks "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" reworked and renamed as "Sheep" and "Dogs", respectively. This album marked the turning away from psychedelic marketing, discussing primarily Orwell's "Animal Farm". The band, disillusioned to psychadellia by the state of Barrett, moved to a downtrodden area of Islington, known for its crime rate and racial tension. The hope of the band was to return to the scene which birthed them. During this era, Waters embraced what he called the "punk rock insurrection" and began working on the next album and the attached film "The Wall". Some cite the former relationship between Barrett and Waters as the catalyst for the more vulgar style adopted while writing the following albums .
I have 4 percent left of my battery. I think, though, that it is apparent my stance. Syd Barrett was possibly the most important part of Pink Floyd; gaining them notice, writing all of their preliminary material, and inspiring them all to create more extravagant works. Even so, the best thing Barrett could do for the band was lose his mind --- and so he did. Pink Floyd was most definitely not the same after Syd Barrett, but I think we're looking at this from two completely different perspectives.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Portraits of ourselves as demi-gods
I am and have in the recent past taken classes on ethics, metaphysics, and morality as a whole. This, no doubt, makes me an expert on all things of this nature. Prepare to be blinded by pseudo-science.
The less context you can give this, the better off it will be, and the cooler I will seem.
Basically, morality is a complicated animal. We can discuss a lot of things involving moral issues, and each instance seems a little different. We can talk about a lot of different facets of the moral right, and try to determine the necessity of a greater moral law. We can contrast objectivism and subjectivism. We can assign values to various levels of cognition. If you wanted, we could even talk about the differences between "want"s and "volition"s and the orders thereof. We could talk about maxims, and universal law, and egoism, and solipsism, and allegory. But I don't want to.
You see, you're reading this, which means two things; You're probably human, meaning all of these things are implied knowledge, and you know me, meaning you are a literate, intelligent being capable of navigating google in order to articulate this knowledge that I insist is requisite for living to the ripe age of say --- 20.
I would much rather talk about the way morality functions relative to relationships. This is pertinent to my interests.
(editors note: This is decidedly one-sided. I attribute this to my external genitalia. Sorry ladies.)
There are a lot of things we can discuss on the topic. It seems all of my friends have relationship troubles in some form or fashion. They are desperately lost. They are hopelessly abandoned. They are heartlessly ignored. They are suffocatingly crowded.
All my friends (for this discussion) are guys (at least most of the time).
People often make jokes about the simplicity that is the male mentality. Sleep, food, sex, and television. All things external to these four are unaddressed by our would-be prime directive and as such are unimportant. The fact of the matter is, there is an underlying network of relationship information and protocol which we have attained, a priori.
We are hard-wired for relationships, despite the fact that we cannot help but feel nature prodding us towards promiscuity once in a while. The need to pro-create and spread the seed is strong, but not so strong that we cannot quell the thoughts of straying with the thought of our wounded better half.
Dogs are qualified as "man's best friend" because man sees an unmistakable likeness between the two. Loyalty. Loyalty is the cornerstone of the male perspective in relationships. That's not to say that one must always be loyal in the definitive sense. There is forgiveness. All men and dogs may ask for is the attempt at loyalty. The illusion of remorse. The attempt at apology. A glimmer of faith. Such is enough for a man to hold his ground and weather even the worst a woman may have to bear. That having been said, a dog can only be beaten so many times before it responds with lax enthusiasm to the call of it's master. Much the same is the mentality of a man.
In my personal experience, you receive one real chance at loyalty. In relationships, I have been disregarded. Discredited. My trust has been misplaced. This, of course, only happens once. After the first offense, though I would remain, I am guarded. Absolutely, I still love, affect for, and all that jazz. But with one foot on the ground. As far as I am aware, most men are like this. Granted, I have friends who work their hardest to shed this standard and will willingly abandon their grudges for a chance at what once was, but even in their rare and beautifully trusting circumstances, I am willing to submit that there is always going to be a hint of reservation. And I am willing to argue that there will always be a final offense.
Why fight nature?
In my mind, there is a biological method to relationships. With each offense it is as if one were injecting a poison into the other. Though the body may sift through the blood and find the toxins and filter them as well as it is able, the blood will never be pure again. Toxicity rises, blood curdles, the body withers, and such things die.
We say what we mean and the rest we call love.
In moments of great distress, it is so easy for us to claim a moral high-ground. We can claim to be willing to do so much in order to gain so much more. When the time comes to own up to our claims, can we live up to them? Are we capable? Do we even care to be? Or are words such a sufficient substitute for action that we can say what we mean, but never mean what we say? Personally, when I die, nothing will be left of me but the words I have said, and it is my sincerest hope that those words echo the person I truly was and not the person I needed to be to get what I wanted. In the end, we all must evaluate the truth of our words and quantify them to measure the truth of our existence. We all are means and have means to an end, but I doubt that you can love the means while you lust for an end.
Morality is perspective.
I know, this is subjectivism, and to be ultimately true to morality, it must be unbiased and universally applicable. Even so, morality lies on interpretation of the scenario, and interpretation lies on the shoulders of perspective.
Perspective is a matter of time.
Some people are born with the capability to quantify all the possible outcomes of a scenario instantly (or at the very least, in an acceptable amount of time). These people are a step ahead of those who are a step ahead. We call them geniuses. Or sociopaths. Depending on if we like them or not. These people are the advice-givers. The manipulators. The prophets. They are the ones who know you better than you know yourself, and see your conclusions before you come to them. Some of these people appreciate their own foresight, and act wisely as a result. We consider these people "safe" (with a varying connotation). Some act without regard to their knowledge and these are the people we call "careless". And some people act without considering the consequences of their actions. We call these people "reckless". These people will never realize what will happen until after it has happened. Only then will they grasp the full impact that their actions held, and even then it is left to chance that they find they are alone responsible. This is a matter of perspective, which is a matter of time. Eventually people see the walls of the hole they have dug, even if it isn't until they are trying to determine the best way to climb out.
Morals are simply a matter of time.
Love is not a fleeting feeling. Love is not a moment of uncertainty. Love is not a distant memory. Love is not an instrument to fill your stomach, or steady your hand, or ease your breath. Love is the product of the work you are willing to give. You can love anyone you want, but never more than one person. Love is a feeling of majority.
Life is long. It is fast, but it is long. And it is by no means over for any of us. Hope, love loyalty, honesty, truth, whatever. It's there. And the way you spend your time looking, or not looking for any of these things is the truest measure of who you are as a person, or lover, or friend.
This wasn't about anyone specific, though I know people will see themselves in what I have written. If you read this far, I'm sure you won't have any trouble taking my sincerity on faith. This was a long one. But at least it was something to read --- whether you think it was worth reading or not. If it was coherent or not. If it was worth reading or not. If it was worth reading.
"no longer easy on the eyes; these wrinkles masterfully disguise the youthful boy below, who turned your way and saw something he was not looking for --- both a beginning and an end. but now he lives inside someone he does not recognize when he catches his reflection on accident."
I'm just waiting for a spring thaw. And a summer-night's thunderstorm.
The less context you can give this, the better off it will be, and the cooler I will seem.
Basically, morality is a complicated animal. We can discuss a lot of things involving moral issues, and each instance seems a little different. We can talk about a lot of different facets of the moral right, and try to determine the necessity of a greater moral law. We can contrast objectivism and subjectivism. We can assign values to various levels of cognition. If you wanted, we could even talk about the differences between "want"s and "volition"s and the orders thereof. We could talk about maxims, and universal law, and egoism, and solipsism, and allegory. But I don't want to.
You see, you're reading this, which means two things; You're probably human, meaning all of these things are implied knowledge, and you know me, meaning you are a literate, intelligent being capable of navigating google in order to articulate this knowledge that I insist is requisite for living to the ripe age of say --- 20.
I would much rather talk about the way morality functions relative to relationships. This is pertinent to my interests.
(editors note: This is decidedly one-sided. I attribute this to my external genitalia. Sorry ladies.)
There are a lot of things we can discuss on the topic. It seems all of my friends have relationship troubles in some form or fashion. They are desperately lost. They are hopelessly abandoned. They are heartlessly ignored. They are suffocatingly crowded.
All my friends (for this discussion) are guys (at least most of the time).
People often make jokes about the simplicity that is the male mentality. Sleep, food, sex, and television. All things external to these four are unaddressed by our would-be prime directive and as such are unimportant. The fact of the matter is, there is an underlying network of relationship information and protocol which we have attained, a priori.
We are hard-wired for relationships, despite the fact that we cannot help but feel nature prodding us towards promiscuity once in a while. The need to pro-create and spread the seed is strong, but not so strong that we cannot quell the thoughts of straying with the thought of our wounded better half.
Dogs are qualified as "man's best friend" because man sees an unmistakable likeness between the two. Loyalty. Loyalty is the cornerstone of the male perspective in relationships. That's not to say that one must always be loyal in the definitive sense. There is forgiveness. All men and dogs may ask for is the attempt at loyalty. The illusion of remorse. The attempt at apology. A glimmer of faith. Such is enough for a man to hold his ground and weather even the worst a woman may have to bear. That having been said, a dog can only be beaten so many times before it responds with lax enthusiasm to the call of it's master. Much the same is the mentality of a man.
In my personal experience, you receive one real chance at loyalty. In relationships, I have been disregarded. Discredited. My trust has been misplaced. This, of course, only happens once. After the first offense, though I would remain, I am guarded. Absolutely, I still love, affect for, and all that jazz. But with one foot on the ground. As far as I am aware, most men are like this. Granted, I have friends who work their hardest to shed this standard and will willingly abandon their grudges for a chance at what once was, but even in their rare and beautifully trusting circumstances, I am willing to submit that there is always going to be a hint of reservation. And I am willing to argue that there will always be a final offense.
Why fight nature?
In my mind, there is a biological method to relationships. With each offense it is as if one were injecting a poison into the other. Though the body may sift through the blood and find the toxins and filter them as well as it is able, the blood will never be pure again. Toxicity rises, blood curdles, the body withers, and such things die.
We say what we mean and the rest we call love.
In moments of great distress, it is so easy for us to claim a moral high-ground. We can claim to be willing to do so much in order to gain so much more. When the time comes to own up to our claims, can we live up to them? Are we capable? Do we even care to be? Or are words such a sufficient substitute for action that we can say what we mean, but never mean what we say? Personally, when I die, nothing will be left of me but the words I have said, and it is my sincerest hope that those words echo the person I truly was and not the person I needed to be to get what I wanted. In the end, we all must evaluate the truth of our words and quantify them to measure the truth of our existence. We all are means and have means to an end, but I doubt that you can love the means while you lust for an end.
Morality is perspective.
I know, this is subjectivism, and to be ultimately true to morality, it must be unbiased and universally applicable. Even so, morality lies on interpretation of the scenario, and interpretation lies on the shoulders of perspective.
Perspective is a matter of time.
Some people are born with the capability to quantify all the possible outcomes of a scenario instantly (or at the very least, in an acceptable amount of time). These people are a step ahead of those who are a step ahead. We call them geniuses. Or sociopaths. Depending on if we like them or not. These people are the advice-givers. The manipulators. The prophets. They are the ones who know you better than you know yourself, and see your conclusions before you come to them. Some of these people appreciate their own foresight, and act wisely as a result. We consider these people "safe" (with a varying connotation). Some act without regard to their knowledge and these are the people we call "careless". And some people act without considering the consequences of their actions. We call these people "reckless". These people will never realize what will happen until after it has happened. Only then will they grasp the full impact that their actions held, and even then it is left to chance that they find they are alone responsible. This is a matter of perspective, which is a matter of time. Eventually people see the walls of the hole they have dug, even if it isn't until they are trying to determine the best way to climb out.
Morals are simply a matter of time.
Love is not a fleeting feeling. Love is not a moment of uncertainty. Love is not a distant memory. Love is not an instrument to fill your stomach, or steady your hand, or ease your breath. Love is the product of the work you are willing to give. You can love anyone you want, but never more than one person. Love is a feeling of majority.
Life is long. It is fast, but it is long. And it is by no means over for any of us. Hope, love loyalty, honesty, truth, whatever. It's there. And the way you spend your time looking, or not looking for any of these things is the truest measure of who you are as a person, or lover, or friend.
This wasn't about anyone specific, though I know people will see themselves in what I have written. If you read this far, I'm sure you won't have any trouble taking my sincerity on faith. This was a long one. But at least it was something to read --- whether you think it was worth reading or not. If it was coherent or not. If it was worth reading or not. If it was worth reading.
"no longer easy on the eyes; these wrinkles masterfully disguise the youthful boy below, who turned your way and saw something he was not looking for --- both a beginning and an end. but now he lives inside someone he does not recognize when he catches his reflection on accident."
I'm just waiting for a spring thaw. And a summer-night's thunderstorm.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
something to read
This isn't anything official. I'm just sort of greasing the hinges, so to speak.
I've received numerous (2) requests/complaints about my lack of blogging this year. I will admit, I have been derelict in my duties. This is the first blog of the "New Year", unless you count my drunken rant about Fight Club and thunderstorms which I believe only one person saw. If you missed out on that display, imagine me, drunk as hell, cracking my ribs open in front of you. This is a fairly accurate representation of what it looked like, I'm guessing. I did not read it before I deleted it, though I'm pretty sure it said in the blog itself that I would leave it posted.
So I'm a liar.
A brief over-view of life:
I'm arm-pits deep in Kant with no one to talk to about it.
Plans for February have changed a lot. They have mostly decayed into "Drink at every opportunity. Do homework during any time not spent drinking."
I feel like I'm falling out of touch with some people. It's because I never can think of anything to say from all the damn reading and interpreting and transcribing and associating I'm assigned.
Oh, and shit is all fucked up.
Things I would like to write about in the near future, granted I get some personal time:
Marketing of sports
Pink Floyd in relation to Syd Barrett
Relationships
The Weather
My thoughts on the prospective Ultimate Frisbee season
Don't hold me to these.
Things I want:
Some free time
To play video games
buffalo chicken pizza (which i intend on making sometime this month, regardless of what plans are at this point)
a road trip
to buy something i dont need, but will inevitably make me happy
band practice
concerts
a good metal album
to destroy something beautiful.
I've received numerous (2) requests/complaints about my lack of blogging this year. I will admit, I have been derelict in my duties. This is the first blog of the "New Year", unless you count my drunken rant about Fight Club and thunderstorms which I believe only one person saw. If you missed out on that display, imagine me, drunk as hell, cracking my ribs open in front of you. This is a fairly accurate representation of what it looked like, I'm guessing. I did not read it before I deleted it, though I'm pretty sure it said in the blog itself that I would leave it posted.
So I'm a liar.
A brief over-view of life:
I'm arm-pits deep in Kant with no one to talk to about it.
Plans for February have changed a lot. They have mostly decayed into "Drink at every opportunity. Do homework during any time not spent drinking."
I feel like I'm falling out of touch with some people. It's because I never can think of anything to say from all the damn reading and interpreting and transcribing and associating I'm assigned.
Oh, and shit is all fucked up.
Things I would like to write about in the near future, granted I get some personal time:
Marketing of sports
Pink Floyd in relation to Syd Barrett
Relationships
The Weather
My thoughts on the prospective Ultimate Frisbee season
Don't hold me to these.
Things I want:
Some free time
To play video games
buffalo chicken pizza (which i intend on making sometime this month, regardless of what plans are at this point)
a road trip
to buy something i dont need, but will inevitably make me happy
band practice
concerts
a good metal album
to destroy something beautiful.
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