Music, Movies, Writing, Video Games, Media

For a Blog that is supposed to be based on media of some kind, I figured I might need to explore this realm a little bit; to pick my brain for my own reasoning for writing something like this.  Everyone in our society recognizes the power of media.  And for media in this discussion, it would be beneficial not to tie it to the radical "The media is corrupt and controlling our lives" sense, but rather just a word for the broad spectrum that is artistic expression and relay of information through various means.  I'm addicted to the stuff.  I spend 90% of my day while I am not sleeping, dealing with some form of media be it a book, writing a paper/blog/facebook stuff, or spending some quality time on my favorite video game.  I have immense interest in all forms of media from film to books to music to video games.  I feel as though I should explore each major area that effects my life in its own respect.

First, and perhaps most appropriately, I want to think about and discuss music.  Music rules the lives of many, and improves the lives of nearly everyone on a daily basis.  Whether you are in to country, post-rock, heavy metal, rap, pop, R&B, electronic, whatever the flavor, music shapes your daily life.  I try my hardest to keep a "to each his own" attitude towards music taste.  I still fail at this, as all of us do, when we scrutinize someone for their music taste because a band they like doesn't possess musical talent in our eyes.  So what?  The purpose of music is to entertain the listener.  This can be done in many, many ways.  Typically, the music I listen to helps me transport to another place, another time, my own place that is exactly how I want it to be.  But what if someone else enjoys music that merely provides a good beat to dance to, despite its lyrics?  Because their music is simple, and perhaps lyrically nonsensical, does that mean that it has any less value than music that takes great talent to produce?  I say no.  We need to embrace the fact that people have different tastes in music rather than make it a point of contention; it's what drives the industry in so many different directions.  If we all liked the same kind of music, the music industry would be like a wildly incestuous family, never getting any outside fresh air from a different genre.  Music, in a way, is a nice metaphor for humanity as a whole in this respect.  Forgive my unrealistic hippie moment for a second, but if we learned to work with the differences between us rather than fight over them, our minds could be expanded in ways we never knew possible.  Music puts your thoughts into sound waves, into beautifully sung lyrics, into the most hardcore guitar riffs that pound out anger and power like nothing else on the planet, and works in ways we cannot understand in altering our moods and outlooks.  Anything with this degree of impact is worthy of our full attention and appreciation.

Film is an astounding form of media with incredible ability to dampen or raise our spirits.  I recently subscribed to Netflix, so for the first time in my life I am getting a taste for the unbelievable amount of films out there.  Everything from dark, cerebral comedy to Pixar movies, there is something for everyone.  Film appeals to us visually (duh), but that gives it power that music and books do not.  This allows us to put ourselves in the position of the actors in the movie much more easily--most of the time.  We can actually think about what we would do if we were in the same setting as the actor on screen.  In this way, film provides the same transport that music can, but somewhat more easily.  Films allow us to actually SEE sides of life that may have never been known to us.  Requiem For a Dream for example, provides us with in inside look at life on drugs.  Why is this important?  Why should we want to know what that is like?  Isn't it supposed to be so horrible that we should never hold interest in that kind of life?  It is important for a few reasons.  One is creating a well rounded person out of yourself.  One cannot be well-rounded without experiencing, or at least getting an idea of a side of life which they are uncomfortable in.  Throughout life, we may go through many lifestyle changes that dramatically alter how we act and think.  To be exposed in small doses like this to other types of life is like a vaccine.  You take in little bits of the other types of life in which you are not involved, so if they do come about, you can be prepared.  Also, curiosity is a very healthy thing to feed.  So why not venture down the path of a few drug addicts aided by the brilliant filmography of Requiem For a Dream?  Film gives us insight from all over the world in the form of documentaries.  It exposes places in the world we may have never known existed.  Overall, film makes us think about the human condition.  No type of thinking can be more productive than that which involves contemplating what it is to be human, and what to do with our time. If media can provide a slingshot for this to happen, then it must be recognized as fundamentally important to higher thinking.

To end this train of though on perhaps a particularly bad note, I would like to think about the vices of music/film.  We all know that music especially has been getting increasingly sexual for increasingly lower ages. We also know that films/T.V. has been getting progressively more violent over the course of our lives.  My question concerning music is, should the age at which people are fully immersed in a sexualized world be getting reduced over time?  Is a sexualized culture a bad thing?  When I was a younger kid, I was listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Backstreet Boys, Linkin Park (I know, quite the combination, but it happened).  These are are sexual and explicit yes, but cryptically so.  Now we have Miley Cirus singing about how she likes to move her hips in a music video in which she aims to send every unstable man to prison for pedophilia, instead of the Chili Peppers talking about how they like dirt, which is quite possibly drugs, but at least the message isn't blatant.  Songs on the radio now, which are listened to by nearly every kid getting ready for elementary and middle school in the morning, are talking about how if they ain't got no money, they can take their broke ass home, and how someone is such a sexy bitch, and they can learn all about rides on disco sticks, and how to properly take off a polka-dot bikini, unencrypted.  Does this have an effect on the kids of today?  Is the age of sexual maturation a cultural device?  And is it possible to lower the age at which kids become fully immersed in this sexual world.  Who knows.  I'm saying that media sometimes rides a fine line between acceptable and unfair to kids who shouldn't have to worry about their sexualized bodies yet.

If you made it this far, thank you.  I hope this has stimulated some brain waves, or perhaps raised some of your own questions about this media-filled world we live in.  Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.  Slann.

Nightwish - Last of the Wilds (Dark Passion Play 2009)

The muse has finally struck again, and time to take a closer look at a song that has grown on me incredibly fast, and has quickly become one of my favorite songs in my collection.  I do tend to have instrumental leanings, and this song by Nightwish from their most recent album Dark Passion Play fits right in to that category.  Now, before you may give this song a try, keep in mind that you should probably be predisposed to enjoying the rock genre with distinctive rock guitar riffs, but also some experimental instrumentation that I will get in to later.

This song, as I said before, should fit right in to the library of any rock music fan.  And by rock I mean actual rock, not Nickleback "lumberjack" rock.  From the beginning, as a listener you might feel a bit confused by the first 30 seconds or so, with the use of a very Celtic sounding electronic instrument of some kind.  This is also accompanied by an interesting choice in thunderstorm sounds, usually reserved for relaxing rain type piano songs that never make it past the lobby of the dentist's office.  But then the old familiar rock guitar, drums, bass, the whole shebang kick in shortly after this moment of uncertainty.  This initial introduction of traditional rock instrumentation gives the listener a feel for the kind of drive this song is going to hold throughout its duration.

The guitar of this song gives it most of its driving rock force.  The main riff, the solos, and the filler riffs all seem to provide the main backbone of this song.  This guitar work is backed by a solid bass line, that sometimes gets lost in the waves of guitar and Celtic instruments.  The only lackluster element to this song is the drum line.  Not to say this detracts from the song in any way, but it seems the least developed part of this song.  It provides a pretty run of the mill upbeat and downbeat pattern without many fills (mind you I am no expert so maybe this is more elaborate than I make it out to be).

When these instruments all combine in this songs powerful "choruses" (if you can have one in an instrumental song), this song becomes undeniably enjoyable for any rock music fan.  The combination of the string instrument sounds with the rest of the rock ensemble provides a very unique and very satisfying sound.  Props to Nightwish for getting experimental here and pulling it off.  Once again, I will highly recommend this song to any fan of rock music out there, at least give it a shot, you never know what kind of instrumental music this may lead you to that you never knew existed.

Vocals: N/A
Drums/Percussion: 65/100
Guitar: 90/100
Bass:  82/100
Lyrics: N/A
Secondary Inst.: 95/100
Overall: 92/100

Muse - Uprising (The Resistance 2009)

For my first entry, I thought it fitting to look at a song I have been listening to quite often lately.  Uprising by Muse is the first song on their newest album The Resistance.  As a whole, this album is a work of musical art.  Some may find Matthew Bellamy's vocals to be unnerving or hard to get used to, but his vocal range is something deserving of much credit, and Uprising is an excellent example of that.

The song starts with a very solid beat that could go any number of directions.  This is accompanied by a very unique sounding keyboard.  Now, I am no music expert, so I won't get in over my head here.  The guitar work by Bellamy here is nothing fancy, but who said you need fancy to be effective.  This is not a fancy song, although it sticks to the "epic" sound and feel of hit Muse songs fans have become used to.  Christopher Wolstenholme's bass in this track is also somewhat simplistic, but once again serves the purpose the song needs it to serve for the right feel.  The beat drummed out by Dominic Howard heard at the beginning of the song keeps pounding and pulsing throughout the duration of this track.  It has almost a military march quality, which is very fitting to the part of the song I am most interested in: the lyrics.

The first line of this song "Paranoia is in bloom" fits the opening of this album very well.  A image of the sort of recent sprouting an overwhelming feeling of paranoia the general public has been fed by superiors and the media is brought to mind.  And much like the song states "They'll try to, push drugs that keep us all dumbed down / And hope that, we will never see the truth around," a speculative person of this day and age may get the feeling that those in some position of power are attempting to keep the general public hidden from any less than honorable activities going on behind closed doors.  This opens up a very complicated vision of Muse as a band.  Are they political?  Are they left leaning? Do they even care?  


I know people seem to steer clear of political music, or songs with political agendas, but some more universal and important ideas can be extracted from seemingly "uneducated leftist rhetoric" as some might say.  In these first few lines, Muse has managed to already bring forth the idea that perhaps we should examine our assumptions in what is true and what is false in all things.  I think they would encourage the individual to hold the same revealing candle up to their lyrics, and judge them how you might, this is a big idea of great importance.  Whether you trust people in power or not, being encouraged to think for yourself and acting on it cannot be harmful.  


The following section goes "Another promise, another seed / Another, packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed / And all the, green belts wrapped around our minds / And endless, red tape to keep the truth confined."  This is a direct comment on the promises and ideas we are fed from those whom we are supposed to trust and the advertisements for things we think we need.  Now this may sound like a comment coming from a very bitter, uneducated, hippy of sorts, but think about it.  Why should we trust what we hear from advertisements?  If you were in the position of a person trying to sell a product (say a teeth whitening product, for example) through advertising, and you could make double the money by saying your product is endorsed by some guy who apparently has his dental license, why wouldn't you?  Morals? Who's to say?  Maybe it really does work, but maybe it doesn't, that's why it is important to keep questioning, because you never know when you are going to be taken advantage of.  Once again, it couldn't hurt.


Back to the music, this launches the song into its very powerful chorus (perhaps not as powerful as the second and third time around, but powerful nonetheless): "They will not force us / They will stop degrading us / They will not control us / We will be victorious."  This chorus took me a few listens to sound as powerful as it is, but this is where Bellamy's vocals really shine.  He slightly exercises his talent of the use of falsetto here.  This helps the chorus be empowered to move its listener to actually care that maybe injustice has been done unto them by their superiors.  Some of the power of the chorus lies in the systematic, poetic, timed delivery of the words.  


And perhaps one of my favorite lines from songs I have been listening to recently comes from the next verse: "Rise up and take the power back / It's time the, fat cats had a heart attack / They know that, their time's coming to an end / We have to, unify and watch our flag ascend."  What an image. The fat cats of big business, or the government, or whatever you want to apply it to having a heart attack from their over-consumption and their greed.  How hackneyed is that idea?  But it is rediscovered with excellent imagery from Muse.  Also the unifying and watching our flag ascend is a powerful image that has some old war hero archetypes connected to it, but brings the image to a modern flag flying of the middle and lower classes.


To sum this up, this song is the perfect way to start off an excellent album.  So many big ideas compressed into one five minute section of musical talent.  I would highly recommend this song to anyone interested in a rock style of music with some electronic influences.  A stomach for political undermining wouldn't hurt either.  The song never gets very raucous or loud, but it has some drive and a solid beat.


Vocals: 88/100
Drums/Percussion: 79/100
Guitar: 76/100
Bass:  75/100
Lyrics: 93/100
Overall: 85/100