Submission 4

Circul

Wasting time on the internet is second only to one thing, wasting time on the internet with the aid of ambiance.  The accumulation of belligerent circles brawling for space in Circuli emanates an anthem of subtle entropy.  A system of balance through life and death is portrayed in that as one circle meets its death immediate rebirth follows.  The various shades of gray emphasize the somberness of the destruction of the short-lived bubbles.  They expand until bringing about the death of another circle, followed by them themselves meeting the same fate, like the internecine struggle of a bee stinging its prey.  A stark sense of confliction is present as the continuously chaotic combustion of the visuals is coupled with the graceful climate of the audio.

A sweeping entrancing effect is felt as the fluctuating sizes of circles clash in a perpetual battle creating a uniquely relaxing soundtrack, the kind of soundtrack that when coupled with rainymood could convert an insomniac into a narcoleptic.  In that the origins of the circles may be placed by the listener in any pattern there is a unique experience upon each time listening, a new symphony of soothing ambiance at one's own hand.  The combination of mesmerizing visuals linked with the docile sounds creates an elixir that mitigates all traces of tension.

Claims

1.  Vivir Sonar Leer - The radical range of color schemes, discombobulating object scale, unusual item combination, and drastic angling of geometric shapes combine to form a divine harmony in the middle of a flustering discord.

 Reading, Reflecting, and More Reading - A threatening soundtrack in the trailer to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close creates the Jumanji atmosphere of helpless terror.

2.  While listening to the rain I find myself forgetting what's afoot and moving forward.

Everybody could use a break from reality every now and then, and where is a better place to do it then on the beach? 

Reading Post - 2/23

Had another sick day this week, I was that level of sick where the warden will let me stay home from school yet not too much to the point that I can't enjoy the day off.  Wait, what's that, there's something wrong, a different sort of air about the room.  I play it off and immigrate into the nirvana that is cinnamon toast and The Price is Right.  My doubts of the upcoming apocalypse in December were shattered when one of the few constants of my life was brutally ripped out of my grasp.  The Price is Right wasn't on whilst I was ill.  With my world shaken I had to find an alternative to get my mind off the cataclysm.  Having finished Mistborn I had to look to another venue of joy, the internet.

As it was once said, "Life's like a website full of fan fictions, you never know what you'll get".  This being said because of the variety and desultory nature of what you'll find in fan fictions.  One constant of life that is quite adamant is that if something exists, there are fan fictions of it.  Often ranging from creative genius to deranged lunacy.  Reading the plot twists, climaxes and alternate endings conjured from the minds of total strangers is perpetually interesting entertainment.  My favorite genre of these writings are the twists on movies.  One of my personal favorites of this denomination is a rendition of the patriotic retelling of the 1980 Olympics, Miracle, in which the Russians actually won, not the underdog youngins of America.  This wasn't a favored find of the day because it was remarkably well written or because I would've preferred that outcome.  It's because this one stuck with me like a weird dream.  What possessed the writer to think of completely doing a 180 on what the entirety of the movie was about, and what possessed him to punch out these thoughts into a keyboard for all the internet to see?  Regardless I'm glad he did because it brought a Price is Right-deprived lad some entertainment and food for thought on a sick day.  Hopefully in the near future I'll be stopping by the library to pick up the next book in the Mistborn series and will be able to post on its contents.

Submission 3 - Music Lessons

Music is one part of life that truly does have an effect on everyone's life.  While it's something we all are surrounded by we all have different favorite songs, genres, artists, and perspectives.  This American Life takes a look at a couple of these perspectives on music.  Looking through the eyes of Durrell we see a man struggling to spread the joys he feels for music to the teens of south side Chicago.  Then on the other hand we have David Sedaris who is just trying to flee from the love his father has for music.

Durrell traveled the world playing his music at a professional level.  Later settling down in Chicago to teach what he loves to the teens of the area he was met with hardship.  His deep calming voices compliments the mood as he expresses his comical laments, "No kid is gonna be shy about blowing in a horn, no matter how bad they sound", an image we all can relate to.  We all can empathize a bit with Durrell thinking back to the days of playing the recorder for school.  Reflecting on those days, it does appear that regardless of the fact I had no actual ability to preform musically, I didn't hesitate to take any opportunity to slaughter all insouciant silence.  We were forced into the realm of music music much like the way David Sedaris was by his musically aspiring father.  Wishing his children to be the next big jazz group he forced "The Sedaris Trio" into different instruments, David receiving a guitar.  Loathing the lessons he received he had only desires to escape to nautical themed room, with his guitar condemned cozily in the closet.  David and Durrell are polar opposites in that Durrell is trying to teach his passions of music to youth while David is the youth.  David is more than apprehensive about playing his role music.  Trying to escape the wrath of his father's dreams, he put up an aegis of humor to abstain from the experiences.  The two people are on opposites sides of the war over music, however both are similar in that they are working at their own mountain of a challenge.  The two are united in the journey, while being separated by the goal.

Short List 3

Locations like this make me glad I live in Fort Wayne.  The height of the cliffs and lack of a guard rail ensure the imminent fate of crashing to the ominous waters below.  The dull year round warm climate is sub par when compared to the excitement of having blazing summers and arctic winters.  These two climates occasionally separated by only a couple of days.

Spacializer combines everyone's favorite things into one cool and simple site.  Color blobs meander aimlessly around the screen, each producing their own tone when the cursor is hovered over them.  The result is obscure ambiance.

Yep, those are nerf guns, the nerf maverick to be exact.  Not that I know that off the top of my head or anything.  Is this a school or workplace?  Either way where does one sign up to join the effort.  Homestead needs to venture into the world of foam warfare, statistics show nerf battles boost test scores.  No citation needed.

Circuli is an interesting link that allows you to create your own ambiance.  Circles you place down expand at a constant rate.  When one circle touches the center of another, it pops creating a sound based on how large the circle had grown.  When you place multiple in different patterns you get different patterns of sounds.   The product always unique.

Informal response TAL Music Lessons

People look through mediums in which to portray their dreams.  "Music Lessons" by This American Life touches on this topic through the perspective of two similarly opposite people.  Formerly touring the world in his booming music career, Durrell had the desire to leave his mark and share the joy he found in music to the teens of the south side of Chicago.  It has been said that these teens are "an imprecise medium in which to apply your art", which may be an understatement.  On the other side of the spectrum, David Sedaris is not one to appreciate music.  Being forced to play guitar to fulfill the dreams of his father, his story shows us the other side of things.  Durrell wanting kids to learn to appreciate music while David loathes the thought of playing music.  Through the first hand stories we get insight to the thoughts of both parties in the debate.

Reading post

I sat perched, blood pulsing.  An overwhelming feeling of surveillance sweeps over me, as if surrounded by countless foe.  Only 40 minutes before it's time.  I check my knapsack, blast, what little provisions I had packed had already been depleted.  Two options lay before me; option one, conjure up the effort to power through this predicament,  take care of business, help myself out in the long run.  Option two, abdicate, give in, call it a day.  The time is nigh, I reached down pulling out my tools for option two.  Rather than studying for the imminent nuclear bomb of a math test, I pass my time in study hall leisurely reading.  My provisions, or gold fish as they're commonly known by the masses, would be nice right about now, but I'll fare well enough for the time being.


It's been longer than I'd like since reading more than miniscule amounts during the down times in class.  After refreshing myself on where we were in the story it was an easy transfer getting back into the plot.  Kellsier off on another nightly outing making preparations for their plan.  However this time Vin has had enough of not being included in his mischief.  Secretly trailing Kellsier she notices he's quickly widening the gap between the two of them.  Losing his trail something catches her attention.  A bronze ingot lodged in the ground.  Another further up, "So that's how he does it.. and Allomantic road between the two cities (Luthadel and Fellise)", thought Vin.  The sheer imagination that Brandon Sanderson possesses continues to impress me.  Using the bronze ingots in the ground Kellsier had made a sort of "train track" he can propel himself over using Allomancy.  When Vin catches up and sees his destination the events that follows are nothing less than climatic.

Submission 2

http://vimeo.com/30501143

Beauty is an item sought after by the masses of our world.  Inhabited incognito throughout the nature we repeatedly neglect in our daily meandering.  The shrinking minority with an eye for this beauty labeled "artists" stand out from the masses and allow passage to their world through their creations.  Bartholomäus Traubeck is one of these visionaries.  The beauty of nature often lies within the sight of a forest, the smell of a flower, the taste of a fruit, we scarcely appreciate the beauty that lies in that which is audible.  Traubeck invented a passage that allows an interesting look at the sounds of nature.  With computer aid a turntable actually plays a cross section of a tree trunk.  The labyrinth of lines and patterns allow for music to be interpreted by a turntable.

Nature is often associated with a happy upbeat tone.  When a cross section of a tree trunk was played on this apparatus, a surprisingly opposite result was heard.  Ominously eerie music emerged.  The dark piano symphony extracted out of this tree hints that maybe nature isn't as content with their lives as their beauty portrays.  Deforestation, climate change, forest fires, the song extracted from this tree was not coincidence.  The song is a retelling of the perilous battles a tree faces.  The saying "If a wall could talk, imagine the stories it could tell," is exactly what this tree is doing.  This invention gave us an ear that broke down the wall of language barrier.  Traubeck gave us a window in which to listen to the musical beauty of an otherwise mute object, but this window revealed much more than that.  The music is a venue in which tells of its hardships in its life.  The sobering horror soundtrack emanating from a tree is that tree communicating its woes.  Many of these travesties come at the hands of man, in listening to nature we hear the flaws of man.  The bleak notes revealed by Traubek's turntable conveys the melancholy felt by nature.  In listening to the discontent of nature the aspects of life tainted by man are revealed.

Short List 2

Drawn is a cool blog of many varying artists.  Updated daily the site possesses  portals to many artists and their drawings.  Having many artists gives many different styles of how the artists portray their visions.

Rainwave is a unique website that houses the portal to a surfeit of video game music.  The site allows you to indulge in old classics and find new favorites.  Their arsenal of songs includes genres from the spectrum of music in its entirety.

http://blog.makezine.com/2012/01/19/play-the-rings-of-a-tree-trunk-like-a-record/
What happens when you put the cross section of a tree trunk on a turn table? Who knows?  Bartholomäus Traubeck came up with the unique idea and put it to the test.  The turntable was hooked up to a computer which analyzed the lines and made music from it.  The results were interesting to say the least.

Reflection 2/2/12

With the flu being handed out on every street corner I was not one of the ones lucky enough to be missed in the distribution.  Monday was one of those mornings where all was null.  That achy sick feeling plagued me, my nose was stuffy, it sounded like everything I heard was coming through a filter.  It was a "Price is Right" day.  I call it this because there's this magic property that whenever one is sick, The Price is Right reveals itself for them and will be on during whatever time is convenient for that person.  This is more of a law rather than a property as it's accurate 100% of the time.  As I drug myself down the stairs equipped only with Mistborn, I made my way to the living room and planted myself into the couch.  Saddened once again that Bob Barker is no longer the host I cracked open my book and began.

Fantasy novels complimented with the background noise of game show antics is a therapeutic combo.  I've reached my favorite part of nearly all fictional stories.  When the new hero learns the ropes.  Vin is being taught by Kelsier the 8 basic alloys used by allomancers.  They do their teachings under the cover of night while the city around them lays dormant.  They move on to the steel push and iron pull.  The two alloys that allow you to control metals around you.  Pushing off a coin he tossed to the ground Kelsier demonstrates the ability to fly, or as close as you can come to it.  He ascends up a city walls using his momentum to land on top.  Vin tentatively follows his lead does not find the same success and finds herself eating the wall.  Next they descend down the other side and are in the openness of being outside the city walls.  Mist and darkness is all around them.  Then it appears, a thing of myth, a mistwraith.  Vin had heard of them but never thought they were real.  "Its body was bulbous and elongated.  It wasn't just a a blob, though... There was a strange logic to its form.  It had distinct skeletal structure, the creature flexed odd jumbles of muscles as it moved."  Mistwraits are scavangers of sorts who can't harm anything fast enough to outrun its scuttle.  While they're horrific in looks they don't have the ability to back up their front of power.  With the basics of allomancy and experience in the outside world under Vin's belt I know we're fast approaching the climatic unfolding of the plan to topple the Final Empire.

Submission 1

Music for many people has become a second nature response to many situations.  Step into the car; turn on the radio.  Sit down at your computer; open up itunes.  Music no longer is music, but a subconscious reaction to everyday situations.  Conscientiously responding to these situations differently is a rewarding experience.  All sounds evoke emotions and dictate one's state of being, the acute ambiance of rainymood soothes the mind into a state of earthly nirvana.

There is a therapeutic air about the impalpable whispers of the pattering rainfall.  Visions of sitting in the window seat of in a Victorian-style home, a warm familiar feeling wrapping over you.  Sitting perched watching the uniform chaos of rain hitting the window like the ever elusive mythical well tamed mullet, if one truly exists.  The effect the soothing sounds have over one's mood are similar to that of a fireside comfy chair.

As children the daunting effects of storms sent us underneath the shield of blankets, now at an older age the very same thing can be the perfect adjunct to lying underneath the covers.  Rain being one of the scarce constants throughout life makes it a sliver of infinity giving comfort throughout the many perils of life.  Times of peril such as the times when you're stressed with school or work.  The ambiance of rain works like a person untying knots, unraveling the day to day troubles.