Here is a video I made of my hike up and around Nephin Beg mountain and the twin Scardaun Loughs last Saturday.

I hope the video gives you an idea of what this landscape is like.

Section 2 is from on the top of the 627 m mountain, with the camera facing directly west. The result is very strong wind, so you might like to tone down the volume just for that section.

On Saturday, I left Castlebar at 7.20 am, to begin a climb of Nephin Beg at 8.20, from its eastern side. I parked the car on The Western Way and took to the hills from the little bridge over the second stream after the Coillte hut.

Nephin Beg summit; Slieve Carr in background.

As I gained ground, I was quite surprised that the terrain was not much wetter than was the case and I made steady enough progress. I made the summit from the southeast ridge, looking across the corrie towards pt 311 m, which forms part of the Letterkeen Loop.

Of course, once I reached the top, I was no longer sheltered and became subjected to fierce wind and some snow coming in from the west. The views were wonderful in all directions, from Blacksod Bay, The Mullet, Duvillaun and Iniskea Islands to the west and northwest, all the way around to Nephin Mór in the east and Corraun and Achill in the west and southwest.

Scardaun Loughs in the shadow of Nephin Beg; Slieve Carr beyond.

From the summit, I descended northwards and headed for the northern side of the Scardaun Loughs, passing them to the west. I saw seven geese (too far away to positively identify, but presumably White-Fronted, which over-winter here).

Having passed the twin lakes on my right, I then began to circumnavigate them to the north, underneath Slieve Carr. Swinging, around to the southeast on the far side, I began my descent to The Western Way. This section was by far the wettest on the hike, but was nonetheless easily manageable.

To come around Nephin Beg, I followed the tree line, with long, clear views north across the huge plantation forests to the wind turbines and disused power station at Bellacorrick. East of the Loughs, five additional geese came flying overhead from the NE and did not land on the lakes, rather continuing out to the pond-studded Scardaun bog beyond.

Passing Lough Namroon below me, I dropped down into the valley of its draining stream to rejoin The Western Way after 5 hrs 40 minutes in varying sunshine, snow and heavy rain towards the end.

Drawing on the evidence that our social relationships can help us be healthier by encouraging good habits and behaviors, Deborah Carr and Kristen Springer (both at Rutgers) suggest 10 tips for a better holiday season. I’ve pasted a few highlights below. You can read the complete set of tips in the Council on Contemporary Families press release here.

1. Exercise Together. It’s hard enough to exercise regularly during the year, never mind during the hectic holiday season. Families can pre-schedule a 30 minute exercise time for each day of the holiday break. Taking an early morning jog or a leisurely walk after dinner is more fun when you do it together.

4. Keep a Regular Bed Time. Irregular sleep is one of the biggest taxes on good health over the holidays. Partners can decide before the party the best time to leave and “precommit” to it -including appointing one of you to keep track of time and make sure you leave the holiday party at a set hour. It’s easier to say “sorry, we have to leave,” or “I know she’d love to stay, but she has a meeting in the morning” if you’ve made a plan ahead of time and one person is appointed to keep track.

8. Share The Burden. Women often shoulder the burden of the holidays, doing everything from shopping, wrapping gifts, cooking, sending holiday cards, and organizing travel. This stress can be overwhelming. Make a list of tasks, and then divide it up among family members, including children. If everyone chooses some tasks, this takes the load off of Mom and makes the holiday a true family affair. And if the wrapping isn’t as perfect as Mom’s, who really cares?

10. Put Your Health First. Martyrs seldom live long lives. Take care of your own health first: Take time to sleep, wash your hands, go for a walk. If one household member gets sick, the others are sure to follow. Keeping yourself healthy keeps your entire family healthy.

Neurasthenia/Americanitis – wealthy, young adults in American society, especially educated
    Suffered insomnia, hypochondria, headache, skin rash, nervous exhaustion, “brain collapse”
The basics for functionalism
    William James – articulated new goal (opposed to Wundt) for psych in America
       “goal of psych not discovery of elements of experience, but study of people as they adapt to environment.”
       The function of consciousness is to guide us to ends required for survival
       Stressed non-rational nature – even intellect influenced by emotion, needs, body
          Wants and needs, even physical condition influence beliefs, reason
       Choice vs. habit
         Habit is nonconscious and involuntary
             Character, thought tricks, prejudices. – like creases of cloth, not gonna reform
          Choice/conscious is for new problems, adapting
       Phenomena – immediate experience, the subject matter
       Conditions – Body, especially brain. Conditions of phenomena
           Basic biology functions, shape influence thought – First to note this
           Physical, instinctual reaction to stimuli create emotions
             Tensed body at sight of bear creates fear
             Increased blood flow in mating instinct creates love
       Wundt “elements” don’t exist outside of the observer trained to see them.
         Not universal – can train your brain to subdivide however you want to
         Sensation is just that, as such, not divisible
         “psychologist’s fallacy” – observing elements you were predisposed to believe are there
       No two thoughts, even on the same stimulus, are ever the same. Intervening experiences
      Stream of Consciousness – his term
         Mental life as ongoing changes, not defined machine to subdivide/dismantle
          Continuous flow, not temporally divisible. Division is distortion
       Selection – mind selects certain stimuli based on relevance
          Filters out some, combines or separates others
           Selects so that conscious can operate logically, and can lead to a rational conclusion
       Psych – “an elaboration of the obvious”
       Talks to Teachers 1899 – beginning of applying psych to education
       The Principles of Psychology 1890 – seminal work on psych
       Introspection reveals “meaningful variations in mental life”, not invarying elements
       Pragmatism – “anything is true if it works”, validity measured by outcomes
       Three Selves
          Material – clothes, family, body, home
          Social – recognition, reflected appraisal. We have multiple social identities for situations
          Spiritual – inner, subjective self
Functionalism – defined by Titchner who was trying to say that structuralism, not functionalism is the key
    G. Stanley Hall – Several Journals, Organized APA, lots of doctoral students
       Evolution centered – “darwin of the mind”
       Recapitulation theory – from infant to adulthood, man recaps human evolution from primitive to civilized
       Surveys – sent lots out, surveys often linked with his name
       Adolescence – main work, recap theory
       Wrote on sex and psych of the elderly
    John Dewey
       The Chicago school – functionalism called this (by James) for Dewey and Angell’s work in Chicago
       “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” 1896 –
          Rather than burn-stimulus creating reflex-response, Its burn, reflex creating learning,
perception
          Attacked core ideas of structuralism, that sensation and reflex should be parsimoniously measured
       Experimental school and progressive education movement
    James Angell
       Function of consciousness is to improve the organism’s adaptive ability
       Goal of psych is to study how the mind assists the body in adjusting to environment
       1906 presidential address to APA
          1. Mental operation, not mental elements.
          Psych must discover how it operates, what accomplishes it, under what conditions it occurs
          2. Fundamental utilities of consciousness
          Exist because they are util in survival and adaptation.
          What is this process for specifics like will and judgment?
          3. Mind-body relations as part of total organism relationship to environment
          No real mind-body distinction. All just part of organism relating to environment
    Harvey Carr
       Psychology 1925 text, functionalism refined and not battling structuralism
          Subject – mental activity processes such as memory, perception, feeling, imagination, will, judgement
          Function – acquire, fix, retain, organize, and evaluate experiences and use to determine actions
             Adaptive or adjustive behavior

    Robert Sessions Woodworth
       Disliked the constraints of any one school of inquiry. Elaborated, combined, selected, appropriated theories
       Dynamic Psychology:
          Stimulus-response is a starting place.
          Organism must also be included. Its energies and experiences act to determine response too
          “Motivology” – motivations for human behavior
             Cause and effect
             Physiological events that underlie behavior
       Personal Data Sheet for army – nervous symptoms self-reporting
    Variability hypothesis – female psychological and physical characteristics clustered around the mean according to Darwin
       No outstanding or exceptional women
       Mary Whiton Calkins – APA president. Harvard wouldn’t give her doctorate.
          memory research. Also tested variability hypothesis
       Helen Woolley – Dewey pupil, interested in guidance counseling and secondary ed..
          Empirical tests of Variability Hypothesis
       Leta Stetter Hollingsworth – empirical study of variability hypothesis. Challenged innate motherhood instinct.
Functionalism as extremely applied
    Harry Hollingsworth – testing coke for psych and physio effects
    James Cattell
       Individual differences (with Wundt), Eugenics, Statistics (with Galton). Mass testing to find means.
       Published Popular Science, Leaders in Education, Psychological Review, American Men of Science, more
       AAAS and other societies.
       Psychological Corporation
       Psych certainty and exactness – “mental tests”. Tried to correlate sensation with test scores.
    Test taking
       Alfred Binet – started with sensory tests but soon moved to judgment, reasoning, and comprehension
          Metal Age – comprehension levels as compared to the mean
       Stanford-Binet: Lewis Terman’s adaptation of these levels. Concept of IQ. He & other Binet testers studied w/Cattell
       Arthur Otis – multiple choice questions, and Army Alpha and Army Beta aptitude tests
       Edison killed testing with a sloppy test administered to grad students,
          publicized with 23 articles in one New York Times
    Clinical psychology
       Lightner Witmer – Treating psych and behavioral disorders.
          School psychology – clinical psych in schoolchildren
          Environmental more important that biological/genetic – Home and school conditions
          Team approach of doctors, social workers, psychologists
    Advertising
       Walter Dill Scott – trained to be a missionary to China
          Suggestibility and irrationality of consumers
             “use pear soap” direct commands.
             Mail in rebate- require direct action
          Personel selection
             Developed Test large groups
             Not just measuring intelligence, but how it was used
    Munsterberg – came to America VERY theoretical, but went 180 to TOO applied
       Forensic – reliability of testimony is low even immediately
          Psych and law, trials, criminals.
       Psychotherapy – “there is no subconscious” – only behavior mal adjustments
       Occupational – studied fatigue, unproductiveness-> right person for the right job. Studied widely varying jobs

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I wrote this essay for my MHIS 429 Topics in Film/Video course this semester at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Special thanks to Sarah Wichlacz for her essay titled, “Issues of Narration: Voice-Over in Film” which definitely helped me in the writing of my own essay. You can see her very well written piece at http://sarahwichlacz.com/?p=74

– FlashAddict

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Voice-Over Narration as an Active Agent in Film

The use of voice-over narration can and has been used in film to help convey greater depth and meaning to the audience. Whereas on the one hand, there are some who see it as a crutch when the director or writer is unable to move along the storyline effectively within a given scene; yet on the other however, when it is used effectively, voice-over narration can be inserted as an active agent to help provide greater impact and understanding to the audience in a way that a complex actor’s performance or scenery cannot convey. It is within this context that this essay will explore individual examples of voice-over narration from select films in which both sides of the issue will be explored; by not simply analyzing each voice-over narration example as either good or bad, but looking deeper at how the context and overall delivery affect the films, scenes and actors within.

To begin with, a proper definition of voice-over narration in film must be established, “Narration, or voice-over, is used in both documentary and fiction. It may be used to deliver information, provide the point of view of an unseen character, or allow an onscreen character to comment on the action.”(Ascher and Pincus 493) Put more simply, “A narrative text is a text in which an agent relates (‘tells’) a story in a particular medium, such as language, imagery, sound, buildings, or a combination thereof.” (Bal 5) By using this standard, multiple methods of providing voice-over narration in film can be utilized to help tell their respective stories, “In documentary filmmaking some of the key stylistic questions relate to how much the filmmaker attempts to control or interact with the subjects, and to the way information is conveyed in the movie.” (Ascher and Pincus 332)

The style adopted by U.K. documentarians such as John Grierson in the 1930s and 1940s is a kind of hybrid that can involve staged events and real people (non-actors)…Many of these films use a ‘voice of God’ narration-the authoritative male voice that provides factual information and often spells out the message intended for the viewer to take from the film. (Ascher and Pincus 333)

On the other side of the spectrum, Ascher & Pincus further explain:

Cinema vérité (also called just vérité or direct cinema) films attempt to spontaneously react to events and capture life as it is lived…Many of these films use no narration or interviews and attempt to minimize the sense that the material has been influenced or interpreted by the filmmaker. (Ascher and Pincus 333)

Within this context, one of the most notable examples of the use of voice-over narration can be seen in the opening of the film, Citizen Kane (1941), “The film’s plot sets another purveyor of knowledge, the ‘News on the March’ short. We’ve already seen the crucial functions of the newsreel in introducing us both to Kane’s story and to its plot construction, with the newsreel’s sections previewing the parts of the film as a whole.” (Bordwell and Thompson 105) In essence, this scene of paramount importance was purposely written by Orson Welles in order to allow the principal characters follow-up with further details later on in the film in their own flashback narrations.

The reinforcement of the scenes, characters and events detailed in this brief montage showcasing Kane’s life over the span of only a few minutes is accentuated, as referenced earlier by Ascher and Pincus, via the deep authoritative voice in which the booming male narrator speaks, which was quite representative on the actual newsreel footage of the era. In other words, by creating a fictionalized representation of a factually based newsreel within a film and having a similar sounding voice actor provide the narration within it, Welles provided the audience with further reinforcement of the importance of Charles Foster Kane on a global scale, in which he truly was within his own Xanadu.

Further evidence of life imitating art and vice versa comes from the voice-over narration within the film, Little Children (2006) which featured the deep resonating male voice of Will Lyman as the film’s narrator. Lyman’s voice was already recognizable, even his face wasn’t, for the 125 episodes of the PBS documentary television show Frontline (1982-2009) that he has narrated. With such various titles as, A Death in Tehran (2009), Breaking the Bank (2009), and Black Money (2009), Lyman has narrated multiple episodes for the series, while remaining unseen to the audience, in which investigative journalists scour the globe looking for corruption, abuse of power and instances of government, humanitarian and ecological tragedies.

To that end, Little Children (2006) director Todd Field must have realized the impact that Lyman’s voice would have on the film’s audience as an implied and trusted broker of knowledge and wisdom. “In the history of the documentary, this voice has been for the most part that of the male, and its power resides in the possession of knowledge and in the privileged, unquestioned activity of interpretation.” (Doane 369)

One scene of particular note from the film is where the character of the husband, Richard Pierce, shows the length to which he will go in order to satiate his obsession. The scene opens up with him in his work office as his secretary heads home for the night and now suddenly alone, Richard decides to indulge his favorite pastime of late, masturbating to pictures of the internet sensation that is Slutty Kay. In comes the booming, authoritative and faceless voice of narrator Will Lyman, as the audience begins to realize the level of Richard’s obsession at not being able to truly connect with her.

Lately, Slutty Kay had become a problem. He thought about her far too often and spent hours studying the thousands of photographs available to him…Though as close as Richard sometimes felt to Slutty Kay, as much as he believed that he knew her, he could never get past the uncomfortable fact she existed for him solely as a digital image. The panties were an attempt to solve this problem, maybe a sniff or two would hurry things along so he could get back downstairs to his real life, where his wife was waiting for him; her impatience increasing by the minute…(Little Children)

To that end, the scene changes to his home office as he now tries to put on her soiled panties over his head in order to accentuate the experience, as the frame changes yet again to show Richard’s wife coming upstairs as Lyman explains her growing impatience and finds him masturbating while breathing deeply into the soiled panties. Lyman’s matter of fact and monotonous voice-over breathes, for lack of a better term, immense irony into the scene and provides a very functional backdrop in order to place such an absurd setting as a woman walking into her husband’s office and finding him masturbating to a Polaroid of a naked woman while gasping into a pair of soiled woman’s panties. “The different components of the cinematic narrator as diagramed usually work in consort, but sometimes the implied author creates an ironic tension between two of them.” (Chatman 484)

An additional aspect of voice-over narration is when the director or creative vision behind the film as a whole provides the narration themselves. Take for instance the case from the film, A River Runs Through It (1992), in which director Robert Redford took on the persona of the book’s original author, Norman MacLean, and provided the film’s flashback voice-overs.

…films often create the sense of character-narration so strongly that one accepts the voice-over narrator as if he of she were the mouthpiece of the image-maker either for the whole film or for the duration of his or her embedded story. We put our faith in the voice not created but as creator. (Kozloff 45)

After auditioning several different prominent voice-over actors, Redford was not happy with any of the takes and as a result, he decided to try it out himself. Given Redford’s long standing stature within the film industry and recognizable voice, what followed was that he was able to further personify the essence of what the author and main character experienced while growing up in small-town Montana, the trials he went through with his younger brother Paul and how the quiet and serene beauty of glacier fed streams full of trout could help heal the soul. This was especially evident in the final scene of the film in which the viewer sees what is now an elderly and frail looking Norman MacLean fishing the river alone, with Redford’s voice-over providing the full meaning as Paul reflects on his life.

Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.  Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn’t. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters. (A River Runs Through It)

The next logical focus to explore is whether or not to use voice-over narration at all and how the format is different from written media for example, “Unlike in literature, in film the distinction between telling a story through verbal narration and showing it on the screen through images and action is not so easily discountable.” (Kozloff 13) A case in point for this argument comes from the multiple versions of the film, Blade Runner (1982), in which it has gone from its original theatrical release to being re-edited seven times to its most recent ‘Final Cut’. The most obvious change that was made from the original film was the removal of Deckard’s voice-over and while this had already been removed from an earlier 1992 ‘Director’s Cut,’ this final version of the film was also the only version that director Ridley Scott had complete artistic control over.

The climactic scene of the film in which the removal of the voice-over warranted greatest scrutiny was the scene near the end of the film, where on the original inception of Deckard’s monotonous voice-over was further evidence, although somewhat ambiguous, of him being a replicant (a humanoid looking robot who cannot show or feel emotion), from a viewer’s perspective, the use of the voice-over caused more controversy than it was worth according to prolific filmmaker, Frank Darabont:

There’s one area where I thought the voice-over was so clunky; it landed with such a hollow thud, was the ‘Tears in Rain.’ I remember when I first saw the movie, I’m in the theatre and I am so drawn in by what Rutger Hauer is doing and I am so drawn in by what the theme of the movie has brought us to, this magnificent moment where he is letting go of life…‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe, all these moments will be lost, in time, like Tears in Rain. Time to die.’

And right as I am just…it’s like having sex and someone dumps cold water on you. Right at that moment where I am at my most emotional crescendo as a viewer, here comes this thudding, dunderheaded voice-over, ‘I don’t know why he saved my life, maybe in those last moments, he loved life more than he ever had before.’ Yes, I know that, thank you. Thank you for kicking this beautiful, delicate, emotional note that we were achieving right in the nuts. (Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner)

Conversely, in the subsequent versions of the film in which Deckard’s monologue has been removed, greater emphasis has been placed on Rutger Hauer’s performance of Roy when he releases the dove as he dies and it flies up to the dark and stormy clouds above. Layered over all of this is the minimalist orchestration by the film’s composer, Vangelis and the slightest of crescendo booming sound as Deckard slowly closes his eyes and deeply inhales as he bears witness to his former foe’s final testimony; all of which is realized without the use of the voice-over.

At the end of the shooting cycle and on the bottom of the cutting room floor, directors, editors and screenplay writers have debated the merits of inserting or removing voice-over narration in film for decades now. In some instances, overall theme, plot and character development or simply personal taste can dictate whether or not to use voice-overs to help provide the audience with a greater understanding of what they are seeing on the screen. To that end however, and when it is an active agent in the storytelling process and manufactured to cater to the targeted audience in subtle and imperceptible ways, then voice-over narration can help bridge the gap between what can and cannot be shown on film. But if it is used in a contrived and convoluted manner, then the opposite can occur and further alienate the audience from being able to fully appreciate the level of understanding that the filmmakers are trying to achieve.

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Works Cited

A River Runs Through It. Dir. Robert Redford. Allied Filmmakers, 1992

Ascher, Steven, and Pincus, Edward. The Filmmaker’s Handbook. New York: PLUME, 2007

Bal, Mieke. Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.

Bordwell, David, and Thompson, Kirstin. FILM ART: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen, eds. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Chatman, Seymour. “The Cinematic Narrator.” Braudy and Cohen, 473-86.

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner. Dir. Charles de Lauzirika, Frank Darabont, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_nsSxblpoI

Doane, Mary Ann. The Voice in the Cinema: The Articulation of Body and Space. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980

Kozloff, Barbara. Invisible Storytellers: Voice-Over Narration in American Fiction Film. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Little Children. Dir. Todd Field. New Line Cinema, Bona Fide Productions, Standard Film Company, 2006.

Wichlacz, Sarah. 27 May 2006. Issues of Narration: Voice-Over Film. http://sarahwichlacz.com/?p=74

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Here are the details on the two internships this semester for my DIVA 300 class – the first being the Motion Capture Studio at Emily Carr University and the second being CODElab, a look into surveillance during the Olympics taking place here in Vancouver in 2010. Click final_report_john_deveaux for a PDF download.
– FlashAddict

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Did you have a transformative experience over the internship? How you may have changed since starting the internship?
MoCap – “John has grasped the principles of motion capture quite well. He has already exhibited thoughts of how to use the technology in areas outside the norm.” The paradigm shift for me in working with Rick in the school’s motion capture lab was seeing the ways in which the technology can be applied to multiple products, company and individual requirements. From biofeedback, to ergonomics, the applications for MoCap are endless.
CODElab – I and the CODELab artists mutually admitting errors were made and working to rebuild our collective relationship together.

How you may use the skills that you’ve learned in the future?
MoCap – I am presently building my own company to provide ongoing project management consultation with some key friends of mine; Paul Cordick who was a Producer/Project Manager at both Mainframe Entertainment and Electronic Arts along with Kirk Hutton, who just completed his MBA. Both of them will be assisting me in developing our business plan, scope/vision of the company and identify key clients and competition – having my own company will allow me the freedom to create and develop the projects that I truly want to work on.
CODElab – Learning how to setup and edit a Wiki page will greatly help me in the near future as one of my company’s first clients requires a wiki page to be setup and content input and maintained.

Do you have goals for continuing with the internship? Was there an on-going relationship that was developed or a network of contacts that will benefit your practice?
MoCap – Not directly with Rick in the MoCap lab, but he asked that I keep him in the loop as to the progress that the company makes moving forward.
CODElab – I will be doing some additional research for the CODELab artists later on this week for the project Wiki page and will be meeting with Simon later on in order to finalize what he needs me to look up. On a long term basis, I am not sure if I will be working with them down the road, but if our paths cross in the future, I would be open to talking with them to see if there are areas in which we can join forces.

Comment on the working relationship with the organization, working in a collaborative environment, the organization’s flexibility and communication about the projects.
MoCap – Not really applicable here as Rick and I were 1 on 1 all of the time and did not have a major project that needed to be worked on or completed by the end of the internship. That being said, I had a very good working relationship with him and would definitely work with him again in the future.
CODElab – There were a few bumps along the road in my internship with CODELab but at the end of the day, we were able to move forward based on mutual respect for one another and a common interest in putting forward a kick-ass art piece.

How your expectations of the internship changed over time? (what you ended up actually doing vs. what was initially proposed.)
MoCap – The complexities of the software itself are so immense that constant trouble shooting and tech support was required. In those instances where Rick was madly working away to try and solve the problem, rather than pester him with questions, in some instances it was better to just stand back, shut up and let him work the problem.
CODElab – Do to some miscommunications, the only concrete item that I have produced so far for CODELab was the Wiki page that I briefly showed during the mid-term assessment: http://codelab.blprnt.com/wiki/index.php/Information_on_the_Olympic_Games

Mention the tasks and accomplishments that occurred after the midterm presentation
MoCap – Working with Rick this week to ascertain whether data could be captured without the black rubber mats being laid out in the studio. By moving the mats off of the floor and dialing up the threshold of the cameras, we were able to prove that while possible, the square footage of area that is seen by the cameras is greatly diminished which would result in limiting the movement of the actors within the space.
Since the infrared cameras are very light sensitive, a potential project coming down the pipeline was looking to see if they could do mocap without the mats, as they are cumbersome to move and stack and also emit a fairly potent smell each time they are moved. The studio needs to be aired out as a result which means more time is lost
CODElab – still to be determined…

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Here are the details from one of the performances that I saw over this past weekend’s Interactive Futures conference here at Emily Carr. Click critical_review_john_deveaux for a PDF download.
– FlashAddict

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t2:Echo – by Henry Daniel

Due to the fact that my schedule was quite full this past weekend along with the fact that I get quite severe motion sickness from watching 3D movies, ride films and IMAX movies, I was not able to see most of the presentations that were shown at this year’s Interactive Futures conference at Emily Carr. That being said, the one performance that I was able to see in at least some form was t2:Echo by Henry Daniel.

While I was not able to see the entire performance, due to the fact that the concourse gallery walls that were blocking my seeing most of the actual dancers’ performances. On top of this, I was also helping direct the audience members to their respective locations, facilitating their viewpoints and actively going to get benches for more vertically challenged people to stand on.

By positioning the dancers in two separate yet interlinked locations, the director was able to create a bridge between the performances. This was further articulated by the video coding and processing for telepresence technology that was used to create the concurrent ghosting effect that was seen on the wall of the ECUAD concourse gallery and the main display screen in the IDS Motion Capture studio.

The ghosting effect that was projected onto the concourse gallery wall showed the dual performances and interlaid them onto one another and provided a somewhat random video playback quality as each dancer took centre stage in front of the crowd. They also entered the stage from multiple entry points and once their rotation in each location was complete, they then ran either to or from the concourse gallery and IDS MoCap studio in order to continue their respective performances there.

I have never seen a live dance performance like this before and it was quite the sight to see, as the dancers themselves were able to glide through the space with the greatest of ease and truly encompass it. From what I could see, it was a beautiful and creative bridging of technology and human performance into a multi-faceted co-locative art piece and would enjoy seeing more performances by Henry Daniel and his accompanying dance troupe.

The Brits always have the best and funniest talk shows. This one get a bit “saucy,” as he puts it. She’s promoting her album Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel in the UK before she goes back to celebrate Thanksgiving. Click below for the rest of  the footage.

A cover of Vince Gill’s Little Brother… what can I say, I love that song

Gear:
Trussart Deluxe SteelCaster
Carr Mercury

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Notes from Nick Carr, who’s a rockstar in his own right:

• Cloud is being accepted as a new option- existing data centers will remain
• Promises of Cloud computing existed in every decade, but it makes sense only now due to two laws: Moore’s and Metcalfe’s
• “When network speeds become faster than the computer, the computer hollows out an spreads all over” – Eric Schmidt
• Still in experimentation stage – Few stages of evolution:

1. Start with a highly virtualized DC, internal utility
2. Cloud as a supplement
3. Cloud as replacement (5-10 years)
4. Cloud as democratizer
5. Cloud as revolution

• Cloud is a disruptive technology, following Prof. Christensen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma” curve
• It’s more fun being the disruptor!

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Here are the details on the two internships that I am working on this semester for my DIVA 300 class – the first being the Motion Capture Studio at Emily Carr University and the second being CODElab, a look into surveillance during the Olympics taking place here in Vancouver in 2010. Click mid_term_report_john_deveaux for a PDF download.
– FlashAddict

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IDS Motion Capture Studio Internship
http://crossfitmocap.wordpress.com/
- blog setup to provide project info to participants and show progress
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=177700972600&ref=mf
- Facebook user group setup as well with video links on group wall

LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Rick’s philosophy on learning is to be fluid and allow for creative freedom
- he did not want me helping with mundane tasks such as answering email
- seeing as how he has no set schedule, he wanted to have as much fun in the process
- on his own, he would calibrate the cameras by running back and forth = boring
- having me working with him, gives him a greater chance to explore new outcomes
- “If I have to do one more damn US Marine with a machine gun walk cycle again…”
- CrossFit coaches and athletes were brought together with artists for group meeting
- much easier to learn by bringing in and suiting up actors to have them perform
- ability to work with the performers and fine tune walk cycles or isolated movements
- unfortunately, we had a major software glitch which nixed our live MoCap filming

- Rick pulled up some pre-recorded footage to show multiple data captures instead

CrossFit – Motion Capture – group meeting 1

CrossFit – Motion Capture – group meeting 2

CrossFit – Motion Capture – group meeting 3

CrossFit – Motion Capture – group meeting 4

CrossFit – Motion Capture – group meeting 5

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CODElab Internship
UPDATE
http://codelab.blprnt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
- Wiki page setup as a collective of project information and outcomes
http://codelab.blprnt.com/wiki/index.php/Information_on_the_Olympic_Games#Olympics:_
Secured_.E2.80.94_Past_and_Present
- researched previous and future Olympic cities’ security and surveillance activities
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- overall project is still open-ended as far as final outcomes
- I foresee my continued responsibilities as becomming a researcher
- our first task was to get a video camera and go around Granville Island and record
- criteria asked for unique and creative locations in order to record people and events
- possible location of setting up a “Ministry of Mis-Information” at Granville Island info board

Went ahead and processed, edited and uploaded the video from Monday’s group meeting in the Motion Capture studio. Even though we had some technical difficulties with the software itself, overall I am quite happy with the final result and felt that the people who attended were able to get a better grasp on the project scope.

This isn’t anything I created or claim to have found hidden somewhere. I found it here:

http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/2009/10/roasted-butternut-squash-curry.html

I recommend looking at A Good Appetite any way, lots of noms.

My only real modification was using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth so that my vegetarian friend could eat this dish.

Vegetable broth
Making broth is easy, I’m not sure why more people don’t do it (well, really I do understand, it’s that whole time thing, something I don’t have much of). Mine was modeled after the recipe from “Joy of Cooking”.
1. Chop up (coarsely, prettiness doesn’t matter here) the equivalent of one medium onion, enough celery to make 2 cups, 1 leek, 1 glove garlic, 1 carrot.
2. Melt 1+ T butter in a large pot or small stock pot. Saute veggies until soft, adding in spices: 1 T dried marjoram, 1 T dried thyme, some sprigs of parsley off your almost dead parsley plants, a bit of salt and pepper.
3. Once veggies are soft, add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for a while. The “Joy of Cooking” recommended an hour and a half. Some recipes on allrecipes.com suggested 1/2 hour. Mine probably came in at 45 min.
4. Drain through mesh colander.

Roasted Butternut Squash Curry
0. Preheat oven to 400F.
1. Do the first part of this while your broth is cooking.
Peel, seed and chop into 1″ cubes 1 1/2 lb of butternut squash. Quarter one peeled onion. Peel and coarsely chop one clove of garlic. Mix with 1 1/2 T olive oil in a small roasting pan/cookie sheet/jelly roll pan/etc.
2. Add in:
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cardamon
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t ground ginger
3. Mix well and bake for 30 minutes until the squash is tender (next time I’ll do 35 min to get it a bit more tender).
4. Now that your veggie stock is draining, rinse out the pot and add back 2 c drained veggie stock.
5. Over medium heat add:
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 1/2 t garam marsala
1 1/2 t ground coriander
6. Whisk in 1/2 c yogurt (I used vanilla because it’s what I always have, but I’m sure plain would be perfectly fine).
7. Add in 1/4 c almonds (I chopped up slivered ones, whole would NOT work well here).
8. Add in:
2 T salted butter
2 T heavy cream
9. Once the butter has melted add the squash mixture.
10. Bring to a simmer & let cook uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Next time I think I’ll truly double the sauce rather than just using 2 c of stock. I like my curry saucy and this didn’t have enough for me. Overall I REALLY liked the taste. I used mild cayenne and it was just the right level of spice for me. I bought this to a pot luck and got a lot of positive feedback about it. So yeah, go visit A Good Appetite.

Motion Capture studio space

This is the floor space within the Motion Capture Studio itself – the mats are laid out in order for the performers to know the cameras’ recordable space boundaries.

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Motion Capture studio screen display

The CrossFit athletes performing in the Motion Capture studio will be able to watch their movements live in real-time along with their coaches on a giant screen at the front of the studio.

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Motion Capture studio infared camera

Twenty infared cameras are placed around the perimeter of the room in order to capture a complete 360 degree viewpoint of the studio space.

On October 22, as usual, ESPN will broadcast a College Football game.  However, this game will not be like the hundreds the network has shown before on its signature, Thursday night showcase.
More than just a football game will be on the line in Chapel Hill,  when the Seminoles of Florida State come to town to face the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

Two football program’s futures hang in the very balance and will swing, dramatically, and possibly, irrevocably, with a win or loss.

Each team must win this game…

While, this can be said of many games being played on any given weekend in College Football, this is more than rhetoric for this particular match-up.  This isn’t a matter of one side trying to push through to rarefied air against an opponent willing to do anything to stop them (see: BYU vs. TCU).  This isn’t one side trying to cement their status as this decade’s dynasty against another trying to salvage anything redeemable from the past ten years (see: Florida vs. Miss St).  This is a rising star trying to stay on course against one of the most proud, elite, fading Patriarchal powers hoping for one last glimmer of glory.

Each team must win this game…

The 1990s were as kind to Florida State as any decade has been to any university (with the exception of the ’70s to Oklahoma), as the Seminoles claimed parts of five national championships with two of those being outright.  However, as the proliferation of new offenses and television contracts, the depth of talent and dominance has faded just as the black from the hair of their iconic coach, Bobby Bowden.  Now, after an unprecedented run of top 5 finishes, the Seminoles are flirting with “above average”, something distasteful to their fan base accustomed to bowl games with more prestige than the Emerald Nuts Bowl.  Florida State finds itself just like Kanye West in We Were Once a Fairytale, stumbling around the unranked bowels of the FBS trying to make sense of it all.

This season’s installment of Seminoles is off to a 2-4 start (with the lone bright spot being a win over BYU), one of the worst in Bowden’s legendary, 30+ year run at the school.  Furthering this unfortunate situation, the usual murmur of disapproval, the norm since the glory days of the ’90s, has been ratcheted up to a buzzsaw of dissatisfaction, as notable Board Members have joined the annual call for Bowden to step down.  “The Game has passed him by!” they say,”He’s too old” they jeer, “He never got over being forced to fire his son” they infer…  Big time recruits hear it and since things aren’t right in Tallahassee, dodging the Seminoles for other schools of late, especially their two rivals (Miami and Florida).  Even more unsettling, there are rumors of a schism in the locker room.  Players are torn between the lead of the Living Legend, Bowden, and the Head Coach-in-waiting, Jumbo Fisher.  Nothing would quell the silence like taking out an up-and-comer on a national stage.  Nothing would announce that Bowden isn’t ready to be “retired” like a rousing victory over a capable opponent.  Nothing would get the blue chips attentions like a much needed, big game W.

Florida State must win this game…

North Carolina announced to the world that it was on its way back to the Mack Brown Era dominance of the 1990s with their shocking destruction of Rutgers last year on a Nationally Televised game (also on ESPN).  Their big play offense and tenacious defense were the calling card of their Coach, Butch Davis, who had used a similar formula to restore the University of Miami to prominence at the close of the 1990s and early 2000s.  However, save for another televised win over Notre Dame, the Tar Heels season swooned in the latter half of last season (see: UNC-NC State, UNC-UMD, and UNC-UVA).

Recruiting took a hit, as a result, and a few key, in-state prospects chose to skip the call of their home state and play elsewhere (Florida and South Carolina being two beneficiaries of these decisions).  This stumble in recruiting (the first two seasons under Butch Davis had brought top 10 recruiting classes to Chapel Hill, compared with a #23 class this past season) mixed with a few key injuries has left the program’s progress in doubt.  The doubt has been justified by early backtracks this year (a narrow escape over UCONN, a competitive loss to Georgia Tech, and a shocking loss to previously winless UVA) has the bandwagon ready to be derailed.  Once again, the Tar Heel faithful are counting down the days until Roy Williams’ defending National Champion basketball squad takes the court.  Carolina will always be a basketball school, but continued success will give Butch Davis’ squads a place on the same stage as the hoopsters.

Despite the early struggles, the Tar Heels, coming off a bye and a solid victory (granted, it came against FCS member, Georgia Southern), are seeing momentum, and once injured starters, return.  The best way to salvage the lofty goals for this season (compete for an ACC title, go to a major bowl), along with the half dozen (or so) blue chip recruits in the state that are, coincidentally enough, considering both schools, would be a huge statement win in this game. 

North Carolina must win this game…

Just as the long-term future of both programs are tenuous, so, too, are their short-term prospects.  While UNC has a better record than FSU (4-2), those two losses have both come in league play.  In the Atlantic Coast Conference, two losses are damaging to a team’s chances to win their division, but three losses would all but eliminate a team from competing for the league crown (especially in a division with nationally ranked Virginia Tech (3-1 in league play), Georgia Tech (4-1, and owners of a tiebreaker with UNC), and Miami (2-1) looming).  Even if the Tar Heels were to win this game, their shot at a title is pretty long (In all accounts, they’re probably one year away), but they would still have one. 

FSU, with a loss, would have five on the year.  With away games at Clemson and Wake Forest (two schools they’ve struggled with over the past two years… Struggle would be putting it kindly.  Obama’s Health Care initiative is struggling.  Florida State has been dreadful against each team.  They haven’t beaten Wake Forest since 2005 and have only two victories over the Tigers in the last six seasons) and a season ending trip to the Swamp (rival and #2 ranked University of Florida), a bowl bid would seem very unlikely.  The Seminoles haven’t missed the post-season since 1982… No one on their current roster (I or last year’s roster) was alive when this happened.  Such a catastrophic event would almost certainly bring an end to the Bowden Regime.

Both teams must win this game…

As the 8:00 pm kick-off time draws near, I know where I will find myself on Thursday night.  ESPN will be on in my home, my eyes anxiously waiting to bear witness to either a continuing coronation of the resurgent Tar Heels or the last flicker of the smoldering ashes of the Seminoles once luminous dynasty.

Fellow Emily Carr Students, Faculty and Alumni,

I want to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity. As part of my DIVA 300 course, I am doing an internship in the school’s Motion Capture studio and have been given the chance to create a collaborative cross-disciplinary project.

Elite CrossFit athletes and their coaches will be brought into the Motion Capture studio, suited up and allowed to perform extreme exercise workout routines within the studio space itself. The footage captured will serve both as a diagnostic tool to help provide real-time live data to athletes and coaches on their body dynamics as they do individual exercises, but will also be merged into an artistic format as well.

Using the overall theme of Motion Capture, each participating artist will be tasked to create their own individual art piece from a range of cross-discipline media which will then be combined with everyone else’s work to create a greater whole and then published through an ECUAD concourse gallery show down the road. In addition, on opening night we could also bring in some CrossFit athletes to also perform various exercises as a live performance piece for the audience to showcase the form of the human body.

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CALL FOR ARTISTS:

We are looking for as many cross-discipline artists as we can get who want to participate in this project such as:

- 2D Animators coming into the Motion Capture studio and doing freehand gesture/motion drawings of the athletes’ performances

- 3D Animators looking for experience working within both the Motion Capture studio itself and the corresponding data pipeline to transfer the information gathered from the studio to their 3D applications (Maya, XSI)

- Film Producers and Editors to work with the Animators to create finalized video pieces

- DJs and Musicians to work with the film makers and animators to produce musical scores for their video pieces

- Sound Designers to record the athletes’ performances to provide sound effect recordings to the film makers and 3D animators

- Photographers doing photo-documentation of the process setting up the space and wanting to pursue studies of the human form via the athletes’ performances

- Painters, Sculptors and Visual Artists who would like to incorporate Motion Capture into their respective art practices, paintings and sculptures

- Processing and Arduino programmers who want to work with the data capture and create cross-discipline art pieces with it

- Graphic Designers working on creating the polish and identity of the project as a whole and combining everyone’s individual contributions within the overall theme of, “Motion Capture”

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=177700972600
- find us on Facebook

This blog and Facebook group have been setup so that everyone will have access to all of the necessary information for the project along with detailed videos on what exactly CrossFit is and possible artistic avenues to explore with the data that we collect from the shoot:

- Initial group meeting is taking place on Monday, October 26th at 12pm

- We will be meeting outside of the Emily Carr University Intersections Digital Studios (Room 285)

- Nathalie De Los Santos, or I will then lead you and the rest of the student artists into the Motion Capture Studio for the presentation.

- Even if you feel that you do not have the time to take on this project, please feel free to pass on any ideas or artistic suggestions or movements that you think would be great to explore!!!

- I will be videotaping Monday’s meeting and publishing the video to both the Blog and Facebook group page so don’t worry if cannot attend, but please RSVP with either myself or Nathalie beforehand if you are going to join us.

Cheers,

John DeVeaux
778.847.0397 (cell)

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CrossFit Vancouver’s “Cassius Clay” Workout

For this workout, the athletes require sheer brute strength and endurance in order to reset their muscles and breathing for each heavy lift – simply amazing what they are able to do…

3 Deadlift (315lbs men/205lbs women)
3 Muscle ups
3 Clean & Jerks (185lbs men/105lbs women)
2 Rope Climbs
1 Box Jump (36″ men/24″ women)
300 Metre Hill Climb

X 5 Rounds Total for Time

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Crossfit Vancouver Sub 3 Min Fran workout

This workout routine requires speed, agility and flexibility – look at how smooth his Butterfly pull-ups are. It looks easy, but sure as hell isn’t!

21 Thrusters (95 lbs.)
21 Pull-ups
15 Thrusters (95 lbs.)
15 Pull-ups
9  Thrusters (95 lbs.)
9  Pull-ups

For Time

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Norman McLaren’s, “Pas de Deux” part 1

Norman McLaren made this film in 1968, well before the time of Final Cut Pro and computer software. Optical printers were used to create the ghosting effect. Imagine how much time and effort went into creating this timeless animated film, which even today, simply amazes me!

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Norman McLaren’s, “Pas de Deux” part 2

Part 2 of this major inspiration for me and possible artistic flavour for us to emulate for this Motion Capture project.

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I am a music lover. While I have not been especially blessed musically as far as talent goes- I have a huge passion for it. Lyrics are a part of a song that really make a big impact on me. I’ve had experiences where I cannot stand a song- until I’ve paid some attention to the lyrics- and then had my mind changed completely [for example the song Paralyzer by Finger Eleven.. the lyrics in question: "Well I’m not paralyzed/But, I seem to be struck by you/I want to make you move/Because you’re standing still/If your body matches/What your eyes can do/You’ll probably move right through/Me on my way to you"]

Don’t get me wrong, the way a song sounds is vitally important as well… songs are indeed a package deal. But for a comparative study, I’m just going to focus on lyrics. 

I am a huge Beatles fan, and a huge admirer of their song’s lyrics. So I have decided to take a look at some of the songs that topped the charts back in the year 1967, while they were consistently topping the charts, and compare those songs to the songs dwelling on the top of the charts today in an attempt to see if there is any difference in the quality of music that is ‘popular’ and being produced now. Here is a link to the website I found to help me out in finding top songs of the year 1967: http://tsort.info/music/yr1967.htm

And for the top 100 as of today (10/20/09): 

http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100#/charts/hot-100?begin=1&order=position

And now without further ado, I present to you

Lyrics: A Comparative Study

*I would like to mention quickly that I made these selections for the most part randomly.

1967 #1: A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

“If music be the food of love/Then laughter is its queen/And likewise if behind is in front/Then dirt in truth is clean/My mouth by then like cardboard/Seemed to slip straight through my head/So we crash-dived straightway quickly/And attacked the ocean bed”

Today #1: 3 by Britney Spears

“Babe, pick a night/To come out and play/If it’s alright/What do you say?/Merrier the more/Triple fun that way/Twister on the floor/What do you say?/Are – you in/Livin’ in sin is the new thing (yeah)/Are – you in/I am countin’!/1, 2, 3″

1967 #3 All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done./Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung./Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game./It’s easy.
/Nothing you can make that can’t be made./No one you can save that can’t be saved./Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time./It’s easy./All you need is love”

Today #3: Party in the U.S.A by Miley Cyrus

“So I put my hands up, they’re playin’ my song/The butterflies fly away, I’m noddin’ my head like “Yeah!”/Movin’ my hips like “Yeah!”/Got my hands up, they’re playin’ my song/I know i’m gonna be ok/Yeah! It’s a party in the USA!/Yeah! It’s a party in the USA!/Get to the club in my taxi cab, everybody’s lookin’ at me now/Like “Who’s that chick that’s rockin’ kicks, she’s gotta be from outta town”/So hard with my girls not around me/It’s definitely not a Nashville party/cause all I see is stilettos/I guess I never got the memo”

1967 #7 Penny Lane by The Beatles

“Penny Lane is in my ears and in my ears /Full of fish and finger pies /in summer meanwhile back /Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout /A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray /And though she feels as if she’s in a play /She is anyway /Penny Lane, the barber shaves another customer /We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim /And then the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain /very strange.”

Today #7 Paparazzi by Lady GaGa

“I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me/Papa, paparazzi/Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be/Your papa, paparazzi/Promise I’ll be kind/But I won’t stop until that boy is mine/Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me/Papa, paparazzi”

1967 #32 Chain of Fools by Aretha Franklin

“Every chain has got a weak link /I might be weak child, but I’ll give you strength /You told me to leave you alone /My father said come on home /My doctor said take it easy /Whole bunch of lovin is much too strong /I’m added to your chain, chain, chain /Chain, chain, chain, chain, /Chain, chain of fools “

Today #32 Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship

“I know your type/Boy you’re dangerous/And you’re that guy/I’d be stupid to trust/But just one night couldn’t be so wrong/You make me wanna lose control/She was so shy/‘Til I drove her wild/I make them good girls go bad/I make them good girls go bad/I was hanging in the corner/With my five best friends/I heard that you were trouble but I couldn’t resist/I make them good girls go bad/I make them good girls go/Good girls go bad”

1967 #50 Baby, Now That I’ve Found You by The Foundations

“Baby, baby, since first we met (doot-doot)/I knew in this heart of mine (I wanna tell you, doot-doot)/The love we had could not be bad (doot-doot)/Play it right and bide my time/Spent a lifetime looking for somebody/To give me love like you/Now you’ve told me that you wanna leave me/Darling, I just can’t let you.”

Today #50 Please Don’t Leave Me by Pink

“Can’t you tell that this is all just a contest?/The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest/But baby I don’t mean it/I mean it, I promise/Da da da, da da/Please don’t leave me/Oh please don’t leave me/I always say how I don’t need you/But it’s always gonna come right back to this/Please, don’t leave me
I forgot to say out loud how beautiful you really are to me/I cannot be without, you’re my perfect little punching bag/And I need you, I’m sorry/Da da da, da da”

1967 #60 It Must Be Him by Vikki Carr

“After a while, I’m myself again/I take the pieces off the floor/Put my heart on the shelf again/You’ll never hurt me anymore
I’m not a puppet on a string/I’ll find somebody else someday/That’s when the phone rings, and once again/I start to pray
Let it please be him, oh dear God/It must be him , it must be him
or I shall die, Or I shall die/Oh hello, hello my dear God/It must be him but it’s not him/And then I die/That’s when I die”

Today #60 Ice Cream Paint Job by Dorrough

“Be around tint no window light/Car ride smooth so the rims all white/That right there see see I like /Got the top notch slab for da dirt cheap price/Press one button car automatic start (start)/Stand too close car alarm might bark (like what)/Arff Arff like a Q dog/Prime time click make you move like uhaul
Cream on the inside clean on the outside/Cream on the inside clean on the outside/Cream on the inside clean on the outside/Cream on the inside clean on the outside/Ice cream paint job”

1967 #70 Standing in the Shadows of Love by The Four Tops

“All alone I’m destined to be With misery my only company./It may come today, or it may come tomorrow/But it’s for sure I’ve got nothing but sorrow./I thought your conscience would kinda bother you/How can you watch me cry after all I’ve done for you?/Hold on a minute!/I gave you all the love I had, Now didn’t I,
When you needed me I was always there/Now wasn’t I, wasn’t I?”

Today #70 Uprising by Muse

“They will not force us,/They will stop degrading us,/They will not control us,/And we will be victorious/So come on
Interchanging mind-control,/Come, let the revolution take its toll,/If you could flick a switch and open your third eye,/You’d see that we should never be afraid to die,/So come on”

1967 #87 I Second That Emotion by Smokey Robinson

“Maybe you think that love would tie you down/You ain’t got the time to hang around/Maybe you think that love was made for fools/So it makes you wise to break the rules
Oh little girl, in that case I don’t want no part/That would only break my heart/Oh, but if you feel like loving me/If you got the notion/I second that emotion/Said, if you feel like giving me/A lifetime of devotion/I second that emotion”

Today #87 Bonfire by Craig Morgan

“at the bonfire, out in the sticks/country backwoods, homegrown hicks/bonfire, dance a little jig,/hold up your cup and take another swig/won’t sleep til dawn, party right down to the wire/at the bonfire
everybody sees the headlights/when old Sheriff John pulled up/we all got a little nervous/it’s too late to hide our cups/he pops a top and hollers real loud/dont worry yall i came to hang out”

The End!

[Well... maybe not quite...]

I’d like to add that I am in no way trying to say that there is no good music being released anymore (I’m quite fond of a few of these songs actually)- or that talent has somehow dwindled over the years. That was not the point of this comparison. However, I do think for the most part the Billboard 100 is not necessarily the best selection of music to showcase lyrical talent of today in general. 

Which brings me to my own personal agenda… The following are lyrics from a few of my favorite songs/bands who are making music today (I’m going to try to give a few genre selections, I might fail at this however). If you havent heard of them I highly suggest you give them a listen. 

She Is Not a Hottie Hotty by Select Start

“Another Messed up melody /Just locked and loaded in my mind/I can’t decide which one I’ll use on you/And I’ll do it in the right time
Don’t be alarmed by what I say/You’re not excited anyway/And everyone is here to have a good time/So rest assured you’re still my friend til’ the end/And all I have to do is rest with you my dear”

Rollerskates by Treaty of Paris

“We’ll spike the soda cans with booze /The weather on the news says /We should expect /The sun to make it’s long /Awaited return /On the big blue screen /Now this I gotta /See for myself /To all my friends I hope /That every word I wrote /Finds you well you know /I loved you all along /To all my enemies /unwelcome memories /I hope these words connect /Like a swift kick to the head”

Reanimation by Blackalicious

“Like this, into me, it is a secret/Emcees pretend to be kin to the Gift/I’m mentally shitting the wisdom of centuries/Wit, go on like a centipede’s length/Rappers want flames, man, I injure these shrimps/Skew em on the barb’ with some hickory chips/I’m a level higher than the intermediate/Rappers, I don’t care about your gender, descent/Background, police records, history, rent/Unpaid evictions, charge penalties sent/Merciless in battle leaving enemies bent, it’s the Gift”

Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked by Cage The Elephant

“Now a couple hours past, /And I was sitting in my house, /The day was winding down and coming to an end, /So I turned on the TV, /And flipped it over to the news, /And what I saw I almost couldn’t comprehend, /I saw a preacher man in cuffs /Taking money from the church, /He stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills /But even still I can’t say much /Because I know were all the same/Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills.
You know there ain’t no rest for the wicked/Money don’t grow on trees, /We got bills to pay /We got mouths to feed /Ain’t nothing in this world for free./Oh no/We can’t slow down, /We can’t hold back /Though you know we wish we could. /You know there ain’t no rest for the wicked, /Until we close our eyes for good.”

Hot Knives by Bright Eyes

“She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain/And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others’ dreams/Bid farewell to her family with one ecstatic wave (Please take care I love you all)/Out the window as the car rolled away/She just vanished into a thick mist of change/So let us rejoice (Let’s Rejoice!)/In all this Pink Noise (Out Pink Noise!)/An oscillation that we can pin point (We’re right here!)”

Everything Is Alright by Motion City Soundtrack

“I’m sick of the things I do when I’m nervous/Like cleaning the oven or checking my tires/Or counting the number of tiles in the ceiling../Head for the hills, the kitchen’s on fire!
I used to rely on self-medication,/I guess I still do that from time to time./But I’m getting better at fighting the future,/”Someday you’ll be fine..”/Yes, I’ll be just fine.”

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

“True, it may seem like a stretch, but/Its thoughts like this that catch my troubled/Head when you’re away when I am missing you to death/When you are out there on the road for/Several weeks of shows and when you scan/The radio, I hope this song will guide you home
They will see us waving from such great/Heights, ‘come down now,’ they’ll say/But everything looks perfect from far away,/’come down now,’ but we’ll stay…”

Just Because by Cavashawn

“I remember when we laughed and said/”I really want my life to matter
But I don’t know what I’m chasing after”/Now I finally see/I’m not who I hoped I’d be/
Just because/We never called it love/Doesn’t make it right to leave/Does it hurt you /The way it hurts me/To have to tell you this is goodbye?/And all the time spent wondering “would we make it?”/Now we know, we know, we know”

White Lines and Red Lights by Between the Trees

“Me and you together/This is getting better /Just butterflies won’t do/I don’t want just red lights/I want more of these nights/Baby I love you
Cause you are the brightest star/I’m in love with who you are
And you are the brightest star/I’m lost without your love 
You and me is what matters most/It’s not the intimacy that brings me/Closer to you…”

Woe by Say Anything

“Please take me out of my body /Up through the palm trees /To smell California in sweet hypocrisy./Floating my senses surround my body. /I wake my nose to smell that ocean burn./So now I’m forging ahead /Past all the plutocrats who sold me out./Go sob in your bed. /If life is twice as pretty once your dead /Then send me a card./I’m still the optimist though it is hard /When all you want to be /Is in a dream./(A dream)”

Love Me Dead by Ludo

“Love me cancerously, like a salt-sore soaked in the sea./”High maintenance” means your a gluttonous queen,/narcissistic and mean./Kill me romantically, fill my soul with vomit/then ask me for a piece of gum./Bitter and dumb, you’re my sugarplum/you’re awful, I love you…
She moves through moonbeams slowly/She knows just how to hold me
and when her edges soften, her body is my coffin./I know she drains me slowly/She wears me down to bones in bed…/must be the sign on my head, it says,/”Oh love me dead!” Love me dead”

Going Back/ Going Home by Butch Walker

“There’s a lady on my block that has a kid. /As he swims in the above ground pool, she seals up the lid. /And he thinks it’s kinda normal that she hides, 
All the cuts and all the bruises /She says it’s warpaint for the eyes. 
She tells her son she did the best she could as she buries Dad. /Maybe he’ll grow up to be a man, or like his father did. /As they leave the driveway for the northern snow, /They finally know the difference between going back and going home. “

Consequence of Sounds by Regina Spektor

“My rhyme ain’t good just yet,/My brain and tongue just met,/And they ain’t friends, so far,/My words don’t travel far,/They tangle in my hair,/And tend to go nowhere,/They grow right back inside,/Right past my brain and eyes/Into my stomach juice/Where they don’t serve much use,/No healthy calories,/Nutrition values./And I absorb back in/The words right through my skin/They sit there festering inside my bowels/The consonants and vowels/The consequence of sounds”

Ok. That is seriously all for now. I have sososo many more songs that keep popping up into my head that I would love to be able to list, but this blog is much too long already. I suppose at points in the near future I can post more blogs featuring more songs, but for now this is it. Because this is now so long I’m not really going to add much of an original commentary in regards to the comparison, take from it what you will. Hopefully at the very least, you found it interesting. 

If you actually made it through reading this and are here now, I love you. 

I will do my best to never write a blog this long ever again,

Me

GET ME

Here’s an amusing piece about a misadventure in online journalism.
It’s about Yahoo sentencing 200,000 Iranians to death!:

‘How much horseshit? Let’s break it down, just for giggles. Koman’s unnamed source for the story was a guy who had translated an Iranian blog post written in Farsi. The post – which, let’s say it again, was written in Farsi, which Koman doesn’t speak – was published on the blog of an avowedly anti-government Iranian student group. In the original post, which Koman quoted without a secondary source or an independent translation, it was claimed that Yahoo’s Malaysian subsidiary had passed on the information after access to their Iranian site was blocked by Tehran. Yahoo doesn’t have an Iranian site, nor does it have a base of operations in Malaysia. Neither Koman nor anyone else at ZDNet bothered to put the allegations to Yahoo before publishing a story which Koman admitted he hadn’t got entirely “buttoned down”…’

See entire article –WITN?: Yahoo didn’t sentence 200,000 Iranians to death, and other misadventures in online journalism -by Paul Carr on October 10, 2009 -Tech Crunch

Por causa de sua suposta visão de equilíbrio de poder entre as nações, pelo papel secundário que confere à promoção da democracia no mundo e pelas propostas de diálogo com países como Rússia, China e até mesmo Irã, algumas pessoas estão chamando Obama de “realista“. O novo presidente veria o mundo através das lentes da política de poder e seria um herdeiro da escola de relações internacionais que bebeu em fontes como Maquiavel e Hobbes, e ganhou força na metade do século passado com intelectuais como E.H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, Henry Kissinger e (motivo de debate) Raymond Aron. Tem gente até chamando o presidente americano de Barack von Metternich, em referência ao mestre prussiano da realpolitik.

O mundoentrelinhas decidiu, então, levar a questão ao professor da Universidade Columbia Robert Jervis, certamente um dos maiores teóricos das relações internacionais. E, melhor ainda, Jervis é um realista confesso.

A resposta:

Algumas pessoas usam os termos “realismo” e “política de poder” de maneira pejorativa, crítica. Como um acadêmico que estuda e, muitas vezes, advoga a escola realista, considero esses termos um elogio. Diante de questões como, por exemplo, o Irã, é fundamental questionar o que pode ser feito concretamente e, acima de tudo, estar disposto a lidar com regimes dos quais você não gosta. Grosso modo, é isso que está acontecendo agora, com Obama, e será uma vitória para a escola realista se funcionar. Agora há um jogo muito mais coerente do que vimos no passado entre o engajamento, no sentido dos compromissos e da persuasão, e as ameaças. Isso é muito bom.