Captured Thought: Historical Rumors

I watched a good episode of The Simpsons the other day. It was the one in which Lisa discovers that the man who founded their town, Jebodiah Springfield, was actually a murderous pirate and not the hero he was made out to be. She tries to convince the town about her findings, but everyone is so lost in the story of Springfield. So, in the end everyone still believes Jebodiah to be a hero despite the truth of him being a terrible person.

This made me realize that it is quite possible that fragments of history, that people hold on to and adore, could easily be a lie, covered up by the person/people recording it for the books. I know that most things in history can easily be proven just by all the artifacts left behind (Ex: Mayan civilization, the Civil War), but there are also things that could be made up, just historical rumors. Things like who first landed on the Americas and who first landed on the moon.

It might seem like this is not big deal because it does not change our current status, but it is. It means that everything that is supposed to be true and hold validity, could easily be dismissed as false just because of our ignorance.

Looking back, I notice that I have been thinking about things like this for a year or two. I would always ask myself, as I looked through a history book, "What if this stuff isn't true?" But I would ignore that question because I was convinced that, "Oh, it is in a history book, it must be true." But now I realize that things are not always as they seem.

iMedia:Tom Waits Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo4Y0TxW41g&feature=related

This is a music video for The Ramones' song "I don't want to grow", performed by Tom Waits, and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The reason I chose this is because I've been listening to a lot of Tom Waits lately and I'm also a fan of the movies that Jim Jarmusch has directed(Stranger than Paradise, Deadman).
I think that this video does capture the ideas presented in the song, but it is also simplistic and boring. The idea of the song is quite obvious, Tom Waits doesn't want to grow up. This is presented in the video in two ways. It cuts between clips of Waits riding a tricycle and of him performing on a stage a few sizes too small for him. While it is sort of entertaining watching Waits -who I see as a total badass- ride a tricycle with a devil costume on, it does get old pretty quickly. There isn't much variety in this video and that's my only problem with it. They could of added some more shots of him on swing set or anything just to change it up a bit.
What I do like about the video is it's use of color and how it plays around with size. During the bike scenes the sky is a redish purple that emulates the same colors as when he is performing. I also enjoyed him playing on a small stage, and the use of the magnifying glass to throw off his image. Overall it's a pretty good video because of the visuals but it does end up being a bit simplistic.

Metacognition: Mind Garden

When starting a paper, the first thing I do is sit down at a computer open up word and try to come up with something to write. Like it's that easy. It's not possible for me to do this, even though it is always how I try to start an essay. After about ten minutes of wallowing in the fact that the only words I've written are "George Cadkin" I decide to take a new approach. I go upstairs, put on some tunes, sit in my comfy, cushiony chair, and start to brainstorm. I think and think and think until I can't think NO MO'! Then it hits me like a brick that hits, which is quite painful (if you can imagine)! I finally get an idea. Then from this single idea I start thinking more.

It's almost as if I planted a seed while thinking, and then the idea was the flower blooming. After I found this single idea, I started planting more seeds. I found quotes, thought about the structure, and began to write. Pretty soon my little seed, turned into a flower (awww they grow up so quick), which turned into multiple flowers, which turned into a garden. My mind was a garden of thought, growing bigger and bigger with all the attention I was giving it. After I found a nice place to set my garden, in the sun with, I finally finished my essay.

Carry it Forward: Sophie's World

With so many philosophical ideas being tossed around in Sophie's World it is hard to choose one to focus on. The one I decided to focus on is Plato's World of Ideas. The concept behind this is that everything in nature "flows". Meaning that a human looks like a human because there was the idea of a human. By ideas Plato means "a limited number of forms 'behind' everything we see around us" (Gaarder 86). These "ideas" are what makes the world "eternal and immutable" (83). This was very important to Plato because this was exactly what he was looking for, the things that connects everything.

Although it may not be 100% scientifically correct, that a horse looks the way it does because of the "idea" of a horse, this thought had a great influence unto other great thoughts. I think it could be agreed that this theory of Plato's, could be the basis for the DNA research and the whole genetic process. I think that Plato's thought is, in essence, the summary of DNA and why the child looks like a human and not like a plant.

This kind of thinking is also very influential. Noticing something as simple as, a child of being of the same species as the parent, and then turning that into a very intelligent thought, is something that I consider to be quite inspire. This type of thinking does not seam that difficult yet it has made all the difference on the world. Taking a simple idea and turning into a not so simple theory is something that I will carry forward in life, spronk.

Best of Week: Group Project

The group project that we did on Friday, in which we created our own poem in one period, was very cool. At first the idea seemed a little lame, when we were just brainstorming ideas I was like, "Where is this going?", but I quickly realized that the end result was actually going to be something of value. I think this is because with three or more minds collaborating on a single idea, and focusing all their attention on it, that it is quite simple to have a product that is well thought out. I was quite surprised with all of the other groups' poems. They were all very unique and each person shared different perspectives about their object.

I also think this was a good exercise in some basic writing skills. We had to some up an object in about five sentences and this stretched our abilities to do so. It also allowed people to speak poetically about their object, which not many people do. I also very much enjoyed the aspect of working with our groups. This was one of the first times with our new groups and it was a great way to introduce each other/learn a little about each other. Overall, I think was a very productive activity; it was fun and educational.

Connection: Smallest Particle and Smallest Note

Earlier today my music theory teacher stated that there are only 12 notes to use. This disappointed a few people in our class because of the limitations within their definition of music. This observation got me and a classmate (Jake L.) thinking about how many notes there really are. Jake said that if you used a slide on a guitar then there could be an infinite amount of notes to be played, because there are an infinite number of positions, according to him. Then I realized how similar this was to Sophie's World. In the book, one of the philosophers talks about how there has to be a smallest particle. Democritus named this particle that atom. Since then there have proven to be smaller particles, but I found it interesting the coincidence of these topics within my life.

This also got me to thinking, was there actually a smallest particle, or a limited amount of notes? I'm not sure, but I think there is a lot more than we can detect. The smallest particle (if one exists) is probably so small that we would not be able to detect it because of our inferior technology. Same goes with the limited note. I'm sure we could have two different pitches and then break those pitches into two smaller pitches and then break those pitches...blah blah blah. This is a more of a mathematical way of looking at it, because according to mathematics there are an infinite amount of numbers; and if looked at as numbers, pitches can go on forever.
Since pitches go on forever, maybe particles do to. Maybe they just keep getting smaller and smaller-And just go on forever. Who knows?

iMedia: Sonic Youth

In the summer of 2007 my drum teacher said that one of his bands was going to play at the Pitchfork Music Festival. He also informed me that he would get me three all day passes, all access-Very cool. I then decided to check out the bands, headlining were: Slint, GZA, and Sonic Youth. I had already heard the first two and decided to check out Sonic Youth. That night they were going to be performing the album, "Daydream Nation", so I decided to check that out. The first time I heard the album it blew my mind. It was a cacophony of metallic guitar noises beating against each other in an orchestrated way, while still being a rock album.
(I don't know why it's underlined and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

"Daydream Nation" opened my eyes and ears to new music. They're music made me realize the limitlessness of music, and this is when I started my quest for music. I started going to libraries and checking out the maximum number of CDs I could, and if there was no limit, getting as many as I could hold in my arms. This album led me to Avant-Garde, which led me to 20th century classical, then to all other classical, to Jazz, and then making the leap into early rock and roll.

This album has an extreme amount of importance in my life. With out it I would not have heard most of the music I now listen. The album is often regarded as their best album, which to me means that many others have had this experience I had. This Album, "Daydream Nation", with its hardly distinguishable blend of melodic rock and avant-garde electric, has led me from The Beatles to Olivier Messiaen.

Here's the link to the first song off the album (I didn't know how to post a video, copy and paste):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRIsc34kAHo