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 A blog about music from my unique perspective (also a spot for some poetry I’ve written) |
A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff is Gru in #2343485  . I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.![Merit Badge in WDC Media Prompt
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| Prompt 7: "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." - Bill Watterson Today's prompt made me chuckle at first… it's sad, though, that humanity has made such a mess of the world that extraterrestrials wouldn't dream of approaching us. Although, there are weighty implications to that statement. For starters, how can we assume that if there is extraterrestrial life, the creatures automatically have a higher moral system than we do? If there's anything pop culture can teach us, it's that aliens can easily be far more monstrous than us. In some cases, we're nothing more than a light snack to them, or bodies to lay eggs in  Of course there's no use, really, in overanalyzing a joke. My opinions on the existence of extraterrestrial life are a bit muddled. When I was a kid, Mom used to enjoy watching episodes of UFO Hunters (starring William J. Birnes et al) on YouTube. So I'm familiar with a lot of the sightings and analysis and whatnot. Logically and secularly speaking, the chances of other forms of life evolving on distant planets in other galaxies are… I don't know  I'm not a scientist. Judging by what the Intelligent Design people say, I doubt that miracles like the precise placement of Earth in relation to the Sun and Moon, and the complexities of cell structure, would happen by random chance more than once. On the other hand, considering the sheer vastness of the universe, and everything we don't know about it, it could be entirely possible that somewhere out there, life exists, even if only in a primitive bacterial form.But what about UFO sightings, close encounters, and other strange phenomena? Now we're getting into what I believe is different territory. As a spiritual person who believes in God and believes there is evil in the world, I have developed the idea of physically unexplainable events being caused by supernatural forces rather than extraterrestrial ones. Ok, now all you thoroughly secular people probably think I'm off my rocker. Bad enough to take UFO sightings seriously – even worse to attribute them to the supernatural! It's something I find difficult to explain rationally on short notice… I've always found Paul's words in Ephesians 6:12 to be peculiarly chilling: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms..." Perhaps our Christian friend LightinMind  would have some useful input on this subject.On further consideration, I think I have this belief because of the general overlap between the types of things reported as UFOs, and the sort of things that happen in haunted houses and such: flashing lights, moving objects, the manipulation of human energies to create alarm and confusion, the disruption of electrical items. This points to something dangerous, something bigger than we can understand, and I believe such things should be avoided as useless distractions from the real world. I've never been much of a fan of space exploration, partly due to a solipsistic perspective that if I can't see it or experience it, it doesn't really exist. The idea of people going to “colonize” Mars (as if we didn't already know what a bad idea colonization is) seems as silly as if someone asked me if I would like to live in Antarctica. Some things are never meant to be done. When God made Adam and Eve, He did not commission them to take over the known universe and litter it with abandoned, outdated space gadgets that are now threatening to collide with each other. He wanted them to grow and tend a garden. My head may be in the clouds, but my feet are squarely on Terra Firma. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Maybe if I meet a friendly E.T. we can take a ride together in the stars. Until then, I'll keep weeding my yard. Words: 660. |
| My final Barrel of Monkeys track is the Simply Three string cover of the famous Avicii song, Wake Me Up. I threw this in for variety, after checking and seeing that it has well over 25 million streams. It's possibly Simply Three's most well-known single. What it Sounds Like Simply Three use a cello, a bass, and a violin to weave an entrancing web of wordless music, tracing the path of the original EDM track while making their version truly unique. It soars at the bridge, captures the infectious hook, blends the chorus in, and draws one along on a breathtaking journey, similar to the imagery in the music video. Personal Significance This is the cover that introduced me to Simply Three. I remember scrolling through YouTube one evening on a scratchy WiFi signal while traveling the backwoods of Tennessee in 2018. I noticed the official music video with the thumbnail of three guys holding a cello, a giant cello and a violin on the edge of a mountain, and since I knew and liked the song I thought it would be interesting. Boy, was it ever. It opened a whole new world of music up to me. I had never thought of myself as someone who liked classical music or violins, but show me string covers and I was enamored. I devoured S3’s covers of Counting Stars and Believer - naturally - and explored all manner of other covers of whatever pop songs I was familiar with. It taught me to look beyond the words of a song and consider the workability of the lyrical melody. Sometimes even songs I despise make great cello covers. Wake Me Up is a song I love, of course, and it's a delight to have this version on my playlist. Which reminds me, Simply Three used to offer it as a free download on their website, I think if you signed up for their emails, so it was one of the first tracks I actually “owned” and could play offline. I've used it over the years as a bellwether for judging the capabilities of different sets of earbuds, because it features a prominent bass. I remember the first pair of Bluetooth earbuds I ever had was one I picked up off the ground in Tennessee. When I connected them for the first time, the first song I had access to was S3'S Wake Me Up. I almost fell over in amazement at how different the opening notes sounded with a proper bass. What an experience. I hope you've enjoyed my leap into a "Barrel of Monkeys"  this month. Kudos to Jeff is Gru in #2343485 for hosting this each year. It's always fun for me to write about music.Words: 450. |
This was the idea of iKïyå§ama-Happy 25th!  , for "Writing.Com in Wonderland"  1. Melancholy: a collie wearing a watermelon costume 2. Serendipity: when you slather Dippity Doo on your Saran wrapped sandwich 3. Theosophy: one of those "people pairs," specifically Theodore and Sophy 4. Watershed: what happens when your dog comes in out of the rain and shakes 5. Waverly: watching the ocean waves while climbing a coconut palm 6. Mondegreen: when your leftovers start looking like they've been "laid on the green..." 7. Footloose: what happens when the Halloween skeleton is left in the closet for too long 8. Foresight: that third eye in the middle of your forehead... 9. Jigsaw: when someone joggles your arm as you're doing something delicate and precise... 10. Frenetic: when you get a new hairstyle by sticking your finger in a light socket 11. Background: the ground in back of the haunted house (where the graveyard is) 12. Graveyard: when the owl in that tree looks down at you like "you shouldn't be here..." 13. Wednesday: the day all the Weds get nesed. 1. Wonderlanditis: when one gets lost down the rabbit hole and can't get back home 2. Conflusticated: a state of frenzied concern and flustered anxiety 3. Dracognomist: a gnome who rides dragons 4. Ghostethtician: someone who makes ghosts beautiful 5. Planchard: a type of lettuce used in Wonderland 6. Yukgort: a creature something like a yak, but with six horns and leathery skin 7. Slindering: the art of sneaking past your dozing spouse while holding a tray of snacks 8. Fraxidallion: a fractured medallion that's been glued back together, usually with magical properties 9. Endronititis: when a lazy person starts taking root and turns into a tree 10. Libriascale: arranging all your books on the shelf in rainbow order of their spine colors 11. Thenoscope: a telescope that lets you see into the future 12. Delgradosis: what happens when you take a train to sightsee and it won't let you off So... Yeah   Let me know what your favorites are! |
| My sixth Barrel of Monkeys track is a single off of the 2022 Imagine Dragons double album Mercury Act 1 & 2. I chose this because I was getting tired of trying to find ID tracks with slightly over 25 million streams. For some reason their tracks either have a gazillion views (on YouTube) or surprisingly few. I don't have a Spotify account, and it's rather difficult to access streaming stats per song. This, obviously, has way more than the challenge requirements. What it Sounds Like Sharks is a spartan song, with a simple bass line and production reflective of Rick Rubin’s influence. My first impression was that it had a demo feel, perhaps because of the real instruments combined with the synth effects. (The bass line is actually identical to another single off of Act 2, Bones. But that's a different story…) It has a spooky sound, of course, suitable to the theme, complete with unnerving laughs and ominous popping bubbles added at the beginning of the second verse. Now that I think of it, it resembles one of Michael Jackson's horror type songs, something that kids love to be scared with. What It Means Thematically, Sharks reminds us that everyone is a shark. It deals with envy, backbiting, and toxic behavior, while also reflecting on the brevity of life and how one tends to become the very thing one dislikes. For some reason, kids love this song. I've never liked real sharks, for much the same reason that dinosaurs never interested me. I would think Sharks is even a bit creepy for kids, but it's more playfully exaggerated than truly sinister, and it does teach an important lesson about human nature. The music video for Sharks is the cat's pajamas. I absolutely love it. The evening it came out, I must've watched it a million times on loop. It portrays a story purportedly inspired by the movie Ocean’s Eleven, where some kind of carefully planned heist is taking place at a landmark casino in Vegas. As a person who doesn't watch movies, I thoroughly appreciate the effort that went into creating a mini-movie for this song. I also love how a folding smartphone is prominently featured; some people might laugh at the commercial aspect of that, but good grief, the only other time I've seen those is when I played with the test devices at Best Buy  Personal Significance Sharks was released in June of 2022, during a time when I was still finding myself after the pandemic and a toxic job. I found comfort in the relatability of Dan's words, seeing my own experience reflected, especially in the second verse: “don’t you let ‘em see you struggle - hiding your tears/ crisis, take advantage of your niceness… prey on your fears.” I made an art piece for this song… Technically, it was supposed to be a birthday card for Dan Reynolds, to be posted on my Twitter page and appreciated by the fandom, but I was in the process of pulling away from social media and ended up missing the day entirely. I think I posted it a year later, but by then everything had changed and it lacked significance. I got the idea because the band released an animated lyrics video of Sharks in time for his birthday - I think it had something to do with National Shark Awareness Day - and I took a screenshot of the phrase “you're a light in the dark” and thought it applied nicely to him, so embellished it. I must've listened to Sharks a gazillion times, between my initial release analysis and watching the music video and streaming it on my personal offline shuffle mix. Like all the tracks off of Mercury, I wore it threadbare and haven't really played it much since joining WdC. I'm glad to have a chance to give it a fresh listen with good earbuds. Words: 640. |
| Prompt 5: Espresso Macchiato, by Tommy Cash, from Eurovision Today's prompt from Petra is a song, which I chose not to listen to nor to attempt to read the lyrics. For starters, the video she embedded is unavailable in the US, and when I googled the phrase she gave us, I was presented with a detailed Wikipedia page . Judging by the song's description, it isn't anything I would care to hear, but it does provide me with plenty to write about.I've instinctively never tolerated stereotypes. I learned all the reasons why they're bad from an early age, reading stern warnings in my textbooks to not make jokes about one's “Italian temper” or “ginger hair” or anything else of that nature. My mom is Italian, which means she's had to put up with all manner of stereotyping over the course of her life. I've gotten by with less of it because I'm more Anglo, being half Irish… We moved from the relatively metropolitan atmosphere of Florida to a small town in Tennessee when I was little, and oh boy, was it a culture shock. The locals didn't know what to make of us. In many ways, it was classic William Faulkner – a “crooked little town,” as a fellow outsider and nextdoor neighbor called it. One time, Mom was talking to the bus driver and shared her Italian background. He then repeatedly insisted, “oh, you're here because the Witness Protection Program sent you! You're in hiding because of the Mafia.” Sheesh. Even a neighbor lady from Chile, another outsider, leaned in close to Mom and asked her repeatedly “so what's the real reason you moved here?” Honestly, we could have asked her the same. With this kind of upbringing, having to deal with a backwards, intolerant and insular community, I have a good amount of sympathy for the people criticizing this nonsensical song. An Estonian making jokes about Italians? Come on, how would he like it if someone wrote a song utilizing a bunch of Estonian stereotypes, written in a mashup of pidgin languages? He wouldn't be calling it playful and fun. Espresso Macchiato seems like an attention seeking cheap trick, attempting to go viral by sheer idiocy. I do appreciate a little fun, certainly, and in fact I was just thinking not long ago about how touchy Italians can be with how others see their culture. Recently, there was a kerfuffle when a British news site reinterpreted an Italian dish by adding an ingredient. Italians were quite upset and insisted it could no longer be called the original name if it wasn't the same dish. All I could think of was that it didn't sound like a very appetizing recipe in the first place I've learned a few terms from this: Macaronic, broccolino, Italian brainrot, Dolmio, and the existence of a casino called Wigan and a 1982 Danish movie perspective on the US called 66 Scenes from America. None of it is anything I'm particularly interested in, except perhaps to marvel at how strange worldly culture is. I'm fascinated by the ways countries view each other, and it's somewhat amusing to stand back and see two European countries getting uptight when others around the globe may not know where to find either one of them on the map. Words: 540. |
| My fifth Barrel of Monkeys track is another deep cut from OneRepublic's 2013 album Native. I pulled it off a list of 1R tracks with slightly over 25 million streams. What it Sounds Like Listening to it now, with my new earbuds - I'm pretty sure for the first time - I don't hear anything particularly notable about the music. It has pretty standard Native style production, with hints of the soaring synths of Au Revoir and other deep cuts. I might call it bland. Perhaps that's why it slipped under my radar for several years. This time around, I realize Burning Bridges has no bridge… Well, that's ironic! I've known this song since 2017, and I never picked up the pun. I know Ryan did that on purpose, because he did it a few years later in 1R’s 2021 song Savior, where he mentioned the word “bridge” at the bridge. A double irony is that he quite literally has burned his (musical) bridges down these days. What It Means The meaning is perhaps the most interesting part of Burning Bridges. I remember being fascinated by two prevailing interpretations of the idiomatic titular expression. On Genius, it was explained as either a positive theme or a negative one. Negatively, it could be seen as asking to be set free from the relationship. I prefer the positive interpretation, which makes more sense in the context. The narrator sees how valuable the relationship is, sees how he keeps forming unhealthy connections to things beyond it, and is asking for the bridges he's built to everything that could pull him away from it to be destroyed. Perhaps the best way to explain it is with a visual. I see a couple standing on an island, hand in hand, surrounded by bridges on fire. All they have is each other, and that's all they want. In my Genius days, I used to love drawing from Ryan's Christian upbringing to help interpret his songs. This one has a clear resemblance to gospel type themes, of wanting nothing to distract from what is seen as the greatest relationship of them all. Even the purifying aspect of fire is significant. Personal Significance Despite my initial fascination with Burning Bridges, I've let it slip away from me over the years. I remember I was vacationing in South Carolina when I wrote down the lyrics and proposed explanations for it on Genius. Many memories were made that year, as summer slipped into autumn and I explored the state while exploring music as well. I'm glad I had an excuse to play it again. It's a song I've been telling myself I should go back and listen to, ever since I saw it listed in a recent article describing 1R deep cuts (all of which I'm intimately familiar with.) Words: 460. |
| Prompt 4: "Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." — G.K. Chesterton. Make this quote the start of your blog today. I couldn't help chuckling when I first saw the prompt this morning… Then I immediately tried to remember a poem discussing cheese. All I could come up with is the old nursery rhyme, If all the world were paper And all the waters ink And all the trees were bread and cheese What would the people drink? This little doggerel always unnerved me, because it seemed distressing to imagine people being unable to drink water. Since it wormed its way into my head at an early age, I changed the final word to “think” instead of “drink” to make myself feel better. So… Beyond this, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say. Is this a challenge to write an eloquent, elegant poem about cheese? Are we supposed to contemplate the importance of cheese in our lives? Or what? Cheese has always been one of my favorite foods. My earliest memories of picnics feature cheese and sardine sandwiches, fruit bowls and yogurt, all purchased at Publix. As I grew older, I ate so much cheese, I would liken myself to a mouse: quiet, unobtrusive, sneaky, and cheese obsessed. I was quite picky about it, though: American cheese in particular tasted like plastic, and I insisted on only eating it melted over omelettes or homemade burgers. American cheese straight from the fridge, peeled away from inside those wax sheets? Yuck! My favorite cheese was and still is Muenster, though Cheddar, Swiss and Parmesan come in close. Nothing finishes off an Italian pasta dish like the Parm! Mac and cheese, of course, is a classic. Going through puberty, I had awful acne, to the point where I avoided wearing pinks and reds because it brought out the irritated flush in my face. After a while of doing the usual salicylic acid washes and whatnot, Mom realized I should try cutting back on cheese and dairy products. It worked, and I've had clear skin since then. I still eat a reasonable amount of them, just more balanced with whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Dairy is important for women at all stages of life because of osteoporosis; we need to maintain bone strength. It's also a good idea to have as much as possible from a young age to set up strong teeth and bones at the start. Cheese is a great way to consume dairy, because it's so versatile and comes in a whole range of varieties. I should end with a cheese themed poem… American, Swiss, English, French - So many cheeses on the bench! Cheddar, provolone, parmesan, mozz – Variety overwhelming gives me pause! I must decide between Gorgonzola or Stilton - Oh, no, Limburger - my brain's wiltin’! What's really in that Kraft Mac and Cheese? Is it top quality, tell me please! Oh dear, someone else likes cheese as well Little mouse friend, I'll share, but don't tell! Sometimes I'm so goofy, I make myself blush… Enjoy! Words: 506. |
| This was originally a forum response over at "Writing.Com in Wonderland" , but iKïyå§ama-Happy 25th! wants us to have it in our ports, so here it is... I apologize for double tagging and the inherent goofiness of my idea. "Ooh, can I tag 15 people here that I'd love to meet? Or would that be totally creepy? 1. I'd go to South Central Florida to test the bear hug of Joey's Ready for the Fall  2. I'd stop by Southeast Florida to thank Lilli ☕  for hosting Promptly Poetry3. I'd visit the Tampa area to say good morning to Seabreeze  4. I'd fly south of the border to Mexico to swap jokes with 🌖 HuntersMoon  5. I'd visit an undisclosed location on the West Coast to swap adventure stories with Jack of Diamonds  6. I'd have a heart to heart with Humble Poet PNG - but am I?  in an undisclosed location in California7. I'd visit Dawn Embers  and her cute cats in Minnesota8. I'd go to Podunk Tulsa, Oklahoma to talk writer stuff with Max Griffin 🏳️🌈  9. I'd visit the wilds of Montana to hang out with Kåre เลียม Enga  at the cafe and write poetry10. I'd bring a luxurious new broomstick and catch the autumn colors in New England with WW is Monk! Cop Shop @ Bard's  11. I'd share kind words with Naomi  in the Philippines12. I'd go see real live quokkas with S 🤦 in Australia13. I'd patronize the food truck of Adherennium  and hug his guinea pigs14. I'd try to pronounce Welsh towns with John Johnny Johnson 15. And I'd go sightseeing and eat bratwurst in Germany with Olivia  Hugs to everyone, and I hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries  " |
| My fourth Barrel of Monkeys pick is a deep cut from the 2021 Imagine Dragons album, Mercury Act 1. It has somewhere over 25 million streams. What it Sounds Like A “slow burn fire” (literally,) Dull Knives starts with a quiet plea for help and quickly escalates into full-on grunge, subsiding past the chorus into a suppressed, eerie backdrop for Dan's anguished wailing, then growling up again at the next chorus. It pauses for a moment at the bridge, where we hear what sounds like people arguing and saying “oh come on” to Dan's overdramatized pain, then builds back up into the final (very noisy) climax. It is a “real” and “earthy” sort of song, bearing the production style of the famed Rick Rubin, who insisted the band use real instruments and rebuild every demo from the ground up. What It Means Depending on how you look at it, Dull Knives is either a powerful ballad of mental health awareness, or a pile-on of exaggerated whining. Lead singer and songwriter Dan Reynolds says he sat down at the kitchen table and wrote it with the help of his now ex-wife Aja Volkman, who is credited as a co-writer. The meaning is fairly straightforward, describing internal warfare with vivid clarity. Dan considers himself a mental health advocate, often exhorting his fans to love themselves, reach out, share their pain, and remember their lives are always worth living. I should also note the pain he describes is likely to have been literal as well. One wouldn't think it to see him now, but he once struggled with unremitting Ankylosing Spondylitis, a joint stiffening autoimmune disease that would leave him nearly immobilized at times. He keeps it under control with rigorous exercise and a strict diet plan (that falls nicely into his preference of being a Straight Edge.) Personal Significance Dull Knives is one of my favorites off of Mercury Act 1, between the easy lyrical melody, unusual heavy sound, and relatable theme. I often sing it to myself. It taught me what grunge sounds like, helping me to identify the style when I happen to hear it around. I remember being able to quickly categorize and feel comfortable with U2’s Wire when I heard it the first time, because I was familiar with the noisy, anguished style of Dull Knives. I've made a few art pieces with it over the years. I suppose it speaks for itself. Words: 400. |
Petra's Prompt 3: Today's prompt from Petra is a selection of images. I've chosen this as being the one I feel the most connection to, though at first it seemed like a stretch. I have a busy mind. At any given moment of the day, I'm fielding a million different trains of thought and at least one conversation with my mom… Usually two or three different subjects at once: what to have for lunch, what educational paths I should be taking, why spiritual care is important in the medical field, and where that pesky roll of paper towels went. While managing these multilevel conversations, I'll be thinking about things entirely unrelated to all we're talking about: the tasks I have to complete on WdC, the deadlines I have to maintain, the people I'm communicating with, four different story plotlines, usually an idea for a poem or two lurking in the background, and oftentimes there's a song playing in there as well – either one I love or one I hate. Sometimes memories yawn wide and I find myself getting lost in remembering a certain situation or something I used to own, and while juggling everything else that's going on in my head, I slip into a state of wonderment at how much my life has changed over the past ten years. Am I a different person now? Am I better, or worse? Have I become smarter, dumber, wiser, more foolish, deeper, shallower? Where am I going? Where did I come from anyway? I spend a lot of time debating different worldviews within myself. I educate myself on all perspectives, yet the more I read, the less I seem to be able to decide on the validity of any one way of looking at life. Sometimes I'm an absolute nihilist, and sometimes I'm ready to give my heart to Jesus. Sometimes I would rather be a Muslim lady, and sometimes Islam seems to be an ominous force to be reckoned with. Some days I ask why I bother getting up in the morning; other days I go through the motions with numb acquiescence. With so much going on in my head, it's a wonder I can get anything coherent done at all. I maintain strict goal plans to keep myself on track, otherwise I quite honestly wouldn't know one day from the next and would lose motivation entirely. I call myself “scatterbrained” sometimes, but that's probably an oversimplification. This morning, my mom randomly mentioned the time a contractor showed up at our house without notice and started clomping around on our roof. We didn't know anyone was there until we heard the racket. When we confronted him, he told us our roof needed a few shingles replaced and he knew where to get them, and fled. This was close to twenty years ago, in Tennessee, when I was a kid. I don't know exactly why Mom started talking about this, but it sent me on a personal trip down memory lane, back to the time shortly after that, when we did end up getting a different set of contractors to replace the whole roof. As a solitary homeschooled kid, this was the most exciting thing going on at the time. It imprinted itself quite vividly, in scenes now jumbled and sensory relics. The noise level was unlike anything I'd experienced previously: a gas generator roaring, an air compressor blasting, nail guns shooting, a radio blaring music, shouting and hollering and chainsaws and roof-stomping chaos. It was deafening. Being the height of summer in the southeastern US, it was unbearably hot and humid, and on the shingled roof, the air was even more scorching. The men were all sweaty and shirtless, which made me uncomfortable (I grew up without a man in the home.) But I helped out by refilling their water bottles with ice cold filtered water from our refrigerator… (Why didn't they bring coolers, I'm only now thinking to ask?) While replacing the roof, they also cut down a weeping crabapple growing against the corner of the house. The roots were interfering with the septic system, and the branches were making the roof rot. I missed the spring blossoms, but overall it was a fairly ugly tree, old, oversized and crusty. When the “adventure” was all over a few days later, I wrote a story about it, through the eyes of my stuffed animals. I sent them wandering outside, getting lost in the tangle of tree branches from the fallen crabapple and dodging piles of burning hot, crumbling, ripped-up shingles while trying to hear each other over the din. That manuscript has long disappeared, and my memories are pretty fragmentary. I find it fascinating, upon closer examination, that my mode of processing something so unusual was not to simply make a record of it in a straightforward way, but rather to fictionalize it and view it from a different perspective entirely. So… A glimpse into the workings of my mind and a little experience turned into a kiddy story, now fading into the ashes of time. Thanks for reading  Words: 845. |
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