there were some videos of jono but he just acts like that all the time so they weren't very interesting

There's a home volleyball game tomorrow; I think it's the last Friday home game of the season. That means everyone should go!

I was taking a lot of videos in English today, hehe. Here's one of Luke.

I really should not be so distracted by the Internets

I have decided to start posting amusing videos of people on YouTube. This will be a much better use of my camera than taking pictures of Jono, Luke, and Mr. Rayburn in English class.

My only video up right now is a video of Mr. Sutton I took last year. It was good timing on my part.

All right, time to go to sleep.

Why bad songs get on the Top 40 (and other stories)

Independent labels suffer most from the major label monopoly-- major labels' pay-for-play domination of radio makes it impossible for independent musicians to get airplay, confining independent artists to the margins.

Reading this on Downhill Battle helped organize my thoughts on why I dislike major record labels and why indie music rocks. Here's what happens. Artists sign to major labels because if you are on a major label you are famous, right? And major labels have a lot of power in terms of publicizing music and getting radio stations to play it. But major labels also have a lot more control over what the artists do; unless you're Radiohead you pretty much have to do what they say. That's why (often) music from major labels isn't as good: the label wants the band to make as many radio-friendly hit songs as possible and doesn't want to wait around for them to be creative. Their biggest concerns are speed, marketability, and accessibility.

So this means that pop radio stations are filled up with what the major labels want. Some people listen to this because, well, the music is very accessible. (And quite a few people did vote for George Bush, right? Popular opinions are not always reasonable.) If you're interested in art instead of poppy lyrics and danceable beats, though, you'll probably be out of luck with 94.5 and 96.1. Good songs are complex, innovative, and clever. This is not what major record labels are all about. The people who listen to poppy stations like poppy music, so the cycle perpetuates itself.

You may want to point out that there are indie stations; 107.1 does seem to have a rather big fan-following here (college radio rocks!). However, these independent stations aren't affiliated with Mediabase, which compiles data for American Top 40 and other countdown things. Mediabase only takes its data from major label-dominated stations, so it's hard for indie music to find its way in.

Of course, there is some good major label stuff, but most of it is just accessible, not-too-arty junk that is easily replaceable by the next hit song that comes along. The artists may have good voices or good guitar skills, but they are often wasting these skills on making bad music! There are also some good songs--maybe even indie songs--on the Top 40 sometimes, but not often enough. In summary: dear Annie, please listen to some Mogwai for a change!

I dream of cherry pies, candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies

For the past few days, Stephen--the lead singer of The Living Blue--and I have been sending e-mails back and forth about a new website for the band! I'm going to be redoing their current site, which uses flash, but I'll just edit the preexisting code. It's not like I really have time for this, but it is just SO AWESOME that I am doing it anyway. Perhaps I should get my Calc done before school so I can work on web stuff... Heh. Too bad my parents won't let me bring in my laptop during 2nd; I really would like to use 1st for Calc. And now I have to use 3rd for Java (heh, in theory) because my book is in. I suppose I can multitask...?

In other news, there was a big collegey meeting thing after practice today. The U of I app sure sounds easy, but all those deadlines will be stressful.

This week sure is going by at a reasonable pace. Maybe this weekend I will get a chance to relax.

a feeling of foreboding

The funny thing about this blog post is that everyone who will probably read it is already in this room.

So I guess I don't really need to say anything else...

Give me a couple, don't give me a couple of pointers, turn to lies and conversation fear

I suppose I should mention that this blog now includes a list of recent del.icio.us links in the sidebar. I plan to link to vaguely interesting articles, blog posts, and that sort of thing.

You'll never find your way home no matter where you go

Both the new R.E.M. collection and the new Radiohead DVD are available for preorder! How excellent. I definitely have to at least get the R.E.M. thing...

So today was a Volleyball tournament. I don't feel like talking about it, though; you can ask Annie if you are interested in stories from it or something. It went fine.

I have so much work I need to do: a bunch of Japanese to memorize, some Calc, some English, a bunch of Physics to study, that UFU website... And next week I have something going on every night, including Saturday: there's a freaking dance. I guess I should just not go to it. Sunday I've got an UFU meeting, too, so I... am just busy forever. Too bad I'm so tired right now...

That's all I want to say until I find a way...

I told Marquis yesterday that I wouldn't blog until he did, and now that he has I suppose I better post something.

So. Calc test tomorrow, Volleyball game Friday (so everyone should go), tournament all day Saturday, Physics quiz Friday, Volleyball games every day next week except Wednesday (a college meeting thing). I guess I'm pretty busy.

I have a bunch of CDs I need to burn but I'm having issues... so anyone who needs a CD from me (pretty much everyone), I'm sorry!

Happy... get-out-of-school day

First off, this is totally awesome.

Last night I went to Best Buy to get a case and some earclip-style headphones (a picture of which I cannot find on the Internet). I also saw Snakes on a Plane! Pretty cool.

All right, time to eat breakfast and go to Volleyball practice...

So trust me dear you're better off this way