this is me planning for the future

I'm going to drop Physics second semester. Noam et al seem to feel a strange nostalgia for being totally lost every day in Physics C, but that is not really a feeling I want to cultivate. So I was considering taking Anthro instead, but after talking to my mom about it, I remembered that the only time I've ever failed an important test was in Mr. Vaughn's history class... so no. My two choices now are Social Ad II and Film Study. Social Ad II needs Social Ad I as a prerequisite, but I'm pretty sure I could get around that since I've been doing work for Social Ad and Ms. Linder seems to like me. The main problem is that it might be a lot of work. I suppose, though, that I will really, really enjoy and feel good about the course. It's probably what I'll do, but I'll talk to Ms. Linder (and Emma, who will be very excited) about it. Film Study, which would also be fun, is my backup. Yeah, it's during my Independent Study free period, but that'd probably be okay.

In other news, I've been listening to a lot of Sufjan Stevens lately. I just got his Michigan album from the library, and it is so enjoyable! So then I went and listened to Illinois again, which of course is also really great! Yay. Besides the rest of his albums, I am looking forward to someday (be it on Christmas, or a few days later when I buy everything I didn't get off of Amazon) getting stuff by THE DECEMBERISTS, DID YOU KNOW THEY ARE COOL AND INDIE. I will be a true hipster then, maybe.

standing in the trenches of the new underground

So my parents decided that I can't go on the habitat trip (they feel there are other volunteer opportunities in the community, they don't want to pay that much, other people are willing to go too so if I go the work will still get done, etc.). However, they will let me go to the GUSTER CONCERT on Feb. 21, the Wednesday of Agora Week! It's going to be SO AWESOME.

I guess I better get that paper done...

This one goes out to the one I love

That is, I am dedicating this blog post to Annie!

I would love to post more. I wish I had blog-worthy ideas come to me every day, but it just doesn't seem to happen anymore. How can I talk about my social life? It changes all the time--or doesn't change, depending on how you want to look at it--and even if I talk about it with everyone, I don't really want to say things explicitly about it on a blog. It might be convenient to know what I'm thinking all the time, sure... so just look at my Facebook status then. I'm not running a LiveJournal here. :P

So what should I blog about here? General school events, to benefit Noam and/or possibly incite discussion among my 2-3 in-town readers? That's probably what's going to end up happening, at least to some extent.

Or maybe I could even cross-post blog entries to Facebook, and everyone could comment on my notes. But that's not really what I want, either.

What about tech articles or just links to interesting websites? Well, what is there that I don't already discuss with the few friends of mine who would be interested? Oh em gee guys, the Zune. What an interesting piece of technology. I hear it comes in the color BROWN, which kind of sounds GROSS. LOL?

No, the thing to blog about is definitely music: Guster, currently the most overplayed of my favorite bands; Tom Petty, the accessible not-quite-classic rock dude; Enya, whose songs get stuck in my head at the weirdest times... I could list all of the artists I've been thinking about recently.

But I don't really feel like blogging right now. After all, I've been spending a lot of time journaling today (and I'm not even done!)... I'm only posting because Annie wanted me to. :)

Maybe tomorrow.

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.

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...

So you had a little trouble in town, now you're keeping some demon down

Today was our first Volleyball game! It was pretty fun, even though both JV and Varsity lost in 2 games. (Both of our second games were better than our first games.) Noam was there, cheering REALLY LOUDLY. :D

On Saturday we have an all-day tournament of five games. It's a good thing we have Monday off; I have a lot of stuff to get done. And on Friday I get to go on a very important adventure with Noam before she leaves on Sunday... Okay, I really don't want to think about that.

Well, a rumor that R.E.M. might start a new album! Maybe. Eventually? Oh well, I suppose I'll take what I can get.

So today near the beginning of 1st period Luke is in the lounge instead of the CRC, so I go in there to get him to help me with Calc and he's like "just let me listen to this song one more time..." and it's Svefn-g-englar! A Sigur Rós song! So I say that I have it on my iPod, and we play Sigur Rós in the CRC for the rest of the period. And then Luke says he wants me to burn him a CD of some Sigur Rós and U2 stuff! Awesome. It's great when people decide they like music I like; perhaps it is even one of the best things ever.