12/28/08

Digging deeper

I love how I always try to blog when it's midnight and I'm dead tired.

Things:
- Younger Dryas has turned into a 3-part song. It's almost at the point where the pieces all fit, but it's not quite there yet.
- I only managed to record one song since the last post. Have not started editing it.
- this is because i had to move my recording stuff for the annual Christmas Eve party.
- Downloaded Person Pitch by Panda Bear. It's amazing.
- Downloaded Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros. It's not as amazing.
- Might be reviewing both of those next week for thenewnorm
- Might be making a video tomorrow for my main channel. I have several ideas. I just need to put them into action.
- Had my first winter track meet. Can't say I did that well.
- Started playing Pokemon Gold. The battle animation's so much better than Red/Blue/Yellow.
- I had calzones for dinner. Which apparently means 'underwear' in Spanish... thank you, JC.

Now if you'll excuse me...

~-~

12/19/08

Dryas EP

Potential tracklisting:
1. Misanthropic
2. Jonestown
3. The LHC
4. Younger Dryas
5. Paper Crane
6. Firing Squad
7. Adding to An Echo Chamber
8. Wake Up Your Eyes

I plan on recording 3 of these songs tomorrow. Along with a 2 hour band practice, and recording a video of me playing Ghostship by Menomena for the last Autumn Sessions video, it's gonna be an epic music day. I'm gonna be going from first thing in the morning until I go to sleep. I'm excited.

It shall be known as "Dryas Day."

~-~

12/18/08

Young Intolerance.

A conversation with a 6th grader that found my screenname/IMed me):

girl: (5:08:51 PM): lol thats good.
girl: (5:08:59 PM): at least your not gayy.
me: (5:09:18 PM): what's wrong with being gay?
girl: (5:09:34 PM): it scares mee, wait are you gay!?
me: (5:09:38 PM): no
me: (5:09:44 PM): but i have respect for them
girl: (5:10:00 PM): your a reallly good person.
me: (5:10:05 PM): why do they scare you?
girl: (5:10:11 PM): idk.
girl: (5:10:14 PM): its funny.
girl: (5:10:20 PM): not being mean...?
me: (5:10:35 PM): well how's it funny?
girl: (5:10:50 PM): idk
girl: (5:11:18 PM): im gonna goo....
girl: (5:11:19 PM): bye
me: (5:11:21 PM): bye

i don't care that she's young. the problem is that too many younger kids have this perspective. with mindsets like these, we aren't going to get anywhere in this world.

~-~

12/15/08

your lips turn blue and so do you

Show:
Everyone was amazing. Andrew Mello's pretty much my hero. Zanois ' set was flawless. Cocoa-Amaretto sounded beautiful. Megabeast was incredibly out of place, but still pretty funny.

All I'm gonna say about myself is that a lot of things did not go right... bound to happen, as it was my first solo show. Being up on stage by myself for 23 minutes was definitely a new experience. A very nerve-wracking one. I was very. very. nervous.
------------------
Recorded Music:
I'm thinking about coming out with an EP instead of a full-length. The thought of a full-length has become too daunting, I keep setting deadlines that I never reach, and all of the songs I have left to record have gone stale.

So I'm thinking of using the three songs that Zane (has worked/is working) on, and throw three new, acoustic tracks in. maybe something like this:

1. Jonestown
2. Paper Crane
3. The LHC
4. (unnamed song)
5. Firing Squad
6. Adding to An Echo Chamber
------------------
oh and watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRNsHOW43WI

kbai.

~-~



12/10/08

open up your open up your open up your throat

show:
the underground m.a.p. project
76 Lowell Street, Manchester NH
12/13/08
a primarily acoustic show
with zanois, andrew mello, and cocoa-amaretto
8-11 PM
my first solo show
go if you can!
it's free! (i think)

album:
i recently came to the realization that i'm going to have to re-record a couple of songs. Shouldn't be that big of a deal. still kinda sucks.

thenewnorm:
eliot's review of 'animals' by this town needs guns was bulletined/blogged by the band. how awesome is that? think i'm going to review I AM THE FUN BLAME MONSTER by Menomena and Viva La Vida by Coldplay in the next video.

animal collective:
holy crap. brothersport's amazing. extremely excited for the new album.

that's it. i'm really excited about everything. ('cept for the album thing. that's kind of a downer)

~-~

12/2/08

Time for A Blog.

NewNorm starts tomorrow, check it OUT:
http://youtube.com/thenewnorm

I sent Zane a song a few days ago, but haven't heard any updates. After I get that back, I only have two more. Then comes copyrighting and publishing. And then comes it getting to you. Not by the end of the year. A little later.

Speaking of copyrighting, I've been looking into getting legit copyrights this time around. Lots of government jargon. If they just put it in plain speak it would sound like: "Kay. Fill out the form. Send the form, $45, and a copy of the stuff you want us to copyright. Include the titles of all the songs. love, copyright officez". But no. 6 pages of tiny, unnecessary details. blah.

Did well on his PSAT.

Is best man at his brother's wedding.

Is addicted to blip.fm.

That's about it.

~-~

11/25/08

Another tracklisting to shove down your throat:

I just like having these things written down, mmk?

01. gargling mouthwash (done)
02. mystery jesus and the wonder wheel (done)
03. paper crane
04. three neighbors (done)
05. adding to an echo chamber (done)
06. wake up your eyes (done)
07. the lhc (done)
08. pots and pans
09. jonestown (being recorded)
10. apartment (done)

11/14/08

Update 3:

Finished Belly Up. Possibly the best thing I've written. Note the emphasis on the 'the'. Yeah.

I'm going to be getting little or no recording time this week as my mom's on a weeklong vacation. And I'm gonna need to get loud on the rest of the songs that I need to record. And she doesn't like loud. Which leads to her interrupting me. And then i get angry because I was in the midst of laying down a perfect take... as you can guess, this has happened MULTIPLE times.

Things that need to be done this weekend:
- a good 10-12 hours of homework
- one song
- level 10 on i'minlikewithyou (iminlikewithyou.com (you are bound to get addicted.))
- un video pour l'autumn sessions
- possible horror film recording.

Yes, I'm working on a 'horror' film. It's called "Trebor Slaughterhouse from Nodnarb V". Here's the link to the first bit, but there's two things you should know before watching:
1. there's a gratuitous amount of swearing done by one character, so viewer discretion is advised.
2. we aren't using the intro where robert's like "oh my god, i'm so scared, etc."

(I'm T-Bone McGraw.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VumP7IrETQw

And that's it.
BYE.



~-~

11/13/08

Update 2:

i've come to the conclusion that map with odd directions is inoperable.
cross that off the list.

Instead, I wrote another one called Belly Up. It's still in the process of being finished, but it would definitely be a good replacement. (similar length, fits well with the mood, etc.)

Also need to do another vocal take on Three Neighbors...
----
Been listening to:
Radiohead B-sides (Gagging Order, Paperback Writer, Talk Show Host, etc. in some cases, I think they're better than the actual album material. which is nice. :)

Bright Eyes (Lifted has grown on me, as predicted)

Animal Collective (new album in 2 months omg)

Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. I love the story behind how it was made and the music itself. Just all around amazing stuff. Strongly recommended.
----
I plan on getting Panda Bear's Person Pitch next.

two to three songs to go. might be done by the end of the month.

~-~

11/5/08

Update 1:

I have 8 songs done. (Although 2 are instrumental and more interludes than anything)

I'm pretty sure the final product will have 10 or 11 tracks. couple more adjustments need to be made on the 8 finished ones before I tackle the last 2 to 3. but i'm so close. there's a chance that this could come out by the end of the year.

It's short so far. I'm pretty sure the 8 songs i have right now run for 24 1/2 minutes.

A lot of the album so far is semi-electronic. There's only one entirely acoustic track. (well... two counting one of the interludes). Zane's produced two songs and they both sound amazing. I have two more songs in mind for him.

I've FINALLY arrived at an album title: "The Gang's All Here..." I have an album cover in mind. Lots of artwork already put together too.

so excited that this is happening. i haz big of a happy.



~-~

10/27/08

maybe?

01 - gargling mouthwash
02 - mystery jesus and the wonder wheel
03 - three neighbors
04 - map with odd directions
05 - adding to an echo chamber
06 - the lhc
07 - obscura
08 - a farewell in slow motion
09 - apartment

hm. looks good.

~-~

10/22/08

Songs Finished:

Map With Odd Directions
The LHC
Apartment
Three Neighbours

Will be working on this more. (Zane, expect some songs to come your way soon)

Auditions...

Mine didn't go as well as I had hoped, but the band's went well.

I forgot a line, I didn't have sustain. (I fail at playing songs without sustain) and my voice was a little shaky. I was nervous at first, because I had never played one of my songs in front of the band... or anyone in my school for that matter. i'll do better in the talent show. *knocks on wood repeatedly*

Note to self: running for 20 minutes in 37 degree weather in shorts does not feel good.

kbai.

~-~

10/21/08

these lullabies send me to dark.

it's late and i'm typing but my autopilot's on.

talent show auditions tomorrow. i still don't know if I can do more than one act.
Song I'm playing there has changed from Last Flowers to a song I wrote called Cranes. (lyrics will be up on my songmeanings page within the next 24 hours)

(autopilot remains on)

i still have songs that need configuring. then they'll go to Zane (at long last) and then he'll produce them and then send them back to me. (except the ones that i want left raw. e.g. three neighbors)

five albums bought:
Lifted - Bright Eyes. First listen = 6/10
I'm Wide Awake - Bright Eyes. First listen = TBD
Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective. First Listen = 9.9/10
Feels - Animal Collective. First listen = 8/10
Sung Tongs- Animal Collective. First listen = 7/10

the album's gone nowhere. i'll try working on it this week or next week. life's been busy. even the goddamn weekends.

...can i get a goddamn timpani roll?

~-~

10/20/08

End of an era.

The last note i played for her was an A.

(beep)

~-`

10/15/08

Houses Move And Houses Speak.

More details:

Talent Show 2008
Friday, November 7

Auditions:
Wednesday, October 22

Song I'm playing:
Last Flowers by Radiohead/ a song with the band. (still have yet to talk to them about it, I'm guessing it'll be Astro Java)

I managed to snag the last two available audition spots. It was way too close of a call.

my single worry is that i might only be allowed to do one performance. Since the band has 2 other people besides me, the band would have to take priority over a solo performance if this were the case. I hate stupid exceptions. Blah.

(I is working on mixing songs)

~-~

10/14/08

One day death is gonna conquer me.

i brought my recording equipment over to my piano teacher's studio. her piano has this weird feeling to it and it's a lot more powerful. I got three songs down, piano and vocals. Most of the vocals were done in one take and i'm thinking about redoing them once i'm in better health. (i've been sick and nasally for over a week.) Keeping the piano takes though. Dey sound good.

Talent show's fast approaching. sign-ups are coming up. and then auditions. and then the show. I'm thinking about doing a song with the band and also a song by meself. More details on that later.

I'm currently learning Death Will Never Conquer by ear, and it's relatively challenging.

I'm thinking about Electron Infinity for an album title.

~0~

10/13/08

the lacerations

The group has come to the conclusion that unknown A is Ca(NO3)2, unknown B is KNO3, and unknown C is Mg(NO3)2.

10/11/08

apartment

'partment 1
Xmaseev
iemfealingsoloanlyyyyyyyyy

closing'n
rthawalls
theroomizdrkandi'mlonelyyyyyyy.

no1here
btthaspies
thaspiesrowt2gtmeeeeeeeeeeee

apartment2
clamour&yellz
festivitys&jeenglingbellllllllllllllls.

EYEWLLWURK
9@5
LIV'N THISHELHOAL112'TILEYE DYE
LIV4 NOTHIN''TIL EYEDIE

coherent lyrics for this song and others can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/lyricks

~-~

10/7/08

24602

We have.
We have found you.
We have found your body.

10/6/08

angela.

my mentor.
my piano teacher for 8 years.
the person who inspired me to write music.
the person who taught me that it's ok to make mistakes.
the person who was there when I first recorded in a studio.
the person who's listened to and read every song I've written.

Is moving to Mobile, Alabama on November 1.

~-~

9/28/08

300

Heaven is a scruffy, bearded homeless man in a green neon vest who shouts out minimalistic symphonies whenever someone approaches him (at night, the sky looked like there was some type of huge meteor approaching and it kind of freaked me out)

9/25/08

Empty threat

3 songs down.
6 to go.

9/22/08

Changed my mind so much I can't even trust it, my mind changed me so much I can't even trust myself.

Name that tune (in the title... again)

My recording studio is moving into my piano teacher's studio for an hour and a half on Wednesday so I can record some piano. It's a really loud piano, so there's like a 100% chance that it's going to peak too much.

I should have at least another song done by next Wednesday.

2 songs down. 7 more to go.
(well. 3 kinda. but not really)

~-~

9/21/08

On my front page:

"BIG BANG MACHINE SHUT DOWN AFTER MAGNETS MELT

Reuters
- An experiment that some critics say could create tiny black holes that would suck in the entire planet is halted after a malfunction."

Dave, you are so right.

~-~

9/20/08

Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse

I'm eating popcorn.

Time at today's meet:
23:14.

Fail.

~-~

9/18/08

To Loaf And To Lark.

Title = album title idea.

I'm kind of worried about the Large Hadron Collider. I mean, my fears subsided after a while, but everyone was talking about it today, which kind of rekindled them.

As my (incredibly wise) chemistry teacher put it:
"What do you get when you mix positive and negative? Nothing."
and
"Look it at this way. If you're talking to someone and then you blink and nothing's there. Oops."

although he also said the UN was planning on trying to halt the project. I googled "LHC UN" and got nothing. He also said that it could spell the end of the universe. Which... probably DEFINITELY wouldn't happen. The end of our solar system? potentially. But the end of our universe... ehh...

1. Why couldn't you have built it in orbit? That might have at least slightly reduced the risk of us getting destroyed by a black hole.

2. You can't calm me down when EVERYTHING you're basing your experiment on is theory. It's theorized that Hawking radiation can evaporate small black holes in almost no time. It's theorized that no harm will be done. It's theorized that you'll actually find something with this machine.

/rant

In other news...
(If we're still alive at the end of this year) I'm hoping to release whatever I release next by the end of the year. I recorded another song today (Three Neighbo(u)rs) and... I'm liking the way it's sounding. I might send it to Zane or I might just keep it as is. It could be my like one incredibly stripped down song on the album.

That's about all of the news I have. Meet on Saturday.

Kbye.

~-~
(I've had that little ~-~ thing forever now. I just realized that. It's become habitual.)

9/15/08

i have a friend. he's mostly made of pain.

NAME THAT TUNE (in the title)

I feel like writing in small text today.
And lolspeak.
But i won't lolspeak here.
---------------------
DRAMATIC SETUP
My parents and my aunt are behind me chatting up a storm on the deck. My aunt is moderately inebriated, Mom is talking to my sister on the phone, and my dad's cracking jokes left and right. My dog's laying down under my computer desk and it's virtually the cutest thing ever. It's 9:00 PM on a Monday, and I'm blogging.
----------------------
I'm starting an Autumn sessions, to (kinda) pick up where the Summer Sessions left off.
http://youtube.com/shebitmylip
I'll only be making videos once a week (Each Saturday, before 6:00 PM), but it'll at least make my channel alive again. It's been dead for almost a month.
So yeah. Starting that this week.
-------------------------
I tried to record Map With Odd Directions, but it didn't turn out all that great. I still have a few kinks to work out with my studio, and I need a better piano to record on. (This problem will be solved by me recording most of whatever I release next in my piano teacher's studio.)
-----------------------
My secret thing that isn't really much of a secret to be kept in the first place is that I'm probably going to make my next release full-length. Now, it's not going to be like a huge 16-track extravaganza, it's still going to be short. (Probably 9 or 10 tracks)
Here's what I'm looking at for a tracklist:
1. Graph Paper*
2. Adding to An Echo Chamber*
3. Map With Odd Directions*
4. Father No. 3
5. This Is Not A Dream*
6. Doppelganger*
7. The LHC - done already
8. Pack Mentality
9. Cyanide Lightyear*

* denotes a song that I'll most likely be recording at the piano studio.

I'm not entirely sure whether Slip Case will be going on. It doesn't really fit in.
----------------------
The videosforpictures Youtube channel probably won't be up for much longer. All I can do is covers until I can get some of me music copyrighted, so I can't really use it. Dunno. Might post the occasional cover on it.
----------------------
i've fallen into a bad habit of cracking my middle, index, and ring knuckles on my right hand. There's like a 100% chance that I'm going to have hand problems when I'm older. Constant piano playing, constant typing, knuckle thing. It's gonna bite me in the ass.
----------------------
Band might be playing at a half-marathon at Hampton Beach in a few weeks. They don't know it yet. Because I just found out about it today.
---------------------
That's all I feel like writing, kthxbyebyebyebyebye.

~-~

9/12/08

Singularity

I don't want to be around when the black hole comes
I don't want to have to scream at the top of my lungs
As time slows to a halt and we get split in half
Nothing gets out of here alive.

General Life Vlog

Life update.

1. Ran two meets in the last three days
First meet = 23:04 (49th of 60)
Avg. mile = 7:26
Second meet = 23:24 (110th of 148)
Avg. mile = 7:32

I did surprisingly well in today's meet, seeing as how it was raining semi-hard, there were incredibly steep hills, and I felt winded halfway through. The first meet was virtually all flat.

Goal = break at least 22 minutes by the end of the season.

2. I'm working on mixing a track that will be part of something secret. (Could be a while until you know what I'm talking about. Secrets are fun.)

Should probably fill Zane in about it...

3. Radiohead's apparently already working on their next album. Ben Folds' new album comes out on the 30th. *head essplodes*

4. My cousin's wife is preggers (!) and my brother's getting married (!!!)

5. School's still preventing me from making any videos. But I might make one this weekend. At long last.

6. I've been thinking of album titles. Here are some that have come to mind
- Spaniard Shade
- Two Weeks Ago, You Were Eaten by A Turkey
- Product Placemints
- Pulse Stay Enter

7. I REALLY WANT TO BE ON INDIEDUCTION, DAMMIT.

~-~

...---...

-... .-. . .- -.- / - .... . / -... .-. . .- -.. / .- -. -.. / -.. .-. .. -. -.- / - .... . / .-- .. -. . .-.-.- / .-- . .-.. .-.. / -.-- --- ..- / --. --- - / -.-- --- ..- .-. ... / -... ..- - / .-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / -- .. -. . ..--.. / .. / -.. --- -. .----. - / .-- .- -. - / .- / -... . - - . .-. / ..-. .- - .... . .-. --..-- / .. / .--- ..- ... - / .-- .- -. - / .- / -... . - - . .-. / ... --- -. .-.-.- / .-- .... --- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .- .--. .--. .-. . -.-. .. .- - . / . ...- . .-. -.-- - .... .. -. --. / .. .----. ...- . / -.. --- -. . .-.-.-

9/8/08

---...---

upsub chocorat.

9/7/08

Something's going on.

But I refuse to tell you what.

9/6/08

This is not a dream

All the government agents are sitting on the swings
All the little girls are told to wait their turn.

While the people on the streets get:
-tear gassed
-smoke grenaded
-beaten with sticks
-stoned and murdered
-knived and slaughtered
-dyin' of hunger
-dyin' of thirst
-dyin' from their lack of worth
-dyin' of malaria
-kicked and punched for wearing red
-kicked and punched for wearing blue
-kicked and punched for wearing white
-running low and food and gas
-envious of the people that pass
-fatter and fatter every day
-dumber and dumber every day
-to losing all their social skills
-to losing all their money on bills
-too focused on the media
-enveloped by the media
-swallowed by the media
-raped by the media
-told what they have to wear
-told what they have to say
-told who to vote for (but they'll never directly admit it)
-told what to buy BUY NOW
-told who to watch out for
-told to track this person down
-told about the final score
-told and told but you all want more.

This is not a dream.

9/5/08

Rethinking Life

And by rethinking life, I mean rethinking the EP. (just wanted an interesting title, I guess) School has sucked the living creativity out of me and my songwriting/thinking about music has been hindered as a result. I might just put the EP on hold until I can really: think things through/know what I'm doing/not have mounds of schoolwork every night.
------------
I'm also thinking about doing the talent show at my school. I've been thinking about what I could possibly play there. LHC comes to mind, as well as Map With Odd Directions. (Singing out "Let's go get drunk in the back of your best friend's house" and the word SHIT at a school event would feel unbelievably refreshing)
------------
I hate Doppelganger. I really do. I've tried to like it, I've tried to convince myself that it's good, but it's not... good. It's plain, the lyrics suck (although I do think that 'stay young and make sound' is the best line I've ever written), it takes too long to get anywhere. I could go on.
------------
I don't get it. School's supposed to be a catalyst for being creative and thinking about things outside of school, but instead it's done the opposite for me this year. I've written one song (Doppleganger) since school started. Any playing at home is almost immediately interrupted upon the realization that I have hours of homework. I can't think. I can only work. I hate it.
------------
My dog barks too much.

~-~

9/3/08

Record your message after the tone. *no tone*

Too much homework. I should be working on it now, but I need a break. I need time to think, however brief it may be...
-------------------------------
New song up on tehMySpace called Silent Song.
See for yerself:
http://myspace.com/piccata
------------------------------
I wrote one the other day called "Doppelganger." Needs more work. But it's nice. I wrote it in my piano teacher's studio when she wasn't there. I didn't know if I had practice, so I went to the studio anyways. She wasn't there, but the door was unlocked, so I just kind of snuck in and played piano for 40 minutes. Complete solitude except for the noisy bartender school next door. I wrote Doppelganger and emerged from the studio incredibly happy. I felt great, and I couldn't even figure out why.

Lyrics:
Let's lie to ourselves
Let's lie on our aching backs
Let's play tag or get lost in the woods
Let's be young again

I don't want to grow old
I just want to make sound
Stay young and make sound
Stay young and make sound

Let's (forgot the lyrics)
Let's (forgot the lyrics again)
Let's jump into a crowd and yell in their ear
Let's be live again

Chorus 2x

*I would say that I'll add those two lines in later, but I'd just be lying to you and myself.

I've also been thinking about speeding up Map With Odd Directions to give more of a change in pace. I've noticed that a lot of my songs fall into the same tempo range and I don't like that. Me likes teh variation.
------------------------------
I've been rethinking the tracklist a little:
1. Doppelganger
2. Map With Odd Directions
3. The LHC
4. Graph Paper
5. Adding to An Echo Chamber
6. Slip Case
7. Cyanide Lightyear

I don't know when/if this will ever be finished. I need a condenser microphone before I can do anything. Seeing that they aren't cheap, this might not even solve my sound problem, and the fact that my parents are totally anti-online shopping, it might be backed up until Christmas or later or never. I'm just being honest here.
----------------------
Band played at a church barbeque on saturday. We managed to make 40 dollars which was awesome. And we got a nice little thank-you letter from a bunch of churchgoers. *smiles*
----------------------
God, Rudy Guilani's repping McCain at the RNC right now and the crowd's being all 2 minute hate on Obama's ass. Kind of scary.

Crap. I need to finish HW.

Bye, everyone.

~-~

8/30/08

No time

We emanate from the starlight.

8/26/08

America's Got Drag Queens?

Wow. My thought that America's Got Talent is the worst talent competition in the world has been confirmed.
Some guy dressed up as Britney Spears and danced to "Hit Me Baby One More Time". Both the audience and the judges loved it. I haven't watched the show since auditions, but I think this is THE SEMIFINALS.

The next two acts were so brutally over-the-top that I felt sick. A girl fending off foes with martial arts in a pirate ship setting, and some guy dancing in a shiny, black suit with big flashing lights all around him.

This is an embarrassment.
This is why I never watch TV.

8/23/08

Couplet #27

There's a dark cloud chasing us with a sharp knife
I'd rather be oblivious than scared for my life.

8/22/08

you're hopelessly hopeless i hope so for you.

So when i'm not meticulously working on my math packet, i'm playing piano. In particular, I'm figuring out the parts to Modest Mouse's Night on the Sun off of their EP "Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks." It's such a good song, but I never realized how amazingly basic it is. It's just B and E throughout, only it starts in E and ends in B. I have most of it figured out, I just need to get the outro down and then I'll probably post it on videosforpictures. Keyword being probably. I've been so not into making videos lately that it's kind of bothering me.

Might make a video Sunday. We'll see.

Bye.

8/15/08

Nostalgia.

Well I was looking at my Myspace, which I've suddenly started using again:
myspace.com/piccata (I put up LHC *gasp* and Dehumidifier over there if you want to go check dat owt)

I went down to the bottom of my player and I saw Internal Clock. Clicked on it. It was the first time that I'd heard it in probably almost a year. And I was surprised.

Surprised in the sense that I haven't really grown that much between then and now (musically). My voice is pretty much unchanged and my piano skills haven't really developed at all. My lyrics have definitely developed. (Although Dehumidifier has possibly the worst lyrics I've ever written... but that was on purpose)

I remembered the countless hours that I had spent on Audacity trying to make it all electronic. Oh... those were the days. (and they still are)

Getting older. It sucks.
(when you think about it, younger shouldn't even be a word.)
------------------------
In other news:
First it was Sigur Ros
Then it was Arcade Fire
Now it's Animal Collective that I'm massively obsessed with. I have a desperate urge to pick up all of their albums.



I finished my summer reading notes for the most part. Now I just have the rest of the math packet to work on. I should be making videos again in a couple days.

Oh wait. No. I won't be. I'm going camping for three days. I'll be back on Wednesday... and then I have cross country, work, and then more math. Ok... it'll probably be a while, still. Ugh. AND I HAVE SO MANY GOOD IDEAS.

Good ideas:
-Dank Bitty
-Learn French!
-My Morning Routine (an idea I've had in my head for the longest time...)
-Me covering Cuckoo by Animal Collective. (I've learned the first piano loop, now I'm trying to learn the second one. I know what key it's in, but it's hard to figure out all the notes because all I have to go by is a video on Youtube. And my computer's not on the same floor as my piano... I'll get it soon.
-Me covering Lola by the Kinks. Because who DOESN'T want to sing a song about a transvestite?
-What Do You Like? A parody of those videos... you know... those videos. (*cough cough* My Life in 6 Words)

(you know what I hate? When you go to delete a letter, and it ends up deleting the whole word. Sort it out, Blogger.)

I wanna be on dis:
youtube.com/indieduction

And that's it, because my mom's getting pissed that I'm blogging instead of working on math. G'bye.

~-~

8/11/08

8/9/08

Dehumidifier

We sat down in a bar
And all we did was drink
We sat down in a car
And all we did was think
We sat down on the tar
And neither of us blinked

I want to know if you're a spy
I want to know if I'm gonna die
A member of the C.I.A.
An agent for the F.B.I

Looking through my old CD's
You found one that you liked
You put it in my green boombox
And I saw that you were mic'ed.

8/8/08

I'm not gonna lie.
I'm like on the borderline of depression right now.

For these reasons.
1) Weather's been shit. All summer.
2) I pretty much can't do anything on the Internet until my impossible math packet's finished.
3) I hate my job. And I'm not happy with my dad who wants me to work my cross country schedule around my work schedule which won't work. I know it won't work.
4) School's looming in the near future and videos are probably going to come to a complete halt.
5) I'm going to need to wait until Christmas until I get a new condenser microphone. First one's too quiet because it's meant for live shows, not studio recordings. Which means that I Am The Robot could be held back all the way into next year. Which would suck the bottom of my shoe.
6) I can't write anything right now because all this other shit's going on right now.
7) I've been feeling ridiculously tired all of the time.

Life's great.

~-~

8/5/08

I feel so behind in general right now...

I have:
-a part of a video collab that was supposed to be in today that i have to do tomorrow
-a math packet that i've barely started
-to finish summer reading
-to work on the EP a lot more than I am right now.

*whimpers*

~-~

7/28/08

Re:

I'm so glad the Internet exists.
I have three people working on artwork for the album already (Me, Jordan, and JC). And it's barely even started yet.

Thank you guys.

Come take me, come take me... AHHH

So Zane ended up at my house somehow. We managed to record LHC and my parts of Cyanide Lightyear, although I think we need to slow it down a little. It kind of feels and sounds rushed, and I should have mentioned that before Zane got into the drums. We didn't get the drums in time (he was only at my house for like an hour and a half) but we're making progress. I think what we're going to do is send stuff to each other back and forth. And eventually it'll be done.

So three posts in one day... but this is intense. And I'll be posting often. Stay tuned.

~-~

So as it turns out, Zane's mom is sick so he can't come down today. But I still managed to record a song and a half (the 'half' is the bonus track). I'm currently mixing the full song. Should take a couple days to get it the way I want.

One problem with my studio is that, for some reason, playback is almost silent. Could have something to do with the mic cable (we got the cheapest one: 20 feet for $30... says something about the quality) and the connection. I'm going to look into it a little more.

Otherwise, things are off to a great start.

~-~

It's Beginning.

-Zane will be at my house within the next two hours.
-My studio's working.
He's bringing his anyways. (probably for the better, because i haven't figured out everything yet... like getting my music onto computer... i need an obsolete type of USB cord... wish me luck in finding that.)

But I Am The Robot. is finally freaking starting and I can't wait.

atanymomentnowiwillburstin2uhclouduvaaaaaaashesaaaaaaaaaaashes.

~-~

7/20/08

Not Angry, Just Disappointed.

Well, it's official (semi). Zane's coming down next weekend to record and I Am The Robot will FINALLY get started, after 3 months of planning. THE tracklist:

1. Slip Case
2. Map With Odd Directions
3. Graph Paper
4. Adding to An Echo Chamber
5. The LHC
6. Obscura
7. Cyanide Lightyear

Although there might be an interlude in the middle between Obscura and Cyanide Lightyear which leads into Cyanide Lightyear. There (might/will) be a short, instrumental bonus track at the end called 'Feudalism.'

Alright... here's why I'm disappointed:
This isn't even the same album that I started with. The only similarity between the one in April and the one now is that Cyanide Lightyear is the last track and that there's seven tracks. Other than that, EVERYTHING'S CHANGED. All of the other songs have been scrapped, and the album's not even called Rise/Set like I was planning on. The album no longer follows the first half bright and the second half dark concept which was GREAT. Now it's just 7 songs that go well together. This is the main problem I have with songwriting: I always change my mind, and one thing always ends up being another. It's been going on since day 1 and it will continue until I stop writing music. It's my weakness.

But this will still be miles better than Very Three. I can guarantee that. I do believe that Zane's bringing down a dulcimer, banjo, and bass. And I have a 99cent kazoo that's barely functional and a cowbell.

And now I will leave you with Kimya Dawson:


~-~

7/18/08

It's Late.

Pretty much: the world's going to shit, i'm posting a video every day on videosforpictures all of a sudden, I almost died today, i'm starting to record soon, and summer's half over.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

~-~

7/13/08

Stuff.

Thing 1: Idea Book.

I've started a book of... things.
Kind of like Luther's 95 Theses, only some of them attack the US, and some of them are just ponderings. I added 16 today, but I'm going to cut it down to about 1 a day. Just to get my brain juices a flowing.

Thing 2: Revised Tracklist

Slip Case
Map With Odd Directions
Graph Paper
Adding to An Echo Chamber
LHC (title subject to change)
Obscura
Cyanide Lightyear

Thing 3: Recording
It's starting soon, but Zane is at SYMS until Friday, and I still have to wait another two weeks until I get my recording device. (Got a $152 paycheck, still need another 150 to get the recorder)

Thing 4: Artwork
I've been taking some pictures which might act as some type of artwork. Think inverted colors.

Thing 5: Nano-concerts
I might be putting up 10 second instrumental samples of the tracks in groupings of 3 on videosforpictures so people can get a taste of what it's going to sound like.

The end.

~-~

7/7/08

Time for a Lengthy Post.

Well... it's going to start soon. Zane and I have been talking and he might come down this weekend to start recording.
Slip Case isn't even itself anymore and Pack Mentality might be replaced. It's funny how I'm still constantly wanting to change the tracklist although it's going to be started soon. I've always been like that.

Music I want to have in my hands at this moment:
Modern Guilt- Beck
Viva La Vida- Coldplay
med sud i eyrum vio spilum endalaust (i got it right without looking. omg.) - Sigur Ros

In other news, I think I'm starting to lose my faith. I'm not getting into that right now, just putting it out there. Might make a video where I debate with myself.

In other, less important news, I beat Metal Gear Solid 4 on the easiest difficulty. Stepping it up to normal and I'm getting pwned by the FROGs in the first act. I suck at video games.

In other, more important news than the less important news, but less important than the other news, da band (snoozers) finally got around to writing a new song with lyrics. It's about the apocalypse and it's called Pittsburgh. Hopefully when they both go off to music camp, they'll find someone who can drum so I can assume the role of keyboard/vocals. *fingers crossed*

well. I've got to leave. so much for a long post. bye.

7/3/08

The Stare

An amazing performance from an amazing man.

7/1/08

Right, so Slip Case...

Lyrics:
You're my plastic Excalibur
Everything that I've ever waited for
Hidden in a slip case I bought at a dollar store
Worthless on the outside

You're my soon to be gallows
Ten feet high with aluminum scaffolding
Hidden in an alleyway, waiting to catch me off guard
I'll be cut loose

You're my poisonous pencil
I can't say what I want without feeling sick
Hidden under paper that I'm about to pick up
Worthless on the inside.

It's heavy.

I love this:

1) Slip Case *NEW and staying in that position... permanently* - 3:07
2) Map With Odd Directions - 4:41
3) Graph Paper - 1:24
4) Adding to An Echo Chamber - 5:58
5) Pack Mentality - TBD
6) Obscura - 4:30
7) Cyanide Lightyear - TBD

I feel like I'm repeating myself. But this might be it.

6/23/08

I've Finally Figured it Out.

Title of Album: I Am the Robot.

First track: Iamb the Robot
Segues into:
Second track: Map With Odd Directions

Third track: Graph Paper
Segues into:
Fourth track: Adding to an Echo Chamber

Fifth track: Pack Mentality
Segues into:
Sixth track: Obscura

Seventh track: Cyanide Lightyear.

Yes.

In other news, I might be doing some type of film festival thing.
K bye.

~-~

6/22/08

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Another short one that I think I'll tack on as a hidden track. It's pounding and aggressive, but it's in a major key. Each set of lyrics build up to just make this mass of confusion.

Lyrics:
Ohh ohh ohh... (loop)
Devil's gonna set your lungs on fire (loop)
Fill them up with silica (loop)
Ignite (loop)

Ohh ohh ohh...

6/19/08

Graph Paper on Arcade Fire!

New song. Graph Paper (1:24)

I'm gonna step outside
Write my mind on graph paper
I'm gonna take a knife
And cut this world apart.
I'm gonna bang this drum
And tell the world it'll be OK.
I'm gonna tear the universe in half.

This song, despite it's length, might be one of the better songs on the album. (Consider... (I already forgot it's name... uh...) Friar Marco to be gone. ) The piano has this repeating theme throughout and halfway through the lyrics this pounding sound comes in. (Me kneeing the piano). And then after "tear the universe in half", I envision that there will be a pounding bass drum to accompany the piano kneeing. In the last few seconds, a B flat comes out of nowhere and sustains into the next song, "Adding to An Echo Chamber".

Songs in order of how much I like them:
Adding to An Echo Chamber (This is one of the few songs that I'm sure I'll be playing for a long, long time. Seriously, the last couple of times I played this, I ended up just falling off my stool. The song essentially ends with me slamming on my piano, although there's still a little bit of coherence.)
Cyanide Lightyear (I enjoy playing this song SOOOO much. Tires my left hand (That's what he said) but once I hit the instrumental part, it gets a well-deserved break.)
Map With Odd Directions (If I were to release singles off this, this would probably be the first one. It's one of the few songs I've written that rely on melody more than playing around with chords.)
Graph Paper (see above)
Psalm I (This used to be higher on my list, because I'm struggling to see which direction I'm going with it)
Pack Mentality (If I ever play this live, I'll be sure to add like a 3 minute intro solo type thing. I tried it out today and it sounded good. To me, at least)
Obscura (I like it, but without drums which is how I always hear it, it's very bland. although at the same time it's the most original song on the list. It's weird, I can't really explain it)

Wow, so I just pretty much gave a semi in-depth analysis of what I have right now. That wasn't intended. haha

Arcade Fire is now one of my favorite bands. I might need to do a redux of the top 10 bands video I made last week and include them on the list. Their live show looks AMAZING.



ta ta for now, bitches.

~-~

6/16/08

This is about hate on the Internet and the experience I had with it back in April. Enjoy?:

On April 22, I came home to 300 emails saying that I had new comments on my video “Re: My Life in 6 Words”. Upon seeing this, I involuntarily whispered a series of swears under my breath. I couldn’t believe it. I had been waiting for this massive amount of emails ever since I started uploading videos on to YouTube, because it serves as an indication that one of your videos is receiving an influx of views. When I checked to see if this was real, and not just some mistake on the site’s part, I learned that not only did I have 300 new comments, but the video had already been viewed more than 10,000 times since I left for school.

Earlier that month, I had been asked by ‘micahsamaniac’, a fellow YouTuber, to post a response to his video “My Life in 6 Words.” At first, I thought the whole concept of summing up life in a mere six words was a pretty challenging and stupid one. I mean, come on. Can you realistically sum your life up in six words without leaving a lot of things out? I soon realized that posting a response would give me more exposure, so I eventually came up with a lame response to his video, recorded myself saying it, and uploaded the video as a response to his. Several weeks later, Micah’s video was featured on the front page of YouTube. Videos that are featured tend to get hundreds of thousands of views before they move down the list and then finally disappear back into obscurity. His video had already received a whopping 200,000 views by the time I found out about his feature.

But I was still confused as to why I was getting so many views. I clicked on the link to his video. When the page loaded, I saw my face in black and white on the side of the screen at the very top of the related videos section of the page. Once people had finished watching Micah’s video, they started looking for responses. Mine was the first one that they saw, which explained why I was receiving so many views. When I figured all of this out, my heart started racing. I gazed at my computer in a euphoric state for a couple minutes, mouth agape. After my euphoria faded, I checked to see what some of my comments were. Unfortunately, not a lot of people responded well to the idea of summing up one’s life in six words. Micah’s video had 2 stars out of 5, which symbolized that he was NOT wanted on the front page. After posting hate comments on his video, the legion of haters spread to my response and started posting hate comments there. About 50% of the comments posted on my response were hate comments. In particular, there were a lot of comments that called me a fag, a homo, gay, etc. I figured that I would get a few of these, but I ended up receiving a lot more than I expected.

At first, I took all the hate comments as one big joke. I mean, come on. Can you REALLY assess someone’s sexuality just by watching them say six words? I responded to about a quarter of these comments in a sarcastic fashion. These people weren’t expecting me to comment back, but I did.
xsatanx666: wat a fag
ofarevolution441: Really? Thanks for the info.
Yet even after my constant replies, the hate continued. After about a half hour of replying, responding to all of the comments became an umbrage. The haters started to get more creative and personal with their insults, and on top of that, the hate started to proliferate to my other videos as if it were a virus. Although there were some people that were supporting me, the hate actually started to personally affect me. I left a comment saying that I was done, set the video to private so no one could see it, and then took the video down altogether. I briefly considered deleting my account, but once the video was gone, the haters left as well. What remained were new friends that offered me support. That’s the one positive thing that I gained from this experience.

The fact that so many people were tossing around the words ‘gay’ and ‘fag’ just absolutely disgusted me. I’m not gay, and I felt offended to be mislabeled. Straight people don’t like to be called gay because it makes them feel less confident in their own sexuality. Gay people don’t like being called fags because it’s insulting. And yet, it happened. Since that whole experience, I haven’t received one ounce of hate.

The Internet: the world’s hip, new vehicle of communication, commerce, and entertainment. I, personally, am on the Internet for about 4 hours a day checking various websites for various reasons. The majority of my time is spent on YouTube, a video sharing network where I’ve managed to garner over 700 regular viewers. The Internet has become involved in my daily routine, as it has for millions of other teenagers and adults around the world. But recently, I’ve realized that the Internet is not the utopia that I first thought it was when I was first connected back in early 2006. The Internet, as it turns out, is a haven for racism and hate.
The reason that I think the Internet is so chockfull of hate is because it’s a medium through which people can express opinions and ideas freely. There is no such thing as law on the Internet, there are no restrictions on what you can put on the Internet. People can block websites to prevent seeing things they don’t want to see, but it still exists for the rest of the world to see. Since so many people use the Internet, many people can be exposed to racist and hateful ideas and spread them.

The Internet has opened the doors for communication. Long-distance communication in the human race has never been faster than it is today. This also means that the communication of ideas are spreading faster than ever. These ideas can be positive, but they can be negative. One of these ideas seems to be that you can say racist and hateful things on the Internet without any major backlash. The bad thing (although I guess it can sometimes be a good thing) about the Internet is that you can make various accounts on various websites, say malevolent things, and then delete the accounts. Maybe the worst thing that could happen to you is a coworker could track you down and tell the boss that you‘re doing this, possibly resulting in the loss of your job and the disrespect of your peers. But this doesn’t occur that often, although I think it should. Your identity can potentially remain a COMPLETE secret as you type controversial things. Upon further inspection of the YouTube accounts that posted the hateful comments on my video, I found blank pages that didn’t give any information on the person. I find this as sheer cowardice. These people that hide behind safety nets and throw stones are the definition of cowards. Freedom of speech does mean that people can say what they want, when they want, but there are boundaries. Now, I don’t want this country to turn into an Orwellian dystopia, so I don’t want freedom of speech to have strict exceptions. But I believe that there should be compassion for the people that face being talked behind their backs every day.

The Internet provides evidence that hate is stronger than it’s ever been because it provides fast communication of ideas, there’s no large backlash if you do post hateful remarks or construct hate websites, and it’s even affected innocent people like me. The problem with hate on the Internet is that not a lot can be done to stop it. There is no president of the Internet.

6/13/08

Well I burnt my brain to figure out what was wrong, and truth be told it was me all along.

Someone shoot me in the face please.

It sucks when you spend 15 extra minutes on a quiz and still know that you failed it as soon as you pass it in. Especially if it's an open notes quiz.

The quiz was on optics. Physical science is usually an easy class. But curveballs get thrown. And sometimes they curve too much. It turns out that the lower a material's index of refraction, the less light bends when passing through it. There were about 8 questions on that. I thought it was the other way around. It turns out that real images can be projected on a screen, not virtual images.

On top of getting all of that wrong, I only did one part of most of the two part questions and I guessed on about half of all the other ones.

You're thinking "You overreact too much". Well I do. But this might result in the end of my ten year all A's streak.

Why? Because I was assuming that it would be based more on the worksheets we were given which were the ONLY things we had done with optics. Instead there were things pulled from the book that I had never even heard of (optical density?).
.
This is supposed to be about 30% of our final grade, because our teacher was replaced by another one and they lost all of the work that we had previously done.

The good news is that it will be scaled (at least, I hope. some of the other kids were looking pretty confident... somehow) and we can make corrections which can improve our grade by half of what it originally is. So if we get a 50 (and there's a possibility that i DID) then you can up it to 75 by making necessary corrections. So maybe it's not the end of the world. But there's a possibility that it could be.

*whimpers*

6/12/08

Robot Intro?/Drums!

(static)
Hello, i am the robot.
My name is videosforpictures.
Sometimes I make songs when i am happy, other times i am not so happy.
(static) -volved
Here is my
here is my
here is my
here is my
here is my music.
track 1 commences in 5 4 3 2 1.

... it sounds a lot cooler when heard. might be either a track 0 or a hidden track at the end. won't be an actual intro though.

I just applied drums to Psalm I for fun just to see what it sounds like. It felt a little too fast-paced, which didn't really help but I got a good feeling of what the song will sound like. Right now, i'm stuck over whether there should be a crash cymbal during the intro or if i should save it and then just let it blow up in the climax. I think i'm going to go with the latter, but i'm not entirely decided yet.

Map with odd directions is going to be good with drums too. It's already safe to say that.
Friar Marco will probably only be half-drummed.
ATAEC is going to be nightmarish to record drums on, but i'll at least attempt it. If not, it'll be just piano.
Pack Mentality... is already just drums, so I know how that sounds...
Obscura will be segued in by the drums on Pack Mentality which I think will sound great.
Cyanide Lightyear should sort of be like Psalm I: I won't really know when to get aggressive and not. The intro's going to be a bitch to drum. (The intro's like 2349 times faster then what you hear on youtube, but it sounds 2349 times more amazing)

Long story short, I don't know if all the songs will have drums, because I'm still transitioning between just piano and more instruments. (There will be kazoo and cowbell, by the way)

Alright. Well I've got it all planned out. Now I just need something to record it with.

~-~

6/8/08

Too Pooped to Pop

W/E that means...
Dave:
I sent my part for "Let the Distance... " FINALLY. So you should see that in your hotmail inbox by now.

I had a whole post but it messed up.

N-E-Wayz:
New song. Life Outside of the Pacific elements rehash. Still sounds good. Slow pace. Picks up. Jumps off cliff. Lands on trampoline. Utilizes line: "Don't know, tell me."

Cowboy dan's a major cowboy in the cowboy scene. He goes to the reservation, drinks, and gets mean.

I'm going now. Gotta work on ENGLISH ESSAYS OF DOOM.

...what a weird post.

~-~

6/6/08

ahhh ahhh ahhh...

I just played the current tracklisting through:

1) Psalm 1
2) Map With Odd Directions
3) Little Wolf
4) Adding to An Echo Chamber
5) Pack Mentality
6) Obscura
7) Cyanide Lightyear

It's sounding awesome. It clocks in at 32 minutes , ten minutes longer than Very Three. And it's going to be a hell of a lot better.

I still don't know when it's going to be out. Unfortunately, I'm going to probably be sick of these songs by the time I start recording, which should be sometime in late summer. I think what I'm going to do in order to eliminate getting sick of them is set them aside, write new material for another EP, get enough material built up for that and then record the two EPs at once. Possibly. In fact, it might just become one big album if that DOES happen. Just speaking hypothetically though.

I feel like I should be doing something...

Right now I have 35 dollars saved up for my Tascam DR-1 recorder with built in stereo mics, 320 kbps MP3 quality, USB connection, and low frequency eliminator to eliminate handling and wind noise. AMAZING. And it's only 300 bucks. It'll be just my luck that they'll stop selling them by the time I have enough money for it.

I'm excited! Lifeisgreat.

~-~

6/4/08

I CANNOT STAND SCHOOL ANYMORE.

I still have another two weeks of school after this one.
I'm about to explode.
I will explode.
Everywhere else around the world. Is done with school. Except for me.
AUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!

6/3/08

Your Votes Don't Count

Their votes count.
-delegates
-superdelegates

Our world's slowly slipping into 1984.

6/2/08

Psalm I - 5:46

Psalm I- 5:46
Slowly but surely, I sink
Into the calm waters of the ocean
So for now I'll settle for a corner of your mind
Where omnipotently I'll whisper obscenities into your ear.

It's not often that I say I love my own work...

but...
<3.

~-~

Back?

Front?


6/1/08

C'est le 1er juin.

Lots of changes are coming to Rise/Set. In fact, it might not even be called Rise/Set anymore, and it might not even be just an EP.

Today, I wrote a song called "Psalm I" (title subject to change).
There's a 90% chance that it will replace Smile (It's Morning) as the first track on the EP.
It's still very epic, don't you worry. 5:35 in length.

And I think that Adding to An Echo Chamber might replace Cyanide Lightyear as the last track. Naturally, Echo Chamber's expanding to a 6 minute epic.

Je dois ecrire un papier pour ma classe de francaise :( .

~-~

5/30/08

Holy Crap.




That's all I have to say.

5/27/08

Just because you feel it

Doesn't mean it's there.

5/26/08

Two posts in one day? How uncommon!

Making a new video tomorrow.
Will include
-information on the new EP for people that didn't get the hint in the last video.
-Awesomefest promotion
-And much, much more! (Not... really.)

New song in the mix:
Adding to an Echo Chamber.
I tried an early take with inaudible vocals. just wanted to get it recorded so I could fiddle with it in Audacity.
I expect that if it's on the album, it'll get expanded to about 6 or 7 minutes of pure noise but here's a more tolerable, 2:30 version of it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ygzyq1g1dy3


woo?

~-~

Songmeanings

I'm entering all my lyrics (as in, whenever I write a new song) into songmeanings.net, which is a website where you can enter lyrics and people comment on them talking about their meanings, etc. Doubt that anyone will ever comment but it's cool to see your lyrics on a lyric site nonetheless!

I'm on there under the alias Videosforpictures. Which I think might be a permanent alias now that I have 100 subscribers under that name on the Youtube account. Might as well keep it.

Here
Is
The

Link

P.S. Thanks for the comments, Dave and Charlie (with a C) on my last post. Ya cheered me up!

BbAFABbAEbABbAFD
OOooooOOOOoo...

~-~

5/24/08

Bad event after bad event after bad event

The first bad event:
the track meet I had yesterday. I was in the 4x100 relay, an event I had never previously done before. I had to do the event because I wanted to run but I didn't qualify for my event.

I was not ready for my handoff. I started jogging when I should have started running. When the handoff was complete, I took one or two steps out of my lane, usually a disqualification. Luckily, no one saw this. So then I ran the event, passed it off, and I was done. Possibly the worst I've run all season: yes. Because I had no idea what to do for the event.

The second bad event:
On the same day, I had a talent show. I and the other two Snoozers, hats and all, took to the stage of talent night '08 at our junior/ senior high school. We landed third place, which isn't bad. What's bad is that we were beaten out by a fashion show and a dancer that's won like 348,000 times already. Maybe it's my ego talking, but I think we should have at least gotten second place. Sure, we all had small mistakes, but no one in the audience seemed to notice. They were mistakes that only we could have picked up because we've played the song so much. Afterwards, I was in a bad mood and didn't really want to talk to anyone because I felt like we got punched in the face by the judges. One of my best friends ran up to me and gave me a hug but I just sort of shrugged it off. (friend = girl, just setting that straight) However, I willingly gave her a sister a hug. Friend was not very happy about this.

The third bad event:
Previously mentioned friend and other friend went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia without me. We had already planned it that we were going today. When I logged onto AIM this afternoon, I read 'other friend's' away message that read: JAY IF YOU'RE GOING TO THE MOVIES YOU BETTER CALL NOW followed by her cell number. I quickly realized that her cell phone number was the same one that called my phone. I didn't recognize the number so I just let it ring. Stupid mistake. Next to the away I saw that she was idle, meaning she was probably already at the movies with 'previously mentioned friend.' I read previously mentioned friend's away message which read something like: Going to movie with (other friend) and over hers after. Apparently Jay's not coming because he went AWOL on us.

Apparently they weren't trying very hard to contact me. All I got was one call.

...

Meh.

~-~

5/18/08

Hyde Park/Reinbeck, New York






The scenery was breathtaking. It was worth the 10 hours of driving.
When I re-entered my town, I wanted to turn around and go back.
My new favorite place.
~-~



5/9/08

Just played through the tracklisting of Rise/Set. I'm so fucking happy with it right now.
If you follow videosforpictures, you'll have heard the vast majority of the songs already.

FINAL TRACKLISTING:
1. Smile
2. Map With Odd Directions (Replaced 'The Like Song, which would have been the weakest track on the album by far')
3. Little Wolf
4. Rotation/Spin
5. Pack Mentality
6. Pneumonia
7. Cyanide

I think it's going to be about 37 minutes, which is almost the length of a full album.

Problems I face with it right now:
1. I have no idea how Zane producing's going to work. We still can't drive, and we both live an hour apart. And in order to record and produce this album together we'd need a bare minimum of 40 hours. That's time that we can't really find since my parents never really have a reason to go up where he lives. I hope we can figure something out.

2. I'd like to do at least a little recording at home. This means that I need some type of recording device besides my camera. (Camcorder's just not gonna cut it.) I've been looking at 4-track recorders and I found one at a local music store for 260 with built in stereo mics and USB capabilities. If I can't record or produce with Zane, I'm gonna need something as a backup. That would be my backup.

But it's expensive. I don't have a job.
My dad's into the whole aspect of recording so I'm sure he'd be able to pay half. But I honestly don't know where i'm going to find 130 dollars. If I was thinking, I wouldn't have bought my PS3 and this wouldn't be a problem. Fuck my life.

3. I forgot the third thing... wait... This sucks. I literally forgot the third thing.
...
Oh yeah. Now I remember. I need to find some way of making income on this one. Unfortunately, my parents are extremely strict when it comes to giving out personal information to websites. And of course, earning money online involves giving the internet your personal information. So I need to somehow manage to persuade them. (All friends will get a free copy. You can relax)

I've just realized that when I freewrite, I tend to start a lot of my sentences with contractions. And stuff. But yeah. So...

The picture below won't be my album cover. It might be album ART (which I think is what I accidentally typed in the title) but it won't be the cover. I think I have an idea for the album cover, but involves converting a video to a picture. Which I think is impossible. But I'll see what I can do.

Well I think that's it.

Yeah that's it.

Bye now.

~-~

5/5/08

Long time, no blog.

I like the idea of setting goals for each month (an idea not stolen from anyone that goes by the name of Dave) so here they are:

-Finalize tracklisting for Rise/Set.
-Talk to Zane and see if the producing thing is going to work.
-Start looking for a 4-track.
-Start looking for an electric piano.
-Write at bare minimum 5 songs.

that'll do.

4/28/08

Meh.

Since I've had absolutely nothing to do today except for kill time, I managed to write two songs today. I've already scrapped the first one, but the second one still remains. It's a short one (like all of the songs I write nowadays, it barely breaks 2:30.) And I forgot how it went...

And i won't be able to find out how it went because my mom's sleeping. Just got out of shoulder surgery and she's trying to sleep.
Might be like that for a couple of days...

~-~

4/27/08

OCD

Ok, so the Tigger vs. Buzz Lightyear video's finally on it's way to Youtube. Which is great, i'm extremely proud of it and I think it'll be one of the best videos that I make.

But my perfectionism nearly prevented the video from even being put up.
The center screenshot would always be off by a few hundredths of a second. I had to fix that.
There had to be a second of blackscreen after the video had finished so the whole thing can be seen. I had to fix that.
I had to adjust the center screenshot so that it would fit in the new time slot that the black screen created.
After all of these, I had to make sure that the titles were lined up.
It was miserable, probably the most miserable time that i've ever had trying to make a video.
But it's done, and in an hour it'll be up on Youtube.
Finally.

Rise/set's still looking the same since I last updated (I think)
1. Smile
2. Like Song
3. Little Wolf
4. Rotation/Spin
5. Cyanide Lightyear
6. Either Obscura or Pack Mentality (not sure yet)
7. Pneumonia

Zane and I were considering starting to record this Saturday. Don't know if that's going to happen because I have to go to a surprise birthday party which my parents claim 'is far more important.' So we'll see.

~-~

4/19/08

I think i'm going to start soon.

A new song in the mix called "little wolf". It's on videosforpictures and i really like it. it's simple, but powerful.

So I'm thinking:

Rise/Set:
1) Smile (It's Morning)
2) The Like Song
3) Rise/Set
4) Rotation/Spin
5) Cyanide Lightyear
6) Pack Mentality
7) Pneumonia
8) Little Wolf (It's Evening)

I'm liking how that looks.

4/17/08

It's Quiet Now.

So as you may or may not know, I was semi-featured. (first related video on a featured video)
At first, I loved it. It was the first time I had received any hate. Some of the comments were positive, but most of them were negative.
But then it slowly started to tear away at me.
To the point where I couldn't take it and I privated the video.

Why is there so much hate? It's a fucking website.

~-~

4/16/08

A Song About Fear

I think I just wrote the title track. It's called Rise/Set... obviously. And it's very good, very basic, and very short. Well, I just played it through the first time and it was 2:30 something, but there's a lot of stuff to be cut out. I think I'll push it down to 2:00.

smile (it's awesome)

Warning: I'm about to describe one of my songs with as much detail as I possibly can. If you want to be surprised, then I suggest that you don't read this post.

I may have said that Cyanide Lightyear is my masterpiece, but I wasn't thinking about Smile (It's Morning) when I said that. If Cyanide Lightyear is my masterpiece, then Smile is my epic opus.

The song clocks in at about 11 minutes. The first minute is a repeating theme. The theme's done 4 times in 15 second intervals for a minute. It's sort of like the prologue of a story. At the one minute mark, the first melody plays, right hand only. The second time the left hand joins, but there's no rhythm. The third time, the left hand has rhythm and I hum quietly along with the melody. The fourth time, everything repeats, except for that the melody has a slight variation to it. The fifth time, octaves in the right hand, rhythm in the left hand. Sixth time, everything repeats, except for the slight variation of the melody again. This section feels really insignificant throughout most of the song until the end when it all ties back in.

This section leads into another one. The meat of the song, if you will. After a little improvisation, I start singing. (Last time I timed it, I started singing at 3:40)
It's morning
Wake up with my mouth half open
Half shut
It's time to get up
And say goodbye to everyone
Leave the door
Half shut

A little more improvisation.

Atomic bomb dream
Can't seem to process it
In my head
Half shut
(LOUD + CLIMACTIC)
It's morning
I'm sick of the same shit
That I always seem to get
Half shut

More loud and climacticness...

Talk back to the world
I dare you.

From there, the song enters yet ANOTHER new section. This is the transition between the original theme and the theme just played. It's the darkest part of the song, it could almost be a song in itself if I wanted it to be.

One left goes right
Two rights go north
Three rights go left
...Four lefts go nowhere.

The song builds up for a minute, and then dies out again. I then throw in a dissonant chord, which you don't really get until it ties back in with the second section (part after the 'prologue'). After minutes of feeling lost and confused, you're back to where you started. From there, the song once again builds up to a climax and stops on a very high F6. From there, broken F chords all the way down to the middle. And then a rootless G chord in both hands. Quite the anticlimactic ending to a rather epic and climactic song.

If this made no sense to you, then I guess it's for the better.
I can't wait until you hear this.

~-~

4/13/08

Alright Enough of this Drawing Board BS...

Time for an actual blog.

Pack Mentality is processing as we speak. It's definitely the most out there song that I've put on videosforpictures, I hope that no one thinks I'm psycho for writing it.

The whole planning phase of the album is done for the most part (Just need to sort out what's going on with the last 2-3 songs, everything else sounds in place). I lost the notebook that I had all my ideas the album in at school and I have yet to find it. Pretty piassed about that.

This is way more exciting than Very Three to me because unlike Very Three, Rise/Set's going to have some composition to it. It's not just going to be a random compilation of songs I've recorded, it's going to be the real thing.

Well as short as that was, that's all for now. I'm still waiting for Pack Mentality to process. Blah.

~-~

4/6/08

Drawing Board

This is my drawing board.

RISE/SET:
Smile (It's Morning)
Metronome
The Like Song
Rotation/Spin
Pneumonia
Insomnia/Pack Mentality
Cyanide Lightyear (It's Evening)

Song rearrangement counter : 5
-------------------
Edit: 4/9/08: 7:48 PM
Just had a great idea. Cyanide Lightyear takes on the subtitle (It's Evening) and moves down to the last track. Lightyear's second part will take on the name of (It's Evening).
This is fun. :D
The edit below's a lot more exciting, read that one as well.

Edit: 4/9/08: 7:32 PM
A new song in the mix entitled "Pack Mentality" is up for consideration. I'm considering conjoining Insomnia and Pack Mentality to make one final track, since they're both about 2 minutes in length. I plan on the song being just drums if it's ever recorded, because I want the song to be stripped down and tribal. Me singing very quietly adds a nice touch, methinks. I'd post the lyrics but they require more editing before they're complete. I've done a couple of dry run-throughs and I think it deserves to go on the EP.

Humming Hymns has taken the title of "Rotation/Spin" and "Rotation 4" has taken the title of "Metronome".

Oh and by the way, just a little non-important side note:
The album is going to be titled RISE/SET.

Edit: 4/8/08: 5:06 PM
Looks like I've done a lot but I really haven't.

Edit: 4/7/08: 9:35 PM
-Moving 'Cold Blooded Killer' to either bright side or dropping it completely. Once again, the second half of the album needs to completely contrast the first side. Cold-blooded killer fits more on the bright side.
-Might cut the second half of Cyanide Lightyear out and then insert Insomnia as an outro to Cyanide Lightyear and album. It'd make a good closer.
-Cold-Blooded Killer would make a good second song. I'm doing that. See how that looks/sounds. -I'm changing the titles of Cold-Blooded Killer and possibly Cyanide Lightyear so that they fit together more with their respective parts of the album.
-Just realized: Smile (It's Morning) = waking up and Insomnia = falling asleep. *pats self on back*

Edit: 4/7/08 : 7:04 PM
-Zane McHolyFreakingPoop will most likely be producing my new album.
-The album's going to be a lot more ambient than the last one. Half will be bright, Half will be dark. The turning point = Rotation 4. (Rotation 4: Rotation = Turning Point, 4 = Fourth Song)

~-~

4/4/08

O, to be a machine!

Time to blog.
I've found myself wanting to post on this more than I have Youtube. This blog is like my Internet safety net. Nowadays, I feel like I need to please everyone with every single video that I make. That's why a lot of them have been shit lately.

Music I want:
Raconteur's new album (that I didn't even know existed until yesterday)
The Black Key's new album (possibly, not like their other stuff @ all)
Everything that Menomena has ever made
Cold war Kids - robbers and cowards (wanted it for a while, but i've never actually got around to purchasing it)
Viva la Vida or death and all his friends by Coldplay... although it doesn't come out until June. *waits outside Best Buy for the next few months*

Things I've been called in the last week:
Youtube whore
Kermit the Frog
Boo Radley

Public schools are great for the self-esteem. :D

Also, Cyanide Lightyear's now up on videosforpictures. Thanks again to Dave for putting it on auto-play on his channel. (although he doesn't want me to thank him for some weird reason) hmm... *starts to think that i AM a Youtube whore*

Might put up a new video soon. I haven't really wanted to, but now that I have an audience of nearly 400 people (I have 450 subscribers, but you know that a few of those people just did an automatic subscription adder) I feel almost forced into making a video. It's almost as if Youtube isn't fun for me anymore. Maybe I'll make a retreat channel where I subscribe to the same people and do the things I did before I started vlogging. Those were the better days for me.

Until next time!

~-~

4/3/08

I Have Just Written My Masterpiece.

Going on V4P. Immediately.
It's called 'Cyanide Lightyear' and starts off heavy and dark and then turns out to be angelic and has an abrupt ending and it's just... everything i've ever wanted to write in a song.

"what the hell."
go me!

~-~

3/31/08

Another?

Yes, I'm coming out with another EP sometime this summer.

Things I can guarantee at this point:
-Tentative title : Your Neighborhood Mascot
-There Will Be Drums
-It's going to be a lot more polished
- The style will be similar to Very Three in that there won't be an exact style.
-It'll be released sometime in the summer.
-It's probably going to have the same amount of tracks as Very Three, but it'll probably be longer.

Why am I doing this?
- Because Very Three was amazing to make
- I want to create some type of EP trilogy this year and then come out with a full fledged album next year. These are warm-ups.

~-~

3/28/08

...and we can share our feelings...

i(squared) feel plagued with needing to play my piano every second of my life.

2i(squared) feel happy because i'm making music that i finally want to make.
-it's not anything like what was released on Very Three, my sound has almost completely changed.

3i(squared) feel nervous because i feel like my lyric writing has piqued. Honestly, I have little or no lyrics in my new stuff.

4i(squared) feel upset because i'm the worst runner on my track team.
-i'm not going to deny that i suck at running.

5i(squared) feel ecstatic because i played my first actual gig with the band I'm in.

6i(squared) feel scared because i know i'm going to die someday.

7i(squared) feel happy because i know i have a long life ahead of me.

8i(squared) feel lethargic because i've been worn out from running.

9i(squared) feel embarrassed because i know that someone that goes to my school will read this.

~-~

3/27/08

Running

Train- 6:18
Smile (It's Morning) - 10:00
Rotation 3/4 - 6:53

All new songs.
I've been writing like a madman.

~-~


3/20/08

Happy Birthday, Blog!

I haven't done anything on the web since Monday! So that means it's time to blog!

Changing the title soon so this will just become a regular blog.
I don't plan on writing solely about music anymore as I have lots of stuff to talk about nowadays outside music.

So yeah, haven't gotten around to making any videos lately.
Haven't had the energy as I've been running again.
Already brought myself back up to 30 minutes a day, which is pretty damn good considering I haven't run in 5 months.
I've been unbelievably exhausted afterwards, so I haven't really had the excitement that I usually have when I make a video.

hopefully I'll be able to do one tomorrow.
It's gonna be a long one composed of 293847 parts.

Very Three has just hit 200 downloads! *does happy dance*
of course, this probably wouldn't have happened w/o Dave, so giving credit where credit is due:
youtube.com/musicfromblueskies
wordsfromblueskies.wordpress.com

I've found myself writing again. Which is... weird. I've written 6 songs in the last two weeks. Which is enough music for another EP. Which is... weird.
But I'm promising myself that I won't go through the whole process again until summer. Recording is a tiring and long process, even if you have next to no equipment to do it with.

S'yah.
370 subscribers! I remember in July being all excited that I got my first one. *there's a blog post if you can be arsed to dig through the vast archives that is this blog*

and holy shit, i think this blog's a year old. *checks in separate window*
OMG. it is EXACTLY a year old today! Happy first birthday, blog!

I can't believe that I've been blogging for a year. I almost feel like more people should come here than to my Youtube page. But all the same.

See ya!

~-~

3/11/08

GO GO GO GO!

This is not a drill.

This is not a drill.

http://verythree.blogspot.com

3/10/08

.

crickets
deadcenter
bigdamnbuildings
cowinparachute
thebrilliance
whitesmoke
black smoke.

3/4/08

Update 1 (Long Post. you Might Want to Plug Your Ears)

Believe it or not, since my last post, almost no progress 'as been made on Very Three. The only thing that's happened is more confusion and more tracks added into the possible mix. Nothing 'as been recorded in the past two-three weeks, and I'm stuck.

I still have the ready songs at the ready to release, but the songs I have yet to record that I want to record are:

The Brilliance (New!) - 6:14
Several Continuations of A Theme (New!) - 4:11
Melting Suite (Metronome I, Train Station, Metronome II) -... Long.

If you have heard Bugs (andromeda) on my actual Youtube channel, and Apple_Baby_Bomb on Videosforpictures, than you could definitely pick up some similarities with 'several' and 'melting'.

Not sure if i put this in the last post, but I recorded the piano and backing vocals for The Brilliance. Now I just need to throw on the lead vocals for that and possibly drums.

Feeling skeptical about drums now. The point of Very Three is for you to hear songs as I hear them, without too much added shit inbetween. I'm still keeping that little drum piece in at the end of Dead Center and the backing vocals, but that's stuff that I hear in my head. I hear the bass drum in my head whenever I get towards the end. I hear the backing vocals to Cow in Parachute whenever I play it. I just don't hear drums when I play the Brilliance.

Applause is Universal could possibly be scrapped to make room for at least two of the songs previously mentioned. It's really just a generic song with one little cool thing at the end. It was made the same day as I recorded it, and I remember how to play it, but the thing is I just don't want to play it. it IS the def. of a throw-away.

Several Continuations of a Theme is a new song that I wrote yesterday. It's NOT the definition of a throwaway. It has 9ths in it, something I've never put in a song before and i left it. The most complex progressions I've ever come up with are in that song. Starts off alternative-ish, ends up funky. Me like. Me record. Me need to get off my ass so I can finally get this thing shipped to computers throughout the world.

Melting Suite i've mentioned before. I made it MONTHS ago, but I somehow remember how to play it. The reason it came back is because I played it in my piano lesson today. Angela called it one of those 'moments that you can't duplicate'.

And I can't. I tried recording it afterwards, and it was a mess. I'm trying again tomorrow, and I'm also going to get Brilliance finished tomorrow.

So it's not being set aside. It's going to be done. It's just when.

When.

Inspeaking of that question, (Jesus, this is getting to be long... that's what she said) remember when I went a-recordin' back in... oh idk... october?
(Probably not, because this was before this blog started becoming slightly noticed)
But I recorded a song called Hoax* back then, and we're just now (In march of 2008) considering going back to mix it. It's going to be on this album that my piano teacher and several other songwriters that are affiliated with her started to plan in early of last year. It just hasn't been going anywhere. That's why I'm recording this EP, because i'm sick of waiting. Anyways, we're going to mix that sometime soon. I might take the song and put it up somewhere. Not sure if I will, I'm not 100% pleased with it even though it's been recorded in a professional studio.

I really don't like professional studios. There always seems to be someone there that's judging your every move. You feel paranoid. I don't get how famous people can record under those circumstances. I like being in the comfort of my own room with a piano and a dimly lit light. And I can just play. and there's no one around me. Just myself, the music, and a camera that hums and buzzes when there's no sound being produced. But even that's not threatening right now. I've been on Youtube and i've slowly been getting used to the camera. So even that's not daunting.

Where am I. Oh yeah. I'm blogging.

So at some point or another, this will be finished. Definitely by the end of this month. I KNOW that it'll be done by the end of this month. Fuck all of the other deadlines i've set prior to this. Very Three will be done by the end of the month. Artwork and all.

Yes, I'm releasing artwork.

OH! I should probably say how I'm going to release this. (as if this post hasn't been long enough...) Just made a mediafire account, and I already uploaded something onto it to test it (the snack attack theme song, if you don't know what that is, then there's a link here -> Snack attack.
If you do know what it is, then here's the theme song off of mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?nls9isduqel ) Mediafire is a file uploading/sharing site that's loaded with advertisements, but it's free and you can upload a good amount of stuff in one sitting. THATS how i'm going to be releasing Very Three. In this blog, on Youtube, and everywhere imaginable, a download link leading to Very Three will be available. From there, you can download the album, and you can also download the corresponding artwork/lyrics. (the artwork is a gallery of shapes made in Microsoft Paint, very... modern artsy) Once you download it, you can move the songs over to the music platform of your choice and listen away. (songs will be in 320 kbps mp3 format... hopefully)

whew.

So this is probably the longest entry I've ever written. Makes sense, as i haven't posted in almost 3 weeks, and you're probably wondering what the hell I'm doing. (You could probably care less, actually. I don't even know if there IS a you. If there is, then hey, you!)

Actually, bye you! Because this is the end of the post, finally! I can't believe you've actually taken the time to read this much, I would never have the attention span, patience, or time...

WAY TO GO!

~-~