Working together without being together involves everyone having a full and correct understanding of the situation.
In a recent experiment I partook in, we were randomly and anonymously assigned groups and were instructed to be working towards a common goal. What I assumed would happen is... well what happened. People got greedy and lost sight of reason and ended up short-changing the rest of us quite literally.
If everyone knew the intricacies of the instructions and knew how to maximize their part of the experiment without messing up the rest of us, things would have turned out a lot better. Since we couldn't communicate, it was impossible and all I could do is hope they came around.
Point is, I think this applies to the world in a lot of ways. There are common goals out there that people of different locations share, and I think the reason a lot of things don't get done very quickly, very efficiently, or at all is because people don't understand what's going on completely.
It just seems hopeless when people don't communicate about the problems they're experiencing and we run circles instead of getting things done.
This came out a lot more vague than I thought lol.
Still pending: G.I. Joe review, Paramore, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin reviews. I can probably do those three this weekend. We'll see.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sophomore Year semester 1
This semester is ridiculous. Taking an online english class was an awful idea, really. The classes in general kind of suck.
Anyway, point of this is to predict my midterm and final grades for this semester. I was pretty bleak last semester but I ended up with straight A's...
and these are conservative estimates based on grades thus far...
Midterm
Spanish 105- B
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A
Eng 302- C
Final
Spanish 105- B+
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A-
Engl 302- C (if I'm lucky)
Let's see! It will be like a fun game or something!
Anyway, point of this is to predict my midterm and final grades for this semester. I was pretty bleak last semester but I ended up with straight A's...
and these are conservative estimates based on grades thus far...
Midterm
Spanish 105- B
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A
Eng 302- C
Final
Spanish 105- B+
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A-
Engl 302- C (if I'm lucky)
Let's see! It will be like a fun game or something!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sci-Fi Crimes
Been in the room all day so I haven't really experienced much of the outside world and this philosophy essay sucks so I have nothing to contribute today.
So ill give you something ive already written: my review of Chevelle's new Sci-Fi Crimes cd. It was fine.
At the end of the 90s came a fun little music genre called post-grunge and emerging out of that juncture has been some of 2000’s most popular bands of the 21st century. In 2002 we all remember shamelessly rocking out to Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” and “the Red” off of their better-known second album “Wonder What’s Next.” Since then, Chevelle has all but dropped off of the radar for most of the causal mainstream listeners.
“Sci-Fi Crimes,” the Illinois trio’s fifth studio album has been met with a wave of endearing reviews from all wakes. The reviews hail this album as the greatest one to date and hopefully the end of their gradual decline into obscurity as the record sales has been showing.
All-in-all, “Sci-Fi Crimes” is a great album. It is a fantastic show case of the bands thick and rhythmic sound, the band’s mastery at catchy choruses, and lead singer Pete Loeffler’s soaring vocals. Personally, from the opening track, “Sleep Apnea,” I could immediately sense what wasn’t a new sound from Chevelle, but a definite mood change due to a less morose lyrical style. The bass and riff-heavy opener reminded me exactly of what I love about this band—a no-holds-barred approach to awesome music.
I have to qualify my use of the word “fantastic” by saying that “Sci-Fi Crimes” is not Chevelle’s best, nor is it what will bring the band back to the mainstream. It’s not bad but it’s not what the critics are making it out to be. Other than a few stunning tracks like the all-acoustic “Highland’s Aspiration” and the aerial “Shameful Metaphors,” the album is littered by cautious tracks like “This Circus” and “Mexican Sun.”
Even their current single, “Jars” which has peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 is definitely not my choice for their first single. Don’t get me wrong, the single is great and I recommend it for new listeners and people trying to give their friends a good idea of what Chevelle sounds like. With a great hook in the chorus and a pertinent message for the time about going green (Put into jars/We'll save this Earth), it is a great candidate for the single and it has apparently done well. Simply said, it isn’t the most significant or best song.
I would say more about the lyrics but Loeffler’s abundant use of non-sequiturs entirely over-saturates the entire album with topics that range from going green to alien abductions and the guy who stole Chevelle’s stuff in 2007. To say the lyrics are hard to understand would be an understatement.
“Sci-Fi Crimes” neither adds greatness nor shows weakness in Chevelle’s ability as performers. Unlike a lot of album’s I’ve heard lately, this album isn’t a futile attempt at re-inventing their sound to keep listeners interested—it’s merely a sticking to a working formula that doesn’t make this feel like an album full of B-sides. It’s really good. Go buy it.
So ill give you something ive already written: my review of Chevelle's new Sci-Fi Crimes cd. It was fine.
At the end of the 90s came a fun little music genre called post-grunge and emerging out of that juncture has been some of 2000’s most popular bands of the 21st century. In 2002 we all remember shamelessly rocking out to Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” and “the Red” off of their better-known second album “Wonder What’s Next.” Since then, Chevelle has all but dropped off of the radar for most of the causal mainstream listeners.
“Sci-Fi Crimes,” the Illinois trio’s fifth studio album has been met with a wave of endearing reviews from all wakes. The reviews hail this album as the greatest one to date and hopefully the end of their gradual decline into obscurity as the record sales has been showing.
All-in-all, “Sci-Fi Crimes” is a great album. It is a fantastic show case of the bands thick and rhythmic sound, the band’s mastery at catchy choruses, and lead singer Pete Loeffler’s soaring vocals. Personally, from the opening track, “Sleep Apnea,” I could immediately sense what wasn’t a new sound from Chevelle, but a definite mood change due to a less morose lyrical style. The bass and riff-heavy opener reminded me exactly of what I love about this band—a no-holds-barred approach to awesome music.
I have to qualify my use of the word “fantastic” by saying that “Sci-Fi Crimes” is not Chevelle’s best, nor is it what will bring the band back to the mainstream. It’s not bad but it’s not what the critics are making it out to be. Other than a few stunning tracks like the all-acoustic “Highland’s Aspiration” and the aerial “Shameful Metaphors,” the album is littered by cautious tracks like “This Circus” and “Mexican Sun.”
Even their current single, “Jars” which has peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 is definitely not my choice for their first single. Don’t get me wrong, the single is great and I recommend it for new listeners and people trying to give their friends a good idea of what Chevelle sounds like. With a great hook in the chorus and a pertinent message for the time about going green (Put into jars/We'll save this Earth), it is a great candidate for the single and it has apparently done well. Simply said, it isn’t the most significant or best song.
I would say more about the lyrics but Loeffler’s abundant use of non-sequiturs entirely over-saturates the entire album with topics that range from going green to alien abductions and the guy who stole Chevelle’s stuff in 2007. To say the lyrics are hard to understand would be an understatement.
“Sci-Fi Crimes” neither adds greatness nor shows weakness in Chevelle’s ability as performers. Unlike a lot of album’s I’ve heard lately, this album isn’t a futile attempt at re-inventing their sound to keep listeners interested—it’s merely a sticking to a working formula that doesn’t make this feel like an album full of B-sides. It’s really good. Go buy it.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Philosophically speaking...
My professor said something interesting in class yesterday... we're talking about the Eleatic philosophers and their conception of the universe. My brain died midway through Parmenides' discussion of "what is" is bound by something... but I'm reading over Melissus (meh-lee-sus) and what he says makes a lot of sense.
"Whatever was, always was, and always will be. For if it came to be, it is necessary that before it came to be it was nothing. now if it was nothing, in no way could anything come to be out of nothing. Now since it did not come to be, it is and always was and always will be, and does not have a beginning or an end, but is unlimited."
Basically, the source of everything (chaos, apeiron, arche, etc.) is unlimited because if there was ever a time where it did not exist, nothing could conceivably come out of it since it itself could not come out of nothing.
Whether you believe that "what is" is God (I do) or just the universe, it is interesting to point out that quantum physicists and astronomers are writing, "yeah we've just discovered in the last 20 years that the universe is potentially limitless" when Greek philosophers 2600 years ago already knew it.
Think about that.
"Whatever was, always was, and always will be. For if it came to be, it is necessary that before it came to be it was nothing. now if it was nothing, in no way could anything come to be out of nothing. Now since it did not come to be, it is and always was and always will be, and does not have a beginning or an end, but is unlimited."
Basically, the source of everything (chaos, apeiron, arche, etc.) is unlimited because if there was ever a time where it did not exist, nothing could conceivably come out of it since it itself could not come out of nothing.
Whether you believe that "what is" is God (I do) or just the universe, it is interesting to point out that quantum physicists and astronomers are writing, "yeah we've just discovered in the last 20 years that the universe is potentially limitless" when Greek philosophers 2600 years ago already knew it.
Think about that.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
This week has been... Rough.
Rough to say the least. I've got a journalism story to do interviews for, a bogus english paper that needs researching, and a philosophy paper of whose content I don't even understand. On top of that, I had a bio exam I think I bombed and a massive spanish exam that our teacher is sure we won't even finish. This is fantastic.
I have nothing profound to say that won't take up my valuable homework time so I'll start you off easy with the last article of mine to be published. The editor went to town with it so if it sounds a little choppy, you know why.
Food Dude Entertains Mason
Abstract: Basically this guy came to our school to talk about what kinds of foods we should eat. He was entertaining. I'll post some more articles or past blogs later.
Until tomorrow...
Oh also, if you would like to know what I'm doing in philosophy and are otherwise thrilled to learn about ancient philosophy from the early 6th century, you can go here because wikipedia is the collection of all knowledge and will likely get me through... well, life.
I have nothing profound to say that won't take up my valuable homework time so I'll start you off easy with the last article of mine to be published. The editor went to town with it so if it sounds a little choppy, you know why.
Food Dude Entertains Mason
Abstract: Basically this guy came to our school to talk about what kinds of foods we should eat. He was entertaining. I'll post some more articles or past blogs later.
Until tomorrow...
Oh also, if you would like to know what I'm doing in philosophy and are otherwise thrilled to learn about ancient philosophy from the early 6th century, you can go here because wikipedia is the collection of all knowledge and will likely get me through... well, life.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Breaking ground;
So I literally have been trying to get myself to start one of these for what seems like ages. I'll use this to post reviews that the Broadside doesn't want to publish or reviews that they actually happen to give in and accept. Or just things that I see, have seen, or a general compilation/anthology of things that I have already written. So you, dear reader, can consider yourself fortunate not to have to scourge the internet for quality reading when you kind find it here, on my... blog.
Thesis on the word blog and the nature of them in contemporary society--
The word blog is what you get when you cut the head off of the word "weblog." It has taken on a negative connotation for your liberal media junkies who can't get their writing published on their own merits--a la, me. But for anyone who knows me I'm not a liberal trying to stick it to the man who has been keeping me down all these years. I'm just lazy and busy with my Philosophy 302 essay on Anaximander's initial "discovery of the universe" in the mid 6th century B.C. Then that guy Heraclitus had to come and disprove it a hundred years later. What a jerk. Alas, I digress. Hopefully this will be something people like to read. If not, well its therapeutic. I order everyone to make one... now.
"So Dylan... you start by discussing the meaning of blogs and how society sees them... and you stop. Please continue."
No.
So I literally have been trying to get myself to start one of these for what seems like ages. I'll use this to post reviews that the Broadside doesn't want to publish or reviews that they actually happen to give in and accept. Or just things that I see, have seen, or a general compilation/anthology of things that I have already written. So you, dear reader, can consider yourself fortunate not to have to scourge the internet for quality reading when you kind find it here, on my... blog.
Thesis on the word blog and the nature of them in contemporary society--
The word blog is what you get when you cut the head off of the word "weblog." It has taken on a negative connotation for your liberal media junkies who can't get their writing published on their own merits--a la, me. But for anyone who knows me I'm not a liberal trying to stick it to the man who has been keeping me down all these years. I'm just lazy and busy with my Philosophy 302 essay on Anaximander's initial "discovery of the universe" in the mid 6th century B.C. Then that guy Heraclitus had to come and disprove it a hundred years later. What a jerk. Alas, I digress. Hopefully this will be something people like to read. If not, well its therapeutic. I order everyone to make one... now.
"So Dylan... you start by discussing the meaning of blogs and how society sees them... and you stop. Please continue."
No.
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