Sound Scape Critiques

My First Critique
My Second Critique 
My Third and Final Critique 

Brain Washed

http://changethis.com/
 - This is the link to read Seth Godin's Brain Washed. 

          Acknowledging The Lizard 

          This is an explanation of the emotion of being afraid to be creative to due the fact of embarrassment. That we are limiting our minds in fear of being laughed at. A term to better explain this feeling is "the resistance" we have. This resistance is your inner self that tells you to stay just follow directions and do what you are told. This voice is closely linked to brainwashing. 

Learn

          This pillar is the seventh pillar and to me the most important. It is also the key pillar to the other six. It explains that "school" is not over yet that "school" is now. You need to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to know, every day. 

      Both of these pillar's are very key to being successful as a creative person. Acknowledging The Lizard is not a problem for me at all. I have always done what I feel is necessary as a creative person and not skewed my attitude according to how I feel people will react to it. Also Learn is a very important pillar, arguably the most important. This is very important in the creative process because there is always something new you can learn and should learn. It shows you to keep an open mind and be willing to learn about everything. And that you do not need to be in a formal school setting to learn but learning happens everywhere, at anytime.

Michael Or AAF

          For my comparison of songs I will be comparing Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal compared to Alien Ant Farm's cover of the song. You can get to the songs by clicking on the artist's names.
          I really enjoy both of these songs but would have to favor Alien Ant Farm's cover of the song over the original by Michael Jackson. Both songs are very well made but I prefer the rhythm Alien Ant Farm adds to the song. Alien Ant farms cover also has a faster speed and higher tempo. Not that I do not enjoy Michael Jackson's song I just feel as if Alien Ant farm took a great song and made it spectacular. The lyrics of the two songs are basically identical which I encourage when songs are remade. I do not like when bands just take a songs chorus of a song then recreate the rest. If you can create 3/4 of a song and just steal the beat and the songs chorus I feel that, that is just taking away from the original. In contrast cover that keep the same lyrics as the original song is a better way of honoring or showing appreciation for the song.
           Alien Ant Farm did use the classic opening for the song then they added their on touch to the beat. Even though they kept the same classic opening they added more of a deeper pitched rock feel to it. This is compared to the original which has more of a skewed electric sound to it. I actually prefer the opening to Michael Jackson's version despite preferring Alien Ant Farms song over all. Also in Michael Jackson's version the song is more based around the lyrics and singing. As you can tell by the instruments are more of a background noise in his version compared to Alien Ant Farms. In their version the instruments are loud and apparent and not just background adding a beat.
          Another contrast in the songs is how the singer actually sings the song. In Alien Ant Farms version the singer really makes the song vocal and loud. He really yells the song which gives their song a high rough melody. This in contrast to the original by Michael Jackson has a much more smooth melody and subtle feeling to it. Michael more or less whispers the lyrics of the course at the begging the leads it up slowly and at the end brings in the loud "punch".
      Overall both song are very good and I enjoy them both very much. I appreciate how Alien Ant Farm made their song in the way of honoring Michael Jackson's song and not just ripping off his beat and chorus. However I do prefer Alien Ant Farms cover but the original by Michael Jackson is still an amazing song.

 

My Song

Not sure how to get my song directly to my blog so here is the link to get to the PodSnack for it hope it works!

Soundscape and powerpoint explanation

Find Your Howl

Jonathon Flaum describes finding your howl as an intense and difficult process. Finding your howl is a process of finding your individual voice and there is no way to do it easily. No matter what it is going to be a challenge and the only way to find your howl is too use "every square inch of our imprisonment must be touched and lived through before it can be abandoned" (Flaum 51-01)

Ways to Get Ideas/ ChangeThis.com

http://changethis.com/

In this article it discusses the 14 ways to get break though ideas. "There’s a lot of talk these days especially in business circles about the importance of innovation. All CEOs worth their low salt lunch want it. And they want it, of course, now. Innovation, they reason, is the competitive edge." For this reason alone it shows why we have to have innovation and create new break through ideas. These ways of making break through ideas first include, following your fascination. If you are fascinated by an idea you probably can find something meaningful about it. Second, immerse or become totally involved with the subject matter. The third way is to tolerate ambiguity, which is basically to try and try again until you figure out what you originally desired. Fourth is to make new connections such as combining two separate ideas into one main idea. Next is the sixth way, which is to fantasize and really think about your topic. The seventh way is define the right challenge, and what this means is to make sure you are always working toward the correct goal. The eighth way is listen to your subconscious, which is basically a fancy way of saying to stick with your gut feeling. The ninth way to get break through ideas is to take a break. The tenth way is notice and challenge existing patterns and trends. What this means is to not go with the daily norm and change how you do things. The eleventh way is to hangout with a diverse group of people, and by doing this it can help broaden your thought process. Twelfth is to brainstorm, which is writing down ideas on paper. The thirteenth way is to look for happy accidents, or find the positive aspects of a negative outcome. And lastly the fourteenth way is to use creative thinking techniques. All of these techniques have their ups and downs with some being more useful than others. Overall I believe most of these can be very useful. The three ways to get break though ideas I am going to further discuss are, to fantasize, take a break, and follow your fascination. First i will discuss fantasizing. I believe fantasizing is a huge part of creating a break through idea. When you fantasize you think of things that normally would not cross someones mind. This sometimes can create amazing creative work that is very unique. The next topic I will discuss is taking a break. I strongly believe in taking breaks when trying to get a break through idea. If you just continue to struggle and try and force yourself to create an amazing idea chances are you will not. Now if you take a break and rest your mind when you come back to working chances are you can think of something new, now that you have had time to rest your mind and get new ideas flowing. The last, and in my opinion most important topic is to follow your fascination. I think this is so important because if you are trying to write about something you are not passionate about it shows. You are less likely to research the subject as much and you will most likely talk less passionately about it. That is why i believe following your fascination is so important. The more you care about a subject the better the chances are that you will think of a breakthrough idea. Now I will discuss the different prompts about "following your fascination". Right now the new idea that is fascinating me is creating a video. A new possibility that has captured my attention is the chance to send a video to the television show Tosh.0 in order to get him to come tour at Ohio University. This clip can be anything from a video of our campus to shooting hoops at our ping recreation center. This opportunity gives a lot of room for creativity, and using these 14 ways to getting break through ideas will most definitively help me in the process. I can honor this inspiration by making a video to send to Tosh.0. Using these 14 techniques will greatly help me in making this video. I plan on making the video about my fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and showing how interesting Greek life at Ohio University is. I will film the upcoming "Greek Week" events and interview individuals in my fraternity and in other sororities and fraternities. That is how I will use my fascination of being Greek along with my fascination for creating videos.

My Biggest Influence

My biggest influence on my work would definitively have to be all of the creators of the television show Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. These people include Rob McElhenny, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton. They inspire me because their comedy meshes perfectly with the kind of creative person I am. In my work I always try and push the limits and do and say things in my work that shock people.This is exactly how Its Sunny in Philadelphia is. They will make jokes about anything from putting babies in tanning beds to rape and abortion. One of the styles of work they use is tension and release. This link will show you some examples of their uses of tension and release and just a little about the creators themselves. My favorite use of tension and release in this clip is the one with Dee interviewing the "white boys" about their dancing. She is obviously being an extremely awkward character and it is almost unbearably to listen to her....then she gets blasted in the face with a volleyball and the tension is released and it turns into a hilarious scene. The next concept the creators of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia use well is text and subtext. They use this a lot mainly with the plot of their shows. Such as the episode "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis". The main point of this show is that the Gang is trying to make money off of the gas crisis by, buying gas storing it and then later selling it once gas prices have raised. The the main text is that the Gang is trying to raise money. Then the subtext is that they are actually making a mockery of how expensive gas prices are becoming. The show uses this technique numerous times concerning different popular issues within America. Not only do they cover the gas crisis but they talk about the overall economy in an episode, the abortion debate, they discuss religion, and much more. When the shows talks about these highly debatable issues they usually always use text and subtext to convey it through their work. This benefits them by it makes the issues less serious so you do not focus on the negative sides of the issues as much, but see the humor in them. The last method I will discuss is contrast and affinity. Just like the other methods this method is used multiple times throughout the many seasons of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the more interesting uses of contrast and affinity is through one of the main characters "Mac". Most of the time Mac is portrayed as a strong tough guy in the gang. He always wears muscle shirts does karate and works out. He even buys a samurai sword in one episode because he considers himself the bars main security. Then other times they make Mac very sensitive and almost as a child whenever he is with his father or talking to someone he looks up to. Such as his infamous letter to Chase Utley. Overall Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia uses many great methods within their work, which makes their show so good. 

Here is out TA's Blog

If you need our TA's blog <----- click there

LION!

Hulu is awesome

I really like Hulu you all should check it out and watch some shows!

First Blog

Woo first blog!