thoughts of a conceited genius

God Bless Bloc Party.

2009-01-24T14:58:00.001-05:00

So I’ve decided since music could possibly be my most favorite thing in the world, I would start reviewing some of my favorite artists and others that I Stumbleupon. I chose Bloc Party as my first band because they are the reason I got on the indie scene. I probably wouldn’t have the friends I do or be at the position I am at if weren’t for Bloc Party. Therefore I must hold them high.

Brief History:

Bloc Party is a British dance rock band. The members include Kele Okereke (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass guitar, backup vocals), Matt Tong (drums, backup vocals), and Russel Lissack (lead guitar). The band is under Vice Records, Wichita, and V2 labels. The band started in 1999 with Lissack and Okereke. In 2003, they released a demo to Franz Ferdinand’s lead Alex Kopranos and hit it big. The title of the song in the demo was “She’s Hearing Voices”.

In 2005, Bloc Party released their first album, Silent Alarm, which made NME’s album of the year. They then released another album of remixes of Silent Alarm, and in 2007 they released A Weekend in the City. This album was a pleasant transition from a harder, more dance-y (yes, dance-y) beat, to a softer more indie-rock beat with mellow songs that (no pun intended) flux into a harder more rock beat near the end to middle of some of the tracks on the album. Then Bloc Party brought attention to the dance scene with their EP in 2008 entitled Flux. It contained the album version along with some remixes. People were hesitant to purchase this EP because of Silent Alarm Remixed lack of popularity. Surprisingly, Flux was a huge success. Finally, their most recent album, Intimacy, was releasing in late October, 2008. Which again was mostly indie-dance music.

My Take:

Bloc Party could possibly be one of the greatest band alive, this is said more sentimentally than it is truthfully. I have a great history with Silent Alarm and A Weekend in the City, and they bring back good memories. But sentiments aside, Bloc Party is a great band not only because they’ve covered every genre and indie kid could ever want, but because they do it well. They really put time and effort into their music and didn’t just bull shit some drum beats and guitar chords. Their music is moving and easy to dance to, they always keep people on their feet. Their a band who hasn’t made it mainstream in the US, which is a good thing, but in the UK they are giant. I would definitely recommend checking this band out, whether you check them out at their website:http://www.blocparty.com/, their Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/blocpartyofficial?blend=1, or just go out and buy their albums! They can be found at Best Buy or any underground record store. Give them a listen and tell me what you think!

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The Transition

2009-01-03T15:02:00.006-05:00

I am an eighteen year old college student in Michigan. About 3 weeks ago, I was dropping off an assignment to my professor. As I walked to his door, fellow classmate was also approaching the professor's office. I knew he was in my class, but I never really talked to him. He seemed like a nice guy, but I just kept to myself through the whole class and never really reached out, so we said hi and that was about it. I then try to open the door to our professor's office, but it was locked; then the other student, Nick, noticed and read a note on the door that read, "Just slide the assignment under the door." I was puzzled why he was not in his office, but did what it said.

As I was walking away, Nick stopped me and said, "We've been in the same lab group, but we never really talked, do you have a minute." Confused, I replied, "Yes." I quickly questioned his sexual preference in my head and was hoping he wasn't hitting on me. As I was tuning my 'gaydar' he asked if I was a freshman and I told him, "Yes." We kept talking about each other and where we were from and things of that nature. He really seemed like a nice guy, plus he told me about his girlfriend so I let out a sigh.

I found out that Nick was a senior and was in the computer programming school and the university. He grilled me about my computer knowledge, but I was quick to answer all of his questions. He stopped and was in awe about all that I knew about computers and programming. Then we transitioned our conversation into something I always thought about, but never brought up in conversation.

He began talking about a boy he used to babysit and how unintelligent he seemed in academics. We both began ranting about how kids now only focus their mental abilities on things like sports, fashion, and television, while setting very little knowledge aside for useful information like math, science, and technology. Although 'old folks' will say that the younger generation knows much about technology, they really don't. I could easily train my dog to use and ipod and look at porn and facebook on a computer, that's not technology. Knowing technology is when a teenager can script their own RPG, strategy game, or even a virus. We both agreed, that by the time we were older the current younger generation that would be running our country would be completely lost in media and sports, that they never had time or mental capacity to handle things like Poly Sci or Physics. If a thirteen-year-old boy can ramble off every player of the Detroit Pistons with numbers and stats, why can't he focus that mental energy in being able to name the atomic numbers and masses of all the elements on the periodic table. It's just as hard. Middle school and high school life has become one big popularity contest rather than eight hours of learning.

Both of us think that if kids really want to be successful in school and still be popular they need to leave the memorization of newest fashions and athletes up to the media and seriously focus on school work, this is the only way any of them will ever be successful. We are not only blaming the kids for this laking effort. Parents are/ should be a huge part in their students' lives. If a student is laking in their studies then the parent should cut off TV, video games, and computer. The problem is: kids are running their own lives. Parents have stopped giving a shit about what their kids do, and it almost seems like their are scared of what their kids might do if the parent says no. Parents of these kids are on a quest to become their kids friends and not their mentors and disciplinary figures. Schools also need to focus on their students' welfare. Middle school and high school are just too easy now. If any student really wants to get a 4.o all they have to do is do their homework, reference the Internet for it, and do well on the piss-poor, easy tests that teachers try to pass as hard. I remember receiving a Spanish exam my sophomore year that was 200 questions. I finished the exam in fifteen minutes and got 199/200. If students, teachers, and parents apply themselves students would all be very successful and go far in life.

That day was a very big learning experience for me in many ways. I found that in order to find friends outside of the ones I already have, I must reach out in classes and anywhere else there are strangers. I have always been a very outgoing person, but never in classes; meeting Nick really changed my aspect on classes and how they should be treated by freshman. Another very important thing I took out of this was that he and I are both very right, students now need to seriously focus themselves towards school, because once they get to college there is no such thing as popular, there are people for everyone. So focusing on popularity in high school is a waste of four years, because it is all thrown out the window once you graduate.

Live Loud

Copyfight '09

2009-01-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Happy belated New Year to you all.

I have a very good feeling that this new year, like all new years, will bring a new issue or conflict to our door. This year is special. I have a very good feeling the issue will be one that has been a problem for a long time, but will be resurrected within 2009.

For some strange reason I keep thinking about piracy and piracy laws. Since the year 2000 when Metallica and Dr. Dre filed lawsuits against the P2P monster, Napster, piracy is at an all time high. Now the piracy has moved to more than just music. Movies, software, books, and even comics are subject to being uploaded to torrent sites and/or software like Limewire and download free-of-charge by the masses. Movies have become especially popular. The other day, I visited the most popular torrent hosting site, The Pirate Bay, and found that you are able to download movies that are still in theater. Keep in mind most are 'cam movies' which means someone brought a camera into a theater and recorded it, but I viewed one at a friends house and found it to be excellent quality. Which brings me to the next item on the list. Software has also been huge in being pirated. Nobody wants to pay $800 for software that will soon be out dated. So what to these people do, download torrents of the software. It has become very easy because a person who purchased said software can easily compress the CD to a *.iso file and upload it to the Internet and then the downloader can put that on a CD/DVD and run it on their computer. Software is just too expensive for some people to purchase. On the lighter side of that, there are many free and powerful alternatives to these high end programs. Take Photoshop for instance. It costs $800 to purchase Photoshop CS4 when you could spend $0 on Gimp, the free open source photo editing alternative. With a little time and effort you can transform Gimp into something almost identical to Photoshop CS4 and it's all free! Books have been downloaded, but for a very unexpected reason. College students have been downloading textbooks they need for their classes. Like software, new, even used books are just too expensive for some students' budgets. Plus there are no free alternatives to required college textbooks.

People have been fighting to get back free legal downloading of movies, music, and games. Sites like Isohunt participate in what is called the 'Copyfight'. They have been fighting legislation and the government to try to once again legalize P2P downloading. They seem to be somewhat successful. It may not show right now, but I follow Isohunt's Twitter and they constantly update on the breakthroughs they have made. This shows me that in the very near future, it will be brought up and fought about until an answer is resolved.

Piracy has been a rising issue since the year 2000, and it is currently at it's peak. I have a feeling that 2009 will bring the 'Copyfight' to the White House and make this the major issue of the year. No matter what the result P2P downloading will continue and will never be stopped. The issue is not one law makers worry about, it is the movie producers, the bands, and the authors that hate the thought of piracy because they are looking for a buck. Just remember: It never pays to be greedy.

Live Loud

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