This post is dedicated to a wondrous individual and one of my dearest friends, who’s been a little lost lately.
No. Geographically, in the wrong place.
I’ve actually been the “lost” one recently. I’m at a crossroads, and maybe for the first time in a long time I’m really scared by what that means. I can’t get it into my head that choices aren’t an ultimatum, and often we get to change our minds. THANKFULLY, I have friends who can remind me of this.
In the interim, my mind yearns to travel as I narrow down my options. I just…have this awful notion that if I’m not getting a degree and pursuing my “calling” then I’m wasting life. Thus, I waste my life worrying that I’m wasting my life. I just need to get out! Time for a trip somewhere.
(If I haven’t recommended it before, let it be heard. Xkcd.com is one of the funniest, wittiest, most intellectual webcomics out there.)
The world is a big diverse mess. And while we can’t have everything, we can choose. And, as long as that’s still true, I don’t think it’s possible to get lost. In fact, we should all scorn that notion for its nullibiety. Simply keep making decisions and learning from them.
“So long as you retain your spirit of exploration, surely you shall find your way out. This I believe.” -The Map System
(Kate, en garde. “Compos mentis” courtesy Alchemaster’s Apprentice)
So I’ve been listening to a lot of seemingly dissimilar music lately, but a peculiar pattern has emerged. The songs aren’t similar in style or melody, but they all disregard metric convention.
Metric convention as in the “correct” way of emphasizing syllables. The study of meter in poetry is called prosody. Feet are usually a pair of syllables given a silly name. Everyone knows the “iamb”, from iambic pentameter. It’s the unstressed then stressed syllable pair most common to lyrics, poetry, or writing.
For an example of it in music, listen to this. It’s “Portugal” from the new Walk the Moon album. Have I mentioned I love them? Anywho, “Once upona timein Portugal.” May seem like it’s not iambic but it starts on an off beat. If you added in an “Oh” or “Yeah” or a “Whoa” right before the Once you’d have iambic pentameter. Which is GREAT. Cause heck, Midsummer Night’s Dream is almost all iambic pentameter. But after a while it all kind of goes flat you know?
So here’s some new disyllabic feet to work with. A trochee is a stressed then unstressed syllable pair. A pyrrhic is (yeah, that’s the noun, not an adjective) two unstressed syllables. There’s also a spondee, which is two stressed syllables, but that one just sounds so silly we’re going to ignore it (actually it gets morphed into other feet so much it’s hardly worth a mention, particularly because American English tends towards not emphasizing syllables).
Of course, there’s also trisyllabic and tetrasyllabic feet. They’re the bomb diggity. Imagine telling somebody their poem is antibacchian. However, it’s a little hard to say when a poem intends to have groups of three syllables or four syllables. For the sake of not making this longer than it needs to be, I’m going to move on to some music.
I love it so much. It’s definitely one of the best songs they’ve produced. Let’s pick it apart!
The verses are almost all iambic, particularly the fourth: “The deeper thatthe knifegoes in, the more you win.” And that’s part of why I like the song, because when you hit the chorus everything goes out the window.
Ohrainy day, come round
Sometimes I just wantit to slowdown
And we’re separated now, and oh
But I loveit when you come over to the house
I loveit when you comeover to myhouse
What the hell.
Yes, it’s certainly not the first time a writer bent the syllables of a word to suit their needs but…come on. He emphasizes THE SAME SENTENCE DIFFERENTLY. And, again, I love it. The emphasis in that chorus is all over the place!
When I was younger, I used to argue with teachers about figurative language. Metaphors I get, but alliteration? Why the fuck would you use alliteration outside of poetry or music? Or worse, when talking about poetry, what’s the point of end-stop versus enjambment? Rhythm? It’s not like any of this changes the meanings of words.
But, in some ways, it does. Isn’t that the essence of inflection? In the last two lines of the Rainy Day chorus, he says the same words, but they mean completely different things because of how he emphasizes them. Furthermore, his emphasis in those lines echoes the violins in the background. It’s musically subtle and I dig it so much.
So, basically I’ve been listening to a whole bunch of music that bends the rules, or at least does something unique with meter. Here’s a handful:
“Monkey Bee” from Monkey: Journey to the West. Maybe using opera is cheating, but syllable emphasis in Chinese is about four times cooler than it is in English.
So, that may have been too many videos, but a lot of them have appeared on here before, and yet more of them will probably have whole posts dedicated to them in the future. I also want to clarify that emphasis in a song isn’t always obvious. In “Rainy Day” it’s recognizeable. In “Good Day at the Races” it’s undeniable. In “Bizness” you may as well be guessing on a true or false test. Additionally, interesting use of meter is not a requirement for a good song. It’s just what I’ve been listening to lately.
Allen Ginsberg, author of “Howl” among other famous poems, had an engaging interview that addressed some similar ideas in slam poetry. “See, the difference is between someone sitting down to write a poem in a definite preconceived metrical pattern and filling in that pattern, and someone working with his physiological movements and arriving at a pattern, and perhaps even arriving at a pattern that might even have a name, or might even have a classical usage, but arriving at it organically rather than synthetically. Nobody’s got any objection to even iambic pentameter if it comes from a source deeper than the mind, that is to say if it comes from the breathing and the belly and the lungs.” And that’s a driving force in a lot of slam poetry, forgoing meter for more intentional rhythm.
Isn’t that just the coolest thing? Again, though playing with meter can lead to good poetry, by no means is it a requirement. I just think it’s the coolest thing that by picking the right synonyms, regardless of nuances in meaning, you can fine tune the rhythm of a certain line. And that actually influences how the poem gets read, and what the audience experiences or interprets! Music! Poetry! Prose! They can all play with meter as much as they want to give a new spin on the idea communicated therein.
And to me, this is what hip-hop should be. Of course, I have no credence here because I barely listen to the genre and frankly hate it. It was one of a group of genres that I was certain I’d never like. It’s like music without the music, or slam poetry without the poetry. But the lyrical emphasis is there, and exceptional hip-hop does some crazy stuff with meter and timing that you won’t see in either slam poetry or other genres of music.
Here’s an example. “San Francisco” by Midicronica. Yes, it’s in Japanese, but it’s easy enough to get the gist. Such a mellow song, the rhythm is surprisingly relaxing, yeah? Here’s another: “Emergency” by Drunken Tiger. This song’s the reason I struck hip-hop off the hate list. As if the catchy rhythm wasn’t enough, you can totally blues dance to this song, in fact, it’s one of the highlights of my blues/fusion collection.
I think I’ve run out of things to say about this topic. Basically, figurative language is such a huge part of all spoken media, it can change the meaning and the impact of a sentence, or immortalize a line in a song. Prosody in particular is really incredible, and applicable to such a variety of media. It rocks.
So there’s this music vid I’ve been tracking in the wild. The problem is it’s a pop song, which I don’t listen to enough to recognize anything about it. At all. I only remember the video, and I remember liking it and now I have this strange desire to find it again and I just can’t.
So if anybody can help me find it, I’d be really grateful. Here’s what I remember. The musical style and setting was very similar to this video, which is also a good song and video but NOT THE RIGHT ONE. The one I’m looking for was set in a similar facility, however there were many more patients along with the singer, and all of them had these strange fits of dancing before orderlies would rush in and restrain them. Then at the end there’s the twist that it’s a “rehabilitation center for dancers” or something.
Overall I recall it being quite funny, as psychiatrists presented patients with Rorschach tests and they’d turn ’em into interpretive dances and other silly things. At the end I remember burly orderlies carrying the singer into a room full of patients all sitting or dancing in chairs, and I remember that scene pretty distinctly. Hmm…let me think. I guess I should mention that almost everything was white, and it was very crisp and stylistic. That’s all I got though.
Not being able to find the vid again has been driving me mad. I really thought it was Kimbra but I can’t seem to find it in any of her vids and I KNOW it’s not “Come Into My Head” because the lead singer doesn’t go crazy and get violent and nobody gets hurt, and there’s no red in the color palette. So yeah, I’m at a loss. Thanks much!
I was wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and everyone does have a right to spread them. But frankly, if your opinion is a hateful one then beware the consequences of sharing it. Like I’ve said, this is why suicides happen. This is why hate crimes happen. And by saying that you reserve that right and you will continue to judge others because they’re different, you are saying yes you are okay with these things and you want to be a part of the cause.
I feel no remorse for this post. If you’re reading and find yourself disagreeing or disgusted, you are free to leave. I had this discussion with three of my roommates and two of them were pretty open-minded and agreed with me. The third, I’m not talking to. I expect we’ll be confronting this disagreement later. Anyway, here goes.
Though people could feasibly choose to be attracted to some things, or could be influenced into attraction to them at a younger age, for the most part people just are attracted to whatever they’re attracted to.
Like homosexuality. You can convince a gay man that it’s wrong to like men, which frankly leads to a lot of suicide. Even if he truly believes it, it isn’t his choice to like other men. He just does. There’s evidence to suggest this is a genetic predisposition. After all, why would one want to be thrust into one of the most hated minorities? Or, for that matter, significantly stunt their chances of hooking up.
For fear of my own attractions, I broach this topic with much edgier discourse. Incest or pedophilia, no matter how wrong in the eyes of the public, are not inherently ‘sinful’. Yes, there are other factors, namely mutual consent in both cases. (Disclaimer, there is no consent in the case of children, animals, etc. NO SHIT) But again, I have to ask why anyone would choose to put themselves in that minority.
To clarify, I am not saying we should embrace pedophilia, just that I feel the attraction there would not be a choice on the part of the individual. Instead, we should approach it in regards to the implications. I don’t believe consent can be granted until at least puberty. The same would hold for bestiality – yes, it seems unnatural to many, but so does homosexuality. Guys who like guys? Women who like women? What the hell, right? But can zoophiles help it? Because I don’t think there’s any choice in the matter.
Therefore when it comes to incest, I don’t really see anything wrong with it. I am not attracted to my brother, and the idea is quite shocking and disturbing to me. Most people feel the same way, I’d imagine. But that doesn’t mean we should hate or chastise those who are attracted to their siblings.
Like I’ve been trying to say, attraction is strange, that’s exactly why all fetishes exist. There’s no reason to make these people feel guilty by inflicting your own majority, vanilla opinions on those of a different temper.
Again, I emphasize. YOU DO NOT GET TO INFLICT YOUR OPINIONS ON THINGS PEOPLE CANNOT CHANGE ABOUT THEMSELVES ONTO OTHERS. Just because YOU are not attracted to x, y, or z does not mean you can hold prejudice against those who are. They just are, and they don’t get to choose otherwise. And you just get to accept that or not. And if not, I don’t want to know you.
I bring this up because I’m a furry, and I draw furry pornography. And a lot of people think that’s really strange and believe me – it is. And I convinced myself of this so completely. And I tried to change who I was, and you know that’s just not how it works. And when I found out other people felt the same way, it was the same as coming out as bisexual. It was just so nice to know there were others who accepted me for who I was.
And there’s still a lot who don’t – surprise surprise, a majority. Most people are normal. Most people are straight, cisgender, vanilla, etc. But just because most people are one way doesn’t mean they get to treat others like they’re wrong. There is no wrong or right here, there is only different. And going around saying something is wrong, be it homosexuality or any other strange attraction, is only going to make those people feel terrible, not change them. You cannot change them because they don’t have a choice. It’s who they are. And sometimes that’s a little messed up. Someone told me I still need a whole paragraph in here about consent, which I don’t disagree with. I’m just tired of all the bullshit hate on people because of their attraction.
No, I don’t care what you think is right or wrong, you shut the fuck up and get over your opinions. When you tell people they’re wrong or messed up, those people learn to hate themselves, and that’s some shit I think nobody deserves to deal with.
Thank you for reading, I’ve been trying to put my feelings to words here for quite some time. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but everyone needs to be a little more aware of how those influence others. Cause I’ve felt that hate, and like many before I’ve translated it into hating myself. It just needs to stop.
What fucks me up about the Darren Wilson fundraiser is that he hasn’t been charged with a crime. He doesn’t have to hire a lawyer. He’s on paid leave, so he’s not losing wages. This is not covering his expenses, because he doesn’t have any additional expenses. This is a reward. He’s getting a $250,000 reward for murdering an unarmed black kid.
HE HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL. MIKE REACHED FOR HIS GUN. HIS FRIEND THAT WAS WITH HIM EVEN ADMITTED THAT HE LIED ABOUT THE COP JUST RANDOMLY SHOOTING HIM AND CONFIRMED THAT THEY ROBBED THE STORE. SELF DEFESE.
None of this is true. This is how good the Ferguson PD’s smear campaign has been. Not one sentence here is accurate. Let’s break this down:
“MIKE REACHED FOR HIS GUN.” Officer Wilson’s story is that the first shot that went off was an accidental discharge while they were fighting over the gun. However. there was no gunpowder residue on Mike Brown, meaning that he was absolutely not holding the gun when it went off and furthermore that he was not even that close. He was fired on from a distance.
“HIS FRIEND THAT WAS WITH HIM EVEN ADMITTED THAT HE LIED ABOUT THE COP JUST RANDOMLY SHOOTING HIM AND CONFIRMED THAT THEY ROBBED THE STORE.” This is actually a compound lie, which is kind of impressive. His friend, Dorian Johnson, did not say that. His lawyer said they were together in the convenience store, the police said there was a robbery, and the media put those two statements next to each other to imply a statement was made that never was. Johnson isn’t being charged with anything because the Ferguson PD “determined he committed no crime.” The Ferguson PD also admitted Officer Wilson didn’t know about the scuffle at the convenience store before he stopped Brown and Johnson. You may be wondering why I say scuffle instead of robbery. That’s because there wasn’t one: the owners of the store didn’t call the police and video shows Brown paying for the cigarillos! The clerk confronted Brown about reaching across the counter instead of waiting for him to hand over the cigarillos, he put his hand on Brown, and Brown pushed him. Yes, he pushed him too hard, but the clerk apparently didn’t care enough to call the police. The police were called by another customer in the store, who apparently didn’t know what was actually happening.
“SELF DEFESE.” The autopsy shows that he was shot on the inside of his arm, meaning his hands were up, and the top of his head, meaning that, since Brown was 6’4”, either he was on his knees or the officer was 8’ tall. The officer was not 8’ tall.
The evidence clearly shows that Officer Wilson, who had no idea of the not-actually-a-robbery, executed the unarmed Mike Brown while he was on his knees with his hands in the air. Just like all of the eyewitnesses said (except for “Josie,” who turned out not to be real).
But the Ferguson PD’s already tainted public opinion. They’ve spread so many lies so effectively that no amount of evidence will bring justice. Your ignorance here is proof of just how effective it’s been.
Escape! Escape! 