"Dream"--Priscilla Ahn

Another SOUND article.

http://www.soundmagonline.com/?p=2096

Sometimes I need to listen to something pretty. I love upbeat rock music as much as the next person, but when I have a quiet, contemplative morning or a long day at work, nothing beats listening to a calming, beautiful song like “Dream” by Priscilla Ahn. A friend introduced me to this song about a year ago and I have been hooked ever since.

Ahn’s soft and airy, yet beautiful voice could pierce straight through anyone. Though she starts by singing a simple melody and playing a quite acoustic accompaniment, this song will immediately calm and move you. As the song progresses, she layers complicated vocal harmonies and throws in a harmonica (just because she is that talented) to add a dream-like feel to the arrangement.

Despite the songs quiet and almost sad sound, it will ultimately make you feel good and want more.

Ugh.

Do you ever get annoyed with yourself?

I do. I remember writing in my journal once that sometimes I annoy myself more than anyone else does, which is unfortunate because I'm the only person I can't avoid.

Isn't that so silly? For about the past week that's how I have felt: like I'm stuck with myself, getting on my own nerves. I've been forgetful, I've been saying and doing annoying things, I've felt tired and lazy, my nose whistles every time I sniff...it's been pretty irritating.

It's mostly likely that nobody has noticed this except me. Maybe everyone else is just used to it and I've spent more time with myself than usual (yes, that makes sense). Maybe it's because I haven't been able to sleep and when I do I have crazy, stressful dreams about fighting off zombie relatives (this is true, I had this dream, and it was super intense). Maybe it's because school is picking up and I have a lot to do. Maybe I'm getting stressed because I graduate in December and haven't solidified what I will do. Maybe I'm not irritating, just irritable. Or I've just been kind of stupid lately.

If so, sorry. If not, pretend you didn't read this because now you will start noticing all my annoying habits.

Also, you should listen to this song, because it's really awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p99a6K81zqM

Stowaway Magazine

When people ask me what I study, I should just say English. I am getting a degree in English, after all. What I want to say is editing. I’m getting a minor in editing and it has become more of a focus because it’s marketable (so it’s probably what I’ll be doing post-grad) and because I love it. So instead I say “English and editing” and people get confused. Then they ask what I want to do and that opens up a whole new can of worms because I don’t know, exactly. I love editing, publishing, writing, document designing, etc. And social media, art, culture, music, travel, administrative work…I’d like to think the possibilities for post-grad employment are endless. I’d also like to think that because I’m so open-minded that I’ll be able to find something to do when I graduate this December. But this creates a problem because when I answer “I don’t know” to the “What do you want to do with that?” question, I seem ambitionless and lazy. It’s really that I’m excited to do anything and I’m doing what I can to be eligible for everything.

One thing that I know I like is magazine publishing, which is great because that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing this semester. For my editing capstone class, I’m on the staff of Stowaway, a travel magazine for young adults. There are about 12 or 13 people in my class, which comprises the entire staff of the Spring 2012 issue. We will all be helping with the writing, editing, designing, advertising, and promoting of the magazine, but we are also all assigned specific positions.

I’ll be working as an assistant art director as well as a member of the web team. As an art director I’ll help with the layout and design of the articles and the magazine overall. I’m excited because I love document design and art, but there are fewer opportunities for that if you’re not a graphic design major. On the web team I’ll be focusing on social media and online outreach to promote the magazine and increase readership. This is partly so I can get good at using social media and partly because I love Stowaway already and I want other people to love it, too.  The girls in my class are all amazing and I can already tell that we will be creating something great this semester. So check it out! Follow us, tweet at us, comment on our articles, like us on Facebook, and tell your friends. Or just read my articles and tell me how awesome they are. Because they will be.

Spiders

Why don't my good dreams ever come true?

About two weeks ago I was spending one of my last nights in my old house. I was having this very realistic dream about a spider in my window. It was daytime, my brother was there, and there was a giant spider just living in my window sill (which happened to be right next to my bed). The spider, which I have since named "Creature," was big and hairy and definitely evil (evil is an inherent spider personality trait). Kind of like this:

All of a sudden it lurched forward to attack this other animal that appeared in my windowsill that looked like some sort of rodent. I jumped back, landing on my elbows, in my bed, and suddenly woke up. I was in my room, like in the dream, but it was dark and I was alone. It didn't matter. I was still leaning away from my window, out of breath, half convinced that "Creature" was feasting on a dead animal just a few feet away. I finally calmed down, realized it was a dream, and eventually went back to sleep.

A few days later I moved out of that house into a different one, just a few blocks away. I now have my own room in the basement of a six bedroom house. Awesome, right? It would have been more awesome if I hadn't found several large spiders in various corners of my room the first day I moved in. I tried to kill the first one, but I unsuccessfully squished it into the carpet and just made it mad. Fortunately, my friend Sam was there to save me.

After I found another spider (and the lair it had built behind my desk), I decided to take action. I brought in the vacuum cleaner, detached the hose, and vacuumed every corner in my room. I guess spiders are invincible to vacuums because I found one on my shoe the next day. Now I live in fear and sleep in an uneasy, itchy terror. I have actually been checking the backsides of my pillows to make sure there aren't any killers. It doesn't help that, during my move, my mom was in town, and my family decided it would be fun to tell every single horrible spider story they have ever heard. Ugh.

Then, a few days ago, my dream came true. Sam came over and said, "I don't want to freak you out or anything"--which instantly freaked me out--"but there's a giant spider living in your window."

Creature followed me.

From my old house to my new house. From my dream to reality.

Sam showed me from the inside that it was, in fact, living in my window on the inside of my screen but the outside of the glass. If spiders are invincible to vacuums, do they have magic powers over glass? Probably. They are evil, after all. Also, Creature was huge. Not as big as in my dream, but big enough to reaffirm my assertion that spiders only exist to be scary and turn people into super-humans.

Feeling brave because it was daytime and I was with a boy, we went outside to see what we could do. I stood back and Sam touched the screen to pull it back and get to Creature. Zoom! Creature disappeared into a corner faster than lightning. Big, scary, and fast. We looked for him but he was nowhere to be found. There wasn't even a hole in the direction he disappeared. We put the screen back and there has been no sign of him since. I think he must have absorbed himself into my wall with his evil spider powers. He is just waiting for the right time to come and eat me like the animal he ate in my dream.

Maybe he'll turn me into a super-human.

Or an alien.

http://www.soundmagonline.com/?p=2079

I love this song. Go read my article about it.

“Rill Rill” — Sleigh Bells

By Kathy Hopkinson

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells takes us back to the ’80s with a snappy, retro sound in the song, “Rill Rill.” Her airy, young voice makes the song reminiscent of a high school cheer or jump rope chant — connecting the sound of the song to the lyrics. This cheerful tune touches on the darker sides of high school anxieties including boyfriends, braces and subtle references to drug use.

While the song itself is catchy and upbeat, the music video gives the song an intriguing dark edge. Krauss calmly drives through the desert while flashing back to images of popping balloons, a switchblade, a bloody telephone and red fog in the locker room — it’s up to the viewer to put the pieces together. Despite the eerie music video, this song is truly addicting, so be ready to put it on replay and have it stuck in your head for days.

I scratched my eyeball

My sister once told me that I should have a blog just about injury stories. I have a tendency to get hurt a lot, and it’s usually kind of ridiculous. Her suggestion was inspired by an incident last fall.

I was over at a friend’s house late one night and decided to just sleep on the couch because I was too tired to drive home. I woke up around four in the morning and realized I had fallen asleep with my arm bent over my head, resting on the arm of the couch. It was completely numb and I decided that I should probably move it down by my side so I could get the blood flowing again. I used my other hand to grab my arm by the fingertips and started lifting it over my head. It turns out that a dead arm is really heavy, especially when you are half asleep. I got my hand directly above my head and then lost my grip. Wham! I dropped my entire dead arm on my face. There was a flash of light and then my left eye started to hurt. I had scratched it with my fingernail. I’m not sure why my eyes were open, seeing as how it was completely dark, but they were and it hurt. I remember thinking, “that was stupid, but it will probably be funny later.” Little did I know.

A few hours of fighting for sleep later, I got up to go home and get ready for school. My eye was red, watery, and in pain. I thought I just needed to put in my contacts and let them adjust and then I would be fine. I made my way to school, suddenly much more sensitive to sunlight, and waited for the irritation to pass. Finally, half way through my 10-hour day on campus, I realized that not only was my eye still bothering me, but also that my vision in that eye was a little blurry. Suddenly worried, I decided I should get it looked at. I called my mom first to let her know what happened, and appreciated her sympathy. Then I called the insurance company to find out which eye doctors I could go visit in Provo. I tried to explain what happened and the woman on the phone seemed amused. I would have been, too, except that I was irrationally worried that I may have done some permanent damage. I finally found an eye doctor and was able to call and make an appointment. That phone call was about as embarrassing and confusing as the first.

On my way home from school, distressed about missing work, skipping class so early in the semester, and having to pay for a doctor’s visit, I called home and talked to my sister.

“Mom said you hurt your eye.”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

I started to explain. Before I could finish my sister was laughing hysterically on the other end of the line. I was ready to stop making phone calls.

Finally, after arriving at my appointment and reenacting what had happened for the receptionist, I was able to see the eye doctor, who was nice yet entertained by my story. He took a look at my eye with some fancy equipment, pulled out a piece of paper, and drew a large circle.

“Do you know what your cornea is?”

“Not really…”

“It’s the clear part of your eye that covers the colored part of your eye.”

“Oh, okay.”

He pointed to the circle. “This is your cornea.” Then he drew a jagged piece in the middle of it. “This is the part of your cornea that’s missing because you scratched it out of your eyeball.”

He said it with a bit of humor that let me know I wasn’t going to go blind. It finally all started to become kind of funny to me. Maybe it was because he had given me some eye drops that made everything feel better, or maybe I was finally realizing that my instinct was right that morning. It was definitely funny later. The doctor gave me a special contact to wear for a few days, some eye drops, and some cool sunglasses that stuck on my face and made me look like a robot. I still have them.

I am happy to report that my eye is fine, as well as my dignity. But I’m sure there will be more injury stories to come that will take care of that.

My first SOUND article

You can just read it here, but you should go to the website.

http://www.soundmagonline.com/?p=2034

"Go Outside" -- Cults

The video for the retro sounding single “Go Outside” by the band Cults gives this song a truly haunting twist. Director Isaiah Seret used actual video footage of life at Jonestown, the informal name of the People’s Temple Agricultural Project, to add an eerie feel to their upbeat sound.

James Warren Jones and his religious community of followers relocated to Jonestown in Guyana after heavy negative press coverage and an IRS investigation in the United States. As relatives of members of the Peoples Temple voiced concern for their loved ones, U.S. officials continued their investigation into South America.

Jim Jones — as the leader came to be known — told this community of over 900 that their only option to preserve their church would be “revolutionary suicide,” his term for what has since been labeled a massacre since not everyone participated willingly. Members of the community were given a deadly mix of poisonous substances in a purple drink that was consumed by the masses in November of 1978.

While this particular and shocking event is what makes Jonestown memorable to so many, Seret instead used footage of life before the tragedy occurred as a setting for the music video. Band members were embedded onto real footage of members of the People’s Temple who were singing, dancing and smiling for the cameras. Mixed in are tidbits of NBC news reports and clips of interviews with community members and Jim Jones himself. This catchy song will get stuck in your head, but so will the video — whether you want it to or not.