30 days of music - 5/5/11

Because I thought this was a neat idea when a friend started and because I, apparently, have nothing better to do while procrastinating and because than to engage in a narcissistic endeavor and because I've not posted here in too long I'm going to try this challenge out. Originally I posted to Facebook, but after reconsideration I decided that this was a better place to talk about music and why and what not and so on and so forth.
 Basically, I'll follow the schedule outlined below. Each day I'll post a song and talk about my relationship to it. It's gonna be fun on a bun!

day 01 - your favorite song
day 02 - your least favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
day 04 - a song that makes you sad
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
day 12 - a song from a band you hate
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
day 15 - a song that describes you
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
day 29 - a song from your childhood
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

May 5, 2011
    Already I'm late, O' well. Favorite song? I believe favorites change with time and mood. For many, a favorite lasts a life time but mostly I think favor'd song(s) reflect moments in a life path. What song I love today I may not love next week and have completely forgotten next year. Currently, the song that sticks in my head day and night is Float On by Modest Mouse.  Perhaps I'm becoming an optimist again.
    It's sweet and sultry. Mellow-dramatic tones lift from pure guitar rifts and somber vocals to mingle a dulcet song. The tone belies the seemingly positive lyrics. ...I can't tell you exactly why I love this song so, nor can I detail the musical mechanics active in the piece, I can only express my fondness for it. Shouldn't that be enough?
    I don't mind the music video for this song. Yet, images effect our perceptions, the meanings we apply.  I suggest listening to it sans the video first. I tried simply uploading an MP3 but blogger had complications.....

In the worlds of the immortal Garrison Keller, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch"

STUFF - get some

I got lots of requests to make a Help in Romance blog post due to my recent choice to alter my signiture to a heart sign in loo of any other type of mark. But I digress.

For fun I descided to track the Hul commericals that appear in three hours. it should be noted that my Hulu account signs in with my Gmail, by which I subscribe for video updates and is also linked to my Facebook and twitter pages. it should also be notable that in an attempt to earn a little extra money, I've enabled Adsense, a Google tracking program that records site information for targeting ads to visiters to my page as well as my google enabled accounts.

I arranged the ads, not by brand or type but by product type.

hygiene products                  --- 5 (men's hair)
drink ads (alcohol)               --- 2
Insta-food type products      --- 6
pharmaceuticals                   ---  1 (preg. test)
Car ads                               ---  4
bank/credit                          ---  3
Cellphone/portable device    ---  3
PSA/non-profit org.             ---  1
misc.                                    ---  4 (3 dating websites, 1 hulu promo)

So, despite my fear, these ads don't seem targeted specifically to me. However, I did recently have a relationship status change, which was noted on facebook and a blog entry I did not share. But I think these ads are more indicative of values -or perceived values- that are being advertised to. Image. My age/sex demagraphic is seemingly represented here (male, 18-30).
...or at least i'd like to say. Without any further study or deeper analyst, i can't really make any claims with certainty. At the very least, I'd need some sort of base line or larger sample size. I'd also like to compare video ads to the Facebook side-bar ads and establish a better method of identifying ad types.

... I had some more to say though it suddenly escapes me.

<3

P.S. I suspect this is a most uninteresting post for you readers á la frequent, I'll endeavor to make the next twice as entertaining.

CloverFace

There is a bunny rabbit that lives around the radio station that I work at.
He greets me at sunset and sees me off just before dawn.
He's round and plump but stayed safe from traffic this long.
I've named him Cloverface.

Life

Little is better then t enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate while watching the drifting snow settle.
It snowed this morning - is still snowing now.
When I awoke i could think in only bitter, groggy curses and oaths
After class i was handed a cup by a kindly older woman.
As i sat on the front bumper of my car I stole sips from the aromatic beaverage
and reflected on how some of the best wisdom is learned through experience.

thanks

untitled

http://fawstin.blogspot.com/2008/05/islam-vs-peace.html
this guy makes me very, very sad.
I'm too depressed to reply openly. But wished the world to know of these dark thoughts

Wednesday

I lie (or is it lay) awake
again. I work in the morning
five am. The serenity of night

News

I heard a news story today while on my shift at WOI. It involved a kidnapped girl 18 years ago who was discovered when her one of her abductors was found on Berkley campus "acting suspicious" Appearently, she'd been held captive since the age of 11 by a husband and wife.

For those who don't know, WOI is an affiliate station for Iowa Public Radio, a branch of National Public Radio, as you may have guessed. During my shift, we broad cast Morning Edition. They only gave 30 seconds to the story because it's highly personal and has little effect on people outside the region (southern California). Still, I was curious to know more about the circumstances of the case. Well, I did and I won't waste time re-reporting them here. Rather, I'll tell you, dear readers, about some curious anomolies that came up in my research.

First, A google search of "kidnapped 18 years" brought the top hit from ABC news online, here. A pretty standard article, right? Well, I kinda wanted to know more details about the arrest - ABC left me puzzled. I altered my search and found this, and this. If you don't want to read the articles, I'll do my best to summerize. Basicly, not much difference or added information between them. However, did notice that both ABC and FOX omitted the details of the kidnapper, Phillip Garrido's religiosity and seeming mental instability.

Clearly, I needed the original AP (Associated Press) article. Which was surprisingly hard to find. If you're interested it is here. For shits and giggles I looked at the story featured at Huffington Post online. Since I first looked, some, including the Huffington have updated their coverage of the whole incident.

I'm running short on time (I'm late for class) but what really interested me was the different treatment of this story by this news outlets. Notably, in Fox's repost of the story, a line questioning public security of parolees was added, "Garrido was on lifetime parole and his arrest raises questions about how closely parolees are monitored." and the New York Post went on to discuss other long-time kidnapping victims found years later. 


I'll return late with some more of my thoughts.
thanks for reading!