Let's pretend that you're not reading this post. (Keep reading though. Just pretend.) Pretend that no one is reading this post, that no one will ever read this post or any post I ever write here. What happens if no one reads my blog? This is question I posed to myself one night. It's interesting, because this essentially functions as a diary, which I have no intentions of keeping. I have my ways of keeping track of events in my life, and besides, I've always been interested more in what the implications of events are instead of remembering what actually happened. Because if you can understand the effect, you will remember the cause.
It's actually not outlandish to say that no one reads my blog. Since I deleted Facebook, I have had four blog posts with a total of 26 page views. My penultimate post in 2014 has 36 page views, as a comparison. Maybe it was a mistake by my marketing team to delete Facebook, but I fully support their decision (as I am the marketing team). So what if I don't have as many Twitter followers as I had Facebook friends? So what if I can't figure out how to post links on Instagram?
I am fully aware that I have an entire blog post dedicated to you, the reader. I did leave a disclaimer at the end that there are a few other reasons why I blog beyond the fact that you are reading. You'll see one of those reasons at the top of this post.
Go ahead, stop reading. See if that stops me from writing.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
No one cares about the man in the box
People will do remarkable things for fame. A statement which holds true if you hold in it either a positive or negative regard. This is a relatively unprompted post, but touches on a belief I have had for a while. There is a lot of evil in this world, and often when you hear of an act of terror falling upon people who lose their lives, the originator of the terror takes their own life. I do not know why these people do what they do, although it has always and will always fascinate me. As much notoriety as they may receive, as many news stories break of their actions, those who take their own life do not remain to see the consequences of their actions. It reminds me of a concept explored in The Prestige, a concept you can read briefly at the top of this post. I'll leave you to connect the dots - I just wanted to share this with anyone who may come across it.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Question master
I had been perusing the Internet to find a batch of questions to think about and answer (something I've done before here), but decided to turn the tables and pose questions of my own, devoid of answers. These are questions I try to frequently ask myself, and may be worth asking of yourself to gain insight into the inner workings of your mind. I said over three years ago that interactions with people are the driving force behind the revealing of our true character, and I believe that holds just as true through interactions with ourselves.
Think about a goal you have. Going to the gym every day this week. Getting a full eight hours of sleep. Spending ten minutes on the phone with someone you haven't spoken to in a while. As important as it is to have goals, it is equally important to ask ourselves how bad we want it. What are you willing to sacrifice to improve yourself? Are you willing to turn down another 45 minutes on Netflix in favor of a full night's sleep? Is going out with your friends worth skipping leg day? How bad do you want it?
When I'm playing with statistics and data, a large chunk of brain power is devoted to understanding the concept of what I am trying to analyze. What statistics I need, where I'm going to get them from, how to make them look neat and pretty...when we communicate with others across whatever medium suits us, what are the implications of what we speak about? It's not enough to ask if you should bunt with a runner on first and none out...if in fact you should, what does that mean for the game of baseball? (Editor's Note: You shouldn't bunt. Ever.) What are the implications of your work?
There are people out there who take this approach to the extreme, and are constantly asking themselves this one question. How is this important to my life? For those who search for life's meaning or purpose, who might never receive a conclusion, the canonical advice is to turn the question into something more achievable. Do you really want to be sitting around all day Saturday, slothing your life away? The more insight we have into our own lives, and the more foresight we have in whether or not something will be a crucial part of our life, the more in tune we will be with ourselves. Gauging importance of anything and everything you do is an excellent way to accomplish that.
So there you have it. Three questions. Nothing too spectacular, if nothing but a conversation starter with yourself. How bad do you want it? What does it mean? How important will this be? Ask yourself those questions, and come up with your own answers.
Think about a goal you have. Going to the gym every day this week. Getting a full eight hours of sleep. Spending ten minutes on the phone with someone you haven't spoken to in a while. As important as it is to have goals, it is equally important to ask ourselves how bad we want it. What are you willing to sacrifice to improve yourself? Are you willing to turn down another 45 minutes on Netflix in favor of a full night's sleep? Is going out with your friends worth skipping leg day? How bad do you want it?
When I'm playing with statistics and data, a large chunk of brain power is devoted to understanding the concept of what I am trying to analyze. What statistics I need, where I'm going to get them from, how to make them look neat and pretty...when we communicate with others across whatever medium suits us, what are the implications of what we speak about? It's not enough to ask if you should bunt with a runner on first and none out...if in fact you should, what does that mean for the game of baseball? (Editor's Note: You shouldn't bunt. Ever.) What are the implications of your work?
There are people out there who take this approach to the extreme, and are constantly asking themselves this one question. How is this important to my life? For those who search for life's meaning or purpose, who might never receive a conclusion, the canonical advice is to turn the question into something more achievable. Do you really want to be sitting around all day Saturday, slothing your life away? The more insight we have into our own lives, and the more foresight we have in whether or not something will be a crucial part of our life, the more in tune we will be with ourselves. Gauging importance of anything and everything you do is an excellent way to accomplish that.
So there you have it. Three questions. Nothing too spectacular, if nothing but a conversation starter with yourself. How bad do you want it? What does it mean? How important will this be? Ask yourself those questions, and come up with your own answers.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Full-body scan
Lay down. Put your hands at your sides, and curl up underneath your covers if you want. Your choice. No lights, though. Put some instrumental music on. I have a suggestion, but you probably saw that coming. Listen to what you want, so long as it will distract the outside world from you, but will not distract you from your inner thoughts. Be passive towards your inner thoughts. Let them arise. Acknowledge them. Let them pass on.
Concentrate at the very top of your head. The North Pole of You. Imagine a singular point that slowly descends down and around your skull, reaching the ends of your hair. Feel a swirling energy that circles your head until it starts to fill your neck, coming from the top down. Let it expand over your shoulders, around to your back, and down your arms. Feel it reach the tips of your fingers. Feel it running down your chest, your midsection, your hips.
Stay focused on that energy. Follow it down your legs, continuing to fill you from the top down. Feel it on the bones of your shin, on your calves, as it reaches your ankles. Let it wrap around your heel, underneath your foot. Feel the energy come to a point at the ends of your toes. Feel the energy, still and total. Feel the heaviness of being still and total, and the lightness of being still and total.
Breathe in. Lift up a finger, a hand. Breathe out. Turn your head to one side, lift up another hand. Place it on your waist. Breathe in, breathe out. Move your legs, releasing the energy. Return to life as you knew it nine minutes ago.
Concentrate at the very top of your head. The North Pole of You. Imagine a singular point that slowly descends down and around your skull, reaching the ends of your hair. Feel a swirling energy that circles your head until it starts to fill your neck, coming from the top down. Let it expand over your shoulders, around to your back, and down your arms. Feel it reach the tips of your fingers. Feel it running down your chest, your midsection, your hips.
Stay focused on that energy. Follow it down your legs, continuing to fill you from the top down. Feel it on the bones of your shin, on your calves, as it reaches your ankles. Let it wrap around your heel, underneath your foot. Feel the energy come to a point at the ends of your toes. Feel the energy, still and total. Feel the heaviness of being still and total, and the lightness of being still and total.
Breathe in. Lift up a finger, a hand. Breathe out. Turn your head to one side, lift up another hand. Place it on your waist. Breathe in, breathe out. Move your legs, releasing the energy. Return to life as you knew it nine minutes ago.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Ghost Stories: Coldplay's sixth album
Coldplay's sixth album, Ghost Stories, is awesome. Here's why.
1. Always In My Head. The general mood of this album seems to fit with the cover art, a deep blue with a sense of being full. At least, that's what I take from it. The first song you hear perfectly represents that feeling, some sort of gliding along. This entire album is perfect for driving home from somewhere at night, and with this song in particular, there isn't that loud climax typically associated with Coldplay songs. It is a steady pulse of soundscapes and guitar riffs, meshed wonderfully with Chris Martin's fantastic voice.
2. Magic. This was the first song I had heard off the album, and when it came on the radio I figured it to be one of another of Coldplay's pop-sounding sounds. It was a nice surprise to be wrong on this one, because again, there's no breakout climax. The more I hear this song, the more it sounds like it belongs on X&Y, which is notably another dark-blue cover.
3. Ink. I haven't looked up the lyrics to many of these songs, but the first time I heard this one, I figured the song title was something like "So Much That It Hurts." Maybe there's a metaphor I'm not seeing yet with tattoos and ink, but this is a nice little song thrown into the album. Not a huge fan of it, but not a song that I'll skip because of it.
4. True Love. This song has an AWESOME chord progression, and spectacular harmonies with the vocals. A-plus composition on this one. This is another great example of how this song sounds like some of Coldplay's older stuff (more on this in a few songs). If Parachutes and X&Y had a musical child, I'm pretty sure it would be this album. Which is fine by me.
5. Midnight. By far my favorite song on the album. The opening pulse is terrific, the vocal effects are incredible, and the song does an absolutely perfect job of tying together the lyrics and tone of the music. In the darkness, before the dawn...leave a light, a light on. Very silver-lining-esque. And the music video taking place in the forest also makes complete sense with how soundscape-y the pulse is. Just a fantastic song.
6. Another's Arms. I haven't listened to this one as much, but I do greatly enjoy the verses. Seems like a cool song to take a video of the city lights as you drive down a main street or something. Either that or maybe this would go well on The Weather Channel while they're showing the weekend forecast. I'll leave it up to you.
7. Oceans. See - child of Parachutes and X&Y. This is one of the most peaceful songs I've ever heard. Totally love the drum pad sounding like drops of water into the ocean, totally love Chris Martin's voice trailing lightly along, and the small differences in chords are incredible. Sounds like a melancholy-but-in-the-reminiscent-and-happy way to remember someone you lost. Beautiful song.
8. A Sky Full of Stars. Alright, so there is one song on the album that is upbeat, pop-sounding, and has a climax. It's this one. It's totally cool though because Coldplay has a lot of fun with it, and I can only image the dance parties that go on at live shows. The music video is also so Coldplay, it hurts. Enjoy.
9. O. Not really sure what to make of this song, because it's another that I haven't listened a ton to. It's a sweet and smooth ending to an incredible album, and I think that the video below is a great representation of the kind of ending it has to the album. I believe this song is also referred to as "Fly On," or perhaps "O (Fly On)," which makes sense. In any event, another good song.
And that's Ghost Stories. It might be the best album of the six that Coldplay has put out thus far, which is a bold claim for a band of such high acclaim. But one of the six albums has to be the best, so why not this one? What do you think?
1. Always In My Head. The general mood of this album seems to fit with the cover art, a deep blue with a sense of being full. At least, that's what I take from it. The first song you hear perfectly represents that feeling, some sort of gliding along. This entire album is perfect for driving home from somewhere at night, and with this song in particular, there isn't that loud climax typically associated with Coldplay songs. It is a steady pulse of soundscapes and guitar riffs, meshed wonderfully with Chris Martin's fantastic voice.
2. Magic. This was the first song I had heard off the album, and when it came on the radio I figured it to be one of another of Coldplay's pop-sounding sounds. It was a nice surprise to be wrong on this one, because again, there's no breakout climax. The more I hear this song, the more it sounds like it belongs on X&Y, which is notably another dark-blue cover.
3. Ink. I haven't looked up the lyrics to many of these songs, but the first time I heard this one, I figured the song title was something like "So Much That It Hurts." Maybe there's a metaphor I'm not seeing yet with tattoos and ink, but this is a nice little song thrown into the album. Not a huge fan of it, but not a song that I'll skip because of it.
4. True Love. This song has an AWESOME chord progression, and spectacular harmonies with the vocals. A-plus composition on this one. This is another great example of how this song sounds like some of Coldplay's older stuff (more on this in a few songs). If Parachutes and X&Y had a musical child, I'm pretty sure it would be this album. Which is fine by me.
5. Midnight. By far my favorite song on the album. The opening pulse is terrific, the vocal effects are incredible, and the song does an absolutely perfect job of tying together the lyrics and tone of the music. In the darkness, before the dawn...leave a light, a light on. Very silver-lining-esque. And the music video taking place in the forest also makes complete sense with how soundscape-y the pulse is. Just a fantastic song.
6. Another's Arms. I haven't listened to this one as much, but I do greatly enjoy the verses. Seems like a cool song to take a video of the city lights as you drive down a main street or something. Either that or maybe this would go well on The Weather Channel while they're showing the weekend forecast. I'll leave it up to you.
7. Oceans. See - child of Parachutes and X&Y. This is one of the most peaceful songs I've ever heard. Totally love the drum pad sounding like drops of water into the ocean, totally love Chris Martin's voice trailing lightly along, and the small differences in chords are incredible. Sounds like a melancholy-but-in-the-reminiscent-and-happy way to remember someone you lost. Beautiful song.
8. A Sky Full of Stars. Alright, so there is one song on the album that is upbeat, pop-sounding, and has a climax. It's this one. It's totally cool though because Coldplay has a lot of fun with it, and I can only image the dance parties that go on at live shows. The music video is also so Coldplay, it hurts. Enjoy.
9. O. Not really sure what to make of this song, because it's another that I haven't listened a ton to. It's a sweet and smooth ending to an incredible album, and I think that the video below is a great representation of the kind of ending it has to the album. I believe this song is also referred to as "Fly On," or perhaps "O (Fly On)," which makes sense. In any event, another good song.
And that's Ghost Stories. It might be the best album of the six that Coldplay has put out thus far, which is a bold claim for a band of such high acclaim. But one of the six albums has to be the best, so why not this one? What do you think?
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