Back to Mix Tapes

Gifting mix tapes has been a good music sharing idea.

Photo from stock.xchng

You pile a set of songs that testify your taste in music. You record it to a tape, a cassette tape that’s a rarity now, and give it away. This is a good way to know quality music beyond familiarity, and a way for your friend to know you more.

But like casette tapes, the activity of mix tape exchanges is extinct or nearly. Now, we just share a link from YouTube if we liked a song. There’s less interaction in discovering new songs since we just do it on our own. Many people like me will cruise through iTunes and rely on luck to track a new song I’ll add on favorites.

I’m also in the hunt of great stories. I’ve read and watched perks of being a wallflower – a wonderful work. It’s set in the 90’s and there’s a lot of mix tape handouts between the characters. They are friends because they like the same thing – good music!

Digital music is a hindrance to this comradely kind of music sharing. We just don’t share music anymore as much as in the 90s. It’s hard to go back in that era since this advancing technology is pushing us forward at a fast pace like everything in this generation.

I like music that my friends recommend me. Well not all of it, but if we clicked, there’s extra meaning to that song. The new MySpace has that initiative to incorporate music sharing in a social networking platform. Hell yes! They got that need and this may be a modern mix tape.

I listen to almost any music. The three exceptions are (a) the  unduly sad songs that make me run away as far as I could from the slightest sound of it, (b) certain heavy metal because meaningful lyric is huge for me and (c) songs that I don’t understand, like K-pop.

On my mix tape, many will be from 80s to 90s. Today, almost every songs are either cheesy or club-like that sounds alike. There’s only few contemporaneous songs that impresses me. I’ll have Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Nada Surf’s Always Love, and The Beatle’s Let It Be.

What songs will be in your mix tape?

Unfavorable Silence

Noise is more tolerable than complete silence.

Man of Noise. Photo from shakinglikeamountain.com

I can’t stand the complete silence. I feel like my head is about to pop. Every second more of silence will add up to the chances of me being mad. I’ll do all things, even writing, with music if the surrounding is mute. The sound of fan would do, or the wind brushing the trees outside, but not the silence.

Do you know that silence kills? Of course you don’t, because I made that up. But it will kill me if you locked me into a room of blankness, nothing that could make any sound at all. That is a terrible nightmare I just imagine myself of being into, and see, this is what silence do – creeps you out!

Silence causes trauma to the brain. The temporal lobe is constantly expecting waves from the acoustic nerve. If there’s silence, there’s no message to deliver to the brain. So it makes you uncomfortable because there’s an anomaly. From ears to your brain and everything in between is not functioning the natural way. This is my reasoning why I hated silence, and I’m impressed at how this paragraph looked so academic as I made this up as well.

We reason in accordance to what we believe, and we accept that reason because it supports us. I just feel nothingness in silence, like I’m not moving forward, stagnant like the dead. Silence is really unfavorable.

Which would you prefer, silence or noise?

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The Art For You

There is at least one form of art you don’t like, yeah? And you have your favorites.

21st Century Art Appreciation. Photo from artsbeatla.com

I opt for the art of writing, especially writing for a blog. It is because there’s freedom to write all that sprouts out of my moody mind. At times, my posts will have less than a hundred words while you can find articles that have more than a thousand words. As long as I don’t force it, I don’t care. Writing all of it is fun, and reading all about my interests is fun as well.

I have different masks for the art of literature. I fancy short story and novel; however, I don’t dig poetry, especially the one’s you just knit your brows and say “is this about something or just a jumble of vocabulary words?” The artsy and literary ones are repelling for me – those that only the author and a few nutty writers could understand. I mean, it defeats the purpose of writing when majority of the readers couldn’t grasp the message of the text.

PhotoLedger is a category I put up in this blog to give appreciation for the photos that stood out in the windows of my eyes. I’m a photography aspirant myself, and I believe that the most creative captures I got are out of my crazy probing. However, I’m not sure if photography can be in the shelf of art because it’s damn easy. Any person with a camera could call themselves a photographer, which is everybody.

Leonid Afremov’s Painting

Paintings are the least I appreciate. Yeah, I see the beauty in it. I stood witness of the artist’s passion in his or her masterpiece, and it’s a noble profession since most artists’ greatness will only be recognized as time elapses; sometimes they have already passed away. But in an exhibit, I will only look at a painting for a second (literally, I timed it) and move on to the next. There’s no need for me to come back, take a closer look or a longer time. But then, you’ll see my house with paintings because it’s more valuable than just a typical photograph.

I must say I have a young infatuation with Abstract paintings. Probably because it manifests the irrefutable complexity of life, but mainly because it gave my doodles a hope to be called art. At some point I though I was good at drawing, then I showed it other people and then they didn’t say anything (maybe my art takes longer time to be appreciated!). Animated movies and video games, which are still series of drawings, are plain fascination. I see the effort to take something from reality and present it imaginatively.

I sing and dance, but I don’t show it. I act everyday, in front of people and in front of mirror. Performing arts are the best, if you ask my preference. I love film and theater, and it will be moments of ecstasy for me when compelling storylines and true music are rooted in it. I say true music because the prevailing music of today was fake in a sense that it only resonate each other – the music’s industry is for the money, not for the art.

From sculpting to crafting and designing, what form of art do you mostly appreciate?

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What If.. 80’s Prevail

What if we’re still living the decade of 80’s..

Photo from eatliver.com

Now that’s fashionable. Great style, groovy artists, era of true icons, classic films and TV, and chilling activities. Plus, people are not yet slaves of technology.

In 80’s people see the best of the Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and GI Joe (and Hello Kitty, whatever); heard the best of Madonna and Michael Jackson; and tasted the best of bubblegum flavors. How can we forget the roller skating fad and multi-colored slouch socks (like, really 80’s??). Those are good times.

What do you miss most about 80’s?

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Life’s Best: Music

Any boring task music accompanies becomes exciting. 

Photo from stock.xchng

I travel in a bus with plugs on my ear. I study with lulling music at the locale. I only do chores while with music’s groove. I even take a shower with Calvin Harris‘ beat playing on. It makes me endure all those times that I feel not doing at all.

Music is endless. There is so much you can do with it. Anybody can create, and anybody can relate. It captures all emotions; and there will always be that song that suites my mood or elicits the mood I hope of having.

Music is color. It’s one thing every person can easily pick up, create wonders, and express feelings.

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