Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Grahhhhh

The wonderful essay I spent over three hours on last night turned out to be a practice type thing. As in, not graded. I wish someone had told me that.

Must. Kill. Self.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Surprise!

Today my AP English teacher decided to present my class with a little surprise: An essay on the Declaration of Independence. Specifically, an essay documenting the stylistic differences between an early draft and the final draft of the Declaration, explaining the probable reason for some of the changes, and accounting for their rhetorical effect. Oh joy.

Oh, and it's due tomorrow.

I find it difficult to express just how spiteful I am of this... wonderful... assignment. So I think I'll take time away from its composition in order to do just that, in poetic form.

I do so hate my English class
Indeed on my list it comes last
I will not write this in a box
I will not write this with a fox
I will not write this with a mouse
I will nto write this in a house
I will not write this here or there
I will not write this anywhere
I should not write this dumb essay
But alas I must to my dismay.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

I'm On a Boat

If you've already seen the Saturday Night Live from about 2 weeks ago, I apologize. If you have not, then this is a 3 minute short you must see.


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Back from Harvard

Well, from early Friday to late Monday I was away. (Yes, the blog can be set to auto-update.) Away debating at the Harvard Debate Tournament for high schoolers. It's quite the prestigious tournament - thousands of competitors from all over the nation come to compete for the top spot in their respective events. The ride there and back itself was quite fun - our forensics team has some interesting characters. And Cambridge and Boston are some pretty awesome cities to crawl around.

In my event, Student Congress, I did quite well - I made it to the final round, the top 24 out of 336 competitors. I'm quite pleased, really - I'm the first person in my school's history to make it that far in my event. Knowing you're good at something is quite a nice feeling, really.

I'm still readjusting to normal life. When you spend four days in the hectic, crazy, emotionally-charged, and often very witty atmosphere of forensics, slowing things down to the boring (and homework-filled) pace of life can be somewhat of a downer. Still, things are good. Things are good.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Samskeyti

Yet another Sigur Ros related installment... this time a song originally with no title other than "Untitled #3", from an album called ( ). Yes, two brackets. Later the band assigned the name "Samskeyti" to the track. It is a beautifully simple instrumental - this is a live recorded version for the BBC. I personally think you need to hear this song at least once in your life.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Sigur Ros - Ágætis byrjun

Currently one of my favorite songs, this beauty of a track comes from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros. The track is Ágætis byrjun, from the album, well, Ágætis byrjun. I suggest you listen in its entirety - this is a live version from a documentary the band made called Heima.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Wise Words

Today I thought I'd share a quote I read in the November 13th edition of The Economist...
The Israelis, for instance, could put an end to a hundred years of futile hostilities by buying somewhere for the Palestinians. If they clubbed together, they could get somewhere really nice—Florida, maybe. China could stop making aggressive gestures towards Taiwan and buy Malaysia instead. It’s already run by Chinese, so they’d hardly notice the difference. And Barack Obama, committed to uniting America, could defuse the nation’s culture wars by purchasing an alternative homeland for those of his countrymen who want more use of the death penalty, less gun control and no gay marriage. A slice of Saudia Arabia’s empty quarter would do nicely: there’s plenty of space and the new occupants would have lots in common with the locals.
The British are familiar with the notion that, if you’re bored at home, you grab somebody else’s country; but recent experience suggests that invading places can be expensive and troublesome, so a market solution seems a better way of dealing with national dissatisfaction.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Super Bowl Ads

Well, Super Bowl XLIII has come and gone. Congratulations to the victorious Pittsburgh Steelers, although I still hate you so.

Still, quite a few good ads to be seen on Super Bowl Sunday. Below are my topic 5:

5. Monster: Need a New Job?
4. Doritos: Power of the Crunch
3. Pepsi: Pepsuber (SNL Sketch)
2. Hulu: Alec Baldwin
1. Careerbuilder.com: Tips

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bloom: Taking iPhone Apps to the Next Level


Brian Eno, arguably the godfather of ambient music, has teamed up with a programmer by the name of Peter Chilvers to create one of the most intriguing apps out there for the iPhone that I have ever seen: Bloom.

Bloom is, in the words of its creators, "part instrument, part composition and part artwork." It's a music-creator... but it's different from the truckloads of synthesized keyboards and whatnot that can be found all over the app store. Bloom actually creates ambient music for your iPhone, it in itself essentially being an "instrument".

You're provided with a colorful background and a quiet background hum, and from there you yourself can create some really cool sounds just by tapping on the screen. The software is extremely intuitive - it's pretty much impossible not to understand. Just tap, and it does the rest - creating loops and constantly changing itself. It can also just create music itself.

Bloom is $3.99 on the App Store for iPod Touch or iPhone users, and in my opinion, it is well worth the price. I have yet to see another app that is as interesting, cool, or original as this. Check it.