Weekly English Post #3 - Rant Style

I have yet to rant in my blog. I am a very good ranter. I rant about various subjects in my life, I tend to do them online but the blog seems like a nice place to start one. Urban Dictionary sums up the word rant pretty nicely, "When someone is pissed about something and they ramble on about it." I am pissed off at the moment, and I am going to take all my anger out on Toni Morrison. First off, let's get this straight, this is NOT a personal attack. I have a legitimate argument in this rant. I am over 100 pages into The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison and I have to say this so called "classic" novel is absolutely dreadful! Yes, I said it, dreadful. My blog "voice" will be heard in this post.

Before the real downpour comes out I must go over a couple things. I am not a racist. I am not a bigot. I am apathetic. I don't like to read, and I don't appreciate books. With all that said, I will begin. Lets start with the title, The Bluest Eyes describes Pecola Breedlove's wish to have blue eyes so she can be considered beautiful. I'll admit that I am a fan of blue eyes, but I know plenty of beautiful women that don't have blue eyes. Also, I don't think any African Americans have blue eyes and if they do it is colored contacts and probably look very strange. Black and blue clash anyway. Pecola suffers from low self esteem and in my opinion is quite dumb. Eye color does not make a person, it's whats inside that counts! She looks at the wealthy, white, popular children and sees they have blue eyes so she wants them too and thinks the same results will occur. I'm pretty sure Pecola, because they are white make them wealthy and popular. You're growing up right after the Great Depression in an America that still does not treat you as equals the fact that you are ugly might not be the reason that you are constantly left out. Now I know that was harsh, but the truth sometimes hurts.

While we are talking about Pecola, she has very little companionship other than the three ladies of the night (prostitutes) that live upstairs. They just run their mouths about the good old days when they were in love. It's funny they ran away from their "lovers" and instead of settling for another decent man they settle for several a night...while being paid. Pecola also confides in Claudia and Frieda MacTeer, two other African Americans from up the road. All three get into crazy adventures including getting their periods! Yes, not one but two characters begin menstruating! It's not just touched upon either; there are plenty of pages to account for their transformation into womanhood. Frieda and Claudia don't know of Pecola's loneliness and dream, but ironically Claudia destroys all dolls she can get her hands on. She rips them up because she is against the black communities idealization of white beauty standards. Funny how her and Pecola parallel each other, yet she doesn't help Pecola realize this. Shame on you Claudia!

My next problem and possibly biggest overall is the fact that these characters don't "suffer." Now I know you're thinking, "OH GOD DARREN YOU ARE TERRIBLE!" I don't mean it like that, but all three main characters live quite comfortably. None are living in poverty. They have enough money for food and clothes. In most cases their parents love them even if they don't show them all the affection they deserve, and lastly they are all educated and in school. Maybe its the big sticker on the book that says "Nobel Prize Winner in Literature," that made me think that the book was filled with the African American's struggle in a time of diversity, but I'm instead graced with a girl thinks she's ugly. Plenty of people are ugly/consider themselves ugly. It's very common, we all wish to be someone else at some point. That plot has been done to death, what makes this story any different? Let's see...hm... it's won a Nobel Prize i guess. Regardless it doesn't make it any better.

We're coming to the end of the rant. Let's finish strong! The fact that the narrator changes between young Claudia, old Claudia, and some crazy third person omniscient every other page is very annoying and awkward. Some paragraphs need to be read more than once to distinguish whose speaking. I am not a fan of that all. I don't like being disturbed while reading. Going back and reading again = disturbance. All I have taken from my reading experience is the books comparison "between a black person and a n***er." I still have about a hundred pages left, lets hope the book picks up and shows why it deserved a Nobel Prize. I don't usually agree with critics on CDs and movies and now we can ask books to that list.

The Ravenblog (Caw Caw)

ATTENTION! The Ravenblog (Caw Caw), a witty blog penned by wordsmith Kovner, is teaming up with Bad Grammer Good Blog! Our blog duo will take over the blog world with post after post of greatness!

Foo Fighters Rock the Garden

When I walked in to the worlds most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, promptly on time for the Foo Fighters’ big show I was surprised to see how empty the place was for the two supporting acts. I know concertgoers paid good money to see Dave Grohl and all his godliness, but the ticket also includes the lesser-known acts. Against Me!, a punk quartet from Florida, played a energetic half hour set consisting mostly of songs from their 2007 release New Wave. The foursome got the few hundred people present ready for what would be a great night of music. Next was leader singer of System of a Down, Serj Tankian. His solo album Elect the Dead was released last year and he stayed with the same formula that made System famous, heavy guitar and bass riffs mixed with his unique vocal style and ranting. He played an interesting 45-minute set sharing his views on politics and the state of America in between each song. After a quick set change, Madison Square Garden was ready to be rocked by the main act.

The opening notes to “Let It Die” rang out as Dave Grohl walked on stage with his light blue electric guitar. He surveyed the sold out crowd of 20,000 and smiled, knowing even after all the fame, success, and Grammys, he and his band were finally playing Madison Square Garden. The Foo Fighters opened their two hour set strong, including hit songs from all five studio albums. “The Pretender,” their Grammy winning song was played second with Grohl’s all too familiar screams in between each verse. The Foo Fighters went right into “Times Like These,” “Breakout,” and “Stacked Actors” bridging each song with guitar and drum solos and minimal talking. There was a runway going straight out that separated the people on the floor, Dave made great use of it, hovering over the thousands on the floor while the cameras flashed from all around.

After the initial burst of songs, The Foos decided to slow it down a bit walking to the runway to the other side of the arena where a small circular stage was set up. They played a stripped down acoustic version of some of their biggest hits including “My Hero,” “Everlong,” “Skin and Bones,” and “Marigold.” While hearing the songs with piano, organs, chimes, and violin were beautiful and in a way epic, I thought it went on a little long. Dave did a lot of talking about how he and his band were finally at the Garden and did time consuming introductions for each member onstage. Finally, they all ran the runway back to the main stage, and finished the night strongly. “Monkey Wrench” and the amazing “All My Life” sent the crowd into a frenzy leaving the crowd wanting more The Foo Fighters came back on to perform “Big Me” and “Long Road to Ruin,” before ending with the show stopping “Best of Me.”

The Foo Fighters are the biggest rock band in the world right now and they put on a hell of a show if you haven’t seen them before. If you have though, you’re not really in for a treat. The set list they played was almost identical to that which I saw two years ago with the exception of songs off of Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace. Also, from our seats, the sound drifted in and out and at times it was hard to hear both the vocals and music. The Foo Fighters have had an amazing career so far, I’m sure this won’t be their last time playing the Garden.

Grade: B+

Against Me! Setlist:
White People For Peace
New Wave
Don't Lose Touch
Stop
From Her Lips to God's Ears
Americans Abroad
Thrash Unreal
Ocean

Foo Fighters Setlist:
Let It Die
The Pretender
Times Like These
Breakout
Learn To Fly
Cheer Up Boys (Your Makeup is Running)
This is a Call
Stacked Actors
(moved to acoustic stage at center of floor)
Skin and Bones
Marigold
My Hero
Cold Day In The Sun
But, Honestly
Everlong
(back to main stage)
Monkey Wrench
All My Life

Encore:
Big Me
Long Road to Ruin
Best of Me

8. Muse - Origin of Symmetry

Muse? Whose Muse? While British rock band are big in the UK, the US is only just starting to get acquainted, through Guitar Hero, with these original, entrancing, space obsessed musicians. On Their second album, "Origin of Symmetry," they accomplish the almost impossible -- every song is epic and thrilling.

Muse is definitely a band for Radiohead fans -- it has the same rich spaciness and art-rock quality, but it's more grounded and gritty. I do enjoy Radiohead and it's very clear Thom Yorke is one of Muse's main influences. The most entrancing instrumentation is done on piano -- it can be delicate, dark, fuzzy, or outright epic. The piano is accompanied by smashing percussion, complex riffs and basslines, and Matt Bellemy's wide vocal range.

The ongoing theme throughout this record is dealing with being both noticed and ignored, being adored and insignificant and most importantly being true to yourself. True to yourself whether you’re broken hearted, antisocial, dysfunctional, anarchic, or conforming. There is also a little bit of a Bohemian theme going on as well, but the result is, dare I say, mind blowing. The songs are epic clocking in around five to seven minutes, each song with multiple parts and different time signatures.

Almost everything on 'Origin Of Symmetry' is overstated and over dramatic, with the operatic stuff channeled beautifully. "Bliss" is all carnage riffs and a pleasingly corrupt lyric about innocence and envy. "Space Dementia" sets Bellamy's grand piano mastery up against vaulting rock. "Hyper Music" plays like a Tom Morello outtake.

Over the summer, I saw Muse play a sold out show at Madison Square Garden and it put every other band to shame. These three are the most talented musicians I've seen grace the stage in a long time. The over the top riffs and vocals mixed with a dazzling light and laser show, it was something to be seen. While Muse has put out two other albums after Origin that have been great as well, this rock opera will forever stand the test of time.

New Born Off Origin Of Symmetry

Weekly English Post #2

I'll interrupt my countdown to slip in the weekly English post needed. I have completed Herland and I have to say it just slowly went downhill. I'll explain that later, but I have started the project for it and I've decided to do the lesson plan. I saw Kim's take on the lesson plan and it was very well done, but I thought about it and knew I needed to do it a little differently. I am writing day by day lesson plans as if I'm the teacher. I am explaining why I put each item and also writing as if I have just one period a day to teach. I provide homework to the students and just put my own spin of humor on the teaching plans. Hopefully I score some points for originality.

On to the conclusion of Herland, or lack thereof. Chapters 7-12 were for lack of a better word boring. They provided only philosophical insight into the nation of Herland. The last six chapters could have been summed up in a couple pages and I'll do my best to sum it up in the voice of Gilman...(clears throat)

"Wow Terry, these women are incredible, I love them! Their nation is so much better and more advanced and ours," said Jeff.
"These women are terrible, they are not women at all. They are sexless creatures! I want out of here."
"I must admit Jeff, that what they have accomplished is tremendous. Herland is a utopia. It's perfect. It makes me doubt my masculinity and my faith in men all around," Van stated.
"I can't believe you guys!" Jeff explained. "We need to go home! I need to touch and talk to a real woman! I need love! They don't know what love is and never will."
"Hello," Ellador said while walking over, "I want to go back to America with you guys and report for Herland all the tragedies that come with a male society. We, as a society, have learned from you three that a male run society is destructive. That it can never be at peace. I want to go back and report why. I think its because men are chauvinistic pigs who fight about everything and argue and want to kill each other over stupid things. It could also be because you guys don't treasure and value life and health, you value cars and money and women, but that's just my take on it. I can't wait to see how a society of different sexes really is."
The End

Now that should have shown us a little something about the book. Gilman, a feminist fighter in the early 1900's, had a bone to pick with men and let loose in Herland. She believed men and women should have equal responsibility in society. She thought women could do just as good a job as men. Now I believe in women's right and freedom of choice and I think that women were not given an equal shake until about 100 years ago, but reading these outdated books just make me mad. Time have changed its not as bad today as it was back then. Women have their rights even though they still fight for things like equal pay and other things. I'm not a sexist, I think Hilary can be a good president, I just don't think the rest of the US thinks the same thing.

Gilman was fighting the good fight 100 years ago with her words. She caught the eye of famous feminists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Ironically, women were able to vote in New Jersey in 1790 due to a loophole, until male congress decided to cover up that loop hole in 1807. Women were not able to vote again until the amendment was passed in 1919. All this being said... I don't know how the world would be if women and blacks and other nationalities/races were given a fair chance. The world might be a better place with everyone acting as one instead of having prejudices, but we'll never know. We can only hope as we progress as a nation and as people, we are able to come together and unity can be achieved.

9. Say Anything - ... Is A Real Boy/...Was a Real Boy

"And the record begins with a song of rebellion," Max Bemis says before the duel guitars go into the heavy rock riff of "Belt." Max Bemis is the mastermind behind Say Anything, a prodigy; he single handedly put out an online CD playing every instrument at the age of 17. A couple years later he was signed to a record deal and gives birth to …Is A Real Boy, once again playing all the instruments. On top of his clear talent musically the lyrics on this disc are brilliant. What possibly makes all this most impressive is Max Bemis is bipolar.

The mainstream label debut of Say Anything is, in most respects, a real gem of deliciously sinful postmodern originality. This band not known to most people is suburban to the very core, almost comparable to the best qualities of The Bloodhound Gang with just a tinge of the self-honesty of Bright Eyes. A merging of those two bands would likely yield offspring comparable to ...Is a Real Boy (and it's sister disc, the incredibly dark ...Was a Real Boy). Musically speaking the disc reflects painstakingly crafted pop production with scintillating rhythms and hooks that are accentuated to the point of dark irony by front man Max Bemis's devilishly engaging lyrical fits. Say Anything isn’t your run of the mill Hollister Era punk-pop outfit; they go much deeper than that. Bemis pens tales about the new ways to find sexual experiences online in “Wow I Can Get Sexual Too,” he tells about how his grandparents felt during the holocaust in “Alive With the Glory of Love,” and even speaks about the procrastination that comes around due to drug use and TV in "Red Cat/Yellow Cat". Bemis is a very eccentric front man not only singing but also going on tangents, ranting his way through songs using his wide array of vocab. In “Admit It,” he attacks the “emo” kids for their elitist stance, hurling insults like “Proto-typical non-conformist. You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo. You adhere to a set of standards and tastes that appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges, giving your thumbs up and thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art.” Say Anything’s double disc is an experience. It’s the look at the world through the mind of an angry bipolar genius, the results are 20 timeless songs whose message will be just as pertinent today as they will be in 20 years.

10. Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape

At its release in 1997 Dave Grohl was best known for his drumming as part of the trio that made up influential rock band Nirvana. Today a lot of young rock fan have no idea that Dave Grohl was even in Nirvana, Grohl was able to finally distance himself from Kurt Cobain's shadow with a sophomore album that introduced the Foo Fighters to the mainstream. With its infectious mix of hard rock, punk, and grunge The Colour and the Shape instantly meshed well with all fans of rock. It didn't hurt that the CD gave birth to singles such as "My Hero," "Monkey Wrench," and "Everlong" Since this albums release the Foo Fighters have gone on to become a household name, producing single after single, selling out arenas, and winning Grammys, but their ride to become one of the biggest bands in the world started with this Gil Norton (The Pixies) produced record. I have seen the Foo Fighters in concert before and I get to see them again next week and I can see its a treat to watch Dave Grohl in action. He has become a rock god.

Coming Soon....

Starting next week I will slowly unveil my top ten CDs of all time. I have thought long and hard about the ten masterpieces that will be able to appear and I hope that you enjoy reading about them. Feel free to comment on the posts and state your opinion, its always welcome.

Ecstatic

Halfway Through Herland

Fresh off an amazing weekend that featured the Mets signing Johan Santana, the Giants winning the Super Bowl, and a Lupe Fiasco concert it was finally time to sit down and do some reading. Herland is a very interesting book, and caught me quite off guard. I was told it was a feminist novel, which it is, but it kind of reads like an Indiana Jones movie in my opinion. Three men, Terry, Vandyck, and Jeff, stumble across a remote island inhabited by only women and decide to do some exploring. They fall captive to the women and both the males and females begin to learn from one another. This is where the Indiana Jones portion of the novel ends and the central themes begin to come out.
Herland is clearly a Utopian society. A Utopian society is one that is ideal and perfect. The women have created a society in which all the women are strong, fast, and climb well. They have adapted to their surroundings. They survive on greens and things grown from the trees that line the island. The women are highly educated, they have created their own language as well as record books for the past. The thing the stuns the three men the most is that these women with no help from the outside world were able to come together, put their differences aside and unify to create this perfection. I am not familiar with a lot of novels or stories that deal with Utopias but The Giver by Lois Lowry is the first novel that comes to mind. The society in The Giver is controlled. There is only sameness, no war, no pain, no emotional depth to characters. The women of Herland only differ looks wise through mutations over their 2,000 years without men. How they reproduce is coming up in the next paragraph. The women emotionally are all the same. They all have short blond hair, wear similar clothes, never get mad or angry, are extremely reasonable, all have a thirst for knowledge. They do not break from their traditions set before them.
The biggest of these traditions is the birth of children due to parthenogenesis, which is asexual reproduction. Childbearing is the greatest honor of the women’s lives, as well as their highest duty. The novel it self so far has been an interesting read, are women, or any one capable of maintaining a society like this one? It hasn't been done yet, but that is not to say in the future any Utopian society is not possible.
My only problem with the novel so far and what I have read is Perkins depiction of the women as Aryans. She uses the novel as vehicle for her unconventional views about men and women and depicts the Utopia through Aryan separatism (Conner). As the novel progress I know I will begin finding her portrayal as the male characters as a problem as well. She has set the males up to try to destroy the perfection due to jealousy. I can see it happening. Terry, who is unhappy in Herland, is going to rebel and be squashed. Perkins will write about how males are always the ones that can't live in peace and are always unhappy. If that is indeed what happens next weeks entry will be entertaining.

Lupe Fiasco Review

When Lupe Fiasco first hit the scene with the critically acclaimed Food and Liquor, he was dubbed the savior of hip hop. A couple years later he drops The Cool, which I believed was the best album of the year, and thankfully there was no sophomore slump. Lupe Fiasco, in my opinion, has saved hip hop. 2007 saw songs like Crank That and Party Like A Rock Star become hits, songs with terrible lyrics about absolutely nothing, while CD's like Pharoahe Monch's Desire goes unnoticed. At least people had the decency to acknowledge The Cool, a semi-concept album that plays out more like a movie.

On to the actual show, I've never been to a rap concert before and I was quite excited to see how it would be. First off, I have to say the Nokia Theatre is very nice. Everything is high tech and the design is simple yet works well and the bathrooms are very nice and spacious, but on to the show. Lupe comes out with a full band as well as two backup singers and a backup rapper guy. The crowd was so diverse, blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, skateboarders, thugs, it was a nice mix of everybody. The set list is as follows....

Real
Touch The Sky
Feel Good Inc Flow
The Instrumental
I Gotcha
Sunshine
He Say She Say
Pressure (No Jay-Z unfortunately)
Kick Push
American Terrorist (Ft. Matthew Santos)
Shadows in a Shoebox (Santos solo with acoustic guitar)
Daydream
Interlude (Bishop G and Gemstones only)
Coolest (accapella)
Hi-Definition
Hip Hop Saved My Life
The Street Are On Fire
Rims and Tims (prelude to Dumb it Down, Lupe said a record executive wanted him using two words that rhyme and making a songs out of it)
Dumb It Down
Gold Watch
Paris/Tokyo
Superstar
Kick Push (reprise)
Jam Session

As you can tell we did not get cheated. Lupe put on a hell of a show. He played for about 2 hours and 10 minutes playing almost all of Food and Liquor as well as most of The Cool. Lupe had high energy the entire time telling little stories as introductions for each song. His backing band was great, seeing them play live with Lupe rapping over it gave a whole new prospective of what live rap music can actually be. Gemstones and Bishop G's interlude was awesome, they are both rappers on Lupe's label and they rocked the crowd with freestyles and some of their songs that will be on a CD coming out shortly.

The two most memorable songs of the night were Daydream and The Coolest. Daydream had so much energy, the crowd and all the performers onstage were jumping up and down it was something special. The Coolest was a different kind of awesome. Lupe was up there all alone rapping it along with the crowd and in the middle of the first and second verse picked up the pace tremendously, but the crowd stayed with him. He was so impressed that he spit the third verse out at Twista speed and only a couple of people kept up.

All and all the show was amazing. He really set the bar for the next rap show I go and see which probably will be the Glow in the Dark Tour featuring Kanye West, Rihanna, N.E.R.D., and Lupe Fiasco coming in April. If you haven't heard of Lupe you must check him out, and if you have heard of him and he's coming to a town near you I 100% suggest going to see him. He's a great performer. It's a shame he's "only got one more to go, L.U.P.end."