There is always that kid who is beat up in high school because he doesn't do what is considered cool or popular. That one poor guy who gets picked on for playing the tuba, or enjoying card games, or the hopeful magician (personally I think all of those are great). I think a hobby and talent that gets not nearly enough respect for what they does is tap-dancers. We learned a pretty simple tap step a while ago for choreography, but I absolutely loved it. So I started going online to find some tap dancing and I found some crazy awesome stuff.
First of all, I love how easy it is to find things on Youtube. All I had to do when I was interested was type in "best tapdancing" and out came a video called "the best tap dance in the world" and I don't think this is an exaggeration at all. The dancer, Anthony Morigerato, is absolutely amazing with his feet. You lose track of his feet into a blur of motion. It is so cool to me how little his foot seems to be going, but the rhythm and visual aspects of it are stunning. That sheer intensity and speed of some of his tap dancing made my jaw drop. I wish on every star in the sky that I could tap dance like that, I try to tap sometimes as I walk down the hallway.
Another thing that I love is how they give you related videos on the side. You can get lost for hours and hours in those side videos, one of my favorite paths to get lost down is the America's Got Talent Auditions. However, watching these tap videos led me to a video called "Dubstep Tapdance" featuring a group called Prodijig from "Got To Dance" a UK dance competition show. They do an absolutely vicious tap dancing, that is so uniform and intricate it is almost a little scary. I can't even begin to imagine the hours and hours of intense practice and sweat they must have put in to prepare so a stunning piece. It is hard to watch this without having a feeling of awe in their talent. I also love how they, and Anthony as well, had incorporated pop elements into their tap dancing. That mix and fusion is what makes the world of talent and music interesting to me.
So my message out there to anyone who has been picked on for not having a "cool" hobby is to stick with it, work hard, and make an absolutely awesome video of your talent so that I can talk about it. Thanks for reading
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The World Is An Instrument
Imagine yourself taking a test (or trying to sleep in your AP Lang class), and from the back of the room you hear the methodically tap tap tap of some annoying guy with a pencil. That jerky guy who is humming and tapping his foot to a song that no one else can hear. You want to take his head off right? Well don't, I think that is a way to use and promote unbridled creativity. If you don't believe that tapping your foot or plucking a rubber band can actually produce some wonderful music and encourage creativity. Look no further than the non conventional and MacGyver-like musical stylings of Joe Penna, known on Youtube as MysteryGuitarMan.
He is what I would be like if I had ten times the musical talent, one hundred times more effort, and one million times more experience with cutting and editing videos. He takes very commonplace but not often used items as musical instruments by overlapping videos of him playing that video. My favorites probably included the "Root Beer Motzart", "Pop" played by letting air out of balloons, the "Vuvuzela Symphony", and the "Bohemian Slide" which is "Bohemian Rhapsody" played on slide whistle. I have a special spot in my heart for that last video. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of my absolute favorite songs in the world. One thing Queen did amazingly is to create a song that feels inspiring and powerful. "We Will Rock You" can get every stomping like an army in about two seconds flat. I absolutely love those types of epic songs, which is what made me so happy this year that our show choir is doing a very dramatic and powerful opener written by Muse.
The thing I love about the videos I mentioned earlier is that they take commonly annoying sounds like a vuvuzela and that squeaky sound that air makes coming out of a balloon into beautiful music. He even did a song entirely with phonebooks, which is wonderful because I love to tap and drum on my textbooks to make music. This validates all of us compulsive tappers, shakers, and hummers out there. It makes me feel like less of a completely annoying person and more of a musical savant.
So the next time you see, or rather hear, someone making some beautiful music on their impromptu instruments, don't shut down their creativity. Feel free to join in and add your own music. School, especially LA class, is about learning to effectively express ourselves, and music is one of the purest and most beautiful forms of human expression out there. Thanks so much for reading and make sure to keep making music.
He is what I would be like if I had ten times the musical talent, one hundred times more effort, and one million times more experience with cutting and editing videos. He takes very commonplace but not often used items as musical instruments by overlapping videos of him playing that video. My favorites probably included the "Root Beer Motzart", "Pop" played by letting air out of balloons, the "Vuvuzela Symphony", and the "Bohemian Slide" which is "Bohemian Rhapsody" played on slide whistle. I have a special spot in my heart for that last video. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of my absolute favorite songs in the world. One thing Queen did amazingly is to create a song that feels inspiring and powerful. "We Will Rock You" can get every stomping like an army in about two seconds flat. I absolutely love those types of epic songs, which is what made me so happy this year that our show choir is doing a very dramatic and powerful opener written by Muse.
The thing I love about the videos I mentioned earlier is that they take commonly annoying sounds like a vuvuzela and that squeaky sound that air makes coming out of a balloon into beautiful music. He even did a song entirely with phonebooks, which is wonderful because I love to tap and drum on my textbooks to make music. This validates all of us compulsive tappers, shakers, and hummers out there. It makes me feel like less of a completely annoying person and more of a musical savant.
So the next time you see, or rather hear, someone making some beautiful music on their impromptu instruments, don't shut down their creativity. Feel free to join in and add your own music. School, especially LA class, is about learning to effectively express ourselves, and music is one of the purest and most beautiful forms of human expression out there. Thanks so much for reading and make sure to keep making music.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Childish but Amazing
First off, I'd like to say congratulations to all of those Kennedy kids who made All-State Choir. I, unfortunately, didn't make it. However, I will be trying my hardest again next year. This does mean that I started today a little bit bummed out. So I decided today's blog was gonna be over something that is ridiculously funny, childish, and makes you believe that there is good in the universe. "What could possibly do that?" I hear you cry out. Why of course it must be "The Farting Preacher".
Now before you immediately judge me and quit my blog forever, just take a second to look it up. It is the simplest, most childish thing I have ever seen, but every time I watch it I can't help but smile. It is so dumb, but the way that preacher makes all those awkward movements and whoever made the video turned them into comedic gold by simply adding a fart sound effect. I can't help but laugh every time the preacher scrunches his face, the fart sound goes off, and then he yells "Hallelujah" or "Praise Jesus". The best part of this, is that you can do it yourself. Just watch a televangelist at home, and add fart sound effects. It is hilarious every time.
Now I realize some people are offended by this for religious reasons, and I can understand that. However, I think that it isn't offensive for two reasons.
My first reason is that I think laughter and humor is one of the greatest things humanity has ever done. You can turn a person's mood, day, or even life around by just giving someone laughter. I think humor brings peace, interconnectedness, and a brotherly love that is becoming scarcer and scarcer in the modern world. I think the fact that this video has brought joy to so many people justifies itself. It isn't trying to make fun of Christianity in the slightest. The video wouldn't change at all if the religion was Hindu or Judaism or Buddhism. It is simply a funny video.
My second reason is that Robert Tilton had it coming to him. After a group called the Trinity Foundation started receiving people who had lost most of their money donating it to televangelists, they started an undercover investigation. They made a fake televangelist and talked to the agency that Robert Tilton ran his mail through. What they found is that the whole of Tilton's goal was to make extremely large amounts of money that went to his bank. Also, when they searched dumpsters outside of Tilton's lawyer's office and outside of his bank, they found tens of thousands of unread prayer letters, bank statements showing huge amounts of money going to Robert Tilton, and the computer program for how their "personal responses" were done automatically. The Trinity Foundation released these results showing how Tilton had aggressively taken advantage of religious followers and merely reaped cash while completely disregarding the religious aspects. Many lawsuits for fraud followed and were successful against Robert Tilton. Tilton tried to argue against this investigation in court but lost repeatedly. So, Robert Tilton who took advantage of untold amounts of people lost the money and is now forever known as "The Farting Preacher". Whether you believe in karma, divine intervention, or coincidence, this is some of it at it's finest.
This is a absolutely hilarious video that is guilt-free because the televangelist was a corrupt jerk.
Now before you immediately judge me and quit my blog forever, just take a second to look it up. It is the simplest, most childish thing I have ever seen, but every time I watch it I can't help but smile. It is so dumb, but the way that preacher makes all those awkward movements and whoever made the video turned them into comedic gold by simply adding a fart sound effect. I can't help but laugh every time the preacher scrunches his face, the fart sound goes off, and then he yells "Hallelujah" or "Praise Jesus". The best part of this, is that you can do it yourself. Just watch a televangelist at home, and add fart sound effects. It is hilarious every time.
Now I realize some people are offended by this for religious reasons, and I can understand that. However, I think that it isn't offensive for two reasons.
My first reason is that I think laughter and humor is one of the greatest things humanity has ever done. You can turn a person's mood, day, or even life around by just giving someone laughter. I think humor brings peace, interconnectedness, and a brotherly love that is becoming scarcer and scarcer in the modern world. I think the fact that this video has brought joy to so many people justifies itself. It isn't trying to make fun of Christianity in the slightest. The video wouldn't change at all if the religion was Hindu or Judaism or Buddhism. It is simply a funny video.
My second reason is that Robert Tilton had it coming to him. After a group called the Trinity Foundation started receiving people who had lost most of their money donating it to televangelists, they started an undercover investigation. They made a fake televangelist and talked to the agency that Robert Tilton ran his mail through. What they found is that the whole of Tilton's goal was to make extremely large amounts of money that went to his bank. Also, when they searched dumpsters outside of Tilton's lawyer's office and outside of his bank, they found tens of thousands of unread prayer letters, bank statements showing huge amounts of money going to Robert Tilton, and the computer program for how their "personal responses" were done automatically. The Trinity Foundation released these results showing how Tilton had aggressively taken advantage of religious followers and merely reaped cash while completely disregarding the religious aspects. Many lawsuits for fraud followed and were successful against Robert Tilton. Tilton tried to argue against this investigation in court but lost repeatedly. So, Robert Tilton who took advantage of untold amounts of people lost the money and is now forever known as "The Farting Preacher". Whether you believe in karma, divine intervention, or coincidence, this is some of it at it's finest.
This is a absolutely hilarious video that is guilt-free because the televangelist was a corrupt jerk.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Yo mamma so...
Yo mamma jokes have been a staple of humor for a long time now. They are funny but we've been running out of new and inventive ones. All the good Yo mamma jokes have been taken and used up. So now I think the time has come for a new type of yo mamma joke. Yo mamma compliments. There is an awesome video by two guys named Rhett and Link who do a podcast as well as some hilarious songs like "Rap Battle of Manliness" and more relevantly the "Yo Mama Battle (of Compliments)". It is just such an awesome idea that it doesn't need any intro. They just sit across one another and rap yo mamma compliments at one another.
The jokes range from either smart and funny ("Yo mamma is so musical that I mistake her for Yo-Yo Ma") to extremely dumb but still funny ("Yo mamma is enjoyable that she's like a hug, wrapped in laughter, wrapped in a magic show, wrapped in a delicious chicken burrito"). That last one is probably how I'm going to describe things that I love now. I just can't get over how simple of a twist this is on a perfectly common thing, that ends up being absolutely fun and innovative. The beat is catchy with a nice drive too it. However, one thing I think makes the video different than just something anyone can do is the intensity and expression that comes off of these two guys. They are able to be so competitive and energetic that it makes the fact that they are yelling compliments at one another's mothers seem so out of place and hilarious.
I don't know if Rhett and Link intended to send a specific message when they made this video, or if they simply thought it would just be fun to do. What I do know is that we should all follow their example. Let's get creative in the way we compliment one another. For example, a kugelblitz is when matter is hotter than the hottest possible temperature due to some cool science and Planck's smallest distance possible and spontaneously becomes a black hole. Now that is a creative compliment. Let's not spend our time and energy trying to hurt each other or tear each other down, but rather building each other up and comforting those around you. The world has had an overabundance of negativity and cynicism for far too long. I think it is time for an Age of Optimism and Hope. Do your part to make the world slightly happier and give someone a compliment today. You guys are awesome for reading this, thanks.
The jokes range from either smart and funny ("Yo mamma is so musical that I mistake her for Yo-Yo Ma") to extremely dumb but still funny ("Yo mamma is enjoyable that she's like a hug, wrapped in laughter, wrapped in a magic show, wrapped in a delicious chicken burrito"). That last one is probably how I'm going to describe things that I love now. I just can't get over how simple of a twist this is on a perfectly common thing, that ends up being absolutely fun and innovative. The beat is catchy with a nice drive too it. However, one thing I think makes the video different than just something anyone can do is the intensity and expression that comes off of these two guys. They are able to be so competitive and energetic that it makes the fact that they are yelling compliments at one another's mothers seem so out of place and hilarious.
I don't know if Rhett and Link intended to send a specific message when they made this video, or if they simply thought it would just be fun to do. What I do know is that we should all follow their example. Let's get creative in the way we compliment one another. For example, a kugelblitz is when matter is hotter than the hottest possible temperature due to some cool science and Planck's smallest distance possible and spontaneously becomes a black hole. Now that is a creative compliment. Let's not spend our time and energy trying to hurt each other or tear each other down, but rather building each other up and comforting those around you. The world has had an overabundance of negativity and cynicism for far too long. I think it is time for an Age of Optimism and Hope. Do your part to make the world slightly happier and give someone a compliment today. You guys are awesome for reading this, thanks.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Nervous!
So if you guys go onto Youtube and look up "Iowa All-State Choir 2012" you get a variety of videos from last year's all-state performance. My personal recommendation is the "Skip to my Lou" or "Battle Hymn of the Republic". However, this blog as I said in my "About Me" page is about me. So if you look at the video for "Veni Sancte Spiritus" at about the 2:15 mark and look up in the top left you will see your favorite blogger rocking it out in all his glorious choir dorkiness. I hardly even recognized myself when I watched the video, but there I am.
One thing you guys might know about is how intense the auditioning process is. You might be thinking "how hard could it be, look at all the people there?" and I would understand that. It's hard to realize though that that is probably only about a fifth of all the people who auditioned. Everyone who even gets to come audition is representing some of the best singers at their respective schools. It is a lot of work, memorization, focus, and nerves. The whole process makes you as nervous as a mice who sees a big old cat sitting right in front of it. Why am I talking about this now? Well the auditions for the 2013 Iowa All-State Chorus are this Saturday and even just thinking about it right now makes my heart race and my mouth go dry. I have been working on and drilling this music into my head ever since I went to ISU for an All-State Camp in the mid-summer. Me and my two auditioning partners Quinn and Mckayla have been synchronizing and blending the best we can to create the most beautiful sound.
I'd like to talk to you guys about my way to deal with nerves. No one wants to be the girl who got nervous and forgot the lyrics to the National Anthem at the NBA or MLB game. So how do I cope with stress? I prepare and prepare and prepare and practice and practice until I know the music like I know my own name. Only when I know I can sing it exactly the way I want to can I feel even slightly comfortable or secure going into the audition. Even when you prepare and practice you still feel nervous, so you just have to try your best to let the music relax and focus on all the things you've been working on. It is the hardest thing in the world to have fun with and accentuate the music while you are auditioning, but you have to do it. I also try my very best to establish routines. Routines make you feel at ease. Whether it's the Olympic sprinter who does a certain pre-race stretch routine or me standing outside the auditioning center shaking everything out it helps make things feel normal.
Nervousness can actually be a great thing. It pushes you to perform better and do things you didn't even know you could do. It is important to learn how to not let your nervousness paralyze you. Find a routine and prepare for the big events, whether a test, audition, performance, or big game, and try and let that nervousness work for you instead of against you. Thanks for reading
One thing you guys might know about is how intense the auditioning process is. You might be thinking "how hard could it be, look at all the people there?" and I would understand that. It's hard to realize though that that is probably only about a fifth of all the people who auditioned. Everyone who even gets to come audition is representing some of the best singers at their respective schools. It is a lot of work, memorization, focus, and nerves. The whole process makes you as nervous as a mice who sees a big old cat sitting right in front of it. Why am I talking about this now? Well the auditions for the 2013 Iowa All-State Chorus are this Saturday and even just thinking about it right now makes my heart race and my mouth go dry. I have been working on and drilling this music into my head ever since I went to ISU for an All-State Camp in the mid-summer. Me and my two auditioning partners Quinn and Mckayla have been synchronizing and blending the best we can to create the most beautiful sound.
I'd like to talk to you guys about my way to deal with nerves. No one wants to be the girl who got nervous and forgot the lyrics to the National Anthem at the NBA or MLB game. So how do I cope with stress? I prepare and prepare and prepare and practice and practice until I know the music like I know my own name. Only when I know I can sing it exactly the way I want to can I feel even slightly comfortable or secure going into the audition. Even when you prepare and practice you still feel nervous, so you just have to try your best to let the music relax and focus on all the things you've been working on. It is the hardest thing in the world to have fun with and accentuate the music while you are auditioning, but you have to do it. I also try my very best to establish routines. Routines make you feel at ease. Whether it's the Olympic sprinter who does a certain pre-race stretch routine or me standing outside the auditioning center shaking everything out it helps make things feel normal.
Nervousness can actually be a great thing. It pushes you to perform better and do things you didn't even know you could do. It is important to learn how to not let your nervousness paralyze you. Find a routine and prepare for the big events, whether a test, audition, performance, or big game, and try and let that nervousness work for you instead of against you. Thanks for reading
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Jewish Christmas
Some people think that because I'm Jewish I object to singing Christmas songs, or that I mind singing songs like the Battle Hymn that are about the glory of Jesus. I don't mind singing Christian songs. I think there is a long history of very influential Christian songs. Practically every old Latin song is about praising Jesus. This transferred to gospel singing and even to the Christian rap which thoroughly baffles me. One of the things I love about Christian music is Christmas songs. They are so good and catchy that around the wintertime, most of what I sing is Christmas music. So when I found an video of the group Straight No Chaser, an a capella group from Indiana University, called "12 days" (of Christmas) I knew I would love it.
The video completely took my expectations and exceeded them spectacularly. While they do sing beautifully, worthy of their reputation as an a capella group and as a touring show, they also are absolutely hilarious in the way that satirize the fact that no one actually knows each thing for the twelve days of Christmas and how easy it is to mix up different Christmas songs. They start out just singing pretty but it quickly becomes a trainwreck as different parts of the group lose track of the days, and they switch somehow into "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". It's awesome how they make fun of the fact that the two parts everyone knows and goes to is yelling "Five golden rings" and "And a partridge in a pear tree". Then they switch flawlessly from three french hens into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I laughed my head off when that guy came out singing "The Dreidl Song"... just perfect. The looks that everyone gives him and his confusion make it hysterically funny. You can see on everyone's faces "Really guy? Just....Really?". I loved this piece start to finish for it's beautiful sound, cheekiness, and complexity. It is no surprise to me that this song was one of the most famous and classic of "Straight No Chaser"'s songs. However, they do have a lot more wonderful songs and some albums.
I had heard about this group before, but I only recently looked it up because Kari and Christine had actually gone to one of their concerts last Friday. Extremely jealous but curious, I looked them up and found some wonderful stuff. So i guess the lesson is, follow your curiosity. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Cheating the Rules... Kinda
I made myself a set of rules when I started this blog that I would follow strictly.
1. I could only talk about videos that I personally watched.
2. I would be truthful in my opinion, and never falsely praise a video.
3. I would only cover the topics of music and humor.
4. I would only cover a song, artist, group, or routine once.
Well recently I did a blog about Pentatonix and I hate to say it, but I'm going to break rule number 4.... kinda. The video itself was actually done by another Youtube singer named Todrick Hall, but PTX guest-starred (guest-sang?) in it. Pentatonix was the main reason I found the video and the main reason I watched it as well. Still it doesn't technically break any of my rules and it is a great video.
The video is a a capella take on the Wizard of Oz in which they sing modern pop songs alongside the story line. One of my favorite parts is just how punderful the name is: "The Wizard of Ahhhs". I absolutely love a good/bad pun. You know the ones that are so cheesy and awful that they're like sparkling gems of comedy. One of the funniest things I've heard this month was a classmate Douglas saying "Timmy the Math Master... more like Math Disaster". I just love bad puns.
Another thing I love about this video, besides the always gorgeous Pentatonix voices, is the wonderful song selection for each section. There was the classic "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" at the beginning, but after the tornado it was "Wide Awake" and the fairy sang "Shoes" as the Wicked Witch was crushed by the house as the Lollipop Guild sang "Lollipop", and then "Damaged" for the tin man, and some beautiful pieces at the end like "Home" by Phillip Phillips which is a personal favorite. It all just works so darn well together.
I guess you could say I was biased to like this from the beginning, for one because I like the Wizard of Oz, but also because I love a good parody. Whether it was Futurama parodying Moby Dick or Family Guy parodying everything I enjoy the heck out of how people can rearrange famous and classical pieces into something new and interesting. It is also usually really funny, which is mainly because every classic piece has some real oddities to it. For the Wizard of Oz, I never understood the Lollipop Guild or the flying monkeys or why a witch who's fatal weakness is water (really?) would keep a bucket of water in her castle (REALLY?). So I was intrigued by this video from the start do it's parody nature and it provided in bucket-loads with some wonderful song choices, amazing singing, bad puns, and a short but powerful parody of the Wizard of Oz. Thanks for reading
1. I could only talk about videos that I personally watched.
2. I would be truthful in my opinion, and never falsely praise a video.
3. I would only cover the topics of music and humor.
4. I would only cover a song, artist, group, or routine once.
Well recently I did a blog about Pentatonix and I hate to say it, but I'm going to break rule number 4.... kinda. The video itself was actually done by another Youtube singer named Todrick Hall, but PTX guest-starred (guest-sang?) in it. Pentatonix was the main reason I found the video and the main reason I watched it as well. Still it doesn't technically break any of my rules and it is a great video.
The video is a a capella take on the Wizard of Oz in which they sing modern pop songs alongside the story line. One of my favorite parts is just how punderful the name is: "The Wizard of Ahhhs". I absolutely love a good/bad pun. You know the ones that are so cheesy and awful that they're like sparkling gems of comedy. One of the funniest things I've heard this month was a classmate Douglas saying "Timmy the Math Master... more like Math Disaster". I just love bad puns.
Another thing I love about this video, besides the always gorgeous Pentatonix voices, is the wonderful song selection for each section. There was the classic "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" at the beginning, but after the tornado it was "Wide Awake" and the fairy sang "Shoes" as the Wicked Witch was crushed by the house as the Lollipop Guild sang "Lollipop", and then "Damaged" for the tin man, and some beautiful pieces at the end like "Home" by Phillip Phillips which is a personal favorite. It all just works so darn well together.
I guess you could say I was biased to like this from the beginning, for one because I like the Wizard of Oz, but also because I love a good parody. Whether it was Futurama parodying Moby Dick or Family Guy parodying everything I enjoy the heck out of how people can rearrange famous and classical pieces into something new and interesting. It is also usually really funny, which is mainly because every classic piece has some real oddities to it. For the Wizard of Oz, I never understood the Lollipop Guild or the flying monkeys or why a witch who's fatal weakness is water (really?) would keep a bucket of water in her castle (REALLY?). So I was intrigued by this video from the start do it's parody nature and it provided in bucket-loads with some wonderful song choices, amazing singing, bad puns, and a short but powerful parody of the Wizard of Oz. Thanks for reading
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Smooth Criminal
I'm no McJagger and I don't have any moves reminiscent of him. I am an average white high school boy who would probably rather do hours of manual labor than stand in the middle of a circle of people and just dance. Some people may say "But Adam don't you dance in front of lots of people in show choir?" The first thing I say to that is don't start a sentence with a conjunction (PSAT is this Saturday and I'm a little bit on grammar edge right now) and also that is choreographed and so I don't have to come up with it on the spot. If you don't think there is a difference imagine speaking a prepared essay in front of the class or just having to stand up and present to your class for ten minutes on any topic which you don't have preparation for. It may be easy to do that if you're a natural public speaker in the same way some people are natural dancers that feel comfortable just going and dancing. I am not a natural dancer. I do really appreciate phenomenal dancing though. A wonderful dancer I just found, mainly because I was watching an a cappella version of "Smooth Criminal" covered by Voces 8, is the dancer Marquese Scott known on Youtube as WHZGUD2.
He does an awesomely executed dance to a dubstep version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It". I've been a huge fan of Michael Jackson's songs from the Jackson Five to his solo days, and a huge fan of his dancing. There are lots of dance tributes out there to the smooth yet mechanical style of dancing that Michael Jackson introduced. He always seemed to float over the ground. Well if Michael Jackson is floating over the ground Marquese Scott is soaring because I think he does a better job at Michael Jackson style dancing than Michael Jackson did. Every move looks so effortless when he does it. Another great example of this is in his dance video to "Pumped Up Kicks". He looks surreal, almost like a robot or some sort of nonhuman entity, because I have never seen another human move that way. He is perfectly balanced and the sharp contrast between his quick mechanical moves and long smooth moves work perfectly with the music. One of the things I appreciate the most about his dancing is that he didn't try to outflair someone with special effects or a stunning costume. This is simply a guy in the middle of a parking lot wearing normal attire dancing his heart out. Marquese performs an amazing tribute to Micheal Jackson by recreating and revamping some of his most classic moves. I enjoyed the pacing of the video as it gradually got more intense as it built up to the climax which I think happened at 2:50 in the video, as he strikes a classic Michael Jackson pose.
Nothing would make me happier than finding out this is just some guy with a hobby, but he is actually a professional dancer who has been training quite a while. That just goes to show you how amazing you can become when you dedicate yourself. Thanks for reading
He does an awesomely executed dance to a dubstep version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It". I've been a huge fan of Michael Jackson's songs from the Jackson Five to his solo days, and a huge fan of his dancing. There are lots of dance tributes out there to the smooth yet mechanical style of dancing that Michael Jackson introduced. He always seemed to float over the ground. Well if Michael Jackson is floating over the ground Marquese Scott is soaring because I think he does a better job at Michael Jackson style dancing than Michael Jackson did. Every move looks so effortless when he does it. Another great example of this is in his dance video to "Pumped Up Kicks". He looks surreal, almost like a robot or some sort of nonhuman entity, because I have never seen another human move that way. He is perfectly balanced and the sharp contrast between his quick mechanical moves and long smooth moves work perfectly with the music. One of the things I appreciate the most about his dancing is that he didn't try to outflair someone with special effects or a stunning costume. This is simply a guy in the middle of a parking lot wearing normal attire dancing his heart out. Marquese performs an amazing tribute to Micheal Jackson by recreating and revamping some of his most classic moves. I enjoyed the pacing of the video as it gradually got more intense as it built up to the climax which I think happened at 2:50 in the video, as he strikes a classic Michael Jackson pose.
Nothing would make me happier than finding out this is just some guy with a hobby, but he is actually a professional dancer who has been training quite a while. That just goes to show you how amazing you can become when you dedicate yourself. Thanks for reading
Friday, October 11, 2013
Youtube-ception
One thing I love about Youtube is how much they collaborate and bring together wonderful artists and creative people, and the results are awesome. In one of my blog posts I talked about when Pentatonix covered "Royals" by Lorde. Not necessarily a collaboration, but definitely a combination of some wonderful artists and talented singers brought together and displayed on Youtube. I thought I could "tell the future" and I might or might not have tried to start my own fortune-telling business that eventually failed. However, the main point is that their are some awesome collaborations.
I would like to go in a different direction then me having clear sight when it comes to the future and talk about my cloudy vision of the past. For example, I had recently posted about how many years I loved the "Epic Rap Battles of History" and another about the new funny rapper I had just discovered called George Watsky. As I continued to explore and watch many more videos by the new artist I had just found I came across an interview from him in which he talked about some of his favorite songs he had done. He talked about a collaboration when he rapped as Shakespeare in "Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare". Wait what? What? WHAT? If you look back you'll know that was one of my favorite raps. How could I not have known that he was Shakespeare when I've been watching him for hours at a time. So of course I had to go back and look, and sure enough there is George Watsky rapping as Shakespeare in a fake moustache and goatee in one of my favorite rap battles. I feel like the club bouncer in the cartoons that is fooled by a kid on another kid's shoulders wearing a fake beard and a long trenchcoat. How could I not have recognized him! It turns out that I hadn't just discovered George Watsky. I had loved George Watsky rapping before I even realized that I loved George Watsky rapping.
Am I oblivious? Am I dumb? It is proven by science that we have a very small and short range of attention and memory. There is an awesome TV show called Brain Games in which they talked about memory and attention, and we are suprisingly bad at it. We have to focus on very intense details and this causes us to have a bad memory and attention. Oh well it was just cool to see this collaboration and it was a pleasant tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
I would like to go in a different direction then me having clear sight when it comes to the future and talk about my cloudy vision of the past. For example, I had recently posted about how many years I loved the "Epic Rap Battles of History" and another about the new funny rapper I had just discovered called George Watsky. As I continued to explore and watch many more videos by the new artist I had just found I came across an interview from him in which he talked about some of his favorite songs he had done. He talked about a collaboration when he rapped as Shakespeare in "Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare". Wait what? What? WHAT? If you look back you'll know that was one of my favorite raps. How could I not have known that he was Shakespeare when I've been watching him for hours at a time. So of course I had to go back and look, and sure enough there is George Watsky rapping as Shakespeare in a fake moustache and goatee in one of my favorite rap battles. I feel like the club bouncer in the cartoons that is fooled by a kid on another kid's shoulders wearing a fake beard and a long trenchcoat. How could I not have recognized him! It turns out that I hadn't just discovered George Watsky. I had loved George Watsky rapping before I even realized that I loved George Watsky rapping.
Am I oblivious? Am I dumb? It is proven by science that we have a very small and short range of attention and memory. There is an awesome TV show called Brain Games in which they talked about memory and attention, and we are suprisingly bad at it. We have to focus on very intense details and this causes us to have a bad memory and attention. Oh well it was just cool to see this collaboration and it was a pleasant tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Swag Swag Swaggety Swag Swag Swag
I use the word swag once or maybe twice a day, and usually in a joking way. There are people though, who use swag once or twice for every sentence, you know who I'm talking about. They need to stop. It is really annoying, repetitive, and frankly stupid to say "swag" for everything. My hat is swag, my shirt is swag, I live the swag-life, I swag daily, swag-style, swag-please-shut-your-mouth-and-never-say-swag-again. So that is what made me so happy when I found a video by George Watsky, a really funny and talented rapper, that was titled "100 Words You Could Say Instead of Swag".
The video shows exactly how bad it is in high schools with the word "swag". George is the teacher of the class as well as one of the kids who just constantly says swag. George sings about how he thought swag had died long ago, but Justin Bieber revived itl. He then shows exactly how useless and annoying swag is by showing all the words and phrases you could use instead of just swag. My oh my, does he do a good job. There is so many ways to express yourself without the use of one stupid word. I absolutely love the part in the middle when he shows how Walt Whitman described his carefreeness by saying "I cock my hat as I please" and then juxtaposing (placing it next to) Justin Bieber's lyrics "swag swag swag on you, sittin by the fire while we eatin fondue." It perfectly illustrates exactly how ridiculously simplistic and stupid we sound when compared to some actual literature. This is shown again by the 100th word when he says "You can even just use the word "swagger", which is actually a real word that's existed for hundred of years." Swag is a completely unneccesary word that has no place in old or modern English.
He also just does a awesome rapping job and I love how his attitude changes and seeing the teacher break it down in front of all the kids. By the end he's dancing around in the front of the class and imitating the swag-sayers by using swag in ridiculous ways like my favorite line "my favorite bird is a swagpie, and my favorite pie...is a swagpie" or "live swaggety ever after". It was just a really nicely put together rap by a cool kid who has a really valid point that people need to stop saying swag so much. Thanks for reading
The video shows exactly how bad it is in high schools with the word "swag". George is the teacher of the class as well as one of the kids who just constantly says swag. George sings about how he thought swag had died long ago, but Justin Bieber revived itl. He then shows exactly how useless and annoying swag is by showing all the words and phrases you could use instead of just swag. My oh my, does he do a good job. There is so many ways to express yourself without the use of one stupid word. I absolutely love the part in the middle when he shows how Walt Whitman described his carefreeness by saying "I cock my hat as I please" and then juxtaposing (placing it next to) Justin Bieber's lyrics "swag swag swag on you, sittin by the fire while we eatin fondue." It perfectly illustrates exactly how ridiculously simplistic and stupid we sound when compared to some actual literature. This is shown again by the 100th word when he says "You can even just use the word "swagger", which is actually a real word that's existed for hundred of years." Swag is a completely unneccesary word that has no place in old or modern English.
He also just does a awesome rapping job and I love how his attitude changes and seeing the teacher break it down in front of all the kids. By the end he's dancing around in the front of the class and imitating the swag-sayers by using swag in ridiculous ways like my favorite line "my favorite bird is a swagpie, and my favorite pie...is a swagpie" or "live swaggety ever after". It was just a really nicely put together rap by a cool kid who has a really valid point that people need to stop saying swag so much. Thanks for reading
Monday, October 7, 2013
Waiting for Christmas... Metaphorically
It is finally, finally, finally here! After five long months of waiting the third season of Epic Rap Battles of History has come out. To give you an idea, I had most of the first season memorized when I was a freshman, that's how long and how much I have loved these videos. It was all I could think about the night before. I knew that it was gonna be the third installment of their classic "Hitler vs. Vader" matchup. It's like having this big old christmas present waiting downstairs with a huge bow on it, and you know you've been asking for some crazy awesome game device or tv or something. However, I cant cheat and peek. I just have to sit and wait for five months. So when I finally got to watch it about like 2 minutes ago I was so extremely....kinda disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love nicepeter and all the raps he has written, but this third installment kinda seemed less like a dramatic conclusion, and more like they were running out of comic material for this matchup. I can definitely understand that. For my AP World History project after the AP test, we had to make a music video. We decided on a rap about the Russian leaders to the tune of "Ice Ice Baby" (coincidentally the season 2 ending of epic rap battles of history came out with of all five major Russian leaders and I absolutely loved it!) but we ran out of good material in about two verses, and this was a subject we prepared for all year. I just felt like I opened the christmas box and got a sweatshirt. Nice, but not the amazing image I've placed into my mind.
This is a good lesson for everyone about overhyping something to yourself. If you blow it out of proportions in your head, you will disappoint yourself. This definitely contributed to my disappointment, but I honestly just think this was one of his worst raps, and it came at an unfortunate time. I thought maybe I had grown out of it, and I didn't find them good anymore, but I went back and watched the old ones and they were just as genius as they were before (I recommend Shakespeare vs. Dr. Seuss). I just wish he had stuck to his strong suits and done a high-tempo, clever, full-of-puns rap on a fresh subjects. This is what I'm looking forward to in his next rap battle. Thanks for reading
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love nicepeter and all the raps he has written, but this third installment kinda seemed less like a dramatic conclusion, and more like they were running out of comic material for this matchup. I can definitely understand that. For my AP World History project after the AP test, we had to make a music video. We decided on a rap about the Russian leaders to the tune of "Ice Ice Baby" (coincidentally the season 2 ending of epic rap battles of history came out with of all five major Russian leaders and I absolutely loved it!) but we ran out of good material in about two verses, and this was a subject we prepared for all year. I just felt like I opened the christmas box and got a sweatshirt. Nice, but not the amazing image I've placed into my mind.
This is a good lesson for everyone about overhyping something to yourself. If you blow it out of proportions in your head, you will disappoint yourself. This definitely contributed to my disappointment, but I honestly just think this was one of his worst raps, and it came at an unfortunate time. I thought maybe I had grown out of it, and I didn't find them good anymore, but I went back and watched the old ones and they were just as genius as they were before (I recommend Shakespeare vs. Dr. Seuss). I just wish he had stuck to his strong suits and done a high-tempo, clever, full-of-puns rap on a fresh subjects. This is what I'm looking forward to in his next rap battle. Thanks for reading
Thursday, October 3, 2013
I Can Predict The Future!!!!
So if you look back at my recent posts you will see that I just did a piece on how much I love Pentatonix, and even farther back then that was a post all about how much I loved the song "Royals" by Lorde. So when I get home and I look on the home page of Youtube what do I see?
PENTATONIX'S COVER OF ROYALS!!
I could not press that button fast enough, and I was well rewarded. Pentatonix took the sheer choral beauty that made "Royals" work so well and not only emphasized it but put their classic PTX flair onto it to make it absolutely stunning. Their video choreography is little to none, it is all just pure vocal talent and gorgeous songwriting by Lorde. This group mixes so well with this song I don't know why I hadn't put them together in my mind already! It's also such a cool song for them because it's about becoming famous but remembering your roots and not being overcome by the rich/famous mindset. That's why that closing shot of them in a line from their classy rich clothes to their normal clothes as they sing "We're bigger than we ever dreamed" is so powerful and reflective of their meteoric rise to fame.
Now I don't want to go around saying that I can predict the future, but I definitely have these odd moments every like other month where something happens that is just so coincidental that I can sorta convince myself I have superpowers. I know I obviously don't! But it's fun to think about if I actually had the power to predict the future. This used to happen to me a lot in middle school, when I would get Deja-Vu all the time. Like I would dream something like a conversation and it would happen about a week later in real life. I always wanted to keep a dream journal so I could prove I could tell the future. Now I realize that they were probably just coincidences, as is this one, but it's fun to think of myself as the future-reading superhero the All-Seeing Adam.
Thanks for reading, and I really hope you watch PTX's video.
PENTATONIX'S COVER OF ROYALS!!
I could not press that button fast enough, and I was well rewarded. Pentatonix took the sheer choral beauty that made "Royals" work so well and not only emphasized it but put their classic PTX flair onto it to make it absolutely stunning. Their video choreography is little to none, it is all just pure vocal talent and gorgeous songwriting by Lorde. This group mixes so well with this song I don't know why I hadn't put them together in my mind already! It's also such a cool song for them because it's about becoming famous but remembering your roots and not being overcome by the rich/famous mindset. That's why that closing shot of them in a line from their classy rich clothes to their normal clothes as they sing "We're bigger than we ever dreamed" is so powerful and reflective of their meteoric rise to fame.
Now I don't want to go around saying that I can predict the future, but I definitely have these odd moments every like other month where something happens that is just so coincidental that I can sorta convince myself I have superpowers. I know I obviously don't! But it's fun to think about if I actually had the power to predict the future. This used to happen to me a lot in middle school, when I would get Deja-Vu all the time. Like I would dream something like a conversation and it would happen about a week later in real life. I always wanted to keep a dream journal so I could prove I could tell the future. Now I realize that they were probably just coincidences, as is this one, but it's fun to think of myself as the future-reading superhero the All-Seeing Adam.
Thanks for reading, and I really hope you watch PTX's video.
PTX = Godliness
I don't know if everyone knows PTX, otherwise known as Pentatonix, but they are absolutely one of my favorite singing groups in recent history. Their story is inspiring, their singing is beautiful, and I can't help but love a cappella. The hair alone on the blond singer is worth a Grammy. I really want everyone to go right now to PTX's Youtube channel and spend about an hour just letting the gorgeous music run over you.
PTX started out as a completely unknown group on a show called "The Sing-Off". This was sort of like an American Idol type competition with a cappella groups. Each week would be a different style or type of music the groups had to perform, and one group was eliminated each week until three groups competed at the finals for the champion spot. Ever since I saw their first performance of "ET" by Katy Perry, I knew they were awesome. They have absolutely perfect pitch and blend with one another. It sounds like a cohesive unit unlike some other groups that can get a little too focused on one person. Another aspect of their rise that I love is how much they had to fight through. They were a group of five people, which was extremely rare for an a cappella group. It's just extremely hard to produce the level of tone and volume that larger groups can use. Imagine it in the same way that Kennedy High School is 4A because of it's size. Now imagine a small 1A school rising up and completely dominating every 4A school. I was really worried that after their appearance on "The Sing-Off" they would disappear. However, they are stronger and more popular than ever through the use of their Youtube channel. Recently, they released their "Evolution of Music" video, and even after twenty playthroughs it's still jaw-droppingly awesome. They have gone on concert tours and released an album and I couldn't be happier that they are succeeding so much.
While I do think PTX has some special quality that most a cappella groups don't have. I truly do love every a cappella group. It's just so cool the variety of sounds humans can produce using just their voice. The beatboxers are amazingly talented at what they do. One of the other a cappella groups I really enjoy is BYU's Vocal Point. They also competed on "The Sing-Off" but unfortunately didn't win. They did an amazingly cool cover of "Every Little Step" and is probably one of my favorite a cappella performances ever. This is why I was so excited when BYU Vocal Point actually came to Kennedy High School pretty recently, and even held an a cappella workshop.
A cappella singing is a showcase of the amazing variety and power of the human voice and I love it. I wish everyone would stop stereotyping it by Pitch Perfect and Glee but I guess it is as it is. Thanks for reading
PTX started out as a completely unknown group on a show called "The Sing-Off". This was sort of like an American Idol type competition with a cappella groups. Each week would be a different style or type of music the groups had to perform, and one group was eliminated each week until three groups competed at the finals for the champion spot. Ever since I saw their first performance of "ET" by Katy Perry, I knew they were awesome. They have absolutely perfect pitch and blend with one another. It sounds like a cohesive unit unlike some other groups that can get a little too focused on one person. Another aspect of their rise that I love is how much they had to fight through. They were a group of five people, which was extremely rare for an a cappella group. It's just extremely hard to produce the level of tone and volume that larger groups can use. Imagine it in the same way that Kennedy High School is 4A because of it's size. Now imagine a small 1A school rising up and completely dominating every 4A school. I was really worried that after their appearance on "The Sing-Off" they would disappear. However, they are stronger and more popular than ever through the use of their Youtube channel. Recently, they released their "Evolution of Music" video, and even after twenty playthroughs it's still jaw-droppingly awesome. They have gone on concert tours and released an album and I couldn't be happier that they are succeeding so much.
While I do think PTX has some special quality that most a cappella groups don't have. I truly do love every a cappella group. It's just so cool the variety of sounds humans can produce using just their voice. The beatboxers are amazingly talented at what they do. One of the other a cappella groups I really enjoy is BYU's Vocal Point. They also competed on "The Sing-Off" but unfortunately didn't win. They did an amazingly cool cover of "Every Little Step" and is probably one of my favorite a cappella performances ever. This is why I was so excited when BYU Vocal Point actually came to Kennedy High School pretty recently, and even held an a cappella workshop.
A cappella singing is a showcase of the amazing variety and power of the human voice and I love it. I wish everyone would stop stereotyping it by Pitch Perfect and Glee but I guess it is as it is. Thanks for reading
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Musicals are Cool
Where can you go to find hipster Disney princesses, tap dancing Mario and Luigi, Breaking Bad tutorial to music, and slender man singing about his problem? That's right, AVbyte. Yes they rhyme, all the time. Im gonna stop now, before you hit me and make me say...ow.
AVbyte are two brothers who write original musicals for their Youtube channel all about new and popular topics. There are the ones that were mentioned before and they have covered so many more. I really appreciate how they are clever and talented enough to write these well put together musical numbers in a short amount of time. It is extremely impressive, and I would love to try and make a musical like this sometime. They have some very catchy numbers and very cool musicality that they write in. The videos are hilarious and I love the performers. They are really talented and make me really happy every time a new one comes out.
One of the sections I always enjoy in these, and really in every musical performance, is the tap dancing. I mean, normally in a musical the dancing can be a little bit secondary and sometimes boring. However, I think the tap dancing sections are always extremely impressive. They would probably be less impressive if I had studied tap dancing but I have no clue about it. That's what makes it so magical and cool when they dancing the complex steps and you hear the really cool tap rhythm coming out. You just see all these crazy dance kicks and out comes a perfect rhythm. AVbyte does a really great job at constructing cool and very original tap routines. It's very funny to see these famous characters tapdancing to cheery music. I kinda wish I had learned tap dancing so I could just break out a crazy tap routine in the middle of the holiday.
I guess I really like this channel because it takes some talents that I love and show that it is entirely possible to combine these as an amateur into some really entertaining pieces of work. It makes me feel optimistic that if I really put some quality effort, creativity, and time into it I myself could create something cool. Of course, this also makes me feel extremely lazy that I haven't put the quality effort, creativity, and time into it. I guess I'm creating something here with the blog. I hope you guys enjoy it and it inspires your blog. Thanks for reading.
AVbyte are two brothers who write original musicals for their Youtube channel all about new and popular topics. There are the ones that were mentioned before and they have covered so many more. I really appreciate how they are clever and talented enough to write these well put together musical numbers in a short amount of time. It is extremely impressive, and I would love to try and make a musical like this sometime. They have some very catchy numbers and very cool musicality that they write in. The videos are hilarious and I love the performers. They are really talented and make me really happy every time a new one comes out.
One of the sections I always enjoy in these, and really in every musical performance, is the tap dancing. I mean, normally in a musical the dancing can be a little bit secondary and sometimes boring. However, I think the tap dancing sections are always extremely impressive. They would probably be less impressive if I had studied tap dancing but I have no clue about it. That's what makes it so magical and cool when they dancing the complex steps and you hear the really cool tap rhythm coming out. You just see all these crazy dance kicks and out comes a perfect rhythm. AVbyte does a really great job at constructing cool and very original tap routines. It's very funny to see these famous characters tapdancing to cheery music. I kinda wish I had learned tap dancing so I could just break out a crazy tap routine in the middle of the holiday.
I guess I really like this channel because it takes some talents that I love and show that it is entirely possible to combine these as an amateur into some really entertaining pieces of work. It makes me feel optimistic that if I really put some quality effort, creativity, and time into it I myself could create something cool. Of course, this also makes me feel extremely lazy that I haven't put the quality effort, creativity, and time into it. I guess I'm creating something here with the blog. I hope you guys enjoy it and it inspires your blog. Thanks for reading.
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