Study Tip 3

For my final Study Tip, I thought I would talk about how I try and write my essays. When people usually try and write essays they plan out their work and try to get as much things down as possible, before actual writing time. However, I have found a way to help with those sticky situations when it comes to writers block. I’m not saying that planning out an essay is bad, actually it is always what I do first, but when I get stuck on an essay or just don’t know what to write, I will just write and then look over what I wrote. For some reason, when I just go it helps me get the juices flowing in my brain and this has helped me on various essays and has helped me get a lot of work done.

Study Tip 2

Another study tip that I really use and really helps me get my work done better, is to try and get my work done right after class. I know this isn’t really a skill or an actual way of studying, but for at least for me it helps to understand and get all my work done quicker. When the subject is fresh in my mind I am more likely to want to study and to go over all my in class work and to do all my homework.

Non-Muse Event 1

For my first Non-Muse event I went to a concert at the event center to see a band, named Brand New, perform. They are categorized as alternative and punk music and put on a great show that was one of my favorite concerts. They played all their best songs including, “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” which I can best describe as a punk song that has mixed a little bit of different types of metal and some alternative guitar. They also played other popular songs of theirs such as “Jesus Christ” and “Millstone”. This concert was also to promote their new album “Daisy”, so they played many of their new songs with some extremely cool video accompaniment with it. The concert was a great experience, and I learned a lot about the event center and it was a new cool experience for my stay here at San Jose State University.

Senior Interviews

So for this assignment, I interviewed my two cousins Ryan and Cole. Ryan is a chemistry major and Cole is double majoring in history and Spanish. When I sat down and talked to them, they both had very different and some of the same advice to give me.

Ryan told me all about majoring in what I want to do and to get ahead of the game by planning on what to do first. He told me that if I knew what I wanted to do early on, I could get my foot in the door earlier. He also explained to me the importance of studying hard and that college is work. He told me If I want to do good I need to be prepared to work for it and that I need to stay on top of my assignments.

Cole told me that knowing my major straight off the bat wasn’t that important, he expressed to me the importance of experiencing college. He told me that studying was extremely important, but that I need to look at every possible thing that I might want to do, its apparently important so I don’t regret any of my choices academically throughout college. He also told me how important it was to keep myself from breaking down and to make sure I wasn’t always uptight about my grades.

In the end, I learned from both of my cousins that I need to study hard if I want to do well in college, and that staying on top of my work will always help me out. I asked both of them what they would have one differently throughout their time in college, and they both pretty much said they wouldn’t do anything differently. They only said they would have tried to do as many events through college as possible and told me not to squander my time here.

Scholarly Journal Article

The scholarly journal article I chose was an article from the “European Journal of Cultural Studies”, and was basically a book review of the book entitled “David Bowie: Fame, Sound, and Vision”. The article was critiquing the take of David Bowie’s career and its cultural impacts by the author Nick Stevenson. Stevenson’s take (with which the article mainly agreed with) was that David Bowie was one artist that was culturally and musically important as an artist.

The article then went through Bowie’s career talking about how David Bowie was much more than just an artist. For example, in the 1960’s the article talked about how David Bowie was an iconic sex symbol in the time period, and was one of the driving forces in the time period that shook up a nation. The article then talks about David Bowie’s work in the 1970’s and how it tied in to the gay liberation movements. Using his skill at making an image for himself and breaking the bonds of conformity with his new idea of musical and cultural changes. The article goes on to talk about Bowie in the 80’s and how Bowie began to conform with everything and began to work just for money and profit, then leading back to his work in present day society.

The overall message of the article and the book that was about David Bowie was that, Bowie was much more than an artist. He was a cultural icon and someone who helped move people around the world with his work in movements like the gay liberation movement and with his music that began to break the norm.

5 Favorite Indie Songs

So for my last music list blog, I decided to try and be original by listing my top five favorite Indie songs! This is completely ironic because Indie music is supposed to be about being different and original, and I am trying to be original and unique by talking about it but I am not really….hahaha ha ha….. well maybe its not that funny, but anyway here are my favorite indie songs that I love to listen too:

1. A-Punk – Vampire Weekend: This is one of my favorite indie songs ever. Its extremely hard to have an indie list and not have any songs from Vampire Weekend on there. This song is an extremely upbeat sounding song with its fast paced yet whimsical guitar. It’s a song that is becoming increasingly more and more popular among people and is a song that everyone should check out.

2. West Coast – Coconut Records: Coconut Records is actually one mans side project that he works on in his spare time. The man’s name is Jason Schwartzman; he is a Hollywood actor that stars in a number of his own movies. The song West Coast is an amazing song about a guy he longs to return to the west coast to go back to his lover. He composed this song with the help of other actors like Kirsten Dunst. Coconut Records is just an awesome song that everyone should listen too.

3. Sparrows – Anathallo: Anathallo is an eight-man band that mixes the sounds of a normal band with the sounds of symphony. They like to mix a lot of acapella sound into their music. They are highly talented musicians and are a treat to listen too.

4. Young Pilgrims – The Shins: You have to have The Shins on your list of indie music if you like indie music. They are a unique band that has a really happy sound to their music.

5. Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and other games) – Of Montreal: As the name suggests this song and band is very weird. This song was actually used on the original Outback Steakhouse commercials (which is kind of selling out for a band). Nonetheless this is still a great song that I recommend people look up.

2112 Lyrics Analysis

So when it came down to choosing a song to analyze for this assignment, it took some time to think about what kind of song to review. Whether it should be a short song about a musician’s feelings towards love, or a song that is about some movement or a political statement. Then I put on my iTunes on random to let fate decide. I just so happens that fate decided that I should review one of my personal favorite rock operas, 2112 performed by the insanely talented band, Rush.

At first appearances, the song 2112 is very off putting. What I mean by that is that the song itself is 20 minutes long. Not many people want to put the time in to listen to 20 minutes of just one song. However when one delves into the artistry and just listens to the words that come from the great Geddy Lee’s mouth and listens to the music played by the band, it becomes apparent that this is one, if not the best rock opera in the history of rock n’ roll.

The song is about the year 2112, and how the people of the future live without music. This futuristic society is led by a group of priests that reside in a temple known as the Temple of Syrinx. These priests dictate the courses of action that humanity should take, as the “old race” of men had led the world to ruin before. Now while these priests are ruling over the people, one man finds in a dark cave a guitar and comes before the priests saying that this instrument can bring peace to the land. The priests respond by saying that it is a waste of time and condemn the man. However, this man returns home and has a dream that reassures his belief in the power that this music holds. The rest of the song from this point on is a lot of instrumental work with a few lyrics about how the man cannot conform to these priests, and for about the last 3 minutes of the song lets the listener interpret what happens next in the plot line in the song. The song ends with the echoing voice saying “we have assumed control…. we have assumed control….”

No when it comes down to what Rush meant by the song, a lot of controversy is brought up. While some people believe this song to be a creative statement about the failure of Rush’s previous album, “Caress of Steel”, some believe it to be a response to a critical review Rush received on one of their albums. Whatever the reason may be that, at least we can all agree that the song is about the journey of a rebellion. The idea that not one force can control all the universe forever and the idea that music and creativity can incite revolution.

Drug Essay

So when it comes to drugs in college, many doors begin to open. As most people know, a lot of people in college (even more out of college) have tried or experimented with some form of illegal drug. Whether its drinking alcohol before the age of 21, smoking weed, or even taking prescription drugs to feel “good” most students in colleges have tried almost all of these things or at least one or the other. Its becoming hard to find drugs in today’s society that are considered taboo to the younger generation of people. Drugs for many people are becoming increasingly common sights, especially in college.

While alcohol is not necessarily a drug, it is still an illegal substance that almost everyone has experimented with in college. How common is it to hear about college parties at fraternities and sororities that have had alcohol, and all the funny, crazy, even horrific stories that go with them. A freshman just coming into college is expected to get drunk in college, or at least that’s what television puts into the minds of everyone in our society. Its almost considered wrong not to try and drink in college. However there are people that are out there that still hold to what they believe and sometimes that means that they won’t allow themselves to try alcohol in college.

When people think about drug use in college, one drug seems to come up the most, Marijuana. Most freshmen in college are usually expected or at least thought to have smoked once in their life, finding people that have never tried is becoming more and more rare in colleges today. And people who haven’t tried it are constantly bombarded with drug references and are asked to smoke all the time. It takes a strong willpower to stand up to drugs in today’s society, since everyone tries this kind of stuff nowadays.

Prescription drugs are becoming a new way to try and get that high that everybody craves. People are taking Vicodin, and Asprin for the feeling, instead of for their intended purposes. Now this kind of thing is still new to people and not so many people are doing it, however this is also changing. People are becoming accustomed to the idea of drug use, almost any form of it.