Thoughts on Idol

It's the time of year again. I am consumed in piles of homework studying for finals. But, I have to make time for a break every now and again.

What am I saying? Yes, finals. But my point, it's American Idol's time of year. My guilty pleasure.

Although with my limited amount of time due to school work and extracurricular, for the past few years I've only been watching the LIVE shows. Forget the auditions. The competition comes down to the top chosen by judges with final consent from the people.

Personally, I hate watching contestants humiliate themselves. It's disengaging; a waste of time. Those who are fortunate enough to be granted with a golden ticket could still fall through. It's the realization that the stage is not home for everyone. But for those who have potential for stardom, they shine, open up, and embrace their inner-self.

After watching the first week of LIVE shows, or better known as Rush Week (a new addition to the show), sadly I have already lost interest.

Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and new addition Harry Connick Jr. (the judges) and show host Ryan Seacrest are saying that this seasons contestants are the best ever showcased.

I have to disagree.

The performances of the total twenty contestants out of the thirty chosen to perform for Rush Week, did not hit their mark. Most performances were bland. The stage presence was not noticeable.

Lopez, however, did remark that this season will be different. The generation has changed. The performers who have a country look may be an R&B singer. With today's technology it has opened up the realm to genres of music otherwise unknown by a person. For this reason and the fact that this is only the first LIVE week, I'll give the contestants another week to improve. Like always.

By then, my family and I have chosen favorites--deciding who will claim the title. And still I am hoping, as prior seasons, that the contestants are able to fill the shoes left behind.

Undoubtedly they all have potential. It just was not shown in the past week's performance.

Surviving Reality

For some, books are the escape, escape from reality. New York Times writer Charles Blow can attest in one of his recent columns.

  

"It is no exaggeration to say that those books saved me: from a life of poverty, stress, depression and isolation," Blow wrote.

  

Personally, as a book-lover myself, I say true too. From a young age I've been an avid reader. There was and still is always a book with me. No matter where I went. It could be the pocket sized Maximum Ride or a 700 page Harry Potter. It didn't matter.

 

My favorite place to read would be during family events. I could get lost in a whole new world and not care. Forget about the chattering relatives, most respect my decision to educate myself in a world of fantasy.

 

Or as Blow would say, books shaped him to be the person he is today.

 

I believe whole-heartedly in shaping your personal character. There is fantasy in my particular enjoyment of reading, but the underling realistic qualities of strength and caring but staying aloof on your toes that have allowed me to become, as Mr. Conner would call me, the flower child (a reference to the 1960 as a young person rejecting conventional society and advocating love, peace, and simple, idealistic values.)

 

I couldn't see life without reading, but sadly for the majority of the population -- now including me -- time is passing too quickly. And according to Blow, the number of non-book-readers has nearly tripled since 1978.

 

It's not that I'm neglecting myself. I just have trouble finding time just as everyone else. Because once the pages of a new book are opened there's no stopping until the last word is read. And in all honesty, I don't have time. All my time nowadays is spent on homework and maintaining grades.

 

But for me that's were music comes in. It's been my savior. I can listen to music while I work on homework, work on cleaning the house, work on the impending college search. Whereas reading, my full attention has to be attributed to the activity, sometimes white noise is good to block my distracting thoughts.

 

"There is no intellectual equivalent to allowing oneself the time and space to get lost in another person’s mind, because in so doing we find ourselves," Blow said.

 

And I couldn't agree more. Sometimes giving into the desire to read is all it takes to be thrown into another reality. Escape.

 

 

To read Charles Blow's full Column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/opinion/blow-reading-books-is-fundamental.html?ref=charlesmblow&_r=0



It Arrived.

After two and a half months, it arrived! My personally signed Baptized lyric booklet.

 

I received Daughtry's CD as a Christmas gift from my sister. I was beyond stoked. I owned their previous three albums and loved their style. Either way, if I didn't receive Baptized, I would've bought it with Christmas money because Daughtry is one of those bands whoes music can be plagued on repeat without becoming annoying.

But more than their music, I look up to founder Chris Daughtry for seizing the opportunity to audition for American Idol.

Now, if asked who my American Idol is, I could never give one answer. I have to name them all. And only two have actually claimed the title of The American Idol. Daughtry being one of the people not claiming the title but the title does not signify the best.

Daughtry performed on the fifth season placing fourth. He is one of the most recognized artist from American Idol. Watching the show, I was only 9 but his music stuck with me. Even if I didn't remember his name and the name of his first single, I could never forget his voice.

It was not by chance that I stumbled across the self-titled debut, and from there, I could never stop listening.

But when I found the lyrics booklet missing from Baptized, my sister didn't miss a beat in the explanation:

"If the booklet was sent to 2800 Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica California by December 1st, Daughtry will personally sign the booklet."

Excitement bubbled inside of me. And that same feeling resurfaced today when finding the envelope in the mail.

All four CD. And the last with a personalized touch. I never thought I'd see it come.

Prime

High school is the prime time, the prime time to begin establishing a foreground in music. Just look around. Most alternative bands, or bands in general for that matter,  have a background in experimenting with music, with connections, with people.

It's something I've considered. With friends as my foundation, they have supported and stabilized me in realizing and achieving my dreams. Reminding me: even if it the first attempt crumbles, when the drive for music is prominent there will be no question in picking up the pieces.

But where does the notion come from that to form connections in the music industry you have to be on the end of creating music?

Nowhere.

It’s the unstated assumption.

Although my music education can trace back to learning the piano at the age of 7, I only began because of the backbone of my mother. It was at 14 where I took the weight upon myself to enjoy the hours of practicing. It was not just a learning experience anymore, but a stress reliever and a growing passion.

I found the classical route was not the intended path on my part. After years of borrowing, learning, playing classical music, I bought a few sheets of popular pieces including Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. Endless amounts of time spent sitting in front of ivory keys to play these familiar tunes.

To this day I still have a passion for piano; however, I teach myself. No teacher, but on my own time.

From day one, music had only been a hobby. I never considered a career from music. It is not practical, not in today's world. But only recently a new door had been open.

Audio engineering. Or Acoustical engineering call by its formal name. It's attaining the knowledge behind electrics and physics of sound—live or produced.

 
It's my time to learn now, while I'm in high school. It's time to search the surface of what my future may hold.

Light Never Dies

The world is in a balance—in both positive and negative ways. Yet, sometimes it does not seem as if. The negativity penetrates the happiness we try to fulfil in ourselves. At times, hardships seem impossible to overcome. Bleakness. Darkness. Blackness. It’s all consuming. Or that’s what we engrain in ourselves.

The difficultly of taking a step backwards to breathe from our situation increasingly grows with time. We are blindfolded. We cannot seek the help necessary. We lose rational frame of mind that it’s more than one of us in every situation.

Hope for the Day, a non-profit organization, was created to restore our faded hope, our wretched lives. A life ring is thrown out to sea. In over our heads, swallowing what we cannot digest, know we can be uplifted from the weight dragging us under.

More than one of us has felt this way. It’s in stories, narratives, lyrics, books, where we recognize we are not alone. Never alone.

Restoring Force

A sea shell is more than an artifact of the ocean. It connects us to the elemental aura of water—the power of emotions, of truth, of creativity. According to Mesa Creative Arts, sea shells are healers, messengers and tools of transformation.

Although for Austin Carlile, lead singer from Of Mice and Men did not outright say this about their upcoming album cover, it might as well be true. The reason for a dark cerith shell to be the image of choice is to have a direct link to their previous album The Flood.

“Restoring Force is more than just a collection of songs but fundamentally a return to equilibrium,” Carlile said in an article with Alternative Press.

This album composed of material to solidify the band’s status in the music industry. For this third album, Carlile could not help but seek new horizons.

“[We are] pushing ourselves to write the most meaningful material Of Mice & Men has ever released,” Carlile said. “This was by far the most in-depth writing and recording processes we've ever been through.”

It is all influenced by life, this process of writing. After receiving open heart surgery in 2010, recently after acquiring his dream of becoming a musician, Carlile finally grasped the true meaning of gratitude.

“[The surgery] changed my entire world,” Carlile said in a recent interview with Pure Volume. “My heart was out of my chest on ice for two hours—I was being pumped full of somebody else's blood. It just made me see how precious life is all over again because even though the technology today is good there was still a 30- or 40-percent chance that I wouldn't survive the surgery.”

Just one situation influenced life. A new outlook equals a new person.

I am excited to see a reflection in Of Mice and Men’s music. From their metal vibes, now converting to a hard in-your-face aggression of rock ‘n roll as Carlile likes to put it; the sound will definitely have an impact on their fans.

Whether that is positive or negative impact, I don’t know. But I can tell you, I rarely, if ever, listened to metalcore genre. The screams were not appealing. Never could I decipher the lyrics, the meaning, or the pieces that hold the connection. But there is always room for compromise.

With knowing background, my eyes open to a whole new world, a world I never knew. One that I merely brushed away. In less than two weeks new fans will arise, while particular past fans will tear apart from the Of Mice and Men Family. Those who stay show loyalty. And for the loss, will be from their decision to reach equilibrium in life.

Waves lapping at the shore leave hints of the hidden lives that are altering, with little reminders that life leaves a legacy for others to find, for the calmest of water have reached a balance between the world above and below.