Lions and Owls and Acronyms oh my!

Over the weekend I looked around various online resources trying to find ways to make my paper better.  In all, I would say I spent about 8 hours this weekend doing research and writing.  Two of the most valuable websites I found were Purdue's Online Writing Lab and Literature Online.  Purdue's OWL gives many relevant suggestions for writing a well developed argument.  I had not thought about writing out concerns people may have had with my argument, but after looking over the suggestions on OWL I decided to address some flaws a reader may perceive in my thesis statement and minister to those uncertainties.  Through LION I was able to find more information on the historical context surrounding Ulysses.  I read a brief biography on James Joyce.  I found many of his influences to be Modernists like Ezra Pound so I included more information on Modernism in my paper than I had originally intended.  The biography also delved into Joyce's development of the character of Stephan Dedalus.  Stephan is the most poetic character in Ulysses and is key to my argument that the book is a work of poetry.  I am excited to continue to explore these online resources as I craft my final draft.

Paper or Plastic?

The internet has arrived and it is not going anywhere.  Newspapers and magazines are becoming a thing of the past.  Journalists everywhere have followed suit by catering to younger readers over the computer screen.  I myself have a habit of staying up on what is going on in the world of music.  Magazines like the Rolling Stone are basically antiques with only septuagenarian readership.  Seriously, how many times can Bob Dylan make the cover of that thing?  True, other magazines like Spin or XXL pursue a younger crowd, but they are seemingly unaware of the fact that nobody in that demographic pays for any of their music!  Much less a ten dollar magazine.

On the other hand, internet-based music publications like pitchfork.com or stereogum.com, once dismissed as a lesser means of musical press, are becoming increasingly relevant.  I am a music nerd so I visit each of these sites at least five times a week.  The articles are fun to read with just the right amount of wit and the writers are just as well versed in musical history as their paper-using counterparts.  Once in a blue moon I might walk through Walgreens, only intending to purchase some toothpaste, and see Led Zeppelin in all their glory grace the front page of Rolling Stone.  I might ask myself “what hasn't already been written about Houses of the Holy?” and I fumble through the pages for a few minutes.  Sadly, my attention span cannot last longer than that.  There are no songs a click of a mouse away.  There is no live footage just begging to be streamed.  So I lose interest, put it back on the shelf, and buy my hygienic necessities. There is simply no need for this situation ever to play out any differently.  Printed news is dead.

Also, I worked on this stuff for 8 hours this weekend while I was at a cabin in Washington with my whole family and a bunch of friends so give me credit!

Drama With Sasquatch

This weekend I will be attending a music festival in George, Washington called Sasquatch.  Yes that's correct, George Washington.  Last week we discussed poetry and this week we are discussing drama so why not talk about a medium that combines the best elements of both?  Maybe reading Death of a Salesman has corrupted my mind with nostalgia, but I cannot help but recall how the Flaming Lips utilized both lyrical and theatrical talent to create the best concert experience I have ever had.  I should mention this was part of the UFO show tour so props played a big part in the theatrics.  There were Teletubbies, giant robots, dragons, confetti shooters, glitter, a man in a bubble walking on top of the crowd (interaction), an large screen behind the band projecting an art-housesque image compilation  and oh so much more.  The venue itself creates a sense of awe for life and the world.  Sasquatch takes place in a gorge overlooking a scenic mountain landscape.  The sunset just as the band began to play. The lyrics are weird, even juvenille, but if you can get over yourself, they become so relatable. They convey all the fallacies and insecurities of the human experience.  Life is fantastic and should be enjoyed.  When people shed their prejudices and self-consciousness life is just more fun.  Obviously, I do not subscribe to the entire Flaming Lips theology, but I can honestly say that every venue, every show, every band that has stirred some emotion in my unreasonably cynical twenty two year-old heart has caused me to say "this is good, but not as good as the Flaming Lips at Sasquatch".

Emerging Tools

Youtube is a wonderful thing.  After watching the spoken word poem posted by Lindsey, "A Finger, Two Dots Then Me" by Derrick Brown, I decide it is time to get reaquainted with Allen Ginsberg.  It has been a while since we last exchanged pleasantries.   My mind oscillates between Uncle Allen, the creepy one who follows people around in the supermarket and Grandfather Ginsberg, the progressive, sagacious old Jew.  I still am not completely sure what to think of him.  I cannot even say which label he, himself would prefer.  Nevertheless, when I read "Howl" I cannot help but be impressed.  So I look around youtube to see if they have any audio recordings of Ginsberg reading his most famous poem or better yet a video.  I hit pay dirt with the audio.  They have two excellent recordings.  I am less satisfied with the videos.  James Franco doing his worst Ginsberg impersonation.  Animations splitting the poem up into a thousand separate videos.  And what would an animation for a Ginsberg poem be without a giant phallus somewhere in the juxtaposition of images?   Answer: not gay enough.

That's not to say I was not impressed as I continued to look through the sites vast video library of spoken word poems.  Derrick Brown himself has many other superb films to go along with his poetry.  However, I am still on the fence whether I would rather watch a video of a poem or just read it.  To me there is something personal missing when I sit down and watch a poetic recitation.  When I first viewed "A Finger" I thought "Wow I would love to read that poem".  I do not think I to say the opposite had I read it initially. For myself, half the fun of poetry is the mystery, not knowing exactly what tone the author conveys or the complete purpose behind various images the author includes in the poem.  Maybe it is just the conservative in me.  Please respond and prove me wrong.