Although in the modern day, Eastern culture has had a lot of influences on Western music and Western culture has had a lot of influence on Eastern music I wanted to a brief break down of the unique differences between the two.
The main difference even an untrained ear can pinpoint is the instruments used.
For example in Eastern music, the most common traditional instruments in many cultures are lutes. The Middle East has a lute called the Oud. India uses the Sitar. China has a lute called the pipa. The list goes on.
Essentially they have instruments that create these entrancing tunes as well as more complex melodies in general. There are many overlapping rhythms and are at the forefront of traditional Eastern music. They use 7-tone and 5-tone systems that rely more on the manipulation of melodies instead of using set chords.
On the other hand, the West has more instruments that are found in orchestras such as string instruments, guitars, woodwind instruments, and percussion instruments such as saxophones and flutes, and bagpipes.
Western music in general puts harmonies at the forefront. They have more complex harmonies and have something called a 12-tone equal temperament. In simple terms, the series of eight notes are organized equally instead of in an odd fashion.
One way to put it is, that Western music is oriented around written music. It can be written down and repeated in an orderly structure. Eastern music is oriented around oral music. It can’t necessarily be captured in notes and is more dynamic and improvisation.
While you can categorize Western music, at its core, Eastern music is not necessarily a genre or category.
As you move from one country to another, their entire way of composing and creating music is different. The instruments they use change based on culture and the way they arrange their rhythms and melodies vary as well.
Don’t want to get too historical here, but because the West has this shared ‘European’ culture it’s easy to say that most Western music sounds similar.
This can’t be said about Eastern music because of how diverse each continent and subcontinent is. South African music is far different from North Eastern Asian music.
That’s one of the most fascinating things I love about music.
How each culture has its own music and how music can tell so much about the country’s culture and history.
If you hadn’t had the chance to listen to some Eastern music, I truly recommend it.
Even what we consider ‘pop’ music sounds far different in Japan or Lebanon or Bollywood.
Exploring the seas terrifies me. The endless blue waves that roll and span out into infinity leave too much space on the horizon. And underneath all that water, are an unknown quantity of mysterious and dangerous creatures coming in the strangest shapes and sizes. Maybe some of that fear is why Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” is such an appealing film to me.
“The Life Aquatic” is Wes Anderson’s fourth feature-length release. Bill Murray is the lead actor, and Owen Wilson and Cate Blanchett are two of the numerous supporting actors in this film.
Also in this movie is Seu Jorge, a Brazilian artist, who covers popular David Bowie songs throughout the film. His acoustic covers are homely and create a beautiful soundtrack for key moments in the film.
Free Dive into “The Life Aquatic” with Chef
To start out, this movie is a classically designed Wes Anderson film, so pastel colors and a strong sense of symmetry are evident in each frame of the film. Anderson’s directorial style is so perfect for the script and story that take place.
Take a look at this scene that describes the boat Steve Zissou and his crew live on:
Another great aspect of this movie is the use of puppets and CGI. The fictional sea creatures that Zissou and his team meet and encounter are gorgeous and colorful. In the opening scenes of the film there is a beautiful rainbow colored seahorse that encapsulates the audience’s attention and imagination.
In terms of characters and character development, Steve Zissou and crew all become better people by the end of the movie. Zissou is a manipulative, womanizing control freak, but his softer sides prove that he deserves and can actually feel love.
My singular favorite artistic contribution to “The Life Aquatic” are Seu Jorge’s covers. He translates and rewrites David Bowie covers like “Life On Mars?”, “Oh You Pretty Things” and “Ziggy Stardust”.
The tracks are all acoustic and create a beautiful ambiance on the screen (and off the screen if you listen to the tracks at home). Here’s a look at some clips of Jorge himself playing in a few scenes:
Surfacing Thoughts
I love this film. Everything from the music to the cinematography creates a beautiful, perfect planet where everyone loves nature and respects it. Maybe that’s one of the takeaways from this film, but I also love the characters.
For being an a**hole, Zissou really does love people in his own way. It’s nice to see how terrible people can be and understand that even they need some type of love in their life.
I took a little trip to Québec this week, more specifically Montréal and Québec City. There was an abundance of street performers and artists at many parks and gathering areas in the city.
Being from a not-such-a-metropolis that Montréal or a European-influenced city like Québec, I wanted to share my experience with street musicians and talk about how much I appreciate the art form.
Street musicians and performers have been around for centuries since 462 BC in Ancient Rome.
It’s no lie how much joy they bring to people and can liven up any street or outdoor setting.
Maybe it’s due to the French influence on Québec that the prevalence of street performers and music was much more visible compared to cities in the U.S.
Montréal has constant music festivals and festivals year long and music seems to be a big part of Québec’s culture.
I saw a myriad of instruments as I walked through the streets of Montréal and Québec City. With artists playing the violin, guitar, singing, and other instruments I had never seen before.
I haven’t yet found out the name of the instrument, but it looked almost like a wooden block with a kickstand. The man was sitting on the block playing the harmonica and kicking the block ever so often. It made me curious how many instruments are out there that I’ve never seen or heard of.
One spot in Montréal I loved particularly was an area in front of the Notre Dame Basilica called Place d’Armes. It was a cobblestone-lined courtyard with a fountain and tables scattered around the square for people to relax and sip coffee. Underneath a row of trees, there was a duo singing and playing the guitar for pedestrians and general visitors to the area.
The moment felt unreal. Standing in that courtyard observing people enjoying their Saturday afternoon, the euphonious melodies of the street musicians filled the air.
Even as I was walking through the cobblestone streets of Old Québec City at the Quartier Petit Champlain, it felt like walking through the streets of France. With street musicians playing instruments wherever I looked.
They looked genuinely content and the joy on their faces as visitors to the city took videos of them playing was precious.
The city is considered a city of pedestrians due to how walk-friendly it is. Hearing these musicians after walking miles and miles under the beaming sun immediately changed the environment. It gave it this whimsy and lightness.
An old man was sitting near the cul-de-sac of one of the streets playing his violin fully unbothered. He was lost in his own world immersed in his music and it made me wonder if that’s the best retirement plan in the world
Playing songs for people just to make them happy and share the wonders of music.
Seeing these street musicians is an experience that’s a bit difficult to describe in words and it’s easier to be there in the moment taking it all in.
It made me realize that musicians and performers come in all different forms. Seeing artists sharing their talents to the world in unique forms is something I’ll never get enough of.
It was racking my brain for weeks whether I wanted to spend money on going to Chicago and experience the adrenaline of large crowds, being squished in a mosh pit and standing at the barricade for hours to see my favorite artists perform, or sit in the comfort of my living room and watch those same performances on my TV.
Personally, after seeing how large the crowds got there I think I made the right choice. There is always next year if I want to go experience the rush in real life.
Anyway, I thought I could share my thoughts on the live stream for those who didn’t have access to Hulu or didn’t watch it.
To give more background about the live-streaming, there were two channels: Channel 1 and Channel 2. Each channel was streaming from around 2:00 pm ET to 11:00 pm ET.
In hindsight, being able to swap back and forth between channels to tune in to performances was much more simple compared to having to traverse Grant Park to see different artists in person. This way I could just turn off the TV or watch a different channel if I didn’t want to tune into an artist I didn’t enjoy.
Lineups
These are the artist I tuned into and the days.
Thursday (7/28)
Still Woozy
Saturday (7/30)
Big Sean
Wallows
Tomorrow By Together
Willow
J. Cole
Sunday (7/31)
Djo
Måneskin
Beach Bunny
j-hope
Denzel Curry
Another thing to note, Lollapalooza has 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and 4-day pass options if you attend in person, so it’s up to the festival attendees which days they want to go to the festival based on the lineups for that day.
This was one thing I appreciated about Lollapalooza was, of course, the free live stream on Hulu, as well as the ability to choose which days you wanted to attend the festival whether it was on live stream or in person.
Here is a thought I had about Lollapalooza in general, especially after seeing someone of these artists perform in-person and through live-stream as well. I honestly think it takes a lot of talent to pull off performing on stages as big as the ones on Lollapalooza.
The performers kept a huge crowd entertained whether they were closer to the stage or farther back. They were able to get the whole crowd hype about the music. It was impressive to see their stage presence as well as the lights used for the evening performances.
The only downside of streaming is that due to the huge lineup, not all performances were shown. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to tune into Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Glass Animals, COIN, or Claire Rosinkranz’s performances because their stages didn’t have coverage.
Regardless, as I’ve mentioned before, the way you want to consume music is all a preference and of course, preferences can change over time. Whether you want to attend Lollapalooza in person or stream it as I did, I’m glad the options are available both ways.
Enjoy music in the way you want to and experience your life how you want to.
"The Colour of Magic" by Sir Terry Pratchett book cover.
Creating worlds rests only in the power of gods and authors like Sir Terry Pratchett. A world renowned British author, satirist and knight, Sir Terry Pratchett weaved his own world into the pages of novels in a collection called “Discworld”.
Terry Pratchett published his first of the Discworld series, “The Colour of Magic”, in 1983 when he was 35 years old. The series grew to be 41 books in length, and it features many locations and time periods within Discworld itself.
I won’t ever be able to give a proper explanation of what Discworld is, but Pratchett’s website can straighten out all the details I don’t mention.
“The Colour of Magic”
“The Colour of Magic” as the first installment of the series is perfect. The story features a disgraced wizard, Rincewind, and a tourist vying to travel all over the Disc with his magical luggage, Twoflower.
Rincewind and Twoflower battle dragons, pirates and demons while having no real goal except exploration and survival, which adds to the hilarity of the misfortune the incur.
By the end of the novel, it leaves readers the drive to crawl all over Discworld to interact with the crazy people that reside there. This want to explore Sir Terry Pratchett’s fantasy haven is from his extraordinary capability to imagine a world of chaos and magic that feels like it could exist.
Worldbuilding Artistry
I regard Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld to be one of the finest works in worldbuilding. He weaves readers, characters and time together to create a fine thread of tales so thick and dense that it would seem impossible to understand, but in reality it isn’t difficult to understand.
It’s fun to pick up one of the Discworld novels and explore the diverse array of characters, landscapes or cities that exist there. The realism and creativity Pratchett uses to blend his narrative style into his own universe is beautiful and breathtaking at times.
Pratchett is not the only one with this gift. There are a few well known Game Masters (or GMs) that run tabletop roleplaying games that can elicit a similar response through their own worldbuilding techniques.
Matthew Mercer and Aabria Iyengar both have extraordinary skills in storytelling and worldbuilding. The worlds these two GMs fantasize and pop into existence are built to explore. Players and characters have to live through dangerous dragon hoard raids, political plot twists and crazy complex puzzles that GMs make.
The End of the World(building)
Worldbuilding makes our own real world bigger too. By having an audience tour small patches of life an author makes, we get a sense of how unique and wondrous our own planet is.
Seeing crazy characters some writers might imagine lets readers wish and find similar characters that mill about around the world.
Many writers and creators of worlds make their fantasy universe to fix or even highlight problems in our own world. Their worlds can be used as mirrors and we can see our blemishes and scars that need fixing and healing.
I love drawing inspiration for new ideas from the most radical corners of literature as they themselves draw from some of the strongest wells of imagination.
WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 hosted its first video game event, a 111-entrant Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament on July 15 at the NC State’s 111 Lampe Drive.
With players traveling from all over the Southeast, WKNC’s “Rock N’ Roll With It” gave world-class players like Lima, Peabnut and Anathema a sneak preview of the NC State campus before the Just Roll With It two-day tournament in Talley Student Union on July 16 and 17.
More than $500 in proceeds from Rock N’ Roll With It entry fees was donated to Girls Rock NC, a youth-centered organization dedicated to building community and power among girls, transgender youth and gender expansive youth through musical collaboration, political education for social change and creative expression. Sales of posters specifically commissioned for the event by artist Cactulio added another $150 to the overall donation. Posters are still available for sale from the WKNC swag store for $10 each.
“Rock N’ Roll With It serves as a glimpse of the avenues in which WKNC hopes to provide the local community while providing high-quality fun events for the NC State Wolfpack,” said Adrian Lopez, WKNC program director and the tournament organizer. “While making WKNC a known name throughout Smash Ultimate communities spanning from Ohio to Florida, Rock N’ Roll With It and Just Roll With It also gave a welcoming atmosphere to many who are interested in joining the community and competing among Raleigh’s best and beyond.”
NC State also hosts regular Smash events including Dair 2 Care, a biweekly charity tournament in Talley Student Union and a tournament held at 111 Lampe Drive every other Friday during the fall and spring semesters.
What good is a vampyre story? Sure, they provide some entertainment and create a little bit of mystery in our history, but what do these stories provide for humanity’s culture?
The vampyre started out in many cultures as a being to fear. According to an article from History.com, many cultures across western Europe and India frequently referred to blood sucking demons that hunt in the night. Vampyres resided in villages and were thought to be the center of demonic cults.
How did the vampyre become a mainstream media staple?
I’d like to think a lot of the fascination behind vampyres, ghouls and all the undead tropes came from Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and other gothic romantic writers. Their nightmarish stories exploited the human conditions and emotions of fear and death to look at parasitic immortality and rotten flesh. The attention these authors received
Stoker’s novel, “Dracula”, inspired many of the modern day vampyre stories like “Nosferatu the Vampyre” by Werner Herzog, “Twilight” and maybe even Playboi Carti’s “Whole Lotta Red”. The following stories are only a select few of the hundreds that are inspired by the vampyre.
Succulent Stories
“What We Do in the Shadows” by Taika Watiti is probably one of my favorite comedy films and vampyre flicks I have seen to date. This mockumentary is set in New Zealand and criticizes the common vampyre tropes by making the vampyre community a welcoming place and explores roommate relationships too.
Here’s a great clip from the film (it does involve a bit of swearing):
This scene is from YouTube, uploaded by IGN.
I have written an article that looks at another vampyre film, “Only Lovers Left Alive”. I love this film and story because of how it looks at the music culture and influences of vampyres on the world from the shadows. If you want to read more about this film, you can read my article.
Another one of my favorite and more culturally unique vampire films is “Thirst” by Park Chan-wook, an elegant Korean director. This vampire film treats the affliction more like a virus that has spread rather than romanticizing the bloodthirsty nature in more common myths.
It focuses more on the romance and relationship between the priest and Tae-ju, which means Park Chan-wook uses the vampyre affliction as a medium of storytelling rather than a central plot point.
Here’s a clip from “Thirst” in which the priest and Tae-ju first start their relationship:
This video is on YouTube, uploaded by Focus Features.
Bland Bloodsucker
There are a lot more really great vampyre films, but I am going to focus on how some directors and authors don’t use the setting well.
I found Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” boring. I have never been a fan of found film or the book version, letters and found writings, as an interesting way to tell a narrative. I would have much preferred Stoker’s massively influential novel to be more narratively focused, but at least it created more vampyre stories that I enjoy far more.
One cool thing I found recently is a website/ company that will email the original Stoker story piece by piece as it follows the dates of the story. Dracula Daily might be a better way to experience the original Dracula story than his novel, so if that interests you, be sure to check it out.
Undrinkable Narratives
“Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” is one of the worst vampyre adaptations I have read. I still am not sure why I decided this book would be a good idea to read cover to cover, but it was extremely tropey and also blames most of American slavery on vampyres. I haven’t seen the movie and nor do I plan to.
In “Dracula Untold” and “Dark Shadows”, these films involve vampyres just for the sake of entertainment. I found them to be lazy additions to the original “Dracula”, and if they tried to do something new to the story, it wasn’t handled well.
Bad Blood but Fun Times
“Twilight” is not a good film, but it provides enough entertainment that the movies are almost watchable. Just look at these clips of Kristen Stewart and Billy Burke interacting as father and daughter.
https://youtu.be/b29rJuF6nOE
This video is on YouTube, uploaded by OFFALICK.
The acting is fine, but their script is awful and cringey. These are not normal teen to parent interactions, but they’ve made the relationship funny to watch and gawk at.
Another rough but enjoyable vamp flick I’ve seen is “The Lost Boys”. There’s a whole lot going on in this movie, but between the fun cast, music and cheesy scenes it’s hard not to enjoy it. The trailer puts on a show and makes the movie seem a bit better than it actually is, but if you like tropey 80’s goth and vampyres, then you’ll probably enjoy the movie.
Into the Sunrise
Vampyre aesthetics seep into music culture, architecture and clothing too. The romanticized gothic architecture of Dracula’s Castle is seen worldwide and the dark, dreary and sleek coats and styles that people wear all add so much beauty to the horrific nature of a vampyre. It’s interesting how much people love a bloodsucker and serial killer.
All these vampyre stories have enough differences in them to add to the beauty of the vampyre genre. They create mystery, spill blood and have some beautiful costumes and aesthetics. The vampyre genre adds more than entertainment to the world. It adds a sense of glory and love to death and immortality.
Cropped version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" cover by Ky. Provided by Creative Commons License.
Journalism hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years. Sure there is a ton more equipment and technology to capture new types of media and perspectives, but the grime-y corporations in charge of pumping out the central perspective of what a country’s culture is and should be remains the same.
Sometimes this isn’t an inherently bad thing, as we are able to have more “objective” reporting through outlets like AP News.
Hunter S. Thompson was a radical mainstream journalist, at least in American culture. I am not proficient in media history, but his efforts to create gonzo journalism, a style written without objectivity usually set in the first person perspective, is one of the more chaotic approaches and critiques in journalism’s history.
In Thompson’s book, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, he is the protagonist, reporter, drug fiend and agent of chaos throughout the entire narrative. His perspectives offer a distorted and often terrifying view of Las Vegas and America. He is able to offer insights on the “American Dream”, journalism and one of Thompson’s favorite topics, Richard Nixon.
One of my favorite aspects of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” are the illustrations done by Ralph Steadman. None of them are able to be posted here but the drawings and artwork are all over his website. Fun fact, this book just turned 50 years old on Jul 7, 2022.
Thompson’s character is given the name Raoul Duke and his attorney (his travel buddy) ventures to Las Vegas to report on a road and desert race, the Mint 400. Duke is reporting for Rolling Stones magazine. While on their drug-fueled nightmare, they see a cacophony of lizard people, witness circus clowns doing inappropriate things with animals and they interact with too many law enforcement officers all while never getting arrested or put in cuffs.
The drug abuse never really stops in this novel and can be hard to read and think about most of the time. It puts a strange abstraction on the entire series of events, which makes it difficult to assume what is real and what is a hallucination.
At the end of the novel, Duke and his attorney have gone through the epitome of hell on Earth in Las Vegas. Their “journeys” lead them through the heart of the American Empire’s greed capital, a place where no one wins and you leave unhappy.
Why Do We Need “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”
Thompson does many great things with this novel. He taps into the vein of America and drives a needle straight into it. Thompson is aware of racial inequalities, capitalistic greed and the villainous nature of Richard Nixon.
Duke serves the purpose of reporting on a largely unimportant race and reporting on the sense of what it means to be a journalist in America. He portrays big media companies like Rolling Stones magazine as money grabbing snake pits and the casinos as a spike trap to lose it all.
This novel serves as a reminder of how biases in the media can be beneficial to the advancement of journalistic techniques. Thompson gets to the heart of what he sees as issues and reports on them. His own perspective is able to critique and loosen the strict flow of how media empires operate. He creates the opportunity for change by showing the horrors of the backstage.
A Few Highway Exit Thoughts
One thing I want to learn from this novel is how to write like Thompson did. His wicked fast style allows for readers to plow through his words while still appreciating their beauty and realism.
His brevity creates the attitude that journalism and reporting should be quick and to the point, which allows for multiple stories to be ingested rather than one big clunky thing that weighs down the readers.
I have a few select songs constantly on replay and I thought why not make a series covering them?
I’m starting a series about songs that have a death grip on my mind and we’re starting off with “Amoeba” by none other than Clairo.
Yes, it is one of her most listened-to songs and that’s probably why it has such a hold on me.
Initially, when Clairo’s sophomore album “Sling” was released, I was drawn to the song title as a Biologist. However, it was the meaning behind the song and the catchy guitar melody that got me hooked.
Aspects of the song were described as what it feels like to be drunk, with this bounciness of background instrumentals.
What I particularly love about this song is the lyricism and how many of the lyrics could be taken in multiple ways. It’s a song that Clairo took a creative risk with compared to her first album with less direct lyrics and it paid off.
Clairo describes the track as being about what it feels like to navigate a toxic relationship or an uncomfortable social outing.
Yet the song is also about how she got so caught up with her career when she was first put into the spotlight and how she often forgot to keep in touch with her family and friends because of how drained and chaotic her life got.
The title amoeba actually related to the single-celled microorganism as well as meaning to change or alter in Greek. As a result, the track about Clairo shifting her lifestyle after realizing it was not the healthiest was given a fitting title.
The piano chords along with the bubbly guitar instrumentals and soft vocals give the whole track an airy feeling. The drums kick in during the chorus and give the song an overall groovy funky beat.
The lyrics that hit the most are the verse “Aren’t you glad that you reside in a hell and in disguise? | Nobody yet everything, a pool to shed your memory | Could you say you’ve even tried? You haven’t called your family twice | I can hope tonight goes differently, but I show up to the party just to leave”
Especially when we get into a new routine or start a new opportunity for the first time like a new school year or a new job it’s not hard to immerse ourselves in it.
It happened to me last Fall when I finally got to experience college in person again. I was so caught up with school and events that I would often forget to call my parents.
I feel the song’s most underrated verse is towards the end. “Pulling back, I tried to find the point of wasting precious time | I sip and toast to normalcy, a fool’s way into jealousy | I mock and imitate goodbyes when I know that I can’t deny | That I’ll be here forever-while, I show up to the party just to leave.”
Though all the lyrics in this song are super relatable if you’ve experienced anything similar, this verse hits the hardest. When you’re trying to blend in at a social gathering mentally count the minutes you’ve been there. Pretending you’re having fun when in reality you want to leave. You’re jealous of the people leaving early but you want to put on a facade that you’re staying longer to enjoy your time there.
What I learned from this track is to prioritize your mental health and check in with those around you even if you are having the time of your life. It’s easy to be distracted but it’s still important to prioritize your needs at the same time.
Somehow, in my years of being a music enjoyer, Apple device owner and human being functioning in society… I’ve piled up 5 pairs of headphones/earbuds (which all have their different purposes).
I’m certainly no audiophile nor expert in sound quality, but I do have an above average number of headphones and I want to breakdown their pros and cons.
Anker Soundcore Q20 Headphones
I snagged this pair on sale last week and I must say having noise canceling headphones (of any quality) is a game changer. I think this pair of headphones is a reasonably priced introduction to headphones with good sound quality and they’re Bluetooth which is convenient. They’re a good fit for me, have great battery life, and are intuitive to use. My one qualm with these is that the built-in microphone is subpar.
Rating: 9/10
Apple Earbuds
I have two pairs of these guys because one has the headphone jack for my computer and the other has a headphone jack for my phone (which, is very annoying in my personal opinion). As far as sound quality goes, these are fine and get the job done, but now that I know what good sound quality sounds like… these leave something to be desired.
These do have an excellent built-in microphone. They are very convenient and portable, however the convenience is somewhat impeded by the fact that they are wired headphones. But again, for the price, they’re good (and are some of the only earbuds that fit in my ear).
Rating: 7/10
Airpods
I have an older generation of Airpods, so they don’t have noise-canceling or any of the other features that come with new Airpods. Airpods are fairly pricey, but I’ve had mine for over 3 years now and I still use them nearly every single day. It’s worth noting that the battery life decreases with time, they are extremely easy to misplace, and the microphone is terrible.
I’m sure there are better Bluetooth earbuds on the market, but this is the pair I have and I love them dearly.
Rating: 8/10
Sony MDR-V150 Monitor Series Headphones
These headphones were an impulse buy because I needed a wired pair of headphones for DJ purposes. These are fine for what I use them for (hearing myself during air breaks), but otherwise are a below average pair of headphones.
They were cheap and definitely reflect that… with these, you’re paying for what you get (for the worse). The wire is entirely too long, there is no built in microphone and they have a rather uncomfortable fit.
Rating: 3.5/10
Here’s to hoping all of these headphones and earbuds last me a long time.
