Musically Speaking, I Might Not Be a Nice Person

I'm a music elitist, I'll just get it out there. Elitist, if we dumb it down, just means snob. Ok I'm a snob. I like bands with names that have to do with scared bunnies, horses coming together to make music, some kind of weird bear sea creatures, and pilots who can't see. And I like those who name themselves with the French way of saying "good winter" or with strange unpronounceable Persian names.* You don't know what I'm talking about? It's okay, I really don't expect everybody to listen to the same music I do. Freedom to listen to your own music is just one of the many freedoms we enjoy in these United States. Our forefathers fought hard for that one, far be it for me to withhold it from anyone.

 

But I really do like popular bands too. It's taken me years to admit this and be comfortable with it. But seriously, I love Coldplay. I love them so much that I paid (what to me was) an obscene amount of money for my tickets to their concert here in Utah last November. And I'm not comfortable enough with myself to go to a concert by myself so of course I bought two. Ouch. This is where a significant other would come in handy. . . I'm doing my best folks. Ok and Iron & Wine seems to be becoming significantly more popular so it's with a little chagrin that I claim them as another favorite. But Sam Beam is soooooo good. Emphasis on the "soooooo." And then there's Radiohead too. Geez, when they're on they are spot on. I can replay the crap out of Thom Yorke's voice.

(I'm strangely attracted to this scrawny white dude)

Usually when I like a band I find all of the b sides and ep's. You should see my Iron & Wine collection. Sam Beam is a strange dude but he makes some sweet music.


I might as well mention as well that I'm a huge hypocrite as far as music is concerned. I deleted all sorts of artists and songs from my computer that I considered to be "racy" for one reason or another. A lot of it was some awesomely classic nineties hip hop that just got a little too graphic for me. I still think I made a very adult decision even though I sometimes miss Talib Kweli. It was just time to let go. And yet I keep bands that say the "F" word repeatedly throughout their albums. I justify: "They're more subtly embedded in the song" or "He needed to say that to get his point across." Ridiculous. I am a huge hypocrite. The fact that I'm writing this is acknowledgment of my shortcoming which means that I'll have to fix it, right? Not anytime soon folks. I'm a cold hard sinner I guess. I just can't do it. I am emotionally connected to that music. It stays.

So anyway guys, listen to what you want. I admit that I like stuff that might be deemed embarrassing like Third Eye Blind, Phil Collins (Yeah, I will play "Groovy Kind of Love" at my wedding. Get over it.), or Elton John. I am slightly eclectic. However, I still maintain the opinion that my music is better than yours. But that's why I listen to it, isn't it? Of course I think it's better. I highly encourage a little exploration into some different music. Enrich your life by turning off the latest unoriginal pop darling or the trite country idol (I'm refraining from mentioning names, I try not to give offense when I blog) and tune into the poetic rustlings of a band called Bon Iver or the genuine melodies of Blind Pilot. They're worth your time. Just listen.

 

*Bands mentioned roundabout-ly or straightforward-ly in this post (and other favorites not mentioned):

• Frightened Rabbit (explicit lyrics occasionally... sorry)
• Band of Horses
• Seabear (don't knock the name til you've tried 'em)
• Blind Pilot 
• Bon Iver
• Sufjan Stevens (weird name, sometimes weird music, but he makes up for it by writing songs you just can't live without)
  
• Coldplay
• Iron & Wine (subtly embedded "f" words occasionally...)
• Radiohead (yeah, a bit of swearing)
• Andrew Bird (check out "Section 8 City." Oh my gosh.)
• Ryan Adams (no, I didn't mean to write Bryan Adams)
  

Favorite Lessons Learned

I'm so stubborn and prideful that I just hate to admit this... But I like to blog. It's true. It kills me to write that down but I think that this very blog was the most fruitful part of this semester. It's fun even though it takes me ages to put up a post. And I don't mean time between posts. I mean I sit here editing posts for hours until I feel as if I'm wasting time in a major way. But I'm doing my assignment, right? Right. Sort of.

I will even go so far as to say that I will probably use my blog to post assignments for students. I like the idea of having a syballus in hand but I don't think it would hurt anything to have an electronic copy for students to access when they need. Some of the technologies we studied I know for sure that I won't use--and no guys, it's not just because I couldn't figure them out. I learned about recording myself on a PowerPoint presentation (I think that was another class) and I just can't figure out how it's good teaching to record yourself and force your students to listen to it. So that probably won't be happening. I would love for my students to make videos and give presentations but I don't feel as if voice recording is necessary or helpful to their active learning. I'd rather have them actually interact with their presentations and thus be actively engaging their classmates.

My other favorites were GoodReads (not shocking since I already love that site) and BeFunky.com (which I used for my final project). I had so much fun on that site and I got multiple comments from other people saying they thought it was awesome so I think it'd be easy to get my students to be excited about it.

(Those are the skinny legs belonging to myself and my two younger siblings)

I'm addicted to this website now. It's a little embarrassing. I should be studying and instead I'm playing with an online version of Photoshop. But it's for my blog, right? So I'm legitimately doing my homework. Yeah, ok, my time management skills need a little revamping.

 

(This effect is called "impressionist")

The point is (because I realize that I have successfully managed, yet again, to stray from it) that I learned some things about technology despite my disinclination to do so. And I'm actually excited about implementing some of these ideas in a classroom... in another five years when I graduate...

Teaching Creativity with Technology

I finally paid attention to those ads on the side of Facebook. You know, all those ones that are telling you to cartoon yourself? I actually found a site that is a little bit cooler than that even. BeFunky.com lets you creatively customize photos of yourself through colors and photo effects. Your options go way beyond cartoons. I'm going to have my students get a little creative online and have fun expressing themselves through this website.
To view a complete lesson plan on using BeFunky.com click here.
And here's my sample of how I used the website:

Poetry and Technology

This video is based on the storyboard previously posted. Some changes were made in the process but the core is still intact-- poetry is the point. To see it fully on the screen just click the link and don't watch it on my blog.

Teaching with Technology @ Yahoo! Video

Technology Video Storyboard

I have created an outline for a video that I am making right now. If you would like to view storyboard just click the link. The video itself should be published tonight.

Bravo Jesus Colon

Why, you ask, am I awake at this ungodly hour writing my second post of the day? In all reality, I really couldn't tell you. I only slept for four hours last night, but you know how sometimes your body's too tired to let you go to sleep? Tonight's one of those nights. But I was half-heartedly reading for class tomorrow and came across something called "Books That Never Get Returned." What a masterpiece. I couldn't help but share.


This excerpt is from Jesus Colon's A Puerto Rican in New York:
"There is nothing so difficult as returning a book. My wife's maxim is, 'A book loaned is a book lost.' I would not go as far as that. I would say though that if I could have been present when Francis Bacon wrote: 'Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested,' I would have suggested that he add: 'and some books are to be read and returned.'
"On this question of returning books we have borrowed, we should not make any exceptions. It has happened to me. It happens to you. It happens to all of us--lenders and borrowers of books."

Oh God bless the man. If anyone is reading this, can I have my books back? And sister, I realize that there is a possibility I still have your copy of Enchantment. Worry not, I continue the search.

The real tragedy is that if I don't get my copies back, I lose my "marginalia" as Billy Collins puts it. But Billy's poetry has been loaned out along with Harry Potter's fourth year at Hogwarts. Holden Caulfield's teenage angst is nowhere to be found in my bedroom (which out of context makes me sound lucky I think), and also a beautiful story about a little girl that steals books during WWII is MIA. That one's called The Book Thief-- appropriate title, no? You little book thieves. Actually I'm pretty sure Scout, Jem, and Boo are in someone's hot little hands as well. Perhaps I need a better system. Or to stop loaning books to ex-boyfriends.

Unexpected But Better

So I've had this old, worn out iPod for about three and a half years now. Despite criticism from my friends, it was not actually made in 1992. They did not, in fact, make iPods in 1992, in case you're wondering. Honestly, it was free and it worked and I had no intention of letting go of that gem. Ok, sure it had its drawbacks. It only held two gigs, for instance. And it was not what you would call aesthetically pleasing, I suppose. And my headphones were coming apart and my connector cable thingy was cracked. But still, it worked! Why would I waste money when it worked well enough to serve it's actual purpose-- to play music?

But the powers that be decided it was time for me to let go about two weeks ago. I thought it would be a lot more painful to let it go but sometimes my emotions are even a surprise to me. As I was sitting in a certain restaurant (which I'll leave unnamed so as not to incriminate anyone) I was suddenly getting very wet. Yes, my waiter spilled water all over me. I really wasn't mad, things like that don't rile me up really. But it took me a few minutes to realize that my purse was also soaked. In fact it retained water tight like unto a dish. Sorry for the scriptural quotation. And what was safely stashed away in my purse? Oh that's right, iPod. But I really felt no sorrow, no remorse. She was gone and that was that. (I guess my iPod was a girl....)

But it's like all I had to do was let go of what I thought was so great so that something way better could be simply placed in my hand! Enter my new iPod nano! The restaurant bought me a brand new, 8 gig iPod-- yeah, the new ones with the video camera!Spill water on me anytime if that's what I get for it. Sometimes you have to let go of that old crappy iPod in order to receive something even awesomer (yeah I know that's not a word, I made it up).