Friday, July 31, 2009
Beautiful sounds
Zander is amazing. He plays some of the most beautiful music and all on a bass guitar. I wish I played bass like that. Visit his profile to see some more of his awesome works =)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Okay, I admit this is stranger
This is mostly in response to observations made by Sam.
Observation 1
To me the letter A looks black. Just like all letters look black.
Sam, you're missing out. Seriously. Which isn't a badly coloured word. Word, on the other hand, isn't such a nice colour.
Observation 2
Samantha has yucky colours. I don't like green.
Actually, while there are a lot of green letters in Samantha, when I think of the word as a whole it is a blue word. Samantha is a blue word. I think the first letter of a word, or the stronger letters in a word, or where the accent is in a word, dominates the overall appearance of the word.
You see black. I see blue, but really it's blues, black and green.
Another example is Sunday.
If we accent the word so that you say it as SUNday it looks like:
while if you accent it so it sounds like sunDAY it looks like:
For some reason the letters U, V, X, and Z are all differing shades of grey. Maybe whenever this weird association thing happened in my head I didn't get much exposure to these letters so they didn't get other colours.
Yes, so now you know all this wonderful information.
Observation 1
To me the letter A looks black. Just like all letters look black.
Sam, you're missing out. Seriously. Which isn't a badly coloured word. Word, on the other hand, isn't such a nice colour.
Observation 2
Samantha has yucky colours. I don't like green.
Actually, while there are a lot of green letters in Samantha, when I think of the word as a whole it is a blue word. Samantha is a blue word. I think the first letter of a word, or the stronger letters in a word, or where the accent is in a word, dominates the overall appearance of the word.
You see black. I see blue, but really it's blues, black and green.
Another example is Sunday.
If we accent the word so that you say it as SUNday it looks like:
while if you accent it so it sounds like sunDAY it looks like:
For some reason the letters U, V, X, and Z are all differing shades of grey. Maybe whenever this weird association thing happened in my head I didn't get much exposure to these letters so they didn't get other colours.
Yes, so now you know all this wonderful information.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Play with me, play with me
Maybe it's wrong to make massive generalisations like this, but from my limited experience I think I can get away with stating it:
Danish alternative rock is like an innocence built from darkness, and you can easily taste both. It's perversely sweet, frequently cute, occasionally poetic and melodic. Beautiful but twisted. It doesn't deliberately draw on terrible things to give it's music that darkness and depth. Rather, it grows from it. Kind of like violets; something beautiful that only grows from the shadows.
Of course, this generalisation is made based on the few cds of an Aussie girl who probably hasn't had much exposure to Danish alternative rock. But just going through her alternative cds, it seems pretty obvious that there are huge regional differences in what comes out. For instance, her Scottish collection (okay, so this is limited to The Twilight Sad and Glasvegas) is similarly dark but more nostalgic. Her Aussie collection seems less dark and more playful, with a more backyard suburban feel (such as Jebediah). Bluebottle Kiss also has that suburban feel, but it also has strong coastal and suburban Sydney influences. America... I suspect I couldn't make massive generalisations about its alternative rock. Anyway, back to the Danish.
It's kind of hard to just describe the innocence and darkness. It's easier to just give examples. Take for instance Like paper cuts by Mew:
It's so pretty and strange and leaves you feeling something terrible has happened. Gorgeously disturbing. To make Kallie happy I'd better put a picture of Mew in.
There, now you can see her precious Jonas Bjerre.
If you want to use up more bandwith, also check out Human by Carpark North. The clip is really cool and cute but kind of disturbing. I like when the kid hits the desk at school.
Moi Caprice has awesome songs. They sound cute. They sound playful even. But they also have that little bit of sadness and darkness in them. It's like "the world has turned something innocent into something perverted, but we'll choose to hold into the innocence". Like in My girl you blush:
If we’re happy on a barstool,
we’ll buy the bar we’re in.
If we’re kicked out of every art school,
we’ll paint each other’s skin.
If your jokes prove you an arch fool,
I’ll love you with a grin...
And you'll blush,
you blush my girl
you blush.
Perhaps I should end here by mentioning another Danish band Kallie has started getting into. Kashmir. The title of this post comes from one of their songs, The cynic. Lyrics from another song, Ophelia, adequately sums up this whole theme of innocence in the darkness in Danish alternative rock.
Disappeared in the park
Left me probing in the dark
Put me off the path.
You're the pebble in my shoe
And the beauty in my view
Beaming through the glass.
Ophelia...you're falling out
Too tedious to talk about?
Insurmountable... always colourful.
I don't want to know
How you do what you do.
Danish alternative rock is like an innocence built from darkness, and you can easily taste both. It's perversely sweet, frequently cute, occasionally poetic and melodic. Beautiful but twisted. It doesn't deliberately draw on terrible things to give it's music that darkness and depth. Rather, it grows from it. Kind of like violets; something beautiful that only grows from the shadows.
Of course, this generalisation is made based on the few cds of an Aussie girl who probably hasn't had much exposure to Danish alternative rock. But just going through her alternative cds, it seems pretty obvious that there are huge regional differences in what comes out. For instance, her Scottish collection (okay, so this is limited to The Twilight Sad and Glasvegas) is similarly dark but more nostalgic. Her Aussie collection seems less dark and more playful, with a more backyard suburban feel (such as Jebediah). Bluebottle Kiss also has that suburban feel, but it also has strong coastal and suburban Sydney influences. America... I suspect I couldn't make massive generalisations about its alternative rock. Anyway, back to the Danish.
It's kind of hard to just describe the innocence and darkness. It's easier to just give examples. Take for instance Like paper cuts by Mew:
It's so pretty and strange and leaves you feeling something terrible has happened. Gorgeously disturbing. To make Kallie happy I'd better put a picture of Mew in.
There, now you can see her precious Jonas Bjerre.
If you want to use up more bandwith, also check out Human by Carpark North. The clip is really cool and cute but kind of disturbing. I like when the kid hits the desk at school.
Moi Caprice has awesome songs. They sound cute. They sound playful even. But they also have that little bit of sadness and darkness in them. It's like "the world has turned something innocent into something perverted, but we'll choose to hold into the innocence". Like in My girl you blush:
If we’re happy on a barstool,
we’ll buy the bar we’re in.
If we’re kicked out of every art school,
we’ll paint each other’s skin.
If your jokes prove you an arch fool,
I’ll love you with a grin...
And you'll blush,
you blush my girl
you blush.
Perhaps I should end here by mentioning another Danish band Kallie has started getting into. Kashmir. The title of this post comes from one of their songs, The cynic. Lyrics from another song, Ophelia, adequately sums up this whole theme of innocence in the darkness in Danish alternative rock.
Disappeared in the park
Left me probing in the dark
Put me off the path.
You're the pebble in my shoe
And the beauty in my view
Beaming through the glass.
Ophelia...you're falling out
Too tedious to talk about?
Insurmountable... always colourful.
I don't want to know
How you do what you do.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Okay, I admit I'm strange
Before we get to that, let me ask you a couple of questions.
Do you see numbers in colours? What about letters?
If you're reading that and you haven't figured out what I mean, then I'm guessing you don't. What I asked didn't make sense to you, right?
Well, to me it made a lot of sense. If someone asked me that I would know exactly what they were talking about. You see, I see numbers and letters in colours. I think it's something I've always done, and up until a couple of mouse years ago I never questioned this, assuming everyone else did the same. Then I discovered that not many people actually do. Most people I asked would stare at me blankly and get confused while I struggled to explain it. Then they would think about it. Then they would answer, "Err... no." I have only ever met one other person who can do it- Rebecca- but she's a special case in that she taught herself to see the colours while at uni.
By now you're thinking, "Desperado has lost the plot." I never had the plot. Anyway, let me explain what normally happens to me. Let's say we examine the word mouse.
You probably see it as:
I see it kind of like:
I don't consciously make the letters and numbers change colour. They just have colour. And the colours are consistent. For example, my favourite number 8 is always green. B is always red. How nice I find a word depends on its colours.
Kallie is awful. Too much yellow and pink. The background is black so you can see the white i.
Rebecca also has too much yellow and pink.
Samantha looks better. I like green.
There is a neurological phenomenon called synesthaesia, where the stimulation of one sensory pathway causes an involuntary experience in another. For instance, some people hear a sound which causes them to see a particular colour. More strangely, some people hear a certain word or phoneme and it causes them to taste things, like the sound f tastes like sherbert. There are many types of synesthaesia. One of the most common is grapheme->colour synesthaesia, where letters and numbers are shaded or tinged with different colours. It is involuntary and the colours are consistent.
I'm not sure, but I don't think I have grapheme->colour synesthaesia. Yes, I don't voluntarily make myself see letters as colours, and yes, the colours are always consistent for particular letters or numbers.
I did a lengthy online test to find out if I had synesthaesia. My score suggested that I have grapheme->colour synesthaesia.
Score:
Synesthaesia: < 1.0
Normal memory/association: around 2
Desperado: 0.54
Accuracy:
Synesthetic: 85-100%
Non-synesthetic: < 85%
Desperado: 98.61%
I'm still not convinced. It still might have been a memory thing. If I do have synesthaesia I must not have it strongly. It doesn't affect my life in any way, and unless I'm paying attention most of the time I don't even notice that the black letters are coloured. Possibly I just associate letters with colours. Maybe Sesame Street's letter of the week had a big impact on me as a kid.
Regardless, it's still pretty cool and interesting. So, what colour is the letter A to you? =)
Do you see numbers in colours? What about letters?
If you're reading that and you haven't figured out what I mean, then I'm guessing you don't. What I asked didn't make sense to you, right?
Well, to me it made a lot of sense. If someone asked me that I would know exactly what they were talking about. You see, I see numbers and letters in colours. I think it's something I've always done, and up until a couple of mouse years ago I never questioned this, assuming everyone else did the same. Then I discovered that not many people actually do. Most people I asked would stare at me blankly and get confused while I struggled to explain it. Then they would think about it. Then they would answer, "Err... no." I have only ever met one other person who can do it- Rebecca- but she's a special case in that she taught herself to see the colours while at uni.
By now you're thinking, "Desperado has lost the plot." I never had the plot. Anyway, let me explain what normally happens to me. Let's say we examine the word mouse.
You probably see it as:
I see it kind of like:
I don't consciously make the letters and numbers change colour. They just have colour. And the colours are consistent. For example, my favourite number 8 is always green. B is always red. How nice I find a word depends on its colours.
Kallie is awful. Too much yellow and pink. The background is black so you can see the white i.
Rebecca also has too much yellow and pink.
Samantha looks better. I like green.
There is a neurological phenomenon called synesthaesia, where the stimulation of one sensory pathway causes an involuntary experience in another. For instance, some people hear a sound which causes them to see a particular colour. More strangely, some people hear a certain word or phoneme and it causes them to taste things, like the sound f tastes like sherbert. There are many types of synesthaesia. One of the most common is grapheme->colour synesthaesia, where letters and numbers are shaded or tinged with different colours. It is involuntary and the colours are consistent.
I'm not sure, but I don't think I have grapheme->colour synesthaesia. Yes, I don't voluntarily make myself see letters as colours, and yes, the colours are always consistent for particular letters or numbers.
I did a lengthy online test to find out if I had synesthaesia. My score suggested that I have grapheme->colour synesthaesia.
Score:
Synesthaesia: < 1.0
Normal memory/association: around 2
Desperado: 0.54
Accuracy:
Synesthetic: 85-100%
Non-synesthetic: < 85%
Desperado: 98.61%
I'm still not convinced. It still might have been a memory thing. If I do have synesthaesia I must not have it strongly. It doesn't affect my life in any way, and unless I'm paying attention most of the time I don't even notice that the black letters are coloured. Possibly I just associate letters with colours. Maybe Sesame Street's letter of the week had a big impact on me as a kid.
Regardless, it's still pretty cool and interesting. So, what colour is the letter A to you? =)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I am being
Being small means...
...I see things from an awesome perspective.
Being distracted means...
...I notice gorgeous details.
Being a science geek means...
...I get to visit beautiful places no one else sees.
Being immature means...
...I have fun playing with model planes.
Being Australian means...
...I am surrounded by oceans.
I am being reminded of God's goodness because He has blessed me with so many privelages.
...I see things from an awesome perspective.
Being distracted means...
...I notice gorgeous details.
Being a science geek means...
...I get to visit beautiful places no one else sees.
Being immature means...
...I have fun playing with model planes.
Being Australian means...
...I am surrounded by oceans.
I am being reminded of God's goodness because He has blessed me with so many privelages.
Monday, July 13, 2009
For a silly friend
And when she cried
She wouldn’t stop!
I couldn’t make her stop.
And so I watched every tear drop;
I couldn’t make her stop.
She wouldn’t stop!
She wouldn’t stop!
I couldn’t make her stop.
And with every small glist’ning drop
I felt I couldn’t make her stop.
I felt I shouldn’t make her stop.
I even willed her tears to drop
Because it was beautiful.
She wouldn’t stop!
I couldn’t make her stop.
And so I watched every tear drop;
I couldn’t make her stop.
She wouldn’t stop!
She wouldn’t stop!
I couldn’t make her stop.
And with every small glist’ning drop
I felt I couldn’t make her stop.
I felt I shouldn’t make her stop.
I even willed her tears to drop
Because it was beautiful.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Lots of 7 things
I haven't updated for a while and lack inspiration to write cool stuff, so instead here's another meme! Yay! I feel unwell. I borrowed (stole) this from someone else's blog.
7 things you will find in your room:
1. CDs
2. bass guitar
3. Kallie might be there, sleeping in a weird position
4. Teddies!
5. Old books
6. Disturbing heavy textbooks
7. Pastels
7 relationship questions (shh! *blush*)
1. Do you like anyone? Yes.
2. Does someone like you? Maybe.
3. Last kiss? I just kissed Remus, the wolf teddy
4. Been lead on? Kind of.
5. Been cheated on? No.
6. Want a relationship? Yes.
7. Want to get married? One day this would be nice.
7 other things. Do you:
1. Believe in God? Yes, and His son Jesus Christ.
2. Had a dream come true? Does having a nightmare come true count?
3. Read the newspaper? Sometimes.
4. Get enough sleep everyday? You can never have enough.
5. Have a best friend? I have several.
6. Take a bath daily? I shower daily.
7. Wish on stars? No. I try to name them.
7 have you evers. Have you ever:
1. Fallen in love? =D haha wouldn't you like to know. Or not know. Or whatever.
2. Kissed someone of the same sex? No.
3. Hooked up with someone who was already attached? No. And I never would, unless it was me they were attached to =)
4. Been to a bonfire? Yes.
5. Ran away from home? Yes.
6. Played strip poker? No.
7. Pulled an all nighter? Not from studying, but from being too scared to sleep.
7 things in the last 24 hours. Have you:
1. Cried? No.
2. Had fun? Yes.
3. Been kissed? No.
4. Felt stupid? Multiple times.
5. Talked to an ex? No.
6. Missed someone? Yes.
7. Listened to music? Yes.
7 things on your mind:
1. Appendicitis
2. Work
3. Confirmation
4. A close friend who shall not be named
5. Sleepy
6. Must pray
7. The song "Release the Kraken" and how much I like it.
7 things you can't live without:
1. God.
Okay, I'm changing the question. Here are 6 things I wouldn't like to live without, but they aren't necessary as long as I have God:
2. Music
3. Internets
4. Pens and paper
5. Pasta with cheese
6. Animals
7. My bed
Sleepy now.
7 things you will find in your room:
1. CDs
2. bass guitar
3. Kallie might be there, sleeping in a weird position
4. Teddies!
5. Old books
6. Disturbing heavy textbooks
7. Pastels
7 relationship questions (shh! *blush*)
1. Do you like anyone? Yes.
2. Does someone like you? Maybe.
3. Last kiss? I just kissed Remus, the wolf teddy
4. Been lead on? Kind of.
5. Been cheated on? No.
6. Want a relationship? Yes.
7. Want to get married? One day this would be nice.
7 other things. Do you:
1. Believe in God? Yes, and His son Jesus Christ.
2. Had a dream come true? Does having a nightmare come true count?
3. Read the newspaper? Sometimes.
4. Get enough sleep everyday? You can never have enough.
5. Have a best friend? I have several.
6. Take a bath daily? I shower daily.
7. Wish on stars? No. I try to name them.
7 have you evers. Have you ever:
1. Fallen in love? =D haha wouldn't you like to know. Or not know. Or whatever.
2. Kissed someone of the same sex? No.
3. Hooked up with someone who was already attached? No. And I never would, unless it was me they were attached to =)
4. Been to a bonfire? Yes.
5. Ran away from home? Yes.
6. Played strip poker? No.
7. Pulled an all nighter? Not from studying, but from being too scared to sleep.
7 things in the last 24 hours. Have you:
1. Cried? No.
2. Had fun? Yes.
3. Been kissed? No.
4. Felt stupid? Multiple times.
5. Talked to an ex? No.
6. Missed someone? Yes.
7. Listened to music? Yes.
7 things on your mind:
1. Appendicitis
2. Work
3. Confirmation
4. A close friend who shall not be named
5. Sleepy
6. Must pray
7. The song "Release the Kraken" and how much I like it.
7 things you can't live without:
1. God.
Okay, I'm changing the question. Here are 6 things I wouldn't like to live without, but they aren't necessary as long as I have God:
2. Music
3. Internets
4. Pens and paper
5. Pasta with cheese
6. Animals
7. My bed
Sleepy now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
