the pile of newspapers in my dorm room measures about 3 and a half feet high

I was in painting this morning and a girl was playing music off of her computer (the thing was minuscule, it was literally half the size of my laptop!!!) and she was claiming to be playing an Eric Clapton mix. Without any preparation or warning, "Lady in Red" starts playing and I wonder what sort of mood this girl was trying to create at 9:30am on a Monday morning. When hearing the song, everyone remembered the Smart Ones commercial from a few years back with a woman dancing around in a red dress. Honestly, I had no idea that Clapton is responsible. Oh, how I was ashamed of the amount of tv I watched as a kid (too much).

My pet peeve is when commercials on tv somehow sneakily have the ability to use music I adore. This past year along, I have heard Fiest, Apples in Stereo, Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, The Rapture, and I think Devotchka more often on tv than my own ipod. I know the origins of the music, but what happens in a few years when our children are talking about how that funeral song they guess was by Band of Horses just makes them recall a girl staring out of the moon roof of a Ford Edge 2008.



Music is created, ideally, to help evoke some sort of emotion or progressive insight, not to help recall advertisements for luxuries like cars, cell phones, and diamond necklaces your husband lays on your neck while you're sleeping (what if she didn't wake up and instead rolled over and broke it?).

perez is not my homeboy

i didn't think this would happen
but in response to a week's worth of information overload about how technology is constantly changing and how we need to keep up with it...somehow I, a somewhat non-technological, incapable traditionalist, have made a blog.

because when I think of blogs, I think of Perez Hilton...I hope to not go down that road...

Steve Rubel from Edelman Group spoke at Hofstra University last Wednesday to inform PR and Journalism majors alike about new media and how basically it is an unstoppable force we cannot control, but can utilize for our own benefit.

it scares me to imagine a future where people are more isolated than they already are and real personal contact is limited. I was reassured when Rubel stated that in order to reach consumers, business organizations must create relationships with their consumers. A collaboration between customers and businesses will generate the most success overall.

But still, I have always preferred interacting with people one on one and researching information independently. However, I realized that I must be more humble and come to the understanding that you have to keep up with what is already happening. My personal quest to bring about a society that values art, literature, music, and culture is not going to be successful until I adopt the habits and skills as my fellow consumers and peers. Which includes learning to appreciate blogs and those who read them.

On a personal level, my brain is fried. I spent about three hours in Calkins studio painting while listening to the new Devotchka album (thanks maggie), then I had to find the motivation to make this silly thing while waiting for my infinite amount of clothing to be washed. I'm going to attempt the crazy idea to sleep for three hours - the supposedly perfect amount in order to not be a zombie the next day. Which means if I sleep for three hours now...I'll be up before the sun still.

Tomorrow morning is more painting, reading Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais before class, and attempting once again to actually read the paper on a Monday.