The Hazards of Love. {Part One of Three}

Here is my poorly written review of The Decemberist's newest album, "The Hazards of Love."



This CD opens with an organ playing a pedal tone (its a d) for almost a minute. Upon which a chord is built and a simple chord progression is played, setting the stage of the rest of the album. It ends with a PAC (but that doesn't really matter). And a small amount of dissonance leads seamlessly in to the next song.

The next song is stays in the same key and seems to not stray from an established "Decemberists" sound. It is entitled "The Hazards of Love (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)." The bass is provided by a upright string bass. This song provides an introduction to the rest of the story.

And suddenly "A Bower Scene" starts; once again there is no transition and starts in the key of d. Margret, the main character (introduced in the previous song), is being spoken to and this being asked by her sister when her she will birth her child. And while she steadily gets bigger because of her sleeping with her lover, she runs off to the forest. The music gets "harder" at about a minute, foreshadowing later styles toyed with on this album. The music fits the lyrics, however, there is no specific reason why it does.

Transition in to forth movement is music like the middle section of the previous, and has a powerful bass line. This movement opens with a blues-y riff, that reminds me of the Band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. ruining the portions of this song with the riff. This is the first scene to feature Margret, the Heroine. She has a wispy, beautiful soprano voice that I cannot get enough of. Margret enters the forest, and is lost so she calls out to the wild to clear her a path so she can get to her love, William (who is not introduced by name, but rather in the album art). She has grown weak and tired so she longs for her Love's embrace. William calls back for her. When William enters, the music changes and uses a slightly distorted guitar, probably suggesting his masculinity. This movement is entitled "Won't Want for Love (Margret in the Taiga)."

"The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)"
William begins this ballad like song, he speaks of laying down with Margret, not caring, and "wagering it all" to risks of love. Here he is showing his love for her. This song is written beautifully even though the instrumentation is simple and the chord progressions are, as well. This serves the purpose of a simple scene where there is only love.

"The Queen's Approach"
This instrumental opens with a simple banjo melody. it is soft an quiet, but elegant.

"Isn't it a Lovely Night?"
An accordion opens the song with a cheery melody who is then imitated by Margret. She is singing about the baby that is on it's way. William replies and they then sing together. This song is oddly moving and fits the older style of the Decemberists more, especially with the accordion. and the rhythms This song is my favorite so far and very moving, for me. It reminds me of the movie "Sweeny Todd." The Steel guitar, is strange, as well, but fits the song well and doesn't make it feel like a bluegrass song too much.

"The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid"
This opens with a harpsichord, with a simple repeating melody. This is a discussion between the Queen and William. (And I just realized I was probably giving too much a away, but since I've started I will continue.) The queen is the Mother of William, making William a prince. In this movement William is symbolized by the harpsichord. He is basically accused by his mother that rescued him from the world of men, of being ungrateful and wishing for the world outside the forest. The Queen is represented by distorted electric guitars, she has a alto voice, the suits her part well. She sings in a bluesy style that reminds me of some female jazz singers.

"Interlude"
I'm going to end this post with the interlude. I don't have much to say. It is an interlude, it serves it's purpose.

Atari

READ ME!

Twitter

I love the pointlessness of Twitter. It pleases my ADD ridden mind and my ever changing emotions. I like fads, and when this one is over my Twitter will lay abandoned to haunt me when I wish to get a job.

"But really, what is the point of twitter?" my friends ask. I don't many people know, and I, even as a user, do not really know. According to Twitter's website (link) twitter is:

...a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages... These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.

There you go, it's a service that lets you keep in touch with people around you, in a timely fashion.

Well, I've heard it described that Twitter is merely a stalker engine, servings only stalkers who wish to find out what their "friends" are doing (even I, jokingly, have described it as such). I've used it this way (mostly to know what my father is doing, ;) ). But I've also used it to tell the world the pointless things I am doing. But I even use it when I want input, when I plan something, and to talk tech things with those around me.

Now, my friend (linked above) say that politicians using twitter no their job is immature. And I agree completely. I think that politicians can (and it may be beneficial for them to) have twitter accounts. But if they are acting as high school students texting "in class" and acting immature with useless texting that could affect their judgment on important matters, they should not. However, It may help politicians with gaining supporters, if they seem modern and actively update their twitter to communicate their feelings on some topics. And I like to know what is going on directly from the political field.

So even though my friend sees the pointlessness of Twitter and the misuse by politician as another fad and I see it as a useful tool, I completely agree. Twitter is pointless, a fad and definitely a passing trend. But I shall continue to use it to stalk my friends (and my father), to announce to the uncaring Internet that I am, in fact pooping, to look at pictures that photographers post, to check when my favorite web comic is updated, to check on updates on a series of TV shows that I once enjoyed, and to use it as it is supposed to be used, to communicate with my friends.

Photo Blog

Thinking about starting a Photography blog. I already upload to flickr, but If anyone that reads this is interested in a Photo blog, please, do tell me.

Typography: A conparison of Windows and Mac OS X (and linux)

As this year has progressed I have learned much about writing. Because we live in the world of computers I have learned much about the presentation of writing. In essence I have learned about typography.

Now really, typography is much more than just how the words look as a whole, but rather about the characters themselves. However I don't really intend to go into the character part of this art.

Typography as defined by Merriam-Webster:

ty·pog·ra·phy
Pronunciation: \tī-ˈpä-grə-fē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Medieval Latin typographia, from Greek typos impression, cast + -graphia -graphy
Date: 1610

1: letterpress printing
2: the style, arrangement, or appearance of typeset matter

Fist let me show you example of some text:


These simple glyphs are very fundamental in the appearance of a text publication. They are heavily supported by OpenType (which has a ton of other great features). OpenType was developed by Adobe and Microsoft. However none of the features that OpenType supports are supported in any Microsoft product. So when a person pays to have a well developed word processing program (for a simple non-designer, or a cheap person) they don't get features the the company helped develop. Odd, isn't it? On the other you you can pay Adobe $699 for complex design program and that has a steep learning curve and no one, except a designer, would need InDesign.

For someone who doesn't have money but wants their papers to look good, this causes a problem. Use Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org (developed by Sun, open source, free),or some other generic word processing program; Save up and buy the program; or do the illegal and pirate the program (which is stupid).

Oh and there's TeX but that's a bitch to learn the coding and difficult to change the font from the default. The default looks like an old math textbook.

And that gets sort of annoying.

Blogging, As a Whole

[I don't really feel like doing on of my other topics right now, but, well, I just feel like writing. So here goes it.]

Since I fist became an active participant in the Internet I have enjoyed the concept of the blog. I've had countless (aka 3) angsty, pubescent, emo blogs. Earlier I've had blogs that act a a digital diary or journal, which no one, except I could read. And I've even had legitimate blogs, that have lasted a few days. I've coded a blog in PHP and hosted my own WordPress blog on my computer, with my own domain name. But these ventures into the blogosphere have been futile. This year I was excited to blog for AP Language, but alas, because it was required, I didn't want to do it. This third term I have realized that blogging helps me become more aware of the world around me and helps me better place my thoughts on paper when I physically write a paper; this makes me want to write and I never realized that I could enjoy blogging this much.

[to be continued...]

...

I have some posts I'm in the process of writing. I Hope to have them up each day next week.

Topics Include:

• Genealogy
• Typography
• An interestingly sexist article
• Gay Marriage (again)
• Views on Religion in relation to history and Human Evolution

(I'll cross them out when I do them)

Gay Marriage and Christianity

Well, Iowa Supreme Court, well done. Unfortunately I have no faith in Iowans to keep the ruling constitutional. By 2012 the constitution will be changed and the married couples will be devastated. How will the legality of the marriages work then? Maybe, if one makes this point quickly and tries to spread it throughout the state, this will be reason enough to convince the majority that even if it is "immoral" (or something) that it would be kind of an immature move. But really, who can convince those that have been convinced of their faith, that they so stubbornly defend?

Now the Religious Right (do you like how I used a term that would make me sound more Intelligent?) cannot be convinced unless the Bible says so. So really we can't do anything, but, dare I say it? Pray. Pray that people of all walks of life have the right to be in love, to raise a family, to be married. Yes, pray. What an odd thing to say. But really, as a Christian, one should love everyone, just as their holy book says. Even as I was in middle school I felt that, even though I believed that being gay was immoral, gays were people and had the right to be married. My logic was this: Maybe you murder someone, God lets you; Maybe hit your wife, God lets you; Maybe you go and think inappropriate thoughts about a woman, God lets you; the punishment of one's sins is death, not jail. It also occurred to me that, according to generally accepted theology, we are all sinners and we are all going to hell. Therefore being gay isn't any worse than thinking a girl is pretty.

Now, as I've matured, thought about morality and religion, and realized there was more to the world, I've realized that being gay is fine, if not good. Maybe dating a girl that considers herself to be bisexual has given me another outlook on life. So, I'm proud to be an Iowan, right now, and in 2012 I will vote in support of gay marriage if there is a proposition against it.

May I suggest the Film "For the Bible Tells Me So." I'm watching it right now, So I don't really know how it ends, yet. But it is a documentary with interviews of Christian families with gay family members. It seems to be supportive of the gay walk of life.

PS: I might write an Essay on this sometime... I'll link it here if I do.