Gina Harris's Blog, page 162

Band Review: STASH

STASH is an electro-pop duo based in Hollywood.
I find something sympathetic about them, so when I look at pictures of them I want to like them. Their beats are definitely catchy, so it should be there, but then I always find myself irritated instead.
Some of that is a brashness to the music. It feels like there are some effects that should be modulated, with a greater balance between the treble and bass. Without that, the music lacks sophistication.
I also notice what feels like an overemphasis on image and sexiness. Maybe the real problem is superficiality. The music keeps feeling like it should be good and I should like it, but then it ends up feeling stupid and annoying.
Your individual mileage may vary, but I found STASH very frustrating.
They may just be aiming too low.
http://www.dancestash.com/
https://soundcloud.com/dancestash
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPaEMjZhFWxTxyM8sp9jNw
https://www.facebook.com/DanceSTASH/
https://twitter.com/DanceSTASH

Spock

Without being really into it, I enjoy "Star Trek". It is enough of a part of our culture that you can recognize the references without being a big fan. So, when one of my friends in grade school started saying I was Spock, I knew the reference, but I have thought different things at different times about what it meant.
Jonathan's complaint was that I was too logical, and he was specific about that. I heard it as "no fun", which he probably was not saying because we played together a lot. I must have been at least kind of fun.
I also don't remember for sure when he called me Spock. It happened more than once, but it was probably concentrated into one time period. When we were playing together a lot was during Graveyard Airlines times, which was after Jennie came and I had my first best friend. That may have loosened me up more that I realize.
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-first-superhero-identity.html
(Spock would have found the Graveyard Airlines game highly irrational.)
I don't want to give the impression that Jonathan devastated me, but it was something that I remembered, and it's something that I return to periodically because how I feel about it has related to my values at a given time.
Spock's logic kind of has two different opposites. One counter to logic is intuition - going with your gut instead of reasoning through everything. The other is emotion, where you are led by your heart. Spock was all brain.
I have at various times romanticized both intuition and emotion over logic; who wants to be all stuffy and thinking about everything? I am nonetheless sure that the Spock thing must have come from me explaining - possibly quite pedantically - why something was a bad idea and wouldn't work. I do remember that when it was first said, and rankling in my soul, that I eventually decided that I was just practical. I can be very practical.
I still am practical, but I am also idealistic. I think things through, and then I do what feels right. This may only mean that I know exactly why I shouldn't do something, but a lot of it works out.
I may be thinking of it more, because in the last "Big Bang Theory" Sheldon had to come to a realization that choosing pure logic over emotion wasn't working for him.
I do see the allure. There are things that really hurt me that I can logically see are wrong, and unfair, and so I should be able to shake them off, but I can't. That can suck a lot.
In the end, I have a good brain, but also a good heart and pretty good instincts, and I use all of them together, mostly appropriately.
That feels very human.

This season

Getting back to the screenwriting, if you look at my list of projects submitted to Amazon, not only did Jade Mask and Hungryget their start with dreams, but so did Out of Step and Family Blood.
https://studios.amazon.com/users/70821
If we look at the 6-page scripts that I did last October, Kate, Holly, The Taking, Future Shock, Jen, and Theme Park also all started with dreams:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/GinaHarris827
Clearly I remember my dreams and take inspiration from them. I may miss higher meaning from them because I get so caught up in stories. That's not necessarily bad. Stories are a normal way for me to think, and there can be symbolism and layered meaning in a story, with potential to view different aspects at different times.
I have also had dreams that were clearly symbolic, or revealed emotions, or contained deeper messages, but there was this concern that I could be missing something.
The dream reading list was supposed to be done adjacent to the gardening reading list, and I had set them for the beginning of the year partly because I wanted to have greater gardening knowledge when it was time to plant. I was going to alternately read dream and gardening books right after finishing the Native American Heritage reading.
That didn't work out. I was dealing with a lot of emotional pain and financial anxiety, which are still hanging around, and also I was concentrating on writing, which seemed like the right thing to do. Eventually everything does get read anyway.
At some point I realized that the reason I was trying to put all of those books together then was to try and get in touch with something both more earthy and more spiritual.
I spend my days on a computer. That's how I write, that's how I research, and that's how I earn a living. It's a lot of screen time.
Spirituality is also important to me, and receiving guidance. That happens in my life, but it happens in a very matter of fact way. I will often think "Oh, I should do this" and when I see someone in distress I know what to say, but it happens in a very business-like manner.
Often when I am reaching out to people and comforting them, it is through the computer anyway. My eyes will be drawn to a tweet, and I will know exactly how to respond. It's brief and easy, but sometimes it really matters.
I am glad to be there for that, but I also remember times when it was much more common for me to get chills or be moved to tears spiritually. I have a friend who is doing some heavy spiritual lifting right now, and she has some amazing experiences happening.
That caused me to question whether I am really where I should be. Should my life be bigger right now? Because of that I was thinking that maybe I needed to reconnect with the dream world, and work the earth, and get in touch with my non-digital side.
(Or, if we think of it as a data-driven side, going along with my solution to everything being to read more about it, then we could see some irony in my thinking that reading more books would be the answer.)
I think there are still valid questions there, but I am also accepting my current state. One thing that I see with my friend's experiences is that they are exhausting, and I do not have the resources for that. I have so many demands on my time and patience that I cannot afford to be overwhelmed. That's not necessarily a good thing, it's just where I am now.
One thing that I have been able to remember is that life goes through different phases. The year before I was in the garden plot almost every day, and did a lot more. This year I couldn't see that, so I just planted a few things outside my door. It was less ambitious, but there was still some satisfaction in that. Next spring something new will take shape.
In this phase of my life, I have to be efficient, and there might not be room for messier things. That could change surprisingly quickly, and I will adapt to what comes next. That's all I can say for this time.
Each season brings its own fruits.

Another reading list?

Last week I made a passing reference to one book I had read, The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss. What I did not mention was that it too was part of a reading list.
The dream reading list wasn't that impressive considering some of the other lists I have had going on. Only the Moss book was excellent. However, there were some relevant things about it.
There were only two other books:
Dreams: A Way to Listen to God by Morton T. KelseyThe New Secret Language of Dreams by David Fontana
This started with a dream I had in 2008. It was really time for me to start writing screenplays, and I thought I should work on Hungry, because I had been working on that idea on and off since I was in junior high. It wasn't flowing though.
(Of course, Hungry started with a dream, and was updated by a dream, but that's not what this post is about.)
In this dream I was walking down a street in Rome with a guy I knew from the singles ward. He was in a wheelchair, having been paralyzed in an accident. We weren't close, so dreaming of him was a little unusual.
We were arguing because there was something that we needed to get. We believed it was the key to helping him walk again, so it was important, but he wanted to break in and steal it. I was frustrated that he was so determined that he wasn't even considering that there might be easier, better ways. That's why we were arguing.
There was this image of a silver disk with a human face, and a jade mask of the same face that would fit over it, unlocking what was behind.
That became a story in my mind very quickly. Specifically, it became the first screenplay I wrote, and the one on which I learned formatting. You can view a PDF of it here:
https://studios.amazon.com/projects/61776
The story fell into place easily, but the image of the jade and silver faces were so real and so outside of my experience that I worried that maybe I had seen it in a movie or on television somewhere.
I posted on IMDB.com to see if it sounded familiar to anyone. It didn't, but one person replied about the dream itself and said that I needed to find out what I was hiding behind my mask, and what treasures it would unlock.
I didn't think too much about that at the time. I was too into the story and the excitement of writing it out and having it flow. I had written short stories and a novel before, and I had imagined many scenes that were intended for movies, but this was the first time I was writing in that format. Having learned it once, then I could go on and write the others, including Hungry. The dream and the story that came from it were a huge deal for me in that way.
That doesn't mean that the symbolic value of the dream wasn't important.
There was a book recommended in that discussion, but later I couldn't remember which one. That is how there got to be a dream reading list. I don't think it was the Moss book, but one of the other two. Therefore, the recommended book was one that resonated less, but it still got me there. Also, maybe it resonated less because I am missing something.
Right now a lot of what I am looking at is whether or not I am missing something. At the beginning of the year, when I read the other two books, I was thinking in those terms, and for specific reasons.
But those reasons can wait until tomorrow.

Band Review: Jana Mashonee

I first became aware of Jana Mashonee through her appearance in For The Generations. They did not play enough of her music to really get a sense of her as an artist, but I had thought it might be more dance-oriented.
That aspect is there. Her new single "Rocket Launch" could be played in dance clubs. Generally speaking, though, many of the songs off of her 2010 album, New Moon Born, could fit better into adult contemporary, and show strong Gospel roots.
Her 2015 songs may show a different direction, but her slower songs are beautiful. I was especially taken with "Solid Ground".
There are funkier tracks on New Moon Born as well - "Miracle" is a good example of that - and her take on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" merits listening. Thinking about the songs separately they don't seem to go together, but listening to the album together works.
The 2015 tracks have videos up as well, so it seems reasonable to assume there is more content coming. It is worthwhile to review her past songs first, and I enjoyed them.
http://www.janamashonee.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jana.mashonee.1
https://soundcloud.com/jana-mashonee
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwPnEN2MQzVV7fpExoRkpgQ
https://twitter.com/janamashonee

Band Review: Louy Fierce

While it would be easy to categorize Louy Fierce as rap/hip hop, his sound is not exclusively that. Many songs give attention to melody and musical elements, though there is usually at least one rap segment.
The bio information indicates that Fierce started playing multiple instruments early, and that is easily believable, with a solid delivery of musical elements.
That makes it more frustrating that the lyrics are so often irritating. Frequent references to weed and his own sense of greatness are common rap elements, but grating. (I find them grating in other artists too, but obviously there is an audience for it.)
With the musical skill and talent shown, it feels like the lyrics are worth working on. A period of focus on great writers, perhaps even some attempts to set poetry to music, might be a valuable growth experience.
http://www.louyfierce.com/
https://soundcloud.com/Louyfierce
https://www.facebook.com/LouyFierce/timeline?ref=page_internal
https://twitter.com/LouyFierce

Things we know wrong

I just finished a book on dreams, reminding me of a different book on dreams, especially with the references to Freud.
One of the interesting things from The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss is that Freud was largely influenced (especially regarding the Oedipal complex) by another book. I cannot remember its title, but the important thing about it is that one of the chapters had not been translated into a language Freud could read. If he had read it, he would have learned that some things were actually pretty common, and that could have changed his thinking.
That anecdote seems more timely because I recently saw this (though it's a few years old):
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-evidence-slaves-didnt-build-pyramids/
One thing I learned from this article is that the tradition of believing the laborers were slaves comes from the Greek historian Herodotus. He did travel, but he also recorded things that others told him. This includes a reference to a large furry ant living in the desert that was probably a marmot, caused by confusing the old Persian word for "marmot" with the word for "mountain ant". It could very easily be an understandable confusion on his part.
That in turn reminded me of something else I had seen recently:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/vikings-were-not-sex-mad-marauders-5358931
Apparently there had already been some people noticing that accounts of rape started about a hundred years after Viking raids had stopped, and the absence of Viking DNA among the descendants of those raided seems to confirm that raping does not always have to go with pillaging.
It's pretty sketchy when people refer back to history to justify or defend something immoral, because it's always been that way, but also, sometimes no, it wasn't that way. We only think it's that way because someone was confused, or lied, or assumed, and we kept it up unexamined.
Just some food for thought.

Post-Halloween wrap-up, 2015

I went to the doctor today.
All of my medical stuff happens in NW Portland. I really like those neighborhoods, so unless I am running late or maybe if it is raining, I will get off at MAX at PGE Park and walk to Good Sam's, then on the way back walk down to 11th where the streetcar turns. (Yes, I could catch the streetcar right by the hospital, but that's less walking).
Today's walk featured blue sky and falling yellow leaves. It felt pretty good, and I am feeling pretty good about things, even though my plans are ridiculously ambitious. Maybe I shook some sadness off yesterday.
I did not do a lot for Halloween. I wore no costume, I completed no crafts, and although I have requested one of those Halloween movies from the library, I won't actually get it until tomorrow.
I had thought it would be a cool thing to do Halloween-themed blog posts or to write a different scary story each week, focusing on different themes, but that didn't happen.
That reminds me of another thing. I got a reminder of my Goodreads goal this week, and I am pretty behind. Last year I read 100 books, including graphic novels and children's books, and part of that number is that on December 31st I saw that I was at 98 and so grabbed two books from Maria's children's collection to round things out.
When prompted to set a goal for 2015, I wanted to be kind of ambitious but not ridiculous. I chose 63, and I am fifteen away. I could grab the next batch of Caldecott medal winners and make it that way, but I probably won't, and it would still be less than last year.
I can't feel terrible about that though, because the main reason I have read less this year is that I've written more. Last year at this time I had published one book, but that was the one I wrote back in the 90's, Cara. Since then Family Blood, Family Ghosts, and Morganare out, and Family Reunion will be out soon. Writers need to read, but they need to write too, and I am .
Also, Family Reunion is reasonable Halloween material. It's set in summer, but still, it does have a lot of vampires.
So let me tell you the other thing about Halloween - I only carved one pumpkin, there was no theme, and I did not get it carved until Halloween night. I actually went out to carve it and came back in because I saw people going next door and thought trick-or-treaters were coming and that I should not be on the porch with a knife, unless that had been the plan all along. They were not trick-or-treating, so after waiting for a knock and giving up I went back out and had it carved with a lit candle inside before the first actual trick-or-treaters came. I think the downpour helped with that by delaying them.
That's not how I like things to go, but this year I grew three pumpkins. Last year I couldn't grow a single one. They were too small to carve, because I chose the Spirit variety, and actually one is still green, but still, it feels cool. Next year I want the whole yard to be pumpkins - maybe with sunflowers and some corn. We want to redo the lawn anyway so I might as well have an in between stage.
What I am feeling now is that there is time. I will work out my costume issues some year. I have had lots of writing ideas that it took me a while to get to. Maybe I will do a rash of spine-chilling stories next year, but there were good things happening this year, and there will be other years.
It was a happy Halloween.

Get-togethers and grief

A week ago I went to a memorial service.
I do not believe this will be a well-organized post at all, but there are things that I want to write about it, so I'm going to listen to "Kids in the Street" and "Fake Your Death" and let it be messy.
One thought is that it reminded me a lot of Josh. Both Andy and Josh did a lot of dramatic work. Andy did more sketch comedy and Josh did more plays, so I don't know that they overlapped much after high school. I don't remember any specific people that were at both, but there's also been a seven-year gap. Maybe they had mutual friends at Hollywood Lighting or something.
Still, both services were in theaters. Both were gone too soon, and were well-loved, so both leave holes. I hadn't seen either of them for a long time.
I never spent a lot of time with Andy. I knew and liked him, but our paths didn't cross much. I knew people spent time with him. My sister worked with him at 7-11, though and I hadn't known before Monday. I knew a lot of people who really loved him, so I went not just to remember Andy, but also as support for those he left behind.
That was hard. You can hug people and ask how they're doing, but they still hurt. I watched one person speak, and he did great but did break down a little. I felt for him, but then he came and sat down and his wife hugged and kissed him, and I remembered he has support. Then a little later she broke down, listening to someone else, and that's just how it goes. Grief is real.
And honestly, one of the best things about me is that I do not try to fix grief. No matter how much I know that you do get better at bearing it, and as sure as I am that I will see every departed person again, it still hurts and you have to let people feel that hurt. Often when people try and be comforting they step on that grief and try and quiet it, and people need to feel it and deal with it. But as much as I know that, and have been thanked for acknowledging that, I still totally want to fix it and I can't and it's hard.
I periodically organize gatherings. Last time I did this (in August), I remember trying to locate different people and fervently hoping that I wouldn't find out that we had lost someone else since the last time. I started thinking that maybe I should have blood pressure testing there, or provide information on quitting smoking, because we are at ages now where lifestyle changes can still make a difference, but need to be made soon. (Then I didn't because it felt like it would be hypocritical, or a turn-off, or something.)
I always stress out a lot over these. I especially worry that I don't get enough people to make it worth the while of the people who do come, so that I'm letting them down. Because of the stress, I always think that I am not going to do this again; there are other people who are better at getting people together and they should do it instead.
After Monday, seeing people from school, I suspect I will keep doing. It's nice that sometimes the last time we saw each other it was for karaoke, or '80s night, or nachos. And people do get together for death, but then there are divorces and job problems and things where we don't get together, but we still need the support. Maybe I really will try and organize a cruise for our 2025.
Those are the thoughts I have been having, minus two that I have been holding back. There was a memory book there, and people were sharing memories on Facebook as well. I didn't feel like I had anything to contribute, but there are two things that I do keep remembering. They were both watching Andy, not interacting with him, which is why they didn't feel like worthy contributions, but they keep coming back, so here goes.
One was homecoming. I didn't go to a lot of football games in high school, because the teams I managed gave me a lot of sporting events already, but I went to this one. I'm not even sure that I realized that the marching band had two leaders before, but we did: Andy and Ian (I think). I really am not even positive that it was tuxedos over their marching band uniforms or vice versa, but I'm pretty sure it was tuxedos on top. Anyway, they ran out onto the field, stripped off their outer layers, high fived each other, and then led the halftime. All the things I am unsure of sound like I don't remember it at all, I know, but what I remember is the cleverness and the cheek and the joy of it. They had fun, and the people watching had fun. The show would have been fine without it, but it made the night, at least for me.
The other was a commercial for the Portland Tribune when it was going to start being available in the suburbs. I wish I could find a clip. There is a handful of men sitting around talking slowly, rather like the beer drinkers in "King of the Hill", but instead of drinking beer in the alley they are sitting in the driveway of a row home. One of them is Andy. Most of them don't have much to say, but suddenly Andy rattles off a whole bunch of different relevant things; I just remember it ended with "And what's the deal with all the finger pointing in city hall?" (This is clever, because it sounds specific but can apply to multiple time frames.) Then he kind of takes a breath and nods, and is kind of back into somnolence like the others, only his eyes are kind of caffeinated. The point was that if you read the Tribune you will know what is going on and have things to say.
I thought Andy's portrayal was so perfect - with this burst of energy flaring up that you wouldn't have noticed before, but there was always that potential for something to just happen. Maybe it would be something more fun than you would think of, or something seemingly absurd but really pretty clever. It might be oddly subversive.
Now I will add to that the stories from the service, and the videos, and especially the video footage of him portraying a dog, which he really nailed with the sweetness and the enthusiasm and the vulnerability there.
It's good that we get together to grieve. It is also hard.

Band Review: Bongley Dead

I don't have a lot of information about Bongley Dead. I found them not through the usual process of being followed on Twitter - I don't think they are on Twitter - but by a sound file left in a comment on a blog post. Well, I don't mind unconventional approaches.
I have only found one web page at all affiliated with them, and even for that page the browsing could be a bit more convenient. It is still the source of a generous amount of good music.
There is a demo from 2012, Album 1 from 2013, and Album 2 with no date, for twenty-five tracks in all that are solid listening.
The band name and the descriptions of the band members' jobs make it seem like the music should be more geared toward horror. Marcello is responsible for evil, as well as vox and guitars, and that makes the "solver" by drummer Simone's name, and even "secretary" by bass player Federico, seem more ominous. However, the music is more traditionally rock than you might expect.
There is a kind of '90s alternative feel. The recording quality is more crisp than muddy, with more of a focus on guitars. At times I was reminded of Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, and even a little bit of the BoDeans on "The Edo Song". Bongley Dead establishes good grooves.
To really get an idea of their guitar skills, the best tracks to listen to are probably "Is It My Feet" and "Wasteland". Good tracks in general include "Wild Black Comedy", "Chained Monkeys", "The Way U Love Me" (not at all like the Paula Abdul song, which is fine), "Little Shine", and "A Better Daybreak".
I wouldn't mind seeing a stronger web presence for the band, helping them reach fans more effectively, but they have put good music out onto the internet, and I can't complain about that.
http://www.bongleydead.com/