OH.

I already put out an August mix which you can find a few posts back, so consider this one to be the awkward middle child until I put out a September edition. Being that it's awkward, I have affectionately titled this 50 minute piece, "OH" (to be effective you need to say the word in a very dry and monotone fashion to constitute judgement or lack of approval). The track selection is random yet effective and includes some odd moments, some bangers, some classics, and more. Enjoy.

About my mixes:

After posting my August mix some people asked why it has to be one long track instead of cutting it down to individual parts. That's a valid question but these are mixes not albums. I make them by recording myself while I DJ in real-time so the end result is one file of everything I have done for however long I choose to DJ. If you're new to DJ mixes and have a hard time following the whole thing in one sitting I recommend playing them while working out, partying, relaxing, going on a long drive, etc.

All moved in with training under way

It's back to school season again and my final year of college is about to begin. I moved into my house back at school yesterday and aside from general adjusting among a few other things, it's turning out pretty descent.  This is my first time living in a house on my own rather than a dorm or apartment so it's going to be a pretty different year in that regard. My room is the smallest one in the house but I am totally fine with that since my rent is cheaper than what I was paying for my lackluster apartment last year.

My room is in the basement and already my allergies are running rampent because of it. Hopefully it's just a result of moving in and kicking up dust but I wouldn't be surprised if there is mold in the walls... My bathroom/shower area is awkward down here because it shares the laundry room so I spent a few hours deep cleaning/bleaching it all. I have a few other things in mind to make it more comfortable but overall the house is really not bad at all and I actually have cable and internet in my room unlike in my apartment.

The reason I moved in this week is because I have internship training until Thursday, but classes don't start until next Monday. I talked about my internship a bit in this post if you want to take a look. Training began bright an early at 8am this morning with some general welcoming chats followed by the Fall 2010 Convocation presented by the President of SCSU and other staff. This was my first time attending Convocation, although it is open to everyone. It was actually really interesting to hear what has been and will be going on behind the scenes with SCSU.

After Convocation, we (the interns, graduate assistants, and CSOLD leadership) went over some more logistics and specifics of the department and ended the day with plenty of team building activities. For it being a 9 hour day with minimal sleep the night before and tons of ice breakers/team builders that I have played time and time again while working for parks and recreation and SCSU residential life, it was actually pretty fun. The other interns and the rest of the CSOLD team seem very nice and I see myself really enjoying this internship. One day of training down, two to go. I plan on posting various updates throughout the semester regarding my progress and experiences with this internship so stay tuned.

In other life news: Heading to my first Twins game at the new field on Friday night!

August Mixtape: Freaknik

I just finished fine tuning a mix I put together a few weeks ago and it's ready for download. It's a short one, only about 25 minutes, but it packs enough noise to freak out to/get freaky to/act like a freak to or just enjoy while having a picnic... thus, FREAKNIK. The tracks range from new and old so I hope you all enjoy, I had a lot of fun making it. You can stream and download below or use this link directly. Don't worry, it's a safe download so ignore any awkward ads on the site. Also, since it is a longer file, buffering may take a moment or two if you're trying to stream it first.

"Who To Follow": Will it lead Twitter down the same dark and failed path as Facebook?

I logged into Twitter a few minutes ago and noticed a new feature called "who to follow" and I found myself asking "why?!".  For those who don't know, I have been less and less interested in Facebook for quite some time and I have been debating deleting my account over the past few months. I am a huge believer that Twitter, when used correctly, can be an amazing tool for networking, learning, and finding a plethora of valuable information you may have otherwise overlooked. On the contrary, I think Facebook is a medium for college students (and now, people much younger and much older) to take part in social "networking" activities that don't hold much value at all. Yes, of course it is a great way to keep in contact with people, which is the reason I continue to keep my account, but a majority of the rest of Facebook just seems pointless to me ("Likeing" everything, fan groups for absolutely everything, status rants, having 500+ "friends") it's just too much.

Two specific things I have never liked about Facebook are the "people you may know" and "recommended pages" features. I have always thought it was a joke to have hundreds and hundreds of friends on a friends list when a fraction of them are actually valuable relationships.  To be recommended more people and things to add just because they are a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who likes the same thing as another friend who knows you is just annoying. If you don't know someone well enough or like them enough to add them in the first place then why add them at all? This brings me to my point with Twitter's new addition. It does the exact same thing as mentioned above. It pulls information from the people you already follow, checks into who else follows them and suggests you follow the third party because you might get along.  I don't know... maybe this posting makes no sense and has no people who agree. I just think it's an unnecessary feature.  Twitter has been fine from the start; simple, clean, easy to use, etc. The "find people" feature on Twitter worked and still works for looking up new people to follow, and it actually means you have to know a name to search for in the first place. I don't have an urge to follow these suggestions whether I recognize them or not. There's likely a reason why I haven't searched them out on my own. Long story short, I see what Twitter is trying to do but I hope they know what they are really doing. We don't need another Facebook. I welcome any thoughts anyone has, I am really interested to see where this takes the brand and who knows, maybe my opinion will change.

Memories of Paris

The strengths of Robert James

Personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, values, etc. all make up who we are and even if we think we know exactly what we're all about it's still cool to learn more or have it reinforced.  In preparation for an upcoming internship with my university's Center for Student Life and Leadership Development, I was asked to complete a strengths quest.  This was an online assessment which asked a series of questions to which I would answer on a scale ranging from "neutral" to "strongly describes me".  It wasn't too different from most personality/skills assessments out there but the results were pretty spot on and in depth. Based on my responses I was assigned 5 of 34 themes. Check em out:

RELATOR

People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.


Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

RESPONSIBILITY

People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.


Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

INTELLECTION

People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.


You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.

RESTORATIVE

People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.


You love to solve problems. Whereas some are dismayed when they encounter yet another breakdown, you can be energized by it. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong, and finding the solution. You may prefer practical problems or conceptual ones or personal ones. You may seek out specific kinds of problems that you have met many times before and that you are confident you can fix. Or you may feel the greatest push when faced with complex and unfamiliar problems. Your exact preferences are determined by your other themes and experiences. But what is certain is that you enjoy bringing things back to life. It is a wonderful feeling to identify the undermining factor(s), eradicate them, and restore something to its true glory. Intuitively, you know that without your intervention, this thing—this machine, this technique, this person, this company—might have ceased to function. You fixed it, resuscitated it, rekindled its vitality. Phrasing it the way you might, you saved it.

EMPATHY

People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.


You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament—this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings—to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

I think these themes are pretty accurate and aside from the brief summaries above, each theme also listed numerous action items or terms that define the themes even further.  All of this was pretty darn interesting.  I needed an access code from my university in order to take this assessment but if you want to learn more about yourself there are a lot of free variations.

Albums in rotation part 2

I published a post not too long ago with a list of current albums and respective songs that I was really feeling at the time and I would like to add to that list today with some new material.  I hope to turn this into a reoccurring segment here on the blog as I am always finding new music I love to share. Same delivery as before, click the artist/album titles for info regarding each. Enjoy.

Chiddy Bang - The Swelly Express

These guys successfully mix hip-hop and alternative/electronic samples to create some truly unique music.  The Swelly Express is a mixtape from 2009 but a studio album is due for release this August.

Check out: Truth (feat. Passion Pit), The Opposite of Adults (feat. MGMT)

Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream

I know I am a bit late on this one but this album is still worth mentioning.  I have always enjoyed the single Walking On A Dream but never got around to hearing the whole album until recently.  Their sound reminds me of MGMT but better.

Check out: Walking On A Dream, We Are The People, Country

Pendulum - Immersion 

Still giving this album some time but it does have it's high points.  My only complaint is that some of the tracks are a bit too fast for me since I am not a big fan of the drum and bass genre.

Check out: The Island Pt II (Dusk)

Girl Talk - Unstoppable / Night Ripper

You may be familiar with Girl Talk's more recent album, Feed The Animals.  I am a huge fan of it so I wanted to give some of his older stuff a try.  It's hard to pick out favorite tracks from each but they are both pretty cool and since they are older there are some older samples as well which can bring back some memories.

The Swell Season - The Swell Season / Once / Strict Joy

I absolutely love these guys.  The Swell Season is the real life band of the characters from the movie, Once.  If you have not seen it I highly recommend it if you're into music and independent film.  These songs are very genuine and honestly, fricking sad.  Their style works and I connect to some of it more than I ever thought I would (given the fact that I am not necessarily a huge fan of Irish folk music).

Check out: Falling Slowly, When Your Mind's Made Up, Lies, and everything else

Are family blogs a new trend?

I was looking at random blogs here on blogger via hitting the "next blog" button again and again out of boredom and came across a handful of family blogs.  I have never seen anything of the sort before and while clicking through for about five minutes I saw at least four blogs about families.  I thought it was the strangest thing.  These are blogs set up by parents who write posts about their kids and the things that are going on in their homes... I don't get it.  I can see one justifiable reason which would be to set up a blog about your family just to keep your extended family up-to-speed but to have it wide open for anyone is just odd.

I skimmed a few posts of one of these blogs in particular and the topics included a new haircut, a rash on a daughter's face (with pics), a school play, play-dates, etc.  A different blog was a little more vacation-heavy and talked about trips and the such which I can understand but I couldn't help but immediately think of the show, John and Kate + 8.  I wouldn't be surprised if these families followed the series feeling like they deserved a similar spotlight and fired up a blog to document themselves for the world to see.  I guess I just don't understand the point of it.  I especially wouldn't want to do it if I was the parent and if I had young children, it just doesn't seem right.  Am I looking into this too much for how small and pointless it is?  Are family blogs a new trend?  Is it modern and cool to be a family blogger?  Are parents that blog about their kids "with it" or is some self-evaluating in order?

Technical Update

For reasons beyond my control (I spent a great deal of time trouble shooting to come to a solution) videos that I embed in my posts are not showing up properly in Safari.  Everything was working fine last night and I have no idea what happened.  I switched over to Google Chrome and everything seems to be normal but I will try to figure it out when I have time.  I have no idea what my blog looks like on Internet Explorer, anyone who is still using that should really switch to Google Chrome as I have never had any problems with it before.  Let me know in the comments section if any other problems come up.

Albums in rotation

Here is a list of some albums that I recently got my hands on, some good, some alright, some not.  Click the artist/band name for info about them and the album name for Amazon.com.  I have also listed my current favorite tracks from each album which are sure to change (there's a lot of new music here to choose from!)

Eminem - Recovery
I am not a die-hard Eminem fan but I do think he's entertaining.
Check out: Going Through Changes (love the Ozzy Osbourne sample here), Won't Back Down

Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
After falling in love with their recent album, Wolfgang Amadeus, I wanted to give this one a try from 2006 and it's fantastic.
Check out:  Too hard to decide

The National - High Violet
The new album from a great band that I was introduced to while living in England.
Check out: Sorrow, England

Ok Go - Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky
I'll be honest, these guys never really grabbed my attention but I had an urge to listen to this album and so far it's nice.
Check out: White Knuckles, While You Were Asleep

The XX - XX
I had heard of these guys a while back but never got my hands on the album until now. Really love their sound.
Check out: VCR, Night Time

Vampire Weekend - Contra
Similarly to Ok Go, I have never found myself craving anything by Vampy Wknd but have still wanted to give this album a shot.
Check out: Still deciding

Mystery Jets - Serotonin
I gave these guys a try when they released the album, Twenty One.  I liked it at first but it didn't stick.  I downloaded this new album and I liked it so much it made me start listening to Twenty One again.  I guess I just wasn't ready for them initially.
Check out: Too Late to Talk, many others

Discovery - LP
I heard about this band while in England as well but never gave them a try until now. I can honestly say this album is horrible.  It has it's moments but I do not like the overall package. Maybe it will grow on me.
Check out: Osaka Loop Line

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
Oldie but goodie
Check out: Run My Mouth

Yeasayer - Odd Blood / All Hour Cymbals
Hard to say what I like and don't like here.  Both albums are very different and have elements of good and bad.
Check out: Both albums are still growing on me

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
I heard about these guys a few months ago when I found a remix of their single Something Good Can Work and finally got around to getting the album.  Great stuff.
Check out: Something Good Can Work, Undercover Martyn

Big Boi (from Outkast) - Sir Lucious Left Foot...  The Son of Chico Dusty
I have always been a fan of Outkast as well as Big Boi's and Andre 3000's solo work. They are each unique artists and their sound is far from cookie-cutter hip-hop.  This album showcases that.
Check out: Daddy Fat Sax, Shutterbug

A Killer Tire

I don't even know where to begin with this one because it is so well known and unknown at the same time and there are things to talk about on multiple levels so I'm going to keep it brief and cut to the specifics I want to show.  Mr. Oizo, one of my favorite DJs/producers/film makers/wierdos is has a new movie called Rubber about a tire that comes to life and goes on a rampage.  It was shown at the Cannes International Film Festival not too long ago and is being shown in Montreal very soon and will hopefully be released within the year. I have always loved everything Oizo makes because his musical and cinematic style is so unique and unconventional. There are very few people out there as odd as him but he knows how to make odd things work.

As with any movie, there needs to be a soundtrack.  Who better to make the soundtrack for Rubber than Oizo himself?  I agree.  He has also enlisted the help of fellow Ed Banger label-mate and one half of Justice, Gaspard Auge.  This brings me to the point of this post.  Not only am I extremely excited for this film but for the soundtrack as well.  I can't imagine how mind bending both products are going to be. To give you some idea and to bring you up to speed I have included a zany teaser for the film and soundtrack as well as a sampler of some of the music here.  If you have never experienced anything by Mr. Oizo don't be discouraged.  It can take time to appreciate the art behind his noise.  I have been following the progress of the film and I will update accordingly with release dates.  Get excited people!

Recently...

My 4th year of college is behind me, Summer is half over, I have been jobless since I moved back home (regardless of applying for countless positions since February) and life in general has been uneventful.  I have been spending my days hanging around or working out and improving my DJing skills among other things.  For the past month or so I have been preparing for a fashion show that I will be co-hosting and DJing.  As of right now it is scheduled for a tentative date of July 16th, you should all come and help out if you happen to be near Northbranch, MN (it is a fundraiser fashion show put on by Maurice's clothing store).  The remainder of the summer will fly by as it always does and I will be back in St. Cloud for my final (finally) year of school.

It's funny how things pan out each summer.  I always have full intentions of doing fun things, taking trips, meeting up with friends from all over, etc. etc.  I haven't accomplished much of that at all this year.  I did manage to make it out to a concert to see none other than Dj Mehdi, one of my favorite acts on the Ed Banger Label from Paris, alongside Henry Riton.  Together they put on a show under the name of their current collaboration project, Carte Blanche.  It was phenomenal and I was able to shake Dj Mehdi's hand!  I felt like a little school girl meeting Justin Bieber.  It was a highlight to say the least as I am unhealthily obsessed with the entire Ed Banger Records crew.  Maybe you are too, but if you're not you should at least check them out.

I think it's about time...

...that I get my act together and start blogging again.  After losing touch and claiming I would be back time and time again I decided enough is enough.  I originally wanted to start fresh with a new blog on wordpress.  I got as far as choosing a layout, name, url, etc. and nothing more.  That was almost half a year ago and I never posted anything on it.  This blog you're now reading has been too long in the making to abandon it all together.  Instead, I decided to come back with a crispy minimal layout facelift and start it up again.  As I have said before, I have no idea where my blogging will take me but I am going back to my original intentions of posting things I love, things I find that I want to share, and updates worth ranting about.  I hope you enjoy and stay tuned.  Tell your followers to follow me.

MISSING

I bet you have noticed my extended absence from this blog as of late and I bet this is not the first time you noticed me leave this blog for a period of time.  I can explain.  A lot of it has to do with life in general.. I have been extremely busy this semester not only with school but also with job/internship hunting and other life stuff.  As graduation gets closer, although it is still a year away, I start to get more wrapped up in the real world.  As a result, I have devoted most of my online time to cleaning up my Facebook (it was already professional but it didn't hurt to do some fine tuning), building a more advertising and job oriented Twitter network, and starting a LinkedIn profile for even more networking.  After realizing how all of these social networking sites can be used as tools to get jobs and meet people in my industry/field, I started neglecting my casual opinionated blog.  I am in a pickle of sorts.  I have had this blog for quite a long time so I don't want to flat out delete it because it is fun to look back on but at the same time I'm not sure how I feel about potential employers seeing my zany opinions.  A lot of what I write or post on here might come across completely different or badly to someone who does not know me at all and for the most part I don't care, that's part of what makes blogs cool.  On the other hand however, I don't want to make a bad impression on the people who matter.  What to do, what to do...

Sure I could just make my blog private instead of public but thats no fun.  I hardly have any readership as it is with my blog being wide open to everyone.  If I make it private I will probably never write on here again.  At least when it is public I have an excuse to post these pointless ramblings.  I'll figure it out but if you have pointers let me know.

Lil Wayne makes 9 music videos in 48 hours

Apparently Lil Wayne is heading to prison for weapons charges... news to me.  In real "gangsta" fashion he had a "going away party" at some trendy urban nightclub in his honor.  A lot of rap industry "greats" were in attendance to wish Weezy off.  It looked more like a celebration than anything else.  I always thought it was a strange idea for people to have going away parties prior to being thrown in jail.  You're going to jail... sure, it might seem like an appropriate time to live it up before being locked up but you committed a crime so why are you celebrating?  Most of the people at Lil Wayne's party probably don't even care but were just hungry for publicity.  It's really annoying to me when celebs get convicted and it turns into such an entertainment spectacle.  The same thing happened with T.I. except rather than just having a party, he got a show on MTV documenting him "trying to do good things" before being locked up.  It's not entertaining.  You committed a crime, you're going to jail, deal with it.  You already have millions of dollars so quit trying to get last minute publicity.  If you are so worried about being forgotten then you probably haven't been doing things right during your career.  In that regard, I also find it interesting that Lil Wayne spent this past weekend making a total of 9 music videos.  9 videos?  It's kind of sad that a prison sentence is what it took to create such a work ethic.  Just serve your sentence, learn from it, and move on.  Ditch the spectacle.

This rant has been sponsored by Einstein Bros