I don't want to live on a cloud

As I watched one of the countless re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I saw a commercial that stuck out to me. "Now, Walmart will transfer your DVD collect to digital for not $10 but only $2, it's fast and easy!" After a bit of research of a rather vaguely described commercial I came across an article that does confirm Walmart's new service transferring DVD movies into digital movies. This to me was actually really interested, especially for the fact that you're allowed to keep the discs after you transfer them to the UltraViolet DRM system. This made me realize, we're becoming a cloud-based entertainment society. As people are making the switch to Spotify, Netflix, and Steam for their entertainment, it saddens me. I've always loved technology but I'm not ready to live on a cloud.

Now for those who don't know what the cloud is, the cloud is pretty much online storage space that can be anywhere from several megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes, that can store anything from photos, music, documents, videos, and any other computer file you'd hope to store. That cloud is becoming increasingly popular. Amazon has recently given 5GB free to people who used their "locker" which is music, videos, and media files purchased through Amazon. Google Documents recently uploaded their site to Google Drive, which still does all the capabilities of Google Documents but with 5GB of storage, to store any files (previously 1gb of storage for documents). We're seeing a big shift to cloud storage. Which cloud storage is a great thing, we're getting a lot of online space for free, and if you'd like to upload to more storage (such as Apple's iCloud) for a fee of about $29.99 a year, you'll get 30GB of space on the iCloud. We're seeing this theme a lot, and it is truly helpful. We're in a world where documents are needed at all times, and cloud services such as Dropbox are convientely allowing us to transfer files from computer to computer without a problem. It's great. It almost sounds like something we would've seen on the sci-fi channel years ago. But I'm not ready to live on a cloud.

One of the biggest new innovations of the cloud, is Google's Chromebook. What Google Chromebook is, is a book focused around Google Chrome (the internet browser) what Chrome does, is allows you to compute normally but with limited storage on the actual model. You're also run on the Chrome browser constantly, without internet it's pointless. Most storage of everything is focused and centered on the cloud. Now, to me that isn't a problem, it sounds like a stress free concept with a clutter free computer lifestyle, but when does it become a problem?

The reason I'd never want to live on a cloud, without having my 500gb of storage on my computer, and completely transferring to digital would be for one main reason, what happens if cloud services are hacked, internet service goes bad (who knows, maybe there is some bandwidth that we can reach before each of our   modems just blow up), or plain and simple you lose internet (or don't have the capability) at home or elsewhere. Not only does having a limited service not help, but for some reason the collection of DVDs, CDs, and books look far more awesome on a shelf than on a cloud service. There is a certain feel that comes with a new purchase at the store of a DVD or book, that is not like any other. The world has an attachment to stuff, anything that is a material object, but when you take that material object and make it digital, it's less appealing. People are also far too social for the cloud. Of course services that are completely cloud-based shouldn't change, but people want to borrow movies, books, music,and games. It's how we are.

In a recent TED Talk, Graham Hill says that with less stuff, we are happier. But I truly don't believe this. We live in a material world, yes it does get cluttered, and unorganized, but the feeling of having all these material things, especially countless movies and music is just far better than having a cloud of all your things. Hill also argues that, we should be transferring our music, movies, games, books, etc to digital, but I believe there is no rush as material objects have far more prominence in a persons home than a cloud. Hill is right when he says there is less clutter, and ultimately an easier lifestyle if everything is digital, but I believe that is only half the fight.

Overall, I do believe the cloud is a great thing. It's convince truly at the touch of a button. But we shouldn't completely shift our society to a digital-based cloud quite yet. Some true classic possessions of mine in the media world such as my turntable with my several records whether it'd be my Jimi Hendrix or my Black Keys which can both be found online, doesn't mean I'm quite ready to part with them. Integration between the two will be the only way in my opinion that should be used, people have built collections that are beyond imaginable, and transferring that to the cloud, just seems pointless to a lot of people. When it does come to documents, music I can't exactly buy, movie streaming, and any type of streaming, the cloud is a blessing in disguise, but transferring our lives to a cloud, isn't the right step just yet. I truly don't want to live on a cloud.

The Nostalgia of Mystery Train (Part 2)

As rock & roll developed farther from the original blues and country roots that Harmonica Frank had added elements of so early in the history and was becoming a fresh genre, many artists were sprouting up that were popularizing the newly formed genre. Among one of the artists popularized was Elvis Presley. In 1954, only three years after Harmonica Frank made noise with Philips, Presley made his first records. Elvis not only emerged as a popular recording artist, but an acclaimed, everything. “Elvis has emerged as a great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of shlock, a great heart throb, a great bore, a great potency, a great bam, a great person, and yes a great American.” (Marcus, 121) 

On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley who had made his way into the heart of many met with the president of the United States, Richard Nixon. “You dress kind of strange, don't you?” Nixon asked Presley who was wearing purple velvet tunic, high-collared white shirt and a Captain Marvel cape. “You have your show and I have mine,” Presley responded. After the first comments were exchanged Nixon addressed to Presley’s agenda (Jeansonne). Presley who had addressed much of the problems the country was facing such as black nationalists, student activists, and the drug and hippie culture that motivated much of the counterculture movement, was proposing to turn back influence of the problems being faced. Being among one of the many artists that fueled early rock & roll, Presley’s political divide shaped opinions of many of his fans who were also on a divide of the times.  

As highly as musicians such as Presley are looked up in today’s society for their contributions to music, the counterculture movement and rock & roll were looked down upon of their time by most. Journalists of the time were one group who looked down upon rock & roll and thought of it as only a small trend. In 1955, Variety Magazine stated on the topic of rock & roll that, "It will be gone by June."  What most did not know was that the music being made would prompt the countless riots, a generation glued to the music, and a rich history.

The music may have been associated with the counterculture movement and was often looked down upon. The rebellious spirits portrayed by Sly Stone, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles often gave an image to be looked down upon. What most of the younger fans of the generation heard in the music was much more than rebellion. “The parts combine to pull listeners into a labyrinth, with no idea what might be lurking around next,” (Marcus).  The music was an escape to a younger generation who were the cause of the awareness of many of the nation’s biggest problems; it gave hope to a crowd.

A good part of the impact of rock ‘n’ roll had to do with its anachronistic essence, the way it seemed to come out of nowhere, the big surprise that trivialized the events that governed daily life. Rock ‘n’ roll gave the kids who had seen no alternative but to submit to those events a little room to move. (Marcus, 17)

           

Rock & Roll music gave a voice to the voiceless, who were the younger generation trying to establish themselves. What  most of the generation didn’t know was that the music they had loved whether it’d be the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix have had a significant contribution to the music industry since the very peaks of rock & roll. Whether it would be the development of early hip-hop that was developed from 70’s funk rock, or whether it would be the inspiration artists of music now derive their music from early rock & roll influence.

One of the most effective ways that music of the early rock & roll era has contributed to later years of music is through the use of sampling. Sampling which is a form of reusing musical elements in a more contemporary form has been used in countless ways since the music of early rock. Often times sampling is considered demeaning to music and a forfeit to the originality of the craft of music but are also times often reveals a sense of nostalgia and an intensity that could only be matched with early rock & roll. Much like The Band’s classic record, The Weight, which Marcus justifies as “The song captured the yearning for home and the fact of displacement that ruled our lives; we thought that the Band’s music was the most natural parallel to our hopes, ambitions, and doubts and we were right to think so.” The Weight has had elements of the song used in over 40 different songs and was most recently sampled into Girl Talk’s All Day album. Elements of countless songs have been reused in songs and have resulted high critical response such as Sly Stone’s record Everyday People which has been reused multiple times but none more highly than Arrested Development’s People Everyday.

Rock & roll, looking back now, has had some of the largest contributions of music of all time. The Beatles compilation album, One, is the highest sold album between the years of 2000 and 2009, which only shows how much of an impact The Beatles still over today’s music (Lamb). Even the earliest forms of rock & roll are still praised today, without the contribution to artists like Harmonica Frank (who could’ve easily been forgotten by now) rock & roll could have never made its way to the surface to having such an impact on society.

Rock & roll has developed from the very peaks of the early blues and country influences. With artists such as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Sly Stone and many others becoming cultural icons of the time, society reflected the changing times with the music. The development of rock & roll, not only contributed to a developing mid 1900’s society, but it has shaped a great amount of our music today. As rebellious and underappreciated as the music seemed to most the music had developed a culture and that is still prevalent in today’s society. What Marcus demonstrates in Mystery Train is the sense of nostalgia that the music brings back and shows how the music has been such an impact. “It was the intensity of the music that changed fascination into commitment and a bundle of ideas into what must serve as a point of view,” (Marcus, 28). 

The nostalgia of Mystery Train

Recently I wrote an essay on a book by Greil Marcus called Mystery Train. Mystery Train is book that includes the history of rock & roll whether it'd be the early years of Harmonica Frank in the 1950's onto the bad ass stylings of Little Richard, Sly Stone, and the King himself, Elvis Presley. As I finished my essay, I realized that there is a delicate nostaliga that lies deep within my heart that makes me miss the 1960's. Now, you're probably rather confused that a sixteen year old has a sense of nostaliga from the sixties, but the culture of the sixites was phonomenal. No, I'm not reffering to the stoner counterculture of the sixties, as much as I love my Jimi Hendrix album doesn't mean that I'm going to go and do acid and then rebel against the Vietnam war. The 1960's brought about a pleasant time, on the brink of changing in the United States, what I love about the 1960's is the simplicity and how such a changing time brought about a whole movement and country focused around the a lot of the same things.

Here is an excerpt from my essay:

"In 1951 Sam Philips set out to become the founder of what would later become known as Sun Records. Philips was dedicated to finding somebody who had the talent of the later 40’s African American blues artists but who was white. “If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollar,” Philips said. One of Philips’s first attempts was a man who went by Harmonica Frank Floyd. Harmonica Frank was considered a joke. His music lacked elements that were heard of the time and hardly had elements that people of the time would appreciate. Although Frank did record several songs, he was considered a weird man who was unlike much of the smooth soulful blues singers of the time. What Philips and the others who criticized Harmonica Frank didn’t know was that this sound, the abnormal and uncanny sound that came with Harmonica Frank was one of the earliest forms of what America and a generation focused around counterculture would soon call rock & roll. Harmonica Frank Floyd never became famous, he was never considered among the greats such as Elvis Presley, and was barely allowed to make music without ridicule. But what Harmonica Frank did do was inspire a sound which allowed for artists of the generation and the artists of today to become what they are.

            What Harmonica Frank had started and what artists like Sly Stone, The Band, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel all picked up with their styles of music became a huge focus centralized around the counterculture movement of the United States. Most importantly, what the new distinct, and to some considered peculiar sound brought about was decades of what Americans and folks around the world would be listening too. Whether it would be the development of early hip-hop emcees and DJs of the 1970’s or the mainstream chart toppers that have showcased classic records played upon the radio ever since they have derived some inspiration from the early development of rock & roll.

            In Greil Marcus’s fifth edition of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music, Marcus exemplifies how rock & roll music has not only influenced the generations of the 1950’s and 60’s, but also continues onto making a substantial contribution to music today. The informative past of such an influential generation is shown throughout Mystery Train and shows why rock & roll, a genre of music that is often looked down upon is in fact an important development in American culture today. Through Mystery Train, Marcus demonstrates truly why rock & roll matters:

Rock ‘n’ roll may matter because it is fun, unpredictable, and anarchic, a neatly         packaged and amazingly intense plurality of good times and good ideas, but none save the very youngest musicians and fans can still take their innocence for granted. (Marcus)" 

Why I chose the iPhone.

Now the Mohammad from 2007 would probably attempt to kick my current day ass. In 2006, I plummeted deep into the world of the most underrated music MP3 devices of the time, the Microsoft Zune. In my opinion at this time, the Zune reigned superior to the iPod. The screen was beautiful, they came in awesome colors, and the wi-fi sharing was a pretty sweet perk to me. This was until the iPhone came out. By the time 2007 came around the iPhone and the iPod touch (first generations) were released. 2007 Mohammad, hated Apple. Everything about Apple pissed me off, I hated the overratedness, it just was that annoying thing that everybody loved, but at the time I never noticed how much of a delight it truly was. Every one of my friends had an iPod and I had a Zune. The next 2-3 years, I took shit for loving my Zune, it was lovely, the only thing I really cared about was the music anyway and the Zune played it as great as anything. Once I entered high school and my Zune was becoming more and more beat up, I came to deciding that maybe Apple wasn't horrible. At this time, the iPhone wasn't hugely popular, only a few kids really had an iPhone and most still didn't even have Smart Phones. It wasn't until the iPhone 3G was released, that most teenagers really started to love the iPhone. Of course you have your Apple extraordinaire and people rich enough to buy every edition of the iPhone who seemed to beat everybody to the punch, but now the iPhone, iPod, and Apple reign supreme in my opinion.

Now it wasn't until last summer that I fell in love with the iPod Touch. After deciding that I was fed up with my Zune it was time to finally go against my old self and become a fan of Apple. I had been warming up to Apple products a lot more, being apart of the Torch, I was exposed to iMacs and they weren't too bad. Now at the start of the summer, I had asked for an iPod for my birthday, and was given to it a few days ahead of time.

I was in love. The sleek and simple packaging was as compact as you could get. The device was incredibly sleek, simple, and had a could touch (no pun intended) that only felt right being the first time I ever opened it. As I grew more accustomed to it, it became greater and greater to me. By the beginning of August, my iPod touch had become just as a necessity to me as my piece of S&^t phone.

Earlier this month in April, that very phone, broke. I was in a way ecstatic. I was also worried, that I couldn't update my phone for a while and with a very simple call to AT&T, I was aware that I was due for an upgrade without having to pay a ridiculous price for a new phone.

That early April afternoon, I walked in to AT&T very unknowing that I was going to be getting an iPhone or at that, even another Smart Phone, which has been more of a necessity on my mind as of lately. With a very open mind, I walked in there, and was offered an iPhone by my parents, and my mouth dropped. But at this very moment inside me, the small remains of that Zune lover was filling my thoughts with the idea of getting a different phone such as an Android...With a little more contemplation, I decided that the me, has been replaced, by a more open me. The iPhone was the best decision I made that whole day.

Why Assassin's Creed 3 will be one fanastic game

History class, we all hate it. It's boring stuff that people hundreds of years ago did and have no signficant impact on our lives once so ever (not really true though, counterargument: society), you do countless hours of homework to do one thing, forget it all. But something awesome, something beyond belief, has made history fun. Now you're probably thinking, what the hell is he talking about, the beautiful thing I am talking about is Assassin's Creed. The Assassin's Creed franchise been around since 2007, and has become an incredibly popular gaming franchise. What Assassin's Creed does in a nutshell, is takes multiple fictional assassin's and puts them in non-fictional scenarios ranging from the early 1600's (I'm pretty sure that's where we first began) and converges it into a historical story lines that make it fun.

Below, I will list 10 reasons of why I think it'll be a fantastic game (no particular order):

10. For the gamers who've been fortunate enough to have played any of the Assassin's Creed know that we've gotten pretty accustomed to many of the characters present. Assassin's Creed III, will feature a new main character that well looks pretty epic. (Picture below)

9. This is the first time an Assassin's Creed game will be featured on the Wii. With the new WiiU being released near November and the October release of ACIII, the game will be a launch game for the WiiU and will be able to utilized the new features of the WiiU (The tablet will probably be used for some cool features, well maybe).

8. This will be the first AC game to be set completely in the United States and takes place during the Revolutionary War. Will we be seeing a lot of Red/Blue, Saratoga, and a bit of the colonies...I think so actually I know so!

7. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson in a video game...Enough said.

6. The game has been in development for three years. Being one of the games most important to the series (not being a side type game like Revelations and Brotherhood) III has been in development for a long time now, or what seems like a long time. Even though we've gotten Brotherhood and Revelations in that time, which have both been good, this game has (from what we know) twice as much content than before and will be very well put together for three years of development.

5. Multi-player. I'm not sure what type of multi-player the game will have, but to sell copies of games, you need a way to play with your friends. After being in development for three years, the game will probably soldify a nice multi-player system similar to that of Brotherhood or even better? Right now, who knows?

4. It'll be released in October, even closer to November which means I'll be able to play it without feeling bad that I'm missing good weather. November will become more chilly, which means more time will be spent inside playing video games, which aside football will be a great amount of time spent with my Playstation 3 (and if I decide to get a WiiU, maybe that as well).

3. When I get excited about a game, I definitely get excited and go all out. Chances are I'll go all out and buy one of the special edition packages, the Freedom Edition is looking like it'll have some sweet perks...Why not? 

2. We already know a lot of the controls and the way the game is set up. Even though this is set up on an even more awesome system that'll allow for different angles, different scenery, and far greater technology than we've seen in a game before, we still are familiar with the content, so it's one we can rip out of the case put in and know at least somewhat of what we're doing.

1. The trailer shows us how great it'll truly be.

I'm writing for absolutely nobody, well not anymore!

I have realized that this blog is pointless. If I weren't doing it for my AP Language class, I probably would never blog, never feel the need to blog, and spend more hours online refreshing my Facebook page in hopes that somebody posted something of any worthiness, which is quite frankly never the case. Of course I've realized that my blog as of now only has 285 page views, which is possibly every time I've viewed my blog (with a few exceptions). The way I blog is by, first writing, second posting, third viewing and catching any errors, and forth never looking at it again. I've written about 50 blogs, and probably have viewed each page 2-3 times. We'll say that puts me at about 150, I'll say that the first 10 blogs were actually viewed by my teacher for another 10 page views, I've linked one post that was an album review to Facebook which did get about 15 page views, and my brother recently looked at my blog, putting me at about 200, the other 85 I'd assume are computers that have somehow stumbled upon my blog and left me some type of spam...Yes, this blog is pointless.

Now if you're reading this, then I'd like to say, well thank you, it's not often that people read my blog. But this is rather a proposal, to myself of course, because nobody actually reads my blog, to actually get more page views. Instead of writing about 700 words on something the night before these are due, I will be putting effort into putting a sense of beauty into each blog. Not only will I putting some effort into my blog now, I hope to use it beyond academic use, which means that I will post whenever relevant, not just three blogs a week (which I never even get to anyway) but I will also hope to use this on throughout summer and onto next year when it's not required, because in some strange way, I love writing, and blogging is sometimes fun.

Now I really don't have much more to say other then, please read my f&^king blog. Now enjoy this amazing video of a cat named Ankor snoring over a glass of what looks to be really delicious looking orange juice.

April Preview

It's April. Weird to think we're already in the forth month of the year already. I'm trying to remember how to do this, because well my March preview really sucked. Anyway, I guess we might just dive right into the preview! 

As the tide turns and the March Madness tournament comes to a halt, I will be writing about that halt and about the national championship game that will be fiercely approaching, putting the two famous KU teams, Kentucky and Kansas university to the final test! I'll probably write about the end of March Madness, but since I already wrote about March Madness in March, who really knows if I'll ever get around to that. With April comes the start of the MLB season of the mildly exciting sport we call baseball. Being America's favorite past time, and one of my favorite... Present time? I will be blogging about the MLB season and possibly my Detroit Tigers, who have added Prince Fielder this season. 

 Lets move onto the musical side of my blog. This month I will be attending the Childish Gambino concert in Iowa City. Originally the concert was suppose to be held on the the 2nd of April, but due to a broken leg Glover will be performing on April 16th. I will possibly be getting a press pass, and may get to meet Glover as well as interview him. Most content for that will be on our Kennedy Torch website, but any other content will be put on the blog as well as my Facebook page! 

I have dove into the world of the iPhone. Even though I've had an iTouch, I'm now apart of the Smart Phone club as well as "Team iPhone" I'll be writing about my newest best friend, and about my experiences with Apple, as I have developed over time to learn how to love the company of Apple.

Last but not least, I plan on writing about spring fashion. I wrote about some wintery fashions before, but nothing really too in-depth and I'd like to do that again, but with my perception on things.

Overall, we have a jam-packed month in April, fasten your figurative seat belts and get ready for 16 blog posts over the month of April (hopefully).