So the last few days have been kind of shitty.
I was excited to get back into marching season. Was being the operative word.
That duo I talked about in the last post? Well half of it is gone without explanation and may not be coming back at all. The other half, who wasn't supposed to be here this week anyway has been trying to come in as much as possible and today was the first day he couldn't be there at all.
The people they've got running camp for us have no idea how our band works. We are a band that mixes the fun with the work and more than anything, bonds. They're used to working with bands that strictly separate free time and serious time and have little to no relationship with the staff: robots. I feel like they're sucking the soul out of marching band. As a leader and a senior, I've been allowed minimal chances to give advice and do my job. The icing on the cake was when one of my past very good friends returned yesterday to help as a tech, and has been acting like a complete jerk. Someone that would always joke around but was still very good when it came down to business now won't even crack a smile in mine or other mutual friend's directions and is nothing but rude when speaking to us. This season isn't going anywhere good fast. We don't even have a band director yet.
Sorry that this post is so negative, but even venting to my friends and everyone else that isn't oblivious is not enough. We're going to wait to see if when half of the duo returns on Monday, things improve. If not, we're going to have to have a very serious talk with him on Tuesday. After the great experiences I've had over the past 3 years, if I was a freshmen this year and things stay the same, I wouldn't come back.
Hopefully things will get better and I can have the marching band I know and love back.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Wow that week went by fast.
Thursday I went to the first band leadership meeting of my last year. We managed to turn 15 minutes worth of information into almost 2 hours of fooling around and laughing, adult staff included. I'm super excited for the dynamic between the 2 fairly young people who will be running the program this year since we're still searching for a band director. I don't have any concerns about that lack though because these 2 have nearly perfected "getting the job done." Although I will miss having one of them there for the first week of band camp because no one else can scare the freshmen that well with his intimidating drill sergeant style on the first day. But hey, at least being woodwind sergeant and not a captain this year means I might be able to get out of those grueling periods of block, to walk around and check people. Plus I'm ready to be in shape again. It should be fun exercising out in the heat for the same two weeks as the olympians.
Speak of the devil, I really liked the London ceremony. The music, signature British humor, and the imagery made it feel very intimate. I do wish Doctor Who had gotten a bigger nod than just 2 seconds of TARDIS noises, but oh well. Since 2016 will be in Rio de Janeiro, I have even more motivation to learn Portuguese after improving my Spanish.
Today will be mostly shopping, tomorrow brunch and the humane society, then band camp bright and early (but at least 9am and NOT 7am this year) on Monday. I'm way behind on summer assignments, so this weekly posting might be the norm for awhile.
Thursday I went to the first band leadership meeting of my last year. We managed to turn 15 minutes worth of information into almost 2 hours of fooling around and laughing, adult staff included. I'm super excited for the dynamic between the 2 fairly young people who will be running the program this year since we're still searching for a band director. I don't have any concerns about that lack though because these 2 have nearly perfected "getting the job done." Although I will miss having one of them there for the first week of band camp because no one else can scare the freshmen that well with his intimidating drill sergeant style on the first day. But hey, at least being woodwind sergeant and not a captain this year means I might be able to get out of those grueling periods of block, to walk around and check people. Plus I'm ready to be in shape again. It should be fun exercising out in the heat for the same two weeks as the olympians.
Speak of the devil, I really liked the London ceremony. The music, signature British humor, and the imagery made it feel very intimate. I do wish Doctor Who had gotten a bigger nod than just 2 seconds of TARDIS noises, but oh well. Since 2016 will be in Rio de Janeiro, I have even more motivation to learn Portuguese after improving my Spanish.
Today will be mostly shopping, tomorrow brunch and the humane society, then band camp bright and early (but at least 9am and NOT 7am this year) on Monday. I'm way behind on summer assignments, so this weekly posting might be the norm for awhile.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
(spoiler warning)
Undeterred by unfortunate events, I went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Friday night. I wasn't sure how it was going to affect me compared to my recent immersion into the Marvel films.
It perfectly complemented it.
Much has been said about DC characters being too powerful or perfect while Marvel's each have their own humanizing flaws. I partially agree with this and tend to lean towards Marvel myself, however, TDKR and The Avengers have contributed to a bit of role reversal. Nolan definitely puts far more effort into portraying the pure myth of Batman in the last 2 films over the personal story of Bruce Wayne. Before really analyzing either film, I viewed TDKR as a grandiose show of good vs. evil while The Avengers highlighted the down-to-earth humanity in every character. Now after much thought I've seen a completely different perspective. While the previous statement remains true, it is, in other ways, false. TDKR goes into far greater depth about humanity's will to survive and the heart of societal problems. When I reflect on it, in contrast The Avengers is really only focuses on an upper echelon fighting off an evil that is beyond the common man. While I still favor The Avengers for its cast and overall hype, TDKR embarrasses The Avengers with its sheer comprehensiveness. Kind of ironic when comparing a team of superheroes to a sole protector. That being said, where one movie fails, the other makes up for it. I'm glad they were released so close together.
The cinematography, CGI, and overall visual effects were inevitably brilliant. Due to his role in relation to the plot twist, Bane is not comparable to the Joker but compelling once you realize his true nature. Joseph Gordon Levitt was quite the scene stealer. You could hear half of the theater take in a sharp breath of joy when his 'true name' was finally revealed. Christian Bale's performance felt like Batman finally matured morally and socially. My favorite scenes were definitely Wayne's struggle in the prison, which brings me to the single best aspect of the movie:
The music.
It's hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the average non-musically trained moviegoer and try to imagine how easy it is to miss the subtleties in various different film scores. Hans Zimmer's work for The Dark Knight trilogy is on a different level. It will take many years, if not decades, for the Dark Knight (musical)motif to leave the ears of the public. If you don't know what I'm talking about, simply click here and listen to the first 42 seconds.
0:21-0:27, a simple interval, is Batman beginning.
0:33-0:42, a powerfully uplifting chord, is The Dark Knight rising.
At least that's how I see it.
And the beauty of the music is that it is so well intertwined with the film that after the first two movies we've been conditioned to respond to that simple harmony. How does that play into TDKR? When Bruce Wayne finally rises from "hell," cheered on by a primal chorus, and takes his first steps back into the light, everything builds up to the Dark Knight motif, finally unleashed on the audience in full force.
You can't help but shiver in triumph.
If Nolan set the bar for superhero films, Zimmer built an impassable mountain for superhero scores.
I've been seeing way too many films twice recently, but I might just have to go for one more.
Undeterred by unfortunate events, I went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Friday night. I wasn't sure how it was going to affect me compared to my recent immersion into the Marvel films.
It perfectly complemented it.
Much has been said about DC characters being too powerful or perfect while Marvel's each have their own humanizing flaws. I partially agree with this and tend to lean towards Marvel myself, however, TDKR and The Avengers have contributed to a bit of role reversal. Nolan definitely puts far more effort into portraying the pure myth of Batman in the last 2 films over the personal story of Bruce Wayne. Before really analyzing either film, I viewed TDKR as a grandiose show of good vs. evil while The Avengers highlighted the down-to-earth humanity in every character. Now after much thought I've seen a completely different perspective. While the previous statement remains true, it is, in other ways, false. TDKR goes into far greater depth about humanity's will to survive and the heart of societal problems. When I reflect on it, in contrast The Avengers is really only focuses on an upper echelon fighting off an evil that is beyond the common man. While I still favor The Avengers for its cast and overall hype, TDKR embarrasses The Avengers with its sheer comprehensiveness. Kind of ironic when comparing a team of superheroes to a sole protector. That being said, where one movie fails, the other makes up for it. I'm glad they were released so close together.
The cinematography, CGI, and overall visual effects were inevitably brilliant. Due to his role in relation to the plot twist, Bane is not comparable to the Joker but compelling once you realize his true nature. Joseph Gordon Levitt was quite the scene stealer. You could hear half of the theater take in a sharp breath of joy when his 'true name' was finally revealed. Christian Bale's performance felt like Batman finally matured morally and socially. My favorite scenes were definitely Wayne's struggle in the prison, which brings me to the single best aspect of the movie:
The music.
It's hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the average non-musically trained moviegoer and try to imagine how easy it is to miss the subtleties in various different film scores. Hans Zimmer's work for The Dark Knight trilogy is on a different level. It will take many years, if not decades, for the Dark Knight (musical)motif to leave the ears of the public. If you don't know what I'm talking about, simply click here and listen to the first 42 seconds.
0:21-0:27, a simple interval, is Batman beginning.
0:33-0:42, a powerfully uplifting chord, is The Dark Knight rising.
At least that's how I see it.
And the beauty of the music is that it is so well intertwined with the film that after the first two movies we've been conditioned to respond to that simple harmony. How does that play into TDKR? When Bruce Wayne finally rises from "hell," cheered on by a primal chorus, and takes his first steps back into the light, everything builds up to the Dark Knight motif, finally unleashed on the audience in full force.
You can't help but shiver in triumph.
If Nolan set the bar for superhero films, Zimmer built an impassable mountain for superhero scores.
I've been seeing way too many films twice recently, but I might just have to go for one more.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Wow, where did that week go.
I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning volunteering at the opening of a new thrift store for my local Humane Society. Thursday and Friday were mostly helping out with retail related things, while on Saturday I got to escort a dog from the shelter to the store and get it adopted! In my free time there I also found a bunch of ridiculously cheap things including a great beachy-style dress, tanktop, Spanish poetry and a John Grisham novel in Spanish, 2 wireless routers, a chuck-it ball thrower, and a Kodak Ektralite 10 camera. All of this came out to a grand total of $18.
Here I come, other thrift stores, and pawn shops, and such.
Friday night I went to Chipotle and to see Ted again with friends so the one friend that got kicked out last time could see it. Most of my laughing the second time was due to his hysterical laughing. We ended the night with ping pong.
Ah! Rewind! Thursday afternoon I convinced my mom to go to Petco to buy new filters for my fish tank and we walked out with 4 new Glofish and a snail. Unfortunately, that snail was dead before I even got it home. This was solved with a trip to Petsmart the next day with an employee that actually cared to check if the new snail I got was alive or not. Now I'm happy to say that my snail (Steve/Captain America) is thriving in his new home along with my 3 rosy red minnows (Bruce/Hulk, Tony, and Pepper) my lemon-lime and blue Glofish (Loki and Thor) and my purple and fuschia Glofish (whose names will most likely be Clint and Natasha).
As far as my Spanish progress, it took a backseat to all of this volunteer time and growing my 125 sunflowers for Biology, but I fully intend to resume very soon.
Today will include brunch and lots of dog-walking. Happy mid-July, better known as "oh crap, where did the summer go?" day.
I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning volunteering at the opening of a new thrift store for my local Humane Society. Thursday and Friday were mostly helping out with retail related things, while on Saturday I got to escort a dog from the shelter to the store and get it adopted! In my free time there I also found a bunch of ridiculously cheap things including a great beachy-style dress, tanktop, Spanish poetry and a John Grisham novel in Spanish, 2 wireless routers, a chuck-it ball thrower, and a Kodak Ektralite 10 camera. All of this came out to a grand total of $18.
Here I come, other thrift stores, and pawn shops, and such.
Friday night I went to Chipotle and to see Ted again with friends so the one friend that got kicked out last time could see it. Most of my laughing the second time was due to his hysterical laughing. We ended the night with ping pong.
Ah! Rewind! Thursday afternoon I convinced my mom to go to Petco to buy new filters for my fish tank and we walked out with 4 new Glofish and a snail. Unfortunately, that snail was dead before I even got it home. This was solved with a trip to Petsmart the next day with an employee that actually cared to check if the new snail I got was alive or not. Now I'm happy to say that my snail (Steve/Captain America) is thriving in his new home along with my 3 rosy red minnows (Bruce/Hulk, Tony, and Pepper) my lemon-lime and blue Glofish (Loki and Thor) and my purple and fuschia Glofish (whose names will most likely be Clint and Natasha).
As far as my Spanish progress, it took a backseat to all of this volunteer time and growing my 125 sunflowers for Biology, but I fully intend to resume very soon.
Today will include brunch and lots of dog-walking. Happy mid-July, better known as "oh crap, where did the summer go?" day.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Eeek, 4 days. Just act natural everybody.
I'll rewind to Saturday: a beautiful relaxing afternoon at the beach where I became my friends' 3 year old cousin's new best friend.
Sunday I was up early and off to my final mentoring session as a dog walker at the Humane Society! Then regular brunch with my grandparents, followed by the pool.
Yesterday entailed even more running around. After dropping my mom off at work, I took a 40 minute walk (with partial jogging) then attempted to go to the pool. I swam for maybe 15 minutes then decided to try to tan a bit. As soon as I laid down on the chair it started raining. Typical Florida. So I sat under the canopy and waited for it to pass. 10 minutes later and the skies had cleared, so I went back out. The second my back touched the chair a great boom of thunder sounded. The forces of nature are out to keep me pale. Afterwards, I ate and caught up with more of Covert Affairs.
The next order of business was stopping by the Humane Society to get my official shirt and tag. Working there must be fantastic because the lady I had to speak to had a cage blocking of the entrance to her cubicle which allowed a tiny kitten to run around inside. She also let me know about an opportunity to help out this weekend where I could work with cats!
Next I drove straight to my friend's house to give him a ride to the soup kitchen we've been helping out at. Unlike last time, I wound up unknowingly volunteering to dry dishes in the back of the kitchen without air conditioning. Not fun.
On my way home, my mom and I stopped to get dinner at Quiznos and the lady who works there is really friendly and loves talking to my mom. As we walked in she was about to put up a "Now Hiring" sign. We talking for probably half an hour about me working there and it would have been perfect, except I can't work the hours she needs because of band camp. I feel bad that I haven't been able to get a real job yet, and that probably won't happen until I have free time again after marching season in November.
I'm off to the pool right now to try to beat whatever weather may come.
I'll rewind to Saturday: a beautiful relaxing afternoon at the beach where I became my friends' 3 year old cousin's new best friend.
Sunday I was up early and off to my final mentoring session as a dog walker at the Humane Society! Then regular brunch with my grandparents, followed by the pool.
Yesterday entailed even more running around. After dropping my mom off at work, I took a 40 minute walk (with partial jogging) then attempted to go to the pool. I swam for maybe 15 minutes then decided to try to tan a bit. As soon as I laid down on the chair it started raining. Typical Florida. So I sat under the canopy and waited for it to pass. 10 minutes later and the skies had cleared, so I went back out. The second my back touched the chair a great boom of thunder sounded. The forces of nature are out to keep me pale. Afterwards, I ate and caught up with more of Covert Affairs.
The next order of business was stopping by the Humane Society to get my official shirt and tag. Working there must be fantastic because the lady I had to speak to had a cage blocking of the entrance to her cubicle which allowed a tiny kitten to run around inside. She also let me know about an opportunity to help out this weekend where I could work with cats!
Next I drove straight to my friend's house to give him a ride to the soup kitchen we've been helping out at. Unlike last time, I wound up unknowingly volunteering to dry dishes in the back of the kitchen without air conditioning. Not fun.
On my way home, my mom and I stopped to get dinner at Quiznos and the lady who works there is really friendly and loves talking to my mom. As we walked in she was about to put up a "Now Hiring" sign. We talking for probably half an hour about me working there and it would have been perfect, except I can't work the hours she needs because of band camp. I feel bad that I haven't been able to get a real job yet, and that probably won't happen until I have free time again after marching season in November.
I'm off to the pool right now to try to beat whatever weather may come.
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