Will there be no more English spoken?

Will there be no more English spoken in space? (Trending Words Daily Blog at Dictionary.com)

Thought
for Food....

Promises, Promises - Incubus Video

Definitely a different direction for the band but just like the new Dredg album if you listen to it a couple times it really grows on you.....

If Not Now, When?

I found the following on Amazon's site of Incubus, penned by the band's lead singer and frontman, Brandon Boyd. The piece is part semi-bibliographical while also providing a peek into the state of mind they were in when making their new CD. I've always been impressed with the lyrical content of their songs, and this article just brimmed with that's poet's voice so much that I felt the need to share it. Enjoy!

Success is a devilish opiate. A swift and heady drink that goes down smooth at first, and then starts to burn your throat and rattle your bones. Only to leave crater sized holes in your constitution the next day. We all love a good success story, don't we? But interestingly, what usually makes it 'good' are not the 'good' things about the story. No. It's the bad things that perk our ears up. It's the tragedy inherent in the struggle that keeps us tuned in. I am in a band called Incubus. We are all about the same age; and we started our band in 1991. Our story is not unlike other success stories. It has its peaks and valleys, its struggles, its triumphs, its highest highs and lowest lows. But it's not the bad parts of our unfolding story that have intrigued people over all of these years. To tell you the truth, I am not sure exactly what has kept people interested in us this long. I'd like to think it's the music we make and ultimately share. I'd like to think it's because we have struck chords with people at very specific times in their lives and that when they hear certain songs they are harkened back to the not so distant past wherein life changing events and turns in their own stories coincided with lyrics and rhythms. Sounds meandering into symmetry with an individual's psyche like that rare moment when your body and your shadow line up on a wall. If the music has been the true catalyst for our (once again) unfolding success story, than I'd say we were right on track. Perhaps we are wanderers who have tasted the drug, smiled and mused at the kaleidoscope it wrought, then woke the next day, shook it off and kept truckin'.

Still mildly hungover from our night on the town, we decided that it was hi-time we wrote another record. It had been five years since the release of 'Light Grenades', our last full length offering, and we were feeling a collective itch to chase that dragon once again.
By about three songs into the writing process, I think we began to understand that we were unearthing something new. And excitedly, we began chasing that new rabbit as far down, around and into the wormhole as it led us. At a certain point amongst all of this creative wandering we began to understand quite clearly that certain creative mantras were reemerging. Both consciously and unconsciously. Words like, 'economy', 'elegance', 'space', and 'restraint' kept creeping back into our many conversations. Words we had toyed with in the past, but never so deliberately and never so confidently. Sprinkle into this caldron a dash of whimsy and a pinch of psychedelia, let it stew in the recording studio for a couple of months and you get this: 'If Not Now, When?’ Our unabashed, romantic, lush, sonic love letter to the world. It's darker, slower, more rich, more refined, and more involved than anything Incubus has birthed to date. And I am so happy to share it with all of you. This entire time, Incubus has essentially been searching for a sense of balance between all of the possibilities inherent in crafting a song. I do believe that for many years now we have been searching for something different. Something unique, both to the world and to us as a band. We decided that 'If Not Now, When?’ our 6th full length studio album would be just that.

In the title track, we set the tone of the album. A stirring in the water somewhere, a long time ago, sends ripples outward. Beautifully. Symmetrically, and relentlessly pulsing out, out, out. They travel countless miles and eventually arrive at shallow waters. Then the triumphant finale. The breaking wave, after gaining thousands of miles of momentum, arcs forward into the future; the wave is about to break. If not now, when? A unique event in space and time. Never to be repeated ever again. Now. Now. Now.

Our first single, 'Adolescents' is perhaps the most familiar sounding Incubus song on this new album. It begins with Michael's unmistakable and inimitable guitar work and rolls its way into a kind of drunken waltz. Creeping its way into the idea that we are collectively just about to reach our cultural teenage years. It does seem like we've been around forever. Us, I mean. People. Culture. But all it takes is a sojourn into Earth's biological record to realize that WE are quite new! And the transitions at play in our complex little game are akin to the struggles that an adolescent might endure.

'Promises, Promises', is our homage to the pop songs of yester-morrow. Referencing the deservedly ubiquitous artists of our parents' generation, we are here attempting to craft an artisan's clock. A piece that ticks effortlessly on the strength of its good design, its beauty and its simplicity. Herein a young girl, after so many failed attempts at love, has resigned herself to a "road of least resistance". Armoring herself against the pain of intimacy by only engaging in surface affairs. Only to meet someone who she CAN trust with her most valued of possessions, her heart. But she can barely recognize what the real thing looks like after so much time running away from it.

'Friends and Lovers' is a song that I always hoped we would write. I do believe it is my most favorite thus far. It speaks to the heart of many of our culturally held biases about relationships and what love looks like. It combats the long held notions of love and intimacy and plainly states that Friends make the best Lovers. And that love can in fact be born of friendship and can indeed last outside of our pre-prescribed notions of what it looks like, feels like and how it endures. Movies and Religion have largely defined our cultural notions of this most important of topics. And in this song it was my attempt to share a different idea of what modern love might look like.

'Tomorrow's Food' was written about two years ago. Making it the first song penned for this album. Here Michael shows us once again how deep his musical well runs. A vibrant, sonic quilt is wrapped around us and we are lulled by its choices and its warmth. Lyrically I am specifically referencing Philosopher Ken Wilbur's quote from 'A Brief History Of Everything’, "No epoch is finally privileged. We are all tomorrow's food. The process continues. And spirit is found in the process itself, not in any particular epoch, or time, or place." No one had ever put so succinctly and eloquently into words how I felt about growing up. About reaching my mid-thirties. After reading this quote, and witnessing the vast push and pull at play between the old and the new, the young and the not so young, I saw the inherent beauty and wisdom in the process of it all. And consequently, wrote a song about it. It is in this reporter's opinion that we are in the midst of a massive shift. Culturally, ethically, artistically, technologically, intellectually, philosophically and spiritually. Almost of the "-ally's". This shift has occurred before; with different details and end results of course. And this shift will happen again. Absolutely. The new thing at play is our awareness of this shift. The awareness that there is never an 'end of the world'. Only the process and the choice to witness and to participate. What may feel like the end of the world is that humbling moment when you realize that a new set of ideas has usurped your generation's ideas. Confused and confounded by the "way things are going" you can't help but think it's all going to shit, and that you have to fight to defend what you've built. But in actuality what is occurring is a necessary evolution. A handing over of the collective baton. If not now, when?

When we recorded and released our first album 'S.C.I.E.N.C.E.', we were but wee lads overflowing with enthusiasm and energy. We'd never really toured, we'd never had an audience other than our family and friends. We ended up touring around America and Europe quite relentlessly for over two years in search of... rock and roll? By the time we sputtered, coughed and crawled our way home we were exhausted. But strangely inspired. We began writing songs for what became our sophomore effort, 'Make Yourself'. An album that when finished, evoked a kind of head scratching reaction out of us. Being that we had unintentionally helped define a new sub-genre of music with the previous one. It seemed almost counterintuitive that we had just written a rock and roll album filled with melody, restraint, thoughtfulness (both musically and lyrically), and God forbid...singles! (If this narrative had moving imagery attached, I would place a quick edit to Godzilla tearing apart a city somewhere. People running frantically in all directions and a few brave souls here and there pointing up at the fiendish, pre-historic creature from the deep.) Make Yourself was met with trepidation by our newfound listeners. We had flipped the switch on them. Pulled the old switcheroo. We even got nervous at certain points that perhaps we had made a mistake in trusting those instincts to keep moving in this more 'song' oriented direction. But a few months after its release, things began slowly arcing towards success. And I stress, slowly. Slowly but surely. In the end, our creative instincts had pointed us in the right direction. It was a meandering compass, but a good one.

If Not Now, When? is the coalescing of this slow arc. The wave that has been traveling so long, about to break. A force that is capable of both beauty and destruction, but is most noteworthy because of it's uniqueness as an event that will never occur again. Waves have broken before it, waves will break afterwards, but each one is an individual canvas. This one is ours. Yours and mine.

So, if success is a drug, then Incubus is a functioning addict. I know how trite it sounds to be commenting on our own success but I see our addiction as a collective one. You have enabled us thus far and what we are creating in the process will be worthy of conversation for a long time to come. When I say 'WE' I mean you and I. All of us. This is, after all, a conversation that started in the early 90's and has continued until today. A stroll along a winding path through many landscapes and over much terrain. Yes, our bones ache, our dogs are barkin', our shoes have holes in them, and we don't look as good with our shirts off anymore. But that doesn't mean we won't keep walking! And conversing along the way. I'd like to start thinking of success less as an opiate and more of a segue into the good parts of a conversation.

See you soon, girls and boys. We love making music and we feel blessed and grateful to have your attentions today and hopefully tomorrow!

Cheers,

Brandon Boyd

New Daredevil--Superhero gets reboot with issue #1 in July

I'm reservedly excited about this. The thing that will win me over that wasn't mentioned in the linked article is this comment by Mark Waid:

as well as emphasizing his powers and perception of the physical world

Daredevil is the only comic I've followed (off and on) into adulthood. I haven't picked up an issue in years because 1)where they took his character just didn't interest me, and 2)they seemed to forget what made him unique as a superhero. Which is exactly what is mentioned they will emphasize more of in the quote above. His perception of the physical world, and how those perceptions have been altered due to his blindness are what made him interesting. Not only was he a flawed and often tortured soul, but how his other senses overcompensated for his blindness gave him unique powers and also an interesting viewpoint both in daily life and especially during his battles with assorted villains.

I'll be picking up the first few issues and if the new writer can successfully explore these themes I will be a happy DD fan once more. I was one of the four people that actually liked the movie adaptation that came out a few years back, and thought that was one of the things the director really got right--the portrayal of his blindness and how his other senses worked--something I think would be even more difficult to depict in a movie format than in the comics.

Quote of the Week

I've recently taken an interest in author Michael A. Stackpole, who was just at the Origins Convention here in Columbus, OH. Although I didn't get a chance to make it to the convention (partly by circumstance and partly by choice--the choice quotient I am now kicking myself for) I was doing some research on the authors that were attending and Mr. Stackpole is definitely one of the pioneers of the digital age and how it is affecting the printed word. He sometimes manages to come off as both cocky and humble at the same time (as in the quote below, taken from the dialogue that transpired regarding his article/linked above), but I think that's only because he knows what he's talking about and has a long history of experience to back up that knowledge.

The article itself is IMO hilarious, so if you have a spare five minutes it's worth the read. Otherwise, enjoy the quote below.....

Thanks, but you’re giving me too much credit. None of this digital revolution would be happening except for those authors who believe enough in their work that they’re willing to do the tough stuff which will get it out there. Sure, I may be one of those, and I may have started shooting my mouth off early, but it’s everyone else coming up and saying, “Damn, I’ll give that a shot,” that got the thing going. Remember, one guy is a CRANK. One guy who is a crank early and has folks see merit in what he’s saying is a VISIONARY. Same guy, same vision; but it’s the others who make that vision real.

P.S. If there isn't a word in the English language that portrays both arrogance and humility at the same time, I feel the need to make one up. 'humiligance'? 'arromility'? As far as words already in existence, I was thinking maybe 'shrewd,' but that doesn't really convey much humility, or 'astute,' but that doesn't possess enough arrogance.

I think I'll go with 'arrogility,' defined as "the ability to speak or act in an arrogant manner while conveying an attitude of humility." Arrogility is nice because it also contains part of the word 'arrow' which conjures up the image of speed, flight, and precision, and also part of the word 'agility,' which one would need to walk the fine line between humility and arrogance.

9 Must-Have Clauses for Digital Rights Contracts

Interesting article by author Michael Stackpole, who is attending Columbus, Ohio's 2011 Origins Game Fair.

Learn the F**king Rules

Very interesting commentary by Ann Patty (link above) and I found the comments that followed the article even more thought provoking. A couple that really stood out:

Mark Thornton

The comments here sum up the rubicon that we are about to cross: are written standards of language important enough to defend and where do we draw the line? Some people think you are just being pedantic about the ‘lain/laid’ thing, some see barbarians at the gate. It’s a lot more subtle than that though. If we are moving to a digital/crowdsourcing world, where stuff can be rushed through, and then corrected based on feedback after the event, we then have to rely on enough of the crowd to be educated enough to make those judgement calls.

I'm seeing the same trend in the current state of console video games. The hardware has advanced to the point where a buggy game can be released and then a patch (or often multiple patches) is downloaded later to fix whatever may be wrong.... For many developers who hold themselves to high standards regardless, this can be a good thing, but on the flip side it can just lead other developers to be lazy and put out an inferior product thinking they can just 'fix' whatever is wrong later. The same could be said about digital books, etc. Similar to Mark's conclusion, we have to hope the consumer is educated enough to vote with their wallets.

Here's a good point:

Cheryl Pickett

A note about editing costing a lot has been noted at least a couple of times so far and I think that’s where the issue starts at least in part. If a publisher doesn’t value the extra editing it often takes to make a book shine, why on earth would the average writer make the effort?

I’ve recently read a comment on another blog which pointed out that if you cannot afford proper editing for example, then you probably aren’t really ready to self-publish or you need to rethink your business model. Would a bakery say well we can’t afford sugar or eggs, but hey, we’ll make do with what we have and expect to not only stay in business but to be viewed as putting out high quality product? Can a writer write half a song and expect it to be played, purchased and recommended? The same goes for artists, clothing designers, carpenters or anyone else. Performing your job, working at your craft half way is generally not a formula for success. Why should publishing be viewed any differently?

Yes, mistakes are going to slip through and less and less people will notice. I understand and can deal with that. What is tougher to accept is that a top notch effort was not put forth in the first place. If someone is fine with “good enough or average” then expect reaction and results to most likely be about the same.

And this one probably sums up my thoughts the best:

Marco

This article makes me sad. Not because there was an error in a published book, but because of the tone and the insistence that grammar trumps all else. That, to me, is a poor editorial viewpoint. I’ve been a copyeditor, a proofreader, and a senior editor for a combined 21 years, and the attitude of this article’s author is one I often see in unseasoned new editors. They don’t have the experience to understand when rules should be bent and broken, and when not. They latch on to rules because then they can’t be wrong. But while a text that is free of any grammatical issues is certainly clean, that doesn’t make it good. A good editor understands that each book is its own thing, its own world. Some authorial voices are more prim and proper than other. Not all follow the rules of grammar.

That doesn’t mean it’s okay to input the flat-out wrong word (“they” for “there” or some such), but it does mean that voice (of authors, characters, and readership) must be considered.

Now, let me be clear. I’m not arguing that there’s no mistake in the book mentioned. I’m arguing that it may have been a conscious choice. Perhaps there was an editorial decision made that it scanned better as is; we’ve seen in the comments that some people think so. That’s a choice the author and publisher have the right to make. You are free to go ballistic about it being improper if you like, but that does not mean it was a mistake.

Of course, it might have been. None of us know for certain.

My point is that your article doesn’t go far enough. Yes, editorial professionals must absolutely know the fu**ing rules. That way, if they need to fix something they can do it properly.

Maybe we don’t know enough about the writer of this article, but I too am appalled that she would stop reading a manuscript because of a grammatical error on the first page. That’s symptomatic of an editor who is looking for reasons to reject, rather than looking for reasons to accept. Grammatical errors can be fixed; poor story control, pacing, characterization, and writing style are much more difficult to fix. If a single error like that pushes you away from a story, then you’re looking at grammar, not language. Not story. And that is a rather sad thing.

Grammar and punctuation are not the “highest standards” to which the printed word should be bound. They are important, certainly, but the real value of literature is in its impact on readers and society. When people remember the books that affected them, they don’t remember the sentence structure of the verb tense. They remember the emotion and the meaning.

And I am a proponent of correcting all errors except for those changes that might adversely affect the emotion and the meaning and the characterization, etc.

Much food for thought there, definitely.

Sick Puppies - Riptide MP3

Sick Puppies - Riptide MP3

Not only is it awesome to see such a talented band as the Sick Pups getting the attention they deserve so early in their career, but even better that they realize the gift they've been given and are not only "seizing the day" but grabbing onto the reigns with both hands and kicking it into full gear. It's only their second CD and they've already released an acoustic EP, then another EP called "Polar Opposites" that has exactly that--"opposite" versions of some of their songs with string arrangements, etc. in them. (I still get chills every time I hear "You're Going Down" on Opposites--mainly because it's one of their loudest and heaviest tunes on Tri-Polar, but this version is totally stripped down and yet Shim manages to still keep that raw intensity inherent in the track, almost like a race car at the starting line, you can feel the power under the hood just waiting to get out, barely held back.....)

Anyway, now they're releasing a Live CD??? Most bands would wait until later in their careers to do stuff like this, after they've had a number of CD's and subsequent Tours behind them and they just want to coast for a while before putting out new material. But releasing stuff like this just goes to show how truly talented and creative they are.

Peace out.

Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy

Continuing the subject of new musical releases (and one that I thought deserved it's own post), I just found out last night that one of my favorite bands, Dredg, just released(May 2011)a follow-up to their epic 2009 CD, "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion." If you can't tell by the CD title, 'art rock' is just the tiniest of stepping stones by which they dive into the ocean of musical experimentation.

I'm listening to the CD for the first time right now and at Track 4 I'm already liking it. It definitely 'grooves' more than some of their previous material, if that makes any sense. Although many are accusing this of being more of a pop or commercial effort, I disagree. They are working with a new producer, which comes through in the flavor of the songs. And although it does contain more of a contemporary song structure, much akin to Catch Without Arms, it is still a strong creative effort and much more artistic than anything else in the current generation of music.

Anywho, it's available on Amazon.com for $2.99, so please support a group of true artists and DL this one now. You can hardly lose--it'll probably cost you more than that to drive to work today. And if you at all like what you hear, I strongly urge you to sift through their back catalog, especially El Cielo--one of the best concept musical pieces ever composed, IMO.

"So many people forget to exist..."

Coma Therapy

Well, it appears I've been in a musical coma for the past year (or maybe just a coma in general, lolz), but being unemployed off and on and going through a divorce will do that to you. Anyhow, here are some excellent CD releases I recently learned about in no particular order.

Since October: Life, Scars, Apologies ( I definitely recommend getting the full CD--it contains 3 extra tracks--one of them being an acoustic version of "Guilty" from their first CD. The original was a 'heavy' track, but this version is heavy in a totally different way.)
Also Red: Until We Have Faces--I'm def a fan of their heavier stuff, of which this release has plenty, but like their past CDs all of the tracks tend to grow on you after a few listens.
Then there's Sixx: A.M.: This Is Gonna Hurt. The former Motley Crue bassist follows up his musical opera that chronicled his descent into heroin use and abuse with a fairly good sophomore effort, but in all honesty I need to give this one a few more spins before I can say if it's as good as the first CD or not.
Ill Nino: Dead New World is an awesome release for those into the heavier spectrum of things. I had purchased their debut CD back in the early 2000's and was immediately impressed by their rhythm section, but honestly forgot about them after that. Well, I'm happy to say they've been releasing CD's steadily since then, and their awesome rhythm section is still intact. As if to prove that point, they do a cover of The Smashing Pumpkin's "Bullet With Butterfly Wings." Not only do they change it up a bit instead of doing a note by note cover tune (something I couldn't despise more), but Jimmy Chamberlin is one of my favorite drummers of the 90's and I don't take anyone playing his parts lightly. Suffice it to say, while the basic beat is still there, they somehow manage to make the song heavier and at the same time put their own stamp on it.
Sick Puppies also released an EP titled "Polar Opposite," which is just that--7 of their tracks done not only unplugged but rearranged and in most cases have violins/strings added in certain sections, etc. Very cool listen, especially if you're at all familiar with the original material. It definitely takes a listen or two to wrap your head around what they've done with the song "You're Going Down," which was one of their heavier tracks off of TriPolar, yet somehow it works. Definitely nice to hear Emma doing a little more vocal work on this as well. However, if you don't have the EP yet, I definitely recommend getting the Deluxe Edition of TriPolar instead--it comes with this EP plus some additional extras that you don't get if you just buy Polar Opposite by itself.
There have also been a couple of fairly new bands that I'm still diggin on, one of which I just did a short blog about and still listen to at least once per day--Alien Breed, who's CD "Antidote" practically begs to be cranked. The other is from a group called Cage the Elephant, a young band who's already developed their own sound and can only go up from here.
I may try to do more in-depth reviews of these releases if I get time. However, I just started back up again on (what I hope to be) the final edit of my book. I'm on Chapter 5 (out of 10 chapters) and that will keep me pretty busy in addition to continuing my search for an agent to publish the Space Opera.

Peace Out.

New Band--Alien Breed

No, these guys have nothing to do with the XBLA series of games, but if you like cutting edge rock with a fresh, bubbly after-taste, these guys are a must have in your collection. I believe you can download their CD until the end of May (2011) and perhaps longer from Amazon.com for $5.00 and highly suggest you do so. Or if you miss out on that deal, get it directly from their site on the link above.

Very few bands impress me (or drive me to crank the volume up this high) on the first listen....but these guys managed to. Listening to the clips on Amazon the initial impression was a bit like 311--but to pigeon hole them there would be a SEVERE injustice, except maybe to say what 311 would sound like if they came first came out in the year 2021.

Go grab this one one. You won't be disappointed.