OTTILT March

http://ottilt.blogspot.com/2014/03/march.html

Pic a Day - 3/24 to 3/30

Our one full week of spring break this year. After Tuesday, I'm back in the typical scholarly business I am known best for.

Mon. Mar 24, SPOILER ALERT: I am collaborating on another short film
OTTILT: writing a movie script

Tues. Mar 25, Maria and I made peanut butter snickerdoodles (à chez elle)
OTTILT: going to a friend's house

Wed. Mar 26, I went to Santa Fe High School over the break, and this was my space that day
OTTILT: spring break vacay to Santa Fe

Thurs. Mar 27, home alone + bored = SELFIE
OTTILT: "Discovery at Night" by Ludovico Einaudi

Fri. Mar 28, three kinds of tea (red cinnamon, black chai, and green peppermint)
OTTILT: finally finishing homework that was due before break

Sat. Mar 29, Kona is a licker (wish granted)
OTTILT: dog kisses

If you are at all interested in checking out my progress with Kona, click here to go to my community service site.

Sun. Mar 30
OTTILT: songwriting Sundays

Classical vs. New Age

In browsing music selections by artists Brian Crain and Ludovico Einaudi, I have read many comments of praise, and many of low rating and high criticism. These low ratings and criticism are due solely to the fact that the music is classified in iTunes as “classical,” and yet it should really be “new age.”

I, even after having listened to Crain for months now, was still in the dark, so I decided to pop the question into Google: What is the difference between classical and new age? Some inquirers on Yahoo! answers tentatively concluded that they can both be “classical” due to the instrumentation that they include. Answerers retorted strongly, saying that the genre has nothing to do with instrumentation, but rather the style in which a piece is composed. One responder even had the audacity to say that classical (or, “formal” classical music) has more melodic meaning, while new age is repetitive, simple, and has little to no meaning.

This statement really irked me. I don’t want to dog on classical music the same way these people dog on new age. However, I find it easier to connect to new age music. I can hear it, and later go to a piano and, after some trial and error, play the tune. Classical music is nice; I don’t want to lie or downgrade it. But I find it more difficult to connect to its complicated structures. Sure, sometimes I recognize a bit of a tune here or there, but I can never connect it to a composer or piece until somebody directly hands it to me. When I see people play classical music, I get this annoyed feeling. To me, “formal” or “professional” classical music can be extremely pretentious. I wasn’t one of those people who was force-sat in front of piano at four years old and scheduled to take lessons. I am self-taught; that doesn’t mean I’m good, but I can play a piece if I decide I want to play it and work at it. I can “compose” piano tunes by tapping around at different keys. I’m no Beethoven or Bach or Chopin. I don’t want to follow “laws” of classical music structure. I don’t think beauty and feeling and emotion should be fit into a box, into a structure, into a set of rules. I listen to simplistic, piano tunes (that might include other instruments) and I find meaning and joy in that. It doesn’t take effort to listen to, because there’s no deciphering involved. It’s relaxing, because your brain finds the melody and latches onto it and lulls itself to peace in the tune. At first, I will admit, many songs sound alike; but, spend some time with them, and later, I’ll find myself humming a little lick and instantly being able to label it with a title. I don’t want to suggest that classical has no meaning because it’s “fit into a box,” but I feel that, without that structure, there’s more mobility and artists have more chances to be expressive, instead of feeling an emotion, but having to fit into a certain time-scheme. I’m not saying the classical artists so many of us have grown up with and come to love have no emotion or feeling. They just preferred that order. “New age” artists are breaking from form, and trying out new paths, and I devotedly follow them.

Pic a Day - 3/17 to 3/23

Mon. Mar 17, sun-strike
OTTILT: the fish eye lens

Tues. Mar 18
OTTILT: surprising teacher feedback

Wed. Mar 19, rotary phones only exist now backstage
OTTILT: collaborative creativity

Thurs. Mar 20, at the MVD
OTTILT: driving alone for the first time

Fri. Mar 21
OTTILT: blendin' smoothies

Sat. Mar 22, just chillin'
OTTILT: helping dogs do stuff they already know how to do

Sun. Mar 23, artsy desert shot using the super-wide lens
OTTILT: desert photoshoots

Pic a Day - 3/10 to 3/16

Mon. Mar 10, I got this cool octopus tripod for my Galaxy
OTTILT: writing by the light that filters through the blinds when you're in a dark room

Tues. Mar 11, bio class
OTTILT: experimenting with new gadgets and accessories

Wed. Mar 12
OTTILT: tea & cookies in class

Thurs. Mar 13
OTTILT: Shakespeare's Sonnet 33

Fri. Mar 14, modern art (I overheated plastic in the microwave)
OTTILT: pi(e) day

Sat. Mar 15, walking Kona with a no-pull harness
OTTILT: dog training videos

Sun. Mar 16
OTTILT: "The Book Thief" movie

Pic a Day - 3/3 to 3/9

Mon. Mar 3, "but you can give them to the birds and bees"
OTTILT: hugs & reassuring words

Tues. Mar 4, if you can tell that's a pigeon/dove in the tree
OTTILT: "I'm About to Come Alive"

Wed. Mar 5, do the wobbly trees make you feel like you're driving past at 50 mph?
OTTILT: second-a-day video projects

Thurs. Mar 6, we dissected a cow heart...
OTTILT: making up imaginary words for a vocab test

Fri. Mar 7
OTTILT: early effects of a rebellion

Sat. Mar 8, I take a pile of bread into my room as rations to survive the homework imprisonment
OTTILT: formulating riddles to uncover someone's identity

Sun. Mar 9, all the gifts from my Mysterious Musician (orchestra lingo for Secret Santa)
OTTILT: relaxing by playing an instrument

To the Ladies: Keep Your Nails

Dear girls,

I am not speaking from the point of view of society when I say that you need to keep your long nails. This is not me stating how it is acceptable in society, or how it is feminine and how every girl should be.

Ladies, those long nails aren't just a pretty accessory. They are actually useful for many different purposes in our everyday lives. Without this evolutionary tool, life gets hard.

Don't ask me what nails are good for. You all should know by now:

• Tightening and/or loosening small screws
• Removing the battery cover on your phone
• Picking up or gripping very thin/small objects
• Scratching yourself/relieving itches
• Peeling off paper labels/stickers
• Effectively flipping/turning pages by sliding between them and isolating the desired page (instead of crumpling the corner with a stubby fingertip)
• Keeping your fingertips out of direct contact with potential dangers
• Being decorated and cutesy

While that's all I can think of right now, there are plenty of other uses that will pop up at some point. You might ask, why am I writing this? Why am I stating the obvious? It's a note to self as well as something I hope can save all of you some issues. Recently I just trimmed my nails, thinking it would be good for playing guitar and clarinet and because generally I find my long nails get ragged and caught on blankets and sweaters and are a nuisance. Well, I feel kind of like a declawed cat. I now try to do things I once was able to do with long nails, with no success. I feel like a bumbling caveman.

With this letter, I hope I can do my best to save all of us from feeling like bumbling cavemen and having painful and red fingertips and losing many of our natural evolutionary abilities by having long nails.

Pic a Day - 2/24 to 3/2

Mon. Feb 24
OTTILT: eerily accurate personality tests

Tues. Feb 25, the bloodstains look like hearts! (how appropriate)
OTTILT: pricking your finger & watching the blood bubble up

Wed. Feb 26
OTTILT: screwing with Siri

Thurs. Feb 27, our advisory group is so awesome we just make pancakes for the heck of it
OTTILT: semi-awkward encounters with pretty much total strangers

Fri. Feb 28
OTTILT: not being incredibly nervous on opening night

Sat. Mar 1, Sasha and Skye singing "People Will Say We're in Love"
OTTILT: seeing & greeting friends & classmates before & after a performance

Sun. Mar 2, finally the mac & cheese comes with breadcrumbs (even if they're gluten-free)
OTTILT: chatting with peeps on Skype