on.musical.woes

Jess blogs: I have written stunning free-verse love poetry, but somehow the second I try to put rhythm and rhyme into my sentiments, they turn into absolute cliche crap. I think they do this on purpose. Part of me wants to make it my life goal to write a decent love song, but I may give up altogether.

Brad torments: Ahhh. The ever.love.ed cliche. I thought all song was just cliche to music. Ok. Well. Maybe not, but it seems to be the essence of popular music. The goal of good music then might be — rather than to repeat the cliche — to create the cliche. Most stuff, say, Backstreak Bois or Brocoli Spears or M&Ms, has this etheral.quality where, rather than adding to the collective karma of society and civilization, it takes what is familiar and milks it into something we think we sort.of.like because it’s familiar — simple — basic — and blends neatly into our current mindset. Good music — think U2 or Presley (when he first emerged) or Creed, stuff like that — tends to challenge ideas, or create new ways of looking at life, and in a sense creates — moulds — shapes — forms new cliches for us to follow. Though, with a lot of music — especially the good stuff, it is hard to remember which came first: it’s the ol’ chicken and egg problem. Thus, your struggle as I see it, is not to fall into the commericialized and cliche.ed trap of some notion of your topic — which if it is something like love, originality is tough, but not impossible — but rather originalize and creatively express your theme in a unique and cliche creating way.

As if that made sense.

more.bus.woes

An hour and a bit to work this morning. Why do I normally leave at 7AM to get to work? Why, you ask? Why, oh, why? Simple. Because if I leave at 7:30 I have a 3 bus wait, just to get aboard. That is: first bus arrives and fills up. Second bus arrives, and fills up. Third bus arrives, and finally Brad is aboard. Sigh. And Karin complains about traffic!