Month: October 2010

Categories
Lifestyle

When in doubt, just chill out.

I’m sure that most of you have had moments where you were just stressed to the point where you could barely keep a level head. It’s not fun. A lot of us don’t know how to relax either. It seems to be an acquired skill. So, for those of us who are not as good at taking breaks, I definitely recommend music.

But not any music, no no. Most of you will not own any of this, or have heard of it, or maybe not have even heard the genre before. It’s very hard to come by music like this. I find it hard to explain, without actually listening to it, but the best way to describe it is that it is a mix between electronic and ambient, and that hardly does it justice at all.

If you have ever had a song that you can just… well… “feel” the sentiment behind it. You close your eyes, and instantly a scene or feeling takes over, whether it be the warm fuzzies, or like you’re under the soothing ocean current.

As The Stars Fall by The Cinematic Orchestra (make sure you have a woofer, or use headphones for this one)

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I’ve tried to say this to people, and I get weird looks, and even sometimes when I manage to get someone to listen, they still don’t get it. You really need to make an effort to immerse yourself into the music, but at the same time, completely relax. As The Stars Fall is a pretty unique song, and I haven’t found much else by this artist so far, but if you want that warm feeling, then I’d recommend it.

The Daydream by Tycho

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A couple of other artists that I have found that are awesome for this are Tycho, which is very ambient and very, very calming, and another if you want almost the same effect, but a little more “toe tap” is Yppah (don’t ask me how to pronounce it). It’s pretty good for doing air drums too… if you’re into that.

Cannot See Straight by Yppah

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So, I would recommend that if you dig those two songs, then go check out some other songs by Tycho and Yppah, and then even try going to iTunes genius and explore a little. Try and find some Moby and Quantic if you can. It’s amazing how music can affect us in such a deep way, but it’s sad how few artists actually accomplish this.

This, people, is why the music industry is worth keeping alive.

Categories
Rez Life

We are the most profound at the most interesting of times.

So, I had to mention this, because it was not a one time anomaly. Maybe if was only the one time, but now I am suspicious that this may happen again.

To start off, ask yourself this: when do your most interesting conversations occur? If you said “at 2 in the morning” then that’s what I was thinking too.

Yes, it is odd, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Who are we hanging around, if we aren’t in bed, during these ungodly hours of the morn? Usually close friends… unless you are crashing a party, then it’s just people that want you to leave, but that’s besides my point. Second factor to consider: how much discretion do we have, compared to the rest of the day? (no you are not necessarily boozed up if you are hanging out this early… but it might be worth looking into) Probably not a lot, so we end up saying stuff that is rather… err… unusual. But then no one else really cares either, because they are equally as sleep deprived.

This all leads up to the potential to have some crazy profound discussions. Like about a month ago, I was hanging out in a friends room, with some other people. Everything was pretty chill, one of us playing Starcraft, and meanwhile (how I cannot remember) I started to have the most epic and profound talk with some girl, who I had never met before, about different types of  sexuality and their social impacts. It blew my mind. Daytime social standards be damned, because this is what university is about!

My second experience with this was… mmm… somewhat more exciting. I say that because I got into a heated (well as heated as things get during quiet hours on the dry floor) debate about sociology. To sum it up, I know next to nothing about the subject for debating purposes, except for the fact that I am considered an “idealist” which apparently means that all my social opinions are ridiculous and are impossible to implement. Also the fact that I was arguing with 3 art students didn’t help. I admit, they beat me pretty bad, and I guess I learned quite a bit, but I still remain in the position that the social world makes no sense, and that I don’t care much for it as long as people continue to act irrationally. I wish I had a formula for life, is what I’m saying, I suppose. Well that and doing a social “defragmentation” like you do on your computer so that things run smoother.

UTOPIA FOR THE WIN!

Hope you guys get to experience this too, if you haven’t already, because I’m hoping for it again, that’s for sure!

Categories
Rez Life

Don’t judge a weekend from the first two hours.

Ever had one of those weekends where you just know it’s going to go badly? Something happens like, oh, I don’t know… THE FREAKING FIRE ALARM GOES OFF AT 2 AM!

Yes as you may have guessed, we had a bit of excitement at Totem this friday night, and we were none too happy. Many of us still groggy and in pj’s, some of us still dressed and energetic, and others caught at a bad time, and forced to race downstairs to the commons block in their underwear. It was quite the experience, but I’m not surprised. We were warned.

I, myself, was sleeping, because I’m just such a party animal (ya… right), and at first thought it was someone’s alarm clock and tried to sleep through it. The first hint that it was not what I thought was, was when my roommate leapt out of bed in fear of his laptop being sprayed.

But all ended well, I guess, and we all went back to bed, hoping that the rest of our weekend would be more relaxing. Well except when it’s totally bogged down with assignments due for monday. Drat! Such is life I suppose. Best thing to do in my opinion is just keep on truckin’ through it, so you can enjoy your Sunday night.

And enjoy it, I did! It just goes to show that my technique works… for me at least. Although there were certainly times when I was bored to death. There were a couple other moments when I just stopped to think and realized: I cannot believe I have been just doing homework for this long.

In the end, just getting it done without going crazy is all that counts, and that is definitely harder than it sounds.

Categories
UBC Events

Storm the Creationists!

Can anyone think of a better way to spend their friday afternoon than listening to a religious lecture? That might as well have been a comedy club, because I was almost in tears.

Stereotypes are a funny thing, sometimes there is a bit of truth under that ugly, yet amusing shell. In this case, it was pretty true, given the amount of “side stepping”, subject changing, and flat out lying that was going on. Like always, reason got us nowhere, as the lecture quickly elevated to heated debate, and even at one point a shout-fest. You really need to verify everything every person says in order to get anywhere, otherwise it just turn into a circular battle of “YA HUH!”… “NUH UUUHH!!!”, which is rather painful to listen to. Best part by far was the logic that we shouldn’t have fish fossils because they float when they die…. Yes, he was serious about that. *sigh*

But, as always, it’s the subtle inconsistencies with reality that we all see combined with the completely outrageous claims that form our decisions, not that anyone changed their world view because of this anyways, well not mine at least. Guess that means I’m just as thick headed as everyone else. Oh well, at least I try.

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