Oh look, a butterfly!

Right now I’m writing this post while watching cartoons while learning Adobe Bridge while managing my music files.

Whoever said TV ruins attention spans never imagined the likes of the internet.

I’m gonna eat lots of the food of love

I’ve written a number of songs, and for some reason, they all seem to be love songs. Love is easy to write about; it’s straightforward, emotional, and universal. But since I want to improve my skills as a songwriter, I’ve been looking for new subject matter that’s more specific and personal, yet has widespread appeal.

The best way to get emotion across in a song is to describe specific sensory details. And that’s a struggle. A great writer can describe coffee steam and dirty doorsteps and half-eaten sandwiches in a way that paints a complex emotional landscape. I have trouble with that.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Imani Coppola lately. Check out her smash hit, The Stoop:

It’s a list of mundane, real-life details. There’ are two abstract, philosophical statements in the whole thing:

• “It is what it is. It ain’t all hard up in the hood.”
• “It’s all good. Cuz I love my hood.”

Pretty simple ideas. Not especially profound. But it’s the mundane, real-life details that make the song work.

Youtube Comment Snob: making the world a better place

Those who visit Youtube regularly (ie: everyone) know it’s a vastly useful and entertaining resource. Unfortunately, it’s comments section is a night-dark abyss of stupidity and bad grammar, to be avoided at all costs.

I haven’t read a Youtube comment in over a year.

That might be changing soon, though, as some clever fellow has created Youtube Comment Snob, a Firefox extension that filters out mispellings, profanity, overuse of punctuation, and other typing habits that drag down social discourse as a whole.

Dare to compare

Edward Tufte would hate me

Right now I’m working on the lesson plan for Summer Camp classes. It’s two weeks of classes, two hours with advanced students and two hours with lower level students. My lessons consist of Youtube videos, Powerpoint slides, and photocopied/dowloaded worksheets. Also flashcards, which the kids strangely seem to love.

My Powerpoint slides aren’t anything particularly fancy. Mostly just a difficult word with a picture next to it so students can figure out what the word means. I’m not entirely sure that more complex Powerpoint presentations add anything to the experience, except maybe entertainment value.

keeping it simple

One thing that’s really difficult is finding content that’s both entertaining and educational. Considering we use Youtube videos as a staple of our lessons, it can be almost impossible. Youtube is anything but a hub of learning and horizon-expansion For my own part, I use videos primarily as entertainment. If I can catch the kids’ attention for a few minutes, they’ll be more receptive for the rest of the class. Once I’ve grabbed their attention, I can attempt to teach them something useful.

Here’s a video that got a particularly positive response, especially the bloody parts: The Ghastly Truth About Life in the Middle Ages.

Getting sick in Korea

I seem to get sick a lot more in Korea than I did back in the states. I credit this to coming into contact with over a hundred students every day. Basically, I work in a virus factory, and frequent deathly colds are one of the hazards.

Of course, here in Korea, unlike home, people go to the doctor when they have a cold. I’m not really sure why. The doctor always says to get fluid and rest, and gives an identical prescription. I’d skip it, except the whole encounter only costs about five bucks, and it’s the easiest way to get drugs. He also sprays three different magical mists down my throat. I don’t know the purpose of these magical mists, except they’re really grody and don’t make me feel any better.

Night before last I started having difficulty breathing through my nose. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat. This morning I woke up feeling like Hell itself had been lifted my God’s mighty hand and placed between my ears.

I called in sick.

The teachers were supposed to play sports today. Badmitton and an obstacle course and traditional Korean stick-throwing. I probably would have been allowed to sit it out, being sick and all, but I think just being near all that would have made me feel worse.

I got some kind of hot beef soup, hoping it would make me feel better. I honestly couldn’t believe how bad it tasted.

a lurking horror

If you see anything that looks like this, for God’s sake, DON’T EAT IT.