I've Been Challenged in the Field of Creativity

Usually when you hear a remix - or a cover - it falls under the same, or at the very least, a similar genre as the original. For example, Kayne West, a hip-hop artist, using a Daft Punk song as the basis to his new song, or MSTRKRFT remixing a Justice song. Very rare is someone able to take two different genres and clash them together. Richard Cheese does a brilliant jazz-lounge version of Madonna's Material girl. (Humorous, but very effective). Or My!Gay!Husband! covering Fiest's 1, 2, 3, 4.

Recently, I stumbled across a cover artist by the name of Obidiah Parker. Parker has done a very successful acoustic version of Hey Ya! by OutKast. More recently however, I stumbled across Parker's version of Idioteque by Radiohead and was a little disturbed.

Idioteque is a brilliant electronica song done by Radiohead using samples from electronic instrument experiments in the 70s. The beat is driving, the pads are swelling, and Yorke's soothing and ambient voice climaxes into punchy and rythmic furry during the chours. It is a beautifull song and one of the first to bring me into the wonderful world of radiohead.



Parker's version is a piano ballad version of the song. All off the raw energy is lost and it turns into, well, a piano ballad with soft "pretty boy" vocals on top. There is one point in the song where he tries to capture the rythym of the song by pounding out chords on the piano.



But who am I to hate? Parker was ambitious and creative enough to do something different. In the words of one thesixtyone.com user, "Somebody took a brilliant song and retranslated it, showing a different side of something we all thought we knew. It's like looking into a mirror with someone else's eyes." Is it simply because I am so attached to the original that I do not like the new take. Does the fact the new verison makes me uncomfortable make it effective art?

What's your opinion?

And while we are on the topic of remixes and thesixtyone.com, let me put in a promotion for my dear friend behind the tremulance. He has made a brilliant remix of Cut Copy's Hearts on Fire.



Have a listen and then give him a bump. And check out the site while your there. It's really quite neat.

The Consequences for Not Supporting the Oil and Automotive Markets.

Abbotsford motorists literally drive me up the wall. I can't tell you the number of times I've almost been hit on my longboard, bike, or even my own two feet. The majority of these times have been when I'm wearing bright colours, a bright lime green hate or florescent orange rain jacket. I have already witnessed one of my friends being smoked by a van making a left hand turn and not paying attention to the group of us crossing.

This doesn't even mention the number of times I've been flipped off for simply not driving a car. That's the only reason I've managed to come up with, or am I not supposed to cross the intersection when there's a little man engaged in the action of walking shining on me in LED infused light. Right, I forgot, that man actually means the people making left hand turns through that walk way have superior rights to the road because they drive automobiles, so get out of there way because they are coming through.

Today was just ridiculous though. I was on my way to work, biking, when I came to an intersection where the lights were not working. In this situation, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike are supposed to treat it as a four way stop. This however, was a free for all. So finally when I had what seemed like an opportunity to get through, some lady decided to take a left turn and almost ran into me. She never noticed and kept speeding on her way to her spa appointment she was probably late for. What ticked me off the most was the driver whom I passed on my right who gave me the ugliest look and hand flare action that suggests the phrase, "What the hell are you doing?"

Three minutes later, I discovered that I left my bike lock at home and needed to go through the dreaded intersection one more time. As I was waiting for an opportunity to go, the driver on my left speed through the intersection, glared at me, and flipped the bird. For what? For waiting for my turn to go? For being on a bike? For not buying a car and supporting the used auto market? I have no clue.

Abbotsford needs to get a clue. I would bike on the sidewalks only it's illegal, and not much safer. Drivers must realize that they share the road with more than themseleves and their agendas. And please, let's show courtsey and a common concern for everyone's safety, not obsecene gestures and bad language.

The Theology of Skewed Truth

Are you ready for some theology?

I was reminded today of a conversation we had in my discipleship class about lies and temptation and all that fun stuff. Basically it went down like this:

If God is the creator, then everything else is created. This includes, you, me, the angels and the demons. God did not create sin however. So where does sin come from? A common miss-conception is that Satan created sin. This isn't possible because God is creator and Satan is not.

We decided in class that lies are never created, but based out of truth. Lies are usually only part of the truth or a form of skewed truth.

Anyways, I was reminded all this today when I was reading out of Shane Claiborne's Jesus For President. Here's an excerpt from what I was reading:

It's the beautiful things that get us. Perhaps the greatest seduction is not the ANTI-GOD, but the ALMOST-GOD. Poisonous fruit can look pretty tasty... Most of the ugliness in the human narrative comes from a distorted quest to possess beauty. Coveting begins with appreciating blessings. Murder begins with a hunger for justice. Lust begins with a rcognition of beauty. Gluttony begins when our enjoyment of the delectable gifts of God start to consume us. Idolatry begins when our seeing a reflection of God in something beautiful leads to out thinking that the beautiful imagebearer is worthy of worship.
P. 26

In this time in my life, that's comforting news. There is something in me that is inherently good and somewhere along the line, that good has been skewed. Somewhere along the track, I have been right in my pursuits. It's just a point now of finding my way back to that original truth and pursuing it in a godly manner.

This is something liberating.

Feel free to call me on heresy.

Semi-Monthly Poll

Due to a lack of creativity as of late, I made a poll. Check it out on the bottom left of this page. It will be every month unless I forget to update it.

This month is what you think I am, and so what if that's a little vain.

Enjoy.

Ontario 2: Power of Community

Today marks day three of visiting my hometown. This whole experience has been truly wonderful. I'm always so nervous to come here because it symbolizes the past for me, and I'm terrified of the past. But so far this has been good, catching up with people, visiting the beach, seeing the change. Here are some more highlights.

Yesterday, I found out that I had no cavities. After that, My dad drove me up the shore a ways to go buy a slackline. I'm afraid that my parents may be in some sort of biker gang. Every motorcycle we passed, my Dad would flash some sort of gang signage and the majority of bikers would sign back. This concerns me a little. Besides that, the day was beautiful and I got a line set up.

Last night, I met up with my friend Brandon and we headed down to the beach to set up the line and wait for the Canada Day fireworks to begin. There, we met up with more people I hadn't seen in a while and we all hung out, slacklined, played guitar and watched the fireworks together. Me and my friend Izzy played a song we played all the time last year called Na Na which consists of 4 chords I play over an over, Izzy making up lyrics, and both of us singing na na every so often. There's a recorded version of it and apparently it got really popular here. It was weird to hear people sing along with words both Izzy and I do not know, but it was really fun and something I miss from here dearly.

Today I saw a girl I knew, Mandy, from way back when I started going to youth group. She was downtown serving food and I was curious so I asked what was going on. Mandy explained that it was a project called food not bombs. The basic idea goes like this: Mandy goes around to local businesses and collects food that they are about to throw away. She then uses said food to cook vegetarian meals like soup, salads, ect. then serves them for free downtown. The idea is to promote wastelessness and to bring the community together. I had some soup and got to chat with Mandy about the different trips she's done lately and about what's going on in her life as of late. It was a great communal experience. Make sure you check out there site here.

After wards, I went to It's All Good, the only place to get fair trade coffee in Port Elgin, in hopes of finding a place to curl up with some coffee, read a book, and maybe see some people wander in. When I first arrived, I noticed my friend Chantelle in the line. I don't think I've seen here since she left for her year long exchange to Croatia 2 years ago. It was good to catch up and discuss our different travelling adventures. Various other people who I knew came in and we caught up, I also got the oppurtunity to talk with a guy who grew up in Ireland. I love the community coffee brings together.

These are just a few more highlights from my journey home. Tomorrow includes a bachelor party and all the shinanagans that come with. I'll keep you updated.

In the meantime, I would like to draw attention to something that came from that podcast I linked in my last entry. I have myspace account for my music (here if you wanted to know). It's really just a place that I can refer some of my friends to some stuff I've recorded over the years. Nothing serious really. Anyways, I was sent a message recently from myspace music inviting me to enter a contest where I would play at Rock the Vote. The following is qouted from the message: "Want to open for Rock the Vote's concert kicking off the 2008 Democratic and Republican Convention activities? Want to help shape the election? If so, take part in the MySpace IMPACT and Rock the Vote DemROCKracy band competition!"

Anyways, I guess I just like what Claiborne said in that interview. He said, (and I'm paraphrasing,) that it is important to vote, but really, we vote everyday in what we do.

I just found that to be an interesting thought. If you haven't yet, make sure to listen to that interview.