North Central College Media 200 Class

Doing these blogs was fun, especially those were I looked back into time and evaluated my experience. It was pretty nostalgic. Although the blog itself doesn't really have a cool name to it, it's always good to be direct. Those three things are the highlights of my life, and will always be. I'm an interactive media major, so they will always be a part of my life.  Music is something that has taken part in my life in more than one way. First as a band kid, now as a music listener. I am a lot more open minded with music now than I ever was. For a long time, I didn't explore the whole world of music, and I didn't realize I was missing out on so much.  I am someone who values pictures and videos, so it makes sense photography and video is something I want to do for a living. My mom says I love video so much because she's had a camera in my face since I was a baby- the endless baby videos to prove it. I have learned a lot with the short decade of experience, but I st...

 This takes a little bit of a different direction of the music theme of this blog, but I think it is something that was part of my life for a while. I mentioned this before, but I used to be a band kid. From fourth grade to the end of eighth grade, I played the alto saxophone in band. So back then when I said I liked music, I meant I liked playing it. Now when I say I like music, I mean I like listening to it. The tables have turned, but my appreciation for music hasn't. I remember when my school started encouraging students to join band in fourth grade, as that was the time we could start learning and playing. I had decided I wanted to play the saxophone with no second thought, because it looked so cool and I was eager to learn an instrument since I hadn't ever played before.  I had such a fun 5 years playing, and all of that goes to my teacher, Mr. Cash. He was so funny, entertaining, and he was brutally honest but I learned so much from him. Although it's been years sinc...

One thing that I will always be grateful for is music. I think sometimes we all forget to appreciate the little things, and for me, music is that little thing. Although I wouldn't necessarily consider music a small part of my life, because I value it a lot.  I've gone through a lot of phases of my life, some cringe, some annoying, but the type of music I listened to during those periods of time has adjusted to whatever phase I was going through. I didn't really start exploring music until summer before my freshman year of high school. Some would say I was late to the game, but others would say it's never too late. That was my "emo" phase I guess you could say. I was listening to Panic at the disco, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and all the bands part of the emo crew. I would wear vans and a t-shirt every day. Typical. Sophomore year was when I discovered the whole world of kpop. I never let language be a barrier in what music/media I consumed, in fact I w...

Something I'm content with where I am and yet still always willing to learn about is video editing. I started when I was about 9 years old, making stop motion videos with my American Girl Dolls when I discovered there was a whole community of girls who made videos with their American Girl dolls on Youtube. This point in my life was probably where I learned the most and made the most of the little materials I had. I was influenced by them and wanted to learn all the things they knew. A lot of the girls I watched had DSLR cameras and higher end editors, while I was stuck with Movie Maker on Windows and my iPod for a camera. As you can imagine, the picture quality was iffy, but it really could have been worse. Stop motion were the first type of videos I learned how to make. They take a lot of time and commitment but they were still a lot of fun. Not to sound cocky, but I think it's impressive an 11 year old could do that kind of stop motion. Especially since I didn't have many...

  Lifestyle: Getting Organized The year is coming to an end, and you know what that means? "New year, New me". There is no better feeling than going through your stuff and getting organized. Whether that be donating clothes you don’t need anymore, throwing away old pantry items or just simply wanting to reorganize what you have. Here are a few things I use to help inspire a good cleaning. This is a Mintwood cotton rope basket that I use to hold my blankets and pillows. It is great for storage and also a cute piece to have at home! I really enjoy these storage cubes because they help clear up my room. They come in all different sizes which means they can hold all sorts of things!

  If you’re not already aware of the world of cryptocurrency, it’s essentially a collection of digital currencies that each have their own price—kind of like stocks. The price of a cryptocurrency (also known as a crypto token) can fluctuate by going up and down and the degree to which this happens is called its volatility. You can make money with cryptocurrencies by buying a token a certain price and then later selling it at a higher price than what you paid for it. So if you paid $100 for Bitcoin, and then the price of Bitcoin rose 10%, then you can sell all of your Bitcoin for $110, leaving you with a profit of $10 (the opposite could also happen where you lose $10). Of course, you might be wondering where you would actually go out and buy crypto. You would do this by using what is known as a cryptocurrency exchange, which essentially like an eBay but for cryptocurrencies. This whole act of buying and selling cryptos is known as trading and is essentially one of the best ways tha...

 

 

 

Spotify wrapped is one of my favorite things about having Spotify, and I've always looked forward to December because of this. It's still fairly new but has had positive feedback from the start. It's interesting to see how much my music preference has changed since the year before.  My top artist this year was Blackbear, which is not surprising. He's my favorite artist, and I still have yet to see him in concert. Waiting patiently for that day to come. According to Spotify, I was in the top .05% of his listeners listening to him for a total of 3,562 minutes this year. I don't remember the amount of minutes I listened to him last year, but I was also in the top .05% last year as well. I was hoping to get higher up that list of listeners just for fun but at least I didn't go down! My other top artists included Big Time Rush, Mac Miller, Kid Cudi and Machine Gun Kelly. Around February, I found out BTR was on Hulu, then it shortly after got put on Netflix, so of cou...

  In Rainbows - Radiohead Released 2007 - Genre: Art Rock, Experimental Rock While the albums I talked about in this blog are not ranked in any particular order, I can confidently say that this is my favorite album. Radiohead has always been one of my favorite bands, my original idea for this blog was to do an entry on each of their nine studio albums. In Rainbows came at a very unique point in the band’s career, as they had already seemingly reinvented the wheel twice, with the release of OK Computer in 1997, and Kid A in 2000, and their few albums since had been highly regarded but never to that same level. In Rainbows was their attempt at reinventing their sound again and doing something groundbreaking, and they delivered. The buildup to the album's release was very unique, as the band promoted the album almost solely on their own website, where they boasted a pay-what-you-want scheme for the album, where fans could pay any amount (or nothing at all) to download the album. I...

  Mirrored - Battles Released 2007 - Genre: Math Rock, Experimental Rock This is the album that helped me discover math rock, which is essentially normal rock made more complicated by nerds. I think Battles is such a great band because they create music that is technical and uniquely-structured, but it is still fun to listen to. Oftentimes I’ll listen to other bands within the genre and think: “man this is cool but it sounds terrible!” I feel there is definitely a borderline where if music becomes too technical it just becomes grading to listen to, but an album like Mirrored doesn’t have that problem because it still has catchy hooks and grooves you can move to. It is an album built on repetition, with most songs beginning with just a few essential components, but then building into an intricate piece that leaves you captivated. The second track, “Atlas,” is a great example of this, as the shuffling beat of the drums and synth lines remain largely unchanged over it’s seven minute...

  Time n’ Place - Kero Kero Bonito Released 2018 - Genre: Indie Rock, Noise,  Experimental Pop Time n’ Place instantly became one of my favorite albums after listening to it for the first time, and that sentiment is only cemented upon subsequent listens. Kero Kero Bonito is very unique as they are a pop band that has no trouble dabbling in other genres and still creating fantastic music. This album is a great example of that, as it is much more of a rock album than a traditional pop album like the ones they made prior, but instead of ditching the bubbly synth patterns and pop song structures they simply implemented them in a different way, creating a pop rock sound that is still uniquely Kero Kero Bonito . The album isn’t very long, at just over a half hour, and it feels even shorter because of how well each song flows into the next. But each song is so jam-packed with clever ideas and little nuances that I didn’t even notice on my first listen. Another thing I really like a...

  Emergency & I - Dismemberment Plan Released 1999 - Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Punk Emergency & 1 is the third album from Dismemberment Plan , and by far their most popular release. It is cited by many as being a major turning point for indie rock, and many aspects of the record feel very ahead of their time. Touching on lyrical themes of loneliness and feeling disconnected in an age of information only became more relatable decades after the release of the album, with social media becoming a dominating factor in many of our lives. Emergency & I is a very vulnerable and introspective album for it’s frontman Travis Morrison, as many of those lyrics come from his own life experiences. While introspective, the album still delivers it’s share of hard rock tunes that callback to the band’s earlier punk roots. Alternative newspaper The Village Voice stated that "the only way [The Dismemberment Plan are] punk anymore is that there aren't very many of them and that none of ...

  Schlagenheim - black midi Released 2019 - Genre: Math Rock, Noise Rock, Post-Punk This album is a big one for me, it made me realize that rock music is far from dead, and can still break new ground even today. Black Midi are a fairly new group, forming in Croydon, England in 2017. Featuring Geordie Greep on vocals and guitar, Cameron Picton on bass guitar, and Morgan Simpson on drums, the band released a few singles before releasing this debut album titled Schlageneheim , which is one of the most unique rock albums I have ever heard. Greep’s unique, almost crooning vocal style, and Simpson’s high-energy and technicality drumming compliment each other surprisingly well. The band is constantly experimenting with new soundscapes and styles on this record, and the result is explosive. The time signatures and guitar effects are constantly changing, but the unique approach to songwriting is constant. Borrowing the eccentricity of Talking Heads and the groundbreaking songwriting of ban...

  Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes Released 2008 - Genre: Indie Folk, Chamber Pop This is one of the more low-key albums I decided to cover on this blog. Fleet Foxes are a band that I enjoy for their simplicity, and their ability to create lush folk songs that tell a story. Gone are the harsh walls of noise on The Glow Pt. 2 , replaced now by reverb-soaked harmonies and plucky guitars and strings, this is pure folk music and it usually serves as a nice change pace from the other music I frequently listen to. Critics often call this album one of the best albums of the 2000s, and one of the best debut albums of all time, and I can’t argue with them! I first discovered this album, and this group after hearing the Pentatonix version of their song “White Winter Hymnal,” which has now massively surpassed the original song in popularity. But honestly I didn’t like that version very much, so I decided to check out the original and I am glad that I did, Fleet Foxes truly seem to have their sig...

  Give Up - The Postal Service Released 2003 - Genre: Indietronica, Synth-pop Just wanted to start off with a shoutout to my junior year English teacher for introducing me to this album, truly a life changing moment. The Postal Service was a very short-lived group, with this being their only release. With Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie fame) on vocals, along with producer Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis on guitar and backing vocals, The Postal Service created a short-but-sweet ten track album that combines electronics with indie pop wonderfully. The album was released by SubPop who helped release several other notable albums like Nirvana ’s “Bleach,” Sunny Day Real Estate ’s “Diary,” and Fleet Foxes ’ debut album (which we will talk about later). Gibbard combined his pop songwriting sensibilities with Tamborello’s electronica production to create a unique blend of synth-pop that became incredibly popular upon its release. For a time, the band “made laptops the new guitar,...

  Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge - My Chemical Romance Released 2004 - Genre: Alternative Rock, Emo, Pop-Punk This album is one that is very nostalgic for me, along with the rest of My Chemical Romance ’s discography. I wasn’t sure if I should talk about this album, as opposed to Black Parade or even their debut album, but after some thought I felt that this is the one that resonates with me the most. I think it still holds just as much relevance, and holds up musically even today, as I am several years removed from my angsty middle school pop-punk phase. My Chemical Romance never really left my musical rotation as the years passed, and I think that’s largely due to how catchy and endearing their music on this record is. I always thought it would come off as cringeworthy after not listening to it for so long, but I only appreciate the band more now. Gerard Way is a phenomenal frontman, and has a knack for writing great hooks that are complemented perfectly by the guitarwork of Fra...

                                                                 The Glow Pt. 2 - The Microphones Released 2001 - Genre: Indie Folk, Ambient, Noise Rock The second album I wanted to cover for this blog is The Glow Pt.2 by The Microphones . While releasing around the same time as The Unicorns album I discussed previously, and similarly falling under the indie umbrella, this seminal indie-folk release is a far cry from the whimsical soundscapes discussed prior. Phil Elverum’s second major release under the Microphones moniker features free flowing and often harsh soundscapes that take the listener on a journey for the entire twenty track runtime. Elverum recorded and produced the entire album himself, in his hometown of Olympia, Washington on a 16 track analog tape. His unconventional recording ...

  Gratitude Blog: Day 7 By: Helen Ruiz Today was a day of trying new things. I always encourage myself to try out things I am unfamiliar with, because I may end up loving them.  The first thing I tried out today was a kickboxing workout. I tried this out for my Exercise & The Brain class, and found it surprisingly enjoyable. I followed a video I found off of YouTube, and think it was a great one that provided options for different skill levels. I am thankful for taking this class that has introduced me to things I like.  The second new thing I tried out was a Key Lime Pie Chobani flip yogurt. Now, I love most of their yogurts, especially their S’mores, Cheesecake, & Oreo flavors, but I was definitely not a fan of the Key Lime Pie one. Not really sure how to describe it, but it tasted like the smell of a surface cleaner. However, I’m thankful I tried this flavor so I can tell my parents to disregard it from the grocery shopping list. After work, I was hungry but, b...

  Gratitude Blog 10 By: Helen Ruiz This week was a bit chaotic and stressful because we are so close to the end of this fall semester. However, I’ve found that it helps me when I find a thing or two to be grateful for every day.  The first thing I am very grateful for this week was going to Focus with my friends on Wednesday night. I’ve never been able to physically go to Focus because I usually work Wednesday nights and end up watching their Instagram Lives. However, I am very thankful that I got Wednesday off this week and was able to enjoy Focus in person.  The second thing I am grateful for is that I was able to schedule an interview for an internship. I’ve found it hard to find companies or individuals who are looking for a Marketing or HR Management intern who is “Sophomore” standing in school. I am happy I came across this individual/ company and will be interviewing Monday morning!  Another thing that I am grateful for is that all of my packages came in from ...