I'm Going to Stand Up and Sing

Five Things I'm Thankful For This Week:

Fundraisers with good food, great friends, and gratifying causes

Dinners with wise women, choice cuisine, and fascinating fellowship

Projects with hand sketches, creative solutions, and plenty of firsts

Puppies with wagging tails, playful agendas, and muddy paws

Maxi dresses and skirts with pointy-toed flats (or boots), interesting details, and the perfect accessories

I'm also extremely thankful for God's timing and his providential nature over everything we do.

He has a plan.  One that is and always will be better than anything I could ever dream up.

Title: "Too Deep to Fill" by Ryan Bingham

People Keep A-Talkin'

5 things I'm thankful for this week:

Christmas Traditions

Last-Minute Shopping

Creative Outlets

Family Get-Togethers

Open Houses

Title: "The Poet" by Ryan Bingham

Know Me As I Was But See Me As I Will Be

     If wishes really could come true, I'd wish for more artistic talent.  I might be able to take a photograph but my drawing is something horrendous.  But I'm really good at abstract art, even on pretzels.  They look yummy, no?

Title: "Know Me Well" by Roo Panes

So Piece Together Woes and Broken Pictures

     Have you ever heard a song and thought you recognized it (as a completely different song)?  Some times artists sample songs in their music.  Wikipedia describes sampling as "the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or sound recording in a different song or piece."  Basically, when you sample something in music it's like taking a direct quote from a song (with the beat and original voice included).  Artists are using this more and more as it's becoming a more acceptable form of creativity.  I guess what I don't understand is how taking whole sections of another person's song and putting "your" spin on it is being creative.  To me, that's like me writing a story that has the exact plot line as Star Wars (but of course set in a different place and time) and then trying to pass it off as something completely new.  It's not.  Sometimes the sampling really does work though, it flows in the song, and well, I guess you can see it as something of a popularity contest.  You could measure how good a song really is as too how many people have sampled it.  Tons of hip hop songs have sampled Coldplay music.  I found an article that compares the best ones.  I can't really blame the hip hop artists because I love Coldplay, too. 

     One thing though that gets me is the whole copyrighting of it all.  Shouldn't the artists have to acknowledge the song (artist of the song) they sampled or is it the public's duty to be informed enough to realize when a song is being sampled?  Usually my favorite parts of a song are the ones that are sampled.  Mostly I tend to also not realize that the song has a sampled part in it and I tend to get a little sad when I realize I'm not giving credit to the right people.  There is actually a website I just found WhoSampled that has complied all samplings under one site.  At least I think that's what it does.  It's pretty cool, they have a place where you can compare the original song vs the song that where it was sampled.  It gave me the idea to share a few with you.

     What do you think of song sampling?  Have you noticed it more and more these past few years?  If you have noticed it, does it make you want to go back and listen to the other song (like it does me, if I can place it correctly) or do you get something completely different from the new song?  Are you enjoying the sampling?  Does add a depth to the song or does it detract?  And what do you think about the whole crediting issue?  Does the new artist deserve all the credit?  If you are fond of sampling what do you think about mash-ups?  Do they annoy you because it's too many songs in one or do you enjoy the DJ-partying feel?  (Do you even have clue what mash-ups are?)

"Something's Got a Hold on Me" by Etta James

Sampled in "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida

"Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk 

Sampled in "Stronger" by Kanye West

"Funeral" by Band of Horses

Sampled in "The Prayer" by Kid Cudi

Title: "How Could I Complain" by Pete Lawrie

Oscar and Jack say hi!

All By Myself

     The thing I love most about finding a different song for each of my posts is that it forces me to find new music.  Honestly, sometimes I completely hate it for one reason or another.  Usually the reason is I can't find a song that I like that fits the blog post and I just want to go to bed.  Other times though, like right now, I can't wait until I can blog again so I can share this amazing band with you.
     I wish there was a genre for this band that I could type in so I would get more bands like this one.  They are completely unique in that in one of their CDs they have so many different sounds.  All of their songs are fun and you can tell that they are doing this because they love it, not for the fame or the money (okay, maybe a little for both, but mostly because they love it).  I just found on youtube a playlist of "officially unofficial music videos, hand-made, band-made by Walk the Moon without a film crew or a budget."  That quote was taken directly from the description of their "7in7" playlist, where they made 7 videos (in 7 days) while on tour in order to promote their upcoming self-titled album.  I've shared some of their music on here before after I stumbled across Anna Sun and then came back for more with Shiver Shiver (although I should have used the music video featured below as it is so much better than the live version).  I finally downloaded their whole CD and man are there some jems on the album.  I can't stop listening to the song that the title of this post is named after, mostly because of the different rounds in the chorus.  I want to find more bands like this one.  If you know of any, please pretty please let me know.  I'd be forever in your debt.   I also just found out that they are going to be in Nashville on a Tuesday which makes me super sad because who would miss work to go with me?

"Shiver Shiver" by Walk the Moon

     I had my first day of an internship at Click Magazine (in DeSoto County) today, but I'm going back on Tuesday to have my second first day.  I'm extremely proud of my outfit so I had to share.

     Now it's down to OXFORD for Grove Season!  

Art brought to you by Scoots Peterson (my grandmother) and Welzie (of Two Crows Surfboards).

Title: "I Can Lift a Car" by Walk the Moon

(btw, opening your eyes underwater and trying to look good is really rather difficult for those of you who haven't tried... which makes this video even more awesome)

I Paint the Pictures of Emotions

     Tonight there was a fun painting party benefiting Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center, the very first child advocacy center in DeSoto County.  A child advocacy center helps children who have been abused.  From what I understand, a center such as this one will make sure everyone works together in order to better benefit the children.  Broken down simply, they advocate for children who have suffered through abuse.  The most simple way they will advocate for each child is instead of having to recount their abuse story over and over again to multiple people and reliving through that traumatic event in their life, the child will just have to tell their story once.  On their Facebook page they have an adorable diagram of the process that a child who has been abused has to go through before the center and after.  While you may not see child abuse in your day to day life, it is a very real problem throughout the world, no county in America is exempt from it.  If you want to know more or volunteer you should check out their website and their Facebook page.

    The painting party tonight allowed us to paint pictures at Pleasant Hill Art Center to decorate the advocacy center.  How awesome is that?  For those of you unfamiliar with Pleasant Hill Art Center, the lovely women who run it help you create a work of art (that sometimes you wouldn't be able to create otherwise).  Their theory is everyone is an artist (and unlike my drawing professor who proclaimed he could teach anyone to draw, their theory is way more accurate).  If you can't quite get your picture there on your own, they are there with just a few suggestions (and maybe a little stroke or two) that will get your painting to the next level of perfection.  My mom has been to at least 3 parties there in the past few months (my dad even attend 2 of those and enjoyed himself!).  It's one of those things where you have fun doing it and you're even proud of your work in the end.  I felt like I was taking a lot more pictures than I actually took (like always).  But I had a blast and while I might would have wandered around a little more taking pictures, I'm very thankful for the reason I stayed put.

Title: "Paint the Pictures" by of Verona

Heavier Than I Knew

     If you follow my blog regularly, you will have noticed I didn't post yesterday.  I've been pretty down in the dumps lately over my migraines.  I hate to say that I'm depressed because I started feeling bad again, but when my health went backwards instead of forwards it really frustrated me.  It's still frustrating me.  I even think I feel better and then I start to do something (because I'm feeling better) and I'll feel bad again.  It has given me the strangest urge to sob at any little thing.
     I didn't really feel like blogging yesterday, but there have been many times where I've just sucked it up and felt accomplished after I posted even just a little something.  Then I realized it was Sunday.  Sunday meant that it was my "five things I'm thankful for" day and I just couldn't do it.  Of course, I had things I'm thankful for.  I'm always thankful for my family (including my puppies and my kitty).  That could have been three things already, but I wanted to be thankful for other things.  So here's my second attempt at things five things I'm thankful for this past week.

It's almost Tuesday and my turn to host Book Club!

meaning I get to feel like a grown-up because even though I'm hosting in my parent's house, 

I'm the actual host (not my mom)

I feel like I'm preparing a very small feast of desserts

I won't ruin the surprise for the ladies who are coming 

but I will say one of the things involves watermelon

I found out this morning that there is a Little Free Library in Mississippi

in Arkabutla to be exact

I don't have a picture but it still makes me feel a little better about the state of Mississippi

The simple fact that I don't feel as bad as I did on Thursday and Friday

 

I might get to hang this amazing piece of art on my wall

(it's from Hawaii)

Title: "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra