People think I'm famous.

So I was on the way down the lovely Jackson Hall basement to do some laundry and of course I was tired and sleepy and had my last pair of clothes on, but in the elevator someone had said I looked like French Stewart. Actually he said, "hey man, you look a lot like that guy from that space show back in the day...ya know." His chum next to him had said "Third Rock from the Sun?" "YEAH!...what's his name? Harry or something" So basically I, for the 5th time in my life have been called Harry from Third Rock from the Sun, played by French Stewart. Of all the people in the world...French Stewart. Why?

Oh well, I guess it's better than someone saying I look like Snoopy off of the Peanuts or something, even though that would be pretty cool since he can turn into Joe Cool (shh, don't tell anyone, it's Snoopy's secret) so actually I wouldn't mind. French Stewart on the other hand, was a retarded alien on Earth, but he was funny and made me laugh for the entire 1 season I remember that show being on.

A Day of "WOW"s!

First off, I get up and go to my University Seminar class. We talked about STD's and all the forms of sex. We even were taught how to put a condom on! I don't know about most people but if your teacher is out sick for the 2nd time in a row, and your sub shows you how to and how not to put on the love glove, that constitutes for a pretty well rounded day.

Second off, I watched the Firebird Suite segment from Disney's Fantasia (2000) and was completely awe-struck. I have never seen Disney actually make an animation that doesn't have some stupid humanized pet as the main character, and of course, I've never seen a Disney with classical music so well played into the movie...but this is Fantasia's goal of course. I watched the Nutcracker Suite as well, but they just didn't hit it as much as they did wit h the Firebird Suite segment.

So good job Disney, bad job imaginary toaster in my dorm room....I wish Jackson Hall could let you use something other than just a refrigerator for food.

An English Paper, Theory homework, and blogging at 3 a.m.

So it's 3 in the morning and I decided to get a head start on tommorows tasks, ecspecially since I will be spending most of my time tommorow writing our new paper assignment. I have started to make these to-do lists that have all my daily objectives on it. 12 years of school and I finally start to get organized! I found out today that most people here are far more lazy than I am. My roommate for example is playing Warcraft or something abnoxiously loud, but is also "reading" in between actions. I think it's funny that at the beginning of school I, and I'm sure everyone else was as well, was thinking, "Study study study, nothing less than a 4.0!" But here I am, watching Fantasia until 3 a.m., playing games, sleeping, when really I should be writing blogs and papers or something. Maybe tommorow I'll be motivated - partly because I have to get a paper done that would be due the next day...fear is motivation right? Oh well.

I wonder why I am saying "tommorow" for what is really today? Weird.

My eyes are starting to twitch and my fingers are starting to ache. It's either all the Google searches I've done today or the fact that today was the first day the orchestra ran through our Beethoven piece, which only takes 40-50 minutes from start to finish..........yuck.

Welp, until tommorow - which is actually today, zzZZZZzz...

In Russia, Language Learns You.

So I don't know why, but all the sudden, I want to learn another language like German or Russian. I know enough German to get around so I'll probably, if anything, start with that. Russian is pretty hard and has those weird characters, but how many people actually know Russian? I am starting to hate English, not only because I failed my first paper, but because there's about 500 million forms of it. I heard that California public schools teach Ebonics along with standard English. That's nuts. I think in any given day, I use the American-taught, formal English about twice and that's only to ask teacher's things or say "Please, no pickles on that sandwich sir." Well really I don't say that but I know I don't say "lemme snatch that without pickles yo." I guess it would be cool to learn an exotic language and have someone else know it too. You always see the 8 Japanese students here talking as if they just failed a big test or have just watched some Dane Cook Comedy. They are either angry sounding or hysterically laughing. The moral of my story is, the Blimpie in the LBJ Student Center either needs to learn formal English or Russian so I can get my damn orders across.

Copyrighted 2006 by Mark Burrow

Our orchestra has recently decided to play the themes for Gladiator by Hans Zimmer, one of my favorite composers and practically my non-classical musical idol. We have had to wait though for actual parts to arrive but I'm thinking that it's not going to happen. See Hans Zimmer, and 99% of all movie composers, usually write 20-30 seconds of a piece in a movie that sounds similar or maybe exactly the same to another piece. Basically copyrights. Well, Hans Zimmer has finally been blamed for it (not his first time) through the award winning score for Gladiator. If you knew how often music was copied person to person, you would be thinking so what...I know I am. In my opinion, if it took someone 6 years (Gladiator came out in 2000) to sue Zimmer over this work, knowing that he receieved such high status through it, then someone's looking for money. I can name many instances between composers that melodies have been tottally stolen, but why haven't those been in the news?

Here are a few to name:
~The themes from "Gladiator" by Hans Zimmer and "The Planets", a orchestral suite by Gustav Holst. (this is the one that all the controversy is over, even though Holst is dead and has been, even 6 years ago.)
~"Schindler's List" by John Williams and "Enemy at the Gates" by James Horner (identical themes and melodies in 60% of the movie)
~"Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" - Gollum's Theme by Howard Shore and "Batman Begins" - Barbastella by Hans Zimmer. (30 seconds of the same tune, in practically the same tempo)

This scares me because I plan to make scores for films, just as all the above do, so I'm sure I will have to face some random poor nobody that thinks I stole a few measures from some classical piece, and if it's California, I'll lose.

The snozeberries taste like REAL snozeberries!

Recently the idea of "if only I had more time" has been overshadowing my actions. I have this itch to compose a grand piece of music before winter break, but I can't seem to truly buckle down and work on it. I have a few good ideas (or so I hope) but my motivation department is being restocked at the moment. I study for classes, but there's something missing in all of this school work...creativeness. I guess papers for English and these blogs are as close to individualism as I get right now...but not for long. I'm starting on an idea TODAY, SUNDAY, and will try to use all my energy to work towards this. I will only say my idea has never been heard before, but is a nice little spin-off of Vivaldi. Until then, have a fabulific day, I've got work t do.

100 Years and still no one knows him...

Yesterday marked the centenial birthday of one of the greatest composers known to man, and one of my own personal favorites.

Dmitri Shostakovich, a Russian composer, was born 100 years ago on September 25, 1906.

For all that really know music and for all that want to know more, he was considered one of the greats of modern music. This man was under persecution and torment by his own government, and still managed to make masterpieces. Many of the music he composed was at one time "banned" due to not showing glory to Russia and the socialist ideals. Think about that, your government tells you to be creative up to a point where they are happy enough and anything else is not ever to be publicly veiwed, read, or performed. He went through many trifiles to get his music out and as of now, his fame is currently rising more than ever.

I hope, in honor of Shostakovich's birthday, that many will go out and listen to some of his Symphonies, namely his 5th Symphony, subtitled "A SOVIET ARTIST'S PRACTICAL REPLY TO JUST CRITICISM" which ironically is today considered the most anti-socialist symhpony of Shostakovich's.

Anyways, another day, another dead guy's awesome music lives on!