Judging a Band by Their Artwork

To My Youngers,

Art means a lot to me. You know that. Pretty much everyone who knows me knows that. Kids I teach for two days know that! I feel that the art someone makes (or for that matter chooses to display as a part of themselves- in their home or in association with something they have created like a book or a CD) says a lot about them as a person- obvious statement I know, perhaps even a bit trite, but I mean in in an actual way. Like seeing someone's artwork, for me, helps me understand them better than anything else does.

Over the years I have likewise noticed that choosing books and albums based on their covers has never let me down. Now I know that it goes against the tried and true saying, that parents and teachers everywhere cringe as I type these words, but when taken quite literally (as in judging actual books) I find that time and time again if an author or a band likes their art, and I like their art, I will also like said author or band.

Two things have recently re-brought this idea to the forefront of my mind. The first is the just-released cover of John Green's soon to be published book The Fault in Our Stars. I have to say I like the cover- its simple and quirky and doesn't spoil anything about the book or try to trick you into reading it. Its drawn, not photographed, which gives it a warmer, more personal feeling, and it seems to fit with what I expect the book to be: simple, honest, funny, and somewhat childlike. Apparently, however, many fans of John's writing are not fans of the cover, and have been quite vocal about it (as youtube peeps are wont to be). In many cases I'm sure they're just sad it didn't look more like their own cover design (yes many nerdfighters designed their own covers, no, I do not have enough room here to explain nerdfighters... watch this if you're curious), and I'm sure some of them are just complaining for the sake of it (though its not really the nerdfighter way...), but I think mostly they realize that the cover of a book (especially one which the author himself has expressed a deep love for) does in fact reflect on the insides, and that if they aren't head over heels for it, they start to worry that the book might not be what they think its going to be. In other words: though they have spent their lives being told that "You can't judge a book by its cover" they do, in fact, know this to be not entirely true... Interesting also is the publisher/author reaction to this dissapointment/upsetness whereby they are offering to have a competition throughout nerdfighteria to design the cover for the reprinting of another of John Green's books An Abundance of Katherines. It seems  they too realize the importance of cover art...

The second thing that happened (just happened, like five minutes ago) is that I discovered that the artwork for my favourite band (Elliot Brood) is, in fact, all created my the banjo player and co-lead-singer of the band, Mark Sasso. This is 1) odd for me because I have loved this band for about five years and I'm not quite sure how I was not previously aware of this fact and 2) particularly odd, seeing as how they are my favourite band musically (on my bike, in the car, in the summer, in the fall, live, on cd, basically just best. yeah, just best) but also by leagues my favourite band artistically (well, by leagues I really mean that The Decemberists are a very close second, but that these two bands are leagues ahead of all the rest... incidentally I also just recently found out that all of The Decemberists' illustrations are created by the wife of lead singer Colin Meloy!).

I love this artwork. I have a limited edition, beautifully hand-made release of their album Ambassadour, which I bought the first time I ever saw them in concert, and lovingly display on my bookcase. When they're setting up for a show I peer around other concert goers to get a look at their set pieces, the bass drum image, the carved chair... The first thing I do when I buy one of their CDs is open the cover and pull out the innards to see what they've done this time (sometimes a train schedule, other times a hand written note...). I even decorated my bike helmet with Elliot Brood inspired designs. Their stuff has such a great sense of narrative (just like their music) and nostalgia (just like their music) and frontier aesthetics (just like their music) and quirkyness (wait for it...... just like their music).

I seriously love this band's artwork. Seriously. And finding out that its made by someone in the band makes me love them even more than when I thought they just liked it too.

Its kind of weird when you think you can't love something more and then get proven wrong. Of course that happens often when you read/listen to things covered by artwork you love... 'Can't judge a book by its cover' my ass...

-E

Geek-tastic Crushes

To My Youngers,

I kind of adore geeks. Nerds. Whatever.

I don't necessarily mean the kind that wear glasses and read comic books (though those two things do also happen to be characteristics of some of the geeks I enjoy...), I don't necessarily mean the kind that are super smart (though again it doesn't hurt...), but I do mean, definitely necessarily, the kind who get very excited about things.

Not all things. They don't have to, y'know, love everything in existence to an untold and all consuming level (in fact that would be a little disturbing and more than a little annoying). But they do have to really love the things they love. And why does that make someone a geek? Well I guess strictly speaking it doesn't, except for when the things that they love are geeky. Then obviously that makes them a geek... seems pretty self evident. Actually scratch that. I would argue that being a geek is really actually a product of loving something so completely, so all-consumingly that your excitedness is absolutely baffling to most people around you... Back to that in a minute.

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyways. I am reminded of my fixation with geeks (re-reminded?) due to many recent events, only some of which I am about to mention, but the closest one being once again staying up till the wee hours watching old vlogbrothers videos.... specifically the John ones. Because I kind of totally love John Green. In fact I'm not really sure how everyone doesn't love John Green... maybe they've never heard of him? That would be a good reason. Pretty much the only good reason I can think of... ;o) He writes things that just make everything in the world seem kind of beautifully awesome. He gets upset about things that should be gotten upset about and happy about things that are silly or wonderful or weird enough to be the best things to be happy about, and as F Scott Fizgerrald says in the Great Gatsby, he has "an extraordinary gift for hope." An excitedness about life, or at least lots of things in life, that comes through in pretty much everything he says, and perhaps even more so how he says it. Watching him talk about stuff (really just anything, any stuff at all) makes me feel excited about all  of the things I get excited about. Excited about making things and creating and springboarding things or ideas or drawings or just happiness, out into the world just because I can. Just because I'm alive and I can. And why not? What better reason is there to share things that make you happy? Because you can. Best reason of all.

So this brings me back to geekdom. Sometimes I find it difficult to reconcile the common geek-thing of loving things that really don't "matter"(like movies or comic books or music...) with feeling like life really ought to matter. Because surely it wouldn't exist without mattering of some kind...? Surely mattering is the reason for the existence of life. Of everything... Mattering in some way. In some way. In some way. right? So why not in that way?

Why not in the loving of something so completely that it makes you happy just experiencing it? In being filled with joy at watching The Decemberists perform The Mariner's Revenge Song, or excitedly looking forward to the new Batman comic, or the remake of Evil Dead... In discussing Catcher in the Rye or Lord OTR (Yes Lord OTR, not LOTR or Lord of the Rings- long story, but rest assured its a geeky one...), in only being able to talk in excited-high-voice when trying to explain why you love a painting or a line from Sorkin or something David Tennant said on the radio... surely loving is reason enough? Is 'mattering' enough?

They say 'All you need is love.' and I think that its true, but I think we don't usually fully understand what exactly that means. All you need is love, love is all you need, but not just that romantic-partnership-sex-n-marriage kind of thing. The love of friends, of pets, of favourite books and pickles and banjo playing. Of the scientific method, the big bang, the large hadron collider... The love of silly things and sunny days, comic books, and great novels, and bike rides.

And geeks.

Love is all you need, so love what you love as fully as you can and don't worry about the rest. It'll sort itself out.

-E

Storytelling as ... Everything

To My Youngers,

I was catching up on some vlogbrothers videos yesterday (as I am wont to do) and was struck by a particularly loverly sentiment (as I am also wont to do) expressed by John Green about the purpose of studying/discussing literature: "Its not so much about uncovering secret mysteries for the sake of uncovering secret mysteries, its about using story as a way into thinking about our actual lives and how we're actually living them."

So first off I love the enthusiasm with which Mr Green (ha ;o) states that the true purpose of hearing stories is to learn from them, to apply the lessons within to our own lives and to benefit from the experiences of others, even if those others are fictional. Its seems a rather obvious idea, but also unfortunately one which is often lost on the hoards of students forced to analyze everything from Dickens to James Joyce. I have had so many students beg me to tell them 'What the author means...' as if that will somehow magically provide them with the answers to life, the universe, and everything. Its not about what the author means but about how you relate to the story, the novel, the work. What does Napoleon's take-over of the farm remind you of? Haven't you ever felt like one of the invisible unwashed masses like David Copperfield? What about Holden Caufield- I mean haven't you ever seen a giant 'fuck' spray-painted on the side of a school and just wanted to go berserk? Apply, apply, APPLY these things to the real world! What is the point of storytelling if not to form connections, to bridge the gaps of human existence, to make webs where once there were voids? To make magic out of molehills.

That is part of this sentiment I find, frankly, absolutely fantastic- the idea that a reason to read stories is to discover secret mysteries, to understand the magic of existence! Now of course our esteemed Mr Green  says that discovering said mysteries is not the point of reading books- but wait, no! He says discovering them for the sake of it is not the purpose...  Now that's the magical part. Its not secret mysteries as set out by the author (because "What authors mean doesn't really matter") but instead the secret mysteries revealed to you through your interpretation of the author's words. Definitely more important and, I think I am pretty safe in saying, also much more awesome. The way that something said by Yossarian can make you re-imagine the universe, that something done by Charles-Wallace can make you re-evaluate your perspective, that the world-view of Tyler Durden or Rob Fleming can make you stop, look, and listen...

One of my favourite Nick Hornby moments happens in Song Book when he is discussing his discovery of hidden meaning in About A Boy after hearing the Badly Drawn Boy song about the dead duck day (could that be more cryptic for anyone who is not a Nick Hornby fan? I think not. Read his books, enjoy, then come back and re-visit this post...)  Now I think K has mentioned this before so bare with me, but the idea that someone else's reading of your words can teach you something about yourself that you never knew- totally the very point of story-telling! The push and pull of learning, the 'student becomes the teacher; is mirrored by 'the teacher becomes the student...'  As a teacher I can tell you that my students teach me things every day- I know that sounds corny and trite, but its my favourite thing about teaching and what will keep me enthralled by it for years to come. You can never know everything, you can never even come close, and having a roomful of other experiences informing, changing, and building your perspective(s) is one of the most amazing things in life. Its not just the readers, the viewers, the audience, who experience this discovery, but the authors/creators themselves... it works with books, with artworks, with songs... Hornby says of the experience "I wrote a book that wasn't about my kid, then someone writes a beautiful song based on an episode in my book that turns out to mean something much more  personal to me than my book ever did." It is not only the power of music, the insightfulness of song writing, but the experience of having an author's words mean something to you that the author not only never intended, but which has the power to change how you see things...

Now I could go on here about the insane relevantness of song lyrics and connectedness of melody, about art and seeing things in the in-between, about books changing how I see the world, but I think I'll save that for another time. For now I'll just say that it is never what the creator means that is important, but the connectedness with which you interpret their words/images/ideas and the way in which you relate to them, which allows a book/song/painting/piece of art to achieve its full potential.

That, and that I love John Green...

Aaaaaaand scene.

-E

Decisions, Decisions, Whims and Whimsy

To my elders,

Alex Day, aka Nerimon, posted a video earlier today about Brain Crack. What John Green of the vlogbrothers calls those ideas that you can't quite sort out just yet, so you think about them and think about them and think about them until they basically just become crack for your brain. Other people call this "obsession." But, you know, a rose by any other name and all that dead-white-guy-Shakespeare-stuff. John Green's solution is that if you put it out into the world.... I don't know, you'll obsess less? I've never seen any of the vlogbrothers brain crack videos, so I'm just trusting Alex Day on this one.

It got me thinking though, of what brain crack I have, as well as how I make decisions. Because my brain crack is, at times, about something concrete, but is more often about ideas and philosophies that come to dominate and inform my entire life and my entire view of the world. I know you know what I'm talking about E.

I am a fairly logical person. I fully acknowledge my complete irrationalities when they do come up, but I generally don't get that worked up about things that apparently upset most people. This has lead A, on more than one occassion (thanks sis!), to call me a robot as a result. I kind of take pride in it. And yet, I have never actually made a decision based on a pro-con list. Don't get me wrong, I have made pro-con lists, but one option can be 4 times longer than the other on the pro side and I still may go with the other option. I make my best decisions on gut feeling whims. I suspect because it allows me to brush off a lot of self doubt with the idea that I did not, in fact, think something through very thoroughly, but it also, as my 5th grade teacher said, "[didn't] let [my] brain get in the way of [my] thinking." And I'm cool with that.

So while I made decisions like where to do my undergrad very dramatically, like fake television drama style, sitting on my bed at 11pm the night before my offer acceptance had to be sent off, both letters signed sitting there going "Ummmmmmm..... I think I'll go to that one. Just for fun." And then signed the letter and mailed it. And yet, I plan haircuts out months in advance. Not that I have done a strand test when dying my hair since I was 15 (it will be the colour it is, and there's no use cutting off a piece of your hair to find out 30 minutes sooner. You can always dye over it. Though this once led me to having pink hair... not that the outrageous colour was an issue, but I've never been a big pink fan...). I make a lot of arbitrary, unfounded, uninformed decisions. And I'm always pretty happy about them. Heck, I moved to a French speaking province for a change of scenery. It worked out. Thinking is stressful. O.o

But Brain Crack. Obsessing. Minor obsessing, not OCD obsessing. I am cracked (Yes, I have turned crack into a non-drug use verb. English is cool that way. You can make up words. Great lesson Shakespeare! You've been a big help today) about authenticity. Mostly a combination of Catcher in the Rye and Holden's obsession with phoniness and Jack Kerouac's Beat Generation preoccupation with, well, authenticity and honesty. Beat is about truth (small 't') and non-censorship. And I love that about 1950s outsider fiction. But I also love it about the 1950s post war Americana in general. I may have decided to read The Feminine Mystique because of the reference to it in 10 Things I Hate About You, but it became complete brain crack once I got about half way through. And started my being cracked about sociology type non-fiction books, too.

I am cracked about organic development of conversations, friendships, life, and don't believe in "forcing it" because of a line from a Green Day song ("You can't go forcing something if its just not right" from When I Come Around off Dookie). Which also makes me love archiving all the more, because the entire theoretical basis of archival arrangement is the organic development of records (more on this in my next post). But organic development also makes me a bit awkward at times, because even though I am analyzing everything that happens to me, I don't necessarily want to talk about it. I want to see where it goes, and maybe talk about it after the fact, but not necessarily.

I am cracked about maps and drawings of landscapes and floor plans and skylines. Probably because I have a very spatial memory and probably learned to read a map before I could, like, read English. Which makes it sound like I could read maps at age 4, but in reality I just couldn't read read until 3rd grade.

I am cracked about believing what I sing. Which sounds stupid. Story: in 9th grade I was in choir at my high school. There was this girl I was not particularly fond of in choir with me. We had to sing some super religious, biblically based song about some river in The Holy Land. Now, I'm fairly sure, looking back on it, that she was actually just too lazy to learn songs she didn't already know. But I am also fairly sure that her rational for not wanting to sing the bible river song has shaped far too much about how I view the world. She asked me why I would sing a song I didn't believe. As in, why would I sing along with a song that I didn't agree with, who's lyrics I did not buy, who's lyrics did not reflect my own world view? So did I seek out only songs that reflected my world view? No. Being the person I am, I unintentionally, and sometimes intentionally, decided I must agree with the lyrics I liked the most. As if I couldn't enjoy them or sing them as whole-heartedly if I did not agree with them. So I started agreeing. Which I think explains a lot of my posts regarding music. But it also means there are great lines in great songs I will never love, because I can't agree with them. Sam Roberts' "Stay true to your friends, 'cause they'll save you in the end..." is a completely great line that I just can't believe, so I can never love that song as much as someone who does believe it. Believing in organic development of friendships also means accepting that friendships come and go and are not constant. You can effectively replace your family with friends, but where does that really leave you?

But back to Brain Crack. Tattoos are an interesting release for Brain Crack. Each of my tattoos (and E's too) was once a subject of Brain Crack. Not just the idea of getting a tattoo, but the content / subject of said tattoos. Each of mine were things I could simply not escape. I would buy things because they contained these images (mostly owls. Going into Urban Outfitters was like a battle between my bank account and my brain crack). I drew them on everything, all the time. I would doodle them on scrap paper, notebooks, my skin... I would actually Google image search pictures of them. Just for fun. And after I had them tattooed on me, after they were permanent, it was like I didn't have to anymore. They weren't going anywhere. I wouldn't forget about them only to go crazy feeling like I'd lost something if I stopped thinking about them for a day. So while I may have once spent a summer telling my friend "T-shirts, not Tattoos!" tattooing brain crack, getting it out into the world, marking it with permanency, really does help cure the Brain Crack. Maybe John Green should get a tattoo.

-K