Ravenous Yam

Every concert's gonna get its own thread eventually anyway... I know there's a lot of Calgarians here. Who all is going to the Nov. 1 show at Mac Hall? I am. That's my campus anyway so i won't even have to go anywhere. Anyway, speak up, I know youre there.

I seem to recall it being Banff, but i could be wrong.

#1 While not technically an Axis power, the USSR was definitely allied with the Nazis. Germany was able to secretly build up its huge army by testing and maintaining it on Soviet land, as per their pact, along with other things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi-Soviet_pact

Alert me to the concert in Calgary on Nov. 1st please.

Point them out please. I don't deny they are there, but I am interested, because all that stuff was from social class; i didn't just suddenly decide to try and bullshit you guys.

Also interesting to note about Normandy, although the USA often gives itself much credit for winning Omaha beach and 'turning the tide of the war', that is not exactly how it went. The 'Germans' at Omaha were actually Czech conscripts, mostly poor, little trained farmers. The elite Germans squads were at - surprise, surprise - Juno beach, and whichever the Aussie beach was (i can't remember its name). Also, both the Canadians and the Aussies took their beaches quicker, and with less casualties. The USA did literally nothing in WW1, and all it did of use in WW2 was fight Japan in the Pacific theatre, which may as well have been a totally different war. Unfortunately, american students are taught that they saved the world in not one, but BOTH world wars. When really, they did just about jack all. The war in Europe was over by the time the USA dropped the bomb on Japan, and they really didn't help much in Europe when the war was still going. The country that is overlooked most in the winning factors of WW2 in the USSR, largely due to the cold war anti-communist dogma. There is NO CHANCE the Allies would have won the war if the USSR had not switched sides. Even if it had become neutral after leaving the Axis, the Allies still would not have won. The USSR was absolutely imperative to the allied victory in WW2. And i don't even wanna get started on the Vietnam war. Let's just say that the entire war was manufactured by the americans (they were executing terrorist bombing activites in both NV and SV to escalate the war), and both countries wanted to be communist. Pretty much anything that has ever been portrayed in movies, TV, and most textbooks about Vietnam is totally fabricated. I did a report on Vietnam last year... it's very interesting stuff. In Vietnam, the name of that war (in both 'sides' of the country - note that there really were no sides, as everyone hated the Americans and everyone wanted communism) is "The War Against the Americans to Save the Nation". I imagine there's an abbreviated version in Vietnamese... thats pretty unwieldy.

I heard it on CJAY92.1 here the other day, followed by the DJ mentioning In a Coma, and recommending we buy it.

Yeah the Scalculator is truly a brilliant invention. And people say the internet isn't good for anything but porn. And because i'm bored right now, i'm gonna write a little blues lesson here, even though nobody asked and i'm not even aware of any general interest in blues here. The most common blues chord progression is the 12-bar blues. With the chord degree on the left, in the key of A, it looks like this ( the '/' means repeat last chord): I7(A7) / / / IV7(D7) / I7(A7) / V7(E7) IV7(D7) I7(A7) I7(A7) Apparently the formatting doesnt really work, but theres supposed to be three rows, four columns, evenly spaced. Each chord or '/' gets a whole bar. The thing that really defines the tonality of the blues is the use of the minor pentatonic scale (and the pentatonic blues scale, which i will get to later) over dominant seventh chords. It has a unique, yet not unpleasant dissonance (due mostly to the clashing of the minor and major 3rd) that is quite unlike any other musical genre. Another trademark of the blues (as opposed to jazz, specifically), is the use of the single tonic scale over the entire progression, rather than changing scales to match the chord. In the above example, you would play the A minor pentatonic (or blues pentatonic) over the entire thing, rather than using the A minor, D minor, and E minor according to the current chord. Now, on to the blues scale. If you remember to the first page, i wrote about the minor pentatonic scale (scale formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7). In A this is A C D E G. The blues scale is almost the same as this, but with the added tritone (diminished fifth/augmented fourth). The scale formula looks like this: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7. In A, this is A C D Eb E G. The tritone (Eb) is the most dissonant interval in western music. Interesting fact: in medieval times, through to about 1910, the tritone was considered the "devil's interval" and was forbidden completely by the church. I seem to remember hearing about some people being burned at the stake during the medieval times for using it in music. Igor Stravinsky broke this rule in the early 1900's, and since then it has become quite common, mostly in jazz, blues and metal. Now, back to the tritone. It is important not to linger on the note too long, as it is very dissonant and very unsettling if you hold it too long. It is best used as a passing tone between the 4th and 5th. Although, of course, these are just guidelines; you can use it however you want to. Now, one of the most important things about the blues, and one of the things few people know and gets taught very rarely, is the use of the so-called 'blue notes', which are an exercise in microtonality (notes slightly off the usual western notes). These notes are the b3rd, b5th, and b7th. These notes can, of course, be played as usual as well, with no ill effects. But to implement them as blue notes, they are raised in pitch (bent, on a guitar) up a quarter step. This means what was a b3rd is now halfway between b3 and 3; what was a b5 is halfway between b5 and 5; and what was a b7 is halfway between b7 and 7. I'm not sure how microtonality is implemented on other instruments (trumpet, for instance ;) ). To further complicate matters, if you have the melodic skill, you can throw in the major 3 and major 7th as well. So in a grand and complicated view of the blues scale, the total effect looks like this. Pentatonic minor notes are in regular font, blues pentatonic notes are in bold, 'blue notes' are in blue, and additional major blues notes are in italics. 1 b3 b3/3 3 4 b5 b5/5 5 b7 b7/7 7. Contrary to everything i just said, the blues is really quite simple once you learn the distinctive attributes of it. The reason it is explained in a complicated way is because it developed entirely independent of western music. It grew from bastardized African tribal music mixed with folk played and modified by Southern American black slaves in the 1800's who knew no formal music theory. THE END

Yeah Rogers!

What good is your word if you don't even define it? Aside from being a word that could pretty much never be used in any conversation anywhere.

I really dislike the music; it's about time for them to pack it up. And Bono is a self-important prick.

Touche. University is already so much better than high school, though, so i guess it sorta makes up for it.

Nobody doesn't love math! Oh, wait... My schedule also is megalame. Thursday, i go from 9AM to about 8PM, because of my Chem lab.

Absolutely exhausting. First day of university today, although there arent any real classes til monday. Wed/Thurs/Fri is a "University 101" for first-years. Its a bunch of tours and seminars and stuff to help out with university. Anyway, so i did 9 hours of touring and walking and listening to boring people, on 4 hours of sleep. I did get some free stuff though. But still, i am so tired.

You didn't ask a question! Which are better to devour: kittens, puppies, or babies?

I do other amazing tricks as well!

I think some people would still be evil if not for religion, but i do think that religion is one of the last bastions of pure, backwards, malevolent medieval ignorance. Not to say that all religious folks are ignorant, but its undeniable that religions say the most untrue and ridiculously ignorant things being said in the modern world.

Definitely pulp. Anton or James?

I wish i would get my act together and make a band or record something. Not gonna happen anytime soon, though.

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

Someone should make a movie about my life. Sure, i didnt kill anyone, but it might sell tickets.

Risk. Rods or cones?

Panic Button is Scot's band, with which he will save the future of music or something. I was gonna listen to them all, but they're loading so very slowly i only heard 'Sing the Song of our Undoing'. I likes it.

I was. 678

Queens of the Stone Age - Better Living Through Chemistry