The paradox of our time.

From a song by The Mammals called Industrial Park. From my limited research it seems the last paragraph came from Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell speech, but I'm not entirely sure where the rest came from.

It seems that spending a lot of time on the road traveling alone increases the resonance of messages like this. This always was a beautiful song to me, but really is powerful when you're out there in the world feeling empowered and vulnerable at the same time.

I am done with great things and big things
Great institutions and big success
And I am for those tiny, invisible, molecular, moral forces
That work from individual to individual through the crannies of the world
Like so many rootlets
Or like the capillary oozing of water
Yet which, if you give them time
Will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride

The paradox of our time in history
Is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers
We have wider freeways but narrower viewpoints
We spend more but we have less
We buy more but we enjoy it less
We have bigger houses and smaller families
More conveniences and less time
We have more degrees but less depth
More knowledge but less judgment
More experts but more problems
More medicine but less wellness

Disarmament with mutual honor and confidence is a continuing imperative
Together we must learn how to compose differences
Not with arms but with intellect and decent purpose
Another war could utterly destroy this civilization
Which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years
We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence
Whether sought or unsought
By the military industrial complex

I want to have control.

I was watching some great photo documentaries on MediaStorm tonight and came across this. It's a fantastic animation for a fantastic song. I've probably listened to Radiohead's Creep a hundred times, but a couple lines really stuck out to me on this listen.

I don't care if it hurts,
I want to have control.

It's reminded me of the sacrifice that it takes to do what you want to do in life. Not that you ever really get to do what you always want to do, but to be in a position where you can do what you want to do some of the time, or maybe half the time, is a pretty good place to be.

The best songs ever. (Part 2)

It's been a pretty intense week at the workshop, which I will comment on later. But I think it's time for something a little more frivolous.

I think this song needs no introduction.

Souls, robots, YouTube, Beck, Hell Yes!

I'm currently reading a book on the clash of science and spirituality called Challenging Nature by Lee M. Silver. It's an interesting and thought-provoking read so far.

But what does such a deep, and contentious book lead to?

A one hour session of watching YouTube videos of robots doing various amusing things, and then to a beautiful Beck video with said robots.

I think I learned something?

The best songs ever. (Part 1)

I'm currently compiling a list of my favourite songs ever. I'll share that list later on, but I wanted to share a beautiful video and an amazing song by one of my favourite bands.

This is Hardcore by Pulp

The name of this post is Talking Heads

Always up on the latest and greatest in the music world, I've discovered a little known band called the Talking Heads. I'll forgive if you haven't heard of them, but if you have then you'll really enjoy their live album released in 1982 called The Name of this Band is Talking Heads.

I realized the blog was getting a bit serious even though I'm only a few posts in, and I've definitely wanted to include music on my blog as my life revolves around it.

"So think about this little scene; apply it to you life.
If your work isn't what you love, then something isn't right."