Blahblahblah, Cute Bat Picture!

(My "post title" brain machine thing broke xP)

I am doing an independent field study project for my sociology class where I am studying the formation of stereotypes and a snazzy little hypothesis about them that I'm not suppose to talk about because I am inviting the lovely bloggers of the world to participate.

It's really simple, actually. Just record or type up the answers to a short (one side of one page) questionnaire and send them back to me. You don't have to include any information you don't want to include. All I ask is that you are as honest as possible. It's really important to me to involve the blogging community into the project so that I could get answers from across the globe.

So, if it so tickles you! Please email me at talia.wagner (at) pcae.k12.mn.us.... (my school email) for the questions or any questions you may have...

My grade and I would find that really swell... (insert clever brain swelling joke here. xD or maybe not...) now here's the cutest picture of a bat EVER!

New Rock Boots!

Last spring break I spent my week trapped on a chair for hours on end whilst I baby sat creepy old construction workers as they put sprinklers into the apartments, (You know, after the building burned down.)
I was watching TV but they kept bumping the satellite, so I decided to read. 14 books later, (They were short, around two hundred pages) ...and they were still working. So I spent the rest of my time watching the Direct TV symbol travel across the screen. Everyday for a week. It sucked, they left the door wide open for hours, walked in and out without knocking and left a ladder blocking the only path I had from my chair to the rest of the house.
Good came of this though, my mother in return gave me 200$ to spend on a pair of New Rock Boots, which I never thought I'd ever be able to get due to my general high school poorness.

It took some sorting through the thousand styles, and some persuading to buy from a European country (American companies tack on an extra hundred dollars) but finally I had a pair ordered.
The people there were really nice, the first pair that I ordered was "waiting fulfillment" for a few days before we were told that the only pair they had left was damaged but they gave us the exact amount in store credit. This bothered my mother to no end but I had my second pair, which I loved ten time more, picked out within five minutes of the notice.
Shipping cost just under thirty bucks, which is better than it could have been. They arrive much quicker than I expected, the box was still in good condition which is nice because the shoes that I've been ordering lately come in destroyed boxes. The shoes themselves came perfect.
The only grumble I had was that I'm a size 8 in American W omens, which translates into a half size. I went with the half size down rather than half size up and now I'm trying to break them in/stretch them out a bit. They're not unbearably tight and I think they'll fit wonderfully after wearing them for a week or so.
They're so comfortable, to me it feels like walking on a trampoline. I've been wearing converse a lot recently so that I can practice driving so they're a bit heavier than I'm use to. But I hate tennis shoes.
I can't take any pictures now because I'm at school but here's a store picture:

 In other news, my Devil's Carnival DVD arrived as well, same day-- yesterday. While not nearly as shiny as my new stomp-y boots, still exciting. I had a dream last night that because of the DVDs release my school was playing the soundtrack over and over again throughout the intercom system, (The possibilities of a crazy art school...) and it was driving me insane.

Schools silent today. Hope you all are having good days with shiny stomp-y boots weighing down your feet.

Language of Music

Source

(CHEESY POST TITLE ALERT!)
Nah, I wanted to talk today about bands whose lyrics are in a language you can't understand. I have no problem admitting that 90% of the bands I regularly listen to are in English. Not so much because I have a problem with music in other languages, rather living in America and reading in English I far more often run across bands of the same language.

But everything, including art including music, travels so quickly these days that I run into all sorts of music. Korean bands were insanely popular at my previous high school, Japanese rock is growing in popularity and on a more alternative level: Goth is a worldwide subculture so it makes sense that there are goth bands of many languages.

Apart from what I randomly stumble into, awhile ago I downloaded "Unquiet Grave- The Ultimate Goth Collection" to give me the opportunity of  hearing different bands and there are a few songs of various languages (Eventually I'll do a review of album but I haven't finished sorting through what I like and what doesn't fit my tastes.) Also, reading/ listening to Bats and Bunnies "Tuesday Tunes" has introduced me to a few German bands, (Xmal Deutschland, whom I really like and Welle: Erdball).

I want to know what you guys think of bands whose lyrics you can't understand. It is true that music is a universal language, but do you miss out by not getting the lyrics? Does it not matter if the melody is good? Do you look up the lyrics?

Lyrics are something I pay close attention to in songs and that is important to me but it's not something that keeps me from liking a band with good melodies and harmonies. (Well, shallow lyrics sometimes turns me off of a band). I love how different languages flow... differently but I also usually end up looking for some sort of translation out of curiosity. But translations are very open to different interpretations as far as syntax and word choices are concerned, so how can you really get the full artistic picture of a song without understanding the language?

The nice thing about music or most art in general is the ability for the viewer/reader/listener to come up with their own meaning and perspective within the piece, so on the other hand, you could argue that it doesn't matter if you understand the language or not.

I haven't really explored non-English music a terrible amount, but I'd like to brush of the boundry in the future so I'm curious to other perspectives. Any non-English bands you absolutely love?

In other news, my father got fancy new camera that sits on his shelf, free for my personal usage. I love it, (I love photography.) I've also settled in nicely to the new school year so I'm able to post more frequently AND keep up with the posts of the blogs I follow. (and I do honestly go through and read all the posts when I'm keeping up.)

Source: Me! ^^ Yay for mirrors.

News!!

Short message post:
Sad to say I've been so busy lately I have no time to post but I have many plans for posts and will come back with blazing fingers.
Also, I'm adding another feathered companion to the family! That's always exciting. More updates on that adventure to come...