The Struggle

I have officially scrapped all current tattoo ideas; as you can see here. I played with them for too long, and just couldn't make them look like how I wanted. *shrug*

So back to square one; and I'm still open to suggestions.

I'm starting to center around a quote from a song.

"Got to be the best,
Got to change the world."

-Muse (Butterflies and Hurricanes)

I like it. Stands out; means a lot. Good song too.
Anyway, back to whatever it was I was doing...

Tattoo - Revisited

So, to all who didn't know... my last tattoo idea - as seen in Where I'm Whirring Right Now - crashed and burned, so I have been on the search again. My search has been long, tireless, and with no end in site (until recently, maybe).

For starters, I did reach out to my readers for help (the small number you are), and; I did receive some feedback. I thank those of you who attempted to aid my search, profusely. Your ideas did not fall on blind eyes, and deaf ears. (You know who you are.)
That being said, this door is not closed. I'm still welcoming ideas, even though I have come up with two - yes two - of my own possibilities.

I played with may ideas of refereeing, but couldn't make any stick out to my eye, and into my mind, as; hugely creative and unique. One that would not have a random person see it and go, "Sorry, I don't get it." Essentially, self explanatory to a point.
An example being, "I see the quill. It's beautiful. What does it symbolize?" kind of deal. This of course not being MY tattoo, but; a perfect example of the simplicity, and yet intricacy that I'm in search of.

---

My new ideas tie me to the era in which I was born into; the 90s. Let's face it; I am a 90s child. Among the first of the decade. Super Nintendo was THE game system to own, alongside the Sega Genesis.
I watched the computers we know today become common place in households, along with cell phones, and laptops.
I saw the start and end of the ORIGINAL GameBoy, GameBoy Pocket, GameBoy Colour, GameBoy Advance, and Gamboy SP, PS1, PS2, N64, XBox, and GameCube.
The birth of the Wii, the PS3, and the XBox 360, the CD, DVD, BluRay, flat screen, plasma TV, and of course the iPod.
And in all this I saw the death of cassette tapes, and the VCR with its VHS tapes.

And this leads to my new ideas...

First, the cassette tape. Not only did it bring me music, but the NEVER forgotten "books on tape," that I loved; mostly so I wouldn't actually need to READ the books. (These books had nothing to do with school, to clarify.)

Now, most people have a love of music - this I do not claim for myself. But I have a tie to music that started as a child. Let's be blunt, shall we? My dad is a kick ass singer. From him I learned to sing, and this increased, and still to this day increases my love for music.

The first music I heard would have been on a cassette, but now it's more likely to come from a CD, or MP3 player of some sort. All the Harry Potter I listened to on tape, eventually moved over to CD, and is now located on my iPod, for easy listening.

So there it is; the cassette.

---

Second, VHS. I never know what to call it. "The VHS," or "the tape that goes in the VCR." What ever you call it, it was the first thing I would have watched a movie on, and I do love my movies.

I remember having two WALLS of VHS tapes, and recording whatever TV shows I wanted to watch in my room. That's how I watched Pokémon.
Now we have only the best of movies still on VHS, but the movie industry are making DVDs of them, and reselling them. Don't get me wrong; it's a good move on their part, just it's annoying that we can't swap them ourselves. Know what I mean?

There it is; the VHS tape.

---

So all in all, I've got to things that I've seen die (so to speak) in my lifetime, and both have drastically shaped their industry. All I have to do is pick, put some finishing touches on them, and that will be that.

Now, I've heard tattoos are like Pringles. Pringles' slogan being "I bet you can't eat just one." The tie between the two being that a tattoo, most can't only get just one. (Not judging, just saying.) So that being said, the referee idea is not completely down the tubes, just put on hold; so to speak. And whichever I choose from here - to START - the other wouldn't be trashed, just also put on hold. So really, finishing touches are all I need right now. And ideas are welcome for ALL these. ("All these" being the refereeing idea, and the cassette and VHS (as seen above).) So please, I'd love to hear your two - or perhaps three - cents. (If 50 Cent's reading (which I highly doubt), all your input is welcome too. lol)

Cheers.

MY Genre of Music - Part I

I'm labelling myself country.
There, I said it.

I've been humming, and singing, and playing with music a lot recently. I'm a Sinatra boy, don't get me wrong, and I love to sing that era, and genre of music too. But I find country the MOST fun to sing, listen to, and (attempt to) create.

I'm not really lyrical (and I mean that in the sense of "writing lyrics for music") but it's fun to play in country music. There's so much you can say, and do that just won't fit anywhere else.
For instance, what other genre of music do you see a title like "Pretty Good at Drinking Beer"? Yes, everywhere sings of drinking and partying, but no ONE song is solely made to say that one guy (the one singing it, no less) is "pretty good at drinking beer."

I'm sorry, but I find that awesome.

I find that country keeps the humour IN the music, which makes it fun to sing AND listen to. Not only that, it CAN be serious too! And sad...
You can have a song that gets you so well, that you can (not just want to,...

A quick rant about music...

I was just driving miss Ashley to work, and something caught my ear in the music I listen to. I enjoy when artists make each song their own.

Now I don't mean that as in, "No one else sings it," or "If it's a remake, they change EVERYthing about it." How I mean is that they add their own flavour, or their own personality to it. They almost... feel an attachment to it while singing, and let it be known. D'you know what I mean?

For instance, when you can hear their emotion in their voices, or when they sing about something and you can tell it's really close to home for them. Even when it's something fun, and they laugh a little.

Examples, examples... Umm, Luke Bryan's 'Rain is a Good Thing'. When he gets to the last chorus, you can tell he's really into it, and is having fun. So much fun that... he laugh's instead of usued the words that've been there the entire rest of the song. The only other one (off the top of my head) is Taylor Swift's - I know, "What?! You listen to Taylor Swift?!" Talent's talent, what can I say? - 'Speak Now'. You can tell she had fun with it. Not that she doesn't have fun with all her music, and CLEARLY it's not s true thing she's singing about, but he little giggle near the end's priceless.

Yes, I know in both these cases (and all others) they do a million takes, and pick the right one. But hey, a change can be made with ONE slip up. If you sing through a section enough times, and you enjoy it, the slip ups don't usually involve an "Oh S#*! I messed up." They can have a few, but never in bad spirits. And I'm not saying they COULDn't make it through the song, just after a few takes, and one cute slip up after a day of recording; the editors realized, "You know, that sounds good that way."

Now not everyone can do the laugh thing. A perfect example being Pitbull, in 'I Know You Want Me'. I love the song, but I hate the opening, with the clearly obvious fake laugh. It hurts me...

A few gooders, are 'Anything Like Me' by Brad Paisley (I'll admit it makes me tear up); 'F U' by Cee Lo Green, not for the faint of heart as the non-radio edit is the F-bomb, and; 'Stutter' is a good one too, by Maroon 5.

If you haven't heard of some of these tracks before, please check 'em out. They're good enough to mention. Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 (on their first and last album), and Brad Paisley are - 9 times out of 10 - a good listen too.

Check them out!