Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
These past few days have been pretty rough school and social life wise, so I decided that I needed to sit down and write a guide for whenever I need it on how to survive things I don't want to do. I decided to share it with the blog just in case anyone else might be struggling with these issues. Enjoy and let me know if they actually helped you! Seeing People You HateIf you can, avoid them in any way possible. This may include pretending to text, going to another room/area in the room, pretending not to see them, or hiding behind other people. If there’s no way you can avoid them and you must say hi to them, just do it and make direct eye contact so you don’t look like you DON’T want to see them, and offend them. If they reach out to hug you, hug. If they don’t reach out, don’t even bother. Try to keep the conversation short, but interesting. Ask them how they’re doing and tell them how you’re doing even if you don’t want to. You never talk to them anyway since you don’t like them, so it doesn’t do any harm to tell them a couple things about life. Going To SchoolThis is one of the hardest ones. If you’re good at getting ready in less than 5 minutes, stay in bed for as long as you can to prep yourself for the day ahead. This can give you an energy boost. If you hate your school and everyone in it, use the hatred to fuel yourself. Just stay in school, observing all of the people you hate and know that you can rant about them later, and also keep notes on how NOT to act in school. Just keep in mind that school is only temporary and you need to keep going for the good and smartness of your future self. If your future self isn’t enough to motivate you, do it for a celeb crush. StudyingEvery time you need to study but you’re procrastinating by going on your computer or phone. just close it. When you get the urge that you NEED to stop and study, just close whatever you’re doing right away. Sometimes you need to do things in the moment instead of waiting to get things done quicker. Talking With An Annoying PersonJust listen to them, it’s really the least you can do. You don’t have to respond with insight, if you really don’t agree with anything that they’re saying, but just let them know that you’re listening. If a person you’re talking to keeps on talking about the same thing/keeps on saying one sentence over and over like a broken record and it’s just annoying you, bring it up in a nice way. “Yeah I know right?” And quickly move on to something else. Or, “yeah you already said that and I totally agree with you.” If you acknowledge that you’re listening and agree with them, they’ll eventually stop. Not Being Invited To Something Everyone Else WasDon’t go on any social media. It’s gonna make everything worse. This is going to hurt, no doubt about that. The best way to handle it is to realize that one party doesn’t determine your life, even though everyone makes it seem like that. Rant to someone who wasn’t invited, maybe. If your friends specifically excluded you from something (invited everyone in your group except for you), this can be a warning sign. Softly bring it up to them by planning another event and inviting them so they’ll feel at least a little bad. If you’re bold, just straight up say, “Why wasn’t I there?” If this isn’t the first time they’ve done this, time to move on. Dealing With a Bragger/NarcissistDealing with people who think they’re so special is the hardest thing ever and I’ve dealt with it a million times. Whatever you do, do NOT try to one up them while they’re bragging, this will only fuel them more. Usually narcissists are trying to make themselves feel better, so don’t bring them down or yell at them, instead you don’t have to celebrate or attend to every self-absorbed thing they say about themselves. Don’t snap out at them, because, like I said, a lot of narcissists secretly are insecure. You don’t have to go "wow!” at every achievement, just make sure you establish that you are there for them when they need it the most. It’s hard hearing someone brag when you’re struggling with your own self esteem issues, but just remember that everyone is great in your own way and your achievements and general greatness isn’t invalid just because you aren’t always talking about it. Mean and Unfair TeachersIf you’ve tried forever to get on a teacher’s good side but it’s just not working, it can be hard to survive in a class. Whatever you do, just make sure you do whatever you can to do well in the class. Even if the teacher doesn’t make jokes at you or like you personally, they’ll still respect you if you raise your hand and do well on tests. You don’t have to be the teacher’s pet, people hate the teacher’s pets. Just do well in the class and move on. If the teacher seriously sucks at teaching and you’re failing a lot, get a tutor. Even if you already get good grades, it makes everything better and you learn a lot of tips you wouldn’t get from a crappy teacher. JealousyI'm a very jealous person. It's not horrible, I just get jealous over little things. Jealousy is natural and is bound to consume you once in a while. You can be jealous of many things: someone going to a concert that you couldn't go to, someone who's very popular and has a lot of friends, friends of your crush, someone being better at a sport than you, etc. When I get jealous of something, I usually try to think of all of the cons and side-effects that come with having the thing I want. Having a lot of friends = constant attention and they NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE. I don't know about you but I'm not about that life. If someone's better than you at a sport, they're probably gonna get asked to go on other teams and do more practices, which kills their free time. Try to do this with anything you're jealous over. If you can't find a con right away, dig deep. Something's always there. Anything ElseLife is filled with doing things you don't wanna do. It's hard, it's long, and sometimes it seems impossible.
Do the things you don't want to do now so that when you look back on it, you can say, "Hey, I'm strong. I did THAT. If I somehow gathered the courage to do that, I can do ANYTHING." Just keep in mind that the things you don't want to do are temporary, and to look for the good in anything. For every thing you don't wanna do, there's a million things to do that you WANT to do. Hang in there and contact me if you ever need any advice. I haven't experienced a lot in my life, but I've still seen a lot of people going through stuff and took notes. I'll try my best!
0 Comments
Welcome back to Vibe and Review, where I try to describe the vibe I get from songs, and review the thing too, I guess. I'm bad at reviewing though. I don't want to be mean. So, I try to emphasize the Describe the Vibe part more.
It's been a rough week. I'm really not kidding. I got the lowest grade I've ever gotten in my life, gotten yelled at and ridiculed by multiple teachers for no reason, and worst of all, sweat all day and night because of the sudden heat wave, no, HEAT HURRICANE, that has hit the east coast. It's times like these where you need to listen to a calming album for a Vibe and Review, so that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I decided to listen to High Anxiety by Thom Sonny Green of Alt-J, mainly because I've been absolutely obsessed with them lately. Alright, let's get into it! The Cover: I like the gradient. I noticed how the blueish color is more at the top and I thought it was funny because..you know..it's High. Like the title. Wow I'm observant and funny. Anyway, I also noticed that it kinda looked similar to the single cove for 3WW. Coincidence or planned? You tell me. Vienna: This song sounds like it could be in the best car commercial of 2017. When I drive in a year, you can catch me listening to this song as I drive through those underground tunnel thingys that you drive through to get to NYC. My favorite part of this song was the drums, and I also liked how it got louder and had more energy near the end of this song. 40 Beers: Woah. The sound of this album went from real chill to real lit real fast. This song made me feel like I was in one of those tunnels again, but this time somewhere in another dimension. It kind of reminded me of something off of Centipede Hz by Animal Collective. Market: The addition of the violin really made the song for me. I thought it was really cool and space-sounding in the beginning, but the violin really gave it the earthy and indie vibe that completed it. System: This song feels like it would be perfect for the TRON soundtrack. It sounds so energized and menacing, in a way, like you're just waiting for the thing that is going to happen to happen. It made me imagine I was in a dark alley looking for bad guys or something. It was scary, but cool. Blew: This song to me, is like how a car wash is. The distorted sounds in the beginning and end reminded me of those whirly brush things that your car has to squeeze through. Then, it climaxes, and that's when those long strips of felt come down. Then, the falling action. That's when the water comes down and washes everything off. ...Okay. That was really weird and specific but it's the emotion I felt. It was a good song, okay? Arizona: This song gave me almost the exact same vibes as the previous one. It's like a continuation of the car wash with actual water sound effects this time. Oslo: This song was probably the most chill one I've heard yet. Listening to it made me think about 6th grade when I played Minecraft. This song is just something that would be in the soundtrack for it. That is literally the best thing I can ever say about anything because I absolutely adore that soundtrack. Extremely relaxing song! Ping: OMG some words! After listening to this album for almost an hour straight, it was welcoming to hear a voice besides my own, talking to myself. This song is creepy and mysterious in a good way, and that string section made it sound all fancy and beautiful again. That beat that hit around 1 minute in literally ended me, just because it was so good. It also low-key reminded me of Hunger of the Pine, for some odd reason. Cologne: You know when you hear a song and you can just visualize colors in your mind? I visualized a lot of dim red lights going down a foggy street at night during this song. It was mainly because of that low, dull vibrating noise in the background. It made me really alert all of a sudden. Houston: This is funny because of the title, but if I was in some sort of desert in Texas (does Texas have deserts?) I feel like this song would be my mood. I felt like I was on top of a mountain, being really calm, during this song. The gushing noises were a nice touch. Oakland: This song is literally so relaxing that I can't even make any obscure references to it. Like I just felt like, almost completely zoned out during it. Wow. I like forgot all my stresses for 3 minutes. Thanks Thom. I needed that relaxation. VVVV: There were three phases to this song. This is my second Animal Collective comparison, I'm sorry. But it sounds like something off of Merriweather Post Pavilion in the beginning. In the middle, it goes back to that cool electronic sound the rest of these songs have that we all love so much. Then, closer to the end, it gets all pixle-y and video game-ish. This song took me on a trip and it was fun to point out what each part sounded like! Phoenix: This song began so nicely and really faded in with VVVV that I didn't even notice a new song started. The sound of this song reminded me of something in another song, but I couldn't think of it, so I actually had to pause the song and think about it. 2 minutes and 30 seconds in, I got it. It reminded me of the end of The World at Large by Modest Mouse right before it flows into Float On. They just had the same sound to them, which is great, because that is one of my favorite parts of any song ever. So yeah. This song made me really happy and hopeful. Large: Another TRON-like song that made me feel like I was in a dangerous but badass car chase. Now I need to bust out my Ray-Bans, buy a black leather jacket from a thrift shop in the city (preferably the one me and Liah and our pal Sophia went to in Greenwich Village), and rent a motorcycle, even if I don't have my permit yet. Palms: I don't know why but this song made me sad for some reason. Like it sounds happy, but nostalgic at the same time, and that's what makes it sad for me. What's the word....oh my god. Melancholy. I really can't believe I forgot that word. My brain really is fried from school. Beach: This was probably one of the most interesting songs I've heard on this album yet. The creepy but really good at harmonizing vocal inputs, the record scratching, everything. I felt like I was at a beach. A really trippy, beach, somewhere in Hawaii, or some place. Grounds: This song was really interesting, too! It sounded like something Jamie xx would make in his early days. I've actually seen a lot of things that are similar to Jamie's album in this album, which is great because I love him and The xx. This would definitely play in some cool store in the city, like Urban Outfitters, or something actually better and less expensive. Preach: My thoughts on this song: PREAAACH! This song is really upbeat and it's one of the more upbeat ones on the album and it made me so very happy indeed. I took a break and decided to play my favorite game to play in school ever, Flappy Golf, and this song helped me focus and to beat 10 new levels! I feel a strong sense of confidence and empowerment after this song. Christ: For some reason I thought that this song was going to be angry, becuase I took the title in like a cursing way. It was the exact opposite of that, it was very chill and it was another song that made me feel like I was in a mountain and helped me have laser-sharp focus during Flappy Golf. Meh: Please don't ask me where or how I know this song, but this song reminded me a lot of the beginning of What I Like by Charli XCX. Just listen to this song, and then listen to that song, and you'll instantly understand. It has the same pace. Anyway, this song isn't like it's title because it's NOT meh, okay? It's cool. Neon Blue: Aw, it's the last song. I enjoyed taking a journey through this album and I'm kinda sad that it's almost over. I feel like this final song summarized all of the elements that these songs had. A little bit mysterious, a little bit upbeat, a little car wash, a little car commercial, and a touch of Minecraft. A great song to end it all. Wow, that was an adventure. I'm so glad I finally made it to the end. My brother deleted everything when I was three songs in, so I had to reanalyze them all over again. I think it made my analyzations more accurate and more thorough. I really enjoyed this album, and yes, it made me a lot calmer than I was before. I feel like this album gave me the strength to finish this year with a bang. Let's GOOOOOOOO!!! Thom, if you see this, you're awesome, and continue to retweet memes and say "deadass." It makes me feel like a proud New Yorkian. I follow a lot of random people on Instagram. That's a fact. Sometimes I'll forget I'm following someone for, like, a year, and then they'll pop up again and I'll be like, "hey, buddy!" I really don't even know when I followed Will. I think Declan McKenna posted something about him and I was vaguely interested in him and his hair, so I followed him and left it at that. Over the next couple of days, I kept on seeing him pop up. Winning awards, releasing singles, playing shows, and being iconic. I decided, "OK, I NEED to hear this dude's music." So I went on Spotify, and I did just that. Omg. This song. and Video. UguHuHUuuhuuhhgh. This song is just pure..FUN. I'm hearing Two Door Cinema Club, The 1975, and even some major pop influences, like just maaaybe Katy Perry. The backgrounds of the video are simple, and the costumes and characters are perfect. The lyrics are fun and creative. I give this the big ol' Sticker of Approval for Being a Perfect Indie Pop Song. Maybe I'll actually post a guideline for that in another article. This song is a little more dream-pop, M83, Smallpools type stuff. I totally dig it, though. The video adds even more to that feeling of dreaminess. Once again, another fun video where no one is really taking themselves seriously and just having a good laugh. I really like that about this guy. Even on his Insta he just seems like the type of guy you would chill with at 8pm on a Friday night eating Oreos and watching cheesy movies and making fun of them. The last song I'll show you is this amazing cover. He took this song and made it HIS OWN. He reinvented this new-wave classic into a 2010s indie dance jam, and I'm not complaining at all. He did something a lot of people who cover songs are afraid to do: make it unique and change things up a little. Not to mention his voice was perfect for it. 10/10!!!!!!!!!
I am so glad that I follow Declan, because, without him, I wouldn't have followed Will. I have learned to have fun with music, to go on adventures when you watch a video, and to appreciate refurbished songs. All in under an hour. So, thank you, Will Joseph Cook! Will he, though? I don't know, I guess we have to hand him a frying pan and find out. I'm sorry Will, you probably get that joke a lot. |