Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Rob and Ruby
Let me tell you a little story about one of my favorite subjects...MUSIC!
I have this friend who is musically inclined to say the least. He plays guitar, piano, harmonica, ukelele and of course sings with the voice of an angel. *sigh*. I wish that I had these talents but I still thank the good lord above that I do have some aristic ability in the ways of painting, theater, photography and of course writing. (You can disagree, that's fine.)
So, when I heard my good friend, Ian McCartor sing his original work, a song called Rob and Ruby I decided I had to do more with it. I can't sing the song but there must be somewhere else I can take it. I decided to take it to NaNoWriMo, short for, National Novel Writing Month. This takes place in November. You have a month to write an entire novel of 50,000 words and the best novels win prizes. I knew I wouldn't be able to put out a good piece in a month but it would push me to get a jump start.
The song Rob and Ruby is about a girl who has decided to save herself for the right guy. She meets a guy named Rob who is very different from her but when Rob wants to make his move, he is stopped by his own persecution about the innocense that is written on her face.
Although the song represents only a moment in time, I feel like it would be easy to write a whole story about the two. The song also starts off like this: "An old man told me an analogy, about a guy named Rob and a girl named Ruby." When I hear a character without a story, my mind starts reeling. I decided (with Ian's permission) that the old man is Rob and he tells people his story to remind the younger generation of the worth of someone who doesn't give themselves up to anyone.
HOWEVER, this has become one of the hardest challenges I've yet to overcome artistically. I still have no idea if Rob and Ruby end up together, how they meet and I've even thought about killing Rob. I don't know how Ian would feel about that but he knows I'm writing the novel. I started the novel in November of 2010 and got the general idea of who Rob and Ruby are before they meet and how they function from day to day. They are both college students but Rob just barely skates by to be allowed to stay in the dorms whereas Ruby lives life a little less frivolously.
I don't know why this has been so difficult for me. I know my biggest dilema is whether or not to go with realism or idealism. Idealy, Ruby keeps her innocense and changes Rob's heart to wait until they are commited. Realistically, Rob sways her and best case senario, they stay together.
My plan is to make a decision before November of 2011 so that I can get yet another boost and try to get a few thousand words done in a month. I will have to let you all know how that goes. Any ideas would be welcome in the comment portion of this blog!
I have this friend who is musically inclined to say the least. He plays guitar, piano, harmonica, ukelele and of course sings with the voice of an angel. *sigh*. I wish that I had these talents but I still thank the good lord above that I do have some aristic ability in the ways of painting, theater, photography and of course writing. (You can disagree, that's fine.)
So, when I heard my good friend, Ian McCartor sing his original work, a song called Rob and Ruby I decided I had to do more with it. I can't sing the song but there must be somewhere else I can take it. I decided to take it to NaNoWriMo, short for, National Novel Writing Month. This takes place in November. You have a month to write an entire novel of 50,000 words and the best novels win prizes. I knew I wouldn't be able to put out a good piece in a month but it would push me to get a jump start.
The song Rob and Ruby is about a girl who has decided to save herself for the right guy. She meets a guy named Rob who is very different from her but when Rob wants to make his move, he is stopped by his own persecution about the innocense that is written on her face.
Although the song represents only a moment in time, I feel like it would be easy to write a whole story about the two. The song also starts off like this: "An old man told me an analogy, about a guy named Rob and a girl named Ruby." When I hear a character without a story, my mind starts reeling. I decided (with Ian's permission) that the old man is Rob and he tells people his story to remind the younger generation of the worth of someone who doesn't give themselves up to anyone.
HOWEVER, this has become one of the hardest challenges I've yet to overcome artistically. I still have no idea if Rob and Ruby end up together, how they meet and I've even thought about killing Rob. I don't know how Ian would feel about that but he knows I'm writing the novel. I started the novel in November of 2010 and got the general idea of who Rob and Ruby are before they meet and how they function from day to day. They are both college students but Rob just barely skates by to be allowed to stay in the dorms whereas Ruby lives life a little less frivolously.
I don't know why this has been so difficult for me. I know my biggest dilema is whether or not to go with realism or idealism. Idealy, Ruby keeps her innocense and changes Rob's heart to wait until they are commited. Realistically, Rob sways her and best case senario, they stay together.
My plan is to make a decision before November of 2011 so that I can get yet another boost and try to get a few thousand words done in a month. I will have to let you all know how that goes. Any ideas would be welcome in the comment portion of this blog!
Vanilla Ice Vs. Queen
If you are a child of the 80's and 90's you probably think of Queen and Vanilla Ice when someone mentions sampling trials. It's a huge problem in the music industry, and not just because musicians like to sample each other without permission but because a lot of artists claim sampling to gain the publicity or music. It's a very blurred line and often times there is no defining rules, just the opinion of the judge preciding. In the case of Ice and Queen, they were settled out of court for undisclosed sum when Ice's song reached number 1 in the U.K and Argentina. However, there was one difference for Ice to stand on. There was an extra note thrown into his music that wasn't in Queen's song. But would it have held up in court? It's common for artists to settle out of court, which is possibly why it is a problem. Because any artist who hasn't "made it" yet can claim their music was stolen from a huge artist and make money and fame overnight just over the accusations alone.
However, there are also positive cases of sampling. Sometimes bands get each other's permission before using the music. For example Weird Al's whole career is reliant upon artist permission to use their music and manipulate their words. He's taken the biggest names in music and thier biggest hits and turned them into comedy genius. He turned "You're beautiful" to "You're pitiful" and "Gangster's Paradise" to "Amish Paradise" and "Ridin Dirty" to "White and Nerdy". But there are also serious artists who sample and cover each others music and it's perfectly acceptable once an agreement is reached about how it will be used. For example one of the artists I mentioned in a previous blog love to use other people's music. They are the Beastie Boys. As destructive and rebelious as they can be, they do get permission from artists that they sample from like Santana. They don't try to copy the music and call it their own. They just take it and often change the form to pay respect to their favorite artists. The Beastie Boys often speed up the music so you know what it is but it's adapted to the tempo that the beastie boys work in.
Over the years sampling has been given a bad rap. The word has a negative connotation to it. But clearly there are positive and legal ways to deal with sampling.
However, there are also positive cases of sampling. Sometimes bands get each other's permission before using the music. For example Weird Al's whole career is reliant upon artist permission to use their music and manipulate their words. He's taken the biggest names in music and thier biggest hits and turned them into comedy genius. He turned "You're beautiful" to "You're pitiful" and "Gangster's Paradise" to "Amish Paradise" and "Ridin Dirty" to "White and Nerdy". But there are also serious artists who sample and cover each others music and it's perfectly acceptable once an agreement is reached about how it will be used. For example one of the artists I mentioned in a previous blog love to use other people's music. They are the Beastie Boys. As destructive and rebelious as they can be, they do get permission from artists that they sample from like Santana. They don't try to copy the music and call it their own. They just take it and often change the form to pay respect to their favorite artists. The Beastie Boys often speed up the music so you know what it is but it's adapted to the tempo that the beastie boys work in.
Over the years sampling has been given a bad rap. The word has a negative connotation to it. But clearly there are positive and legal ways to deal with sampling.
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