mahadevine

Throat Signing Goes Techno?

2009-03-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of Huun-Huur-Tu? I found them a while back and was enjoying their traditional Tuvan throat singing, which, if you haven't heard of throat signing, you need to youtube. It's a raspy low note maintained while the overtones change. Remember hearing about those monks that could sing two notes at once? These guys are it. And, they do it over electronic beats. All in all it creates an atmosphere that makes you really want to go raving in Tuva, especially the track "Far Away From Home" mixed by DJ Sugar Cane. I can definitely imagine a rave of tripped out people dancing to this, and I can imagine it would be awesome.

The Strange Case of the Cases

2009-03-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

So, I went down to my local Apple store today hoping to purchase an arm band for my iPod Touch so I could work out with it. I have a 1st generation iPod Touch so they didn't really have any cases for me. It was either I spent $35 on a case that might fit or $50 on an iPod Shuffle. Toolish as it makes me feel, I went for the iPod Shuffle. It's also lighter on my arm or wherever I decide to clip it, so I suppose that's good too.

If you've been enjoying the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack as much as I have been lately, you should check out iTunes' latest iTunes Essential mix of pure Bollywood goodness. Then, you should go watch all the movies those songs came from as I am currently attempting to do. Bollywood always brightens a bad day.

What am I doing?

2009-03-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

It seems like I'm painting an awkward portrait of my life here on this blog. Though I hardly ever update and I don't think anyone reads, it's still sort of entertaining. I do wish I had a specific project to blog about - maybe I'll just blog and whatever comes of it comes of it?

Lately I am excited about:

reggaeton music
film photography
Tae Kwon Do
turning 18 soon

Lately, I'm not pleased by:

finals.
waiting for letters from colleges.
lack of sleep.
Chinese.

I'll try to be better about writing about my infinitely interesting life on this here blog. By the way, if you need good African rap - check out K'naan. He's Somalian and awesome. I recommend T.I.A.

It Shouldn't Bother You

2009-02-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

If you've seen the scene in the second season, I believe, of Buffy, after Xander asks her to go to the school dance with him (and is rejected) he refers to country music as "the music of pain." I'd have to say he's right. Don't get me wrong, I love country - good country, but it really is the music that I find myself listening to when I'm in pain.

As for the pain I'm in, sure, the heartbreak of losing everything I ever stood for and nearly everyone I loved, that hurts. Yeah, it hurts a lot, I won't lie or skirt around the issue. It hurts.

But what's really been killing me lately, is that a year ago this moment, I'd be waking up for my second week of school in Petrozavodsk, Russia. I'd do anything to be back in that country. I miss the Moscow nights in the hookah bars where we'd get paninis from Russian men dressed in kimonos and trained to make sushi, with an enormous Paris mural painted on the wall. I even miss the frigid cold (but we are getting our share of it where I live).

Perhaps soon, in my college years, I'll be able to return to this wonderful place. I hope to go many places in my later years... China, India, Egypt, Morocco, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Amsterdam, Kenya, Peru, all over. I hope to learn the languages of these places, their cultures, beliefs, traditions, all of it.

Mahadevine

2009-01-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

Mahadevi is the umbrella term for the Hindi mother goddess.

Divine: 1 a: of, relating to, or proceeding directly from a god b: being of a deity.

Thus, "mahadevine" is a combination of Mahadevi and divine.