PixlBit

Let's see if splitting this thing up allows it to post. Maybe it was just too big to post as one blog on here. 

Personal Reason for Leaving You Sexy People

 Well, the reason I was gone so long was because I just had the most difficult semester of my college career. That's due to my anxiety about writing really long research papers, among other things, or at least it was. Therapy, medication, good friends, and the fact it's now the holidays have largely helped solve that problem. All things considered, this first semester towards my Master's degree led to a lot of self-improvement as far as my mental health goes, so I have no regrets. 

 Now, if I can continue to improve physically. I've certainly kept my weight down, but perhaps a bit too well. I actually had some pretty bad stomach illness over Thanksgiving, and I think I dropped some weight because of that. So fuck Hungry Howie's pizza in Nacogdoches, TX. At least, I'm pretty sure it was their fault. It could also have been some questionable ground beef I cooked for myself, but given my reaction to the leftover pizza I ate well after my initial sickness ... I'm still pretty sure it was their fault. Stupid flavored crust. I'll spare you the details, but word of advice: never take more Immodium than you really have to; that hot air in your stomach that results will hurt like a bitch. Anyway, I'm currently 5'9", 145-ish pounds of skinny, and hoping I can put some muscle on this small frame of mine.

My Degree Relates to Gaming Somewhat!

 Of course, my mental and physical breakdowns and improvements aren't what this site is all about. So here's something you may or may not find interesting:

 The Master's degree I'm pursuing is in Mass Communications, a bastard discipline that applies Psychology, Anthropology, and other social sciences to media. Thus, we actually read and discussed an article about video games at one point. If you're curious, here's the APA style citation for it:

 Smith, S.L., & Moyer-Guse, E. (2006). Voluptuous vixens and macho males: A look at the portrayal of gender and sexuality in video games. In T. Reichert & J. Lambiase, Sex in consumer culture: The erotic content of media and marketing (pp. 51-65). Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates. 

 My professor even recommended looking at one of Anita Sarkeesian's "Damsel in Distress" videos at one point (I think). When I brought up that other videos had some pretty good counter-arguments, he said "yeah, I felt she did a good job on a lot of what she was talking about, but there is a tendency in feminist research in general to dismiss other points of view without a fair shake" or something along those lines. I will say he didn't know the name Anita Sarkeesian, just that the video was partly titled Damsel in Distress, so maybe it was someone else or some other video he was talking about ... but I heavily doubt it. I don't mean to bring debates about these videos back up, I just thought it was interesting that stuff talked about on this website got brought up in one of my classes. 

Music Makes the People Cum Together ... A LOT

 In addition to my Master's courses, I had/have a part-time graduate assistant job running the Nacogdoches/Lufkin alternative radio station, KSAU 90.1. You can hear it streaming on ksauradio.com unless the stupid thing is down again, in which case I apologize. Here are some of my favorite songs from the 265 new ones I added to the station this semester:

Exist Elsewhere - "Tokyo"

 Everything new I uploaded came from two sources. HitDiscs, promotional CDs from TM Studios  that the General Manager; one of the professors in our department and my boss; ordered and had sent to my inbox on a roughly weekly basis were the main source. Otherwise, either the artists themselves or the labels representing them flooded me with CDs.

 This was one of the first songs on a CD sent directly to us from an artist that really impressed me. It definitely has a cool, new-age city feel to it that really fits the lyrical subject. It also has a good hook, and that guitar solo at the end is killer. 

The Pretty Reckless - "Heaven Knows"

 This one I added right before Thanksgiving break, and as I got in my car to drive home for the holiday and heard it playing, I said to myself, "yup, I did good." I love a song with a strong beat and a chanting chorus. It's kind of like Queen's "We Will Rock You," only it features a female vocalist and is about going to hell.

Yuna - "Falling"

 I had uploaded another song of hers, "Rescue" from a HitDisc. It was one of those I felt was "good and alternative-sounding enough," but at the same time wasn't hugely excited by it or anything. Honestly, when I listen to "Rescue," I think of one of those feminine hair product ads on TV. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if it became background music for a Pantene Pro-V commercial somewhere down the line, which makes me wonder if I should have uploaded it to the station at all. It is kind of pop-sounding. 

 One morning, I came into my office feeling a bit shitty and wanting to go back to sleep more than anything. I saw that Yuna's actual CD had come in and listened to it, not expecting much. To my pleasant surprise, this song was on the CD, and it had a wonderful, drowsy atmosphere. Hell, some of the lyrics are about sleep. The feeling I get listening to this song is one of laying in bed on a rainy day, without a care in the world. Lyrically, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a love song, or at least one about infatuation. There's nothing I'm more in love with than rainy days where I get to sleep in, so I can dig it. 

Safety Orange - "State of Where I Am"

 The CD from this band came in close to the start of the semester, and I liked what I was able to hear of it, but there were a few too many songs on it for me to really listen to it all and keep focused on other things I had to do. I gave CDs like this one to the DJs to review for extra credit. Since KSAU is a college radio station, the DJs are students in a Practicum class, and I knew some of them would be in serious need of extra credit. 

 Well, it didn't get reviewed, but when the student who borrowed it gave it back to me, I came to the conclusion he had missed out big time. The whole CD was awesome, laid-back, third wave ska that I love. This song, which shares its title with the CD, was a perfect embodiment of that.

 It also had a great-sounding cover of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" I reccommend as well. Just look up "Safety Orange Whatever You Like" on Youtube. The only reason I didn't get that song on is cause I wasn't so sure the conservative Bible belt area the station airs in would like the lyrics "sex so wet and so tight" ringing clear as a bell in their car when they were dropping the high schoolers off. Plus, the station has enough rock covers of rap songs as it is, so might as well just stick with the clean, original song. 

San Fermin - "Sonsick" 

 This one came from a HitDisc, but it really hit me how much I liked it when it came on in my car one night. I don't have much to say about it other than I really like the melody and it puts me in a good mood.

Trombone Shorty - "Fire and Brimstone"

 This one came in both on a CD sent directly from the artist or label, and on a HitDisc. At first, I questioned if it was really alternative, or more of a soul/R&B kind of song. Then I decided the fact I'd never heard of it before made it alternative, and the fact it involved at least one horn instrument and sounded kind of funky made it awesome. Therefore, I uploaded it.

Sean Russell - "Closer"

 This one I heard as a student was listening to it for review in one of our production rooms. I knew when I first heard it that it was going on the station. It's just a lovely acoustic guitar song that really brought me back to some of the softer 90s alternative rock tunes I grew up with. For some reason, it reminds me a little bit of "Good" by Better than Ezra, but I won't blame you if you don't hear that. Sometimes I hear a connection between two songs that I know other people might not hear, but they just remind me of each other for some reason. 

 Unfortunately, this low-quality live video was all I was able to find on it, but you can definitely get the gist of this relaxing, joyful acoustic love song despite that. I do reccommend the studio version if you can find it. Maybe there's a clip of it on iTunes or something.