Randall Munroe is the Man

So on goes my research project. I completely forgot to write a thesis, but hey, at least I wrote my annotated bibliography. It actually didn't take way too long. I went to the HBLL expecting to be there for a few days when after about an hour or so I realized, "Wow, I'm pretty much done." It was a nice realization... The thesis would have been pretty easy. I just didn't know I was supposed to do it. Oh well, I lost a few points but that's fine.

EXAMPLE THESIS: Although most of research done claims that the lyrics in aggressive music are detrimental to listeners, the true influence comes from behind the lyrics through the rhythm, loudness, and tempo.

So that's kind of a decent thesis. I hate the word loudness though, it just doesn't sound real to me, somewhat like 'funner' (which my spell-check does not seem to mind either).

Also, My pumpkin this year was awesome:

Peter Jackson is the Man

Alright so its official! The Hobbit is finally going to be made! Peter Jackson is coming back to head the project! So excited! It's planned to be released in two parts. There can never be enough Lord of the Rings! There have been so many set backs that I didn't think there was any way that New Line was ever going to get around to it.I'm so glad they finally did though!

Okay so this is a fake. But its about as good as you can probably find. I'm pretty impressed by it actually.

So the real reason I'm writing this post is to confirm my topic for the research essay. I've decided that I'm going to research whether non-lyrical music can lead to aggression. Or if it does the opposite. There is a lot of research saying that music doesn't do very much by itself, but that those who are aggressive tend to search out and listen to aggressive music. That makes sense but I can't help but think that angry in = angry out. We'll see I guess.

Research is the Man

For my post, I've come up with a few topics that I like involving sound. I'm a musician, or at least I like to think so, and sound and music fascinate me. If there's anything that's going to catch my interest enough to write a paper on it, it would be sound/music/recording. Here are a few ideas I'm throwing around, the last three I've narrowed it down to anyways.

I'd like to look into what effect sound makes on the human mind. In particular whether violent songs lead to violence or how they interact. The same for promiscuous songs and vulgar songs. Then I hope to contrast it to classical music, or uplifting music. I think that then you could take it and see if the media that we listen to should be monitored, or limited or something along those lines.

I've also been looking into how sound effects inanimate objects. For example my piano teacher would great his water by saying, "hello water" and the tone in his voice would organize the usual chaos in the water. I would like to look into whether that actually transfers to our body. Also I have heard that the planets all vibrate in Octaves from each other. But I don't have a clue how that could tie into Mass Media.

My third research idea is looking into how the larynx interacts with the voice we hear in our mind. I've heard that the voice is actually just micro-vibrations. I would find that interesting. Once again though, it would be tough to make it completely relate.

So I may not have a specific topic completely picked, but I'm leaning mostly towards my first idea. If you have opinions I would love to hear them. I'm not sure if any will be easy to necessarily argue because there isn't a lot of arguing going on about any of those. Or at least I don't know what the arguments are yet.

Elder Patrick Kearon is the Man

Who's the man today you ask? If you either read the title, or guessed Elder Patrick Kearon, you win! I didn't really know who this guy was before priesthood session but I just loved his talk. Competed for my favorite of the session against Elder Uctdorf's Pride talk. He's a member of the first quorum of the 70, and showed that he's a great speaker. Oh right! The well developed paragraph!

During Preisthood session of General Conference, Elder Patrick Kearon gave a talk to an audience of specifically male Christians. Elder Kearon spoke of choices that we know are wrong, but out of either laziness or rebelliousness, choose to do. He was speaking to a very specific audience with this lesson and because of this, makes some very specific choices to make sure that the audience he was speaking to was addressed. Kearon began his talk with a story of a camping trip which he traveled on with his family. As he was addressing an audience of men, most could easily picture a camping trip and were able to connect with him. After a simple, yet effective, exposition he proceeds to tell the purpose of his story: when he failed to listen to his parents and put on shoes, he was hurt very badly. Men are notorious for getting hurt out of laziness or carelessness. When Elder Kearon brings up his own situation, it brings forth our own similar experiences in which we learned to listen to the wisdom of our parents. With such a specific audience of males, Elder Kearon is able to quickly connect with his audience through his story. By recognizing the specific audience and situation in which he is speaking, Elder Kearon writes an effective and powerful talk.

Well there we go. There's my rhetorical analysis.... Whew... Looks really long from all the way down here. I doubt its even a page double spaced on Microsoft Word though... This will probably double as my essay that I turn in one of these days. In fact, I intend it too! I'll just edit it a little and maybe make it two paragraphs, but otherwise it looks pretty decent.