“Aggressive, tough and defiant may describe me, but that leaves the impression I’m mean and I’m not. People expect me to have fangs.” – Joan Jett
Behind the Scenes Photos of “Dazed and Confused”
Dazed and Confused is one of my all-time favourite movies, written and directed by Richard Linklater. It’s astounding watching the cast of actors who would later become stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Nicky Katt, and Rory Cochrane. A fascinating insight into the minds of teenagers in the 1970s, it’s also hilarious and as real as improvised direction through little scripting as you can get. All people who were a teenager should watch this at least once. Alright, alright, alright.
(via The Criterion Collection)
1980s Slang Poster is Schweet
This guide salutes the greatest decade of verbal artistry ever known. To all you former Preps, Head Bangers, Skaters, Jocks, Wastoids, Wavers, Valley Girls, and Goths: hang this chart and remind your friends to stay rad to the max.
Order prints of this rad poster at Charley Chartwell. -Via Laughing Squid
Infographic: Make a Joyful Noise – Music and Ministry
Whether accompanied by organ, handbells or electric guitar, or not accompanied by an instrument at all, Christians have used songs and music to worship God throughout history. Let’s take a look at musical instruments in the Bible, the history of music and worship and how different denominations of Christianity use music today.
Source: ChristianUniversitiesOnline.org/
One of the greatest, and strangest Sesame Street clips ever
Cracks is one of the strangest clips Sesame Street has ever produced. It features a young girl riding a camel made up of wall cracks that takes her meet other crack animals and finally “The Crack Master.” If that doesn’t scare you from watching it the first time, go ahead. If you vaguely remember this, here’s another thought – it was from 1975, and yes, you’re old, and this clip is going to come back to you.
Kids who actively participate show greater thought processing gains
Greater participation inmusic classes may benefit children’s language development, a new study finds.
Researchers followed kids in the nonprofit Harmony Project, which provides music education and instruments to poor children in Los Angeles.
Over two years, children who actively participated in the classes showed larger improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading, compared to those with lower levels of participation.
Also, the benefits of active participation in music classes occurred in the same areas of the brain that are traditionally weak in children from poor families, according to the study published online Dec. 16 in the journalFrontiers in Psychology.
“Even in a group of highly motivated students, small variations in music engagement — attendance and class participation — predicted the strength of neural processing after music training,” lead author Nina Kraus, professor of communication sciences and of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, said in a university news release.
“Our results support the importance of active experience and meaningful engagement with sound to stimulate changes in the brain,” she added.
Participating in music classes can actually “remodel” a child’s brain in a way that improves the ability to process speech, an ability that’s closely linked to reading, according to researchers. The study finding is important for children from poor families, who process sound less efficiently. This increases the risk that they’ll do poorly in school, Kraus said.
“What we do and how we engage with sound has an effect on our nervous system,” she said. “Spending time learning to play a musical instrument can have a profound effect on how your nervous system works.”
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” Slowed Down Gazillion Percent
Slowed and stretched over and over… a few thousand times. This is Wham! or a vast glimmering drone of digital data. Either way, I know it’s a bit early (or late) for Christmas music, but believe me, keep this handy in 10 months to be life of the party. You’ll get tangled up in this, and there’s no way out.
Tom Odell Is Playing His Next Batch Of Shows In A Forest
Forgt playing the usual dive bars and lush concert venues for a moment, and think about, if you’re an artist, where you can play your next batch of shows. Somewhere different. Somewhere exciting. Like a forest.
Tom Odell is hitting the road, announcing a slew of special gigs in UK forests next summer. That’s right. Parks and forests.
The chart-topping Long Way Down star, who took home the 2014 Ivor Novello award for Songwriter Of The Year, will be returning in 2015 to play some unique shows as part of Forest Live – an independent program in the UK organised by the Forestry Commission to bring forests to new audiences.
Money raised from the shows will go towards protecting, improving and expanding England’s forests and woodlands.
“This will be a whole new experience for me,” said Odell. “I can’t wait to bring my live show to the woods and I hope to see you there.”
Friday 19 June: Bedgebury Pinetum, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Saturday 20 June: Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury, Glos.
Thursday 25 June: Dalby Forest, near Pickering, N Yorks.
Friday 26 June: Sherwood Pines Forest, Edwinstowe, near Mansfield, Notts.
Saturday 4 July: Delamere Forest, Delamere, Cheshire.
Sunday 5 July: Thetford Forest, near Brandon, Suffolk.
Sunday 12 July: Cannock Chase Forest, near Rugeley, Staffs.
That’s thinking outside the box.
Sesame Street spoofs Birdman – ‘Big Birdman’ starring Caroll Spinney and Big Bird
For your Oscar consideration: A veteran puppeteer, who plays an avian icon, battles his ego and attempts to find his way back to a certain furry and friendly street. This is ‘Big Birdman.’ It features original cast member Caroll Spinney as himself and Big Bird, who he played, and also Matt Vogel as Big Bird, too. You’ll figure it out….
Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds Opens Up Strained Relationship With Parents
Dan Reynolds on his strained relationship with his parents and his mother’s hesitancy about him becoming a musician:
“You know, I’ve always kind of had strained relations with my parents, just because I was kind of left-of-center compared to what my family comes from, which is a very conservative family of doctors and lawyers. I told my mom I wanted to be a musician when I was little, you know. It was scary for her, and she was—she didn’t forbid me, but she didn’t quite… you know, she didn’t…. How can I put it… She didn’t fully embrace it… Especially when I talked about dropping out of college to pursue it. She was scared about it, but my dad was always actually secretly into it. He’s a lawyer, and he’s the one who kind of instilled the love of music into me in the first place. He’s always been into Paul Simon and the Beatles, the Beach Boys—all those artists with the great melodies. That’s where that came from.”
Via Vegas Magazine