Globes and Maps

"...and globes and maps they chart your way back home"  -Something Corporate

I like that song.

And speaking of songs vaguley related to traveling that I also like... A Plain Morning by Dashboard Conf.

Ok, now onto our présentation principale!

New desktop background!

After The Hunger Games had come and gone, I wanted to change my desktop background, but I had trouble coming up with a new theme.  I was tired enough of all the changing and rearranging of geeklets that I wanted to pick something that I could have for a while, something that wouldn't expire (you know, like when the movie came out or holiday passed, etc.).

I remembered that my very first attempt into geeklets was built on top of one of the default desktop backgrounds that comes with a mac (The Great Wave).  So I turned to that folder to find something simple, beautiful, and lasting.  Though I sorted through many amazing pictures, the black and white set stuck out to me and I chose two of those to be my backgrounds (since I have two monitors now).

The geeklets I arranged all on one screen (the secondary) so I could always see them.  The second screen has become somewhat of my status screen now, I look there to check the time, battery level, calendar and weather.

Pretty nice, eh?  

Now, my main screen was just this cool, lighting desktop picture that I never actually saw because I always had windows covering it.  However I got this idea in my head that I really wanted to try.  I wanted to make this apear on my desktop... so I did.  In case you're wondering it does auto-update every 15 minutes so it shows the current sunlight spread over the earth.  I felt so proud I uploaded it to the official geektool forum/geeklet sharing site.

See that, globe and map, in the flesh.. hence my title, and completely random opening.

cheap as free

I was scrolling through my past posts, and noticed that I last updated you on my desktop background before The Hunger Games came out.  Well it's been a while since it came out (I've even seen a new movie since then) and I have since updated my desktop background.

However before I tell you about that I have to go back in time and tell you about my current electronic situation.  Over the past years I've slowly been accumulating odds and ends that would make a great home office someday, and it had finally taken shape.

Most of these Items were purchased from the BYU Surplus Sale that happens every month.  A great way to get cheap stuff.

So as you can see I now operate my laptop as more of a desktop with two monitors.  It's nice, I usually have a web browser open on the main screen with music controls, chat windows and other extras open on the secondary side (my laptop screen).

Also the soundbar/speaker that came with the monitor is very nice as far as computer sound goes.  The monitor also functions as a 4 port USB hub, which is nice for plugging in and charging my phone, ipod, kindle, and camera.  It's for sure worth a lot more that $60.

So with that in mind... I'll make a new post about my new desktop background.

Now you're just singing like you used to... oh.

So I stumbled upon this article recently, (Ok, 'stumbled upon' makes it sound like I got it from "Stumble Upon" which I didn't, I just follow mashable and you should too) and I though, gosh there sure are a lot of covers!  I wonder how many of them really suck?

I am a huge fan of this song.  I'm thinking of doing a cover of mine own one day (and it will involve amazing instruments I can assure you).  But there are certain elements that shouldn't be changed in order to preserve the greatness of this song.  One of the most important things is the male-female voice exchange.  Including both voices brings the song up to a higher level, one that simply cannot be reached by a single voice or even a male-male combo.  That's probably my biggest peeve, with many of these covers, I'll explain more of them as I go along because now I'm going to rate all 18 of these covers... (please feel free to skip/skim the rest of this post).

Original
Great song, strong vocals from both guy and girl (that's why they're professional musician, right?).  The instrumentation is nice, gives it a haunting feeling which adds a lot to the song.  Video is weird, and unimportant.

Glee Cast Cover
One of the worst covers here, guy-guy is never good, their voices sound so similar  you can barely tell there's two singing.  They do do a good job of keeping the feeling and meaning of the song.. as long as you don't actually watch the video, then you just stare awkwardly as they awkwardly stand next to each other in an oddly lighted high school auditorium... awkward.

Lindsey Pavao from 'The Voice'
So she has a decent voice (although I'm still not sure she deserves to be on the show).  Tempo changes = sucks.  I think she's trying to be a little too stylized and different, and I think she totally butchers it, I agree with Adam Levine on why it's bad (only he puts is way too nice).

Elsie and Philip from 'American Idol'
After hearing 'The Voice' interpretation of this song I was expecting to really hate this one, but going back to the male-female interchange makes up for a lot.  Their voices are a little weird, I think American Idol is more about stage presence and looks than it is about voices though.  They do a good job of keeping the proper feeling and mood of the song.  Also the B&W graphics are suh-weet!

Walk off the Earth
I don't love the way he sings it.  With all the musical tallent they have boxed inside this frame you'd think they could have lowered the key a bit so he wasn't so strained on the vocals.  Other than that I LOVE the instrumentation on this video.  It does a wonderful job of preserving the mood especially if you watch the video, all black clothing makes her blond hair stand out and helps the mood (and her voice is great).  In the chorus you can feel the angst, which is important.  His not-so-great voice actually makes it all the more angsty.

PS22 Chorus
These kids totally rock.  Not the best cover, but they're kids and the main kid has an amazing voice for a 5th grader.  You loose some of the mood with the kids, so it's not so great as being true to the original, but it's still surprisingly good.  You should check out more of their videos.

Peter Hollens ft. Evynne
Crazy cool video here.  I don't love the "Ooo Ooo" background music, almost a little too ghostly.  Oh and it just drives me crazy how he looks like a creepy alien when he's arranging his face!  His all a capella style is unique to this list and I like it.  He gets the haunted mood too much, and just barely misses the angst level (his face looks mad, but his voice is so smooth it doesn't seem like he's upset at all).  Twisty face girl's voice is great, and the twisty face is a great effect, but he could have used her voice more than he did.

- take breath, stretch your legs and get set for 7-12 -

Army of 3
Who doesn't love Ingrid Michaleson?!  Watching this video helped me to learn the notes to play for when I do my own cover... someday.  Her soulful singing fits pretty well into the mood, and the bass/snare combo does great too.  I like that she says "nothing" and not "nothin'," nice style.  Missing out on a male voice here, but I can get over it.

Boyce Avenue
One guy singing and playing the guitar.  Slower tempo than normal, and lack of interesting instruments (hands as drumsticks do not count) make me yawn, and move on to the next video before realizing that at least he has some passion in his singing.

Sam Tsui
He does one great thing that, while subtle, makes this effort worth a listen.  He sings the girl part like a girl.  Props to him for even trying, and he pulls it off ok.  Also vocal percussion is well done, but the electronic sound of the background vocals isn't so hot.  It's decent.

Pentatonix
Five voices get five stars!  It's great to sing a capella by yourself and all, but singing with other people is special.  Rock out camera man also gets five stars.  The mood is a little off because it's so acoustic, but it's not bad.  All the back up and percussion vocals are great.  Water drop noise FTW!

Tim Whybrow
Why you gotta slow it down so much, why bro, why?  The glass bottle instrumentation is wonderful, but other than that the mood is a little lost on too much guitar, too much sadness, and too many earings.

Jake and Madilyn
They've both got fine voices, but they forgot about this thing called tempo and they turned this exciting and engaging song into a lullaby.  A very nice sounding lullaby, but the angst has all turned to tears.  If you want a peaceful rendition to play before you go to sleep, choose this one.

- ok break time again -  turn off this song, find someone to love, and go outside....
- 13-18 coming up now

Chris and Kirsten
Uh... they're like what 14?  They used the original sound track and added in their electronically adjusted voices... boo.  They do get points for the awkward dance in between singing.  If one of these covers understands teenage angst, it's these two pimple studded stars.  Costuming is also a plus here... but I'm not judging videos, I'm judging covers.

Olivia and Corey
I like the heavy rock sound, it's a good rendition.  Good voices, good instruments (although the continuos off beat chord is a little over balanced) and a good cover.

Freak Morice
Woah! they've got accents to the max(ents)!  Turns out they're from Australia so props for being a fan of/covering your own countrymen.  They probably covered this before most of us americans had even heard it.  Alas they're only 14 and I think they could have put a lot more emotion into this, and I'm disappointed that really only one girl has the lead.

Gavin  Mikhail
Piano rendition is suprisingly well done.  The angst and passion come right through with the pounding of the ivory, but his passion is clearly in the playing and the singing is just a byproduct.  It's about as good as you can get using only one instrument.

Chester and Tiffany
His voice sounds a lot like Chris (the 14 year old in teal,) they must have used the same filter.  Tempo is a little off, but it fits in okay with their country rock beat.  This one gets points for just being different.  Country is not my favorite, but here they adapt it well with out too much twang.

Michael and Max
er... umm... ok, I'm about out of words for the guitar-only cover.  meh.


After those covers there are two parodies.  The first is pretty funny but not amazing, the second is wholly inappropriate and not worth watching.  But what is worth watching is this music video I found independently.  Points on that one for the editing and funny kids.

nothing

I realized that I haven't posted anything for a while (almost a whole month!) and I feel like I don't have anything to post, which today, might be true.  Nothing important has happened to me today, but over the past month there have been a few random happenings that are somewhat noteworthy.

It's funny how we tend to focus so much on the here an now.  Many a person will say, "oh nothing's happening.." when really only two days ago they won the lottery.  After something is over I tend to forget about it.... if only excitement happened in retrospect.

So in lieu of some more interesting thoughts that swim in my mind, I will simply provide you with some pictures from some random happenings through the last months...

My car was paintballed!  Luckily our neighbor saw it, told us, and we wiped the paint of while it was still wet.  There might be a little bit of pink still in the grill though.

I quit working at Taco Time and subsequently stopped drinking 32 oz of soda everyday.  I'm always looking out for my health.

I worked for a handful of weeks at an industrial ceramics facility.  I worked with a mason who built/repaired kilns.  This is a picture of an arch (over the kiln door) that I made... woot.

 At one point in the month we took some BYU graduate family pictures... These may or may not be a surprise for my mother for an upcoming holiday.  I took this one and edit it a little for fun... (click on it for big size)

To come in a future post: my new desk, my new tv, and some thoughts on other things :P