Huge Day Today! Amazing Day Today!

August 23rd 2023

WOO! Okay! What an eventful day... in Nora Meadow terms.

To begin. Today is the birthday of one of my biggest inspirations, Neil Cicierega! 

I said this on Instagram this morning.

"Neil Cicierega has been one of my biggest influences and inspiration since I was 13, hell probably even before that. I’ve been a fan of his since I was 7 years old, but my appreciation for him and his work really took off when I was 13. I’ll talk more about this in my blog post later today, I just want to thank him and his work (not even just his music but I’ll admit mostly his music) for being influencing me as a person and as an aspiring creator. Thank you, Neil. Have an amazing 37th birthday."

Lemon Demon was what got me into music as a whole, along with Jack Stauber and Justice, but it was Lemon Demon for the most part. I'm not sure how to go into detail about Neil Cicierega's influence on the person I am today. I know I said I would but I'm not really sure what to say. He's influenced my humor, my musical taste, my personality, and a looooot more. 

Let's talk about school today!

Art

I drew a shark eating a cupcake, and I drew The Joker as a bunny. No you can't see either. I don't like posting my art online yet, I won't until I feel like I'm a good enough artist to.

Statistics

Did a bunch of math problems, not all that interesting. I had fun with it, though. I like math when I understand it. Statistics is easy for me.

English (ooh boy here we go)

Journal Entry - "What is the last time you heard a song, saw a film, or read something that could have multiple interpretations? What is your interpretation and what are some other interpretations?"

The Residents is an art collective that has been active since 1972, notable for the masks they wear to conceal their identities. A giant bloodshot eyeball sporting a top hat. To this day, no one knows who they are. No name, no face, no age, no gender. They are just... The Residents. They're most known for their music, but to just call them a music group feels inaccurate in my opinion, because they've dipped their toes in so much more mediums. They even had a long running YouTube series to promote an album of theirs. This was in 2008, and I believe it WAS the longest continuous YouTube series for the time. I'm no expert on them, though. I've been an admirer of their work since I was 13, but I'm still no expert. 

Enough of that, let me get to the point. The Residents released a concept album in 1998 titled "Wormwood" and over the course of the years that have passed since my first time listening to this album, I've had many different interpretations of it. As well as other people who have listened to this and analyzed its subtext.

Subtitled "Curious Stories from the Bible,"  it's obvious that this album is relating to The Bible, Christianity, and maybe even religion as a whole. Yes, but what does Wormwood say about Christianity?

There are 20 tracks on this album, each one a retelling of a certain story from The Bible. For example, Track 6 "Cain and Abel" is self explanatory. Track 17, "KILL HIM!" is a retelling of the story in which God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. If one story from the Bible involving child sacrifice isn't enough, there's "Burn, Baby Burn" which tells the story of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter. 

If you're noticing a pattern, that's because there is one. These are unbelievably dark stories from The Bible, the three I mentioned don't even scratch the surface. This album really opened up my eyes to truly how dark some of the subject matter in The Bible is.

After dumping all of that information on you, one could interpret this as a criticism of The Bible and the foundation of Christianity, yes? One could say that the message The Residents are sending here is an Anti-Christianity one. If you ask me, however, I think it's a bit different.

I don't believe this concept album is an attack on Christianity, rather it is meant to showcase the dark side of The Bible, a book which many uphold as a morally flawless text.

This interpretation was confirmed by a friend and representative of The Residents, Uncle Willie. In his words:

"The desire is to neither vilify nor sanctify the book, but to allow it to be humanized. For the Bible to be looked upon as spiritually uplifting is good and useful, but that view overlooks the Bible's abundant images of plague, torture and cruelty." - Uncle Willie

(This was a lot sorry I should've kept this simple)

Reflection - "Which analytical lens are you most comfortable with?"

Reader-Response. I feel like it isn't my place to criticize the way a culture is represented if I am not a part of it. Archetypal is fine, but Reader-Response is just the one I'm most comfortable with. It doesn't make me feel like I have to walk in someone else's shoes or think too much about something. Not that it's too complicated for me, I just prefer to initially analyze something simply, and if it interests me I'll think about it deeper.

Economics

ya girl had a test she probably did terrible on! Woo!

other awesome school moments

So I wore my Lemon Demon shirt today because y'know Neil birthday!!!! The person I saw wearing a Lemon Demon shirt last week who I wanted to talk to and tell them I like their shirt but I was too scared to came up to me and complimented my shirt. I totally would've talked to them last week but I'm too socially awkward to talk to other people. They seem cool. God forbid I find the courage to talk to other people without feeling like they're judging me silently for my every little move. I also finally got a Chromebook charger so I can get some of the work done that I wasn't able to before. 

After school!

MY NEW BED IS HERE! it's comfy! :D

mwehehehehe

Also Kirby Squeak Squad finally got here. 3 weeks late.... I now have every mainline Kirby game though.... in one way or another.... People reselling DS games can never keep the cases though, can they? I swear every time I buy a DS game used it never comes with the original case for it!!!!! ugh.

 

Speaking of Kirby, I almost beat Return to Dream Land.... I'm on the final boss but I'm too tired to finish the game now. I gotta go to bed, goodnight!

Song of the Day: Lemon Demon - Hyakugojyuuichi 2003

I quote "9 out of 10 sociopaths agree" often and no one knows what I'm referencing. 

283 days until ya girl is 18!