jake – Page 56 – The Jake of All Trades

Early April 365 – Poetry Month

I’ve been excited about April. Previous years i’ve tried something like a poetic NaNoWriMo where I would write a poem each day. Naturally I’ve had various levels of success with it. This year I’ve decided to do the same as part of not only National Poetry Month, but my on going art 365 project. I’m posting this early because so that if anyone else wants to join in, they can.

So what is the plan?

Every day I am going to write a poem.
I am going to use only one page from my notebook for each day
While I may not edit, there will be a ‘finished’ version
I’ll be posting the ‘finished version’ as I go

Now, when i am done, I plan to collect all of the pages I did, scan them in and put together a collection (called April, or something that creative) that has the rough pages, the April version and, if needed, a later edited version

Sound like fun? Sound crazy? probably a bit of both. Want to join? (You know you want to watch…)

Update: find the poems here

A Month in the Life, February

I stumbled.

It was going to happen, we all knew that. But it did. Not once, either, but a few times a day passed in February where there was no art from me. In the end there were 28 entries in February’s roster, but there was a bit of catching up near the end. And that is OK, the point is to do this, to enjoy doing this, as a personal growth and exploration type of project. This is not work or homework. I do not plan on letting it become that.

Onwards.

January was free form. All I had to do was something, and it was all over the place. One of the things about free form is you have to think about what you want to make and then you can think about how you will make it.

For February I decided to be a bit more constrained. I chose a theme: Fish. I chose a medium: drawing. So there are 28 fish in my Flickr gallery now, one for each day. Was it better? In ways. I’ll admit I did start thinking of other things, but I had started, so I would finish. The fish were fun, and a crowd favorite came out (thanks to a tweet from Qweequeg): coffee shark. Here he is sleeping.

Don’t worry, there will be more coffee shark even as we move into March. Maybe a sitcom with Happy Dolphin?

There were two other things in February. I started posting some Dr Who I had been writing. Some escape, some practice, lots of sonic screwdriver, and more to come too. (Once i figure out the optimal posting time and length…) The second was a music review post. I’m going to try this for a bit and see how it goes.

Now I’m off, I have a few hours to figure out what I am doing for the third month of this year. I do have a plan for April already… which may kill me, but I am already excited about it.

And I remain excited about 365.

As always, follow the 365 project here

Monthly Music – February

In the efforts to add on one more thing I want to do, I’ve decided to start a mini review of music here. Why is that? I love music. I listen to it most of my day. But I’ve noticed my recent purchasing to be sporadic and, well, safe.

So here is the plan. Each month I’ll buy two albums and post a mini review here. Only rule is that one has to be fairly new. No limits on genre or theme, which is good. My taste in music is pretty much all over the place.

I’ll be tagging this monthlymusic if you want to follow along at home.

-j

Eminem – Recovery (Rap / Hip Hop)

I’ll admit, while I have always liked Eminem, this is the first album of his I have bought. While the radio songs and the bits of albums I’d heard at other’s houses were good, they just didn’t grab me in that “I must have this!” sort of way. I do own the 8 Mile soundtrack. “Lose yourself” was the Eminem song that I’d been waiting for since I heard the Slim Shady LP. After hearing that song I wanted more Marshall, less Shady.

So I suspect it is a bit funny then that the first album of his I buy I didn’t even listen to first. Rather I just got it on impulse. And it is good. There is still a bit of the humor side in the work, but for the most part it is angry and more personal than simply making fun of boy bands.

The story told is one of someone picking themselves back up from getting off of drugs, of stepping back up. The album talks about making up for things in the past, as well as leaving some things behind.

And the lyrics are cutting, angry and fantastic. One of my favorite is “the last thing you want to do is have me spit out a rhyme and say when I wrote this I was thinking of you.” And you know it is true. Shady or Marshall, Eminem is wrong in all the right ways.

So if you are not easily offended, turn it up. If you are, turn it up louder, it will be good for you.

All That Remains – For We Are Many (Metal)

I got Overcome by ATR at a suggestion of a friend (funny enough, I can’t seem to remember who…) and it sat unlistened for quite a bit on my shelf. Sure I played it on the way home and put it on iTunes, but for the most part ignored it. If memory serves I was on a huge Tupac kick at the time, so that may have contributed to the delay.

Anyway, after its slow start, Overcome has been played quite a bit. And I am grateful to whomever it was that suggested it.

I saw “For We Are Many” come up on my Amazon suggestions, and grabbed it. It was listened to more immediately. The album is solid metal and great driving music. I’m still listening a bit to it, but I’ll admit I do like Overcome a bit more. This album is good, but there is just something a bit tighter about the other album.

Still it was well worth it and it lives in the current album rotation.

Bonus (since it is the first month…)
Norah Jones – …Featuring (Jazz / All Over The Place)

I’ve been in love with Norah Jones since I found her first album in a Borders. She wasn’t famous yet, no Grammy, just a pretty face on a discounted CD and I thought “what the hell.” Turned out to be one of the better choices I have made in my life.

…Featuring is a guest CD but with a twist. From Willie Nelson and Ray Charles, to the Foo Fighters and Q Tip, the guest on each song is Norah herself.

And it is a good album. Norah steps out of her box for a bit and lets the other artists introduce her other genres. The genre’s on the album are all over the place, from jazz, country, rock and hip hop.

So while the experimentations were fun, where she really shines is in the jazz and old country western sounds.