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In the Eyes of An Architecture Student: What Music do you Listen to for Studio Work?

themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful, restful MLK weekend!

I’m back again this week to discuss my answer to the question: What music do you listen to as you’re doing studio sketches or modeling?

First things first, I’ll just say, I have always been someone who’s been easily distracted no matter the context. So, getting me to focus and stay still to focus on specific tasks under a seemingly far away deadline is like pulling teeth. Whenever I do my structures assignments, I’d say that I listen to anything really, I find that classical music is alright too (I did used to be in orchestra, in case you were wondering how I don’t fall asleep listening to it for two hours straight). For any assignments that involve in-depth writing, like essays or reading, I listen to instrumentals. Again, orchestral music is great with me for this. I also really enjoy listening to dub step or even just instrumentals to tropical pop songs, and even remixes. I’ve even done quite well listening to non-English music. As soon as I hear English music, I find it inevitable that the lyrics will end up somewhere in my paper haha. As for my studio design sketching and modeling, I guess I do not really distinguished playlists for either of the tasks. I enjoy listening to anything really, as long as its upbeat. So, pretty much anything within the genres: pop, EDM, tropical house, and synthetic instrumentals, I find quite inspiring to my work actually. Besides the fact that sometimes I will find myself awake or still-awake at unearthly hours, I just find that anything upbeat and catchy just sets a great groove for me to “settle” into the work that I need to do. I oftentimes find that the beats and catchy lyrics keep me energized for hours, as I’m usually doing some sort of tedious, repetitive task either with my knives on the cutting mat or on my laptop with the software. I do also think that the devices that I use to listen to my music influence my ability to make this work as well. Sometimes. if there is just too much linework, or powerful renderings that need to be done, I will go to the BT Lab (our PC classrooms with very powerful computers) and I just end up listening off of their PC with my earbuds. If I’m at my desk doing my work on my laptop, I’ll just listen off of my laptop with my earbuds or my wireless headphones- the only downside with the headphones is I often get too warm or my head starts to hurt from the weight and pressure put on my ears for the extended period of time. Now, if I’m modeling, I find it immensely more convenient to use my wireless headphones- you can imagine, there’s a ton of materials and blades and sketches scattered on the desk, so the last thing you need or want is a tangled wire of your headphone getting caught on stuff, as you’re constantly re-positioning in order to produce the most effective cuts. I’ve definitely forgotten to charge my headphones and ended up using earbuds, and the result was just some wasted minutes to untangle things, or bring my phone and headphones along wherever I moved. Aaanddd, here’s what you would consider the click bait of this post: an excerpt of my playlist! I hope ya’ll will give it a go, whether you’re sprawled in bed or doing your own work. If you do, (or don’t I guess) and have comments or suggestions, feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments below, or reach out to my instagram at: themichiganarchitect Ciao šŸ™‚

TheMichiganArchitect Work Playlist Winter 2020 šŸ™‚

Mike Perry feat. Tessa: Stay Young

Sistek feat. Tudor & Amy J Pryce: Pitfalls

Doja Cat: Say So

Far East Movement feat. Jay Park: Sxwme

Maggie Lindemann (Cheat Codes and CADE Remix): Pretty Girl

Bazzi (Bazzi vs Young Bombs Remix): Mine

Timeflies: Once In a While

Timeflies & Shy Martin: Raincoat

Alex Ross feat. Dakota & T-Pain: Dreams

Ali Simpson: Guilty

Allie X: Catch

Overstreet: Carried Away

Lovelytheband: Broken

Jax Jones & Ella Henderson: This is Real

Arizona: Electric Touch

Kim Petras:Ā Icy

Alexandra Stan: Little Lies

Adventure Club & Crankdat feat. Krewella: Next Life

One Republic (Arty Remix): I Lived

The Knocks feat. Foster The People): Ride or Die

Austin Mahone: Better With You

Tiesto feat. Stevie Appleton: BLUE

Circles, a Posthumous Album by Mac Miller

jushutch Leave a comment

A while ago I wrote a post about the album Swimming by Mac Miller, released only a few months before his tragic and sudden death. In that post, I focused on the perspective and depth that his death brought to the record; it was already a masterpiece of production and quality, but his passing brought new meaning to the solemn and haunting lyrics and changed the tone of the album to one of bittersweet mourning. I still listen to that album frequently and appreciate the unique insight it gives into the complicated mind and mixed emotions of Mac Miller right before he passed. Needless to say, I never expected that there would be another fully produced album coming out in 2020, almost 2 years after his death. The posthumous album Circles was released on the 17th of January, with little fanfare or spectacle, which already set it apart from most posthumous music releases from other young musicians who have passed recently. I had no idea what to expect; it was reported that he was already working on the album during the same time as Swimming, and that it was intended as a sister album, but I had to wonder how much he had actually finished and how much was just his label dragging out clips and ideas that he had left behind, never intended to be finished. Not to mention that Swimming seemed like the capstone of his musical career, a fitting and bittersweet monument to his character and legacy. Clearly Circles had a lot of expectations to live up to, both as a posthumous project and as the final gift of Mac Miller to the world, and I am relieved to say that it provides the catharsis that the world was looking for.

Circles, Mac Miller January 17, 2020

The album features 12 songs, covering a wide range of styles and genres, but all united by the bittersweet singing and lyricism of Mac himself. It is remarkable just how much material his production team (led by Jon Brion) had to work with, and how well they flushed out the songs and ideas that he left behind. Some tracks show more strain than others unfortunately, featuring simple choruses or structures, hinting at the limited recordings they had to work with. Regardless, the production is always beautiful and perfectly complements the feelings that Mac conveys through his singing, making each song feel complete, even if not outstanding. In general, many people criticized his singing on Swimming, a gradual departure from his iconic experimental rapping, but in Circles he has fully developed his voice and style and it is tragically gorgeous. Each song is saturated with personality by his relaxed and melancholy presentation, more fitting and bittersweet than ever after his passing. My personal favorites are Good News, Circles, Hand Me Downs, and I Can See, which are all diverse in their own way, but convey his state of mind so elegantly that it’s hard not to cry, thinking about how such an emotionally complex and wholesome person was taken from a world that needed him. Overall, Circles is a tragically self-aware album that reflects on the last thoughts of Mac Miller, a young kid from Pittsburg who made a profound impact on those who knew him and left the world a better place. Finally, I’ll leave you with these words from the legend himself:

“My god, it go on and on
Just like a circle, I go back where I’m from”

– So It Goes, Swimming

 

Basil + Gideon #8: Ghost Diner

skiddykid Leave a comment

I’m trying out this 3 row page layout instead of my usual 4 row layout. I’m still fairly new to comics so I want to test different strategies for storytelling and figure out what works best for me. Not sure about this one yet, I might switch back next week, but first impressions: 3 rows means I make less panels overall than the previous layout, so the visual narrative needs to be more succinct, but I can put a little more time and detail into each panel. If anyone has a favorite comic layout or suggestions and would like to share, I’d love to hear it!

Basil + Gideon is an ongoing narrative comic, if this is your first time reading check out the first installmentĀ here!

The Mirror That He Holds

sarahshu Leave a comment

what does it mean to have someone hold up to the mirror to you?

who is that person I see, staring back at me?

he holds the hand mirror to me, Sarah see this is you

I look again, mirror in hand it is

me, the mirror breaks sometimes so I glue the shards together

somebody know me too well

the reflection has scars so I wait a few weeks until I see no more traces

shades of gray everywhere, do I like what I see?

my biases, anxieties manifested

witty remarks and flushed cheeks

of bruised knees and accidental brushing off

 

my mirror, typically rose-tinted

not anymore, perhaps this is what having another person

is for? I am vulnerable

but safe to repair under forgiving,Ā lovingĀ gaze

someone to force me to careĀ 

things my parents say but I do not listen

are the same things he tells me

 

I look back in the mirror okay

this is me, this is Sarah

and I am okay. I am enough.

—

Relevant song: Being Alive by Stephen Sondheim

Someone to crowd you with love
Someone to force you to care
Someone to make you come through
Who’ll always be there, as frightened as you
Of being alive
Being alive, being alive, being alive.Ā 

(Image taken using Pentax K1000, Kodak Colorplus 200)

Marge Makes Comics #21: Marge Fixes Cats

MargeMakesComics 1 Comment

I’m sorry I keep talking about Cats I’M SORRY I KEEP TALKING ABOUT CATS!!!!

Speaking of 2D animated versions of Cats, read this article by Cartoon Brew if you want to hear about Steven Spielberg’s attempts to make a Cats movie in the 90’s and see some gorgeous character design (and get very angry about how ugly the Cats movie is). Or just watch Cats Don’t Dance! It’s delightful and Andrew Lloyd Webber didn’t write it!