the indoob! network

May 13, 2011

fripodding and graduating: “spotlight” patrick stump

Filed under: adventures,fripodding,music,school — t. sterling @ 8:42 pm
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It’s the return of the fripod posts. I thought I was going to have more of a fanfare about it, but it’s not necessary. Anyway, due to an email I received yesterday about certificates and such being in the mail, I can confidently say that I’ve officially graduated from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting!

BUT! My journey isn’t over. I just completed phase I, which is the training. Phase 2 is job placement, which they assist with as well. I’ve already started and will be returning to the studios to start recording my demos for future voice over work.

These are some exciting times ahead of me. It’s that “Fear of the unknown” exciting and it’s cool and refreshing to have. You don’t get that when you’re already in your 9-5 job or you’re in school (college too) because from the day to day you kinda know what to expect. And for some people, that’s good, that’s how they like it. But I found out a long time ago that I don’t think I’m made for a daily routine. I mean, I would like one to some extent. It’d be nice if I went to the gym everyday at the same time or woke up in the morning before Burger King stops serving breakfast. But for the most part, I like my days to be different. I enjoy a passive adventure. (I’m not looking for an Indiana Jones type adventure right now.)

I imagine a number of my classmates, or rather, fellow graduates might feel the same way. Whether they do or now, I wish them the best of success and I’m sure I’ll be working with some of them again. Throughout my time at this school, I happened upon Patrick Stump, formerly of Fall Out Boy, and his solo EP Truant Wave. I loved the messages in the songs and “Spotlight” was one of the most encouraging to me. I know there are two versions, but my favorite is the New Regret version.

In case you miss the meaning, it’s a self empowering and encouraging song that you can be your own star and you don’t have to let others tell you what you can or can’t do or what you are and aren’t capable of doing. Early on, I felt that the song, or even the whole 6 song album, or Stump himself, was a less eccentric looking male version of Lady Gaga… when it comes to self empowerment and “be yourself” attitude.

But this fripod post is dedicated to my graduating day class of March 2011! May you all be your all spotlight (which some of you already are) and continue to be awesome and achieving those goals.

But stay tuned Indoobians, I have some catching up to do in letting you all know what I’ve done in the past 2 months. For starters, I have a Tumblr now and check out a few of the videos!

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April 9, 2011

when csb met kopek, egypt central and cold: part 2

Filed under: fripodding,music,school — t. sterling @ 11:45 pm
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Just another day with CSB

Once again I’ve been slacking and I wanted to have this written and posted yesterday but better late than never, right? And by now you know my usual rhetoric: I’ve been busy. But at least this time I’ve actually been showing you–through video no less–what it is I’ve been busy doing. And that’s exactly what I’m showing you again here…

While I wasn’t operating any of the cameras taping the bands, I was snapping pictures of the band and us (CSB) taping the bands, which is what I showed in the last post. I feel like these videos should be longer, but that’s probably because we spent most of the day there, setting up, waiting in between sound checks, “hanging out backstage with rock stars” …ya know, the usual. But enough of my blabbing, let’s get to the videos. Just a recap, this is all brought to you by The Rock 106.9 WCCC. I’m posting these in the order they were recorded. (more…)

April 8, 2011

when csb met kopek, egypt central and cold: part 1

Filed under: fripodding,music,pictures,school — t. sterling @ 12:43 pm
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Me, Egypt Central #1, #2, Haley, #3, Christina, #4, Pete and a guy that I apologize can't remember his name but is a graduate that came to help

I kept promising this post for a couple weeks now, but here it is finally. These are my pics and videos of what I did with my school, CSB, when we went to Pig’s Eye Pub in Hartford to record a few rock bands being interviewed and performing acoustic sets by Connecticut rock station The Rock 106.9 WCCC.

Prior to arriving, I knew nothing about any of these bands. Everyone at the school said that if you are asked to do anything with the school or go anywhere, just say yes. So I said yes. (more…)

March 18, 2011

fripodding friday… yeah, rebecca black’s “friday”

Filed under: friday,fripodding,music — t. sterling @ 8:42 pm
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Just because it’s everywhere… I’m talking about it here too.

I can’t say I’m a fan of this song. No doubt it’s catchy, but the lyrics are horrible. I’m not really blaming Rebecca herself, but really, can’t we come up with something better than “Fun fun fun fun”? This song is a prime example of extremely lazy writing. No imagine, no creativity, no fun whatsoever. There are way more things to sing about during your Friday than where you’re sitting in a car… unless, maybe the song was about a road trip. [Get's an idea for a song.]

I’m not even going to talk about the “rap” verse.

This song is definitely laughable, but like The Room, this movie will have a cult following. People love it because it’s bad. I might be part of that group. Will I be buying it on iTunes? Probably not. I don’t really wanna encourage this song to platinum status. And don’t expect this to be in any of my playlists either. Trust me, I have some “bad” songs on the ready, but mostly for my “part time DJ” gig requests… so unless someone requests it, I have no need for it.

I really could be cruel about “Friday” and as a certified critic, I have a right to be. I feel more comfortable making fun of this song than the antics of a certain fired actor who had been all over the web lately. Like someone else said, we thank Rebecca Black for making us focus on something less serious that’s going on in the world.

And Simon Cowell helped me realize how brilliant the song is. Sure it may only be a passing fade, but it’s something we might be looking back on in a few years as something we’ll look back on fondly. I hope it doesn’t haunt poor Becky in a negative way when she gets older. Seriously, I don’t. I also hope she doesn’t think the song is great… but I think she does.

And for the record, I don’t hate the song. I just think it’s ridiculous. I also find it hilarious how I helped fuel the flame and even got it stuck in a few friends’ heads.

Party on Ms. Rebecca Black! Don’t be offended if I don’t show up.

March 11, 2011

fripodding and detecting: mike detective podcast

Filed under: fripodding — t. sterling @ 11:34 pm
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Since I’m going to be taking classes about broadcasting, podcasting, and all of the above, I figured it’d be in my best interest to get familiar with more podcasts that are out there other than the ones I currently listen to. I’ve found I don’t have as much time in a single day as I thought I might. But I did find a handful of popular ones, mostly in the comedy section, called Mike Detective: Unlicensed and Uninsured Private Eye.

I’ll will warn you off the bat that this is not a podcast for children or those easily offended. But if you can look past the language and sexual references, then prepare for some hilarity to ensue.

I love it’s modern take on classic film and radio detective style noir. I would love to see this actually be taken to a TV or film screen some day, but part of it’s genius is due to not being able to physically see the action and completely relying on the very funny narrations or dialog from the characters. And like the classics detective series, they end on cliffhangers so you come back next week for the next episode as we follow our hero tackle some big mysterious crime. Each episode averages about 5 minutes where Mike battles wits with the goon of the week just to find himself in more trouble. I listened to the first one, as if it were a pilot, and immediately pushed the subscribe button and listened to the rest.

Again, this would be rated R if it were a movie, TV-MA if it were on TV but since it’s on iTunes, it gets the red EXPLICIT label. So you were warned. But it’s also very funny, so check it out.

March 4, 2011

fripodding with british soul: 21 – adele

Filed under: albums,fripodding,music — t. sterling @ 10:13 pm
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I wanted to write about this album last week, but I still hadn’t fully listened to all the songs so I’m glad I waited. I absolutely love listening to Adele sing. And I talked about Adele a while ago with her awesome song “Rolling in the Deep” so if you liked that song, I highly recommend you check out the rest of her album.

Since the album starts with “Rolling in the Deep” we’ll just move on to my favorites. I do like all of the songs, but as usual, I like more songs than others. “Rumor Has It” and “Turning Tables” are nice, but I tend to skip them to get to “Don’t You Remember.” While the whole album really showcases her vocal talents, there’s just something about this song that makes me keep playing it over and over again. This may have been the song I felt was Sam Cooke-ian. It just has a classic vibe to it. (I will have to update this later, because I can’t remember exactly what song has this specific classic sound, but she is overall a very soulful singer, which is why it’s hard to pick which song shows the best example.) But again, it’s her voice I love in this song.

Before I go on, the album is titled 21 because she was 21 at the time she wrote all these songs, just like her album 19. And during this year in her life, the majority of her songs are about a breakup, the before and after of it. Not all of the songs are sad and depressing or whatever you would relate to a breakup, and I’ll tell you which one(s) I didn’t have that feeling towards.

“Set Fire to Rain” is a song that’s beginning to grow on me as well as “He Won’t Go” which has a nice uptempo beat to it. It had a very slight Lady Gaga vibe, don’t look too deeply into finding it, because it could just be my own ears. Either way, I like it. “Take It All” has a beautiful piano arrangement, but I really like this song.

“I’ll Be Waiting” is a good song, but honestly I skip it to get to “One And Only” which may be my most favorite song on the album. This is the song I feel isn’t a sad or depressing song, and it doesn’t sound like a breakup song. It has different levels to it too. You just have to hear it to understand.

When I’m not hitting repeat, I happily let “Lovesong” play through. This also doesn’t sound like a breakup song to me, more like a lovely, peaceful ballad of love. Perhaps a memory of better times. Then the album concludes with “Someone Like You” which is a very personal and specific song, which interestingly some people including myself can relate to. It’s a very beautiful song, even though it’s a sad one. I listen to this over and over again due to her beautiful voice, the lyrics, the overall music of this song just grabs my heart. I admit, it almost made me cry, not for the meaning of the song, but the feeling the music gave me.

The album I have has bonus tracks including some live performances. If you can get that version, I highly recommend it. It might be on iTunes, I don’t know, it was a gift to me. “If It Hadn’t Been For Love” is the song that sticks out as being the most awesome of the bonus tracks, besides the live versions of “Turning Tables” “Don’t You Remember” and “Someone Like You”.

Anyway, she’s joining the ranks of my other British soul love, Joss Stone.

February 25, 2011

fripodding and the nymph: corinne bailey rae

Filed under: fripodding,music — t. sterling @ 4:00 pm
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For the past week and a half, I keep going back to this voice. It feeds a certain part of my musical soul, it’s soothing and calming like a gentle breeze or a cool, but not too cold, refreshing glass of water. From her self titled album to The Sea, sometimes I can’t get enough of this artist that reminds me of a woodland nymph.

Why do I call the lovely and talented Corinne Bailey Rae a nymph? Let’s take a quick look at the definition of what a nymph is:

–noun

1. one of a numerous class of lesser deities of mythology, conceived of as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, woods, trees, mountains, meadows, etc., and frequently mentioned as attending a superior deity.

2. a beautiful or graceful young woman.

3. a maiden.

4. the young of an insect that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis.

Google her, she's gorgeous

Okay, so the 4th doesn’t apply to her… but I’m more interested in the first two. She definitely has a graceful and beautiful voice as well as being a beautiful woman. She also keeps that young look about her. I mean she in her 30s, but she looks like she’s in her 20s if not younger. Or is it just me? Her looks also remind me of a former girlfriend of mine of many years ago… I think… Wasn’t much of a singer though, but that’s another story. The point is, they both were insanely cute.

As for the woodland part, well, did you see the definition? The sea is in there and that was her second album! (As of right now, I’m not sure why it’s titled “The Sea” but based on album covers, the way her music flows, and just the nature about her, I can imagine her enjoying life to the fullest when she’s outside in nature… like a woodland nymph.)

"The Sea"

As I said earlier, her music is soothing and relaxing. I could easily enjoy driving around town listening to her as I would having her lullaby me to sleep. For safety reasons, I wouldn’t do both at the same time. But her voice seems to tread along with the instruments ever so gently, even if she’s singing with accompaniment at all… It’s just gorgeous to the ears.

Then there are the few songs that she kicks it up a few notches from soothing to sexy like one of my favorite songs “Closer.” The up-tempo jazziness of it all would make one want to get up and get their groove on a little. Don’t you think? Here’s the live rendition of that song.

As a side note, I’m a fan of many of the mainstream and more popular artists out there, but I seriously appreciate some of those who have raw and almost unseen talent like Corinne. I’m not saying no one knows about her, I’m just saying it’s too bad artists like these aren’t household names. But at the same time, I’m not too sad because it’ll like an awesome secret or an exclusive club. If you dig her music, you’re in the club… which is probably outdoors.

February 12, 2011

fripodding black history (video): nina simone

Filed under: black,fripodding,history,music,video — t. sterling @ 10:39 am
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Once again, I’m not exactly on time posting my videos but better late than never. As a side note, I mention that I like a number of songs but forget to actually mention what they are. “Here Comes the Sun”, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” just to name a few. But check out the video to hear my thoughts on Nina Simone as well as my stance on Black History Month. For the past couple years I had wondered if we still needed this month, and thanks to reminders like Nina Simone legacy (and many other civil rights activists) as well as unfortunately ignorance by many people in this nation and this world, everyone needs to remain aware of not only the greatness and accomplishments Black people have brought, but also what struggles and atrocities we overcame. Sadly, things like racism still exist today, and hopefully we learn from studying the past not to repeat the future.

I posted an additional video of Nina Simone talking about what it means to be an artist and her views on race in society at that time that still reflects today. It also features a live performance of “Revolution” with images of the struggle of Black Americans followed by the very powerful song “Strange Fruit.” I will warn you, the last third of that video features images some people should find disturbing. It’s important we remember how disgusting we as humans can be and should be a reminder that we all deserve equal and civil treatment no matter who you are. After watching it, I wanted to cry.

January 28, 2011

fripodding and glam rock: “teenage dream” – t-rex

Filed under: fripodding,movie,music — t. sterling @ 2:21 pm
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This song is on this album

This might seem like an odd or obscure pick for me, only because of the video I’m posting along with it… which is why I’m posting two videos to explain why I chose this song. But then again, do I really need to explain my eclecticism? I listen to “odd” things all the time.

And how I found this song isn’t very odd at all. Like a good chunk of the music I like, I first heard it in a movie. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is where I heard “Teenage Dream.” And it was only the first few seconds! The rest of the song I got into and now it’s on my iPod. I came across the supposed music video of a “live” event by the artist known as T-Rex. Watch the video and you’ll understand why I put live in quotes.

He’s lip syncing. And that’s okay… I guess. What I found most amusing was his outfit, the gyrations, and the audience members. Who’s the dad sitting in the front? And what’s with the military officers in the back? I don’t know, but it amused me and was a gentle reminder that this was the weird times before my time known as glam rock. I’m not sure why but it’s now part of music history. The only glam rockers I was aware of was Queen, but now there’s this guy T-Rex. I’m not really trying to add more to my collection, I’m just stating a fact according to me. To be honest, this is borderline disco which already has it’s let’s-not-go-back-there vibes. I think it’s the fashion. But I’m sure my future kids will say the same thing to me about the 90′s and 00′s. I’m ready to defend some of it. But they will know I did not partake in skinny jeans nor will I ever.

Anyway, I’m avoiding going into a review of a new favorite movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World and what this song has to do with this movie.  Hopefully I’m not spoiling too much by posting this if you haven’t seen the movie, but these scene is maybe about 1/3 of the way in. Not only is it a transition in scenes, but it’s also a transition in the story.

For those that haven’t seen it, trust me, I’m not really ruining a lot for you. There is still more awesomeness to be seen and story to tell. And those who have seen it, go see it again. I am. (Wish I saw it in theaters.) I’m stopping now before I go into review mode.

P.S.
Tomorrow at 5:55 PM I will have made my 25th trip around the sun. I’ll be watching Inception on a big screen with my friends and family to celebrate.

January 21, 2011

fripodding can be exhausting

Filed under: blogging,fripodding,life update,office,writing — t. sterling @ 2:40 pm
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My makeshift workshop

My fellow Indoobians! I wholeheartedly apologize for the lack of friPods last week and now this week. As I often say, and seemingly saying more often than just regular often, “life happens.” And life has been happening more than I can live. Okay, I’m not sure that even makes sense…

Just to update as to what in life is going on, I currently have about 3-4 jobs. I mention these on Twitter on occasion and refer to them as Job #1, #2 and #3.

  1. Job #1 is the office job I’ve had for the past few years and as of about 2 years ago, I got the opportunity to work at home. It’s mostly pretty awesome, but it has it’s setbacks. For example, I don’t get snow days. Also, if the power goes out, I can’t escape from the darkness to my home because I’m already there. The pros outweigh the cons so I won’t bother finding other nuisances. Again, I like working at home. And only 2% of the time do I work in my pajamas. I get dressed because I’m anxious to get out of the house whenever I can.
  2. Job #2 is my tech job at my church. It mostly started with being the A/V guy, which I’m really just the A because we haven’t gotten into V yet. But I take care of the audio equipment and make sure everything sounds nice. Due to our church growing and expanding into some other areas of business, I needed to take care of the computer situations. Not only have a been the techie for my family, but now I’m the go-to guy at my church. In a few weeks or so I’ll be starting a computer class for those who want to learn how to use these machines a little better. I’ve also recently acquired a projector, so that’ll make things easier for teaching purposes. Oh yeah, and I’m the webmaster too.
  3. Job #3, which I’ve spoken very little about here, is my first freelance job for a local online newspaper called Patch. Maybe you’ve heard of it? I’ve written a few articles for them so far and have a few other plans lined up in the coming weeks. Being a freelancer, I’m not really on call that often, so it’s more of a part-time job. But when I am working, I put my all into it.

I’d like to add a job #4, but it’s kinda hard to call being a go-for a job? My family is very hard working and we are the central core to the church (my dad is the pastor). So whatever needs to be done, sometimes I’m the one that’s called. I spoke about this earlier this week. But between picking up items or people or working on routers or laptops, some of my off-time is filled with these odd jobs. And I’m not complaining about it, but it can be tiresome. Shoveling snow is at the bottom of the list of things I enjoy doing. Cooking dinner, pretty sweet. But hey, we gotta live!

So I said all that to say this: some weeks I just might not be able to get to do a friPod post as badly as I’d like to. Mostly because I don’t have the time. I really would like to start getting into making a few more videos, but recording them is one task, editing them is something else. I enjoy both, but I need a good hour. And unlike blogging, I’m not always in the mood to record and/or edit. But I did promise a video regarding my last friPod and I will deliver eventually. I will also continue my subject on neoretro-soul.

With that, I want you all to know I’m still dedicated to the Indoob, I just need to work on my time management skills. But now I’m off to work on a wireless router and maybe catch a local comedy show.

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