Nate Reuss

Nate Reuss is the lead singer of the award-winning band Fun .

At first I disliked him for his voice.
It was characteristic to the extent where I could not listen to the music without drawing his face in the air.
Since it distracted me from both appreciating the music and doing whatever task I chose to do at the time, I stopped listening to him after a couple of tries.
But, a few weeks later, I came upon the song Just Give Me a Reason by Pink.
Listening to the song, I found that there was a man's voice floating in and out and I got really curious because the voice colour matched the song so well.
It was Nate Reuss.
That was why I, on August 31st, made up my mind to write something about Nate Reuss.

He was born in Iowa city, Iowa on February, 26th, 1982.
For most of his childhood, he lived in Arizona because of repeated experiences of pneumonia.

In high school he joined the band Nevergonnascore and released an EP, The Byron Sessions.
After graduating from his high-school in 2000 he decided to pursue a career in music.
Meanwhile, he took a job at a law firm to support him.

From 2001 to 2008, he was part of the band Format.
The members were Ruess, Sam Means, Mike Schey, Don Raymond, Marko Buzard, and Sean McCall.
The band released a demo and two EPs.
The demo titled EP was self-released on August, 9th, 2002 and was re-released with national distribution on June, 3rd, 2003.


The first EP titled Interventions+Lullabies was released on October, 21st, 2003 from the Elektra Records.



The second EP titled Dog Problems was released on July, 11th, 2006 from the Vanity Label. 



After the breakup of Format in 2008, he contacted Jack Antonoff of Steel Train and Andrew Dost of Anathallo to create the band Fun.
He has been and still is a part of the band.
On August, 25th, 2009, they released their debut album, Aim and Ignite, from Nettwerk.



On February, 21st, 2012, they released their second album, Some nights, from Fueled by Ramen.


(ps- he looks really drunk and worn in this clip.. maybe his stylist should be changed?)

Paragraph length analysis of the Neck by Roald Dahl- 1st draft

     At first glance, the journalist from the Neck might appear as a mere window for the readers to take a peek inside the story. After all, when he rests on the white bench, chatting with Basil Turton, he makes no attempt to notify Mr. Turton that Mrs. Turton is flirting with Major Haddock. His tendency to not interfere with the issue of the unfaithful couple is also apparent in the scene where Mr. Turton has to free Mrs. Turton from the sculpture. To take a daring step, it might even be suggested that the journalist, like many other narrators in Roald Dahl short stories, has no influence at all in the story and only serves as an observer. Nonetheless, the presence of the journalist plays an essential role in the story. His attempt at not notifying Mr. Turton can be understood as a deliberate action. To be more specific, if Mr. Turton was on a walk with someone with a different personality than the journalist, the guest could have tried to notify Mr. Turton and Mr. Turton might have gone back to the house instead of going to the couple. Moreover, the journalist’s impassiveness plays an even more important role when they meet the unfaithful couple. Had the journalist aided Jelks in tempting Mr. Turton to choose the axe, the result might have been different. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that the journalist is a character with the important task of not attempting to influence Mr. Turton. In this sense, the journalist is more than a simple window. 

"Tales of the Unexpected" and human nature

     Roald Dahl conveys to the readers that human nature is more close to a murky pond after a flood than a clear crystal. His twists of plot often serve to make the readers realize that humans have many sides and that it is erroneous to cage them in a single image. Therefore, Dahl pays special attention to his writing so that he can convey multiple sides of human nature in the limited form of a "short story". To illustrate, Dahl tends to develop his characters not through direct description in the narrator's voice, but rather through dialogues and the relationship between different characters. One of the episodes that clearly demonstrate Roald Dahl’s methods is [Lamb to the Slaughter]. Mary Maloney's description of the way she loves Patrick Maloney is a great example of how Roald Dahl indirectly builds his characters. Roald Dahl narrates that Mary

“luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel……that warm male glow.” 

 

Such a description presents the readers with an image of a love relationship which is, for Mary’s part, beautiful but also frighteningly perverted. As a result, the readers come to suspect that despite the calm demeanor that she shows prior to Patrick's return home, she could possess an eerie twist in her personality. 

     Roald Dahl probably preferred such an indirect way of portraying his characters because he knew that direct portrayal is more useful for conveying one aspect of a character than conveying multiple aspects of a character. In other words, Roald Dahl would have acknowledged that in the few pages that are allowed for a "short story", direct portrayal of a character could result in readers making hasty judgments of characters and eventually hinder readers from grasping an understanding of all sides of the characters. To be specific, in [My Lady Love, My Dove], Dahl does a wonderful job of showing two sides of human beings with Mr. and Mrs. Snape. At first, the Snapes are portrayed as a decent young couple. However, as the plot unfolds, the Snapes are shown to possess a different side as well. In the later half of the story, they are portrayed as money-seeking people with no respect for rules, rather than civilized man and woman with manners. Some might say that actually, the Snapes have only one personality since the decent side of them was only a ruse and therefore does not count. Yet, it must be noted that humans adjust themselves to different situations. By showing how the Snapes express different aspects of themselves in different circumstances, Dahl can convey to the readers that people should not be confined to one aspect that they show in one circumstance.

     

     Taking into account that many of the "short stories" by Dahl are read by young children, Dahl’s intent behind conveying such a message on human nature is understandable. Often, the books young children read not only have unrealistic happy endings but also have characters that do not change during the course of the story’s plot. This often contributes to children’s tendency to believe that a person with one characteristic cannot possess a different characteristic. With the plot twists and the changing characters, Dahl can show the young children that humans are not such simple beings. Perhaps Dahl wished to prepare young children for the real world by showing them that human nature is closer a many-sided fractal than a flat glass cup.   

A paragraph-length analysis on "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

      At first glance, Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" might appear as a book influenced by many stereotypes. Among them, a certain stereotype on artists seem to tempt Oscar Wilde into making fun of the lives that artists living in the Victorian age were assumed to lead. After all, when Dorian Grey discusses Sybil Vane’s death with Basil Hallward, he makes a statement that depends on a stereotype regarding actors. Dorian Gray states that “They are good husbands, or faithful wives, or something tedious”. This statement shows that he has certain expectations of how an actor/actress would lead his/her life. Moreover, he brands the expected life style as “tedious” and goes on to refer to such a lifestyle as “middle-class virtue, and all that kind of thing”. These statements imply that he looks down upon the lifestyle of actors and that he expects other gentlemen—men who are distinguished by birth and upbringing—to share such an attitude. However, Dorian Grey’s opinion on the supposed lifestyle of actors/actresses is not exclusively expressed with regards to Sybil Vane, but is rather applied in general to people other than the aristocrats—the gentlemen and the ladies. In various occasions—especially at dinner meetings—Dorian Grey, Lord Henry, or others invited to the meeting would make negative comments on the middle-class and the working class. To present a different example, Mr. Ashton, one of the few characters who are not from a noble background and yet commands a certain level of respect from aristocrats, is also branded in a similar way as Sybil Vane is. Nonetheless, Lord Henry applies the ‘middle-class stereotype’ on Basil Hallward—a gentleman with an Oxford education—when he states to Dorian Grey, “Don’t squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious”. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that Oscar Wilde wished to ridicule people with a certain lifestyle, rather than people with a certain occupation or people from a certain social class. In this sense, the constantly reappearing stereotype of artists does not imply more significance of artists but implies that artists typically fall into the category of people with the lifestyle branded with tediousness.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Compare a Character with a Person from Wilde's life

Choose a character from the book and develop an essay comparing that character with any real person from Oscar's life.

  Most of the characters in the novel are aristocrats. As aristocrats, these characters are used to consuming art. Lord Henry’s hedonistic lifestyle of ‘enjoying’ everything available in life best illustrates this feature. Oscar Wilde, for most of his life, lived with similar people. During his childhood, he met with the Dublin upper class that enjoyed his mother’s salons. After he moved to England, he became friends with Oxford alumnus representing the high-bred youngsters from all around Britain. Still later in his life, he mingled with the noblemen and rich bourgeoisie of London that read his articles and became patrons of his plays. However, Wilde himself was an artist before he was an aristocrat. Surrounded by normal people who did not share his fervor for and hardships at writing, he would have developed a unique sense of identity as a creator of art. As such, to compare and contrast Wilde with one of his characters that he arranged to live in a similar environment would be an interesting approach to digesting [The Picture of Dorian Gray].   

Basil is certainly not a replica of Wilde. Basil is described as an honest man who values people’s genuineness of heart. These features are portrayed in Basil’s reaction to Dorian Gray’s affair with Sybil Vane and the tragedy that follows. On the other hand, Wilde seems to be a person who valued artistic values over simple happiness in people’s everyday life. Wilde’s near-abandonment of his faithful wife is characteristic of Lord Henry rather than Basil.

Another conflicting characteristic is shown in their approach to their work. Basil is very hesitant at publicizing the portrait of Dorian Gray—his supposed best work. Not displaying the portrait can be interpreted as a precaution from his work becoming a subject of gossip by people. He seems to be afraid that the portrait—such a sacred thing—will be interpreted in a lowly, philistine manner by the critiques. This is reminiscent of a famous anecdote on Newton, in which he confessed that his groundbreaking book, Principia, was intentionally loaded with jargon. Newton explained that he did not want his ideas to be understood by un-intellectual people since such people would only misinterpret—even adulterate—his ideas. Such an attitude is in stark contrast to Oscar Wilde, who rather enjoyed playing with socially-scandalous ideas and daunting the public by expressing such ideas in his works.       

Yet, the deeper the reader delves into the relationship between the two, the reader comes to appreciate the similarities. Basil Hallward and Oscar Wilde are both creators of art that rely on the recognition and support of the wealthy upper class to make a living. At the same time, they themselves come from an aristocratic background and enjoy the work of other artists. Basil is described as attending operas with Lord Henry and Dorian Gray. In a movie attributed to him, Wilde is seen visiting an art gallery. This duality of identity separates Basil from other artists in the novel. Other artists are actors that perform for and rely on the generosity of aristocrats like Lord Henry and his friends. Also, actors are limited by the boundaries that playwrights set for each role whereas a painter is free to orchestrate his/her work. Such apparent contrast between Basil and other characters arouse speculation that Wilde intentionally reflected himself in Basil.

Basil’s affinity with Dorian Gray is representative of Wilde’s relation with Robbie. Basil’s almost obsessive proclivity towards Dorian Gray borders on the homosexual relationship Wilde was condemned for. What is interesting here is that Wilde published the novel before he endorsed himself in homosexual love. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that Wilde’s conception of himself included the seeds of homosexuality. Considering that Wilde was attracted to Robbie and his other lovers due to their fresh beauty and the inspirations such beauty stirred up in Wilde, Basil’s affection for Dorian Gray might be interpreted as a reflection of Wilde’s conception on the relation between an artist and his/her muse. To illustrate, Basil would preserve Dorian Gray’s original state of mind at the risk of his own work of art. In the same line, Wilde risked his career for his love for Robbie. 

Argentinian Beef

Because cows are so abundant in Argentina...
Stakes of great thickness costs only about 2~4000 won..!
Maybe I should do a comparative research on the history of beef products in the country...

Serius XM

It seems that there is a TV or Radio channel called

Sirius XM, which provides free video clips of

live music performances

I've seen two videos from it 

and luckily came upon  acoustic versions of songs that I love

which were sung primarily for this channel

KMLA rappers make parodies of dissing games

These songs are self-made songs by my friends from KMLA 16th wave.
It is a parody of the Dissing game currently happening in the Korean hip-hop scene.
I'm not an expert on the topic but so far as I know, several rappers are using the same beat to create their own dissing lyrics and uploading them on their Social Networking sites.

I thought the two were both of superb qualities
(though, my opinion shouldn't count for mush since I almost never listen to rap)

https://soundcloud.com/hangyeol-koo/koo-ntrol

https://soundcloud.com/hyunchae-kim/rap-crowd-control


This is one of the original songs

When My Love Swears That She is Made of Truth

William Shakespeare - Sonnet #138

When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:

Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

w

Brit Lit: A Picture of Dorian Gray: Ch 1

Brit Lit 

111009 Hae UK. Ko

     In the first chapter, only three characters are given dialogues. Basil Hallward, referred to as Basil in the book, is a painter. He is described as having a strong rugged face and coal black hair. This physical appearance combined with his desperate manner marks him as a common man who is not above being a piece in the chess field called the world. Next comes Lord Henry Wotton, referred to as Lord Henry in the book; he is not given a specific profession. He seems to be a happy young man with enough money to enjoy his leisure time in the way he prefers. He has a somewhat Bohemian attitude and displays hints of hedonism. He does not seem to care how the world goes on as long as he can enjoy being a spectator of the world. The last of the three is Basil’s butler, referred to as Parker by Basil. He is not given much character in the chapter and probably will not play a central role in later chapters as well. 
     
     Of the plot, I was most intrigued by the part where Basil explains the new school of art that Dorian Gray has unconsciously defined. Basil talks of a school which does not distinguish between the soul and the body. He condemns his contemporaries and predecessors for separating the two concepts which are actually inseparable. Considering that the whole novel is centered on the separation of what a man appears on the outside and what a man is truly like in his heart, Basil’s words reek of importance. Withal, this is the first moment in which a character in the novel voices his/her opinion on the relationship between soul and body. It is not hard to guess that as the plot unfolds more characters will express their views on the matter and that the characters will walk differing paths based on their views. 
     
     Referring to a letter written by Wilde himself, Basil is what Wilde thought he was. This puts a shining star on every one of Basil’s demonstrative statements. A perfect example would be Basil’s statement on the inseparable nature of the soul and the body. Yet, this should not put to shadow the statements of other characters. This is because in the same letter, Wilde also stated that Lord Henry is what the public perceive him to be and Dorian Gray is what he would want to be like. Therefore, it would be a most interesting approach to keep alert for topics which are differently presented by Basil, Lord Henry, and Dorian Gray. 
     
     Personally, the novel’s strong emphasis on the relationship between soul and body was reminiscent of [Demian]. According to Mr. Ji of the Korean department, [Demian] contains Hermann Hesse’s query on whether good and evil can be viewed as two separate things. What does this have to do with [Dorian Gray]? The good and evil in [Demian] are often understood as rationality and sensibility. This, somewhat absurd from a modern view, can be understood in relationship to [Dorian Gray] if we consider that for most of the time, medieval and ancient Europeans considered reason as the symbol of the nobility and turbulent emotions as the mark of the less educated and less wealthy. In other words, reason was the encouraged feature whereas emotional change was the vilified feature. Thus, dichotomy was applied to separate rationality from sensibility; this is also apparent in the following words by Basil: “We in our madness have separated the two, and have invented a realism that is bestial, an identity that is void”. What is more, Basil labels perfection of the spirit as Greek and passion as Romantic. Such a labeling opens up space for historical hunches and analysis. 

     
     At this point, I must refrain myself. This journal only covers those thoughts derived from reading the 1st chapter. A more in-depth study might be presented in later journals when I have read more of Oscar Wilde’s book. Another reason is that as of yet, I have not read Hermann Hesse’s work and have merely taken a few classes by Mr. Ji which dealt with the book. Hence, I must depart from this topic for the present with this last question: “Could it be possible that the two great authors, born 23 years apart—one in Ireland and another in continental Europe, both attempted to address the same problem?” .

Katatonia, the band

A list of songs by Katatonia that I especially like.

Teargas


Sweet nurse


Don't tell a soul