https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire en 2005-2012 shakespearesmonekys@gmail.com 42.65593 -71.33391 Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:26:20 GMT yacs http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 70 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11464-in-response-to-my-highest-values https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11464-in-response-to-my-highest-values * Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Wed, 27 May 2009 16:45:46 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/11464 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/11464 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A11464 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11186-mother https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11186-mother * Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:18:34 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/11186 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/11186 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A11186 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10988-the-tao-of-mammalian-superheroes https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10988-the-tao-of-mammalian-superheroes The movie Kill Bill has created Superman into the epitome of the Superhero. “Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.” -“Kill Bill” This is the fundamental flaw, though; Superman gives humanity nothing to aspire to. Batman is human, Spiderman is human, and they both rise from the glasses, from the business suit, from the very ashes of the unsure, weak human spirit to become something greater than the criminals they punish. Batman and Spiderman are our true heroes. They are what we can aspire to be in spirit. Superman is an alien. There is no possible way for a human being to aspire to become an alien. It’s a disconnect in the whole philosophy. The very fact that the movie Kill Bill compares humans to a superior alien race gives us almost no hope to be greater than the Clark Kent disguise that Superman slips on. It is a defeatist philosophy; “bring in an alien because there’s no way a human could do that”. Superman reduces himself to a weaker image, whereas Batman and Spiderman elevate themselves into something the human race can aspire to. Long live the human hero. ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:18:18 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10988 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10988 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10988 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10987-otto-quasti https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10987-otto-quasti March 24th, 2008 Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:15:52 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10987 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10987 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10987 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10986-blog-so-i-show-you-some-more-and-i-learn https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10986-blog-so-i-show-you-some-more-and-i-learn I was sixteen when I first heard Tori Amos's "Jackie's Strength" on the radio in my aunt's old Mercedes (which I now own) parked at a gas station. I had been playing the piano for eight years and was starting to experiment with my own style; coming up with tunes and cheesy lyrics. I wasn't sure which way to push in terms of my style. I mostly listened to radio-esque music, favoriting the poppiest charts and mainstream styles, but I didn't feel any of it when I sat at the piano. It felt wrong and out of place to bang a major chord for a million bars while belting out "i love you, come back to me, you're the best, i'm so sad" and cheese of the same ilk. But here was piano on the radio. I didn't know who she was, but she was strong for not buying into the silky pop tones that laced most artist's voices (or, if they didn't come prepackaged with the sound, they were given it in the computer lab) and when the strings came in over the chorus, I was hooked. My aunt returned to the car and I asked her at the end of the song if she knew who the artist was. She told me and smiled. She said she thought I'd like her, and then she bought me her album for my birthday. I didn't listen to it very much right away. But I remember needing something to listen to while I painted my new room. I put From the Choirgirl Hotel on as I painted and began to memorize each track, singing the lewder lyrics under my breath in case I was caught. It was sixties punk all over again. It was rock and roll, underground politics, blackmarket, anti-authority at its best all wrapped up in this voice that didn't care about pop-sound or the opera singing techniques I was taught from a young age. She breathed into the microphone and the vocal coaches gasped, and I applauded inside for the courage it took to step outside of the lines in that musical-leash. I had seen her pictures on the album artwork for From the Choirgirl Hotel, but that was as familiar as I was with her appearance, and I took to not reading her lyrics until I was sure I knew what she was saying, then I'd go back and see what the difference was. I don't find as many musical-greats as there rightly should be, but Tori is definitely one of them. Who is your musical hero, and why? ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:12:14 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10985-blog-you-didn-t-write-that https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10985-blog-you-didn-t-write-that So it should come as no surprise that the majority of today's pop artists or one-hit-wonders are less than great at writing their own music. But now you won't know who sat down and thought it out, or who took money made by acting in poorly made teen-films, money used to stuff coke up one's nose or put designer brands on ones back, money used for the last-minute limo to stumble into a studio, hungover and blitzed out of their minds, to buy someone else's song and say they wrote it. Apparently, music-artists look better to the public if they say they write their own songs. So even if you have no talent, you can still *pay* for talent, which is one of the fundamental flaws of today's music industry. P. Diddy was quoted as saying, "Don't worry if I write rhymes, I write checks!" I guess the thing that really gets to me is the arguments that happen over this. I read about Avril Lavigne fighting to keep some kind of artistic integrity intact and, I'm sorry, it's laughable to me. How can you write a song and spell the title of it incorrectly and still claim some sort of musical integrity? A famed songwriter for many artists, Chantal Kreviazuk, accused Avril of not giving her credit in her newest album and Lavigne's people are defending her. There's big drama connected to this argument and questions of ethics are coming into play. Everyone has lost sight of the actual point: there *are* no ethics when people like Avril Lavigne can make the money she makes off of the low-quality music that comes out of her studio. That goes for too many of today's artists. So why are people scrambling to take credit for what is destroying music? ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:11:23 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10985 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10985 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10985 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10984-blog-rose https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10984-blog-rose January 4th, 2005, Ashley Simpson was severely boo'd at the end of her halftime performance during the Rose Bowl. This created a lot of controversy between Simpson's fans and those who completely dislike Simpson. There were arguments about whether or not it was linked to the SNL incident from the October prior, and that perhaps all of the 72,000 Rose Bowl fans had seen her milli vanilli and disapproved. The more likely story is that the IQ of the screaming crowd dropped as soon as the first "boo" was picked up. I've heard this stated in various ways, but the main theme is that, when a crowd begins to work together for a common purpose (be it beating the shit out of someone, or boo'ing an untalented star), the IQ of the crowd is determined by taking the individual in the crowd with the lowest IQ and subtracting ten points from it. I *do* feel bad for the girl. But, I mean, the media is making her out to be a martyr now, as if she's "fighting the good fight" and "such a strong woman". Y'know what would take more strength? Admitting that she doesn't have the talent required to make it in a business that requires talent, and stepping down. In any case, it wasn't about Ashley Simpson. She can go on as many talkshows and cry about it to try and regain composure in time for the release of her third album, but it's about recognition. My faith in the culture was renewed when they began to shout things at her because, as much as they buy into the pop-flawed sexamusicality, they will still stand up and degrade that which tries to pay for something intangible like "talent" or "ability". Heh. Or "tact". I'm just saying. ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:07:58 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10984 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10984 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10984 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10983-blog-make-music-not-class-divisions https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10983-blog-make-music-not-class-divisions Get this; in Washington state, they're going to play classical music in bus shelters and bus stops to create a non-violent environment/aura and deter criminals from hanging around the bus shelters. What the f' is this? When Mozart composed, I'm pretty sure he didn't intend to hold the ghetto at bay in some shitty part of a Washington city. The entire thing promotes the gap between the classes and feeds the stigma of classical music being "elitest" or exclusive instead of stopping crime. It won't create an aura in which crime will just disappear. Crime will go elsewhere, or still happen, but c'mon.....Don't use Brahms that way. A psychologist from the Criminal Institute says the purpose of the program is to "mix different types of activities in locations that are crime-ridden to change the composition of the environment". And *then*, the bus driver said, "the reason we don't have music on the buses is that you can't please everyone. It would just cause drama." I gotta agree with the bus driver. This has to be abuse on some level. How about taking the money the city spent on the speakers and electric equipment for every single bus stop and using it to hire quality music teachers for the underfunded schools instead of draining their funding when they don't pass tests as if the mere lack of a music class will motivate children to learn more. C'MON people! ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:02:56 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10983 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10983 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10983 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10982-blog-rhythm-tangent https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10982-blog-rhythm-tangent Charles Simic has been named the 15th Poet Laureate of the United States August 2nd, 2007. He had won the MaCarthur Fellowship and the Pulitzer prize in 1990 for poetry. "he balks at questions about the role of poetry in culture. 'That reminds me so much of the way the young Communists in the days of Stalin at big party congresses would ask, "What is the role of the writer?" ' he said. Mr. Simic said he preferred to think of the point of poetry in the way a student at a school in El Paso put it when he visited in 1972: 'to remind people of their own humanity.' " ... more Margot Meloy Margot Meloy ~ NubCake Extraordinaire Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:00:21 GMT /section-118-margot-meloy-nubcake-extraordinaire#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10982 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10982 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10982