Band Review: The Orion Correlation

I have been thinking of The Orion Correlation as Hammy Havoc, but Hammy Havoc does multiple things, and The Orion Correlation is the musical side. I am including links for both to be more complete.

The Orion Correlation plays crossover electronic rock. Beats are catchy. The tracks are not strictly instrumental, but when there are words they tend to be simple and not the main focus.

I generally enjoyed listening. My favorite track was probably “Horns Of A Heart”, but the Divine Debris EP covers a fair range of sounds and plays well together.

There is also another EP featured on Soundcloud, Asplosion. While there are only two tracks, both are versions of something you have heard before. “When You’re Gone” is okay, but his version of “Moonlight Sonata” is one of those rare tracks that makes me want to commit violence. (It did not help that it was almost thirteen minutes long.)

I don’t love the original version, as I feel it hovers between boring and grating, but the electronic components really amplify the grating. I did listen to it my customary three times, and it never grew on me. So, if you love the original, it might be worth checking that track out, but otherwise I strongly recommend skipping it.

If you like electronica, you will probably really enjoy Divine Debris, and should check it out. It is available on Spotify as well.

https://www.hammyhavoc.com/

https://www.theorioncorrelation.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealHammyHavoc

https://twitter.com/TheOCorrelation

https://twitter.com/hammyhavoc

Other things I’ve been doing

Technically a lot of this has been things I have been watching.

I think taking the online classes has helped me get better about finding ways to work in things I want to watch. The first two MOOCs I took had introductory videos, and then some interviews, but most of the material was reading comics and articles, and then writing on discussion boards. The other classes have been a lot more video lecture style, with less reading.

As I have found ways to fit the class videos into my day, I have also found it easier to incorporate other things I have been meaning to watch. That has included documentaries about school re-segregation, the Italian American immigrant experience, the lost stories of early black settlers in Canada, pollution in Detroit, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the MOVE bombing in West Philly, and even a collaboration between David Byrne and Bryan Eno.

There are a lot of thoughts and feelings about most of those, and so they may come into other writing. Right now they are just expanding my background understanding of how everything fits together. I still feel like there is this process of coiling up for a launch, but if it never becomes something dramatic, and is just me learning more and growing more over time, that has merit.

I do see how things are going in different phases. A lot of these things have been on my list for a long time, but I had to finish the month of reading screenplays first, or I had to finish the classes.

There is some relief in seeing old items checked off, but then new items join them. For example, I finally wrote out a card to my friend in Poland, and have it stamped and addressed. I have been meaning to do that since she sent me a Christmas card in 2013. I have finally written my letter to University of Oregon telling them how disappointed I am with them for going after a rape victim’s therapy records to use in their defense against mishandling the rape case. I got the information on upcoming activities out to two single adults I’d been meaning to write to. At the same time, now I find that I really need to write to people involved with “Grimm” and express my feelings about how they are losing their way. I have some notes.

I have written to the two people whom I know have read my un-reviewed books and asked them to post reviews on Amazon. (The Family Blood one just went up!) I still need to go over the ideas that KDP itself provides, which will probably at least mean posting previews on Goodreads.

I have sent a link to the Out of Step screenplay to Derek Hough after feeling like I should do that. I sent it via both Facebook and Twitter, neither of which will necessarily be effective, but I didn’t know how else to do it. (http://studios.amazon.com/projects/59569, by the way.)

Sometimes it’s exhilarating, and sometimes it’s discouraging, but in general I feel like there is forward momentum. Some things need to wait, and that can be okay assuming you are setting the right calls when you prioritize. I hope I am.

Things I am still working on:

• Contacting all of the single adults in the ward. There are 44 left out of 115, and all the easy ones have already been done. This is one where you just have to do a few at a time.
• Learn more about the anti-inflammatory diet, but coconut oil has already been incorporated for dementia. There are some other anti-dementia tasks I need to look at, but there is a bigger issue there that I am not ready to write about yet.
• Learn more about chakras.
• Read the full version of Ta-Nehisi Coates “The Case For Reparations” (I have read a shorter version.)
• Write to my Plan kids.
• Go through this list of accounts that haven’t been active for a while and check on them. That will be another “Pace yourself” one.
• Organize the temple names.
• Create a vision board. I feel it will help.

There are some other documentaries that I have on my list to watch, but I think I will save them for a lead-in to my Native American Heritage reading, which I think I will start in about six weeks.

What is magical about that six weeks? And what about writing new stuff? Good questions! I shall answer them on the blog Monday, but first, there will be music reviews of Hammy Havoc and Loose Logic (apparently this week is unusually alliterative), then Padova on the travel blog, and I am not sure about the Provident Living blog yet, but I think I might start some posts about living as a disciple.

For now, if you would like some videos to watch….

Separate and Unequal: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/separate-and-unequal/

Speakers for the Dead: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/watch-speakers-for-the-dead-50-minute-documentary-on-hidden-history-of-blacks-in-canada-20140707

The Godmother of Rock and Roll: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/sister-rosetta-tharpe/film-the-godmother-of-rock-roll/2516/

The Italian Americans: http://video.pbs.org/program/italian-americans/

How David Byrne and Brian Eno Make Music Together: http://www.openculture.com/2012/05/how_david_byrne_and_brian_eno_make_music_together.html

The Bombing of West Philly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eHpRjxk7N4

13 in the Hole: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/12686/13-In-The-Hole

Coming up:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/04/10/10-fascinating-documentaries-about-native-americans-you-can-watch-right-now-159964

http://news.nationalpost.com/silent-no-more

Things I’ve been studying

I mentioned this earlier, but I signed up for some massive open online courses (MOOCs) that I couldn’t resist.

I felt like I had enough going on that I shouldn’t take on anything else, but they sounded interesting, and I wanted to.

Microbes Rule the World: Effects of Disease on History

This came through the Canvas Network, through which I had taken my previous comic book courses. It was affiliated with Weber State University, taught by microbiology professor Craig Oberg and history professor Gene Sessions.

The information was interesting. I think the great weakness of the course was a tendency to oversell. They would go over events and things that were happening with disease, and then make a connection and say “There can be little doubt…” but there was room for doubt, especially when the effect they ascribe to the plague happened 200 years later. It doesn’t even mean they’re wrong, but if they were truly convinced of the impact they should have been able to make a stronger case. The things that happened are interesting enough even if there were other important contributing factors.

Religion and Hip Hop Culture – RELI157x

I learned about this course on Twitter. Hip Hop is a musical area where I feel my knowledge is pretty lacking, so it felt important to take it. That sense of need is what pushed me over the edge to sign up for any class, and so I signed up for the microbe class at the same time. However, this class is through EdX, and associated with Rice University, taught by Dr. Anthony B. Pinn and Professor Bernard “Bun B” Freeman, from UGK. (No, I’d never heard of UGK before, but it was clear it was a big deal.)

Defining religion as the search for complex subjectivity, we studied how hip hop was influenced by Christianity, by Islam, and how it all interacts.

As a way of communing with others, celebrating, and expressing yourself, hip hop can be a part of the search, but I felt that it made more sense to think of hip hop as art. You can discuss religion and painting together, but you would not expect painting to replace religion. However, within days of completing the class, Bill O’Reilly blamed the decline in Christianity on hip hop, so shows what I know.

I liked the way the class made you think, and then grade yourself. That sounds like a cop-out (and you can pay a fee for them to grade you and get real credit), but the criteria were so clearly explained that it was easy to know whether you had met them or not.

The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact on Pop Culture – POPX1.1x

Once I registered with EdX, I saw this, and comic books are how I got into MOOCs in the first place. How could I not? This class is through the Smithsonian Institution though, mainly led by Dr. (and Batman producer) Michael Uslan, with participation from David Uslan, Dr. Christopher Robichaud, and Stan Lee.

It is too early to tell how the class is going to go. We have only had one full week of instruction, and I have not been able to work on the assignment yet because I needed to upgrade Office. I guess when 2013 is out you need to let go of 2002. Anyway, I expect to enjoy it.

Master Tailor Package: 300+ Sewing Courses

This was probably the most foolish. I don’t even have a sewing machine, and unlike the MOOCs, this course had a fee. It was just a really good deal, I have a year to complete it, and I don’t know – it felt like too good an opportunity to pass up. I am not even going to look at it until after the Comics class wraps up, and then I’ll see.

The problem is I really like learning stuff. All kinds of stuff. Still, I have a lot of things that I am trying to accomplish in a fairly short period of time. Sometimes there are dilemmas.

All I can responsibly say is that because of time constraints I absolutely will not sign up for any new classes for at least a few months, unless they sound super-awesome or directly correlate with areas of interest where I feel greater knowledge is important.

(For anyone wondering, I finished the dolls last night at a little over one hour into Newsies. I’ll probably finish the movie tomorrow, possibly without working on anything while I am doing it.)