The Hunger Games

So I had a friend post this link: http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made It's about the new movie The Hunger Games. I just recently saw the movie and I thought it was great. For not reading the books, I liked every character and thought that it was really well done. Some people thought it was a travesty that there were black people in the movie all together. This astonishes me and angers me. I could hardly believe the tweets I read saying that Rue shouldn't have been black and that Cinna shouldn't have been either. First off, read the goddamn book. The article in the link above quotes from the book directly saying that "She has dark brown skin and eyes..." So many people were surprised when they saw that Rue was black in the movie. Not only were they surprised but they were angry. This is incredibly wrong. Second, you must not have paid attention in school. If history has taught you anything, it should be that treating PEOPLE as lesser beings is fucked up. No matter the race, they are still humans. Can you honestly say that treating anyone as lower than you is the right thing? If you believe that it is, you need to stick you head in an oven. Third, Rue is a character. The girl that plays Rue is a person. She's a little girl! How can you say any sort of rude things about a LITTLE GIRL? You people make me sick. She can't change the way she is, you can't change the way you are. How would you like it if someone said things like that about you? I grew up with a bigot for a father and saw that the views he had towards people of different skin color were wrong. They are still people with emotions and feelings. They experience things just the way we do. Seeing blatant racism really pisses me off. It says in the link, the people who posted these tweets have either deleted their accounts or changed them to private. So you people know it's wrong. Maybe you should change or even APOLOGIZE for the shit you said? Just a thought.

The Performance

I performed my piece today. I was more prepared than I anticipated but it still wasn't up to my perfectionist's taste. I was incredibly nervous; I haven't been that nervous in a long time. Even though I had prepared it to the best I could, it wasn't good enough for me. I felt so ashamed afterwards, I didn't even want to look anyone in the eye.

I got over this feeling, thankfully. Went about my merry way and did some work and when it got to practicing again, I only wanted to play classical even though my major is jazz. I warmed up again, played my 3 octave scales and then pulled out the Vivaldi I had just performed. Guess what happened?

I played it better.

It's mildly aggravating and I'm still kind of boiling over it but it's for the better because I finally got some good criticism on the parts that needed it and I now have the next two movements to work on. The work carries on.

The Change

It's week 7 at the University of Oregon. I've passed all my mid-terms and am currently getting ready to perform Vivaldi's Cello Sonata No.3 in A minor on the bass. I'm only doing the first two movements because I seriously lack the skills to do all 4 right now. It's such a beautiful piece and I've been working on it since week 2. It's so close to being at the level I want it to be but I only have 3 days to get it there so I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I'm a jazz major so classical doesn't come easily to me. I'm currently in the middle of transcribing Paul Chambers' solo on Trane's Blues off the album Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet. It's been a favorite of mine for awhile now so I'm happy to finally get to do it (I usually forget to). I'm also transcribing some of his bass lines on the tune as well as on So What from Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis.

So far, college has been an amazing experience with lots of challenges. The one thing I really don't like is the food, though.

The Funny Things That Happen in My Life

Like everyone, I went to the bathroom. I did my business and finished looking at whatever catalog is in my bathroom, I went for the toilet paper...

Only to find out that I had none. So on a mad quest to find more toilet paper, I ran upstairs. Now, it's late at night, both of my parents are asleep and the only way I could find toilet paper was if I turned on a light that would shine in both of their faces. I thought about this, went backwards--yes, backwards--down my stairs and decided to write myself a note on my unfinished bathroom wall.

See, my bathroom used to have a closet. We're currently turning it into a shower. It's been half-finished for at least a year and a half now.

Anyway, so I shave my legs. Then I realize that all this running water has made me have to pee. I sit down on my toilet and look at the wall. It says, "you're out of toilet paper!" Before I can even begin, I pull my pants back up and go to a different bathroom.

Let's see if my morning self will do the same.