BnL's War on Drugs and the American Lifestyle

well that took a while... but I'm finally posting! 
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Barenaked Ladies - War On Drugs

Verse 1
She likes to sleep with the radio on
So she can dream of her favorite song
The one that no one has ever sung since she was small

She'll never know that she made it up
She had a soul and we ate it up
Thrown away like a paper cup
The music falls

The only flaw in her detailed plan
Is where she wins back the love of her man
Everyone knows that he's never coming back

He took her heart and she took his name
He couldn't stand taking all the blame
He left her only with guilt and shame and then she cracked

This verse encapsulates the common distress in modern day relationships. People get married too soon and end up getting divorces, people think they are in love but don't wait to see if they truly are. And when one person can't stand it any more and cuts off their relationship, their partner is usually pretty emotionally damaged.

Chorus
Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

The American people live off fear and hatred. Those demons that haunt us can be anything from this months rent, to that dog next door that just won't shut up. Everyone has these demons, they are almost impossible to completely eradicate, they are our constant prick, keeping us awake to society.

Verse 2
In the dream I refuse to have
She falls asleep in a lukewarm bath
We're left to deal with the aftermath again

On behalf of humanity
I will fight for your sanity
How profound such profanity can be 

Steven Page (lead singer for BnL) sees the damage to society, all the obscenity we plaster on everything (blood and gore, violence, sex, ect.), and he is trying to fight it. This song tries to put some of the nastiness into the light, in order to protect those who can't take the morbidity and take their lives to escape it.

Chorus
Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

Won't it be odd to be happy like we
Always thought we're supposed to feel
But never seem to be

The happy that people never seem to be spawns from the euphoria you get from vanquishing your various demons. That euphoria is short-lived and quickly replaced with a dull ache for something new.
 
Verse 3
Near where I live there's a viaduct
Where people jump when they're out of luck
Raining down on the cars and trucks below

They've put a net there to catch their fall
Like it'll stop anyone at all
What they don't know is when nature calls, you go

They say that Jesus and mental health
Are just for those who can help themselves
But what good is that when you live in hell on earth?

From the very fear that makes you want to die
Is just the same as what keeps you alive
It's way more trouble than some suicide is worth

The endless battle between people who commit suicide and those who try to stop it is, in a way, useless. People who commit suicide (those who really truly wanted to die, not just get attention or whatever experts say) wouldn't ever be persuaded to stop. The people who kill themselves usually have too many demons to handle, they don't know how to stop them from piling up, and sooner or later their demons overwhelm them.
 
Chorus
Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

Won't it be odd to be happy like we
Always thought we're supposed to feel
But never seem to be
 
Tag
Hard to admit I fought the war on drugs
My hands were tied and the phone was bugged
Another died and the world just shrugged it off

It's a very deep song for very shallow times. People these days are greedy, and with greed comes demons. These demons plague everyone everywhere. A few demons keep your life interesting and just a tad stressful, too many demons and you are consumed in your own guilt and shame. And once you crack no net will ever catch your fall into your own demise.

Sorry for the depressing topic... for some relief, scroll to the end of the page and check out the Puppy of the day. Aww, they're so cute :D

 --A_Walk


so if you wanna embed an Mp3 file use this code.

(<)embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=[MP3_file]" height="27" width="320"></embed(>)

sans the parentheses just the < > at the front and end.

Writing! A_Walk style

Writing has always been a challenge for me. I have great ideas for papers, I have great ideas for the overall flow and meaning of the papers, I even have a (I'd like to think) decent enough grasp of the English language to make my writing interesting and more enjoyable. But when it comes to actually printing the words onto the page for everyone to read, I freeze. To quote the Dr. Tom Romano, I don't "trust the gush" and I can't get the words out.

I'll try "trust-ing the gush" right now because, like countless other times in my writing, I've run out of things to say. I've lost my train of thought.


"The gush"- I have this terrible procrastination reflex that kicks in when writing. Throughout my years in school I've built this hatred for writing, which I really wish I didn't have. Every word I type screams at me to go do something meaningless and 'fun' be it browsing the interwebs or playing a time-wasting round of Angry Birds (which is really a very boring and mindless game). 'fun' is in quotes because every time I've ever looked back and replayed the hours I've wasted on the web I find that those moments were quite useless, extraneous, and quite the waste of my life.

I post this blog at 11:00 at night when I could have written it three hours earlier, what have I been doing you ask? Well there's this game called Exit Path 2, it's pretty well done, fun and different gameplay, that took about 30 minutes. There's a plethora of trips down to my kitchen to make tea, take dayquil (I have a mild head cold which is also hindering my writing drive), talk to my mom, wander aimlessly, and use the bathroom (which is quite silly because I have a bathroom upstairs that's much closer). Oh, and don't forget the biggest time-waster of them all (for most kids, not me, necessarily), that's right, the almighty Facebook.

Out of all my activities, this blog post probably took me the least amount of time to accomplish. So why don't I just do it and get it over with? Because I have acquired, over the years, an imaginary writers block, I think I can't write easily or well so I can't. My mind has taken a mental fallacy and turned it into a physical reality, and if I ever have any hope of overcoming my own mental ineptitude I must go deeper into my writing and force myself to realize that writing is not a chore, it is a blessing.




Hey, that last sentence sounded a little familiar...

--A_Walk

Inaugural adresses and their hidden complexities

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The above chart shows the top ten words used in the last 10 (dated) presidents' inaugural adresses.

Most of the words shown are fairly typical and expected. What struck me as odd; however, is the common words found accross candidate's individual speeches. The word 'time' was used in all 10 of the president's speeches while the words America and American were only used 5 and 6 times, respectively. I would have expected the president of America and the American people would have adressed those words more than what 'time' it was. But of the six presidents who did use America or American in their speech, they used it frequently.

Another interesting note, all of the 10 presidents used religious context when giving their adress. Everyone mentioned God and His influence on their presidency to come. I found this hypocritical because aren't church and state separated? And why is it always praying to God? Why not pray to Allah? Or how about praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Government always embodies religion, why haven't they stopped? Because the majority of their followers (voters) are of Christian decent.

The cloud charts hold more secrets and surprises, I'd recommend you check them out! Inaugural Adresses cloud chart

-- A_Walk