Today's soundtrack is Tengger Cavalry: Sunesu Cavalry, an interesting fusion of melodic death metal, traditional Chinese folk music, and Mongolian throat singing. This evening, I'm reading the first chapter of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, "Republicans and Democrats." Obama begins by describing a problem that he observed on the Senate floor: things were very … Continue reading 09.04.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
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09.03.2018: Looking Back on the Last Day of Summer
Today's soundtrack is Jazz Cartier: Fleurever. This fellow Canadian's major-label debut has gorgeous production, well-flowing lyricism, and lush soundscapes. Today is the last day of summer break; tomorrow, the school year begins. Today's post will be a bit different from normal; this morning, I will pause and reflect on what I've accomplished in the past … Continue reading 09.03.2018: Looking Back on the Last Day of Summer
08.31.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Xasthur: To Violate the Obvious. This morning, I'm reading the first part of the second chapter of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, "Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion." We know that having a free press is one of the ways that we can protect ourselves from a "corrupt or tyrannical government" … Continue reading 08.31.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
08.30.2018: Special Edition – Professional Development: Managing Diabetes
Today's soundtrack is Arvid: Goodnightdaydream., an indie psychadelic pop release that I came across last month in this Reddit thread and added to my Randomizer's album list. Today is the day that the Randomizer has pulled it up. As always, if you want to check out all the music that I've listened to while blogging, … Continue reading 08.30.2018: Special Edition – Professional Development: Managing Diabetes
08.27.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
Today's soundtrack is Jonathan Davis: Black Labyrinth, the lead singer of Korn's solo album. After setting up my Reaper template last night, this morning, I continued working on my mix, finding the right amp settings and drum reverbs and compressions on the different parts of the kit. I threw a few things together and came … Continue reading 08.27.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
Special Post – Ellipsis: The Unexpected Connection Between Writing Poetry, Prose, and Song
The French playwright Moliere once famously said, "Everything that is not prose is verse, and everything that is not verse is prose" (citation). There are two ways one can write: prose and verse. We've all written prose, whether we knew it or not. Prose is how we communicate in the day-to-day. Prose is how we … Continue reading Special Post – Ellipsis: The Unexpected Connection Between Writing Poetry, Prose, and Song
08.26.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
Today's soundtrack is Old Man's Child: In Defiance of Existence. Now that I've completed my metal project, I'm ready to get started on the next big thing. I spent my time today setting up a new template in Reaper, setting up a workflow for my next project. My friend Marcus recently taught me a lot … Continue reading 08.26.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
08.25.2018: One Lesson of Coding
Today's soundtrack is Eldamar: A Dark Forgotten Past, an album that sounds to me like a direct descendant of Burzum's classic "Filosofem." This evening, I'm starting the Basic CSS section on freeCodeCamp. CSS, which stands for "Cascading Style Sheets," is used to control what a webpage looks like. Unlike HTML, CSS is case-sensitive. The standard … Continue reading 08.25.2018: One Lesson of Coding
08.24.2018: One Music Lesson
Today's soundtrack is Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Twin Peaks wouldn't be the same without Badalamenti's haunting compositions. This morning, I'm doing the next lesson on justinguitar.com: "One Minute Changes - Stage 4." The chord sequence I worked on is C to G7 to C7 to F7 to E to B7, … Continue reading 08.24.2018: One Music Lesson
08.23.2018: One Lesson of Coding
Today's soundtrack is Tech N9ne: The Storm. This evening, I'm learning how to use HTML to "Define the Head and Body of an HTML Document" (link). We use the head of an HTML page to provide a web page's metadata; the body is where we put the information that users will see. Metadata, which according … Continue reading 08.23.2018: One Lesson of Coding
08.22.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: We're Only In It For the Money, an album that I've always wanted to give a proper listen. Many years ago, I listened to another of Zappa's albums - I don't remember which one - and it wasn't at all what I expected. I'd heard … Continue reading 08.22.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
08.21.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Slayer: Divine Intervention. This evening, I'm reading the first chapter of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, an essay called "Introductory." Mill says that this essay is about civil or social liberty, which is "the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual" (p. 11): … Continue reading 08.21.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Steven Mills 