One of the things that amazes me the most about technology is how easy it has become to perform almost any type of art and get it out there seriously. For example, anyone can choose to put their own tracks on Itunes and recieve any revenue they may attain. Radiohead has shown us that anyone who has the ability to get attention and a catchy musical writing ability can easily see results from the individual, not required to please some label, but done even in leasure or just for the heck of it. Also, via the ads on this blog itself, I found websites were you can write and publish a book comepletely electronically, without any need to find a publisher. Again, this is a completely individual level thing, were you only have to impress the people, not requiring someone to back it in any way, like a label or publishing house. There is also clothing design, which I'm sure most are already familiar with. These services, at there basic level, are almost always free, and the only down side is that the buyer sees a slight (or not so slight) price markup. This seems a small price to pay to wear or listen to something more exactly what you want, and is especially small for the clothing designer, author, and recording artist who has a full time job elsewhere.

It has been a while since I last posted on here, mostly due to that fact that I had exams this week and since then been all over the place. I am finally settling down.

I have decided to take on the minor but thoughtful hobby of "frankensteining" my electric guitar, as I like to call it. In more and more ways, I am beginning to enjoy doing things in a homemade way. Most of the music I have been listening to more recently is very raw and less produced feeling. For those who have been reading, I also discovered the are of steampunk, which is inspiring. I love to not spend money, and recently I had the idea of browsing ebay and looking for low priced nicer quality random parts for my guitar, regardless of if they naturally fit it. I think I am really going to enjoy tinkering with this. It seems they are continually coming out with new guitar models that resemble the destroyed personalized guitars of rock and roll legends, and I figure its cooler to have a personally personalized guitar that a copy of a personalized guitar.

I also recently got ahold of an old beat up Harmony hollow body guitar, and I am thinking about trying to do something with it as well. It's pretty beaten up, but I want to experiment with it, seeing and it is so beautiful and harmony guitars are really coming back into style in many areas. Well, this is nothing like the normal, but that's a great way to be, I'll try and keep ya updated...

I have just added a '08 presidential poll that is actually linked with every other site that has a similar poll, so not only can you see how people who view this site feel, but you can also see how other around the country feel. You are able to cast one vote per month, so choose wisely....

I don't know how this works exactly, but every day when you click on the yellow button, a cup of food is donated to a starving person in a third world country... please try to make a note and do this regularly...

Steampunk!
I was reading on Newsweek's website, and I came across an article on an awesome new subculture, called steampunk. This culture is in love with the beauty of bulky industrial era machines and the ideas of modern technology and even futuristic technology that are instilled in the work of Jules Verne and other great writers. Everywere from anime, to Disney's Atlantis, to The Time Machine, one can see that the ideas of hand built machinary marked by humanity and futuristic what-if type technology have mezmorized people for hundreds of years. Check out the awesome art of changing modern items into Victorian pieces!

I think we should Americanize the entire world.
Everyone gasps...
I think that most sound minded people would probably be against this proposition. Especially as Christians, we are becoming more and more conscious of that fact that we should change the culture as little as possible in reaching into new cultures. This is extremely true and does need to be implimented.
What I am saying is that America is much more than a place, economy, government, or people. In no other place in history has such a diverse group of people experianced the freedoms we do, and never to such magnitude. This country represents more than any of the afore mentioned things, America is a cause. America is a symbol of stable living for millions of people around the world. Though we seldom realize it, America is a symbol of a human accomplishment which many throughout history never thought could happen, especially in a democracy. What other nation in world history has produced soldiers that would go across oceans to liberate other nations when they were in no immediate danger themselves? American soldiers traveled and died in every other part of the world, liberating Europeans, Africans, Asians, and others, and attempting to share the prosperity we have discovered in our system.
By Americanizing the world, I mean people everywere have been given rights by God, rights to freedom of religion, freedom of economy, freedom to know the truth (media), and others which we take for granted, which no one living before America was created ever had the chance to truly experiance.
People have been given these rights by God, and no man has the right to decide if they apply or not.