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Archive for December, 2011

These are the four Beatles albums you need if you are into psychedelic music. I will not put them in order (other than alphabetical) because you really need all four of them and I don’t want you thinking you can get away with leaving any of them off your list.

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

This is probably The Beatles most purposefully trippy album. Almost every song on the album is bursting with mind melting madness of some type or another whether it be experimental production, unusual song arrangements, and/or unusual songwriting. “I Am The Walrus” & “Strawberry Fields Forever” are arguably John Lennon at his most “mad.” These are the songs where he went full out with the “kitchen sink” production, the bizarre lyrics, the unexpected song arrangements. It’s all there. “Flying,” “Blue Jay Way,” and the title track “Magical Mystery Tour,” these are songs designed to melt minds and they do just that.

Revolver (1966)

What brililant songs. And what an amazing variety in music in such a compact album. There’s more variety in this 35 minute album than in most band’s whole careers. And it’s all done so incredibly well. And then there’s “Tomorrow Never Knows” which could very well be the most far out song The Beatles ever recorded.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

This is a trip. Sure the “concept” isn’t really all that tight, but I think that’s why it works so well. It’s like you are in a carnival going around hearing these different incarnations of the same band. Again a wild selection of different styles of music but unlike Revolver, each of the songs somehow sounds connected to each other as well. It’s an amazing trick to make “Within You Without You” & “When I’m 64″ make sense together on the same album.

This is an album that has become so legendary that sometimes I think people don’t properly appreciate how great it is. It is not overrated. It really is that good. If you think otherwise, you may have not got out of that stage where you want to be different just for it’s own sake.

The White Album(1968)

I talk a lot about variety in this article because that’s one of the things that I love most about The Beatles music and it’s one of the things that I think makes listening to their albums so trippy. Well this is the peak of that variety. There’s 30 tracks here and a vast majority of them are completely different than the other 29 songs on the album. In many ways this is the ultimate Beatles trip and I think it’s their best album ever (psychedelic or not.)

And then there’s “Revolution #9.” It’s hard to get much more psychedelic than that. If you really listen to this track closely on headphones you are likely to get yourself quite a scare and I think that makes the song quite a successful piece of sound art.

Some people are just pro’s at taking great pictures. But most people just take average pictures. If you are one of them, you can edit photos in very easy ways and improve them dramatically.

Sure, you can have a good or great digital camera, adjust the settings as you are supposed to, and even produce a good picture. But sometimes it just doesn’t look quite as good as it could.

And even if it does look pretty good…pretty darn good…I would venture to say that with some simple photo editing, your picture can be great.

Here are the main types ways to edit photos which can greatly improve your images:
1. Saturation
2. Lightness and Darkness
3. Sharpening

Do you have to do all of them? Maybe. And maybe not. You can try each one to see if it enhances your image or not.

Saturation
This adjustment will make colors more vivid. How about making the sky in your landscape just a bit bluer and the grass a bit greener?

Most photo editing programs will adjust, or saturate, all elements in the photo. However, some of the more sophisticated ones will let you select areas to manipulate while leaving the rest of the picture alone. It all depends on which software you are using.

Be careful not to over do it, as your goal is to enhance it while still keeping it real looking. Saturate just a little bit at a time, and increase it if you feel it could use some more. You can always reverse your editing.

Brightness and Contrast
Sometimes a picture might come out too dark. By using this adjustment, you can lighten it up and make it brighter. Likewise, there are some images that need to darkened, or toned down. These manipulations can make a big difference in the quality of the photo. By adjusting the contrast, you can make a photo softer or more vivid.

Sharpening
This is something I try to be careful with. If you over sharpen, things can start to look jagged. In addition, sometimes a softer look can be very nice. You can sharpen slightly to see if this improves the image or not.

When editing, I like to use software that let you see the before and after images side by side. This helps in judging whether the picture is improved with each subsequent edit.

There are many free photo editing software programs that will work and be simple to use. If you want to really get involved in photo editing, you might also try one of the more sophisticated programs. They offer many more types of photo manipulations.

Some have a steep learning curve if you want to learn the more intricate manipulations. However, most of them let you start out in a simple way. If you find one that you feel you might like, see if they have a trial period so that you can try it out. Once again, many photo editing programs are free.

If you want to consider additional types of photo editing, here are a few you will find in most programs:
* Cropping
* Red-eye Removal
* Resizing
* Sepia
* Highlights and Shadows – more sophisticated software
* Exposure – more sophisticated software

Hockey songs are inspirational songs written for the game of hockey. There are a lot of songs written about this great sport. Hockey songs are an excellent way to capture the spirit of the game.

There are many bands singing hockey songs. They play inspirational hockey songs for the team in order to boost their spirit. The themes of hockey songs vary widely from band to band. There are humorous hockey songs, songs about hockey players and songs praising the segments of famous hockey events.

There are a numerous hockey songs popular in Canada. The game of ice hockey is the most popular game and the national winter sport in Canada. Many Canadians are obsessed with hockey that has become a part of Canadian culture. Hockey songs are written in order to inspire and motivate the hockey players.

Of several hockey songs, ‘The hockey song’, is the best. Written by ‘Stompin’ Tom Connors, it is an immortal song celebrating Canada’s love for hockey. Well known for its chorus, the song has spilt up verses, each one describing a period of play in a typical hockey game. This song is the most played one at all Canadian hockey events.

Another classic hockey song is the Tragically Hip song “Fifty Mission Cap.” This song is a true song story about Bill Barilko, who scored one of the most famous goals in National Hockey League history. The legend of Barilko, who scored the 1951 Stanley Cup winning goal for the Toronto Maple, and his mysterious death are forever immortalized in this song.

Other popular hockey songs are “Hockey” by Jane Siberry, “Hockey Night in Canada” of The Shuffle Demons, “Gordie and My Old Man” of Grievous Angels, “The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts I and II” of Rheostatics, “Hit Somebody!” by Warren Zevon and “The Zamboni Song” by Gear Daddies.