Paradoxes and Oxymorons

So I was thinking of a title for this post and I finally found it.

of course originality is key in content so what would be the case if the title incidentally coincides with this poem. Well in this age we are able to get answers to all the questions we ask almost instantaneously, some say this is a good thing and others may oppose. But in no way can it be ignored.

Its funny how a simple question or a search in Google will always get you amusing and unheard-of results, you always find something new. That's exactly what happened when i searched for "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" in Google and I am greeted with a poem having the same name I came up with for this post (also as a side note: I'm aware that if two people have the same name then we call them namesakes, but what do you call it when two "entities" have the same name does the same logic apply here?) and obviously I had to read it. It's funny how we find really interesting things by mere coincidence.

OK, before you go searching for the poem let me post it here.

Paradoxes and Oxymorons

                        by John Ashbery

This poem is concerned with language on a very plain level.

Look at it talking to you. You look out a window

Or pretend to fidget. You have it but you don’t have it.

You miss it, it misses you. You miss each other.

The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot.

What’s a plain level? It is that and other things,

Bringing a system of them into play. Play?

Well, actually, yes, but I consider play to be

A deeper outside thing, a dreamed role-pattern,

As in the division of grace these long August days

Without proof. Open-ended. And before you know

It gets lost in the steam and chatter of typewriters.

It has been played once more. I think you exist only

To tease me into doing it, on your level, and then you aren’t there

Or have adopted a different attitude. And the poem

Has set me softly down beside you. The poem is you.

"Paradoxes and Oxymorons" from Shadow Train by John Ashbery. Copyright © 1980, 1981 by John Ashbery. Used by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/240202#poem

Source: Shadow Train (Penguin Books, 1980)

Hope you liked it.

I really did, more so because of the way I found it. And if you are reading this then that means that you are also a part of the coincidence that has lead to the reading of this poem and this coincidence goes a long way, a very long way, the very fact that you are living to read this while I address you, hopefully a total stranger and that is the fun of it. The very essence that links us together our interests. And when this mutual interest in a particular thing meets with coincidence that is where we get our "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" funny words they are and almost always misinterpreted. Maybe its the way we are taught to think, that being the biggest paradox itself. Cant see how we can stay connected having never seen each other in person but hey, we are technically communicating. Well by now you probably realized that the topic and the content are unrelated which is a direct result of poor planning and really bad ability to communicate and by now you probably figured my final attempts to save this article by using a lot of oxymorons, a perfect example of random thoughts being directed to a keyboard. 

Well maybe i have managed to bring this post back from the dead, and actually I have given it some oxymorons but the paradox still remains and that is the paradox.    (If it made any sense)

The first event of makeasy

The first event management job was a huge learning experience
Well we started an event management service. And my friends college was our first client,
we were asked to manage and help in the milan 2013(alumni meet) for their college where we were required to provide entertainment and also were required to make a slideshow of the heads of department.

So we were there and we had a pretty good show setup. At least that's what I thought, the guy who studied in the college was also a pretty talented musician/composer, we got him a singer and guitarist and my friend who was a beat-boxer, I was in-charge of the technical stuff like the amps and also was to take photos.

You see in  the kind of service we provide the first and most important thing to do is to maintain quality and make sure all the people there knew that we were "makeasy events and music".So, even though I play the guitar and I am guessing that I maybe better than the singer guy my main priority was to promote my service.
So photos it was, also it was my first time taking raw images you know I needed these to be as good as possible.

Now talking about the event itself, well i was surprised to see that none of the performers were there to check with the stage and test whither they were getting their music played. Well they were probably not used to this kind of stuff, you see I've done so many backstage and technical parts during events that I know its almost impossible for something to work perfectly during a  performance all the time. So i would always make sure that there would be no hiccups during the main event, and hiccups are exactly what happened that day, the sound guy couldn't get the sound from the laptop to work with the speakers in the hall.
The students who came to perform didn't even check the sound before their performance and this make the main guy of the college("dunno what his post is") got angry at the students and gave a long and boring speech on the importance of preparation and also about caring about stuff in general.

Yeah the coordinators were really bad at what they had to do. They didn't even have a logo of the event ready to project on the screen so I had to improvise and use the pdf for the banner and use that image edit it in paint and give them a logo, during the main event sound was a major problem so they put a microphone to the speakers of the laptop, not the best fix but at least we could hear something so our presentation(which I made) was played on laptop speakers, but the response was pretty good, seems like we struck a chord with the audience makes sense only people who came are the people leaving the college and the photos of their departments and their HOD's is pretty welcome, also the obvious competition between the different departments so overall it was received pretty well, and at that time I managed to take a few good pictures of the presentation.

Coming the actual performance, the beat-boxer was flawless, well he is kinda used to performing now, and also anything he does is new to the people there so it was a hit.
The singing part was an interesting thing, the drummer was pretty good and I started the keyboard's recording the drummer continued and the singer was pretty good at singing the first song, the second song was what we call a disaster, the entire song was badly presented...in every aspect, so finally we followed it up with jugalbandi (cannot find an English word for it) kind of like a challenge between the drummer and the beat-boxer an obvious winner and well that was the end of it. I  got some decent shots, we saved the day
and everybody there knew about makeasy.

Anything we can learn from it.
yes,
1. Always make a sound check and video test
2. Recheck
3. Practice everything
4. Never take a slow lens to a dimly lit event
5. Always shoot raw always use zooms
6. Never let somebody who does not have experience in opening the song open the song
7. Make sure the laptop to which the projector is connected has internet
8. Always carry two extra guitar amps and cables, a microphone and an extension box
9. Have an actual schedule or at least an order of things to happen
10. Most importantly cut boring speeches, do not have large time gaps in between events and keep it short and end it memorable.

Guess that's it,gonna be hard to maintain this IRL or IRE to be specific.


Some of the photos.

The audience

Beat-boxer

Beat-boxer

The audience

A dance

The Drummer

The Singer

jugalbandi

The Stress buster.

The first thing that's going through my head is that I've got to code for the website I started.
But maybe I need this. Reading my thoughts in front of my eyes, this is weird, maybe because its my first blog.
I've got music playing on the computer right now.. major stress buster.
So here is the scenario I've got four projects I am working on simultaneously.
and this got me thinking of what all ways I have to take care of stress
well photography is one way of keeping me in a good mood and so is listening to music
and as things go making a music video should be the best stress relief for me.

But that's not how it goes not that it's not fun but then you end up worrying about
the next steps i.e. editing, color correction, and audio.

So that is when you realize that the best stress buster is when you actually finish a project or something
you started.

Lets take things into perspective, when you listen to music then you know that you have nothing to worrying about and also that music is nothing but some frequency's of sound that are designed to be in order or to sound complete. Our body(ears to be specific) are designed to appreciate the sound and therefore we like it.
and taking photography into consideration i believe that the photos i take should not be edited. So the thing that satisfies me the most is the fact that the project is started only in an instance, you frame, click and that is it the photo is taken, done, nothing to worry or think or plan about.

But the best way of stress relief is meditation at least that's how it goes for me, the ability to visualize the stress and flush it out or calm down in an instant, well that takes practice but is an amazing ability, helps me to have a clear mind and thing straight, stress does all sorts of things to you, almost makes me wonder how predictable the mind is, people do unheard things mostly bad when they are stressed, and the worst thing someone can do is to argue, or trouble someone who is stressed, crazy things can take place.

Come to think of it blogging is also pretty good stress relief, because the finished product in in front of my eyes.
Well that's it. First blog done.
Now that I'm reviewing just realized that I've got to make a website.
Well back to work then.