I’ve recently decided that I desperately need to alter my relaxation to stress ratio in favor of the more positive of the two aspects. Decisions like “I really need find more ways to relax” tend to change the way you look at things, activities, the cost and complication of acquiring things and of participating in activities. It also can change the places that you LOOK for relaxation and methods for achieving the effect in general.
I personally feel that starting with the easiest, most readily available method of relaxation is the best way to free up thought-space to better enable the “creative” conjuring of relaxing ideas. For me, that means reading or in extreme cases of distress, not even something that mentally involved. There are occasions where if I even have the energy to be conscious (read: anything beyond constant sleeping), I have only enough consciousness at my disposal as to make watching television as challenging of a task as I can handle outside of necessary function. At that point, I can’t even watch movies unless I didn’t have to make the choice of which one to watch in the first place. This is a VERY bad place to find one’s self.
UNLESS…the boob-tube proves to actually be informative for a change. We know that’s rare but even more rare that a commercial — that capitalist trap of eye-candy — is for a product that can legitimately make me drop my jaw in awe, envy and excitement. When suddenly you see the very PRODUCT which could virtually CURE you of all of your stress and tension and woes with just a mere purchase…it’s a day to chock up as an “amazing TV” day.
Enter, THE VIBRACOUSTIC (by Kohler). The currently most BAD ASS bathtub I have ever seen.
After seeing the commercial that made my palms sweat with wondrous anticipation, I immediately thought two things: #1, I bet you have to use JUST the crap they pre-program the thing with like those stupid “white noise”/”spa” sound machines and #2, I bet that thing costs as much as a small car.
Well….as it turns out, it’s a good thing I don’t waste my time in casinos or playing Lotto because I was wrong AND right… The sound system on this awesome tub does come with specific, pre-loaded tracks which are designed to utilize acoustics in a fashion that morphs music into hydro-massage-therapy. Additionally, you CAN load your own music into the system for a customized experience. SCORE!
On the down side, the part I WAS right about sucks pretty badly. According to KOHLER’S pricing on their website, these tubs range from $5, 670.00 to $7,770.00. OUCH.
Can’t they have a heart?!? The common folk are in DIRE need of this sort of relaxation due to added job stress (layoffs: fear of being laid off and/or the added burden of picking up the work that was left behind when OTHERS were laid off), economic stress (even IF someone still has a job these days, almost no one is getting a raise any time soon and that’s given that they didn’t already LOSE money under the guises of “saving jobs” by cutting a percentage of all employees’ salaries). We working folk desperately need some way to avoid the cardiologist!!
Sure, I favor some things that people might consider kind of dark but as it should be coming through bit by bit, I like a touch of fun to my darkness too. That inevitably means that there are some instances of “fun” that I find amusing which contain little to no darkness about them whatsoever.
Even more evident should be my tendency towards the artistic in things that I enjoy. I do love movies and music and other forms of “normal” art but I don’t actually play many video games. I am wound quite tight enough without the added stress of trying to “beat” a game or level or find some boon. I can stand to watch more games than I can play and the better done the game artistically and functionally and intellectually, the more I typically enjoy watching it. That said, there are few games I even enjoy watching enough to consider actually playing for myself. Little Big Planet is one of those VERY rare exceptions.
This is SUCH a fun game, visually, functionally, even regarding its soundtrack and storyline. This game is so textural and logical — but in a fantastic way — that even the greatest hardcore “kill em all” gamer has to stare at it and even play a little (even if he talks smack about the ‘gay’ factor the whole time). The 3D feel of the levels, the way the physics engine allows the “sack person” to swing and bounce and grab things, even the expressions that you can control on your customized little-you are fascinatingly fun.
In playing this game, I thought of two films I love for their alarmingly simple, yet unique art design: The Science of Sleep and Coraline (in 3D specifically). These films convey very much the same surreal and child-like qualities that art used to embody back when art meant clay and construction paper, pipe cleaners and cotton balls. The sophistication of this game and these movies steps in with the approach, stories and consequences of actions in each.
In Little Big Planet, you may be having a blast with your one-eyed, polka-dotted, cross-dressing lion(ess?), but the humor you encounter is definitely adult — as are the goals of the game. The Science of Sleep is about a couple of very eccentric, only mildly mature adults who sort of fall in love through the language of imaginative avant-garde art and music. Coraline is really probably the most kid-friendly of the three of these playful examples of fun art (in motion). Coraline is a bit darker but necessarily so since it DOES have a bit of a moral-of-the-story thing going on (be who you are but appreciate what and who you have — summed up).
I like the unique in the world. These movies and this game definitely qualify for this category so if you’ve got some spare change (and time) lying around, go check any or all of them out if you want your lovely little eyeballs to be dazzled and your mind to be entertained and expanded (if only a little depending on how far out there you already are).
In an effort to convince myself that I have “Nothing To Worry About,” I pay tribute to Peter, Bjorn and John for offering up the right words…
Music…it’s not a good escape for me most of the time if I’m in need of one. I typically find hidden meaning in anything and that can especially apply to music since it boils up from the depths of the human soul in its inception. Darkness is found amongst those jewels of the soul and whether you want to admit it or not, we’ve all got a little or a lot of it.
Despite the risk of the ole rise and fall of the spirits at the mercy of the expiration of a track’s play time and the start anew as the counter resets to 00.00 for the next song, I’ve actually come across some songs that stick pretty hard with me lately and are quite all over the freaking map to be frank. (SURPRISE!) I won’t torture you with that degree of exposure though.
Being something fairly upbeat in tempo, “Nothing To Worry About” is one of my recently favored tunes primarily for the title quote for this post… It’s not all sunshine, rainbows and butterflies, despite it’s upbeat feel. I like things that reflect my conflicted feeling in this world. This song is great for that.
Another great example is actually also a recently befriended song. And before I get into talking about the song, I need to preface it’s glory with the fact that I don’t particularly care much for the band over all: The Decemberists. I personally think that (from what of it they’re already broadcasting on MySpace anyway) the album that this song can be found on (out March 24th) seems loaded with rip-offs. I will never claim to be an expert on something, even when I’m the only person in the room who knows a damned thing about a topic but this seems pretty blatant. I’m talking…A LOT of rip-offs. From the most prominent to me, seemingly most of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album to an oddly tacked-on snatchy bit of “Losing My Religion” by REM. The one song I HAVE heard that I am fond of falls into my previously mentioned beloved category of “deceivingly dark” and to be honest, it probably is stealing from someone too. “The Rake Song,” however, is catchy enough and reminds me at least a little of Jack White and his chunky sound and that’s too good to ignore for me… It’s twisted — yet fun. “Alllright? Alright. ALLLLRIGHT!”
I tend to have a fondness for this effect in music over all anyway so it also shouldn’t come as a surprise that I love The Gorillaz. I also think that Nick Cave has pulled it off fairly effectively over time but even he hits my ranks of the recent with a new song (Dig Lazaurs Dig). Other genres can be fun too but that’s enough to sing you to sleep for now… I can only imagine the dreams…
