The Art of Happiness

"An intriguing encounter between East and West." (Mail on Sunday)   The Art of Happiness is an incredible book by the Dalai Lama that I read last summer, but I look at it time to time whenever I feel like I need help or to chill.  I wanted to write about this book, because it is a very important non-fiction that I believe everybody should read in order to achieve happiness. The book is targeted towards Westerners, because the Dalai Lama is interviewed by Howard C Cutler  who asked the Dalai Lama western situations.   For example, there's an entire section on love. Whether it is mature love, young love, dead love or getting over a relationship, the Dalai Lama talks about closure and letting go. There's a great section in there about spirituality, and I look to it when I'm feeling the meditation vibes.  Spirituality is very important to his people. Peacefulness has overcome the Dalai Lama, because with all the torture they've been through and everything that is people has had to put up with,  he has found a way to overcome all these pain fulfilling and apply Buddhism to balance and complete his spirit.  I really enjoyed this book because I think it's admirable that the Dalai Lama agreed to do this interview and trying to connect to people that live in a different human experience then Asian Buddhists. I think it's important that everybody deals with their problems and attempts to find a balance and spiritual freedom.

"This is my part nobody else speak"

Kanye's album Life of Pablo is fairly awful. I'm sorry and I'm a very big fan of Yeezus and Graduation that it shames me to dislike Life of Pablo so much. But come on compared to the intensity and creativity of Yeezus, Life of Pablo is a disgrace. I listened to the whole album on the way to San Francisco and I just did not like it. There was a few songs that I actually did like such as Feedback, Waves and I Love Kanye (even though it was stolen from SNL.) I did enjoy these songs because of their originality and not so hip hop persona.  Which is new and respectable, but thats what the people love.  Kanye without hip hop where??
Although I have to say Ultralight Beam got me on some hype, because Chance the Rapper in that is beautiful.  Some of my favorite lyrics in the song include:
You can feel the lyrics, the spirit coming in braille
Tubman of the underground, come and follow the trail
I made Sunday Candy, I'm never going to hell
I met Kanye West, I'm never going to fail
He said let's do a good ass job with Chance three
I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy
Let's make it so free and the bars so hard
That there ain't one gosh darn part you can't tweet
This is my part, nobody else speak
This is my part, nobody else speak
This little light of mine
Glory be to God, yeah
Like I said BEAUTIFUL. With the disappointment that Life of Pablo was, Ultralight Beam was much needed.

(quality is bad I know, but only video I could find from the SNL episode)

Rihanna's Anti is bomb

As a lover of Rihanna and her music I cannot say enough good things about her new album Anti. First of all, Might I just say that Rihanna is the most beautiful person I have seen. And it's not just me there is a total out pour of people on twitter that seriously need to chill and calm their raving about
Rihanna. I have found over 100 Rihanna fan accounts on Twitter, people these days.



But the album is really good. I have to say it is a lot slower then her past albums, but I like that because it makes Anti feel a lot more R&B then pop. The album has a theme about being single and vulnerable with the songs: Consideration, Woo, James Joint and Never Ending.  The other songs are angry messages towards exes: Kiss it Better, Desperado, Needed me, and Yeah I Said it. The rest are about young and new love: Work, Love on the Brain, Higher and Close to You. I also very much enjoy the modest beats of all the songs. Unlike her other pop albums that sound like bubblegum, Anti features more meaning full and keyboard and vocal focused songs. I love Rihanna and her successful Album Anti. Cannot say enough good things about this bop!

The image of "plain folks" in America

Now that I have become more aware of all the advertisment in my life, I've noticed a common trend among the ad technique "plain folks." The image that most Americans have created for our country is a very down to earth white farmer and his family. They are stuck somewhere in Kansas, the father owns a truck and they have a puppy.  I've seen this image in many commercials that advertise for sports center and the food network. This technique is very apparent in political campaigns and in some food companies that want to advertise a "home grown" appeal. Trying to connect with country wannabes can be effective if done right. For example, there is a commercial about the Ford F-150 (done in 1994) that focuses on country folk. But I know and we all know that Cowboys do not own a Ford F-150. This is effective, because it appeals to a mans need to be tough and a good father. With the shots of the boys playing football and then it cuts to a guy in the truck, all point to a illusion city people make of the country. Now this commercial is fairly old, but there is another commercial put out in 2015 that has the same appeals. This commercial uses the same as techniques, but adds in more industrial jobs. This is because in a time like today a working job that is geared to be manufacturing is more popular and relatable. An ad technique that is featured here is a secret ingredient, because in the middle of the commercial it seems that the voiceover is rattling off a bunch of tough sounding words like " military" or "aluminum and steel." The Ford F150 commercials may change slightly but they all revolve around the idea of being tough.
1994 Ford commercial
2015 Ford commercial

"Why do people cry during songs??"

 My sister had once asked me this question, and it really stuck with me.  I can understand why sad or soppy videos make people cry, but songs seem as if they wouldn't effect people that much.  But I am mistaken audio is very powerful.  It is probably because I do cry during songs.  There is a small list I have to say, when I really listen to the lyrics and the beat I get the "feelies."  My soccer team actually made fun of me because I was staring out the window and everybody thought I was listening to Drake, but oh no. I was listening to Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home."  And having my friends laugh at me as I was dwelling up with tears got me to thinking: why does this song make me feel this way?  Here is a list of 12 songs that give me "feelies" or whatever, in no particular order:

1) Temporary Home- Carrie Underwood

2) 7 years- Lukas Graham

3) You are not alone- Into the Woods Cast

4) Young and Beautiful- Lana Del Ray

5) Chasing Cars- Snowpatrol

6) The Last Time- Taylor Swift ft: Gary Lightbody

7) Can't Help Falling in Love- Haley Reinhart

8) The Scientist- Coldplay

9) Stay- Rihanna

10) Valerie- Amy Winehouse

11) Butterfly Kisses- Bob Carlisle

12) Somewhere over the Rainbow- IZ

I feel that I missed some songs, I may have to update this list in the future.  This is a fairly hefty list, but what can I say I am an emotional person.  I think a lot of it has to do with the state I am in while I listen to the songs, like a really sappy state.  While I feel upset about something I am the type or person that has to deal with their issue right then and there.  And some of the songs gets me every time.  The song Chasing Cars I mean wow I have to prepare for a flood that song gets me so good.  This is because I first heard this song on Grey's Anatomy, the episode Danny dies, and every time I hear this song it just takes me back.  Most of the songs connect me to an exact emotion or feeling when I first heard the song.  Alot of times it's not actually the song, but what is going on else where in my life.  So beware when you hit shuffle if you are feeling upset, because sometimes your playlist can snake you and hit you with a sad song instead of a pump up song.   It's happened before, it's treacherous.

Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

Why Spotify is superior

For the people who don't know what Spotify is, it is better than Tidal. Well that's supposed to be a joke, but in all seriousness it is true.  The Swedish company of Spotify was launched in 2008, I found out about it in the summer of 2014, and has changed the way people listen to music. Instead of downloading music from Apple iTunes, you can play music from the cloud. Spotify has over 30 million songs to play and has become very popular, with a total of 60 million users. The downside of Spotify is having to listen to ads every 10 songs, but my dad and I have invested in the premium membership. The membership allows you to play any song at anytime without any ads. My dad has actually calculated how much we have saved be using Spotify instead of iTunes and it was something crazy like $45 a month.

 

Despite Spotify not having Taylor Swift, I still love the app. Personally, I have found many genres, songs, albums and artists that I am very interested in and I would never have been able to find had I not have the access to it.  I am very grateful for Spotify being available to me, because it has increased my "musical knowledge" and improved my taste.

I'm sure as it's become clear I am a devoted Spotify user, but I would be lying if I didn't admit to have downloaded Tidal. Tidal is another app that is similar to Spotify, but is very sneaky. Tidal was created in 2015 by many artists like Jay Z, Kanye West, Madonna and Daft Punk. This is very smart marketing buy Tidal, because using  famous artists like these would attract many young viewers. One of the reasons why don't like Tidal is because they get artists to post their music there first. So this company uses musicians to their advantage, which in my opinion looks very sneaky and shady. This is why I continue to remain a devoted Spotify user. Also I like the logo a lot better.

(this photo is actually inaccurate because the Spotify icon is now teal smh.)

Generic vs. Brand name: Lucky Charms

Today, I went to the grocery store with my dad to get Lucky Charms.  Let me just say that I adore Lucky Charms.  I'd eat that cereal everyday if my mom would let me, but unfortunatley she buys my groceries and monitors what I eat.  She is the mom that will buy organic plants over regular plants.
Anyway, back to Lucky Charms and the cereal aisle.  As I searched the cereal aisle, for my Lucky Charms, I realized that there was an off brand of Lucky charms and a genuine Lucky charms (General Mills.)  Which got me to think what is the difference between the generic Lucky Charms and the brand Lucky Charms.  And throughout the rest of the shopping trip, the generic vs. brand fight exists in just about every product.  Which leads to the question: what is the difference?  So I did a "little digging" and made a comparison between the two Lucky Charms.
Here is what the Raley's cereal looks like with nutrition guide:

Here is the actual Lucky Charms (General Mills) looks like with nutrition guide:


Here are some more off brand Lucky Charms:

(happy shapes is another cereal that can also be found at Raley's)

At first comparison, the General Mills branding looks the most appealing to me.  I think it is because the leprechaun look so happy and the cereal is in a gold cauldron.  These elements are so irresistible, because who doesn't want to eat out of a gold cauldron.  Mills did a better job of marketing, because I remember the advertisement as a little kid and all the marshmallows and the leprechaun a have back story. What I also see is all the offbrands have the word marshmallow within the name, which makes the cereal appear more unhealthy. Whereas Lucky charms just sounds magical and happy. And I am not a parent, but Lucky charms seems like a more convincing name then Marshmallow Treasures. So in conclusion, General Mills did a better job of advertising and branding the cereal Lucky Charms.