Youth is Wasted on the Old

I just had one of those moments where I wondered what the heck my parents were thinking.

Kids are malleable, both physically and meta-, and can be taught pretty much anything. This is proven by the fact that children can pick up foreign languages very quickly up until adolescence, right? If there is any doubt in your mind at all as to the ability for a child to effectively retain vast amounts of information, I present myself as an exhibit, to be presented... right... now.

My parents could have had me in training to be a linguist, a scriptorian, or heck, even a geographer, like my friend Bryce's two-year-old niece. But no, I was given a different gift, which isn't quite as handy but perhaps, at times, more entertaining.

I learned the lyrics to Neil Diamond songs.

I don't remember how exactly I fell into this path. All I know is that my mom owned some Neil Diamond tapes, namely "The Jazz Singer" soundtrack, "Headed for the Future," and a couple of his "Greatest Hits" albums, and somehow I got hooked. I listened to him running errands with my mom, on road trips, doing chores, or just plain sitting around.

I was THREE-YEARS-OLD when I started strutting around the house singing at the top of my lungs, "Baby, tonight by the fire- all alone, you and I!" I knew not of the real, lusty meaning of what I sang, I just sang it. And I did it hard core, because I lived hard core.

All those songs I sang along to are still imbedded in my memory, even ones I haven't heard in at least seven years, maybe even a decade. Part of me feels at home when the '80s Neil starts playing on my Launchcast station. Songs like "Robert E. Lee" or "Hello Again" are like this oddly-comfortably blanket of nostalgia for me. And whenever I think about my past dating experiences, it's not very long before I think to myself, "Love on the rocks, Shark. It ain't no big surprise."

Of course, all this influence inspired me to begin writing music at a young age. Somewhere in a box we have an audio recording of 6-year-old Shark singing his first attempt at being a pop star:

"Oh my sweetie pie,
I want you to be my sweetie pie!
I've been gone
for three weeks!"

And that, in essence, is what makes me the Shark.

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Music!! AAAAAH!!!!

Look at the new player I added to the page! Thanks to JKC for the inspiration. I plan on sharing good-yet-lesser-known songs from already-popular and relatively-hidden artists alike. Except for "White and Nerdy," which is just a delightful treat. If you haven't seen the music video already, please, go google it.

But seriously, I am proud of some of the discoveries I've made in the past couple of years, and I want to share them with everyone I know. Mika is becoming a pretty popular artist already, but seeing as how I just discovered him I thought there would certainly be others who haven't been exposed.

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Out of the Norm

Usually I reserve my website announcements for my site's official blog, but I thought I'd make an exception to announce the posting of four new videos, one of which being the sequel to the oh-so-famous "Unibrow, Inc."

www.TheSharkByte.com

Go for it! (Connect four!)

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Randomness

-Some of what I think are the most solidly-made films in the last couple of years: "The Prestige," "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," "V for Vendetta"

-I really miss the Deardens.

-I really want a big desk. Preferably an L-shaped one that is plenty deep and not overly-cluttered with drawers (so as to not impose on my leg room), and probably without a hutch. I like big workspaces, but I don't want to feel like my desk is taking over my room.

-"The Lion King" is a powerful movie. I don't understand people who don't like it. Excellent message, a good mix of drama and comedy, great animation, and one of the best movie soundtracks ever made (and I don't just mean the singing parts).

-Adults don't know how to have fun.

-I really do think it's weird that so many of my friends are getting engaged now that I've left Utah.

-I fully support the WGA in their strike. Maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot with the chances that DVD and movie tickiet prices may rise after all is said and done, but the WGA makes some good arguments.

-Speaking of movie soundtracks, the "Superman Returns" soundtrack is excellent! It's playing on my Launchcast station right now. Since I bought the DVD, I've only watched the special features, and not the film itself. That might have to change sometime soon, though I'd really like being able to watch it on a bigger screen/projector.

-"Wha' happened?"

-I live in Little Mexico, and I love it.

-I think it would be fun to develop a story about a guy with the ability to bend time, but in physical pockets of space (for example, if he wants to move time forward, everything within a ten foot radius of himself ages or de-ages while everything outside of those boundaries remains the same; he has no control over this physical limit). I just need to figure out the ins and outs of his persona and give him a challenge.

-How do people feel satisfied at the end of the day when they have jobs that aren't goal-oriented? How do they measure the success of the day's activities?

-Have you ever tried imagining a color that isn't on the spectrum as we know it? It's kind of a trippy experience, though I can't honestly say I've really pictured one. Letting your brain wrap around that whole concept is sort of fun, though.

-I went to an institute class last night that felt like I was back in seminary. There were only six of us in the class, and one of the guys really enjoyed hearing himself speak even though he didn't have much to contribute to the discussion. What was the topic for the last twenty minutes of class? Whether or not God is a happy person. ...

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