Dental Hygiene Dilemma

Frank Zappa - Dental Hygiene Dilemma (Excerpt from 200 Motels)

As one might expect from a cartoon put out by Frank Zappa, the music and sound design has a great deal of thought put into it.  As is on par with much of Zappa's work, some of the motifs tend to be very scatterbrained and hectic.  However, I feel that the tension is used quite stylishly and appropriately as the main character, Jeff, is having a mental episode as he battles with his inner-self.  There are a variety of listening modes included, as causal sound effects are put into play with the cartoon, such as when the television spits or simply when Jeff is fidgeting on his bed.  There are also some more "cartoony" semantic sounds, such as when the bad conscious shakes his head, followed by Jeff nodding his head, both sounding like mallets hitting coconuts.  In addition, there is a great deal of ambience used.  Whether it be through composed music or more subtle nonsensical sounds, it really has a powerful effect on the scene.  The Gestalt Principal is used fairly heavily in the cartoon via the principals of illusion and figure and ground.  Throughout the scene, illusion is used quite frequently.  This is when a few ambient sounds are layered over each other, sometimes in conjunction with sporadic music, to create a largely hectic feeling.  Often it sounds like there is more going on than there actually is.  Also, figure and ground is portrayed as Jeff may be speaking in the front of the shot while his surroundings may be making background noise, whether it be his good conscious on the television screen or other ambience from various sources.

Finding My Howl

In "Finding Your Howl", a story by Jonathon Flaum, the remaining population of a species of wolves are raised in captivity in an effort to be protected, then their offspring are released into the wild to live.  The story focuses on one wolf named Mumon, who instinctually hunts for his food, but is overall unsatisfied and cannot seem to find his place in the world.  He is looking for his howl.  For some reason, he feels remorse for the deer he hunted for himself to eat and survive, despite the presence of a raven who also thrives off the kill.  When on the brink of death, staring into the barrel of a shotgun held by a farmer, Mumon had a spiritual experience involving tribal chants and dances.  He then came to, found that he was surrounded by his pack, howling at the moon.  He had then found his howl.


"Sojourn of Arjuna" by Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
So Arjuna and Krishna you know they're hanging out on the battlefield
Arjuna is like tired of war, he's trying to get out of this battle
so Krishna drops a little science on him, he says you know it's the way of
spiritual growth
a man must go forth from where he stands
he cannot jump to the absolute, he must evolve toward it (can you hear that)
Krishna says at any given moment in time we are what we are
Arjuna we have to accept the consequences of being ourselves
and only through this acceptance can we begin to evolve further
we may select the battleground but we cannot avoid the battle

so Krishna tells Arjuna it follows therefore that every action under certain
circumstances and for certain people may actually be a stepping stone to
spiritual growth

Arjuna is to do the best he knows
in order to pass beyond that best to better
how can we prescribe our neighbors to be perfect
when it is so hard to know our own heart
the pacifist must respect Arjuna
Arjuna must respect the pacifist.
both are going toward the same goal
if they are really sincere
there's an underlying solidarity between them
which can be expressed
each one follows without compromise the path upon which he finds himself
for we can only help others to do their duty
by doing what we ourselves believe to be right
it is the one supremely social act.

so Kirshna's reply to Arjuna occupies the rest of the story
it deals not only with Arjuna's immediate personal problem
but the whole nature of action
the meaning of life
and the aims for which man must struggle here on earth
at the end of the conversation Arjuna has changed his mind
he's ready to fight, he's ready to go ahead on
it is the way of spiritual growth
a man must go forward from where he stands
he cannot jump to the absolute
and the battle begins...




I have always felt that the lyrics to this song are very deep and loaded with thought provoking ideas.  In the first line, it is established that the two characters are "hanging out on the battlefield."  Based on the content of the rest of the song, I feel that the term "battlefield" might allude to the battlefield that we call life.  Nothing involving war or any literal battle is brought up for the rest of the story.  However, the lyrics deal with life and personal growth in a broad sense.  It suggests that throughout our lifetime we are always seeking emotional and spiritual growth and must harness our opportunities for such.  The lyrics state that "every action under certain circumstances and for certain people may actually be a stepping stone to spiritual growth."  This line speaks very strongly to me, as I have found truth in this before.  It implies that any kind of action or experience may make a person stronger, but it is up to the person to allow themselves to grow.
This reminds me of a time several years ago when I felt that I hit a peak in finding myself and establishing personal philosophies.  At summer camp, I had passed the age of being a camper and was ready to start transitioning into being a staff member.  During that transition year, we serve as staff in training.  This is a time when we are starting to see the innards of camp and how it functions as well as beginning to learn about how to lead a group of campers to having the best summers of their lives.  However, some responsibilities fall on us aside from shadowing and helping out staff with leading kids and running activities.  It is also our responsibility to set up and clean the dining hall as well as serve food to each table.  This is a huge part of the staff in training summer that I have found can really make or break one's experience.  Being thrown into these responsibilities with some of your closest friends from over the years really brings out everybody's true colors as everybody's relationships shift slightly from being purely social to now having to work together as a team.  Being in this situation of having to do some labor as far as distributing piles of plates, silverware, and food to dozens of tables serving hundreds of people, as well as cleaning up and taking out the trash after each meal really changed my perception on life a bit.  This is related to where the real shift took place, which was on a backpacking trip deep in the Allegheny woods of Pennsylvania.  Amidst a long hike through the woods, it occurred to me that if we feel things are getting tough, we must be emotionally strong and make the best of it, regardless of our situation or setting (such as being deep in the the forest).  I found that it is really not worth the trouble to get hung up about something and let it affect your emotions and especially those of the people around you.  Life tends to be much better when we are in a more positive mood from day to day, regardless of the things we have going on in our lives.  Everybody has their own set of issues and problems, but when life can be lived with pride and have everything taken in stride, the individuals quality of life will surely improve.
From that summer, I have been able to take away an outlook on life that still holds true from day to day.  It's not worth it to be upset over things.  Being happy is far more fun, exciting, and entertaining.  With that, as far as personal growth is concerned we may select the battleground but we cannot avoid the battle.

Particle Man vs. Universe Man

Particle Man

Particle Man has a mainly squiggly body with a circular center.  His squiggles represent his rash and impulsive personality that makes him crazy like a wildcard.  He is also only as big as a particle so it makes it tough to keep track of where he is and what he is doing.  This makes him a threatening super villain due to his unfair advantageous abilities to camouflage and be incognito.  He has become very good at harnessing his abilities to sneak around and wreak havoc.  His small circular body implies that he does have a slight compassionate side and growing ever increasingly insane in the brain.

He always seems to be lurking in the shadows and rarely comes into the light.  Because of his small size and his quick and speedy nature it makes him difficult to follow and keep track of.  His shadowy figure also alludes to his evil ways.  Particle Man is a little tiny figure that constantly is bringing peril to the universe.  He often speeds around outer-space trying to destroy planets, mess with meteors, and basically stirring up whatever kind of chaos he can.  Few have seen him in direct light, but he has many enemies all over the universe.

Particle Man is made up of several shades of gray and black.  Again, it alludes to his dark and evil nature.  His shades of gray are centered around a charcoal color, implying that he is filthy mad and unappealing like black soot of burning charcoal.  Particle Man is very rude and is easy to get into fights with his enemies.  It is typical of him to get in the way of other people's plans and agendas just for the sake of getting in the way.  Particle Man likes a good fight.  He is very fond of taunting people by leaving notes and clues to some of his big evil plots.

Universe Man

Universe Man is a powerful super hero that watches over and protects the universe from any potential danger.  He is a chiseled masculine figure who's body resembles a rectangle and head resembles a triangle.  His rectangular body implies bravery, determination, and his quest for peace across the universe.  The triangular qualities portray his ambition, strength, and leadership.  Universe Man constantly has a watchful eye over things happening in the universe.  He pays especially close attention to the evil doings of evil particles such as Particle Man.  Should he need to, he is never afraid to give Particle Man a nice whack on the head with a frying pan.

Universe Man tends to always be well-lit where ever he goes.  He constantly emanates a glowing light due to his great heroic nature.  This could also be in part because he has an orb in his chest that has many similar characteristics to a star such as our sun.  This orb has much to do with his super strength.  When he focuses his mental power, he can shoot a blast of bright fiery energy out of his chest to thwart the plans of his enemies when they are trying to destroy planets and interrupt the peace and tranquility of the universe.

Universe Man has a dark black background on his suit because he represents the universe and much of the universe is made up of dark black space.  However, he does have bright colors on his suit, mainly blue, yellow, and orange.  His color scheme is made up of a mix of complimentary colors and analogous colors, as blue is complimentary to orange which is analogous to yellow and red.  These bright colors allude to his friendliness, compassion, and heroic nature.  Universe Man also loves creatures and beings of all colors of the rainbow, from all places across the universe.  As long as they are not pure evil such as Particle Man, Universe Man is out to protect and serve.

Rocky Saves the Day

Rocket J. Squirrel

Rocket J. Squirrel, more commonly known as Rocky, just may be the most super hero I know.  He is so friendly and lovable and never fails to stir up those emotions.  He always seems to be picking up slack from his clumsy sidekick, Bullwinkle Moose, never failing to entertain.  In addition, Rocky always seems to have some good ideas in spoiling the evil plots of their arch nemeses, Boris and Natasha.