Muscles and Music Videos (but not together, don't worry)

I am proud to report that I've gone to the gym 3 of the past 4 days and I'm feeling better already! My initial shock at my diminishing muscle mass is slowly being reversed. Today the gym was very packed for some strange reason, but even that didn't get me down.

It's still raining, however, and that's been awfully annoying. Scott and I had to run a few errands yesterday afternoon and the crummy weather didn't help things.

Tonight will mark my return to the pool circuit and I'm feeling a bit uneasy. I've only played one game of pool since my leave of absence and it was a rather poor one. Wish me luck!

Another reason I need a new car: I got into my car this morning (having not used it in a full day and half) and found the floorboard completely soaked with water. I'm not sure if this is just from past trips when I had wet shoes and the cold weather hasn't allowed for the chance for it to dry up, or if something entirely different and more depressing is going on. Either way, not a very encouraging find.

So Kanye West has a new hit out. And I'm not a big fan of him, just so we're all on the same page with that. I find him a bit too egotistical and materialistic, to put it nicely. However. The video to his newest song, Love Lockdown, is an exception. First of all, the videography is incredibly well done. The visuals fit the rise and fall of tempo flawlessly. I also found the concept of using African animistic/voodoo-like characters particularly interesting. He mixed those characters with a god-like worship of the female figure; he juxtaposed those traditional, more 'primal' images with western-styled skin-obsessed images of femininity. I havne't gone to the lengths of looking up the lyrics, but the video gives me this impression: when trying to put love under wraps, trying to turn love off, one finds it's like trying to hide an entire tribe of West Africans in a small apartment. One can try to ignore it, but that basic attribute (being drawn to love) is the core to humanity, and no amount of distraction will hide the elephant in the room. While I'm not necessarily condoning the video, I'm simply saying it's interesting enough to hold my attention.

Ultimately I have these two reflections on the video: 1) I haven't seen such a unique use of contrast, color and videography for quite some time. 2) It's odd that the same man who sang "Jesus Walks" would use animistic/voodoo images, promoting these traditions to the exhalted spotlight of mainstream media.