Booklet content from 952501
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
LO2:
To This Day-cut down version used for the video
When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite
she let me keep doing it
not really a big deal
one day
before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
and bruised the right side of my body
I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been
a few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
and I got sent to the principal’s office
from there I was sent to another small room
with a really nice lady
who asked me all kinds of questions
about my life at home
I saw no reason to lie
as far as I was concerned
life was pretty good
I told her “whenever I’m sad
my grandmother gives me karate chops”
this led to a full scale investigation
and I was removed from the house for three days
until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises
news of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
and I earned my first nickname
pork chop
to this day
I hate pork chops
I’m not the only kid
who grew up this way
surrounded by people who used to say
that rhyme about sticks and stones
as if broken bones
hurt more than the names we got called
and we got called them all
so we grew up believing no one
would ever fall in love with us
that we’d be lonely forever
that we’d never meet someone
to make us feel like the sun
was something they built for us
in their tool shed
so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize
it does
she was eight years old
our first day of grade three
when she got called ugly
we both got moved to the back of the class
so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls
but the school halls were a battleground
where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day
we used to stay inside for recess
because outside was worse
outside we’d have to rehearse running away
or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there
in grade five they taped a sign to her desk
that read beware of dog
to this day
despite a loving husband
she doesn’t think she’s beautiful
because of a birthmark
that takes up a little less than half of her face
kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer
that someone tried to erase
but couldn’t quite get the job done
and they’ll never understand
that she’s raising two kids
whose definition of beauty
begins with the word mom
because they see her heart
before they see her skin
that she’s only ever always been amazing
but our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act
that has less to do with pain
and more to do with beauty.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=shane+koyczan&biw=1440&bih=806&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=iQBTUca2I4qb0QWqkYGoCw#imgrc=I8kRdl-RA7pvlM%3A%3BCGFb2SAHFEhm9M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthepearlcompany.ca%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F04%252FShaneKoyczan.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthepearlcompany.ca%252F%253Fp%253D3316%3B575%3B357
When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite
she let me keep doing it
not really a big deal
one day
before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
and bruised the right side of my body
I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been
a few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
and I got sent to the principal’s office
from there I was sent to another small room
with a really nice lady
who asked me all kinds of questions
about my life at home
I saw no reason to lie
as far as I was concerned
life was pretty good
I told her “whenever I’m sad
my grandmother gives me karate chops”
this led to a full scale investigation
and I was removed from the house for three days
until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises
news of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
and I earned my first nickname
pork chop
to this day
I hate pork chops
I’m not the only kid
who grew up this way
surrounded by people who used to say
that rhyme about sticks and stones
as if broken bones
hurt more than the names we got called
and we got called them all
so we grew up believing no one
would ever fall in love with us
that we’d be lonely forever
that we’d never meet someone
to make us feel like the sun
was something they built for us
in their tool shed
so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize
it does
she was eight years old
our first day of grade three
when she got called ugly
we both got moved to the back of the class
so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls
but the school halls were a battleground
where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day
we used to stay inside for recess
because outside was worse
outside we’d have to rehearse running away
or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there
in grade five they taped a sign to her desk
that read beware of dog
to this day
despite a loving husband
she doesn’t think she’s beautiful
because of a birthmark
that takes up a little less than half of her face
kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer
that someone tried to erase
but couldn’t quite get the job done
and they’ll never understand
that she’s raising two kids
whose definition of beauty
begins with the word mom
because they see her heart
before they see her skin
that she’s only ever always been amazing
but our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act
that has less to do with pain
and more to do with beauty.
.
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Remember How We Forgot 05:39
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2.
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Pulse 03:38
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3.
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To This Day 06:55
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4.
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Insider 02:55
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5.
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Tomatoes 06:41
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6.
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Weather Reports 04:37
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7.
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Restaurant 07:43
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8.
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Visiting Hours 04:43
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9.
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10.
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My Darling Sara 06:41
Digital Album
Immediate download of 10-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
Buy Now $10CAD or more
Being told to stand up for yourself is a common response to trouble. But “that’s hard to do if you don’t know who you are.” Asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, Koyczan found it a difficult question to answer. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a man,” he says. “When I was a kid, I wanted to shave. Now, not so much.” (Koyczan, it should be noted, has an impressively full beard.) “When I was 8, I wanted to be a marine biologist. When I was 9, I saw the movie Jaws and said ‘no thank you.’” He said he wanted to be a writer. And he was told: “Choose something realistic.” He said he wanted to be a professional wrestler. “They said, don’t be stupid. They asked me what I wanted to be, then told me what not to be. I wondered what made my dreams so easy to dismiss.” “Oh, so many of you,” he said. Koyczan struck a nerve with the crowd of wealthy venture capitalists, scientists, philanthropists and all-around over-achievers when he told them how so many people like him start their lives conditioned to failure. “They asked me what I wanted to be and then told me what not to be,” he said of his first teachers. Koyczan first warmed the crowd up with humour, talking about how he sabotaged a bully by giving him fake answers to a test. But he then grew serious, telling the story of why he now hates pork chops — he was given that name by school bullies who twisted a favourite meaning he shared with his grandmother.” Born and raised in northwestern Canada, Shane was the first poet from outside the USA to win the prestigious USA National Individual Poetry Slam. He has performed to full houses around the world - from university amphitheaters to the most respected music and literary festivals. He has rocked the stage at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 2007 Canada Day Celebrations in Ottawa. Acclaim for Shane’s poetry and performance has come from many diverse and respected sources - from renowned rockers Gordon Downey, Joel Pott & Dave Bidini to David Robinson, Literary Editor of The Scotsman, and Patrick Neate, winner of the Whitbread Prize and host of London’s Bookslam. Shane brings enormous vitality and virtuosity to every performance.His warmth, wit and sincerity are a hit with crowds of all ages. His lyricism inspires audiences and readers alike because Shane’s poems speak directly to the heart. As David Bidini wrote in his review of Visiting Hours in the Globe and Mail’s 2005 Books of the Year edition… “…and so, a whole new generation of rhyme readers will be born.” Shane was commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission to write a 'Poem for Canada' in early 2007. Shane wrote "We Are More" and has performed it to ovations across the country. It's a heartwarming, tear-jerking homage to Canada and can be read here and downloaded right here or the radio edit.
Praise for the
Poetry and Performance of Shane Koyczan
" If the [Auckland
Writers] Festival had a Supreme Award, Canadian performance poet Shane Koyczan
would have won it, packing the lower theatre and receiving a standing ovation.
Koyczan played the heart strings like a brilliant fiddler."
- The New Zealand Herald "Shane Koyczan was a surprise hit. His raw poems about love, sex and cancer made the audience laugh and cry. Along with O'Hagan and Hirsi Ali, he received on of the festival's passionate standing ovations." - Wendy Were, Artistic Director, Sydney Writers Festival "Homer must have sounded [like this]… or Ginsberg or Kerouac." - Amy Brown, The Lumiere Reader "It's time to hand out a few awards. Best chairman: Ian Rankin. Best poetry reading: Shane Koyczan. Best superstar: Salman Rushdie." - David Robinson, Literary Editor, The Scotsman, August 30, 2005 "Shane Koyczan's performance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival was one of the outstanding successes of our program. Not only did the event sell out, but the buzz from the audience was remarkable. [M]any said it was the best event they had seen all festival.." - Catherine Lockerbie, Artistic Director, Edinburgh Book Festival http://www.shanekoyczan.com/ |
LO1:
Rihanna- Loud
•Images used (layout, colour, style etc.)- The predominant image featured across the entirety of the digipack is a rose reoccurring in both pattern format as well as being singularly distinguished on the discs themselves. The flower itself is one commonly linked to love an appropriate signifier for the content of her album. The colour red also takes a prominent stance on the albums digipack a colour directly associated with passion and anger themes expressed lyrically in her track.
•Text (fonts, size, positioning, colour etc.)-The text is fairly unassuming adding to the simple composition and focus of the imagery and is set on the outside edges of the cover to make full use of the star iconography of Rihanna.
•Style - photography, art, animation, retro-the style of the photography has been orchestrated so as to present a retro hipster aspect in order to express themes of the album and keep in touch with current mods and trends.
•Use of genre signifiers - are there any signifiers exclusive to the band/genre- whilst not exclusive the use of the rose is a commonly accepted universal signifier for love and passion and is featured heavily across the digipack and in her video for “we found love in a hopeless place”
•Relationship between text and images - how do they work together i.e. anchorage- The text is fairly unassuming adding to the simple composition and focus of the imagery and is set on the outside edges of the cover to make full use of the star iconography of Rihanna.
•Visual representation of the music and concept or theme-
•Branding of the artist-
•Institutional identity, indie or mainstream, British etc.-the album and artist whilst trying to be presented as anti-main stream are contradictorily viewed as mainstream as the current mainstream concept is to appear anti main stream.
•The functions served by the digipak - what are the functions of the front, back etc.-the function of served primarily by the digital are too advertise the artist through use of provocative imagery.
Oasis
· Images used (layout, colour, style etc.)- the only key image that stands out from the digipak is the single acoustic guitar on centred on the case across all the sides at varying angles but predominately from floor level facing upwards towards acoustic guitar.
•Text (fonts, size, positioning, colour etc.)-the text does not pull focus from the image on the cover and vice versa. The use of complimentary colours allows the text to fit discretely into the frame of the image the use of beige black and white means it stands out enough to make the text easily legible.
•Style - photography, art, animation, retro- the simple imagery and text used gives the digipak an almost timeless feel as there are no time distinguishable features to dictate otherwise. There is no animation present in the imagery of this digipak.
•Use of genre signifiers - are there any signifiers exclusive to the band/genre- whilst there are no signifiers present specific to the band the guitar featured is a clear signifier of the albums content.
•Relationship between text and images - how do they work together ie anchorage-with regard tio anchorage I feel that the text does well to hook the pages together by placing it in the foreground it helps to balance the imagery of the page.
•Visual representation of the music and concept or theme- the music is represented as simple placid and indie.
•Branding of the artist-
•Institutional identity, indie or mainstream, British etc.-British indie
•The functions served by the digipack - what are the functions of the front, back etc. –the front of the pack is used to appeal to the recipient and provide basic information. The back of the case features a track list of all music featured on the disc.
Black Eyed Peas
- Images used (layout, colour, style etc.)- The Black Eyed Peas make use of their star imagery in order to promote the album and digipak featuring heavily large scale images of the members that dominate the pages adorned in unique BEP style clothing and artistic style.
•Text (fonts, size, positioning, colour etc.)-the text featuring the name of the band on the discs has an old school 70`s-80`s retro text theme similar to the styles associated with classic rhythm and blues as well as jazz. The text on the left of the image above is a personal message from the group about their feelings towards music culture and other generic content.
•Style - photography, art, animation, retro-the CD`s themselves have been styled to look like jazz records from the heyday of rhythm and blues.
•Use of genre signifiers - are there any signifiers exclusive to the band/genre-the heavily stylised clothing are very unique to the group and its members. As well as the already mentioned text style and cd design.
•Relationship between text and images - how do they work together i.e. anchorage-the text on the cd fits nicely with the image featured on the background of the cd`s linking the music back to the tropical rhythm and blues movement.
•Visual representation of the music and concept or theme-by observing the digipak you can instantly stereotype as to the type of music to be featured on the cd and whilst it is recommended to avoid serotyping and maintain an open mind in this case your stereotyping would likely be more than accurate.
•Branding of the artist- the heavily stylised clothing is very unique to the group and its members. As well as the already mentioned text style and cd design.
•Institutional identity, indie or mainstream, British etc. - MAINSTREAM.
•The functions served by the digipack - what are the functions of the front, back etc.- The text on the left of the image above is a personal message from the group about their feelings towards music culture and other generic content. As well as standard features expected of the average digipak such as track listings and individual branding.
Reserach
Shane Koyczan on TED: What People are saying about his talk
Helen Walters wrote on the TED Blog:
an intimate, heartfelt look into a life that has not always been easy. “I’ve been shot down so many times I get altitude sickness just from standing up for myself,” he says.
Being told to stand up for yourself is a common response to trouble. But “that’s hard to do if you don’t know who you are.” Asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, Koyczan found it a difficult question to answer. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a man,” he says. “When I was a kid, I wanted to shave. Now, not so much.” (Koyczan, it should be noted, has an impressively full beard.) “When I was 8, I wanted to be a marine biologist. When I was 9, I saw the movie Jaws and said ‘no thank you.’”
He said he wanted to be a writer. And he was told: “Choose something realistic.” He said he wanted to be a professional wrestler. “They said, don’t be stupid. They asked me what I wanted to be, then told me what not to be. I wondered what made my dreams so easy to dismiss.”
David Lee from the Vancouver Sun wrote this in today’s paper:
Shane was nervous when he stepped onto the TED stage, looking out at a packed audience.
“Oh, so many of you,” he said.
Koyczan struck a nerve with the crowd of wealthy venture capitalists, scientists, philanthropists and all-around over-achievers when he told them how so many people like him start their lives conditioned to failure.
“They asked me what I wanted to be and then told me what not to be,” he said of his first teachers.
Koyczan first warmed the crowd up with humour, talking about how he sabotaged a bully by giving him fake answers to a test. But he then grew serious, telling the story of why he now hates pork chops — he was given that name by school bullies who twisted a favourite meaning he shared with his grandmother
1.
|
Remember How We Forgot 05:39
| |||
2.
|
Pulse 03:38
| |||
3.
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To This Day 06:55
| |||
4.
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Insider 02:55
| |||
5.
|
Tomatoes 06:41
| |||
6.
|
Weather Reports 04:37
| |||
7.
|
Restaurant 07:43
| |||
8.
|
Visiting Hours 04:43
| |||
9.
| ||||
10.
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My Darling Sara 06:41
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To This Day by Shane Koyczan
To This DayWhen I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite
she let me keep doing it
not really a big deal
one day
before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
and bruised the right side of my body
I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been
a few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
and I got sent to the principal’s office
from there I was sent to another small room
with a really nice lady
who asked me all kinds of questions
about my life at home
I saw no reason to lie
as far as I was concerned
life was pretty good
I told her “whenever I’m sad
my grandmother gives me karate chops”
this led to a full scale investigation
and I was removed from the house for three days
until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises
news of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
and I earned my first nickname
pork chop
to this day
I hate pork chops
I’m not the only kid
who grew up this way
surrounded by people who used to say
that rhyme about sticks and stones
as if broken bones
hurt more than the names we got called
and we got called them all
so we grew up believing no one
would ever fall in love with us
that we’d be lonely forever
that we’d never meet someone
to make us feel like the sun
was something they built for us
in their tool shed
so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize
it does
she was eight years old
our first day of grade three
when she got called ugly
we both got moved to the back of the class
so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls
but the school halls were a battleground
where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day
we used to stay inside for recess
because outside was worse
outside we’d have to rehearse running away
or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there
in grade five they taped a sign to her desk
that read beware of dog
to this day
despite a loving husband
she doesn’t think she’s beautiful
because of a birthmark
that takes up a little less than half of her face
kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer
that someone tried to erase
but couldn’t quite get the job done
and they’ll never understand
that she’s raising two kids
whose definition of beauty
begins with the word mom
because they see her heart
before they see her skin
that she’s only ever always been amazing
he
was a broken branch
grafted onto a different family tree
adopted
but not because his parents opted for a different destiny
he was three when he became a mixed drink
of one part left alone
and two parts tragedy
started therapy in 8th grade
had a personality made up of tests and pills
lived like the uphills were mountains
and the downhills were cliffs
four fifths suicidal
a tidal wave of anti depressants
and an adolescence of being called popper
one part because of the pills
and ninety nine parts because of the cruelty
he tried to kill himself in grade ten
when a kid who still had his mom and dad
had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression
is something that can be remedied
by any of the contents found in a first aid kit
to this day
he is a stick of TNT lit from both ends
could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends
in the moments before it’s about to fall
and despite an army of friends
who all call him an inspiration
he remains a conversation piece between people
who can’t understand
sometimes becoming drug free
has less to do with addiction
and more to do with sanity
we weren’t the only kids who grew up this way
to this day
kids are still being called names
the classics were
hey stupid
hey spaz
seems like each school has an arsenal of names
getting updated every year
and if a kid breaks in a school
and no one around chooses to hear
do they make a sound?
are they just the background noise
of a soundtrack stuck on repeat
when people say things like
kids can be cruel?
every school was a big top circus tent
and the pecking order went
from acrobats to lion tamers
from clowns to carnies
all of these were miles ahead of who we were
we were freaks
lobster claw boys and bearded ladies
oddities
juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire spin the bottle
trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal
but at night
while the others slept
we kept walking the tightrope
it was practice
and yeah
some of us fell
but I want to tell them
that all of this shit
is just debris
leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
we used to be
and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
stare a little longer
because there’s something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
“they were wrong”
because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a click
maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
to show and tell but never told
because how can you hold your ground
if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it
you have to believe that they were wrong
they have to be wrong
why else would we still be here?
we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
because we see ourselves in them
we stem from a root planted in the belief
that we are not what we were called we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway
and if in some way we are
don’t worry
we only got out to walk and get gas
we are graduating members from the class of
fuck off we made it
not the faded echoes of voices crying out
names will never hurt me
of course
they did
but our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act
that has less to do with pain
and more to do with beauty.
- i have selected the 4 images above to to be used as a collage piece to form the back cover of my digipack to be set behind the track list.
- i have selected the font to my left to be used on the cover of my digipak for shane Koyczan`s album remembrance day as i particularly enjoy the more heavily stylised text.
- i will be usin this image to mount my cover text upon due to its light coloured pallet on the top half of the image making text easier to read off.
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