Flying Colors (Album Review)

So, what do we have here, a project that just by the look of the cover seems interesting. Well let me tell you more about it, Flying Colors is a new superband created by Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy (geee these two working together?), the formation seems interesting and if you throw them together in a studio this is what you get.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="420"] I really loved the cover[/caption]

The Band consist in Steve Morse (guitarist and founder of Dixie Dregs), Neal Morse (who needs no introduction), Mike Portnoy (who we all know and sometimes love), David LaRue (also from Dixie Dregs, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and another shit load of projects) and the new comer Casey McPherson, (who I didn't knew shit about).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="142"] Nice, nice[/caption]

So yeah the cover is awesome, the line-up seems really interesting, but how is the actual album?

Well let's get into the real stuff.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="341"] How can I say this?[/caption]

For this I will give a little introduction about my experience listening to Neal Morse's music, and that is that: I don't like Neal Morse's music, I only like Transatlantic, and that's the only project of him that I really loved, Testimony, Testimony 2 and all of his other projects and solo albums I... just... don't... like...them. I don't know why, I don't like them , I don't hate his music but I just don't like it, I just don't think that his music is that good. And no, it's not because he makes Christian music, I think it's because his music is just too happy, cheerful ,mellow and one-dimensional for me, and I'm sorry but his lyrics are really REALLY cliché. His instrumental pieces are really good (for example in Sola Scriptura, if that album was only instrumental progressive music, it would be a masterpiece!) but I don't know, when he starts to sing, everything falls apart for me. And on top off that, I really don't like Neo-Progressive Rock, why? I honestly cannot answer you that, besides Marillion I don't like any Neo-Prog bands.

So with that little confession I just made, you're probably wondering that I completely hated this album and this project.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="299"] And the answer is: No[/caption]

I got to say that I like the album, is really interesting. A lot of styles, a lot of genres and a lot of good songs in just one album.

Now that I'm going to actually start the review of the album, there's another thing that I have to say: This is not a Progressive Rock album, if you're expecting good old Progressive Rock you are not going to find it here, the first song and the last song are the only ones that you could call them Progressive Rock, the rest of them are... let's call them Mixed Rock. It's interesting because the premise of this band was: "Neal Morse and a bunch of Progressive Rock masterminds with a Pop singer"  and I thought that was really interesting because I always thought that Neal Morse's music was kinda Pop-ish. So, in a way you can call this album Pop Rock, if you think that's too offensive you can call it Mixed Rock. I call it a Mixed Rock album because every song almost belongs to a different genre and that was the thing that I really like about the album.

Now let's get into the album.

1.- Blue Ocean: Classic Neal Morse prog song, happy, cheerful, mellow, with a high and catchy chorus and lyrics that are just Ok.

2.- Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Nice Hard Rock song, simple, with one strong solid riff and a good guitar  solo, and that's pretty much it.

3.- Kayla: This one starts with a little folk passage and then it becomes a happy rock ballad, the song is meeeh, the chorus is just too simple it could have been a great chorus but something was missing there.

4.- The Storm: This one is a great song, really effectively emotional, the chorus is really powerful and the singing is amazing, it would make a really good radio hit.

5.- Forever In a Daze: This one is really cool, good old Funk Rock, not a masterpiece but really cool thought.

6.- Love Is What I'm Waiting For: The first time that I hear this one, I was like, what the hell?, is this a Beatles cover?,  yeah, the first half is really Beatles-inspire, the second half is more pop rock oriented, with a really good guitar solo.

7.- Everything Changes: What the hell? a Coldplay cover? jejeje, no, but you can definitively hear the resemblance, later, the song sounds like a Dream Theater ballad, and for a moment as a classic Neal Morse ballad. It's a really good song.

8.- Better Than Walking Away: Again you can hear the heavy Coldplay resemblance here and the chorus is really Disney-Aladdin-Oriented.

9.- All Falls Down: We are getting into the Progressive Metal realm here, it sounds like mixture of Ayreon and Rhapsody of Fire.

10.- Fool In My Heart: Now we finally have it, Portnoy singing a song almost in it's entirely, why this doesn't surprise me at all. Overall it's a good blues mellow karaoke song.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="354"] There, there Portnoy, let it all out[/caption]

11.- Infinite Fire: And after all those genres, and after all those styles and mixtures  you have finally reached to: Progressive Rock. Amazing song. Powerful at the beginning, then it falls down a little bit for me in the chorus and in the first two verses but the bass is amazing here. And then in 4:40 we finally get into the real stuff, here you have Progressive Rock in flesh and blood, this passage is amazing, you can hear Genesis and can hear Yes all throw together, powerful, technical, emotional, perfect.  And finally a last ballad-Morse moment before the big eclectic finale.

And that's the album.

Overall a nice, decent, fun, solid Rock album, it's not a masterpiece and it's not going to completely blow your mind. But you're definitely going to enjoy it, it's a good listen from time to time.

I remember that someone was asking which was the best album for getting into Progressive Rock, and I have to say that this one is a good option, because technically is not Progressive Rock but it gives you a nice introduction to the genre.

These are a couple of song from the album.

The Storm



Forever In A Daze



Thanks for reading.

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Nice Self-Learning Tool for Languages: LingQ (Review)

So the other day I was just checking out videos about languages in YouTube, and I found this guy.



His name is Steve Kaufman, and he is the founder of a Self-Learning Language Online community called LingQ, he also makes nice videos talking about language learning, if you are interested in this you can check out his channel.



I became really interested about this LingQ community so I decided to join in, is free so you don't have to worry about money, well if you want a premium account you have to pay, anyway, LingQ uses the Liberal Method that I already described in a previous post, so you know, it's a nice community for you to start learning a new language. The languages that they have available for their community are English, Japanese, Dutch, French, Russian, German, Italian, Chinese and Spanish and a few more.



Now I'm not being payed for talking about LingQ or anything, no, I just  found this website, I thought it was really interesting and I decided to share it with you.

What I really like about LingQ is that they have a lot of audio media for you to listen in your target language, always remember: Listen, is the most important part of learning any language and sometimes is really hard to find audio media for you to listen, yeah, you found books, you found magazines, but always remember, listening is the MOST important part, and if you don't have audible media, you're missing the most important part. The audio files in LingQ are easy to download, they're in mp3 format and you can be listening to them in your MP3P, LingQ actually encourages you to do this.

One thing that I didn't like, is the actual LingQ process of learning new words, it's a little tedious for me, to start selecting the words that I don't know, I'm the supporter of the idea that it's not really effective to learn new vocabulary without context that you can see right there. So I always prefer to read a lot, than memorize one for one the words that I don't know. Other thing that I didn't like is that there are just a few text translations of the text in the lesson, sometimes you have a sentence that you don't understand, you can check out the meaning of each word but sometimes that doesn't help because you still don't understand what it actually means within the text, so you try to check it out on the text translation and oh surprise, there's no text translation, and that's a little bit bothering, I don't know how it is in English but there are not too many translations in Spanish.

A useful tool is the Incomplete Text exercise or Cloze text exercise in the Vocabulary menu, that one is really helpful. A quick advice, if you have the free account, you can only choose 100 LingQ, that's your limit, if you reach it, you have to erase some.

Another advice about listening jejejeje: When you enter the Library you will find numerous podcast of your target language, when you enter to them, you'll find at the left the text of that podcast for you to read, and in the right you'll find the actual audio podcast for you to listen. My advice is: listen, do not read. Ignore the text and just hit play and listen, listen and listen. Do this like four times and then you read, and then you highlight the words that you don't know, LingQ will tell you the meaning and then you listen again a few more times.

There's also an Skype-way of having conversations with tutors of the target language in the target language that you're learning, I haven't try it yet, but when I do, I'll tell you about it. You can also send written works in the target language so people that know the language can check out your grammar and correct you if you made any mistakes.

So overall is a really nice Language community and you should definitively check it out.

http://www.lingq.com/

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Arch/Matheos - Sympatethic Resonance Review

I must admit that I completely underestimated this album, and that is coming from a Fates Warning fan. I don't know what was I thinking: I wanted it to be good, but something in my subconscious told me that it was going to be bad or not that good. Especially since Jim Matheos hasn't been part of a big project for a long LONG time, except for OSI that I don't like very much. The last album with Fates Warning was in 2004 and Twist of Fate with John Arch was in 2003. The same with John Arch, no, John Arch was in worse conditions, he hasn't made an album since his Fates Warning years in 1986  and an EP in 2003.  I was exited by the idea of the album but skeptical at the same time.

Man that I was so SO wrong

[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignnone" width="300"] Shelter me my asylum, SHELTEEEER MEE[/caption]

Sympathetic Resonance is easily the most balanced Progressive Metal album that I've heard in years. This is Progressive Metal at it's purest state. All the pieces fit together incredibly. The solos, the harmonies, the vocals, the lyrics, the drums, everything fits perfectly and it feels natural, they're not trying to be pretentious, they're not desperately trying to do new things. They just stick with their true genre and did what they do best. This album made me remember why I used to call Jim Matheos the Father of Progressive Metal.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="220"] That's right, The FATHER of Progressive Metal[/caption]

He truly is, and now I can say it without any doubt. I said that this album is Progressive Metal at it's purest state because if you listen to it, is Heavy Metal with Progressive arrangements and structures, that was what Progressive Metal was all about in the beginning. No synthesizer, No overlong keyboards solos, No woaaa woaaaa (cauf cauf Rudess cauf), No symphonic theatrical sounds. Just two amazing guitarist, one of the greatest bass players ever, a bad ass drummer,  and an incredible singer who's voice  is still in perfect shape after all this years.

I was completely amazed of Arch voice, it has change, but now is way more unique , it still has that Bruce Dickinson feel but more high and operatic than ever.

This is the song that made me fall in love with Arch's voice, amazing song



His style is still intact and his voice has change for the better



I said that this album is balanced because all the songs are perfect, there are no bad, slow or transitional songs, all of them are solid, bad ass, with unique and original riffs and solos, great lyrics and if you were a fan of Progressive Metal in the mid 80's it'll definitely throw you back.

I completely love this album, I think that possibly is going to become one of my favorite albums of all time. This project was amazing and I'm so exited of what they're going to do next. I heard that a new Fates Warning album is going to be release this year :D and after this I just can't wait.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"] 7 years guys, 7 years[/caption]

I don't know of this is going to become a Black Sabbath / Heaven or Hell thing. When they are with Alder is going to be Fates Warning and when they are with Arch is going to be Arch/Matheos? Jejejeje I really don't know.

Too bad that Mark Zonder is not in any of these projects :(

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] Where are you hiding Mark ?[/caption]

Bottom line, the album is absolutely amazing and you must check it out, fresh Progressive Metal at it's finest.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="aligncenter" width="300"] And another thing, if you absolutely hated this album, you just don't like Progressive Metal, I'm sorry but is as simple as that.[/caption]

Here are two amazing songs of the album:

On The Fence



Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me)



Thanks for reading.

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Language Learning

I will dedicate this category of the blog for language learning, I'm going to start a little experiment with a new language teaching method that I'm developing right now.



I make this method using the Assimil and Pimsleur philosophy and also combining the teaching philosophy of a few teachers that I had, my personal experiences  in learning languages and the philosophy of  a few polyglots that I know , loki2504 is one of them, you should definitely subscribe to him if you if you’re a language lover.



Another great youtuber in the area of languages is FluentCzech his videos are awesome  and incredibly useful



This is a webiste that I recommend alot for everyone trying to learn any language:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html

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Learning Languges: Do I need to learn grammar?

When you start investigating  methods of how to teach languages, you will soon find out that, there are these two opposite methods, these two opposite methods that are always in conflict with one an other, which are those methods?, well there’s the method that wants to teach almost the entire language as if it was a really theoretical science with a bunch of rules and with a bunch of grammatical equations like physics or like chemistry. We will call this the Conservative method, and there’s this other method way more liberal, that say’s the hell with rules, the hell with grammar,  just listen to the language, you will eventually know how to speak it, you will eventually know how to read it and all the grammar that it has, you'll learn naturally because that’s  the way that you learned you mother language. Let’s call this the Liberal Method.

And, you know, these methods are right and wrong at the same time, what these two methods don’t realize is that they’re both complementary to each other. Learning the language just with a bunch of rules, with a lot of vocabulary without context, you know, learning it as a really strict science, is not effective, if you just learn the language theoretically you will fail at the moment that you start a conversation, because you don’t really know how people actually speak, you don’t know their common day expressions you don’t know the rhythm of a conversation , and besides of that, the Conservative Method is a truly boring method you will never learn to completely speak a language if you learn it as a science, you can apply this method in the really advance stages of your learning, but do not start with learning every single grammatical rule, there are important rules that you should know right from the beginning, but do not focus in the more advance rules at the beginning of your learning, focus on the simple ones.

And there’s this other method that says, screw grammar, you don’t need it, you don’t need it at the early stages just listen to the language, you will eventually know how to speak it, you will eventually know how to read it and all the grammar that it has, you'll learn naturally because that’s  the way that you learned your mother language.

Yeah is not as simple as that, you need grammar, simple grammar, the simplest grammar ever, but you need grammar,  once that you’re familiar with the really really basic grammar you can procede to the 4 stages which are: Listen, Speak, Read, Write.

Now the great objection that this method has against grammar is the following: You don’t need grammar, because when you were a little baby you naturally learn how to speak your mother language without grammar or without rules, just listen and speak, and that’s how you will learn any other language.

You know that is actually true, except for the final part, “and that’s how you will learn any other language” mmm not exactly, you learned you mother language that way, because you were in the adequate environment to learn it. Every person that you were in contact with, spoke that language, you were listening to that language all the time, you we’re in contact with that language 24/7, and that language was the only way to truly communicate with other people.

Now that I’ve said that, the Liberal Method might actually work if you, for example I’m learning French right now, and the Liberal Method might work for me if I go to France or to Belgium and I stay there for maybe 6 months or a year. I’m sure that if I do that, the Liberal Method will work, I’m going to be in contact with French all the time, I’ll be listening to francophone people all the time and I’ll eventually know how to speak it fluently, I’ll eventually know how to read it, and how to write it. But my point is that you need to be in an environment where you will be in contact with that language all the time.  And if you don’t have this environment you will not learn a language by this method, or maybe you will but it’ll take you decades or even more.

But there is something that it’s absolutely correct about this method, this method strongly encourages you to listen to the language. And that’s the most important thing that you have to do when you’re learning a new language, listen to that language.  You need to listen to that language a lot. Because a the end of the day, a language is an spoken way of communication, you can also write it, of course, but  what is the most common way of communication that you use in your daily life, spoken communication,  you speak with people, that’s the most common way to communicate, and what do you need to speak with people? Know how to speak their language , and how will you learn how to speak, their language?, you listen to that language!

So with that little rant that I just made, you’re probably wandering: okay, but, what’s your point? , which one of these methods is the correct method?

I think that the correct method is the combination of these two methods, why do I think that? Because that was the way that I learned English, with these two methods combine.

You see I listen to a lot of English, because all of the English speaking media  that was around my country: all the video games, all the music, all the films, all the TV, and I learn English grammar in school and that’s it. The grammar that I learn in school was grammar that I could’ve easily learned in just one year. It was simple grammar, but that simple grammar made me understand a lot of English. So your question is why do I need grammar? Because if you study the common grammar of the language, you’ll learn that language so much faster, you will understand it so much faster, you will save years of learning with the Liberal Method if you just stop for a second, and you know, check out the common grammar of that language, and if you apply this two methods together you will learn a language in a fast and effective way.



And for that reason, I created a Language Learning page on this blog, where I'm going to put useful stuff for learning languages and also, try to develop my own teaching/learning method.

Thanks for reading :)

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Eklegein Pt.2: La Primera Filosofia

La Primera Filosofia

Al prinicipio solo existia, existe y existira el Caos, el comienzo, el pasado, el presente y el futuro de todo, el Caos existio, ha existido y siempre existira, nosotros somos los hijos del Caos y mediante el Caos, descubrimos nuestra razon de ser.
Somos sus habitantes y deberiamos de agradecerle, el creo todo lo que vemos, todo lo que sentimos, le debemos nuestra vida, aunque pagarselo sea imposible, imposible tal vez no sea alcanzar lo inalcazable.
El Caos existe pero no es lo unico que existe, no es lo unico en nuestra realidad, algo nacio del caos, una nueva fuerza que descendio de el ,su mas grande progenitor, la hija directa y la madre directa de todo.
Con el nacimiento de la naturaleza, patrones empezaron a emerger, viviendo en un mundo caotico. La amalgacion entre naturaleza y caos creo el mundo y la realidad en la que vivimos.
La amalgacion de la naturaleza y el caos creo la vida.
Fue en esta amalgacion impotente y trascendental en donde la tercera y ultima fuerza nacio, los bastardos de la naturaleza y el caos surguimos, fue aqui en donde Luca nacio.

El naciemiento de la vida debio de haber sido un proceso demasiado gracioso y demasiado anti-ortodoxo para las cosas que se veian en ese tiempo, el nacimiento de organismos capaz de recraerse asi mismos, habitar e interactuar con este mundo creado. Capaces de interactuar con la naturaleza que los creo y con el Caos en el que viven. El proposito de vivir es vivir, eso era algo que los primeros portadores de vida entendian bien, y para vivir necesitaban sobrevivir. Y la mejor manera de hacer esto, era mediante el simple y hermoso instinto de supervivencia, y aquel que lo supiese usar mejor iba a vivir mejor y mas. Pero ellos tambien sabian, que vivir no era suficiente, tambien tenian que trascender. El enemigo mas grande de los seres humanos o mejor dicho, de todas las especies vivas, es el tiempo, el tiempo es la muerte.
Los primeros organismos sabian esto, tenian que derrotar su tiempo de alguna forma, dejar su huella en el mundo que habitaron antes de que fuera demasiado tarde, de alguna manera pasar algo de ellos mismos hacia la siguiente generacion que cada vez esta mas cerca. Y es ahi, donde ellos tuvieron la brillante idea de la reproduccion y con eso, aseguraban su inmortalidad para las siguientes generaciones por venir, con eso vencian a la muerte. Entonces, el esquema de la inmortalidad surgio porfin, este esquema era sencillo y solo consistia en 4 pasos: Nacer, Sobervivir, Reproducirse y Morir, ese era el esquema para su inmortalidad. Y con eso nuestros microscopicos ancestros habian creado toda esta sabia filosofia, habian desarrollado todo este conocimiento simplemente mediante el insitnto de sobrevivir, esta fue realmente la Primera Filosofia.

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Eklegein Pt.1: Las 2 Maneras de Vivir la VIda

Trascinmanencia

Eklegein es el proceso de la lluvia que he creado consciente y subconscientemente, un manifesto el cual me ayudara o me hara todo mas dificil, buscando la constante a la que me aferro, no es mi unica manera, hay miles, esto me liberara o me destruira, si es que hay alguna diferencia, los meteoros que caeran han estado flotando es este espacio por mucho tiempo y es hora de impacten en mi tabula rasa, lo que realizare es un pequeño experimento de perspectiva, todos concordaran conmigo, nadie concordara conmigo, pero no importa, lo que me he asignado va mas alla de mi o ellos, lo que me asignado va hacia mi o ellos, por que solo hay dos maneras en que alguien pueda vivir una existencia. Vivir para nosotros mismos, o para la vida y lo demas. Esa es la decision que tomamos aqui. Que al final de los dias concluiras que esas dos se unifican en el proceso mas fundamental e imaginable. De cualquier manera que se eliga vivir, se debe de hacer en su posible totalidad, ya que si no vivimos una posible totalidad aqui, puede que jamas la podamos vivir, o tal vez simplemente debamos seguir esa totatilidad sin la mas minima idea si podemos alcanzarla o no, la pregunta eterna con la respuesta infinita, la colision de esa pregunta y esa respuesta es lo que llamo vida.

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