Word Rhyming Is An Equivalence Relation

physics is scary what the hell is the Riemann zeta function doing in the equation for the critical temperature of a Bose-Einstein condensate

His Famous Last Words: Billy Joel’s River of Dreams

From the first few chords of “No Man’s Land” to the fade-out at the end of “Famous Last Words”, this album is entirely unlike anything else I’ve ever heard. Heck, it’s unlike Billy Joel. He made a name for himself as the Piano Man—twenty years after that iconic breakout single, he made an album with barely a hint of piano on it and pretty much disappeared so that he could give new musicians a chance to be heard. And he didn’t come back until he had a truly worthwhile song to share.

Now, he’d seen his share of style changes over the years—look at Glass Houses or even The Bridge. But if those albums were a slow shuffle away from his piano-oriented roots, River of Dreams was a flying leap as he traded his trademark baby grand for overdriven guitars. But under this grittier rock sound, it really still feels like a Billy Joel album.

In my mind, no song handles better this fusion of the new sound with Billy’s signature lyrical style and themes than “No Man’s Land”. Despite its obviously rock sound, it is in many ways a thematic successor to The Stranger’s opening track, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”. The two songs handle the a very similar sense of disillusionment and uncertainty, as well as the idea that you shouldn’t take what you’re told at face value. To the average listener, this is a shockingly punk rock sentiment to hear from a pop-oriented singer-songwriter, especially as blatant as it is in “No Man’s Land”. But I feel like this theme returning is a wonderful way to close the book on his career as a (probably unintentional) callback.

But that’s just it—this is his final album. He stepped back from music after River of Dreams. This whole album has a sense of finality about it; Billy has always been a storyteller more than just about any songwriter I’ve ever seen, and he seems to have done everything in his power to make his last big story (at least for now) great. For that reason, I find this album thematically akin to Turnstiles. Both deal with moving on and change, though in very different ways. That’s why—to me, anyway—this album seems so fitting as a goodbye. The drastically different styles present here fit and compliment the overall theme of change.

This is all pulled together by the final track, “Famous Last Words”. It’s a slow-paced, easygoing song exploring the prospect of change through the shift from summer into fall, ultimately using this as a metaphor for the end of Billy’s musical career. But it looks to this uncertain future with a feeling of safety and contentment, secure in the knowledge that good things must be somewhere up the road. It’s similar to “Vienna” in that way, as it’s also about accepting the future not with dread but with a willingness to go at your own speed and enjoy the scenery while you’re there.

I’d consider “Famous Last Words” to be among the greatest closing tracks ever—probably topped only by “The Long One” on the Beatles’ Abbey Road. It closes the record with every bit of strength with which “No Man’s Land” opened it, though in an entirely different way. With a track like this as his last true song for so many years, I think “Turn the Lights Back On” wasn’t the perfect single to release; it was the only one that could follow this song in theme, quality, and lyrics. In fact, I would count “Turn the Lights Back On” as almost a coda to River of Dreams because of this.

In the end, though, I think what River of Dreams represents most to me is an artist who wanted to leave a good legacy in terms of his work. From start to finish, it feels like Billy gave this record his all, and I have nothing but respect for any musician who decides to step back when they feel they have nothing left to say at the moment. Not to mention the fact that his decision to stop making new albums every few years most likely gave him time to really buckle down and get to breaking that record for longest residency at Madison Square Garden. Between the aforementioned residency and the clear care and effort put into both River of Dreams and “Turn the Lights Back On”, it seems that Billy Joel has a level of dedication to both his music and his fans that I greatly respect. If he were to make another full-length record, this precedent is enough to show me that it would very likely be a worthwhile one.

Some doodles to mark 5 years of The Owl House, because I may be at work but I've gotta commemorate it somehow

"A Lying Witch and a Warden" premiered 5 years ago, on January 10, 2020. The episode was scripted by Dana Terrace (Tiny Nose):

directed by Stephen Sandoval (Mr. Sandoval):

with story by Dana Terrace, Rachel Vine (Viney), John Bailey Owen (Jerbo), and Zach Marcus (Barcus), and teleplay by Dana Terrace and Rachel Vine:

and storyboarded by Bosook Coburn (Bo), Catherine Harman-Mitchell (Cat), Stephen Sandoval, and Dana Terrace:

Yes, if you hadn't caught on yet, they all have self-inserts in the show.

Thanks for creating this universe!

blood is not kosher

assuming vampires breathe, and are therefore alive, what do they do

AU where the odyssey takes place entirely in ikea

My favorite genre of self-portrait is cartoonists being bothered by their characters while trying to draw

Bill Watterson – Calvin and Hobbes (1986)

Hergé – Tintin (1947, Tintin Magazine)

Albert Uderzo – Asterix (the cover of Uderzo l'Irreductible (2018), but originally much older)

Jeff Smith – Bone (1993, Bone Holiday Special)

Walt Kelly – Pogo (1950, Maclean's Magazine)

And a bonus:

Berkeley Breathed – Bloom County

My favorite genre of self-portrait is cartoonists being bothered by their characters while trying to draw

Bill Watterson – Calvin and Hobbes (1986)

Hergé – Tintin (1947, Tintin Magazine)

Albert Uderzo – Asterix (the cover of Uderzo l'Irreductible (2018), but originally much older)

Jeff Smith – Bone (1993, Bone Holiday Special)

Walt Kelly – Pogo (1950, Maclean's Magazine)

And a bonus:

Berkeley Breathed – Bloom County

Based on context clues I've put a green dot where I kinda think Tom's house might be. They come out of the forest, which can be seen from Tom's west window, and they saw the downs to the east of his house. And then there's this bit:

By his advice they decided to make nearly due North from his house, over the western and lower slopes of the Downs: they might hope in that way to strike the East Road in a day's journey, and avoid the Barrows.

The yellow arrow is the journey they're hoping to make today :]

Thoughts on the phrase ‘Knowledge is power’, and on learning ‘enough’ about a skill/topic before doing a project about it

I’ve thought for a long time about the phrase ‘Knowledge is power’, and have lived most of my life aware of the negative impact of ignorance and lack of knowledge on our lives. But the more I think about it, I feel like a better phrase would be ‘It is the application of knowledge that brings true wisdom and power’. Knowledge can only help us to a certain extent - what is the point of knowledge, if we’re unable to utilise it well, and if we’re not strong or able to apply knowledge into our lives? It requires both strength and wisdom to be able to apply what we’ve learnt into real life.

This is kind of linked to a conversation I had with someone recently.

During that conversation, they told me that they prefer learning everything - or learning enough - before starting a project, because they were afraid of failure or messing things up along the way. I feel like that’s something many people do, but by doing that, they’re overlooking the importance of learning from experience and failure. Learning the theoretical knowledge, and trying to retain all the knowledge you gain, is helpful - but what is not helpful is NOT doing the project, NOT learning to apply your knowledge into life or into ongoing problems because you believe you aren’t ‘ready’ or that you don’t know ‘enough’ to do the project.

It is important to enhance your ability to apply your knowledge in creative ways in real life to deal with complex situations - and that means being able to put aside some time to apply your limited skills - be it your art skills, music skills, math skills, critical thinking skills, reflection skills, socialising skills etc. To use and learn more about your flaws and areas of improvement. Knowing is helpful, knowing theories and a methodical step by step way of solving things is useful - but being able to do things as you learn, being able to spot your mistakes and learn from them WHILE doing the project you’re doing, is so, so important.

It’s important to allow yourself the grace to make mistakes, to learn from failure, to pick yourself up, to cope with pain, guilt, anger, sadness, and grief - even if you think you aren’t ‘fully’ ready or prepared for certain things sometimes. DO that project, TRY that new activity, APPLY whatever limited knowledge you have into your life or personal goals after you’ve learnt enough to do some basic things. Of course, keep learning, do spend more time learning, but as you slowly become advanced and no longer a ‘newbie’, I hope you don’t restrict yourself in the ‘newbie’ section just because you aren’t a master, and create that new song, create that new artwork, try writing a critical review on a historical source or critical response to a philosophical argument. You might make mistakes, you might mess up a bit, but you will also learn along the way!

There are some things you can only learn through experience.

Ok, I think I yapped enough ahaha.

TLDR; While knowledge may bring power, it is the application of knowledge that brings true wisdom and strength.