Music Review - Handle Bars

For my music review, I choose a popular song, but I feel is still sort of hidden. It's called 'Handlebars' by Flobots from the album Fight with Tools.

Immediately, the song starts off with what seems a playful boasting, "I can ride my bike with no handlebars," but it seems to escalate to some more complex things that still seem something one might be able to do. Then it takes a dramatic turn and the song portrays the power a single individual can have and how it's up to that individual to decide how he manages this power, 

"I can hand out a million vaccinations or have 'em all die from exasperation."

For me, it's all about the individual and how he/she has enough power and potential to change how the world is and not necessarily in a good way.

The vocals are what drives the song, seemingly it starts out innocently with what might seem like some kid showing off and the voice gets powerful when the issues turn serious, almost to the point of yelling. The instrumentals are also very adequate to the song and add to the strong message it succeeds in portraying, increasing in dynamic when the vocalist gets to the stronger message and decreasing to almost nothing when it's just showing off.

The message is incredible and haunting and it's one song I always find myself coming back to. Easily 10/10.

My Winter Poem

On Christmas

Deep within the entity of Christmas

Within the wintry jingles

And the cartoon specials,

Within the bright lights

And crushed expectations on Christmas morning,

Within the commercialization

And the jolly red goliath created to crush the common man

Within all this,

Lies the spirit

Of what Christmas really is,

The warmth of togetherness

and the love that shines through,

Which all the materialism in the world

Cannot hope to vanquish

The Great Escape

When Catcher in the Rye came out it was met by a wave of disapproval from parents and was a target for censors, many parents would not agree with the rebellious nature of Holden. Many parents felt that it would be a negative impact on kids, perhaps inspiring rebellion.Today, it's highly revered and sells over 250,000 copies a year. The view on the book doesn't seem to have changed much, there will always be people who fight for censorship and those who fight against it. Older reviews seem to show a favorable disposition but people felt that it was a bit monotonous, Holden always seemed to be saying or doing the same stuff.

Well it seems the reason that J.D Salinger became a hermit because he was trying to protect himself from the people who felt it was their right to have more books from him, he's trying to protect his privacy.Many have tried to seek out J.D Salinger and so he sought recluse for himself, which the people in his community seem to respect.

In popular culture, Holden can be found anywhere. More recently, there was a whole South Park episode which argued that people were reading too much into Catcher in the Rye and has inspired numerous songs. If you hear or look around you're probably going to find some reference to Holden.

Holden

We've talked quite a lot about Holden and have delved into his mind to further understand him. We know that he doesn't like phonies and appreciates things that are more real, like the books by his brother D.B, before he went into Hollywood. He holds a deep resentment for the movies, they make a person believe  He blames society for this at times, giving too much credit to those that they believe are good, the person doesn't understand when they're good or not like Ernie or the people in the play.

Holden is very lonesome and in a difficult time of his life, when he gets off the train he's at a loss for who to call. It seems that no one's there for him and in a difficult time for him too, he's constantly thinking about suicide and is depressed.

Holden sees himself as a protector of that which is corrupt, he protects the people he's placed up in his pedestal and tries to preserve them. When he's at the museum, he thinks to himself that some things should stay like the things behind the glass windows, unchanged. For this reason, I think he gets really 'peculiar' when Sunny says "like fun you are," I feel that he's reminded of innocence and going through with it would be corrupting the very innocence he stands for. The very same things happen when Stradlater goes out with Jane, he gets angry and nervous for Jane and feels it his duty to protect her. I also think this is why Allie's important to him, Allie's death caused him to be unchanged by society, they didn't get to ridicule him for his baseball mitt with the poems and so he was preserved in Holden's mind.

My Red Hunting Hat

Literally, a red hunting hat is used to distinguish yourself from the deer so that the other hunters won't mistake and shoot you, well let's move into the metaphorical meaning.
Holden finds pride in his wearing his hat, it's something that has become a part of who he is, feeling like some sort of hunter among the phonies or to let the 'real' people know he's there or maybe looking for those who don't "fake" their way around life. I feel that he also uses it when he's had a shift in emotions or thoughts, such as when he playfully held Stradlater in a half-nelson or when he felt nervous about Stradlater going out with Jane Gallagher. It's almost like a 'tell', an action (even a minuscule one) that people can use to know that you're lying.

Another interpretation to the hunting hat is an item that brings Holden some level of safety, maybe feeling that he has more power than he really does. In this case, everyone might have their own hunting hat, some charm, item or even thought that makes them feel in control.

I can't say that I'm too sure what my own red hunting hat is maybe it's the smile you use to distinguish yourself to people, to let them know that you're a friend or a frown to let people know 'I'm not in the mood to deal with you". It's not my best interpretation so enjoy this hat instead.