Don't wanna live my life again....

Here it is, the evening of the most haunted day of the year. The eve of Samhain. The prelude to La Dia Des Los Muertes. A time when I take it upon my self to reference holidays of other people without bothering to do a spell check.
In traditional holdiay spirit I am sitting in the dark, refusing to hand out candy to the neighbor kids because they didn't bother to put on custumes. By costume I mean any item of clothing or accessory that did not wear to school today. I would've accepted a funny hat, a protractor beard or a shower cap and bathrobe. But these kids were just running door to door in street clothes. The bummer is there were probably kids in costume, but since I didn't see any I made the executive decision to keep all my candy for myself. That'll teach the little shits. Mmmmmm Butterfinger.....
Also in the traditional holiday spirit I am watching a scary movie. A movie made particularly frightening for the amount of sex being acted out by Alan Alda. This movie is called The Mephisto Waltz-I think it was made for $45 in 1970. It wasn't made for TV, if it was it would be a pretty good made for TV movie, but being a theatrical release (the studio's only for 1970-fun fact) it's about 40 shades of silly. I watched Carrie today too. And yet despite this film festival and a trip to the park I've got a few things done today. Not as many as I would hope but some. My paper that is due tomorrow is completed. I have a second listening assignment typed and awaiting my editing hand. So, I could be doing far worse. Tho, i could also have a well thought out topic for my FA paper---which I don't and it's No-fuckin-vember. And I could have my music paper in rough form-which I don't and I am planning to present on it in 2 weeks. But in doing these things I would be denying myself the joy of working under intense and stifling pressure. Pressure that is only mounted by the difficulty I've been having turning out pages of late (don't look at me like that-this doesn't count-if I were taking a course on blogging I would probably have feck all to say about myself.)
Here-since I am typing and this doesn't count I'm going to try to outline what those papers are on. And if I fail at that-I'll probably just drink and watch horror movies. The same thing I'll do if I succeed. So, see, it's win win.
ALRIGHT
Music Paper:
Americana music has a wide range of musical styles included therein. The basic context of the musical style isn't so much how it sounds but the attitude exuded by the musicians. The interaction between fan and performer in the genre of Americana is reminescent of the way country music fans used to feel about even the most popular country artists. Of course, Americana tends to sound an awful lot like the music being played by those artists, so it sholdn't come as much of a shock that the personas of traditional country singers would translate into a modern musical equivelant.
Because of this feeling that the performer is actually glad to have someone willing to listen to their music, buy their CDs and attend their shows fans become very attached to their favorite performers. Artists that have little to modest success in mainstream music have fierce and dedicagted followings. This fangroup may not be large enough to knock Big'n'Rich off the country charts but what they lack in size they make up for in their intense support of the artists.
Communication is vital for fan groups' success in spreading the gospel according to their favorite artist. The Internet has made participation in groups much easier. With that ease comes a language. As the adage goes, get 3 people trapped in an elevator when they come out they will have established traditions. I assume Alan Dundes said this, he said most things at some point, it makes him a really great answer at Folkardy-the Folkie's Jeopardy. Despite who said it, the fact remains that a group of people in regular contact develop a language and a value system that is reflective of their beliefs and taste culture. As they develop a vernacular it becomes tedius to repeat the same phrases and references over and over in correspondance and an emic shorthand is created. Along with the shorthand comes the creation of a class system, a system clearly demarkates the old timer (...five and dimer) from the new kid.
Language is a qualifier within fan culture. The educated member of the culture will be able to navigate through the esoteric terminology without issue while the person new to the group will stumble and ask questions that, to the more seasoned members, seem obvious and comical in the innocence. In order to maintain this insular quality the group will press the issue of cultural collateral to other musicians and areas of taste. An example of this is the OKOM ("Our Kind of Music") a term used to define a performer that falls within the realms of what is appreciable by the group.
As I work on the concept of fan culture as outwardly inclusive and covertly exclusive I will look at the application of terms such as this andthe way that members exert their status within the culture. Particular to this I will look at the practice of time lining fandom in order to show the length and breadth of one's dedication and how practices such as this often show the nicks in the armor of fandom. Often the most vocal among the fans are the ones with the shortest and most doubtful pedigree, like the nouveau riche they haven't yet learned the refinement necessary for successful navigation of cultural waters.
My main concentration will be on Todd Snider, whose listserv is very active and populated by a wide range of people across the fan culture spectrum. I will use other musical sites as well, possibly stepping outside of the vernacuar to explore the similar or dissimilar as the case may be habits within the Black 47/ Celtic rock fan group as a comparison and contrast.

--------------well, whaddya know, that's 2 pages right there-wonder how long it has to be anyway-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Art Paper
The way people decorate their homes is one of the most tangible reflections of sense of self in which a person can participate. The poorly kept home can represent many things, from poverty to lack of housekeeping skills to lack of imagination.The perfectly kept and decorated home is troubling for the lack of personal emotion present in the materials. Growing up, I spent many years living in construction. My parents, never comfortable being idle, and not prone to accepting that as it is is good enough, were prone to knocking down walls over the course of long weekends. Early memories are of my father asking me to check if the wiring for a light switch had been succesful by flipping the switch in my bedroom. I should add that nearly every area of the house served at some point as a bedroom, either out of necessity becuase there was nowhere else to sleep becuase of the endless construction or because my belongings had been relocated there in order to accomodate the newest architectural layout. Discussion with my family leads to the conclusion that no one is entirely sure how many different forms the house took, how many walls were torn down and put up or how many pizzas we ordered from Guiseppe's Pizza over the course of my childhood and young adulthood living in that ever changing house.
My parents designed the house themselves. My mother spent hours sketching designs and flipping through magazines and catalogues looking for inspiration. My father learned to do electrical wiring by stringing the wire and hoping nothing caught fire when electricity was sent courses through them. They're odd and brilliant people that have not quite given up on the individuality of a bohemian youth or the tendencies of frugality.
They are both educated in fields relating in some way to design and construction or engineering. Mum has a degree in design and Daddy has worked far too many years for IBM. They are detail oriented people by nature. Opposite details. Mummy will be bothered by a tzotchke misplaced on a shelf whereas Dad is unable to fathom how anyone could fail to notice that faint click every 20 minutes is the cause of a technical malfunction. Mum can describe step by step how to re-upholster a couch over the phone and Daddy can, in a manner similar to Click and Clack only without the call screening process, fix a car in the same situation. They're very useful people to know.
As their personalities may make clear their uniqueness spills over to how they decorate their home. While the house has transformed many times over the 30 year period in which they have resided their ability to incorporate the peculiar with the classy, the meaningful with the mundane and the humorous with the disturbing has been a part of their home throughout that time.
Writing this paper is part excercise in folkloristics and part family record. There is good reason to believe that they will be moving out of this house in the near future and it is important to document the things inside the place in order to create a reminder of tthe spirit of the building. I will interview my parents, a daunting task as they are parents and thus by their nature take the leadership role. I will photograph and document some of the more interesting items (the $500 fruit dish, the whisky I've never had an occasion momentous enough of which to partake, that scary mask that I SWEAR is evil but Mummy is certain is completely innocuous.) My goal is to chronical some of the more interesting belongings accumulated by my parents This is a survey rather than a study, and thus I do not feel that it is necessary to craft a hypothesis. I want a detailed accont of the interesting collections my parents have amassed and any backstory I can collect. I feel that this is useful as a record for my family, and representative of folk art. It is folk art because it is pure organization and assemblage and it expressed both emotion and aesthetics. I hope I can pull this off.

Huh. And that's 3 pages. All I really need is to add some of that-what do you call it? Illustrations? Ummm...nice but no....8x10 color glossies with arrows and a paragraph on the back? No no...Wait...wait....Oh yeah, scholarship!