Boy did I have grand plans for this one.


I was going to destroy something beautiful with a bunch of saws and film it all, and then I was going to cut all of the footage together in such a way as to make a song. Thus fulfilling both parts of the task. But as I kept trying and hitting roadblocks, I realized that the main problem was that I don't have any musical talent at all. So after a few months of struggling with a concept that would work, I got frustrated and dropped the task (with just about every musical task I had signed up for), and quickly forgot about it.

Then the subject of the task comes up again and Burn Unit proposes a duel. I agree to his conditions (remembering only that I had big plans for the task, but forgetting not only that I had dropped the task, but that I had no musical talent at all).

Upon hearing that I no longer have the task, Loki graciously gives me his. He says he wasn't going to do anything with it, so if I was, I should have his. Guh. So now, not only do I have to be good enough to duel BU, but I also have to live up to Loki standards.

Here is Burn Unit's completion of the task. Go check it out and see which you personally enjoy more. I've heard rumors that Burn Unit has "lost more duels than I have fought" but that cannot lull me into any kind of false sense of lax attitude, because Burn Unit is and always will be a winner (at least in my heart).

So the first thing I try to do is my first idea. And the first thing I attempt is to record a song using nothing but saws. I chose Good Vibrations because it's got that cool theremin part that I figure I can replicate with a bendy saw. I was wrong. In many many ways. I spent many many days working on replicating the song in a way that was recognizable (I threw out beautiful a few days into the process). I find that a lack of musical talent is a very big hinderance to the process. I hear what I want it to sound like, but have no way of realizing that vision. I tried over and over and over. Recording, re-recording, mixing. Editing. Erasing. Re-re-recording. After almost a week of constant failure, I start getting very frustrated with the process. I emailed Burn Unit asking if maybe it would be possible to push the June 12th date back, as I may not be ready in time. I try a few more times to get a good recording. And I keep failing. I've gotten much better, but still there is much failure. With two days before the deadline, I decide it just isn't going to happen. I call it quits and think up a new plan. But before we get to the new plan, I give you a very embarrassing sample of the song I was working on.


I certainly destroyed something beautiful with my terrible rendition of a beautiful song. I however did not do it beautifully.

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So my second idea, came to me quickly. I figured out how to play a few saws pretty well in the failed attempt to recreate Good Vibrations. So I decided to set up all of the saws around me and have myself a little jam session. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, having never played the drums before (well there was that one time in that play where I had to go on for an actor who missed a performance, and had to play drums, but I was coached through it and really just kept a beat).
Here is that jam session.
(it should be noted that there is nothing but saws used in the creation of the music. I'm using saws to hit other saws for all of the percussion)
It's only five minutes and it never gets monotonous.



So that certainly fulfilled the "Using a saw, make beautiful music" part. Well, actually one could argue that it wasn't beautiful, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so behold and you be the judge.

And here's one more little video of me just playing the saw and nothing else. Because I thought it sounded cool.

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And then I decided to destroy something beautiful beautifully (with a saw). This is the most beautiful photograph I took of the most beautiful woman I have known. I loved her and she never loved me. I feel it is a little bit fitting that I destroy her likeness here for this task. Now it should be noted that absolutely no disrespect is meant by this act. I do not wish to destroy the actual woman, in fact I still love her very much. This is just the most beautiful thing that I have to destroy. It's only fitting in that any possibility for a relationship we may have once had was destroyed. And now I destroy a representation of a possibility.



I will take the remains of this beautiful thing and put it in The Temple this year.