Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Stuck in My Head

Finally, I've gotten a song other than "Spaceman" stuck in my head. Of course, the song's name is "Astronaut". I don't know what my current obsession with celestial travelers is all about, but it is a gorgeous song, is it not? There really is something awfully poetic about astronauts that most people don't really think about. I mean, the word 'astronaut' literally means 'star sailor'. It doesn't get more poetic than that. Just think - you're in love with someone who's high above everyone, striving for the farthest point they can see, taking the ultimate risk for science, for knowledge...sailing through the stars...
Can you see me getting all starry-eyed over here?
The thing is, so few people think of science as being poetic or beautiful. They think of mad scientists, destroying the world, or at the very least, cold, Vulcan-like, morally questionable government men in lab coats and goggles, testing bombs or cutting up unicorns. In truth, though, science and art aren't incompatible.  Both are ways of looking at the world, peeling back the layers, learning about things. Art is just more concerned with expressing, portraying, examining the world as is, while science is concerned with revealing the world, finding new things, and figuring out how it works. Both are beautiful, and both are tied into the pursuit of knowledge, which is a high virtue.
Besides, one of the best things about science is that it finds so many new things for art to depict.

I recently bought a song book of Amanda Palmer songs, and I am learning to play "Astronaut" on the piano. I think I want to be Amanda Palmer when I grow up. Just add that to my list of occupations, okay?
Writer, seamstress, neurologist, punk cabaret pianist...



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