Johannes Schult

While the first three parts where actually bogus and solely for entertainment purposes, the following two recommendations are serious, possibly helpful for non-statisticians, too – and actually free.

• A very helpful software tool for data entry is EpiData. If you are working with manual data input (e.g., questionnaire data) you should definitely check it out – unless, of course, you already know (and use) it.
• The Firefox extension is Zotero is capable of collecting, managing, and citing research sources. It rivals common citation software, not only because it is free, but also because it is very easy to handle. I got to know Zotero just two days ago – thanks to Biddy for the hint – and felt at home with its usage in a matter of minutes.

When I switched to WordPress some time ago I created a blogroll (to be found in the right side), basically because it was the default setting. Ever since I have the feeling that every blog I link to becomes rather inactive. By now there’s only a couple of blogs left which are updated on a somewhat regular basis. The rest remains dormant, if not dead. I don’t think this has much to do with me linking to them. Maintaining a blog requires a certain amount of dedication and content. Still, I’m hesitant to add new links to the list. But then again, what would the internet be without links? The internets? The nets? The islands?

Prophylaktisch habe ich mir ein Twitter-Profil eingerichtet. In welcher Form ich es nutzen werde, kann ich im Moment noch nicht sagen. Heute erscheinen übrigens die neuen Alben von Neal Morse (christlicher Progressive Rock) und Van Canto (A-Cappella-Metal), beide sehr hörenswert.

It’s difficult to find the right words to describe my attitude towards do-it-yourself musicians who embraced the internet and get some exposure they couldn’t possibly have gotten way back when. Sure, the mainstream is still there with over-priced albums and mass media advertising. Just go to your local mall and look at it yourself. No need to write about it. But what’s with the sullen one-man-bands out here? Not all of them are good. Few achieve professional recording quality. None produces an epic masterpiece like Mike Oldfield’s “Music of the Spheres”.

Still, there’s plenty of great artists out there who have realized that locking up the music won’t help their mission. My latest discovery is Scott Andrew. He’s making acoustic pop that, at times, reminds me of R.E.M., yet sounds merrier. Stumbling across his homepage, I found an inviting virtual place. I immediately felt encouraged to check out his music and liked what I heard. The songs didn’t leave me speechless, but the light atmosphere and the charismatic voice sounded good.

I could have left it at that. If a musician offers his songs for free on his homepage he must be stupid and doesn’t deserve any (financial) support, right? Wrong. Scott sells his latest cd “Save You From Yourself” for 8 US$ (if you signed up on his mailing list/demo club). So I just bought it. It felt right. The album arrived today. It looks good, sounds great, and beats 98% of the current German charts.

For the first time some of my music has been featured in a podcast, namely the latest show of Jawbone Radio. (Around 2:30 and at the very end.) Thanks to Len and Nora!

This is my entry for the first round of the Song Fu #2 competition over at QuickstopEntertainment.com. It’s 100% werewolf-free, which is kind of remarkable, because the task was to write a song about the moon. Please visit the link above and check out the competition; vote for whoever you think deserves it most – hopefully for me. Note that there are Song Fu Challengers (including me) and Song Fu Masters; you may vote once in each group.

My friend Robert made a post in the NP.de-forum back in 2002, stating that the moon was made of cheese. I had always wanted to turn this idea into a song, so now was the perfect opportunity. I toyed around with some other ideas (some involving werewolves) and I even made a song called The First Monkey on the Moon; but the narrative of that song lacked an adequate flow; plus, the story was (apparently) a lame imitation of (Song Fu Master) Jonathan Coulton. I’ll post that one in the near future, anyway. But back to my actual entry: I recorded it last Tuesday and Wednesday. First came the rhythm track and a whole bunch of keyboard sounds. Next, I recorded some rather heavy electric guitars. That was possibly a mistake, but the deadline was on Wednesday. So I just added some acoustic guitar and, of course, the vocals, before I mixed and posted the song. I’m aware that the vocals are very loud. I made that decision, because the lyrics are an integral part of the challenge. They’re posted below; the Dogma reference was in there early on (as I’m a big fan of former QuickstopClerk Kevin Smith), whereas the Coulton reference came at the eleventh hour. Oh, and I added some handclaps! No ukulele, sorry. But hey, if I manage to move on to round two (i.e., if you all vote for me), I might use it, eventually.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

Aliens in Nevada, magic crystal balls
Superstitious cargo cults, creepy voodoo dolls
Friday, the 13th, absolution of sins
Some believe that science holds an answer to everything

Some believe in fate and some in love
And some believe in God above
Some believe in cover-up conspiracies
And I believe that the moon is made of cheese
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all

Flying Spaghetti Monsters, a talisman as guide
Santa Claus and horoscopes, love at first sight
Nessie in the water, Catholicism Wow!
Some believe that mankind will survive this all somehow

Some believe in blue and some in red
And there are some who believe that Paul is dead
Some believe they know who killed the Kennedys
And I, I believe that the moon is made of cheese
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all
No doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt: the moon is made of cheese

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

Brian V wrote:

You know, I thought that I could listen to this song at work.

I thought I had the self control to enjoy any Jonathan Coulton song in the style of Paul and Storm with dignity, poise and silence.

I was horribly mistaken.

He is, of course, referring to Jonathan Coulton’s entry for Song Fu Round 2; and his words capture the essence of it all perfectly. So no need for me to explain to you the greatness and grace of this incredible piece of (f)art.

Last Saturday I saw Jonathan Coulton live at the Highline Ballroom. The concert was awesome! There were a lot of unknowns for me before the show, but pretty much all my expectations were easily surpassed. The setlist speaks for itself, I guess. The first three songs paved the way for many more cool pop songs. I think the audience was as attentive as it was enthusiastic. The folks on stage (JoCo and at times Paul and Storm, Kristen Shirts and her Ukulele Army) apparently had fun and all was good. A more detailed report in German is online at Vampster.com. Thanks to Mitch for taking the picture below!

1. The Future Soon
2. Ikea
3. Shop Vac
4. Flickr
5. Tom Cruise Crazy
6. Soft Rocked by Me
7. Birdhouse in Your Soul
8. Code Monkey
9. My Monkey
10. Creepy Doll
11. I Feel Fantastic
12. Mr. Fancy Pants
13. I Crush Everything
14. Skullcrusher Mountain
15. Still Alive
16. You Ruined Everything
17. Re: Your Brains
18. First of May
19. Sweet Caroline
20. Mandelbrot Set
21. Welcome to the Machine
22. Curl
23. A Talk with George

Wenn man dieser Tage nicht aufpasst, wird man rücksichtslos von Fußball-Nachrichten erschlagen. Erschreckend finde ich dabei immer wieder die unglaubliche Inhaltslosigkeit. Gerade eben erst bin ich auf Tagesschau.de über folgende Aussage gestolpert:

Polen will bei seiner EM-Premiere für eine Überraschung sorgen.

Im Zusammenhang ist damit natürlich der Siegeswille der Mannschaft gemeint. Für sich genommen ist der Satz aber viel unterhaltsamer. Zumindest male ich mir gerade allerlei Ãœberraschungen aus. Natürlich wird es keine Ãœberraschungen geben, nur ganz viel Blabla danach – und hier oder da Jubel. Oder nur Blabla, wenn es 0:0 ausgeht. Zum Glück bin ich die meiste Zeit über im nicht-EM-Ausland und bekomme das alles – einschließlich der drögen Berichterstattung – nur am Rande mit.

Ich lese lieber die Meldungen über die sich abzeichnenden Konsequenzen der Ölabhängigkeit der Industrienationen, deren Regierungen und Bevölkerungen immer noch nicht einen Weg weg vom Öl eingeschlagen haben. Solche Nachrichten machen mich zwar nicht fröhlich, geben mir aber zumindest das befriedigende Gefühl, Recht zu behalten.

Not only is Richard Shindell a fantastic songwriter and a great singer. He also made a nice move recently, when he decided to finance his new record with a little help (i.e., money) from his fans. I like the wit with which he approached the issue and wait with anticipation for the album to be made. After all, the first four new songs I’ve heard so far sound very promising.