Five songs that will get you shaking that money-maker

I’m not particularly known for my moves on the dance floor. I’m usually reluctant to jump in when the music starts. But there is a handful of songs that, no matter what the occasion, will at least get my toes tapping and likely lead to an all-out dancing spree. I’m also slow to realize which songs do this to me, most of the artists on this list having earned my ridicule or ill will at one point or another (I’m an old codger at heart here, people.)

You’ll notice not a single song on this list was produced after 2009. That’s because I hit my dancing prime at the tender age of 22. Or maybe my constant state of legal inebriation during the preceding year led me to believe that’s the case. To be completely honest, I didn’t do nearly as much drinking when I turned 21 as many of my peers did, which makes this list doubly embarrassing.

I hope you enjoy the admissions made hereafter. Some of them were pretty painful to realize and put into words, which I hope translates into some sort of sick entertainment on your part.

Just do it (and don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way)

What do you want to be better at? Do you have a vision for how you want your career to look one year from today? What about five years? We’ve all got dreams and aspirations. It’s what makes us human. I’d love nothing more than to graduate from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communications, work for a mid-sized metropolitan daily newspaper for 8 or 9 years before settling into a career in games reporting. Sorry I’m so vague on details but I’m still young, ya know.

A couple of weeks ago I preached the importance of getting involved in student publications and although I feel I hit good points for aspiring journalists, there’s a piece of advice I intentionally left out because it’s  so universal.  I’m having a hard time summarizing the point of this post without sounding like a Nike ad from the ’90s. Perhaps I won’t even try.

If you want to succeed in any field there are two tips to keep in mind. The first is pretty simple: Just do it. Whatever you want to do, whether it’s be a better writer, learn to play an instrument or figure out how to take a decent photograph, the key to seeing results is to get off your ass and start working toward your goal. I know, I’ve heard this before, too. But it wasn’t until last term that I really took this advice to heart and I’m better off now because of it.

Five songs to wake you up and get you going

I like to think I’m a morning person. But the fact of the matter is that I need some coffee and really good music before I’m fit to be considered any sort of effective. As I said in last week’s Music Monday post, I can hardly function without music. Add to that my obscure wish to have a full orchestra follow me through my daily routine to provide a soundtrack and you can see how creating playlists in iTunes is pretty much the next best thing.

The five songs that follow help get me out of bed in the morning. Literally. They’re all on this playlist on my iPod titled “#getupkid.” I have the thing hooked up to a pair of speakers so that when it turns on in the morning I don’t have to wake up to a blaring alarm. I’d like to arise to some of my favorite music, thank you very much. While these aren’t the only five songs on the playlist, they’re certainly the most frequently-played.

This playlist is intended to get you doing the exact opposite of what Mr. Simpson is up to in the picture above.

Of ladies and longboards

I’m sure my Facebook friends and Twitter followers are sick of me talking about one of my favorite videos from last year. You know, the one where seven women skate down a Spanish mountain to the tune of The Decemberists’ “Rox in the Box.” I discovered that delightful piece of multimedia — and wrongly asserted its subjects were Brazilian — shortly after I saw Colin Meloy and company perform live in Bend with Those Crazy Broads.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was so compelling about the piece. Was it that I was listening nothing but The Decemberists, more specifically, The King is Dead, on a near-endless loop in my car, office and at home? What about the fact that I also knew a clan of five spunky lady friends of whom the imagery reminded me? Both were plausible reasons for my attachment to the video.

I often referred back to the clip whenever I needed a fresh bit of inspiration. On the most recent visit to this particular muse, I decided to click on the link to the Longboard Girls Crew Facebook page and was met with quite a nice surprise. As it turns out, what I had obsessed over for months was just a tease of a documentary that followed these seven women through a tour of Spain.

Stay what you are: the origins of a blog title

Music is an enormous part of my life. If you’ve seen me walking around Eugene or McMinnville — and I do this a lot — you’ll notice I usually have two white cords hanging from my ears. If we’re good friends, chances are I’ve made you a playlist or mix CD. In thinking of topics to maintain a steady stream of content for This Is Not An Exit, I’ve decided to post a music column every Monday aptly named — get ready — Music Monday. The title has everything you could possibly hope for: simplicity, alliteration and a Twitter hashtag. And what better way to kick off this new series than to tell you how I came to name this space?

Simply put, it’s the title of one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite bands (“This Is Not An Exit,” Stay What You Are, Saves the Day.) But there’s a bit more to it than that. Those who know me would agree that I’m intensely nostalgic. This has been a characteristic of mine since I can remember. When I was about 12 or 13 one of my cousins pointed out that I would begin every other sentence with, “Remember the time?” Yeah. I was that kid (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Post preview: an insight into the blog’s namesake

I'm the second from the right. Not much has changed in nearly 20 years.

I’m starting a new weekly column to keep things interesting here on This Is Not An Exit. After thinking about it, there’s no better way to start off than explaining where I got the title for the blog itself. Here are a couple of choice paragraphs from one of the longest and most personal entries to date:

Those who know me would agree that I’m intensely nostalgic. This has been a characteristic of mine since I can remember. When I was about 12 or 13 one of my cousins pointed out that I would begin every other sentence with, “Remember the time?” Yeah. I was that kid (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

This quality has its perks, particularly when your highest aspiration is to be a storyteller or pop culture reporter. You relate to the emotions anyone can feel for the people, places and things in their lives because of your own attachments. I’m guilty of being easily enthused and I attach some kind of meaning to nearly every type of media I consume.

Let’s start taking photos together

This has been a week of many firsts. It’s the first full week I’ve dedicated to the blog, first week of my tenure at Flux magazine and my first week as a bonafide journalism major at the University of Oregon. It’s also the first week of this photo column.

Taking pictures has always been something I’ve loved doing. As I’ll discuss in another post later — or part of a post scheduled for Monday I’ll publish later today — I’m a pretty nostalgic person. I love chronicling moments, especially those between the people who matter most to me. There’s also something about a burst of color confined within a frame that’s difficult to put into words. I guess that’s why they say a picture is worth a thousand of them.

An ever-present goal of mine is to get better acclimated to my Canon Rebel. I bought the thing for $500 in June of 2010 before I started at The News-Register and it earned me a great deal of assignments I wouldn’t have been given had I not been able to report, write and shoot. I think I owe it to this little camera to give it a bit of love. And since this blog is meant to chronicle my growth as a journalist, what better place to show off my progress?

It’s mine! All mine!

It happened in the dead of night, while my East Coast readers were asleep and the majority of my West Coast audience was just settling into a night of enjoyment centered around the episodes of 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation that were DVR’d earlier. Let us unite as I hit a milestone in my career: The domain edercampuzano.com is mine. All mine. Google me and … well, my Twitter profile is the first result you’ll see.  With any luck, soon enough a search of “Eder Campuzano” will dig up the front page of this site, where the Internet at large can bear witness to amateur photography, the chronicles of a journalism student and the gross facial hair you see in the photo above.

It took me a while to decide which picture to use as the anchor for this post. I even pondered setting up my camera and tripod for a self-portrait. In the end, I decided it would be much more fun for you and me if I posted something embarrassing (I will no doubt regret this. Probably soon.) So there you go. Let’s celebrate the birth of my official site by bearing witness to the worst photo I’ll ever post on it. Don’t be too hasty to judge. After all, I had it taken right after the Ducks lost the BCS championship to Auburn more than a year ago and we all needed something to take the load off. I think this does the trick.

Welcome to edercampuzano.com!

Your student publication: enjoy it while it lasts

It’s no secret that the print industry is in decline. It has been for some time now. Just take a look at this graph. Or, hey, what about this one? Yes, we’ve all heard that newspapers are dead or dying and that you’d be an idiot to go into print media because you’ll just get laid off and blah-da blah-da blah. But, dagnabbit, I’m still not turned off to the idea of working for a metro daily newspaper. Neither should you, especially if you’re currently on staff at a publication for your college or high school.

For anyone reading this who attends an institution of higher learning, is majoring in journalism and isn’t involved in a student publication: Stop it. Stop what you’re doing right now — your coffee, tepid Ramen noodles and On A Side Note can wait — and get a job.

Mr. Campuzano goes to GDC

Yesterday I completed one crucial step toward my goal of being a games journalist. I thought it would take a bit more begging and prying on my part to convince professors and fellow Flux editors to let me miss an entire week of class in the ninth week of the term, but my request was greeted with nothing short of enthusiasm and support from all of them.

With that, I’ll cut to the chase: I’m covering Game Developers Conference for DualShockers this year.

That means four days of speeches, demos, sneak peeks and more industry networking than you can shake a stick or Wii remote at. This is one of the biggest games conferences there is, but I couldn’t ask for a better place to start. And the fact that my editors trust me enough to cut me loose on the floor and represent the brand means all sorts of mushy stuff I won’t get into now.

This is an amazing opportunity, one that one of my Gateway instructors — don’t worry, I won’t give you away, Dan — said I’d be stupid not to take. And I’m not just excited because I’ll get to immerse myself in the games business for a week, either. The majority of what I write for This Is Not An Exit will give you a look at my thoughts and exploits as a journalism student at the University of Oregon. In a couple of years it might even follow my fledgling career as a brand new reporter.

This is a rare opportunity for me to really get into the games journalism business, and I intend to let you in on as much as possible. Of course, there will be embargoes on information and 100 percent of the news from the event will be posted at DualShockers, but you’ll get to read about the experience as I see it (well, DualShockers will also get first dibs on that.)