Muse: The 2nd Law

Album Review: The 2nd Law (Muse)
My Rating: 4/5

Muse strikes again with their sixth studio album, and the band's music style is as diverse as ever. While the outstanding, effect-laden guitar and bass remain intact in "Supremacy" and "Panic Station", we also see integral use of back-up choir singers in "Survival" and "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" as well as the use of club beats and dubstep in "Madness", "Follow Me", and "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable". Needless to say, the addition of classic instruments, music concrete, and Bellamy's Queen-style vocals to the mix make this album the most theatrical and cross-genre Muse work to date.

What I've always admired about Muse is their ability to generate an entire album around a single concept and nail it down with both lyrics and instrumentation. The 2nd Law is no exception. The "second law" refers to the thermodynamic concept that all systems tend towards chaos. The album touches on two general types of chaos: chaos by expansionist capitalism and chaos in love. "Animals" examines (by masterfully using music concrete from the NYSE) the tendency for humans in a capitalist system to inherently create chaos while "Explores" laments the loss of nature to this expansionist tendancy with "A world lush in bloom/ with rivers running wild/ they'll be rerouted South / with none left for you and me". Finally, "Unsustainable" nails down the theme with a robotic woman stating, "a species set on endless growth is unsustainable". They might be preaching, but the're preaching to the choir.

On the more emotional side of things, "Madness", "Follow Me", and "Big Freeze" walk us through the chaotic nature of human relationships, how love is the only force able to subdue the entropy, and the tendency for love to slowly slip out of our grasp as the chaos builds. Above and beyond the lyrics, the entire album is done with an epic, yet overwhelmingly chaotic, plethora of instruments and effects. In this way, Muse caters to the trend towards dance music, advances its unique style, and hammers home a timeless message of the human condition.

Final Rating: 4/5

Posture, Pressure, Possibilities

Swept again, I ended flat on my back. Two points to my opponent for executing a flawless scissor sweep and taking me out of the dominant position as quickly as I got into it for the thousandth time. I felt helpless to prevent it. What was I doing wrong? With a quick Google search I realized I was setting myself up to be swept the entire time without realizing it.

In my frustration, I came across a jiu jistu philosophy that fundamentally changed the way I approach the martial art. That is the three P's: posture, pressure, and possibilities. "Posture" is maintaining a proper stance in an position to maximize your leverage and minimize the opponent's chances of attack. "Pressure" is knowing where to place your body weight and strength to advance your position around your opponent. Finally, "possibilities" is executing the proper move to submit or pass the opponent.

Each concept is more important than the next, with posture being the first consideration. Without proper posture, pressure is difficult to apply, and without proper pressure, knowing a dozen guard passes (possibilities) isn't going to get you anywhere but off balance and at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, most BJJ dojos are focused on teaching their students tons of moves, but overlook the fundamental importance of basics like posture and pressure, leaving it to the student to intuitively figure it out (which rarely happens quickly).

After learning the three P's, I quickly worked them into my BJJ game and discovered their effectiveness. I could hold down and submit the blue belts while avoiding submission (for a little longer) from the purple belts. I felt my prowess jump twofold overnight, which led me to ponder: could the three P's be applied to daily life?  

There are tons of possibilities in front of us, but if we aren't sufficiently prepared with the right posture to pursue them or equipped with the right knowledge of how to apply precise pressure, of what use are the opportunities? We'll flail out trying to grab them only to be continually thrown flat on our backs wondering why we can't move forward. Posture and pressure preceded possibilities.