before i get my butt to work, i thought i’d blog about something a bit different.

when you think of stories, you think of books. then, movies, probably. but there’s also music videos. all three are just different mediums of expression. music videos pretty much get the shaft, though, since they (usually) have a much shorter run time. which means instead of 300 pages or 2 hours to effectively convey a story, they get about 4 minutes. personally, i love music videos that go beyond the typical concert scenes, or the montage of blurred images that add up to not much more.

my book DUALED deals with the theme of conflict, both internal and external. so when i saw the video for adam lambert’s better than i know myself, i couldn’t miss that same theme at the heart of it–of conflict, of duality. sure, a lot of it’s very OTT, but when you only get a few minutes to play up a theme and really drive it home, you can’t be wimpy about it. i ended up with 80,000 words for DUALED. director ray kay has about 3 minutes, 41 seconds. and in that time, he manages to fit in so many instances/symbols/images of duality.

1. dark adam vs zen adam
2. heavy makeup vs going barefaced
3. cold/black/blue tones vs warm/sunny/earth tones
4. jagged screen edges vs. smooth screen edges
5. leather jacket vs cuddly cardigan
6. single bed for one vs double bed for two
7. branches and skulls vs green plants
8. tequila vs tea
9. destroys books vs reading books
10. makes a mess vs sweeping, making the bed
11. overwrought expressions vs serene meditation
12. playing with fire vs playing chess
13. wasting oxygen vs needing oxygen

i love this video. it’s multi-layered, well-thought out, and took what could have easily been just another romance theme and spun it into something different. how in the end, dark adam has to accept the existence of zen adam to survive. the fact that adam lambert himself as an artist can be very polarizing also fits the theme of duality so well. plus, i think i tweeted about how this song has been stuck in my head these last few days, and i’ve pinned it on my music board, so i figured i might as well go and blog about it, too.