May's Article Contest Winner, “Thoughts of Californication”

“The world is a place of rules and regulations that are enforced by society and also built into the very being of our existence. ... Yet this doesn’t restrict the minds and imaginations of people. People every day push rules and regulations to the limit and accomplish the improbable or impossible of their dreams.”

This is how Mibba’s May article contest winner’s article, “Thoughts of Californication” began. I was instantly hooked. As a huge fan of My Chemical Romance, a band that pushes limits with every album they produce, I instantly wanted to read more about what the author, Thrildo, was referring to. I wasn’t so shocked to find out it was another band. To be exact, his article was about a band I had heard of, The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I’ve listened to a few of The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ songs on the radio, but being the die-hard fan of My Chemical Romance that I am, I never really paid their songs too much attention. But as I read more of Thrildo’s article, I was ready to give these songs another listen, this time with way more attention to the details. It wasn’t just an article about how one should listen to the album Californication. He wasn’t just going on and on about how good it was or how great the instrumentals were. Thrildo got into the meaning behind the album.

Thrildo analyzes this album like a professional. He gives us his perspective on what the lyrics of the album mean, particularly the song “Californication.” Thrildo breaks the song down as one would with any piece of great literature, giving the reader the types of literary devices The Red Hot Chili Peppers used to create the meaning in the song and examples of each device from the song. By the time I finished reading this article, I found myself thinking this song, and the entire album, was more than just a compilation of words set to catchy music. I really feel that “Thoughts of Californication” is well worth the read, especially if you are into music.

For June’s article contest, we are asking for movie reviews for this summer. This can be a movie you have recently seen or a movie you are anticipating that is coming out this coming summer. For more information, visit the contest’s thread here. We look forward to reading this month’s entries. So get your movie reviews in!

All the articles we received for this month’s article contest were wonderful pieces ^{[1] [2]} and we truly appreciated each entry! If you entered the contest and did not win, please feel free to enter June’s contest. All entries will receive comments by all the judges within a week of the deadline. Again, thanks to all of our entrants for great articles this month!