text: Um, well. The Percy Jackson explanation is at least a little plausible, but if you've ever spent much time around 4 year olds, you know they are often obsessed -- really OBSESSED -- with the concept of death. So...a death cake for a boy who is just turning 5 kinda makes sense.
  Love the dunk tank baptism idea!!!!!!! Most traditions that practice immersion baptism- hence the dunking joke- do so to those who are old enough to decide for themselves and therefore old enough to like baseball. Although...the case has been made that this cake is about sprinkling. What a wreck!!!! And since I'm letting my geek flag fly my favorite animal group terms are mob of kangaroos and dazzle of zebra ;-) (thanks for the bale of turtle info)
  On the last cake, it is based on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Nico is a boy who is the son of Hades.
  To those thinking that Erik must be a baby because he's being baptized, some churches (like the Baptist one I grew up in) dedicate babies and wait until the child is old enough to CHOOSE to be baptized. You go through classes and then get dunked. (It's more like Catholic catechism. Sorry if I spelled that wrong.) The average age is 10-12. So, it wouldn't be all that odd for a 10 year old boy to be into baseball. It's just an odd cake.
  And don't see why a 5-year-old would have a cake featuring a character from a young adult series. As far as I know that Nico doesn't appear in the movie. It looks an awful lot like Grampa's Over-The-Hill cake.
  The location/color of the "baptism" on that second cake makes me wonder with exactly what they're planning on baptizing the kid... Ewww...
  I hope Niko's cake is a reference to the Percy Jackson books, or he's a huge Halloween fan, because that cake is wrong for a 5 year-old. And this coming from someone who loves horror movies and watched them as a child.
  On that last one, I'm putting my money(not that I really have any being a broke college student and all) on it being a Halloween birthday cake. I had a lot of those growing up. One even had tombstone candles on it.
  It wasn't that I was emo as a kid, but these things happen when your birthday is 2 days after Halloween. **shrugs** In fact, the party was often on Halloween, and we'd go trick-or-treating as part of the festivities. Got quite amusing in HS, walking down the street singing marching band songs in costume. :D
  So...as a grocery store baker, I've done lots of those grim reaper cakes. It is in fact, the grim reaper and not a sith lord. The wrecking balls are plastic flotsam balloons. They come on a little stick and are supposed to be on that random blue poo swirl in the back left corner of the cake. Grim reaper is supposed to stand next to the balloons, not in the grave. LOL
  Oh...and should I add that I've done that cake for 2 different kids??? One boy (I wanna say he was around 5 or 6) and one for a girl too (I think she was 9). Both times, the parents came in with the kids and the kid picked it out. Strange...but what are ya gonna do? Some kids are morbidly fascinated by stuff like that.
  I didn't see the baptism on Erik's cake...until I looked veryyyy close. Why yellow on the crotch? I also thought it was for an older boy being baptized.
  I don't see what's so unusual about the first cake. Whenever I move into a new neiborhood the current residents don't just move away. They frequently torch all the houses on their way out of town.
  Maybe the kid's a very young Terry Pratchett fan? I mean, Death is a beloved character in the Discworld books, being actually quite a nice guy who's very curious about us mortals.
  is the baseball player pooping the word "baptism?" wow, that's a one way ticket on the h-e-double-toothpicks express for that wreckerator!!
  On the 5th birthday cake, all I can figure is that perhaps Nico's birthday is on or very close to Halloween and he had a Haunted House/Monster Mash/What have you themed party.
  Still seems, though that Jack-O-Lanterns, a (cutely done) Haunted House, Candy, or any costumed superhero would have been better themes for a 5 year-old's birthday cake than the Grim Reaper.
  That first one had me giggling. Did they have to move due to the fact that they are arsonists and now that the neighbors found out are being threatened to leave with that horrible spelling and burning house?
  And that last cake.. I hope that the kid was born on Halloween otherwise what parent would order a cake like that for a 5 year old?? Don't tell me he's already gone goth? I figure he had a few years yet before that hit lol.
  Maybe the bowling bowls on the Death cake are a reference to this old ad against AIDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U219eUIZ7Qo&feature=related ?
  As a former Wreckorater the baptism cake reminds me of 1 had was asked to make for a customer to celebrate not only the 7th birthday of her son but also his 1st Communion.
  So sad, but that first cake would actually be appropriate for my "neiborhood", as would the off spelling.
  I really couldn't figure out poor Niko's cake until I Googled "grim reaper cakes". If you go to http://www.shopbakersnook.com/m5_view_item.html?m5:item=5591 you will find all the fixin's for this lovely work of art.
  Those balls are actually black balloons. Yes, I know, I didn't figure that out either. It says so in the ad copy. No explanation as to why Niko wanted/got a grim reaper cake, but at least we now know where we, too, can get everything we need to make one in the comfort of our own homes.
  (Postage and handling not included. Some restrictions apply. Limited time offer. Must be 18 or over to order. All major credit cards accepted. Call now.)
  I'm so excited that a cake I submitted was used! Yep, the firefighter cake was for a fire station opening. I'm so proud!
  *4/19:(1775): The Revolutionary War began. All because Paul Revere made a Revere Ware teapot--and we were *supposed* to be mad at tea.
  Yep, I'm thinking 5yo Niko is a fan of the Percy Jackson books...Nico Di Angelo is the son of Hades and spends most of his time in the underworld. (My 12yo loves those books...I would have thought them a bit much for a 5yo though!)
  Well the last one kind of made sense to me at first, because there is a series called Percy Jackson & The Olympians (it was recently made into a movie, you've probably heard of it) and in the latter books there is a character named Nico who is the son of Hades. But then I realized that this kid is FIVE so he either has a crazed fan-parent or I'm just a crazed fan, period. *sigh*
  But lots of small kids are delighted by grisly death! I used to volunteer in a group for children aged 6-9 and noticed that just about any play performed by 6 year old boys would feature zombies, and almost any art produced by 6 year old boys would feature either people killing monsters or monsters killing people. Comments like "Can we have a Teddy Bears' Picnic? So our teddy bears can fight to the DEATH!" or delighted "Yay, everyone dies!" in response to a song about the arms race were not unusual either. Of course we tried to gently discourage such things, but it's a pretty normal phase and I don't see what's wrong with indulging it on the kid's birthday of all times.
  Of course the cake is still kind of ugly and contains about 50 times as much food colouring as my Mum would have let me have when I was that age, but yeah, not at all surprised that Niko wanted it.
  You know, if the people who bought the "neiborhood" cake thought the fire was inappropriate, they could have just REMOVED the plastic flotsam and, voila, non-burning house. The spelling on the other hand....
  wow! I'm surprised there weren't any guys wearing hoods somewhere in the corner on that first cake. "welcome" indeed!
  Ha! I see I'm not the only one who totally missed the word 'baptism' I just thought it was wishing you a very 'Happy Eric!'
  For the first one...I guess I'd feel more welcome to a 'neiborhood' where they're telling me if my house is on fire they'll put it out. I'd be more worried if the house was in flames and the cake firemen were standing around ambivalently watching it burn :P
  As the submitter of the Grim Reaper cake, I can report that 5 year old Niko did pick it out from himself, with some strong encouragement from his 9 year old sister. Who was hitting emo tween a bit early, I think, and thought this would be a suitable statement to make on cycles of life, somehow. Niko just thought it looked cool.
  It gets even better, because the picture you don't see is what happened after the birthday candles couldn't be found and we ended up using giant taper candles instead.
  All us parents thought it was totally hysterical, and the kids didn't care. When the cake was getting cut, it was really funny - usually kids argue about who gets the icing flowers - this time it was "But i want the bones" and "Why does Niko get the burial mound?" ("Because he's the birthday boy.")
  If anybody has read the Percy Jackson series, Niko is the son of Hades.....but then again somebody has already stated this so never mind. Heh Still the cake is creepy
  I think the first cake must be for someone who just moved to Flint, MI. Since laying off firefighters the arsonists have taken it upon themselves to take care of things. *on a side note - I truly feel sorry for the firefighters here in Flint. Hopefully things will get better for them soon.
  I've made this cake several times, often for Birthdays of young boys. I dunno why parents let their kids pick out such a macabre cake? But whatever :D
  I don't know what genius corrected you on the "dunking", but the sport is not hockey. Hockey and soccer have goals, baseball has home runs, football has touch downs, and Basketball has slam dunks...
  I did notice that at least one other person has pointed out this mistake, however I felt that for all the sports fans out there that also enjoy baking I would clarify.
  
  Performance notes: This piece doesn’t have anything extraordinarily challenging and very much sticks to the saxophone’s traditional capabilities. Except for a few very soft notes in the lower range of the instrument, there is very little that an advanced high school level performer shouldn’t be able to do after a bit of practice. There are a few technical passages that can be considered difficult, but as a last resort the performer can easily change the tempo to make the piece easier to play. I would highly recommend this to students who are attempting to broaden their dynamic range and learning to play out of time.
  Interpretation: The mind itself is one of my favorite topics of discussion in philosophy, theology, and science. Here I have attempted to capture the occurrence of a mind having a dark thought that is never resolved, but keeps feeding off of itself until the mind simply accepts its depressed state. In my thinking, this occurs when a person is distressed but refuses to let the source go. This work is what results when a person refuses to let God handle problems that are out of their control. Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
  Tags: alto, classical saxophone music, classical saxophone sheet music, contemplation, download, download sheetmusic, high, high-school, Philippians 4:6, prayer, purchase, recording, reflection, reflective, sax, Saxophone, saxophone chamber music, saxophone piece, saxophone pieces, saxophone repertoire, saxophone solo, school, sheetmusic, solo, unaccompanied, vagrant, Vagrant Contemplation
  A person’s definition of good is largely based on past experience and knowledge. Therefore our minds tend to prefer art that is familiar to them. If the music is not familiar in any way, then it will not be perceived as music because our minds will not recognize it due to a lack of exposure to that category of sound. So our evaluation of music is determined by the amount of familiarity that we have with the sound. However, there is another device with which we should evaluate the art we perceive. This component is sadly not used by many people, but is the only universal gage that we have to decide what is worthwhile for us to take into our minds.
  The amount of intention in art should be our primary method of evaluation. Without intention there is no art, but only the seemingly random pallet of sounds that was originally provided for the artist to create with. Music is a particularly intriguing form of art when taking the amount of intention into consideration, because it is impossible to intend every aspect of the sound that is being planned in the case of the composer, or created in the case of the performer. An element of chance is always going to be present and complete control over a performance is unfeasible. But despite this, in order for music to be of quality an acceptable level of intention must be attained.
  In polyphonic music chance is particularly frustrating for a composer because no matter how much intention is used to craft the work, the end result depends upon the performance. It is also frustrating for the performer because the result depends on the tools at his disposal (this includes his skill and intellect). So it is the composer’s duty to make sure that his compositions are well within the realm of possibility and that the potential intention is maximized. It is the performer’s duty to make the plan for the work be brought fourth into reality and then also to polish the details of the sound that cannot be fully planned by the composer (timbre, specific placement of sonic events, etc). Therefore the quality of this music is dependent upon the combined amount of intention from both the composer and the performer.