Hey old timer, let's slow down and put things in perspective for a bit...:)
First of all, your observations about electronic music being "cold" and "sterile" are subjective, to say the least. There are plenty of electronic musicians who produce warm, beautiful and emotional music, and plenty who are just writing club hits with no real purpose or meaning. Consider disco -- there are a few disco "classics" that survived the test of time, and lots of crap that just entertained the cokeheads dancing on an illuminated floor. The same obviously exists in electronic music (or any other genre, really).
The point is, you can't throw out the baby with the bathwater....
I've heard plenty of Indy rock, emo, and so-called "progressive" rock that was 100% organic in composition and also 100% shit. Most of the "organic" music I've heard recently is quite boring and unemotional without the help of a computer (except for mastering, obviously), but you assume that since it was generated by "natural" instruments with some long-haired idiot in a sweater singing, then it is somehow inherently superior. And while I would agree with you that MIDI programming is closer to computer programming than writing music, you seem to forget that the really talented producers have both skills. Synth programming requires a functional knowledge of synthesis; you're not going to get anywhere in production if you just twiddle knobs randomly all day or stick with the factory presets. A synthesizer is just that; what you actually make it play constitutes the difference. If you had an ear for electronic music (which, no offense, but I suspect you don't), you could hear this difference in the music itself. As for your belief that a truly inspiring or emotional performance isn't possible with electronic music.... sheesh, I'm not going to name-drop on you here, but I have been to many livePA's that have had the same type emotional intensity of a "conventional" band which you might relate to.
BUT, back to your larger point, the issue of "disposable" music. I must confess, I have thought over this a lot in the last several years. However, I started considering music a "disposable" item with the advent of digital music storage, not electronic music. It actually started happening to me before I was even interested in electronic music as a young punk rocker... I remember at one point deeply cherishing my old-school punk records, bootleg recordings, vintage 60's vinyl, and other such things. Eventually, everything in my collection went digital, as it was simply more convenient. I later sold almost all my records when I moved overseas, as the weight was simply too much, and I ripped all the remaining CD's to MP3. Physical music isn't of much use to me anymore, so I guess that the consequence of this is that the music in my collection becomes more temporary as time passes.
At first, this process kind of freaked me out, as I saw music becoming a less valuble commodity in my life. However, now I cherish this, because I realized that otherwise I would simply be listening to the same old shit day after day for years on end, and I would stop growing musically in this respect. I don't even bother with gnutella or P2P now; I podcast everything I listen to, and when I'm tired of hearing a track I just fucking delete it. What I value in music is the flow of ideas, and technology is responsible for streamlining this; it has very little to do with the nature of the music itself. As for the emotional value of music; instead of relishing some piece of wax or a plastic disc, I just keep flyers and memories from the good parties that I've been to. My appreciation of music goes beyond buying more boxed sets of crufty rockstars, t-shirts and posters, or whatever else is considered to be the "love" of music.
Call me "new-fashioned", but I think your view on music is too "old-fashioned".;) Don't blame electronic music on the consumable nature of music; it's digital storage that has paved this frontier. If you don't dig on electronic music, then that's totally understandable... but don't assume that other people don't get the same type of emotional satisfaction out of it that you do from rock.
They're planning on breaking the inverse moore's law, which states that:
"If a tech company announces a big breakthrough, which they claim will be available to consumers in 18-24 months, then the probability of the breakthrough becoming vaporware will approach 1."
Nevermind that in some former British colonies, such as Nigeria and India, the masses learning English nowadays are taking it in crazy directions that the British upper classes who brought the language there could have never imagined.
That reminds me of a joke a friend of mine heard when he was working in India:
An Englishman an an Indian are sitting next to each other in a bar, and after a few drinks become a bit emotional about the British Empire. "Hey mate, I'm really quite sorry that we fucked up your country for 200 years or so," the Englishman says. "Ah yes, no apology necessary," replied the Indian, "because now, we will fuck your language forever!"
(Truthfully the above joke is funnier when read aloud with an Apu-like accent:) ).
This would be great for soldiers - if able to withstand assault rifle bullets, its weight (18kg) is pretty low for full body armor.
The suit definitely seems to go along with the current war strategy... make no quick movements, take a huge beating, and then pull off the helmet for some publicity photos in the papers.
Ah, right, I almost forgot about the '02 talks where they decided to hold the war in Iraq, narrowly beating out candidate cities like New Haven, CT and Boseman, MT. While these cities have lost a lot of economic opportunities from contractors and tourism, they can hopefully put together a better case for themselves in '08 at the talks.
Which begs the question: How representitive am I of Second Life residents in general?
You're not alone, trust me. Your post deserves to be modded up... I had the same exact experience as you, but I was willing to forgive the crappy graphics and lame music if the community itself had something meaningful to offer the net. Based off of my time in second life, and the slew of recent press that it's gathered, I still have not seen this. As far as I'm concerned, SL is a cheesy VRML-like IRC, except with "furries" and flying penises. SL's in-game economy interested me, but as it became blatantly obvious that you can't make real money on selling fake things, people wrote copybots and other scripts designed to take advantage of this fact. Hell, I'm surprised that SL hasn't already been flooded with spammers....
I'm sure that just like with the original VRML worlds, people will eventually see the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, and then move on to another community.
Sorry, I have to object, as the renaming thing really bugs me on the Mac, too. "Enter" is the "go" key, as far as most people are concerned. It's big, and makes a satisfying "chunk" when you press it. In Explorer, pressing "enter" on a file opens it, which is what the natural behavior should be. Renaming the file instead is really strange, and it results in lots of novice users accidentally renaming their hard drive to "aaaaasssdf" and so on.
If anything, option+enter or something should rename, but I'm a staunch believer that this design flaw should be fixed in Finder.
Here, here! The guy that made the whistler app also frequents one of the same forums as I, and he went around there trying to drum up support for his idea a few weeks ago. I ended up voting for the flower-desktop thinger instead, but even then, I felt that none of these ideas were certainly worthy of the press and attention that the site has gathered thus far.
And honestly, how many more glorified recipe book apps does the world need?
Great post, but there's a slight point that you left out... in physical addiction, the body suffers when it lacks the substance it is addicted to. Anyone that knows true alkies sees how they can get "the shakes" or similar symptoms when denied alcohol. In other cases, withdrawl can be quite a bit more severe.
To compare so-called "internet addicts" to this is quite a disgrace to those suffering from real problems. I'm sure next they're going to start calling internet addiction a disease.
There is a distinct difference between a family trade (usually associated with a particular skill passed down through generations) and allegiance to a particular company, regardless of your specific work-related responsibilities.
Slashdot Mirror
If I am not mistaken (flog me if I am)
You better be careful about using such phrases when it comes to Islam....
With music, a fantastically written piece played from the heart with skill can grate your nerves when the production is horrible.
This is so true.... and also the reason why I can no longer listen to "Für Elise" without thinking of somebody's cell phone going off..
Hey old timer, let's slow down and put things in perspective for a bit... :)
;) Don't blame electronic music on the consumable nature of music; it's digital storage that has paved this frontier. If you don't dig on electronic music, then that's totally understandable... but don't assume that other people don't get the same type of emotional satisfaction out of it that you do from rock.
First of all, your observations about electronic music being "cold" and "sterile" are subjective, to say the least. There are plenty of electronic musicians who produce warm, beautiful and emotional music, and plenty who are just writing club hits with no real purpose or meaning. Consider disco -- there are a few disco "classics" that survived the test of time, and lots of crap that just entertained the cokeheads dancing on an illuminated floor. The same obviously exists in electronic music (or any other genre, really).
The point is, you can't throw out the baby with the bathwater....
I've heard plenty of Indy rock, emo, and so-called "progressive" rock that was 100% organic in composition and also 100% shit. Most of the "organic" music I've heard recently is quite boring and unemotional without the help of a computer (except for mastering, obviously), but you assume that since it was generated by "natural" instruments with some long-haired idiot in a sweater singing, then it is somehow inherently superior. And while I would agree with you that MIDI programming is closer to computer programming than writing music, you seem to forget that the really talented producers have both skills. Synth programming requires a functional knowledge of synthesis; you're not going to get anywhere in production if you just twiddle knobs randomly all day or stick with the factory presets. A synthesizer is just that; what you actually make it play constitutes the difference. If you had an ear for electronic music (which, no offense, but I suspect you don't), you could hear this difference in the music itself. As for your belief that a truly inspiring or emotional performance isn't possible with electronic music.... sheesh, I'm not going to name-drop on you here, but I have been to many livePA's that have had the same type emotional intensity of a "conventional" band which you might relate to.
BUT, back to your larger point, the issue of "disposable" music. I must confess, I have thought over this a lot in the last several years. However, I started considering music a "disposable" item with the advent of digital music storage, not electronic music. It actually started happening to me before I was even interested in electronic music as a young punk rocker... I remember at one point deeply cherishing my old-school punk records, bootleg recordings, vintage 60's vinyl, and other such things. Eventually, everything in my collection went digital, as it was simply more convenient. I later sold almost all my records when I moved overseas, as the weight was simply too much, and I ripped all the remaining CD's to MP3. Physical music isn't of much use to me anymore, so I guess that the consequence of this is that the music in my collection becomes more temporary as time passes.
At first, this process kind of freaked me out, as I saw music becoming a less valuble commodity in my life. However, now I cherish this, because I realized that otherwise I would simply be listening to the same old shit day after day for years on end, and I would stop growing musically in this respect. I don't even bother with gnutella or P2P now; I podcast everything I listen to, and when I'm tired of hearing a track I just fucking delete it. What I value in music is the flow of ideas, and technology is responsible for streamlining this; it has very little to do with the nature of the music itself. As for the emotional value of music; instead of relishing some piece of wax or a plastic disc, I just keep flyers and memories from the good parties that I've been to. My appreciation of music goes beyond buying more boxed sets of crufty rockstars, t-shirts and posters, or whatever else is considered to be the "love" of music.
Call me "new-fashioned", but I think your view on music is too "old-fashioned".
Sure it is. Those were just the web 1.0 days!
Do you have a gentoo fanboybox, too?
No, it means you just use your damn credit card like everybody else!
What about protesting those protesting the policies of the government? They seem to be rather political these days...
They definitely rank above your local newsman, but they are still required to make awkward jokes at the end of each segment...
They're planning on breaking the inverse moore's law, which states that:
"If a tech company announces a big breakthrough, which they claim will be available to consumers in 18-24 months, then the probability of the breakthrough becoming vaporware will approach 1."
Nevermind that in some former British colonies, such as Nigeria and India, the masses learning English nowadays are taking it in crazy directions that the British upper classes who brought the language there could have never imagined.
:) ).
That reminds me of a joke a friend of mine heard when he was working in India:
An Englishman an an Indian are sitting next to each other in a bar, and after a few drinks become a bit emotional about the British Empire.
"Hey mate, I'm really quite sorry that we fucked up your country for 200 years or so," the Englishman says.
"Ah yes, no apology necessary," replied the Indian, "because now, we will fuck your language forever!"
(Truthfully the above joke is funnier when read aloud with an Apu-like accent
This would be great for soldiers - if able to withstand assault rifle bullets, its weight (18kg) is pretty low for full body armor.
The suit definitely seems to go along with the current war strategy... make no quick movements, take a huge beating, and then pull off the helmet for some publicity photos in the papers.
Ah, right, I almost forgot about the '02 talks where they decided to hold the war in Iraq, narrowly beating out candidate cities like New Haven, CT and Boseman, MT. While these cities have lost a lot of economic opportunities from contractors and tourism, they can hopefully put together a better case for themselves in '08 at the talks.
Which begs the question: How representitive am I of Second Life residents in general?
You're not alone, trust me. Your post deserves to be modded up... I had the same exact experience as you, but I was willing to forgive the crappy graphics and lame music if the community itself had something meaningful to offer the net. Based off of my time in second life, and the slew of recent press that it's gathered, I still have not seen this. As far as I'm concerned, SL is a cheesy VRML-like IRC, except with "furries" and flying penises. SL's in-game economy interested me, but as it became blatantly obvious that you can't make real money on selling fake things, people wrote copybots and other scripts designed to take advantage of this fact. Hell, I'm surprised that SL hasn't already been flooded with spammers....
I'm sure that just like with the original VRML worlds, people will eventually see the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, and then move on to another community.
...or supervillian headquarters.
Do they make tinfoil iPod cases?
They did, but people complained that they scratched too easily.
But the question is, has Weird Al gotten laid yet? I would wager not....
Then again, maybe that's what was behind his decision to cut his hair and get lasek surgery...
Sorry, I have to object, as the renaming thing really bugs me on the Mac, too. "Enter" is the "go" key, as far as most people are concerned. It's big, and makes a satisfying "chunk" when you press it. In Explorer, pressing "enter" on a file opens it, which is what the natural behavior should be. Renaming the file instead is really strange, and it results in lots of novice users accidentally renaming their hard drive to "aaaaasssdf" and so on.
If anything, option+enter or something should rename, but I'm a staunch believer that this design flaw should be fixed in Finder.
Mission Accomplished!
s/windows boxes/the internet/g
Everyone knows that pulling out is unsafe. That's why you're supposed to use condoms instead.
Here, here! The guy that made the whistler app also frequents one of the same forums as I, and he went around there trying to drum up support for his idea a few weeks ago. I ended up voting for the flower-desktop thinger instead, but even then, I felt that none of these ideas were certainly worthy of the press and attention that the site has gathered thus far.
And honestly, how many more glorified recipe book apps does the world need?
Great post, but there's a slight point that you left out... in physical addiction, the body suffers when it lacks the substance it is addicted to. Anyone that knows true alkies sees how they can get "the shakes" or similar symptoms when denied alcohol. In other cases, withdrawl can be quite a bit more severe.
To compare so-called "internet addicts" to this is quite a disgrace to those suffering from real problems. I'm sure next they're going to start calling internet addiction a disease.
Yes. Now put your other hand back up on the keyboard, please.
So does this mean that slashdotters who don't speak german and didn't read the article were still amused?
There is a distinct difference between a family trade (usually associated with a particular skill passed down through generations) and allegiance to a particular company, regardless of your specific work-related responsibilities.