Monday, August 28, 2006
CARLOS PENA ON RED SOX!!!!
I called this!
Friday, August 04, 2006
The only negative to downloading music...
The only negative that I can think of to the "downloading music for free" era is that I (and many people) have not purchased albums like we did ten years ago. For the first years of the download era, I was happy to be rid of paying for CDs...not that the expense was great, but it was a hassle to go out, buy a CD, get the CD player to work, open that damn case, etc.
But, as I prepare to move out of my Princeton apartment, I discovered that I had actually brought 10 CDs with me when I originally moved to Princeton. I decided I'd give a few of my favorites a listen--first time in ten years for some...
I think I learned many things.
1) My musical appreciation has changed quite a bit in ten years. I remember listening to Phish's Rift when I was 12. Totally clueless...I kinda liked a few of the songs then, I remembered...at least, I thought I liked them...I now realize that the songs I kinda liked, I liked for the wrong reasons...they were catchy and sounded like cheesy pop. I guess I must have tried to relate it to something, but it was so different from anything I'd heard, I didn't know how to register what I was hearing...
Now, listening to it, I realize it's a fantastic album, phenominal from start to finish, very experimental and showcasing the incredible talent of Phish, on a pure instument ownership basis. My only main criticism is that a few songs are bit too Rosenchantzy/Rockapella-ish--I understand the intention, but the line greys for a few songs. Overall, though, it's great--and it's fantastic because one song leads into the next, one mood sets up another...which brings me to...
2) Listening to an entire album, rather than just one single from one artist here and another there, as we all tend to listen to music these days, is an entirely different music-listening experience. A great album is an hour-long song split into a whole bunch of small parts....which brings me to...
3) There is a difference between a great album and a great collection of songs. Rift is a great album...the continuity and fluidity of every song juxtaposed to the next is outstanding. Herbie Hancock's Headhunters is a great collection of songs. Each song takes the listener on a journey, but each song is, itself, its own entity. The transition from song to song is unimportant. There is a definite end to the song. But with Rift, no single song is amazing...but when taken together, the album is amazing.
4) If I added a whole bunch of lingo words that no one has ever seen before to the previous three paragraphs, and take a slightly haughtier tone, maybe one day I could write a music article for a major publication...
But, as I prepare to move out of my Princeton apartment, I discovered that I had actually brought 10 CDs with me when I originally moved to Princeton. I decided I'd give a few of my favorites a listen--first time in ten years for some...
I think I learned many things.
1) My musical appreciation has changed quite a bit in ten years. I remember listening to Phish's Rift when I was 12. Totally clueless...I kinda liked a few of the songs then, I remembered...at least, I thought I liked them...I now realize that the songs I kinda liked, I liked for the wrong reasons...they were catchy and sounded like cheesy pop. I guess I must have tried to relate it to something, but it was so different from anything I'd heard, I didn't know how to register what I was hearing...
Now, listening to it, I realize it's a fantastic album, phenominal from start to finish, very experimental and showcasing the incredible talent of Phish, on a pure instument ownership basis. My only main criticism is that a few songs are bit too Rosenchantzy/Rockapella-ish--I understand the intention, but the line greys for a few songs. Overall, though, it's great--and it's fantastic because one song leads into the next, one mood sets up another...which brings me to...
2) Listening to an entire album, rather than just one single from one artist here and another there, as we all tend to listen to music these days, is an entirely different music-listening experience. A great album is an hour-long song split into a whole bunch of small parts....which brings me to...
3) There is a difference between a great album and a great collection of songs. Rift is a great album...the continuity and fluidity of every song juxtaposed to the next is outstanding. Herbie Hancock's Headhunters is a great collection of songs. Each song takes the listener on a journey, but each song is, itself, its own entity. The transition from song to song is unimportant. There is a definite end to the song. But with Rift, no single song is amazing...but when taken together, the album is amazing.
4) If I added a whole bunch of lingo words that no one has ever seen before to the previous three paragraphs, and take a slightly haughtier tone, maybe one day I could write a music article for a major publication...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
South Park, once again, predicts reality
See my previous post about why South Park should have made Mel Gibson turn into Hitler, and not crazy...and now, he has justified himself in real life. Unreal.
This is a scary situation right now. It really seems like the US, UK and Israel want the war to escalate to mammoth proportions so that "real change" can finally be made, instead of a tenuous peace...but when there are crazy people with nukes involved, is that really what we want? I don't know...but it's kinda scary...
I gotta admit, I'm kinda sick of Barbaro being in the news. Am I the only one rooting for him to die? What, no good? (I'm kidding, please, don't worry...animals, I like...people-eh...)
This is a scary situation right now. It really seems like the US, UK and Israel want the war to escalate to mammoth proportions so that "real change" can finally be made, instead of a tenuous peace...but when there are crazy people with nukes involved, is that really what we want? I don't know...but it's kinda scary...
I gotta admit, I'm kinda sick of Barbaro being in the news. Am I the only one rooting for him to die? What, no good? (I'm kidding, please, don't worry...animals, I like...people-eh...)
