Death of the iPod (Everyone's buying vinyl)

[A Lark Ascending]

Well we'd certainly create things for the sheer joy, beauty or fascination of them. But I'm not sure we'd necessarily put some of them in a special box (perhaps we would but more from the human habit of establishing hierarchies as a means of social control).

I believe in entertainment - which can cover a wide range of overlapping things at different levels of skill, imagination, seriousness etc.

'Art' always strikes me as a concept appropriated by a social elite so you can have 'Art' and 'Not-Art' ('Art' being what 'our sort' can appreciate and truly feel). One of the many tools used to distinguish that group from 'the herd' (and thereby justify their superiority and, consequently, their hogging of resources).

Always strikes me as odd that rather than using, for example, the sheer brilliance of something like many a Motown record to lay the concept of 'Art' to rest, the cultural elite fall over themselves to appropriate them for 'Art'.   

Edited September 3, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[rostasi]

Internet Has a Field Day With Entitled Pick-Up Blog’s Instructions on How to Talk to a Woman Wearing Headphones

Also, The Guardian.

Edited September 4, 2016 by rostasi

[ArtSalt]

I think we've reached peak vinyl revival, likely as most of the revivalists are now running out of storage space and realising that records are not the ideal for indexing and storing and the need to employ a qualified librarian to manage one's collection is somewhat expensive. I have noticed that the remaining record shops near me have been bereft of customers recently.

 

[fasstrack]

On 04/09/2016 at 10:58 AM, rostasi said:

Internet Has a Field Day With Entitled Pick-Up Blog’s Instructions on How to Talk to a Woman Wearing Headphones

Also, The Guardian.

Well, my days of street pick-up tries are long over, earbud defense or no. Too old, and anyway never was much good at it. But the woman who wrote the Guardian article only makes my point: the reason for wearing the damned things is (I'll be optimistic and say in part) to shut other people out.

'I vant to be alone'---Greta Garbo

'Be careful what you ask for in life. You just may get it'--Some wag or other... 

[JSngry]

Binary choices!

[Scott Dolan]

I'll let the individual decide their reasoning for wearing earbuds. 

[JSngry]

Point just being, if a chick is walking along minding her own business and NOT wearing earbuds, if some dude starts rapping to her, hey, she asked for it, right? She knew what would happen if she left the house without earbuds.

The same does not apply to dudes though, because the nature of a penis is to just flap around in EVERYBODY'S face, and the more engagement that brings about, the happier everybody is, unless of course you are a chick wearing headbuds, in which case, gentlemen, please!

Conclusion, based on scientific anatomy fact, is that privacy is an act of symbolic choice by gender, girls, wear them phone on or off, boys, leave that zippers down or up, but geez, know what you AND each other are doing, you can tell just by looking, binary choices make it easy to take a walk with OR without getting laid, or at least approached by total strangers, we all know the rules.

On the other hand, though, I live for the times when people get pissed off by me minding my own business.

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

 

On the other hand, though, I live for the times when people get pissed off by me minding my own business.

HA! 

That cuts right to the heart of the "problem", doesn't it? 

I'm pretty sure I get exactly what Joel is trying to state, the selfish and disconnected modern society, and all. But he's not finding the most graceful way of getting his point across. 

But, back to the quote. Isn't it odd how we've gone from a "people should really learn to mind their own business" society, to grouchy fuckers bemoaning the fact that everyone actually is now? I guess we should have been more carefully about what we wished for. 

Karma with a wink and a smirk. 

[JSngry]

We should ask ourselves what is triggering all this, look for a possible cause rather than just bemoan the effect.

Maybe people are minding their own business more now because actual privacy is all but an illusion.

Maybe women are wanting to block out strangers because of all the porn about picking up hotties and the street and taking a ride in the bangbus and all that.

Maybe men don't know how to flirt because they don't know how to love first and then fuck. Again, so much porn, not just at certain places for a cost, anytime you want it, anywhere you want it, any way you want it. Sex Drive on the Hard Drive. Then they become the thing that is most likely to get chicks to aggressively wear headphones - the Predatory Penis.

Maybe "everybody" wants to create their own noise because of all the Predatory Noise.

Maybe we've figured out a way to monetize, or at lease find a "value" in every fucking aspect of humanity, measure every action and then run the numbers and when you can put a price on everything you do, that ends up including you yourself, and then once you have a price on you, you can indeed be bought and sold and traded and remodeled and recycled and marginalized and deleted, the Predatory Profit. 

Maybe the only sensible binary choice is Fuck Off or Fuck Off Harder Still.

I don't know, earbuds and such to me are a trailing indicator, not a leading one. If Life Really Is Wonderful Right Now, I think we're hardwired to whip it out, take it off, and jump on in.

Not everybody is a people person, but when those that are avoid so being, something is making them do so, consciously or not.

Here's a thought - everybody take off the buds, shut the TV off, etc. and keep on otherwise doing business as usual, keep up the same old systemic shit with no way to block it out. Let's see how long it takes before everybody goes deaf from the sound of millions of people screaming at the top of their lungs every waking moment. Let's see how long it takes before EVERYBODY wants to plug back in.

 

[Scott Dolan]

We could all become hardcore alcoholics, I suppose. Man, we'd all be social as a motherfucker then, now wouldn't we.

[rostasi]

The solution

[fasstrack]

8 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

We could all become hardcore alcoholics, I suppose.  

You buying? I'm down ...

[jazzbo]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

We should ask ourselves what is triggering all this, look for a possible cause rather than just bemoan the effect.

Maybe people are minding their own business more now because actual privacy is all but an illusion.

Maybe women are wanting to block out strangers because of all the porn about picking up hotties and the street and taking a ride in the bangbus and all that.

Maybe men don't know how to flirt because they don't know how to love first and then fuck. Again, so much porn, not just at certain places for a cost, anytime you want it, anywhere you want it, any way you want it. Sex Drive on the Hard Drive. Then they become the thing that is most likely to get chicks to aggressively wear headphones - the Predatory Penis.

Maybe "everybody" wants to create their own noise because of all the Predatory Noise.

Maybe we've figured out a way to monetize, or at lease find a "value" in every fucking aspect of humanity, measure every action and then run the numbers and when you can put a price on everything you do, that ends up including you yourself, and then once you have a price on you, you can indeed be bought and sold and traded and remodeled and recycled and marginalized and deleted, the Predatory Profit. 

Maybe the only sensible binary choice is Fuck Off or Fuck Off Harder Still.

I don't know, earbuds and such to me are a trailing indicator, not a leading one. If Life Really Is Wonderful Right Now, I think we're hardwired to whip it out, take it off, and jump on in.

Not everybody is a people person, but when those that are avoid so being, something is making them do so, consciously or not.

Here's a thought - everybody take off the buds, shut the TV off, etc. and keep on otherwise doing business as usual, keep up the same old systemic shit with no way to block it out. Let's see how long it takes before everybody goes deaf from the sound of millions of people screaming at the top of their lungs every waking moment. Let's see how long it takes before EVERYBODY wants to plug back in.

 

Post of the year.

[Scott Dolan]

Gotta agree with you there, Lon. 

Sometimes Jim spins out of control with all of the thoughts going through his head, but that post was about as spot on as any I've ever seen. From him, or anyone else for that matter. Examining the human condition can really strain the limits of critical thought, but that post was as interesting as it was insightful. 

The best thinkers are able to put into words things you always knew, but just couldn't fully grasp, or put into words yourself. They lay it out, and after you read it you have that "duh!" moment. 

[rostasi]

Blocking the "outside" out by using close-ear mechanics is a sure fire way of never having to hear the hustle and bustle now and, especially, in the future because you'll be bombarding your ears with close-ear sound that will soon create that desirable quiet you've been longing for - permanently. If being deaf isn't really the desired state you were wanting, maybe one can use some inner discipline when faced with their aural environment. If the reason for earbuds and the like are an avoidance technique,
it would seem to me that it would be precisely the lecherous ones that would see this lack of attention to your environment
as an advantageous moment.

"...creating a world where you never take off your headphones."

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by rostasi

[fasstrack]

You can damage your ears, though...

[rostasi]

1 hour ago, fasstrack said:

You can damage your ears, though...

Yes, as I said above. Becoming deaf is quite damaging.

Edited September 11, 2016 by rostasi

[JSngry]

Damaging, but not usually fatal, or even crampy.

[rostasi]

Yes, true - "usually" - unless you walk into trouble while attending to something else.
Still not as safe as being more attentive to your environment tho.

[Scott Dolan]

Rod has a point. I can point specifically to people who ride bicycles around town while wearing earbuds. That is a very dangerous activity that could easily end up being more than just crampy. 

[fasstrack]

Had enough of this s^&t. I'm only human, and have reached my breaking point.

My online complaint form to MTA:

:This morning, just after 9 on BX19 #4333, a woman was talking loud and using vulgarities on her cell. I politely asked her to modulate her tones, as there was no seat available to move to. She unleashed a barrage of unprintable mean-spirited vulgarity at me. I next approached the driver, explaining what had occurred. His answer? What do you want ME to do about it? I wanted him to, next time he stopped, go to where she was sitting and politely ask her to modify her behavior. I soon found a seat in front, but she continued her verbal spraying, sometimes staring defiantly my way. I again approached the driver. Silence. Me: 'No answer?" He: 'No answer'. 

I paid my fair, and am entitled to ride with my ears and self unmolested. IMO the driver could have done as I asked, but opted to co nothing.

What do you have to say to this?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Joel Fass

[JSngry]

Dude, you live in NYC, right? Look up a cat named Elliot Alderson, he can help you out.

[Scott Dolan]

7 hours ago, fasstrack said:

Had enough of this s^&t. I'm only human, and have reached my breaking point.

My online complaint form to MTA:

:This morning, just after 9 on BX19 #4333, a woman was talking loud and using vulgarities on her cell. I politely asked her to modulate her tones, as there was no seat available to move to. She unleashed a barrage of unprintable mean-spirited vulgarity at me. I next approached the driver, explaining what had occurred. His answer? What do you want ME to do about it? I wanted him to, next time he stopped, go to where she was sitting and politely ask her to modify her behavior. I soon found a seat in front, but she continued her verbal spraying, sometimes staring defiantly my way. I again approached the driver. Silence. Me: 'No answer?" He: 'No answer'. 

I paid my fair, and am entitled to ride with my ears and self unmolested. IMO the driver could have done as I asked, but opted to co nothing.

What do you have to say to this?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Joel Fass

Wow...

Seriously? 

I'm thinking a nice home in the country should be in your future...

[fasstrack]

10 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Wow...

Seriously? 

I'm thinking a nice home in the country should be in your future...

Nah. Can't afford it on musician bread, and anyway I'm still proud to be a NY gutter rat. All my friends and the world's best music are here.

 Just letting off a little steam.

Nice thought, though...

15 hours ago, JSngry said:

Dude, you live in NYC, right? Look up a cat named Elliot Alderson, he can help you out.

? Who he, and where he?

[A Lark Ascending]

I share the irritation with mobile phone conversations as conspicuous display (at least we iPod/earbud types don't inflict our 'sounds' on others). The other day I was waiting in a cinema foyer and a middle-aged couple had their mobile on speaker phone so they could both hear the person on the other end and talk back. The entire foyer could have joined in the decision making about what needed to be bought for the party. 

Mobiles are a case of technology having advanced so rapidly that an appropriate set of manners to deal with them has been unable to keep up. Back in the olden days of tethered phones it was normal to take a call in the hallway where others weren't distracted. Today people will take (or even make) calls in a restaurant or pub regardless of the people they are eating or socialising with. It's striking the speed with which this all changed.

I own up to a fogeyism commensurate with my age on this one.      

Edited September 13, 2016 by A Lark Ascending