Camille Paglia Drops Knowledge

And not because it's too heavy and she's a woman. This razor sharp feminist is sure to turn heads, provided that they're in attendance, so come see Camille Paglia speak on Wednesday, October 15th! Find out that there is more to feminism, academia, and intellectualism than you currently conceive, at 7:00 PM in The Commons: Skylight Room. There's a 95% chance that Camille Paglia will blow your mind, and that statistic means nothing. But come anyway because October 15th might be your only chance to see, hear, and speak to this notorious author, teacher, and social critic.

BANANAS Pt. 2

Just so there's no confusion, what I'm basically advertising is the idea that the variety of banana that has been overgrown and abundantly available to all will probably get raped in the ear. Will this effect the banana market? Most definitely. Will we ever eat bananas again? Most definitely.

Here's a good counter argument:Link

BANANAS

Bananas. They're apparently dying. And although no one reads this corner of the internet I think it's good to parrot news that is under the radar:

Link

Pandora's Box is Hot

Oh yeah. Don't like a wealth of information? Stab your ears and run down the stairs while closing your eyes. I've just recently discovered Pandora Radio and can hereby tell you, audience, that if you don't now use this service that you, audience, are The Dumb™. click-a tha link-a provided by my Title.
It's only about 1.21 Gigawatts better than Last.FM. I'm still feeling it out, only using it while tinkering on the web (like now I'm listening to The Velvet Underground on my David Bowie station). I think I'll make a Devo station next.
Ah. As I added that image The Psychedelic Furs came on. Damn I love this site; it's reading my mind. And what's great is that I tell the service what it is that I like and what I don't like, it just suggest what you might also enjoy and you help it to help you. Awesome. Not only this but it will explain to you why it is that it suggested the next song/artist. Pandora Radio also provides the user with a friends list as to use other peoples playlists. The streaming is pretty smooth and the advertisements are altogether ignorable. If I could get this in my car, I'd be set.

And what's more, I love to "randomize" my music since I listen to so much of it. The rearrangement of song order can create better enjoyment of music but only if it somehow makes sense to the person hearing it. It's the dilemma of the DJ: what comes next and what goes with what? Most "randomizations" leave my musical taste dulled but I revel in the occasions of several songs piecing together perfectly. And I don't have to do anything on Pandora but rate the music! Sometimes I have to change the pitch and/or speed of the song to meet my taste (I prefer Message In A Bottle to be played quickly) with other players, but with Pandora a perfectly good live recording of that song comes up. Know what? It happens to have been performed at a much more catchy pace. If I didn't know better I might even buy some of this music (even the stuff I own).

Books. Eat them.

Damnit, don't you wish you could eat books and consume their beefy knowledge? Of course you do. But you know what book I'd skip to save room for dessert? The Argument. While I might use this book as a referencing source a good many times, it is for the topics of discussion: social/political/consumer power through media (Internet). I'm sure there are better books for such topic(s), books that read better and contain more qualitative information. As mentioned before, I don't much give a damn about party politics insofar as I enjoy the freak show. The revelations shared by this book are old news to pseudo-wonks and moderately well informed Internet users. And it reads like an Al Franken book: long winded and boringly useless.

I'd rather have a man scream at me about his fears and concerns over our doomed futures. At least that's exciting. At least I'm engaged. Truly, iSpy is heavy handed and maddening in all sorts of always-- but it's informative. I appreciate the attempt of a wake-up call, a thing many do not enjoy receiving, I just wish the optimistic drive of hope featured in the end were more sprinkled throughout. Give us hope or we might not continue.

Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of alternative suggestions. Postman would be covered in courses before this one and Paglia is too incredibly dense for a whole class to manage. I think it might be best, in all, to cut the books back to 3 or 4 (rather than 5) and assign more assignments of lesser value than the two giant papers, one project, and semester-long blogging. It would encourage more to actually read and participate with more.

Google: Me

I'm fairly below any sort of radar. I like that. You cannot Google me with success, though it seems quite a few of my "googlegangers" are well off. Good lord is that a terrible word or what: googlegangers? The Lipo (Lee-Poe) clan that I am descendant from are also quite affluent as well as strongly family oriented. This brings to mind the few stories of older relatives reaching out in search of long lost members wherever they may be. Our name is a Polish name which is apparently a sort of Bush, though we've found Lipos of Italian and (I believe) Dutch heritage but they did not seem to be our Lipos. They also didn't seem eager to know us. Odd.

Fuck 'em. Though, while on the subject of Googling ones self, it's a tough decision as to which of your names to Google. Jim, Jay, James, or Jimmy Lipo? I only really go by James or Jay these days but when I was younger I would hear Jim and Jimmy. However, I don't think Google even existed when I went by the latter. Turns out that Google doesn't know who I am and I even use their blogging site. Talk about surveillance!

Political Brain Crack

Wonkette.com is a political haven for the likes of me, though I don't venture there. I do not dare hit the pipe of the megablogs like Gawker, BoingBoing, or PornBot. They're too much! I've got enough to do without adding another time sink to indulge what morbid curiosity I have with politics. Though when I do talk to about the dirty topic I talk as though I might just read these hallowed pages of brain crack-- clever little elbow-jabs all over the place, so much so that I feel like I'm being beaten with wit. My mental-ass does not deserve such appreciable abuse.

And good lord is such a vicious beating eternal? Wonkette never ends, as it is a conglomerate of clever political bloggers whom are paid and unified under one amazing roof. The site is geared toward DC-Metro politico-junkies, an area of thought, culture, and geographical position where one could accidentally hob-nob with a lying liar from The Hill or someone that knows them (at the very least). DC is a buzz with what juices politics all over the country and the globe and a lot of that bubbles over to feed the average wonk that does other things with their time, like me. To imagine being sucked into their avid discussions and gossip is to be doomed to the abyss. BRAIN CRACK. Know why? Because all this doesn't actually amount to anything. Damnit!

The Argument

"How has your political identity developed? What beliefs do you have, and what events or people have shaped them?"

My political identity has formed just as every other view, thought, or personality trait has over the years. Early on I thought that political views were solely represented by mast heads like Presidents (read: when I was a fucking child). As I became an adolescent, my views became adolescent; I looked to quantify things and pit them against one another in extreme dichotomies. Democratic V. Republican Steel Cage DeathMatch, FIGHT. Alas, once I was lost in thought over how cool Bill Clinton was. Then I thought he was overrated but powerful. Then I read Howard Zinn and realized that not only he, but the other politicians I thought were keen were in fact assholes too. I still miss the simplicity of loving Teddy Roosevelt.

These days? I just view it as one big show. I make jokes about cabals and smoke filled rooms where decisions are made months in advance but I also wouldn't be surprised. Politicians are lying assholes? Go on! No way. I once met a girl who seemed bright, though young. When she told me that-- "yes, large scale politicians are all corrupt assholes but local politicians are A-OK; I've worked with them"-- I just laughed. I believe in our power as a mass of people but I simply see us as too marginalized, too divided, and too apathetic.

Follow The Links

A reflective look on where we go on the Internet and why we got there. Why do I first look at amateur porn and other softcore varieties before I move onto the dirtiest of the dirty (thanks a lot Max Hardcore, now I can't wash my eyes hard enough). In truth, it's not the easiest thing to hop around to unrelated spaces of the Internet from one page to another. Main pages are often utilized as to not meander around, blindly clicking hyperlinks. Truly, the most populous of non sequitur links must be the advertisement. Gross. Who clicks on those?

There are domains (quite literally) and realms on the Internet where mostly one sort of intellectual ownership presides. Even where the land dictates open sharing, it's often through a few single sources and users return immediately to the main page(s). On web forums it's just the same; I may start at the forum, click a link in a thread, and perhaps another within that linked area but I'd normally return back to the forum shortly. Hell, we all have our favorite places to go on the internet. Firefox provides users with a graphical toolbar for all my multi-tabbed/windowed needs (I prefer windows with no limit on the amount of windows). I can go to Pandora Radio, DotA Allstars, Penny Arcade, The Evolution Control Committee, my e-mail, and/or The Rogan Board within a series of clicks-- all at the same time. But can I connect myself from one site to the other via links provided by those pages? Why bother? You can go and provide those links to those domains as to interconnect them in some way but it'd be much easier to simply save the URL.

But how do we find these places to begin with. Aha, here's where Internet exploration comes to fruition. Surely, if I hear of these things from other sources in my daily life then I can Google them. However, in the case of my infrequently visited Rogan Board, I stumbled upon a wealth of information by chance! I was investigating information on DMT when I found a video of Joe Rogan talking about the drug for 10 minutes! From there I saw videos of Joe's infamous and short-lived Joe Show (10 webisodes, I don't know why he stopped doing it. It's not like he canceled himself) and decided I join his internet community. From this place I've seen quite a lot. When the discussions are good there is much of worth to be said and read with links, references, and resources flying around like ricocheted bullets in the Old West. It's a place of many links like BoingBoing and Wonkette but there's more discussion and no one's paid to talk about it.

What do you do with the unknown? Discover it. When do you discover it? When you're feeling a little adventurous. Happy Hunting.

Dr. Thorson's Humor Scale

"You’ll be healthier if you lighten up. Our research has shown that those who score high on a multidimensional sense of humor scale have lower levels of depression and higher levels of purpose than those who score low in humor."

I'm not trying to presuppose that the humor scale is intent on relaying any sort of reliable information. I just see a glaring problem with the idea of telling the audience what the socially appropriate/beneficial response before they are measured. It's bad testing. Anyone who carries a doctorate would/should know this yet I digress-- even if all the items of measurement influence a biased positive answer.

But, as you can see, Columbo is perfectly depicted here for two reasons: (1) he's rubbing his brow in the classic facepalm.jpg fashion due to the massive failure of this scale, (2) he's iconic for the use of humor to diffuse a tense situation. It's not that I don't agree with what this scale is saying in terms of what humor, joy, and socially inherent behaviors (like laughter) are good for; I just don't agree with the validity of what this is trying to advertise. It's a bit misleading. It wreaks of silly girl magazines and hair-brained scheming.

I scored 54/64 which apparently means:"you use humor sometimes, but perhaps you could learn to let yourself go and enjoy more variety." Hm. The thing is that I think people generally need to be sad every so often. It's a requirement of life and existence. You can't simply go around doing whatever you want, happy all the time; where would you know from happy if you're never sad? Sadness rectifies human perception and that means it is necessary for our lives. It's about understanding, not happiness. If you are depressed or stressed then it is a responsibility that falls on you to understand and resolve the issue(s). Happiness comes from this. Joy comes from this. Sadness begets happiness which begets sadness. This isn't philosophical, it's factual.

Obligatory Video Posting

While on the subject of e-fame, why don't you do yourself a favor and check out the mighty The Show with ZeFrank, eh? Scoot through it all and if you really like it, check out everything else. That's how you explore the Internet. Lazy savages.

The interesting thing about zefrank was that he pulled the viewers into the community he piecemealed in his spare time. He had a silly way of unifying everyone that saw him through a pointy little box in our magical light squares. I'm sad at this very moment that I can't put his catchy songs on my cellular phone as to notify me of incoming communicae. Which reminds me that I really must learn how to make my own ring tones. Isn't that neat? You don't have to rely on overpriced corporate hackery to feel cool in public places when people want to talk to you (you overly self-involved ass). Though, you might have to read a manual.

Luckily there are manuals for everything, especially thanks to hard working men and women trying to make our larger world community a smaller, more informed one. I learn how to cook things every day from people I've never met, seen, or heard of. When you bring it all full circle, like a new age yuppie freak with his World music and his designer moccasins, I couldn't even communicate these thoughts were it not for many, many people before me helping many, many others. Just seems that we all need a bit of motivation to do things like people used to. What it seems that we need are people like zefrank to help us get enthused in things again.

Spring Cleaning The Internet

It can't be done. I quote the grate Joe Rogaine™ from the classic 90s sit-com News Radio, "Dude, you can't take things off the internet. That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool." And it is. I sternly agree with the likes of Doug Stanhope when he attacks the popular notion amongst the mainstream news media that "child pornography is rampant on the Internet", as if the Internet is a mad house of child porn. You can't even check your private e-mail anymore without seeing immature genitalia everywhere!

Doug and I have seen a lot of things on the Internet (yes, like him I've even seen cock fingering) but we've never seen child porn. I (nor he) deny that it's probably out there because sick freaks of all sorts still exist and most likely can jam keys on their desktop. What we are saying, however, is that if child porn is so rampant and it's so impossible to get things off the Internet then why am I not revolted by child porn at every click? It might seem that big news media corporations might have it out for the Internet? Muddying things up in the public eye? We'll see about that, jerks.

And why can't we know whatever we want to know? If the information is so important, it certainly isn't our fault for knowing about it. A bit of logic passed down from my father as to why he never kept up with religion, even at a young age, was that "when they started to talk about God judging my thoughts, I knew it wasn't for me." And isn't this the main fear? That we might eventually know something and give a damn about it to change the dynamics of power would ruin their parade of money and excessive influence. Better to keep us poor and dumb-- keep telling us everything we're doing is wrong and dangerous. People are easier to push around like that.

In the last 50 years the majority of freedom sucking skinbags have also been empowered and it's not easy adjusting to power for everyone.

For some people it's awkward and kinda sticky but for others that maybe hadn't noticed it and are just now getting into the whole idea, it's pretty neat. But it can get to be too much! ZeFrank started as a video blog and was intended to only last a year but as time lurched on and zefrank got better at talking to nobody that nobody would turn into somebody. And he got better at it. I caught the buzz right in the middle of the year long extravaganza and became addicted. I'm still saddened by the loss (yes, it did end in a year as planned); the guy was funny, highly entertaining and there's now no more of him. But as he became more empowered, he found it odd; he didn't expect so much and started to worry whether he could keep going at the same pace (with the same success).

Thank god anonymity takes off a lot of that pressure. So many of us are/can be heard while never even considering that who we're speaking as isn't who we are. Perhaps the power betters some of us and even worsens others (think: internet addictions that break up relationships/marriages or stunt life choices) but in the end it is this tool, the Internet that we can use as we please. It is a multifaceted tool at our ever present disposal which can not only make us celebrities (internet royalty) but can also tear us down under the weight of its power.

Use it or be used by it.

Learnapedia

As has been mentioned, this blog is a part of my Media & Communications Studies course (370) and because of that I get a lot of topics that I comment on from here. It's one of the more interesting courses I'm taking because it's based on material such as whether or not Wikipedia and other such toolings of The Interbutts are good or bad? Have people gotten dumber? Is it this newfangled series of tubes that's ruining America? And what the hell is a Washington Post?

To everyones surprise, the founder of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales) thinks his e-child is awesome and can kick your e-child's ass. Not only that but he also thinks that his e-child is the future of the WORLD WIDE WEB and is singlehandedly making our lives better. And while sucking your own cock isn't masturbation and is, in fact, homosexual, I think Jimbo Wales has a point. Being a narcissist doesn't mean that you're inherently wrong. Because I'm almost always right. And modest.

Jacoby is wrong and Wales is right but the greatest thing is that their argument is on The Internet (ironic, eh Jacoby?) where anyone and everyone can get informed to any degree they want (or that's available to their ability to use a web browser) and weigh in. Like me, right now. Even though no one reads this blog, they could very easily; how easy would it be to find an essay I wrote on paper 2 years ago? And why are you going through my garbage? And in this way, one could say that The Internet is a flea market of intellectualism.

I don't think more people have really gotten any smarter in the last 50 years, in that there are roughly the same percentages of people around the world as smarter or dumber than the rest of the populations. For example, let's say America was 70% dumb and 30% smart in 1958; I don't think these percentages have changed much at all. There are more people to compose that 70% and/or 30%, certainly, but overall there are just as many smart jerks as there are dumb jerks. Have most of them become smarter? Of course! That's progress. What? You don't believe in progress?! Anti-intellectual.

I go to Google all the time for all my immediately information gratification. It usually brings me to Wikipedia and since it loads faster than Wikipedia's browser I just take the connected flight. I do not, however, use imitative crap like Encyclopedia Dramatica (as referenced above) for any other reason than explaining The Internet to outsiders and to a less indoctrinated audience because Google doesn't scrape the bowels of The Internet like a single user can given a few cold beers and an hour alone. E.D. is a cancer to the shadowy underbelly that makes The Internet so exotic because it exists to inform others of an area that should not be taught; it should be discovered. However, I am safe from being a big hypocritical jerkoff because no one reads my blog. And that's O.K. because it's better than a private journal and people used to do those things back in the 50s. What a buncha morans! if you don't get the joke then you lose the game.

Hey Ho

Just chiming in again about another blog of mine.

Enjoy the background contrast and critical commentary.

The War on Democracy

In keeping with this theme against democracy, please enjoy this film.

I'm going to assume you watched that video. Isn't that neat? A full documentary at your fingertips and it's all for free. Though, it's funny how big mean organizations try to hide information from us. This video makes several perfect examples of how information about events and news from South America and Central America is manipulated to impress upon us, the audience, an agenda that exudes money and power. Did I say funny? I meant faggy (no offense real fags*).

People who have motive to gain additional power or maintain power should not be trusted. The Internet is the most powerful communicative tool for democracy and if you're not digging into the deep dark soil then you're missing out. Stop going to the same places that you usually visit and start exploring everywhere else because the web is an ever expanding landscape created by mostly us. And porn. But you and I could make some porn. I like where this is going.

*I'm a firm supporter (no pun) of homosexuals. Go team!

Really Real And Real, Consumer

I discovered the issue of fluoridation a few months ago and found this recent development interesting. Hard not to fold up a tin hat when you read this sort of news. When I see things like this I sometimes think of Sicko. Despite what you think of everything else in the film, you have to love Tony Benn-- the guy is wicked smaaht.

I was surprised that his interview and name weren't more popularized after Sicko was made popular. Then again, most people know about TED Talks but how often do we discuss them. Well, I try but then no one talks back. Assholes. I mean, really, when smart people come around and their brilliance or deep thoughts are broadcast and/or made available to the masses, what happens? It feels like nothing. Damn system, keeping me marginalized and oppressed! Well, fuck 'em. These are questions and thoughts you should be having as to "why are things the way that they are?" And sure, maybe we'll all break out our Reynolds Wrap by the time we reach our conclusions but at least we'll have something more to say. There's not enough real argument today. The dynamics of argument range from complete belligerency to supreme apathy with very little in between. It's a bimodal mess. Tony Benn is just a big wooden spoon that gets the pot stirring. TL; DR:

Extended Tony Benn Reeeeemiiiiiiiix:

Oh, and about the Poop Cult

I've been meaning to make it more apparent that I'm also blogging about media for an AMST class which can be seen here.There are some overlapping videos and discussions and I would rather not post the same things twice if I can (videos, subject material, pictures). To think, I've gone so far without blogging only to suddenly do twice as much.

Update: Now that it's over, AMST 325 was a class that covered ground but simply didn't get me to where I want to end up. I was already fairly familiar with things. It's a class I would've liked to hear the instructor talk more about than the students because while we're submerged into this popular culture it is not always apparent to us what it is that is either going on or attempted to be explained to us. I don't know if many people know much about post-modernism, post-structuralism, or late-consumerism but it would have been nicer if the discussions of those things had more to do with their conceptual cores than their mundane, anecdotal, face-value summations. If the study of media and culture can show us anything it's that there is more going on than what we immediately see as going on.

It is with that is mind that perhaps I should explain about "Poop Cult." It is an obvious corruption of Popular Culture where I am referencing the popular notion that popular culture is filled with mindless crap. While this is true, it is also deceiving. My invention is ushered from my memories of Beavis & Butthead, two of the most premier popular culture icons of my generation. Where people find disgust and abhoration for Beavis & Butthead is where they cease to appreciate or even understand what the show is saying. It is not idolizing the modern teenager, it is mocking them severely. The greatest irony of the program was that the audience it insulted watched it the most! This seems to hold true for Mike Judge and his socially relevant creations & commentary where he moved onto. King of the Hill has a strong "good ol' boy" following, every office rat and smarmy movie goer saw Office Space, and only the smart-assed culture snobs saw a movie like Idiocracy where the smart-assed culture snobs get bred out of existence by ultra-reproducing morons.

And if you can't appreciate that, kill yourself.

Another painfully black & white post!

Sometimes two topics are better mashed together into one:
We, the semi-unwashed masses of The Rogan Board™, declare that the internets (all of them) are for the lack of having a life, liberty to jeer others, and pursuit of porn. Well, until Joe up & decided to cancel the porn rule. See, The Rogan Board™ used to enact a rule for newcomers that they must post pornography within their first ten posts. It is still in strong agreement of many who browse The Rogan Board™ that one can tell a lot about a person by what sort of porn they enjoy and are willing to share with others. And I could tell from my first few glimpses of the place that "these crazies are my sort of people".

It all started for me one year ago. I was looking around for information about DMT and isolation tanks when I found a lot of material coming from this guy: Joseph Rogan. I knew him from his stint on Newsradio as well as Fear Factor but didn't really enjoy him as an individual until I heard some of his stand-up, read some of his blog posts, and watched some of "THE JOE SHOW". In the pleasure valley that is the forum there is much to be shared: pictures of the day, videos, news articles, and gossipy personal interest discussion; This place is called "Shit Talking 1o1". The alternative forum is Special Ed, where many have been sent to reform their retarded ways. We're somewhat elitist in that sense, but it's all fairly understandable.

The community on his forum are mostly comprised of people that I can either tolerate, enjoy, or admire to some extent. It has a surprisingly deep well of information which is a welcomed change. I can go to the "Yes, I even steal comic books" thread and find or request just about anything on the subject. A friend of mine runs that particular thread, though it resides in "teh tard forum", and it is particularly well received. It's good to visit the inmates, check in on progress and all that, watch them fight for a loose bagel or such. The moderators of the forum are reasonable people but their human. Though, if a person gets all bent out of shape because of a 'tarding or some sort of negative feedback then they're quite obviously not made for The Rogan Board™. We're a tough skinned folk. We can look at gore and laugh, though some members have turned into little girls as of late.

This little nook of the internet is pretty well self regulated. Even if a mod doesn't come along, the community is pretty even handed with the ridicule. But with everything social, there are variants. Back when I joined, Joe Rogan had called Carlos Mencia out for being a joke theif & a hack. I wasn't aware of this web-social event until I'd joined for a few days. The board had become flooded with a certain ilk of parroting Mencia haters, "Joe good job!", "LOL Tell him Joe", "Joe!!!!1! Can I wash your back?!!/?". The join date of "February 2007" had become a stamp of persecution, being that the flood of "newbs" had the native community irritated. This has perhaps happened again in recent weeks as I've felt the board has been lacking in interesting fiber. I'm noticing a lot of new, not so stimulating, people. However, I doubt it's a seasonal influx more than it's myself becoming tired of the place.

I've had my run, and I still visit for the interest and hope that I'll find something funny or mentally stimulating. Maybe I'll come back to it fired up with enjoyment but lately I've been sinking back into a nerd hobby from my past: Warcraft III's DotA & the related community. MOON ROCKS!

Music development & Ishkur

Before I move on to the next blog post, I wanted to share something. I've been a great appreciator of music and sound ever since I could hear; my mother loved '60-'70s Rock and my father liked the big band crooners. I've never been a big stickler for name referencing, dropping, or even the deeper qualities of music nerd-ship but I have been on the prowl for delicious noise since I was old enough to influence my parents' pocketbooks. Hard to believe, some of the first music I had my parents buy was punk and pseudo-punk: Greenday's Dookie and Kerplunk, Misfit's Walk Among Us, and I remember my mother's friend's much older son liked Guttermouth so I got a live album of theirs (I didn't comprehend what "Live" implied, bad acoustics and low screaming fans-- which worked for that album at least). It's not that I didn't like the music either parent was listening to (my father also had an appreciation for older country: Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Hank Williams Jr.) but rather that I wanted more music and they just weren't listening to anything else. And they still didn't even when I started to, so it became a personal thing for me in a way; I had all the time in the world to understand and appreciate the music that I was listening to.

Which brings me to Electronic music. I know there are tons of people that "don't get it", don't like it, and don't have any clue about what they're talking about. The latter includes people who claim to enjoy Electronic music and are partially responsible for the great confusion. What great confusion? Why, the great confusion that plagues the population of mankind as to what in the hell this E-lec-tron-ic music is! And boy are you lucky that I found a solution, rather, that this fellow named Ishkur made a solution for you (all).

Now, if you've been browsing the Evolution Control Committee's website like you should be then you may have already caught this. It is Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music. and it is comprehensive. Begin with the basics and then click the tutorial (read all 14 pages of history). Once you've completed the ground work you can move on through: House, Trance, Techno, Breakbeat, Jungle, Hardcore, and Downtempo. He's done an impressive job of organizing the time lines and relative connections between super-genres and sub-genres. Ishkur even provides various samples of each musical styling and a hint of commentary as to their value to music in general. I've thought of myself as fairly well versed on the subject but Ishkur has done far more homework than I even comprehended as relevant. But it is (relevant). Really. His critiques are poignant, wholly agreeable, and encourages readers to continue their surf through the annals of Electronic music history. It's examples like this that make me wonder whether people create things like this out of sheer ingenuity or through perseverance of completing a final project or dissertation.

Enjoy the time sink and if you have any leftover knowledge when you're finished, just put it in a box and save it for later. It tastes better the next day.

No, that's O.K., I like having responsibility.

I do not feel the government should regulate the content of any media, particularly the domains of the world wide web. I think the control exacted upon various forms of media strip the national community of its intelligence and common courtesy. An example of radio regulation can be analogous to simple conversation: if a person is talking then it is best to allow that person to finish before the listener begins; if a person is broadcasting at a certain frequency that another wishes to broadcast at, then that person should wait for the then current broadcaster to finish. The simple practice of manners amongst people can free themselves of these regulating bonds. These bonds restrict what others can say to their audience, and almost more importantly: what the audience can hear. Any audience.

As for the internet in particularly, I can't see why the government should parent children or parent parents. More than that, I can't see why it is anyones' responsibility to regulate what another person sees. If the person viewing or hearing any given stimulus does not like it then that person has the free will and brainpower to stop. Censorship deprives the society at large of proper stimuli that may better shape us as a people; simply because something is generally displeasing or earnestly horrible does not equate uselessness. It has always been my view that the "negative" things in life are exactly what make those "positive" things so damn appealing. I don't think I'll ever find away to argue against that.

Pending Update

I Rule!

Two blog assignments in one post:
My father was strongly encouraged to retire early in his career from his last mainstay at Hughes Aircraft Systems; he had been working in computer networks since UNIVAC. I was in middle school when this happened. I suddenly became poorer. I felt very cheated because most of the things bought for me up to that point were useless: old toys I was already melting and chopping with a hand ax outside with my friends, clothes that I would neither wear or fit into, and school supplies more appropriate for elementary school. This inspired a knowing of functional and quality items as opposed to flashy or trendier items, although they were not always simply discernible to me. That knowledge required growth that I still attempt to maintain and build additions to; any feasible trade or market I can become interested in will be made note of for all future intents and purpose. That is to say, as I grow older and hopefully more intelligent I also intend to grow ever-long as a consumer citizen.

I try to buy only what I can honestly rationalize and aim to keep within my means. For large (relative to myself) purchase, I do my best to research prudent information before the day of sale. The bulk of my income is spent on modern basic expenses: rent, food, car insurance, (mostly school) books, and gas. By myself. My longtime female companion encourages more spending, but not so much more. She's reasonable. I don't live in the best place while in school. I buy my books online (17 credits, 300+ courses, $200), and the food I buy should be reasonably priced. And I buy ingredients rather than packaged food and pre-made meals. I cook and I can't imagine why people wouldn't insofar as they're lazy and don't know what to do. Cooking saves money, tastes better, and makes you a better person.

I don't buy much clothing either. I'm poor, what logic can be sustained by purchasing garments more fitting for the fashion season? I enjoy proper style (as best lectured to me by Esquire magazine and my own adopted sense of the subject) but simply cannot afford it. I try to stay informed and buy appropriately when I can. I'm not at all cheap but I am reasonable. I recognize business because it's of interest to me; it should be of interest to everyone because everyone is involved. When I walk into an inner city Safeway and see very poor quality strawberries sold 50% overprice, I pity the community as a citizen.

I'm a young and learning DIYer, dabbling in the interests of subjects ranging from music manipulation to home construction to food production and manufacturing. I mean, I intend to keep down this road of information, rationalization, planning, and diversifying. When I have my own home I will have a vegetable and herb garden and hopefully an area to butcher and cure my own meats. I hope to maybe construct something like a smoke shack, a porch, and a greenhouse. I want to do as much as I can for myself as is reasonable to my own lifestyle and make as much room for such as possible. If I can't do something then I want to know who really does.

I've recently been coming back to the website of a group of musical bandits called The Evolution Control Committee since they've updated their internet space. I suppose I'm one of the sort of viewers that they find ideal, wet behind the ears and interested in mastering the funky tunes of Earth for the purpose of personal creativity. Of course, I need money for all the proper equipment (I have been slowly acquiring bits and pieces over the years). They advertise upcoming events that they feel prudent, which obviously include shows. But they don't charge for their music. They can't. Sale of much of the music they've made would violate current copyright laws, and that's what they're into. They advertise that notion too. The E.C.C. advertise their views and creations and not much else; on the music page you can find a link to Drown Radio concerning their participation in the Crate Digger Deathmatch. And while big companies may not like the E.C.C., or rather the F.C.C. might not like the E.C.C. (get it?), they should. Why? Because the E.C.C.'s form of musical styling, the mash-up, in fact advertises previously released media that could easily inspire as much as a financial revisiting to the original work. Sadly, the bigger corporations don't always see it as such grand marketing. Business is not yet ready for the culture that the E.C.C. thrives in.