"Things wrong with pop fiction" part III.
Can we please get a warrior type hero who will friggin' MAKE SURE THE SUPER-VIOLENT ENEMY IS ACTUALLY DEAD BEFORE TURNING AWAY?
I mean, come on, how basic does it get.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Answering e-mails
If you talk to a person face to face, you always get an answer. Even if he doesn't know you, and you are not polite, you will get some kind of answer. Almost nobody will just ignore you.
So why do so many people often not answer their emails? Even often when they're from friends. Is it because they don't like typing? Is it because they can't see the other person at the moment? Why?
So why do so many people often not answer their emails? Even often when they're from friends. Is it because they don't like typing? Is it because they can't see the other person at the moment? Why?
Beosound 6
Just like with Leica M8, it's sometimes sad to see the venerable kings of design and quality trying to keep up in the digital age. Witness the iPod rip-off from Bang and Olufsen. It looks worse than the iPod, has fewer features, and is more expensive.
I am guessing it is like I said before: in the analogue age you could make outstanding products with a very small company. With digital technology, this is just not possible.
Bert commented:
Not true. Analog design did require genuine talent in electronics, while a digital design doesn't have to be elegant to work well, but that's about where the difference ends.
What has changed are the behavior and expectations of the customers. It is becoming more and more difficult to sell a product just by slapping a fancy label (like B&O) on it. Yet the response of people to fads, like every iGizmo from Apple for example, is unbelievable. To a point that the situation is impossible to understand, so it's not surprising that many will resort to copycat strategies or other desperate measures.
TTL recently mentioned that every generation in audio technology got crappier (vinyl -> CD -> MP3). I disagree with that reasoning because, while CDs are not perfect, they can be far superior to vinyl in many, if not most respects. Fully digital recordings are far less forgiving than the old analog stuff, and thus it requires both knowledge and talent to master a great CD [blah, blah, blah...]
But the transition to MP3s was a consumer choice, and never ever was this lossy, crappy compression scheme promoted by the audio industry. Quite the contrary: it allowed companies like Apple, who know dick about audio technology, to enter the market with their toys, and that has hurt the old players in the field like nothing else. It is like, overnight, sound quality no longer meant anything and portability was the only important matter (the $ aspect did play a role too, as the average Joe is getting poorer by the minute, but that's a debate on its own).
So, in a world where nobody seems to care about sound quality, what do you expect from people who devoted their lives to high-end audio? That they suddenly become able to design battery-operated micro-miniature high-end gear? That simply cannot exist, period. What else is left for them but to try to adapt to this new world?
Btw, B&O has always have been in the business of design much more than audio. Distinctive looks are their main strength. In that respect, their iPod wannabe will probably do well with their old-time customer base who, after all, can't be satisfied with the commoner's toys. ;-P
Similarly, Leica made a name for themselves in times when it required real knowledge, craftsmanship and dedication to make perfect lenses. This is no longer the case, as high-end optics are now routinely mass-produced. What's left for Leica?
This is called evolution and, unlike in nature, evolutionary changes in technology don't always go for the better. I, for my part, hardly listen to music anymore. It all just sounds like noise mastered especially for earbuds, and I can't stand that.
Back to Eolake:
Thanks for these excellent points.
Personally, I'm getting far more enjoyment from MP3s than I ever did from vinyl or CDs. I can't hear any difference, and I can sort the music any which way, and I don't have to take care not to scratch anything. And I can find new music much easier. But that's surely a huge discussion without any final answers.
The Phantom
The Phantom newspaper strip has been running continually for nearly 70 years! Holy cow. I really respect that.
I was a big reader of the monthy Phantom comic as a kid. The Phantom was much bigger in Scandinavia than in the States, with tons of monthly comics stories being produced and published by Egmont in Copenhagen, which also produces tons of Donald Duck comics for many decades. It was odd for me to find out that a Danish company was doing this, when I thought that only the "big countries" had the muscle.
And apparently the monthly comic (bi-weekly?) continues even today in Sweden. I haven't seen a Danish version for many years, I think.
I was amused to remember that seemingly every story at some point had the Phantom ("Fantomet") being knocked unconscious, and usually had to be rescued by his dog.
At least the costume in Scandinavia is dark blue, not purple. I mean, purple? Really? In the Jungle?
His costume by the way is remarkable, it's apparently the first skin-tight superhero type costume created. Which makes it even more remarkable that it was made for a jungle hero. I mean, he really does not look like a jungle warrior. Just for one thing, he has no camouflage.
The Phantom is at least as silly as any other superhero, but it has some basic appeal, on almost a kitch level. The idea of the custome being passed on from father to son, so everybody thinks he is 400 years old (470 now), is great. And the cranium grotto, and so on. Wonderful stuff.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
This song tipped me off that she's into girls*. It may be stupid, but I find that hot, I'm sorry.
Joan: yes, your music is much more important, pardon my hormones.
But also: how many successful musicians are not hot? It works for ya.
I wonder why the song is called A.C.D.C? Maybe it's a symbol for "swinging both ways". (Hey, does this mean that the guys in AC/DC... nah, surely not.)
Here's an interesting interview. It answers a question I had: yes, she has to battle a ton of sexism. That is just so incredibly stupid. Who are those people? When I see a girl being successful in a man-dominated industry, I don't have a hint of "piss off", I think: fuck yeah, good for you, rock on".
My pal Steve On Wheels sent this snap of him with Joan and Dougie Needles (who I don't know) [Update: it's her guitarist, he is in the video above with Carmen Electra. And her manager/collaborator Kenny Laguna took the pic]. It's two years old, and she's fifty now, what a beauty.
Update: I actually had the impression from the olden days that Joan was from the more gentle side of hard rock, but the video below proves otherwise!
The lyrics are unbelievably explicit. You don't hear lyrics like that from many mainstream stars!
I'd want her bad, except she is clearly a top too, so it might not work. :-)
If this isn't "edge", I don't know what is. She has balls of brass, well done Joan.
* OK, so she refuses to talk about it. Fair enough. (Though how do you manage that nobody meets your bf/gf, anyway??) But with songs like this and a guitar-sticker saying "dykes rule", that's either a statement, or a clever but slightly disingenuous publicity stunt. And she does not seem disingenuous to me.
Steve On Wheels said:
Yes, interesting woman she is! This picture was taken during their stop in St. Louis on The Warped Tour '06. Dougie Needles is her long-time guitarist, whom you can see in the video above, "AC/DC"... featuring the ever so lovely Joan Jett & Carmen Electra. Yummy! Joan was quite nice and we chatted for about 20-30 minutes (along with “partaking of some smoke”) before the oppressive summer heat made her retreat to her air conditioned bus. As a bonus, her Tour Mgr (Kenny Laguna, bass player for Tommy James & The Shondells back in the ‘60’s “MONY MONY”) invited my son and I (who attended with me) to sit on the side of the stage while Joan performed. She put on a sweaty, foot stomping, Rock 'n Roll show!
Joan: yes, your music is much more important, pardon my hormones.
But also: how many successful musicians are not hot? It works for ya.
I wonder why the song is called A.C.D.C? Maybe it's a symbol for "swinging both ways". (Hey, does this mean that the guys in AC/DC... nah, surely not.)
Here's an interesting interview. It answers a question I had: yes, she has to battle a ton of sexism. That is just so incredibly stupid. Who are those people? When I see a girl being successful in a man-dominated industry, I don't have a hint of "piss off", I think: fuck yeah, good for you, rock on".
My pal Steve On Wheels sent this snap of him with Joan and Dougie Needles (who I don't know) [Update: it's her guitarist, he is in the video above with Carmen Electra. And her manager/collaborator Kenny Laguna took the pic]. It's two years old, and she's fifty now, what a beauty.
Update: I actually had the impression from the olden days that Joan was from the more gentle side of hard rock, but the video below proves otherwise!
The lyrics are unbelievably explicit. You don't hear lyrics like that from many mainstream stars!
I'd want her bad, except she is clearly a top too, so it might not work. :-)
If this isn't "edge", I don't know what is. She has balls of brass, well done Joan.
* OK, so she refuses to talk about it. Fair enough. (Though how do you manage that nobody meets your bf/gf, anyway??) But with songs like this and a guitar-sticker saying "dykes rule", that's either a statement, or a clever but slightly disingenuous publicity stunt. And she does not seem disingenuous to me.
Steve On Wheels said:
Yes, interesting woman she is! This picture was taken during their stop in St. Louis on The Warped Tour '06. Dougie Needles is her long-time guitarist, whom you can see in the video above, "AC/DC"... featuring the ever so lovely Joan Jett & Carmen Electra. Yummy! Joan was quite nice and we chatted for about 20-30 minutes (along with “partaking of some smoke”) before the oppressive summer heat made her retreat to her air conditioned bus. As a bonus, her Tour Mgr (Kenny Laguna, bass player for Tommy James & The Shondells back in the ‘60’s “MONY MONY”) invited my son and I (who attended with me) to sit on the side of the stage while Joan performed. She put on a sweaty, foot stomping, Rock 'n Roll show!
Font humor
Adam Engst tids, sorry, tips us off to this video of font humor. Warning, if you have never worked with typography, it surely won't be funny.
Valerian and Star Wars
[Tip by Pascal and Alex.] Valerian and Star Wars. It seems to me to be at the very least, uh, direct inspiration. Not enough incidences here to make it plagiarism though.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Google Counts More Than 1 Trillion Unique Web URLs
Bert wrote to me:
Google Counts More Than 1 Trillion Unique Web URLs
The number is downright mind-boggling. If we were to print all these URLs, one per line, in pocket book format, it would require approximately 25 billion pages to do so. Which would translate into about 71.5 million 350-pages paperbacks, occupying a staggering 1,600 kilometers of shelves. Tightly packed, the books would occupy a volume of 30,000 cubic meters (i.e. a cube with 31m (102 ft.) edges).
It seems safe to say that this represents more pages than the entire body of significant literature ever published worldwide (for reference, the Books in Print database contains 7.8 million records, including duplicates/reprints, etc.), and this is only for the URLs...
Regards, Bert.
P.S. I used a typical paperback novel as a reference for the dimensions (108 x 177 x 22mm for 350 pages, including covers; 40 lines per page).
Google Counts More Than 1 Trillion Unique Web URLs
The number is downright mind-boggling. If we were to print all these URLs, one per line, in pocket book format, it would require approximately 25 billion pages to do so. Which would translate into about 71.5 million 350-pages paperbacks, occupying a staggering 1,600 kilometers of shelves. Tightly packed, the books would occupy a volume of 30,000 cubic meters (i.e. a cube with 31m (102 ft.) edges).
It seems safe to say that this represents more pages than the entire body of significant literature ever published worldwide (for reference, the Books in Print database contains 7.8 million records, including duplicates/reprints, etc.), and this is only for the URLs...
Regards, Bert.
P.S. I used a typical paperback novel as a reference for the dimensions (108 x 177 x 22mm for 350 pages, including covers; 40 lines per page).
The Stop Sign
Here's where I see the advantage of being the only one working on my web sites. (And having an affinity for simplicity.)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
George Lucas and "personal work"
After THX 1138 crashed and burned commercially and almost killed off the newly-born American Zoetrope studio, George Lucas vowed to stay off "difficult subject matter" for a while.
I wonder if he will get back to it yet. And even more importantly, I wonder if it will be worthwhile, or if it turns out his big commercial films (American Graffiti and Star Wars) were what was worth watching all along.
As a young man it was an obvious given to me that an artist needed the greatest freedom he could have, and that he needed to be as deep as he could be. But these days I'm doubting it. For example, some of my favorite writers like Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller have, to my taste, made their most compelling work when working in a "studio" setting (DC Comics, The Dark Knight Returns, Sandman), and made barely readable work when they brought out their most personal visions (Signal To Noise, Mr. Punch, some of the Sin City stories).
I think the need for commercial success is sometimes what is needed for a creator to connect to the audience, to reach out to them. Instead of doing an extended navel-gazing exercise, working on what feels important to him because it is personal to him (a typical thing is childhood memories, who cares about them other than the one person).
I wonder if he will get back to it yet. And even more importantly, I wonder if it will be worthwhile, or if it turns out his big commercial films (American Graffiti and Star Wars) were what was worth watching all along.
As a young man it was an obvious given to me that an artist needed the greatest freedom he could have, and that he needed to be as deep as he could be. But these days I'm doubting it. For example, some of my favorite writers like Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller have, to my taste, made their most compelling work when working in a "studio" setting (DC Comics, The Dark Knight Returns, Sandman), and made barely readable work when they brought out their most personal visions (Signal To Noise, Mr. Punch, some of the Sin City stories).
I think the need for commercial success is sometimes what is needed for a creator to connect to the audience, to reach out to them. Instead of doing an extended navel-gazing exercise, working on what feels important to him because it is personal to him (a typical thing is childhood memories, who cares about them other than the one person).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)