Thursday Night Movie

Last week I ranted about the homogenization of cars, but I don’t want you to think that said homogenization is confined only to the automotive world.

Let me now turn my baleful gaze upon an old bête noire of mine, the poxy music industry, where this homogenization  has become economically critical. (I should say it’s become an “art form”, but “art” and “the music industry” are mutually-exclusive terms.)  It’s even worse than the auto industry, because at least the homo-cars are being driven by something other than pure sales appeal, i.e. fuel consumption efficiency.  Not so for the loathsome bastards who run the music business:  their homogenization is driven by naked profit-seeking — which is all fine and capitalistic, but then don’t try to dress it up as “art”, because it fucking well isn’t.  And they are just vultures — see here for just one heartbreaking example.

From Longtime Reader PeterB comes this excellent video, which explains why modern music sucks to People Of A Certain Age.  More to the point, however, is this:  beyond all the expressions like “timbral decline”, “harmonic compression” and so on, what becomes apparent is how music is being turned quite simply into the aural equivalent of Huxley’s soma:  something which delivers jolts of pleasure, but has no actual nutritional value whatsoever.

I know that manufactured pop stars — people promoted because of their looks rather than their musical talent — are not a recent phenomenon;  hell, that’s been going on since the 1950s.  (As an aside, the exquisite Cass Elliott would never have made it in today’s music world because overweight.) But at least the earlier pop idols could sing or play musical instruments, and record producers (grudgingly) allowed musicians some degree of latitude in the expression of their music — Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Lennon-McCartney and talents of that ilk were allowed to dictate what they sounded like.

No more. Now, Britney/Taylor/Justin are herded into the studio, given a lyric sheet and, having delivered the lines, are ushered out while post-production turns the synthesized noise into something that will be downloaded millions of times on Spotify.

It’s dreadful, it’s awful, and I am so glad that I am no longer a professional musician.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and listen to something which challenges my musical senses.  It may be a classical piece like Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2, it may be King’s X’s Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, or it may even be something simple like Alan Parson’s Pyramid.

But whatever I listen to, it will last longer than two minutes, and it will create a mood rather than deliver a brief dopamine hit.  For that, I’d just watch the wonderfully-talented (and sexy) Grace Potter.  No compression, sampling or any of the usual tricks there, just unrefined talent and ability.

Proper Advice

Megan Fox has some advice on “How to Go Out in Public as a Trump Supporter”.

This because White House staffers have been tossed out of restaurants, cinemas etc. by screeching SJW / Commie / Democrat / Antifa [lots of overlap]  loonies, and because we’re seeing this kind of thing in the so-shull meejah:

Unable to get what they want peacefully (e.g. via elections and rational argument), it seems as though the Left is starting to preach and foment violence, as they always do under such circumstances.  And as George Orwell once intimated, the Left are all for violence / revolution / [insert violent action e.g. gun confiscation, mass executions or gulag sentences here], as long as they themselves as individuals aren’t required to do it.

So my advice to all Trump supporters is rather more succinct, and less tongue-in-cheek, than Ms. Fox’s:

“How to Go Out in Public as a Trump Supporter”?

Armed.

As a wise man once said:  “I’m not going to start anything.  But I sure as hell am going to finish it.”  I wonder how the Left will feel if they actually have to reap the whirlwind they’re sowing.


Update:  Looks like I’m not the only one offering this advice.

Equal Treatment

I have this opinion that if women are to be treated exactly the same as men, then when they fuck up bigly, their names should be reported in the news rather than covered up.

Or else, in the above case, we’d all think that the Navy is afraid that the ongoing feminization of their force may be compromised.  But perhaps I’m being too cynical.

Assault Weapons

Wow… even I’m impressed by the weapons being used by the criminals in London as the crime (tidal) wave continues:

      

Clearly, banning the things won’t do any good, just as banning guns hasn’t worked too well. 

And the violence is no longer confined to the scuzzy areas of London and the other cities;  I saw from a pic in another article that one of the attacks took place where I took a stroll in London just a few months ago.

I’ve been racking my brain for some kind of solution to this — seriously, I have — and the more I look at it, there are only a few solutions:

  • Flood the streets with cops —  but the Brits don’t have enough cops.
  • Allow the citizens to arm themselves — like that’s going to happen.
  • Reinstate the death penalty (especially for scum who do things like this) and get serious about executing dangerous / murderous criminals — that ain’t gonna happen either.
  • When (if) they catch the criminals, deport them to a penal colony (like France’s old Devil’s Island of Papillon fame) — wait a minute, that has promise, because if any country in the world owns a bunch of uninhabited, remote islands, it would be the Brits.  Granted, it would take a few years to build the accommodations, but we’re talking concrete cellblocks, not the Ritz.  And it’s not like they haven’t done it before (hello, Australia!) so there is precedent. (Escape from New York is starting to look less like a dystopian fantasy and more like a blueprint, isn’t it?)

Sadly, though, the Brits don’t seem to have the balls to do any of the above.  Utter chaos is coming, if it isn’t there already.  What a mess.  (Although the Britcops seem to have no difficulty in dealing with hardened criminals like this bad boy…)

If anyone has any bright ideas different to mine, feel free to share them — and I’m not talking fantasies (I can assemble a few of those all by myself);  I need workable solutions, because the Brits seem to be at a loss.

Except That Icky Gun Stuff

Last week I got this email message from CitiBank telling me all about the wonderful new benefits of using their little credit card. Here are the salient areas I want to talk about (and note the emphasized parts):

  • Damage & Theft Purchase Protection:   You may be covered for up to $10,000 per incident for 90 days from the date of purchase or delivery of the item purchased with your card. Please note, coverage provided by this benefit will be secondary (meaning if you have another insurance policy, this benefit will cover only the amount your other policies do not). Coverage won’t include firearms, ammunition, jewelry, watches, tires or items that are under the care and control of a third party including, but not limited to, the U.S. Postal Service, airlines, or delivery services.
  • Citi Price Rewind:  You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $200 per item and $1,000 per calendar year. Program coverage won’t include consumables, tires, watches, firearms, or ammunition. You won’t be reimbursed if the lower priced item is found at a warehouse club where the merchant requires a membership fee.
  • 90 Day Return Protection:  You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $300 per item and $1,000 per calendar year. Program coverage won’t include firearms, ammunition, tires, jewelry, furniture or appliances.

All these wonderful benefits will be mine after June 29 — which is kind of ironic because that’s the date I intend to cut up and cancel the card, after paying off the final balance.

And what does that final balance include, you may ask?  Just the renewal fee for my annual membership at DFW Shooting Range.

Everything Gives You Cancer

The immortal words of Joe Jackson come to mind:

No amount of alcohol, sausage or bacon is safe according to cancer experts

Even small amounts of processed meats and booze increase the risk of a host of cancers outlined in World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) guidelines updated every decade.
The respected global authority has unveiled a 10-point plan to cut your risk of getting cancer by up to 40%.
Brits have been told to banish favourites such as ham, burgers and hot dogs from their diets by experts who say they are a direct cause of bowel cancer. Processed meats also cause people to be overweight which can trigger many more cancers.
But UK experts have disagreed with the draconian advice insisting the odd bacon sandwich “isn’t anything to worry about”.
The WCRF found boozing is directly linked to increased risk of six cancers and for the first time recommended sticking to water or unsweetened drinks. The report said: “Even small amounts of alcoholic drinks can increase the risk of some cancers. “There is no level of consumption below which there is no increase in the risk of at least some cancers.”
On processed meats it added that “no level of intake can confidently be associated with a lack of risk of bowel cancer”.
Cutting down on steaks and other red meat such as lamb and pork can reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

The WCRF’s 10-point health plan

  1. Be a healthy weight
  2. Be physically active
  3. Eat a diet rich in wholegrains, vegetables, fruit and beans
  4. Limit consumption of ‘fast foods’ and other processed foods high in fat, starches or sugars
  5. Limit consumption of red and processed meat
  6. Limit consumption of sugar sweetened drinks
  7. Limit alcohol consumption
    [last three omitted because irrelevant to my Readers, e.g. breastfeeding]

I guess I’m fucked, then.  Oh well.  Time for some BBQ brisket, Elgin sausage and sweet iced tea.  Or a steak & kidney pie, chips and a pint of London Pride?

If I’m gonna die, I want the doctors to exclaim at my post-mortem, “Bloody hell!  How did he last so long?”


 

There’s no link because the Mirror has the most irritating ads on the planet.  I went there so you don’t have to.  And fuck their “fair use” guidelines.