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Being Bored Is Good

thewalrus.ca

141–150 of 230 posts

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#141
post #91

> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching here doesn't relate to the topic.

> Music is a matter of taste I'm mostly with you with one exception. If there's one thing that may be objectively evolved, it is the power of the raw human singing voice. With all its expressivity, dynamics, range, colours, individualism, and overtones. I claim that anyone who studies carefully the pure sound of the voice and what it is capable of will always hear synth vocals as superficial. (I don't care genre, whe…

Only tenuously related to your point (which I agree with), but I think we'll have better-than-human deep learning based vocals in less than a decade.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#142

If it weren't for the crushing boredom of the suburbs when I was a child, I might not have learned how to program computers. I would never have thought so much about spaceships. The original Star Wars trilogy wouldn't have been nearly as cool to discover. I also play traditional music, though boredom wasn't part of my discovering that. However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past. You need empty…

Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. I was recently turned onto this band called Wand. If you want to feel some delicious space in a song, check out Scarecrow by Wand. The video is amazingly simple too. The constant bombardment of shit is so real though. I want to spend time with my wife and kid. Sometimes it's hard…

> If you want to feel some delicious space in a song, check out Scarecrow by Wand.

another good one:

PUSCIFER - Momma Sed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR3ccmWmLhk

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#143
post #121
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if your greatest achievement is continuing the specie and leaving a legacy you have failed. Ah ok. 99.9999% of people's life achievement die with them the second they pass away. If you don't make it to Bach's level of achievement you'll be forgotten instantly. Enjoy simple things, life is beautiful without setting bs goals, play music, draw, dance, do some woodwork, who cares you'll most likely suck at it compared…

> If you don't make it to Bach's level of achievement you'll be forgotten instantly. Enjoy simple things, life is beautiful without setting bs goals, play music, draw, dance, do some woodwork, who cares you'll most likely suck at it compared to the masters, just enjoy the process My experience has been the complete opposite. There are teachers whose memory I still cherish to this day because of their tender yet firm…

Does it even matter that one gets remembered by a few more centuries (if mankind's lucky) before we destroy ourselves (or ultimately by the Sun boiling the planet) rather than after one's grandchildren or so die?

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to the wonderful globalised utopia of 2019 in which shared culture has been deliberately destroyed and genuine, wholesome, worthwhile, spiritually nourishing experiences and a sense of community are replaced with empty consumerism and anomie.

I've tried to get into anomie repeatedly. So many great programmers seem to love it, so I feel like it might help me code better. But I just can't do it. There's so little substance. It's as if the appeal of 99% of anomies is some pathetic, parainfatuatory relationship between the (male) viewer and the (female) characters, and the worldbuilding and story are total afterthoughts. And it's not even like they fully leve…

With anoime in general it's tricky to draw overarching conclusions because anything produced by a Japanese anoimation studio can just labeled as being in the "anoime genre" instead of basing the genre on the actual thematic elements each individual series explores. Undoubtedly there are many, many repeats of the same male-dominated masturbatory-yet-still-PG13 series that you're describing, because that's just what sells, so people keep making them. However there are series like Psycho-Pass or Neon Genesis Evangelion which are in direct contrast to others that people usually consider stereotypes of "weird Japan", and can be explored pretty deeply. Even something like Madoka could be classified as part a subgenre with long-reaching history but subverts just about everything people would usually expect from it, to the point where you view the original cliches they feel... that much more cliche. But it's probably the same thing with all kinds of media.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#146
post #35

I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure. Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job. I love to think, create, try to design little things, and honestly that's the best pleasure I have…

>I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure. Completing a big project, setting a new weight lifting or running PR only leaves me feeling empty. I've come to realize fulfillment, for me at least, is in the journey; accomplishment is merely a memento.

I have exactly the same feeling. It always felt alien to me people talking about feeling good after finishing some project, unless the thing was so painful that they're glad it's over. What is exciting to me is actually the challenge of the problem-solving.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Every year I volunteer to backpack into the desert mountains of Southern California, sit in one spot for 3 full days, and count all of the Bighorn Sheep that I see. “ Where is this if I may ask? And how many sheep do you get to see? I wouldn’t mind doing that and take my camera.

Re: Where is this? -- Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Re: How many sheep -- Depends on your count site; some people see zero, others see upwards of 40. See this HN comment (from this same thread) for additional info. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20384971

Thanks! I hope they don’t do this in the summer. Pretty hot there.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#148
post #91

> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching here doesn't relate to the topic.

Well, it's not entirely fist-shaking about the 'good ol days'. There has been research done into this that shows that modern music has become more repetitive: https://pudding.cool/2017/05/song-repetition/

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having children is immensely satisfying and fulfilling. It's challenging, time consuming, expensive, and productive. All the accomplishments of humanity stem from having children. The vast, vast, majority of humanity will never accomplish anything that will rival raising children well. The remainder are those who invent, discover, build, and market those things that let us live and have children better.

>All the accomplishments of humanity stem from having children. And all the failures. There's already too many people on this planet for it to be sustainable.

I absolutely agree that not everyone needs to have children. I'd go as far as to say most people don't need to have children. However, how do we go about changing this?

We demand constant growth in the economy which won't play well with a rapidly shrinking population.

That being said, I'd love to promote the idea that your children are not just your responsibility but mine as well. It is such a primitive tribal idea that I find it strange people are offended by it because it is "socialist".

Personally, I am OK with waves of forced mass sterilization but I understand, because human nature, it will be just as poorly implemented as any war draft so I can't promote this idea.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#150
post #91

> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching here doesn't relate to the topic.

Well, it's not entirely fist-shaking about the 'good ol days'. There has been research done into this that shows that modern music has become more repetitive: https://pudding.cool/2017/05/song-repetition/

But why is repetition considered "bad music"? The mind craves certain kinds of repetition.

I'm big on the electronic music scene here; and once you're in the zone that repetitive four-on-the-floor 120/140bpm dance beat begins to feel like a heartbeat: essential, calming, and deadly if stopped

On another note I recall hearing about some anthropologists who claim that the acoustics of Stonehenge are optimal for repetitive drumming in the 130-150bpm range, suggesting it to be an ancient dancehall for prehistoric techno beats

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