music

thinking this morning about what i was going to post today, i realized i’d skipped “music monday” for a short, non-substantive post.

so, i’m going to do that today, belatedly….

as i do on a regular basis, i was (re)watching west wing last night. it was the opener to season five in which the president has invoked the 25th amendment elevating the republican speaker of the house to president because bartlett’s youngest daughter, zoe, had been kidnapped.

the sequence toward the end of the episode is, to me, a powerful one, mostly because of the music playing over the scenes.


the singer, lisa gerrard, has a fabulous voice, which you might know from the music group dead can dance.

and, as i do, i’ve been listening to it on repeat all morning.

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actual work precluded me getting a post up in a timely fashion this morning. it turned out to be ok, though, because now i can write a bit about the new iphone 7 and ios 10. both have improvements in form and function, but neither the new iphone or the accompanying ios 10 makes me jump up and down with anticipation.

i have, nonetheless, been waiting for the release of the new iphone, mostly because i’ve decided i’d prefer the larger model to what i have now. and the batter life on my current iphone has begun to fade, not enough to be useless, but enough to be annoying.

the news that the standard headphone jack is going the way of the dodo is… a bit distressing. i consider myself an aspiring, or amateur audiophile and definitely appreciate high-quality headphones and the sound they produce. though some sources i’ve found suggest you can get the same quality sound wirelessly (over bluetooth) as you an via a wired set of headphones is promising, i’m not convinced.

earlier this year, i purchased a set of atx-m50x headphones from audio-technics, which i absolutely love. they’re bulky, but they create a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience and i find it a little hard to believe i could get a similar experience from wireless headphones (without spending two or three times the amount).

despite all these concerns, i understand why apple felt the move was necessary and am not really surprised. and it’s good to hear they’re going to be including an adapter with all the new iphones, eliminating the criticism that they’re forcing people to buy all new equipment.

i imagine it won’t be too terribly long before quality and pricing makes it worth while for me to move away from my wired headphones, though i’m glad i don’t have to do it quite yet.

while there have certainly been some technological advances i’ve been eager to adopt, others i’ve struggled with. as it was difficult for a generation to give up vinyl records or cassette tapes, so have i struggled to fully adapt to the fully-digital music world. i enjoy the experience of browsing in a music store and the moment ripping off the plastic on a cd case, or browsing the liner notes while listening to the album for the first time. i’ve even been contemplating a step back to the “vintage” era of vinyl and acquiring a record player and a healthy selection of vinyl records, though finances and a necessary rearranging of my tv and stereo have so far prevented me from taking the plunge.

anyway, in the next few days i’ll be visiting my at&t and apple stores to see about my options for upgrading to the new iphone 7.

yea for shiny new gadgets!

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about a week ago, or so, i came across an essay that intrigued me: how a tv sitcom triggered the downfall of western civilization.

i’ve said for a while now that it was, in fact, reality television that brought down civilization, but this guy may have it right when he points to show friends as the real “trigger.”

in 1994, when friends first aired, i was a sophomore in high school (man, i’m old…). though in those days the only shows i watched religiously were the star trek reboots the next generation and deep space nine, i am embarrassed to say i have vivid memories of driving around in my metallic-blue oldsmobile delta 88 listening to the friends theme song. i’ll admit to thinking at the time that it was a catchy song, with the caveat that my car had no tape deck, no fm radio. looking back now, i can’t for the life of me understand why the song was so popular that it played frequently on kansas am radio.

from the essay:

The show ended in 2004. The same year that Facebook began, the year that George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term, the year that reality television became a dominant force in pop culture, with American Idol starting an eight-year reign of terror as the No. 1 show in the U.S., the same year that Paris Hilton started her own “lifestyle brand” and released and autobiography. And Joey Tribbiani got a spin-off TV show. The year 2004 was when we completely gave up and embraced stupidity as a value. Just as Green Day; their album American Idiot was released in 2004, and it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. You can’t get more timely. The rejection of Ross marked the moment when much of America groaned, mid-sentence, at the voice of reason.

the author makes a reasonable point. though friends did have a certain appeal, while watching reruns of the show in my young-adult years, i always found it odd that this group of people could possibly be friends. and it seemed that in addition to having some strange shared or overlapping history, they all (with the exception of ross) had a shared loathing or general apathy for anything that actually mattered, current events, etc. and they’d throw verbal tomatoes at ross if he attempted to enlighten them.

that ross and rachel ended up together was always the happy ending the romantic in me wanted for ross, though critically it’s hard to understand what they had in common besides that shared history. friends was always a show that entertained me, but took it for what (i thought) it was, a funny sitcom cast with attractive people. but my eyes have been opened and i can see how it might have been friends, as the lead-up to reality television, that has led to the fall of civilization.

from his conclusion, the author pivots to some simple actions we as individuals can take to “retain our sanity in a dumb, dumb world”:

No. 1: read a fucking book.

No. 2: learn something.

No. 3: stop buying so much shit.

And finally: protect the nerds.

check out the essay, it’s an easy and entertaining read.

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with the posts of my experiences in philladelphia behind me, i’m going to try to get back on track with (somewhat?) regular posts here. and so to being i’m looking to start a new trend for my site: music mondays.

a quick google search suggests its already a thing, so i’m not breaking new ground here, but its nonetheless a good idea and as music is fairly high on my list of interests, it seems appropriate for my site.

so for my first “music monday” post, i want to point out a couple of songs from an artist that’s been around for a few years, at least, but whom i only recent became aware of. lord huron has an interesting sound that falls squarely in the indie-folk genre. i’ve been listing non-stop to two albums for a little over a week. strange trails was released in april 2015 and is, i think an improvement on lonesome dreams, their freshman album, released toward the end of 2012.

there are so many good songs to share, but here’s a couple i currently particularly fond of:

both come from the strange trails album. enjoy.

 

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