Get on my left, cause girl, you ain't right.

[raybear]

1. The man who invented the laugh track died this week. While I can appreciate the invention as a technological advancement, I will be pouring no liquor out for the man who significantly contributed to ruining people's ability to discern what's actually funny on their own without it being spoonfed through audio cues.

2. I'm no fan of Nelly (though I don't hate on those who are, particularly the ones on my livejournal friends page). I will admit he has talent as a pop musician, but as an influential hip-hopper, no such credit will be given at this juncture. Having said that, I'm desperately in love with the song Pimp Juice. I actually suspect it was ghostwritten by someone else, a theory supported in part because of Snoop's presence in the video. Which reminds me of my favorite juicy tidbit regarding ghostwriting -- Dr. Dre's "Forget About Dre" was, at least in part, penned by Jay-Z. Ah, the ironing is delicious.

3. Further proof that I have no understanding and a very loose grasp on house music and why it's important or good: I've read all these things about the recent remixes of Yoko Ono's Walking on Thin Ice. As a big Yoko fan, I was curious to hear them. I don't get it. It's the um-cha um-cha um-cha house beat with occasionally bits of her vocals spliced in. It's nine minutes of um-cha um-cha um-cha um-cha and maybe 45 seconds of her song spread out over it (Ice! um-cha um-cha um-cha Ice! um-cha um-cha um-cha Ice!). I don't understand um-cha um-cha um-cha um-cha and why/how people dance to it. Maybe because I don't often take ecstasy and dance shirtless in a crowd of naked torsos. Maybe I'm not really a gay man. Maybe my desire for having sex with women should have tipped me off to this idea sooner. Or maybe I just have too much music in my soul which reduces my tolerance for what other's constitute as "having a beat" or what's truly an original electronic composition. Having said this, I'll still probably play this remix at the end of the night tomorrow when I'm running low on creativity and need a bathroom break. Either that or the nine minute Dido remix.

4. I haven't seen A Mighty Wind yet. This is so me. I'll wait anxiously for months or years for a project like a movie or album to come out, then when it's released, I make no effort to see it. I think in part I know I'll probably see it once, maybe twice in the theater, plus will buy it on DVD later and see it several more times, so what difference does it make to see it opening weekend? But still, I hate some of the people coming up to me and telling me how funny it is and how I need to see it. Mthafcker, I brought you on board the Christopher Guest train so don't be trying to tell me what I already know as if you magically discovered it.

5. I'm such a bitchy pop culture whore.

Comments

Re: A few thoughts about House Music

[raybear.livejournal.com]

That is an excellent descriptor of house music I can get behind! Thanks. I can perfectly imagine what you're describing and I have certainly experienced it on the dance floor and in the headphones when it's done well. However, I fear I mostly get exposed to motel room art music -- or perhaps I just put lots of music that falls between the best-and-worst case scenarios into the worst case scenario.

To me, with house music (and most electronica), when it's good, it's AMAZING, but when it's not, it's horrible and annoying. (Unlike other genres where I have a higher tolerance for the middle-of-road material.)