luke viia

I really wish there was a way to opt out of receiving political junk mail. I am being bombarded with multiple "Paid for by the Republican Freedom and Whatever Committee" full color ads every single day. The democrat ads suck too, but at least they're sometimes positive instead of 100% egregious hit pieces. This isn't anything new, but I'm in a ranting mood. I am grateful to live in a place that uses a good voter information system each election cycle: we are automatically mailed "Official Voter's Pamphlets" by the state and/or county with lots of information, including write-ups for every candidate, contact info for all relevant offices, budget information, voting records, arguments and rebuttals for various propositions (with the credentials and donors listed for each writer), etc -- certainly enough to let you look into the issues more thoroughly on your own. It's all available online, as well. So I'm not entirely uninformed (...you do still have to skim the thing at a minimum, of course). I do, for the record, believe it is better to be uninformed than misinformed. That's a good little proverb and goes at least as far back as Jefferson. I particularly sympathize with voters in US states that do not have any kind of helpful system like the one in my state, because it means that for those poor souls these stupid PAC ads are likely the primary source of "information" (along with social media, local TV ads, and maybe op eds in the the local paper). Ugh. The US sucks so bad. Rhetoric is only wielded by the worst people. By rhetoric I just mean "effective communication," btw. I don't even mean "persuasive," though that's obviously a huge part of it wrt politics, and being persuaded by propaganda -- here I mean emotionally charged half-truth relying on our own servile stupidity to do its job -- is naturally disastrous. Rhetorical skill is not something I possess in great degree, but at least I can often spot when others are being tricky, whether I agree with them or not. Be aware that this entire post is attempting to be persuasive, and while I'd appreciate if you try to read it sympathetically the first time you see it, you should also question me once you grok what I'm trying to say. Given how painfully over-the-top these political ads are, I feel at least somewhat confident claiming that most people don't even think about this, or likely even know how to think about it, and are happy to be manipulated so long as it's reinforcing something they intuitively believe ("tax bad," "defund police good," etc). There's literally an ad in my trash bin right now repeatedly using the ridiculous epithet "Anti-child" because the candidate apparently voted to keep schools closed during the height of covid. The point it's trying to make, I suppose, is that kids are dumber now due to schools being closed. And who's going to buy that line? People who have trouble thinking critically and can only soak up the biggest & boldest capslock message printed in shiny blood red type, and once it does soak in, parrot it back to their spouses and friends, masking the origin of the claim and creating a much more difficult to undo line of reasoning such as "well, my friend told me _______ and why would they lie to me?" nice knowing ya, reason

for anyone longing for the "weird" Advisory Circle: revisit Other Channels. that album nailed it. Full Circle sounds like a pretty sensible continuation of what was going on in Ways of Seeing, and it's pretty dang good for what i feel like it set out to do, i.e. the cover art matches the sound - it's more cosmopolitan than the eerie-village vibes of the first few albums. it was a bit jarring to be denied a track 1 logotone and instead be hit with the most boc melody imaginable, lol (i actually went back and skimmed a bunch of their albums to see where *exactly* that little hook is from, and i'm pretty sure the closest bits are on campfire headphase... somewhere). the boc mood fades away after that track though and Brooks is back in their own world. good stuff imo.

lol at that boot

just backflipped in to echo the lol at H.R. Ginger

Global Wildlife Populations Have Sunk 69% in the Last Fifty Years (Reuters) no crying cat emoji can capture my despair rn

pepperidge farm remembers

I'm not on the pop bibio train (though loved ambivalence avenue all those years ago) BUT this thread got me to check out his recent releases and I immediately fell in love with Sleep on the Wing. brought me right back to 2006 when I first encountered fi. magical. so thanks! edit: well, about half of SOTW anyway

busting the attention span myth

in de col men seivuan, prisencolinensinainciusol, ol rait? and I gotta say, those DiffSound samples are goddamn nightmare fuel

That must be Sweetwater HQ. Got a call earlier to let me know how to use my TRS cables in the trenches. (jk, love you Matt)

has this movement gone into overdrive and accused itself of being part of the plot yet? I assume it will splinter into many threads over time. Mistrust always turns on itself eventually. I made that last part up, but it sounds true, and that's what counts.

how much can a kiwi cost, $10?

edit: actually, Sleep Games, Stasis, and Hollow Earth are probably even better picks. PCA just nails the sound of mid/late autumn IMO.

i'm hoping this is at least partly in jest... hanlon's razor and all that.

I'm just gonna keep reviving this dead old thread. The Syntakt Prophecy came true, and now, The Holy Grail: Song Mode! Move over, Jesus, the real good news has arrived https://www.elektronauts.com/news/572

that's exactly what the committee said. I'm scheduled for a second interview and have to bring my aleatoric lyre. fml

DING

job interviews are f'in stressful. "tell us about yourself" - well, I have all 14 badges on watmm.com, which makes me a Grand Master, and I make generative bardcore music in my spare time

eh, don't feel bad. i've played 'em all (except AC unity - fuck that game) and i still didn't know wtf was happening with the lore in Odyssey half the time. just enjoy the scenery IMO.