Issue 19:
Don't Bother Me, I'm Thinking
By
Medulla Vesuvius
Dr. Roger Korby’s article on DRM last issue got me to seriously think about how we consumers experience entertainment media like music, movies and video. At first I was tempted to leave a huge rambling comment after his article. Instead, at the risk of sounding like a technophobe or complete Luddite, I submit the following. (Please forgive me if I revert to musical examples more often than visual, for the Orphean art is one of my areas of intellectual focus, but obviously most of the same points apply to movies and video.)
1. I hate the word “content” as it is used in technological circles to refer to music or video, as in “content provider.” I am uncomfortable with the assumption that music or video is a substance being contained or filling up a container. I long for the days when music was music and movies were movies, not merely stuff that we sought out so as to fill up the hard drive on an iPod or other digital doo-dad. Anyone who has ever had an aesthetic experience of the sublime will tell you that music and cinema aimed at an audience other than your average middle school girl has the potential for value well beyond merely filling up a spinning disc with ones and zeroes or for letting you know when your crazy friend who loves “Margaritaville” is calling your cell phone.
Primarily, I am concerned with the young-ish culture’s relationship to “art” as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. It seems to me that the value of these downloadable works of art is inversely proportional to how much effort you have to expend to experience them. Ironically, music and film are everywhere these days, on phones and gadgets, always chirping in the background, like the wallpaper of our lives. But has their omnipresence diminished their potency?
I’m old and cranky. If I had been a little bit older in the seventies and early eighties I would have been one of those guys who sat in their bedroom in the dark, listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or The Who’ Tommy all the way through, with headphones, as if they were hour-long compositions, enveloped in the sound, as if it was my lift-ticket to the top of Mount Parnassus. To that type of person, experiencing music was full of an expectant rush which cost the listener something, most notably, a commitment of time and attention.
So, when I hear talk of streamlining the process of getting “your” music as efficiently as possible, as if Bela Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra,” or Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going’ On” or Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” were comparable to an emailed “Corporate Dress Policy,” I tend to bristle, like my friend Atoz, the Librarian surely does. I fear that the value of art will be killed when it becomes domesticated and synonymous with the word “content.”
The solitary, engaged headphone-head is an archetype of the past, though. I realize that. Nowadays, we’re all about shuffling around our complete music collection, skipping ahead if we don’t immediately like a song or if we don’t remember downloading it. Our attention spans aren’t really long enough to appreciate video or music beyond instant gratification.
2. Maybe music as art is already dead and the killer was Colonel Mustard in the library with the MP3. I have a friend who is a music studio owner and audio engineer and I follow pretty closely the world of music production. We recently came to the conclusion that the great irony of the “new distribution model” for music is the crappy sound quality that is being so efficiently and easily distributed over the internet. Studio engineers and mastering professionals make a living using their golden ears, expensive technical equipment and years of experience to lovingly craft as perfect a product as they can, listening over and over again, weeding out offensive frequencies, highlighting pleasant frequencies—all to what end? A compressed, clipped MP3 played on a half-inch mobile phone speaker at worst or at best, on iPod ear buds or computer speakers with no low or high frequency response. This kind of typical listening environment strips music of any kind of audible power. It’s no wonder music can be viewed as disposable in this kind of presentation. It would be like telling a chef you’d prefer a bag of chips to his three-course meal.
In his article Dr. Korby decries content providers’ exercising control over technology with their supposedly ridiculous concerns over piracy. However, the technology sector is just as guilty of exercising control in inappropriate areas by squelching the potentiality for aesthetic experience with dumbed-down file formats which place a premium on file size and not necessarily how the thing sounds, (let us not forget that widespread digital copies of copyrighted works didn’t originate with “content providers,” but with technological types), and hyping utilitarian-at-best playback devices and speaker technology.
Here is my issue in simple terms. As the CD goes the way of the dinosaur, replaced by small digital files, so also goes the tried-and-trusted stereo system as primary, default playback mechanism, and with it goes the full frequency response only available with multiple speakers larger than a fingernail. Oh sure, it’ll be possible to get the audio into your stereo, all the technical people will say, portability of the files is the key selling point. Or you can buy better speakers for your computer.
But that’s exactly what is so backwards with this new paradigm. You have to put some extra effort, (read: cash), forth just to make your playback sound natural. Experiencing audio in high or even mid-fidelity, will be the exception to the rule. The new delivery system is designed to work best, (i.e. most conveniently), with the inferior sound playback offered on small, mobile devices.
As my engineer friend pointed out, what is also frustrating is that with digital recording technology in studios at its most sophisticated level yet, routinely delivering 192 kHz sampling rates, it’s a shame that the vast majority of people will never hear that kind of fidelity, because of their addiction to the quick and easy.
In the next issue of Nerd City, I will continue the discussion of Dr. Korby’s article and get into the nuts and bolts of “content” in the digital era. Get plenty of rest, this may get ugly…
Issue 19:
Superhero Information Initiative
By
The Dude
Don’t get too fired up over the title, you perverts. The Dude is just looking for some Google hits. Although The Dude thinks Wonder Woman is the archetype of the superheroine, it is probably for much different reasons than some might expect. Mostly The Dude feels that Wonder Woman is one of the most important people missing from the Superhero Information Initiative thus far. She was the first major female comic heroine, the first female member of most DC teams, the first female to have her own comic book, (in America), the first to have her own TV show, and the only member of DC’s Trinity that the Nerd City has not covered. So she should be the first superheroine we discuss.
The Dude understands how most people equate Princess Diana to mom and apple pie. Wonder Woman is basically that American. She is the girl next door. That is, if you live next to an island of hot Amazonian warriors. That, my Google perverts, gets to the heart of the issue. Wonder Woman is the ultimate male sexual fantasy. She is the girl next door, dressed in a dominatrix outfit, and living on an island of all women.
The Dude thought he might have been way off base when this crazy idea popped into The Dude’s head. Wonder Woman a dominatrix? Then The Dude discovered that William Marston, creator of our favorite heroine, had some series sexual issues. His wife Elizabeth was the ‘40’s era example of what a liberated woman should be. The Marstons went so far as to live in a polygamous/polyamorous relationship with Olive Byrne. Which only lead The Dude to wonder: “wo/man what else is hidden in that closet?”
Well, The Dude discovered that Marston had been a prison psychologist, and had a fascination with bondage and submission elements of rehabilitation. So in a lot of earlier Wonder Woman comics, she strips her captives down to loincloths and ties them up. These captives were often women, and they were being bound for punishment. (Anything starting to sound dominatrix to you?) At which point, the Lasso of Truth would be used to bring these “bad girls” into submission. The Dude can hear the conversations now…
Wonder Woman: Bad girl! You’ve been a very bad girl!
Prisoner: Yes Mistress…Uhmmm, I mean…Princess Diana.
The Dude is further intrigued by the fact that in the mid 1950’s the United States Senate held hearings on juvenile delinquency. What was one of the topics discussed? Wonder Woman comics, and if they promoted lesbianism. The Dude can’t believe he has always just seen the girl next door, taking care of Bruce and Clark like a big sister, and the U.S. Senate actually debated over her promoting lesbianism. The Dude forgets, which flag does her outfit resemble?
Obviously The Dude did not cover bullet-proof wrist bands, invisible jets, being related to Olympian Gods, and shacking up with Birdman (Who?). The Dude will leave that for some other time and place, maybe over coffee on Paradise Island. Then you and The Dude could also watch some captive in loincloths being punished into submission. The Dude felt it was more important to first look at the underlying truth of why Wonder Woman is the archetype of superheroines. Basically she appeals to what every male and female thinks the perfect woman should be, powerful and yet sexual.
Senryu
Princess Diana,
did you cause lesbianism?
Amazonian.
Issue 19:
Spotlight on Technology
By
Dr. Roger Korby
Do you find yourself going to the same five or ten websites every day, multiple times a day? Over the last few years the lists of sites I frequent grew to over fifty and keeping up with them was becoming a daunting and not so enjoyable task. I was suffering from information overload and it was really starting to ruin my whole web-surfing experience. I had even started to consider taking some pretty drastic steps, like leaving my computer off all evening at home just so I wouldn’t have to deal with it. What I needed was a tool to help manage and deliver all the content of my favorite websites. This is exactly what RSS feeds and feed readers do, and depending on the reader, they can do a really good job.
Any website that gets new content posted regularly and is database driven, (the content is stored in a database instead of just HTML files), probably has an RSS feed. (RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication). An RSS feed is a file that describes the last twenty or so articles or posts, (the number of which is specified by the website creator). The descriptions contain at least the headline or title of the post and either part or all of the contents of the post. A feed reader is an application or website that manages a list of feeds you “subscribe” to and puts the contents of the RSS feed on the screen in a useful way. I prefer the web-based feed readers because you can access your list of feeds, (and what posts you have read or not read) on any computer, instead of just the one that your feed reader application is installed on. With some application feed readers there are ways to sync your read/unread lists between multiple computers, but this seems kind of unnecessary when the web-based feed readers work really well.
On a regular basis your RSS feed reader checks if there is any new content on each website you frequent. If it finds a new post or article, it adds it to your “unread” list. When you log in to your reader, all the unread articles show up in one place. This makes it simple to keep up with a lot of websites. One of the coolest things about feed readers is that you can save up all your reading for a convenient time such as the weekend or evenings. I usually come home from work and sift through all the day’s news and articles in about 30 minutes.
I have used several feed readers over the last year or so. The best one is actually one of the newest ones. Google’s Reader is really easy to use and allows you to quickly skim through headlines (I only actually read about 30% of the articles that get posted each day).
Here’s a screenshot of Google Reader. On the left are some of the feeds I subscribe to with the number of unread items in parenthesis. On the right is the list of unread items. You can add feeds by clicking the Add Subscription link and just typing the URL of the website or blog you want to subscribe to. Google Reader goes out and determines the link to the actual RSS feed file for you.
When you click on an item, it opens, revealing the contents of that post. This article is from one of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing.
The current Google Reader is actually their second attempt at building a feed reader. The first one had some design issues and started feeling really clunky if you were trying to keep up with more than a few feeds. Google’s redesigned Reader is actually just a blatant rip-off of another web-based feed reader, Bloglines. Bloglines was one of the first web-based feed readers and it is pretty good. Google’s new interface is just a little easier to use and I like the way it doesn’t mark items as read until I actually click on them. Bloglines automatically marks all items as read when you click on a feed or group of feeds which can lead to some time-consuming mistakes, (accidentally click the “All Items” link and you’ll have marked everything as read, even if you don’t have time to actually sit down and read all the items.)
Reading the Internet through a feed reader has a few drawbacks. For example, all the articles look exactly the same. All the design and colors of the original site are lost. For me this isn’t a big deal, but YMMV. If you want to read the article on the original site you can do so easily by just clicking the headline link. Also, sometimes an article’s images do not show up in Google Reader.
The other big drawback with feed readers is that you don’t get to see comments left on posts. Some blog engines offer RRS feeds for the comments of each post, but trying to keep up with comment feeds for each post of a blog seems pretty unwieldy to me. If I’m really interested in a certain post, I usually just click through to the original website to see if there are any interesting comments.
While feed readers are probably not for everyone, I think everyone should at least give them a shot. Just subscribe to a few of your favorite websites or blogs, (assuming they have RSS feeds), in Google Reader and see what you think.
Issue 19:
Tournament of Villainy
By
Rascal Stallion
Name: Goliath
|
|
Name: Wes Mantooth |
| Occupation: Philistine Warrior |
vs. |
Occupation: Lead Anchor for KQHS Channel Nine Evening News Team |
| Origin: The Bible: The Book of Samuel |
|
Origin: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy |
The air was a bit cool for May, but it was still a beautiful day. Ten minutes ago, Wes Mantooth didn’t have a care in the world. Ten minutes ago he couldn’t imagine anything wrecking a day this perfect. Ten minutes ago he was on cloud nine and was just making a quick stop at his mother’s house before heading to the beach.
Now? Everything was falling apart. Like I said, all that other happy crap was Ten minutes ago. In an instant Wes’ perfect day had disappeared like a moth in an inferno.
Wes heard a strange voice as he opened the door to his mother’s house. As he stepped in he was horrified to find his mother and Goliath awkwardly trying to fit on the couch together. Goliath was well on his way to 3rd base and the whole room reeked of sex and candy.
“Whaaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!” cried Wes Mantoooth. “What are you doing to my mother?!?”
Goliath lumbered up to a standing position, his 9’6’’ inch frame only able to fit upright thanks to the lovely vaulted ceiling of Dorothy Mantooth’s tastefully decorated living room. “I took Dorothy Mantooth out for a nice seafood dinner and then we ended up here. We recently finished a marathon 14-hour love-making session.” Goliath explained. [Translated from Hebrew.]
Wes emitted an unintelligible sound of anguish and fury. “How dare you!” he cried. “Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!”
“Well, I’m inclined to agree with that. She certainly spent quite a bit of time on her knees last night” reasoned Goliath.
Wes could contain his rage no longer. He reached into the pocket of his stylish gold blazer and produced a switchblade. “You want to dance? I want to polka!”
Wes lunged for Goliath and, despite aiming for such a massive target, his blade scarcely found any flesh in which to rest.
Goliath was now scratched…and angry. He withdrew his massive sword from it’s sheath and proceeded to bisect Mantooth in a single swipe.
Dorothy Mantooth would once again find herself on her knees; this time to scrape chunks of her son’s guts from her antique rug as she sobbed.
View Tournament Bracket
Issue 19:
Tournament of Villainy
By
Rascal Stallion
| Name: Mumm-Ra the Ever Living |
|
Name: Jason Voorhees |
| Occupation: Ancient Devil Priest |
vs. |
Occupation: Unemployed |
| Origin: Thundercats |
|
Origin: Friday the 13th |
Mumm-Ra decided his mutants needed to take a break. After being thwarted by the Thundercats for the umpteenth time, he decided to take them all on a retreat. They packed their bags, said goodbye to Castle Plundarr and were off for a weekend at lovely Camp Crystal Lake.
Monkian and the rest of the mutants went off for a hike and Mumm-Ra decided he’d just relax in a hammock and enjoy the peace and quiet. He had just dozed off when he was awoken by a rustling near his head.
A hulking man in a hockey mask wielding a bloody machete was marching straight towards him! Who was this fiend to interrupt the mighty Mumm-Ra’s slumber?
Mumm-Ra stood and proclaimed: “Ancient spirits of evil, transform this decayed form to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living.” With that, Mumm-Ra’s withered, limp form was filled with power and transformed into a larger, more fearsome consistence. This masked oaf would pay for…ouch.
Jason Voorhees did not take trespassers lightly and he showed his indignation by using his machete to place a divot in homeboy’s arm.
Mumm-Ra withdrew his Sword of Plundarr and swung at Jason. Jason watched quizzically as the blade gashed him deeply. Jason staggered and fell backwards as Mumm-Ra towered proudly above him.
Mumm-Ra’s pride quickly turned to shock as Jason rose and again whacked him with his machete. Mumm-Ra responded by blasting Jason with a crackling streak of lightning.
Jason flew backwards but again rose to his feet. Mumm-Ra peppered him with magical orbs of mystical energy as Jason advanced towards him.
The two battled on for the better part of an hour. The damage inflicted was monumental, though neither one seemed to be making any progress towards defeating the other–one possessing unbelievable regenerative properties, the other immortal by the power of an ancient evil– this battle had all the makings of a classic draw.
Finally, fate turned when Mumm-Ra swept Jason up in a vortex and flung his body across the campsite and through the roof of a cabin. Jason crashed through the roof and immediately began to make his way back towards the priest. Having lost his machete in the fall, he was seeking a new weapon and grabbed the first handy object he came across- a full length mirror.
Jason strode across the campsite towards his prey raising the mirror to bash the ever living one. When Mumm-Ra caught sight of himself in the mirror and beheld his awful form he became terrified. As Jason brought the mirror down, Mumm-Ra withdrew himself from the battle and magically fled to his sarcophagus.
It wasn’t as satisfying as a kill, but Jason was glad to have the woods all to himself once again.
View Tournament Bracket
Subscribe to Nerd City
12 Comments