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Monsters, CCNA, Work, Gaming, Politics
Monsters 1: Lordi wins Eurovision. Surprised to see many people on my flist making a big deal of this. Let's face it, their lyrics suck and musically they're as competent as KISS or Twisted Sister (i.e., not at all). Basically, they're a crap band in glam monster outfits.
Monsters 2: A gaggle of g*ths wander through Melbourne dressed up as zombies. I find myself wondering what's the point? Sure we love to frock up and apply makeup in new and interesting ways, but I could only think that said participants are competing with Malaysian beggars (I actually saw I guy like this in Indonesia).
Monsters 3: Dracorex hogwartsia, "The Dragon King of Hogwarts", has been discovered. Hat-tip to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ozraptor4 with whom caseopaya and I are going to the Melbourne zoo tonight for a presentation by a wild animals vet graduate from Murdoch Uni.
CCNA: (Re)sat my semester 2 theory exam on Tueday. Despite feeling like death warmed up I finished with 30 minutes to spare. Instead of doing the sensible thing and checking some of my answers I submitted. Shouldn't have worried; 91.3%; pleased with that result.
Work: I have a lot of it at the moment. Was given at the start of the week a sixty page website to finish by today. No, I haven't been doing much else.
Gaming: Three new faces at GURPS Australian Noir last Sunday; we're going to have to break up into two groups and a two week cycle. Thinking GURPS, retro AD&D, Using HARP, MERP or Rolemaster for Thieves World (artbroken's ears prick up) and possibly Call of Cthulhu. Would be great if someone would run a SF game; like Paranoia or Cyberpunk.
Politics: Back to the medieval fiefdoms as Montenegro declares independence. Want to reduce teenage pregnancies and STDs? Provide sex education and treat them like the adults they are. Duh. Will someone please pay for the externalities? Global warming may exceed predictions - as in six degrees hotter.
Monsters 2: A gaggle of g*ths wander through Melbourne dressed up as zombies. I find myself wondering what's the point? Sure we love to frock up and apply makeup in new and interesting ways, but I could only think that said participants are competing with Malaysian beggars (I actually saw I guy like this in Indonesia).
Monsters 3: Dracorex hogwartsia, "The Dragon King of Hogwarts", has been discovered. Hat-tip to
ozraptor4 with whom caseopaya and I are going to the Melbourne zoo tonight for a presentation by a wild animals vet graduate from Murdoch Uni.CCNA: (Re)sat my semester 2 theory exam on Tueday. Despite feeling like death warmed up I finished with 30 minutes to spare. Instead of doing the sensible thing and checking some of my answers I submitted. Shouldn't have worried; 91.3%; pleased with that result.
Work: I have a lot of it at the moment. Was given at the start of the week a sixty page website to finish by today. No, I haven't been doing much else.
Gaming: Three new faces at GURPS Australian Noir last Sunday; we're going to have to break up into two groups and a two week cycle. Thinking GURPS, retro AD&D, Using HARP, MERP or Rolemaster for Thieves World (
artbroken's ears prick up) and possibly Call of Cthulhu. Would be great if someone would run a SF game; like Paranoia or Cyberpunk.Politics: Back to the medieval fiefdoms as Montenegro declares independence. Want to reduce teenage pregnancies and STDs? Provide sex education and treat them like the adults they are. Duh. Will someone please pay for the externalities? Global warming may exceed predictions - as in six degrees hotter.
Re: The heat must be getting to you. vittulinen mies.
Aesthetically, I will acknowledge from the outset, to be a "high art" advocate in the same mould as the Frankfurt School (Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse in particular). I do think there are ways and means of evaluating the arts in a manner which does not result in mere subjectivity.
As I have expressed elsewhere, if the arts were dependent on the votes of the masses, then we'd have professors of literature specialising in Hagar The Horrible rather the Poetic and Prose Edda; culture would be whatever the culture industry produced, and The Kalevala would be replaced by a Eurodisney production of a title more consumable for a Anglo-American audience.
Aesthetic analysis can be applied to music; the conceptual construction of time using tones (vertical harmonies, horizontal melodies) and silence for a psychoacoustic effect. In contemporary (that is, 20th century onwards) music is often accompanied by lyrical content in which poetic analysis can be applied.
I have listened and viewed several Lordi songs and, heaven help me, read through more than a dozen of their lyrics. As has been pointed out to me there are moments where lyrically they reach a Spinal Tap moment, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Psychoacoustically, they seem (and this is subjective, as the sense are subjective) to lack the sort of passion, emotion and especially originality that I have found in other bands in their genre (I am thinking specifically of Ne Plus Ultra and the amazing narrative depth in Elend).
As for Finland, apart from your good self, noone has made a mention of the importance of Finland per se winning Eurovision. Most seem to have been attracted to the outfits - which I don't think is a good basis to judge the competence of musical skill or lyrical content. Perhaps, as it has been suggested in this thread, that Eurovision is a competition in bad taste.
Re: The heat must be getting to you. vittulinen mies.
You could have simply summurized with "I'm a snob" and left it there.
Re: The heat must be getting to you. vittulinen mies.
A snob is someone who prefers a particular art on the basis of perceived value and (often) pricetag. As if it isn't screamingly evident, I'm quite happy to associate with bohemian productions if, and only if, the product is good.
It's not that I'm a snob; it's just that have a passionate aversion to crap art.