Batman
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Posts posted by Batman
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Out of curiosity what are the average wages in America? If I understand right, you don't have a minimum wage so I'm kind of wondering how low it would go.
I'm pretty sure the federal minimum wage is something like $7/hour, but most states have state minimum wages that can be higher than that. Oregon's is something like $8/hour.
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yeaaaaah the Mint Chicks rock!
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I would agree, but baseball has enough down-time as it is.
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Wallpaper is a funk duo from Oakland that borrows equal parts 80s dance music and Bay Area hyphy. It's like if Zapp & Roger were going dumb at a side show or something. But if you are the type who can't appreciate awesome party music for the sake of awesome party music, the whole project doubles as a social commentary on materialism and other things that are bad for us like binge drinking and being self-absorbed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK_Ym70lGcE
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The Very Best is a sorta hip hop group consisting of a singer from Malawi named Esau Mwamwaya, and a production team from London called Radioclit. It's got a truly global sound, made up of elements from Malawian music, American hip hop, and the electronic sounds of the U.K. It is pretty much just the happiest music ever. I saw their concert a few days ago and I was blown away. Pure joy over a beat that is sure to make you wile out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J47JCDAPLs4&feature=related
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I doubt Radiohead even knows what he said, it was just supposed to be a thing where everyone thinks he's crazy but then when he says whatever he knows everyone else follows him. I think that with any kind of art form, people read into things way too much. A lot of people have a hard time accepting that sometimes things don't have hidden meanings, and you just have to take in the big picture to get it.
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ha ha what a bunch of douches. I guess that's to be expected from Rage though. Not making a difference even a little bit. I remember I saw Tom Morrello's new band at a big corporately sponsored festival last year and he started babbling unironically about how it was inspiring to see us all come together to solve the world's problems with rock n roll.
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I'm not British, but the BBC top 40 looks pretty similar to the US Top 40 right now
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles/
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ESPN.com for the past few weeks has been Lebron Watch 2010
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And he was not a very good author. However he was a great musician. Thus, a great artist. So I guess by the same argument, Lady Gaga is also a great artist, just by a different right.
This is what I've been trying to say, though I guess wasn't doing it very clearly. Glad we have come to an agreement.
I guess I'm not exactly offering a counter-argument so much as I'm stating that Lady Gaga is nothing new and revolutionary. She's different, sure, I just get sick of everyone talking about incredibly revolutionary she is. She's not. But then again, 'tis merely my own opinion.
Oh yeah, I definitely agree there. Lady Gaga is not a revolutionary artist by any means (but then again, very few people are, in the realm of pop and rock). I would say, however, that she is at least doing something different than all the other celebrities out there. It's like I've been saying, how many other celebrities of her stature in the entertainment industry over the past 10 years can say they are only famous for their art and not for their personalities? Not a whole lot. She's part of the whole movement these days where the cool kids are the ones who are into art. It's like the beat generation all over again, although I feel like it's even more mainstream now. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up for debate though
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I would agree. Though some would say that she is a visual artist. But I would argue that she does music. She is a musician.
Then I'm going to argue that John Lennon wasn't a great artist because his books weren't great. He wrote books, so he's an author.
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I don't get how people can be saying it's bad that Lady Gaga is all about the media. All musicians are. Music is media. I mean Lady Gaga may not be among the top tier of artists around right now, but at least she's famous for her art as opposed to the artists who are famous for their personal lives. And videos and stage shows constitute art as well, it's not like the word "art" is only used to describe music.
RR, what I was getting at when I said "nobody" remembers Gabriel's Genesis was that I think the music isn't particularly well-known anymore, and anyone who does know their music is likely to know about their stage shows as well. And I'm actually gonna disagree with you on Alice Cooper, because even though a large amount of people still remember one of his songs ("School's Out"), you never hear someone mention him and only talk about his music. People inevitably bring up the "shock rock" thing he started. His legacy is that he inspired all the other rock bands whose main focus is a shocking stage show, like solo Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson.
But anyways, even if Alice Cooper is considered to be a good example of a band with elaborate stage shows who still had good music (it's a stretch but let's run with it), I still don't really understand what your point is. You say that that is your counter-argument to my views on Lady Gaga, but what exactly are you countering? Are you trying to counter my argument that sometimes the show is more important than the music?
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Yeah but Bowie's music is remembered because it was equally as important as his showmanship, whereas Lady Gaga's music isn't as important as her show as a whole. As for Gabriel-era Genesis and Roxy Music, most people don't remember their showmanship or their music.
Anyways, I'm not really sure what you're getting at with your counter-argument. I'm not saying people are going to be singing "Poker Face" in 50 years, but people will probably remember who Lady Gaga was and how outrageous her shows were. It's really different than the 00s idea of celebrity. In the early 2000s we had celebrities like Paris Hilton, who was known completely for her personal life and not at all for anything she did. Maybe I just haven't been watching enough VH1 but as far as I can tell nobody really says or knows a lot about Lady Gaga's personal life, and the basis of her celebrity is her art. When you hear people talk about Britney Spears it's always something like "did you hear she's gained weight?" but with Gaga it's always something like "did you watch the 'Bad Romance' video? It was wild!"
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I think when all the lights fade and the outfits fall as a memory in the years to come, what will be left is her music.
I think it's definitely going to be the other way around. If anything about her is forgotten by the time we're adults, it's going to be her music. People will remember the extravagant stage shows, because that's a huge part of her appeal, and it's the thing that sets her apart from other pop stars (not saying that other pop stars don't have extravagant stage shows, they just don't do them quite like Lady Gaga). I'm not a big theater guy at all, but I do remember seeing plays my high school used to put on. I remember that for "The Music Man" they taught all 100-something cast members how to play the final song on the trombone, but I don't remember what song they played. Sometimes the theatrics are more important than the music. Such is the case for Gaga.
Personally, I'm not really a big fan of Lady Gaga, but I do understand why she's famous and I think in fifty years she'll still be remembered. It's not just the same crap the record companies have been pushing on us...I find it hard to believe that anyone would think something like this is synonymous with stuff like this and will have the same amount of staying power.
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If you haven't heard Sleigh Bells yet, you have to. I know we aren't even halfway through the year yet but I'd be very surprised if I heard something from 2010 that was giddier, RAWK!er, or trashier. It's not something you can listen to every day, but if you are in the right mood it is just perfect.
The album is streaming on NPR!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126667481
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I think of Lady Gaga's music/performance as a sort of parody of the music industry, but at the same time she's of course a huge star in the music industry. It's kind of like how Scream was a bit of a parody of horror films but ended up being one of the highest grossing horror films in American history.
Anyways, she's pretty interesting I guess but I don't listen to her.
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I don't think it's likely, but I do think it's very possible. Despite being the number one seed, the Lakers have not been so unstoppable near the end of the season here. I think the Lakers are going to win the next game, but after that I honestly think it could go either way.
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"Grow" by Delorean is by far my favorite song of 2010 so far. It's very reminiscent of the dancey indie-rock of the middle 00s, but it's also very much an ambient house track. Definitely worth checking out.
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Mean Girls
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My prediction (which admittedly is skewed by typical home team optimism) is that the Blazers are either gonna win it in 6 or Brandon Roy will re-injure his meniscus and the Suns will dominate. If Roy stays in I think we got it though. Mostly I'm just glad it's not been a blowout like everyone's said it would be.
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Anyone watching the NBA Playoffs? The Lakers got dominated by the Thunder today. Pretty awesome.
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Joni Mitchell is awesome, Bob Dylan is less than awesome. not that this is a relevant comment or anything.
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What's Van Halen doing on the list at all?
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also, really great pick with the Crusaders song. they actually had some really awesome music in the 60s as well. One of my favorite jazz groups.
also, didn't realize you posted the Gibson Brothers track as well. it deserves two mentions though, what an awesomely cheesey song.
People tend to diss disco a lot, but the genre really did have a lot of talented musicians and songwriters. Plus it was pretty much the foundation for every (non-rock) pop movement that happened after the 80s. My theory is that the huge "disco sucks" backlash of the 80s was caused by homophobia.
The Very Best
in Get the Word Out
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glad you two enjoyed it!