"It’s at forty that we die, those who did not die at twenty. It’s at forty that we betray ourselves, our bodies and our souls by not going further, by taking the easiest decisions, retarding, throwing ourselves back by thousands of incarnations…What am I doing with my life? The race is beginning. The race has begun." - Jonas Mekas
I read this quote in Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (which I'm reading as research for my art history term paper) and man, if it doesn't sum up everything that's been going on in my head for the past several months. And from what I've seen, I think many people die at twenty.
If you could travel to any place and time for one week, where would you go?
What is something you consider to be "overrated." (Ed. note: Bonus points if you show it to us!)
Submitted by Laurie, aka me.
- Why do you hate The Beatles? Because, as a child, I was forced to listen to their music at great length and against my will. I did not enjoy their music then and time has done nothing to change my opinion.
- Do you realize that The Beatles influenced [insert band name here], which you claim to like? I also realize that chamber pots influenced toilets but that doesn't mean I'm going to use one. Just because something is "first" does not make it "the best."
- Oh, so you have really shitty taste in music, don't you? No. I listen to everything. Just not The Beatles.
- Could it be that you just haven't heard the right song? Believe me, I have heard nearly every Beatles song forwards (and some of them even backwards). I've heard the early songs, the later songs, the acoustic versions, the demos, the outtakes, etc. If there's a "right song" for me to hear, I think I would have heard it by now. It ain't happening, people.
Have you ever burned yourself?
Yes, but not on purpose. It was a little over a year ago. I was simultaneously talking on the phone and taking something out of the oven and I guess my coordination skills were not up to par that day and I got a pretty nasty burn on my right forearm. I still have a small scar from it. Badass.
Between this post and my last post, I should just call this Vox "Dumb Shit I Do."
What is the stupidest thing you have ever done?
Submitted by Southernbelle.
Several months ago, I deleted probably 45% of my iTunes library. Now, I'm pretty computer-literate so this makes the whole situation that much stupider. It's not like I'm lacking in computer knowledge. I was just...impulsive. You see, I had, for some reason, two folders in my main Music folder, one called "iTunes music" and one called "iTunes library", both of which had thousands of songs in them. My first thought was, "Well, this is a colossal waste of computer space," and my second thought was "Hey, might as well delete one of these folders!" I opened each folder and took a quick inventory of the contents. Both seemed to be exactly the same, so I deleted the "iTunes library" folder because it looked less important. Into the trash they went. It wasn't until after I heard that signature crumple-y noise the trash can makes after deletion is complete that I realized what hell I had brought about for myself. I opened iTunes and found I was missing some music. A lot of music. Oh no. Apparently the folders weren't as "exactly the same!" as I'd originally thought. My entire iTunes library was a sea of little gray exclamation points heralding my stupidity. Every time I'd get that pop-up message saying that "iTunes could not locate this song. Would you like to try to find it?" I'd think, "Oh, go fuck yourself, iTunes." But it was not iTunes' mistake. It was mine.
That was...I don't know, in November I guess? I'm still re-importing the things I lost. Awesome! But yes, I learned my lesson and will never make such a stupid mistake again.
Today is Repeat Day, so we want to know: what song do you have currently have on repeat? Bonus points if you share it with us!
Seriously, every day is Repeat Day for me. If I enjoy a song or album, I wear it out. Once, I even had someone I'd never spoken to in my entire life send me a private message on last.fm commenting on the fact that I seemed to be "addicted" to a particular song. I don't know if he was trying to stage an intervention or what, but it worked because currently, my "recent tracks" on last.fm are set to "private" because I really don't like getting hassled about what I choose to listen to.
I've always been kind of fussy about my "Top 25 Most Played" songs on iTunes, wishing that certain songs had more plays or that other songs had fewer. After five and a half years of this behavior, I finally deleted the "Top 25 Most Played" playlist and abolished the "play count" feature to circumvent the constant play-count-checking situation and I've never felt better.
Having said that, I have an entire album* on repeat actually. Maybe three or four weeks ago I heard "Over the Hills and Far Away" by Led Zeppelin on the radio so I've just been listening to Houses of the Holy on repeat. I obviously knew "Over the Hills and Far Away" before I heard it on the radio but I don't know, I guess hearing it that one particular time set something off in my brain so I've been listening to it a lot lately. Every time, I tell myself "Okay self, this is the last time you're listening to this today. Get it out of your system and then switch to something else." That approach hasn't really been working though. I'd share the album because it's really good, but I don't want the RIAA after me. No bonus points for me, sadly.
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*I was thinking about this the other day, too. Is the word "album" too anachronistic, or is it okay? I mean, I'm not listening to a cassette tape or a CD. Technically, I'm listening to a playlist compiled of previously purchased songs and *ahem* some not-so-purchased songs organized to form one complete album, so I feel like "album" is appropriate in this context. Besides, if I were to buy this album I'd probably opt for the original vinyl version just because I think that would be infinitely cooler. The version on iTunes is "remastered" anyway and I like when stuff sounds authentic and old. To paraphrase Chandler from Friends, could this post be any more off-topic?
Show us a book you feel like you should read, but just can't bring yourself to actually pick up.
Since then, I've been meaning to read this book just so I won't be as much of a liar anymore, but it just hasn't happened yet.
All I know is that I am not a good liar whatsoever so it's a damn good thing none of them asked me what I thought of the book.
What do you miss most about the internet of ten years ago?
The fact that the word "blog" was not as pervasive as it is now and everyone wasn't trying to be a "blogger" and getting book deals for shit they write on the internet. Hey, I just strung a sentence together. Where's my book deal? Idiots.
About what aspect or thing in your life are you the most smug?
Submitted by Oink (who appreciates fine thighs).
I'm so not an "I-told-you-so" person, but I'm a bit smug about the fact that I tend to get into certain bands/things before other people. Well, maybe "smug" isn't the right word. And right now Firefox is telling me that I just spelled "isn't" wrong, which I didn't. Okay, they know that "didn't" is a word, but they don't know "isn't"? Who the hell is in charge of the what does and doesn't get into the Firefox dictionary? Apparently doesn't isn't a word either. I'm done here.
Show us the most useless thing on your desk.
Usually I have my iPod on my desk as well but it's still in my purse from this weekend. It desperately needs to be charged. It will probably end up on my desk later on today.
