I Knew It Would Come To This...

Ok... I figured that one of these days I would be asked to comment on the phenomenon that is Myspace. Here are my two cents; Myspace has great potential just like any other internet community to become a utopia where like minded individuals can converse about what really matters to them. The trouble is that in order for it to be like that, its populace must make an effort to leave behind all of their preconceived notions about one another. Teens hang out on Myspace so that they can avoid the bullshit they are faced with everyday. Having recently passed through the public school system, I can say with confidence that it is a gauntlet raught with perceived perils that can be world shattering to its inhabitants. It is essentially a game where there is no rule book and even if there was it would be rewritten daily. Myspace allows teens to escape this by only associating with the people they want to associate with. The trouble in this is that Myspace is perpetuating the cliquey nature of high school.

Personally I want nothing to do with Myspace because it is a waste of my time as I see it. I find myself in an environment where I am already surrounded by like minded individuals and if I have trouble finding them, there are far more conducive avenues to pursue. To kids in high school who are in relatively small worlds to begin with, Myspace allows them to hunt down people feeling what they feel. I have known people who used Myspace to forge lasting relationships of various natures in high school. Thus I am willing to tip my hat to Myspace because it does have some practical uses.

My problem with Myspace stems mostly from its inhabitants. The website itself is a great resource for the right people; however the wrong people keep hijacking it. Though this problem is pervasive to every society digital or otherwise. To quote Serj Tankian, " Stupid people do stupid things. Smart people outsmart each other." It's human nature. You really can't change that. Perhaps you'll call me defeatist for this belief but I've grown weary from butting heads with the imbeciles of the internet. God forbid some of these people ever reproduce...

3rd Time's a Charm

Here are your choices for this week's show. Each artist hand scraped from the unseen underbelly of the internet. If I get as poor a voter turn out as i did last week, well then to hell with you. I will pick who I want.

Dr. Steel
Architecture in Helsinki
The Beautiful Girls

You've Got an ohGr in Your Ear

O frabjous day! It's the second episode of What the Hell is That Noise. As promised I have reviewed the industrial duo ohGr.

Enjoy

ohGr: Cracker

Here is a preview of the band that I will be reviewing in this week's podcast. I find this video to be as genius as the song it was created to follow. I love the references to Trent Reznor and Eminem. I actually like both artists but I think they are valid targets as far as the message of this song goes. The music industry is wearing thin these days. Could it be that they have given up?

From the Murky depths of my Records

Hello citizens of the interwebs. Here are this week's bands of obscurity.

Doctor Steel
Ratatat
OhGr

Time to choose...

Also here is last weeks episode. Enjoy the wondrous sound that is Indorphine.

Also Also here is a music video to Indorphine's single Spaghetti.

Weinberger should smack some sense into Keen

As much as I dislike Keen, that is how much I like this guy. Weinberger seems a much more forward thinking individual on all counts. He's right in that we as humans need to organize things almost compulsively because our brains like pretty patterns and things that we don't have to think about too much. However there is a limit to the amount of simplification and classification we can accomplish. Weinberger clearly gets this and I have to say hooray for him. Its just like he says; things can fit into many places based on an infinite amount of characteristics. The internet community seems to be doing a great job of this with applications like Stumble Upon. People are constantly finding new things after searching for something completely unrelated. I call this the "Wiki Affect". I have gone on Wikipedia expecting to look up something for art history class and an hour later I am reading about the exploits of Vlad the Impaler. The same is true of such sites as Delicious. I guess all that is left to say is yay tagging.

Oh! and Keen is still a troglodyte.

Keen: Internet :: Pontius Pilate : Jesus

Wow. I thought I hated on religion pretty badly. I guess Keen feels the same way about the internet. I'm no economics major but I am pretty sure that the growth of the internet is not going to destroy our economy as he claims it will. So a few people will lose jobs here and there. Big deal. People have been losing jobs for a long time to machines and I don't hear Keen busting down the doors of car manufacturing plants. If times are changing people will adapt its as simple as that. Besides, it takes a whole lot of people to maintain the internet and its various hives of so called scum and villainy. I wonder if monks wanted to beat up Gutenburg for making a machine that removed the need for them to transcribe books.

And Seriously what is this nonsense about truth disappearing? The truth hasn't gone anywhere; if anything it gained a bunch of bastard children. Just because people are posting whatever they want on the internet doesn't mean that the truth is dead. All this means is you have to be careful before you try out that plastic explosive recipe you saw on Youtube.

I really have to say that I don't understand why Keen is so angry with the internet. Honestly I think he's on Big Media's payroll. He seems to have a problem with people saying whatever they please on the internet. Hey Keen I have the answer to your complaints right here: If you don't like the internet, don't go on it. If you think that Youtube is a bankrupt of culture then don't look at the videos. If the music on LastFM offends you, don't listen to it. His whole argument seems to be that if something makes him mad it shouldn't exist. I've got news for you Keen; the internet isn't going anywhere and unless you can find away to make free speech unconstitutional then neither will any of the sites on it.

Oh! One more thing that bugs me about this guy is his declaration that the internet is viewed as a messiah by its many users. Now I will concede that some individuals who need to get out more often can be a bit clingy to the internet and its plethora of porn and games but these people are hardly worshiping the internet. They're just addicted to it. It is sad that some people can't deal with reality and hide in the anonymity of cyberspace but those people will exist regardless of the internet. Take that away and they will all play console games or go LARPing. The internet is no ones' god and shouldn't be thought of as such.

Basically I think Keen needs to get off his high horse and investigate some of the things he is criticizing. Maybe then he would see that their are people who use things like youtube as a platform to enter the "real world" economy. If he really can't stand the internet that much then he should just avoid it and shut up like I suggested earlier.