The live fan effect
I’m not sure this issue has been discussed very much, but if it hasn’t then I would like to coin the term “Live Fan Effect.”
The effect is rather simple to explain. When an excited concert-goer sees a favourite artist/band of theirs perform, then they will be obliged to sing along with them. Nothing wrong with that, it just shows they are supporting their favourite artist. Some fans may want to tape certain performances so that the world may see them on Youtube. Also not a bad idea, considering some live performances can be called legendary and fans may be disappointed if they can’t see them.
However, there is an unfortunate fusion between the two that kills live recordings; the fan singing along with the band. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the person singing is, it really does ruin the video. The view will get distracted by the person behind the camera’s voice and will not get to hear the actual artist sing in perfection. Take for example, this video:
At least the person who uploaded this video apologized for the singing. As you can see, it took away from the momentous power of Coldplay’s “Fix You” which apparently had the whole ACC singing when they performed last July.
By the way, I do not consider myself above anyone else who sings while recording. Sometimes I don’t think it can be helped. When I went to see Radiohead last year, I thought I would get a recording of when they performed Reckoner. Little did I realize that after I filmed 30 seconds of it I had begun to sing, and I refused to upload the clip to YouTube.
I suppose the only people that really can be trusted to film a good show live are TV stations or journalists. If you are a diehard fan of someone, try not to sing along with them while recording a performance.
For a change I will leave with a video of a live version of Fix You that isn’t rife with singing.
Truly it knows no bounds
I understand that it is hard to be noticed in this world. There truly are very limited ways of ever becoming famous, and one tool that many, many people use to achieve at least their fifteen minutes is by use of the internet. And how does one become e-famous? By shamelessly promoting themselves in every possible form.
Now I’m not lashing out against anyone who posted a link to their blog on a website once, or someone who wanted someone else to look at it because they thought the ideas that the two of them shared were the same. I’m talking about the people who feel the need to advertise themselves or their site every day in every form.
There is one group of people out there that I excuse from this rant- and that is musicians in general. If someone has devoted their life to music then I understand it’s not easy to be heard or found out. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, MySpace is a good way of getting exposure.
Where I get lost is why people need to advertise their blogs or websites. Chances are, if you tag your articles correctly they’ll come up in search engines. Why tell everyone to read what you wrote?
But I’m not just trying to target self-promotion whores here; I also am targeting narcissism. The Dalai Lama is an advocate of compassion, the act of helping others in their time of need. He would be crying if he logged onto Facebook and saw some of the groups and notes people have made up. I’m not going to mention any names, but there is one particular friend of mine who is so in love with himself that he wrote a play which I haven’t read yet, but is called “Gotta Love ______”. That should sort of speak for itself, shouldn’t it?
I feel as though I am the antithesis of the modern human. This is not a vain attempt at trying to make myself seem modest and humble and therefore above everyone- but I really don’t like putting myself out there. I would rather just compliment others and be satisfied. If other people want to look at the things I have personally done then they are welcome to.
That’s why I have been sustaining a flirtation with Buddhism. Currently, I am an agnostic, and I feel as though I need to rid myself of this belief, as it just makes me seem indecisive. Buddhism is such a wonderful religion simply because it does not force anyone to believe in any sort of deity, but rather just gives guidelines on how to live one’s life. I couldn’t agree more with these teachings. Now to find a Buddhist temple…
Brooklyn Rage!
I figured, why not. I’ve already published two articles today, why not do a third? This will be on the general concept of the internet abridged series.
It all started out with Little Kuriboh, a very bright and intelligent guy who decided to create shortened versions of the anime series I kind of grew up watching- Yu-Gi-Oh! Yes, I was certainly into watching it when I was a kid, it was all we ever talked about. I didn’t know about subbing though, so I was happy with pretty much anything dubbed in English that was thrown at me. Anyways, I don’t want to sound like an anime nerd so I’ll get back on topic.
So anyways, Little Kuriboh created Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, was, as the name implied, a shortened version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes. However jokes based on the horrible dubbing of the evil empire of 4Kids Entertainment as well as pop culture also came in, and one of the most original web series I have seen in a while was born.
He became popular very, very quickly, and at this point he has released 39 abridged episodes, with no episodes longer than ten minutes. Anime fans and non-anime fans alike will get a kick out of what he creates.
As well, despite the enormous pressure that is put on him to create new episodes (people seem to assume that his life revolves around the Abridged Series, he doesn’t make money from it though, so how could he make a living from it?) he also creates song parodies. One such example is taking “I’m on a Boat” by the Lonely Island and creating “I’m on a Blimp.”
Of course with the wild success of YGOTAS, there came a slew of imitators. Many of the other anime series that were abridged, such as Naruto, Dragon Ball Z and Zatch Bell are really not quite as good as Yu-Gi-Oh. So, I suppose this article was more a tribute to Little Kuriboh. He works very hard and he deserves more appreciation from his fans. I’ll leave you with an abridged episode just so that you can laugh at the hilarity. Episode One should get you started. Enjoy!
streaming to my defeat
Gah, I never thought I would become so spoiled when it came to my internet connection. Last year I upgraded to Rogers Internet, and let me tell you it kicked some serious ass. I put “kicked” in the past tense because now it is starting to fail me.
The download speed- still godly- I love being able to download songs from iTunes in 10 seconds. Yet now, when I stream videos, it loads about half as fast as it used to. There’s most likely an easy way to fix it; but I have no clue how in the world to do it. So I’m now stuck watching videos and not being able to skip through parts I don’t want to see.
That’s the downside to technology I guess- no one can really, truly master such a beast as a computer. Many have tried and almost suceeded- I myself am not even close. Anyone know any ways to make a video stream faster even though the connection is ALREADY high speed? Dammit.
I’ll just avoid videos for a while until the problem is fixed by some third party. Blah.
I THINK I’LL TYPE THIS IN CAPS LOCK, THAT SHOULD GET THEIR ATTENTION
SO OH MY GOD HAVE YOU ALL NOTICED A DISTURBING NEW TREND AMONGST PEOPLE WHO POST ON WEBSITES?
Christ, I just made this blog and I’m already on my second post. I just noticed this as I was on Facebook- I am irked like nobody’s business by people who post in all caps. Why do people have the need to post this way?
Is it perhaps a fear of being called gramatically incorrect? I myself am quite the stickler for grammar, and I have annoyed many a people by correcting them. That being said, I know I am a long way from mastering the English language. But still, if you’re going to update us on your life, please don’t post “OMG I HATE MY LIFE RIGHT NOW LOL” I will most likely proceed to avoid the offender for a good few days solely based on a sentence in all caps lock.
My other theory, as referenced in my title, is that it is a ploy in order to get people to read whatever it is they have to say. Sure, I will probably read something in all caps just so that I can figure out who the asshole is who turned to caps just to highlight themselves. An example of one Facebook status and following comments, obviously edited to make them a bit more humourous. The general gist is still captured as far as I can tell:
Caps lock asshole: I’M GOING TO ADVERTISE SOME NEW AND SHITTY PARTY EVENT GOING ON AT A CLUB NEAR YOU. MESSAGE ME FOR TICKET PRICES, DON’T MISS OOOOUUUUTTTT
Idiotic friend #1- I CAN’T WAIT.
Idiotic friend #2- YA MAN, THE NIGHT’S GONNA BE LIIIIVVVE
I believe that proved its point. On a random side note, when did the word “live” become slang for something cool? I thought there were already a lot of ways of saying cool already: sick, awesome, fly, etc.
Oh! I have one more guess as to why caps lock is favoured. Perhaps it relates to how uncool it is nowadays to be gramatically correct when posting on the internet, excluding blogs. I personally use correct grammar when I talk to people on MSN, and I am always scorned by people when they first add me. It breaks my heart when even people who are as intelligent if not more intelligent than me are posting “g2g, c u” as opposed to “I gotta go.”
I don’t have an appropriate video to post at the bottom for this, so I’ll stick with the classic internet meme- the demotivational poster.
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