garageband

Even Hitler could put together a snazzy military uniform.

He was great with animals, too. I have plans of getting a German Shepard named Blondie when Panzer bites the bucket. I doubt if anyone will notice.

I remember you were the first guy to point out how many posts it took before the average forum thread mentioned the Nazis. I actually see this as good. Society has a bad guy....a model of what not to do....at least when people aren't starving.

It's one park church bake sale, one part 5th grade foot race, one part block party, one part student-body election, one part beauty contest, one university group project (another hated phenomenon), one Masonic meeting, one part family reunion, one part sci-fi fan convention and a bunch of other equally complicated parts: each bringing with it all difficulty and unpleasantness of the component parts.

I can't think of a better melting pot, personally.

Life has a way of evening our lives out so we aren't able to forever maintain such an inflated estimation of our superiority. "You're ridin' high in April, shot down in May".

Ain't that the truth.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this blog. My nose made the "investigation crinkle" a bit as I scanned the screen. Some guys get into a retaliation mode. Few of them make a sequel like Major League II (all the brutality chopped out).

One of my favorite quotes I read in the past year or two was, "Nothing is ever as good or as bad as you think it's gonna be." (Minus concentration camps. ...I had to throw in the Nazi thing.) The way I see it, I'm going with these contests (flaws and all) because there's a hell of a lot more good than bad. If people want them as formally sanctioned as American Idol or something, there is surely a tryout in a nearby City.

The "why do them at all?" question eludes an overt answer. I put in a 10 hour mix day again today after a brutal night of watching Massenberg videos on Youtube and an even more brutal mixing/work schedule the day before. Why post on RecordingReview at midnight? The smartest answer I can come up with is, "Why not?"

Brandon

Brandon

GB, you're are making me want to participate in those things. I like doing something brutal just for the sake of doing something brutal or to learn a little. The new one is painful to me--I just can't take punk for the most part. I've never owned anything punk barring the 'fillers' Jack White throws in his various werkz. They are probably not fillers to many. One listen to this one, and I was done. Couldn't do another minute of it. Since you put it in this light--it seems like brutal work that HAS TO BE DONE to get anywhere. Not too different than college English.

I have a hard time understanding why people can't just not participate. If you don't like something, why do it? More importantly, why the need to write about not liking it? Just walk away. Find something you do like and let the people that enjoy it have their moment of pleasure without having to hear your negativity. Please don't take this to mean that people shouldn't/can't have an opinion. But why the need to write 20 paragraphs about it? I have only done one mixing contest, might have been the first one. I enjoyed it and got something out of it. The end result was a couple people saying it stunk and that I took liberties with the song that I shouldn't have - and then several people said it was a very cool take on the song. But more importantly I enjoyed the process.

Please don't take this to mean that people shouldn't/can't have an opinion.

But you're saying the only opinions that should be outwardly expressed are positive ones? Sorry, my record collection isn't that boring.

I just can't take punk for the most part.

I read this a few days ago and said, "Whatever turns your crank". I was having a horrible day yesterday (again). The woman and I were headed to town to participate in December's Great Capitalist Adventure. She had it on the country station and it took 3 whiney-ass notes with the wrong accent and the wrong tone of voice before I flipped a lid. It was as if they wrote, tracked, mixed, and mastered that song ENTIRELY to ruin my life.

I don't normally feel that way about all the songs in the genre, but I can see where you are coming from.

But you're saying the only opinions that should be outwardly expressed are positive ones?

It depends on how you define a blog.

If a person were to buy a commercial for the Super Bowl that said with some ultra-robo voiceover, "American Idol.....For The Shallow And The Stupid" with no other agenda people would scratch their head at why a person would spend $3mil . The issue in such an official, public declaration isn't even with American Idol anymore, but with the person who took the ad out. What's his motive? Why is he so bitter? etc

Obviously, blogs aren't this formal or this public.

I learned my lesson on this in high school. I was almost 17. We were handed our prom invitations in English class as our English teacher was the one in charge of the prom business. My rebellious/cynical nature was in full force them. In an act of defiance (as if I was nobly protesting the Vietnam War or something) I threw the overly decorated envelope on the ground and stomped on it. When I turned around I noticed the teacher had seen the entire thing. I could tell by the look in her eye that it hurt her feelings immensely. She wasn't an idiot. She was aware of the inherent flaws of the prom concept, but generally considered it a positive thing.

More importantly, publicly and officially spitting on something that another person has put a lot of effort into made me look like a complete horses ass and I knew it.

Looking back I wasn't intelligent for what I had done. If you would have asked me how I planned to "fix" the prom, I would have been tongue tied. I was just bitching.....like the rotten 4 year-old throwing a fit in the store.

The difference in this case is I have an entire forum category for people to voice their concerns, give feedback, and toss in their opinion. To go outside of that channel is a red flag. To do so when the author hasn't put 2 seconds of thought into actually solving the problem (or at least omitted these from his writing) is another red flag.

Everyone has to rant and vent. It just makes for low quality literature, I guess. (It takes one to know one. )

Brandon

To do so when the author hasn't put 2 seconds of thought into actually solving the problem (or at least omitted these from his writing) is another red

It's just [what] you have to do. It's good for you. You need to do it. But you don't have to like it [or] even pretend to like it. Being a good sport about it would help - which I plan to be in the future.

Maybe if I put them together...

Originally Posted by homebuilderman

I have a hard time understanding why people can't just not participate. If you don't like something, why do it?

Did you completely miss the vegetable analogy?

Maybe if I put them together...

Yeah, the part one negative and the second one positive thing probably didn't make it go over as well as it could have. Kind of made people ignore the good things you had to say about the contest, but if you had put it the other way around it wouldn't work nearly as well. "I like you, but..." is not nearly as effective as "this is what I don't like, but here's the redeeming qualities that make you worthwhile".

BTW, you made me feel guilty about not finishing my vegetables (I didn't finish my entry) so IMO these blogs were not useless at all

..........

Originally Posted by garageband

But you're saying the only opinions that should be outwardly expressed are positive ones? Sorry, my record collection isn't that boring.

No, I am not saying that at all. I am saying that it takes effort to click into the forum for the contest. It takes effort to download the tracks - put the tracks in your chosen editor - spend hours mixing - etc., etc. Then to take the time to tell everyone how you don't like the whole process that you spent all that time doing. Why do that to yourself? I don't get it. I am not saying you can or can't or should or shouldn't. I just don't get it. Now, if it were the first contest and you hadn't experienced it before - it might seem reasonable. But these have been going on for awhile now and it seems like (i don't know for certain - most certainly could be wrong) you have participated in them.

For my own food analogy: What would you think if you were sitting in a Burger King and a customer walks in. As this customer approaches the counter, they are speaking aloud to everyone, "I really don't like Burger King." "I really don't like flame broiled burgers." "I can't stand french fries." "Sodas give me gas and make me bloated." The entire time they are eating, they are saying the same things to anyone within earshot. Wouldn't you ask yourself: Why did this person come to BK? Why is he eating foods he doesn't like? Why is he telling everyone this mess? That, of course, is not to say that the person doesn't have the right to express himself.

Except the Burger King analogy doesn't work because he's not choking it down for his health. GB clearly stated that even though there are things he dislikes about eating vegetables, he does it occasionally anyway because it's good for him. Oops I meant mixing contests, not vegetables.