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gigastasio

@ gigastasio @sh.itjust.works

Posts
45
Comments
276
Joined
11 mo. ago

  • Moral dilemma about cassette tapes [solved thank you!!]

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  • To me this is a question of audio fidelity. What source would you use to re-record the tape? While it’s not unheard of to use a digital source, depending on the year this cassette was pressed it might have been a high quality analog master tape. It’s unlikely that you’re going to reproduce the exact same experience that the listener would have had from the original tape. And if you’re selling to audiophiles, they’ll know if it sounds off.

  • Do you feel like Lemmy is like a PHPBB?

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  • I thought it was just makes short raspberry sound.

  • What are some cute names for female vipers?

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  • Skuld, Helja, Gunnr, and Brynhildr

  • You find yourself teleported onto the stage of a TED talk right NOW with a large audience. What topic do you speak about?

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  • Modern pop - which I define as what you typically hear on commercial radio, but you could also define as the trending artists on digital platforms - is very safe, very conservative, and very listener friendly.

    But…to use an example that’s relevant to your question, you can look at the rise of punk rock in the 70’s. Punk was a reaction to the growing popularity of Progressive Rock artists like King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Rush, and similar artists that dabbled in complex harmony, polyrhythm, mixed/odd meters, and so on. Punk artists felt that these were becoming too elitist and exclusive and said, hey, how about we just play three chords and say fuck a lot? Let’s make music anyone can pick up a cheap guitar and learn in five minutes!

    In 2026 I’d be hard pressed to identify a popular musical style that’s pushing the boundaries of listenability to the point of sparking a backlash. And we just had a couple of these not that long ago anyway: Minimalism in the 60’s and my aforementioned Punk movement. I’d say we’re in kind of a lull at the moment, though it’s not hard to look at all the styles and genres that sprang out of Punk and see where they’re going. But these patterns span decades, sometimes centuries. It may not happen again in our lifetime.

  • What a beauty!

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  • Her arch enemy:

  • You find yourself teleported onto the stage of a TED talk right NOW with a large audience. What topic do you speak about?

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  • A pendulum is a good way of looking at it. What you see in the Medieval period is, as an example, musicians writing more and more challenging lines to sing. Wider leaps, rapid-fire phrases…and this is how they show off their skills. You see this more in the secular music of the day, as the church is constantly pushing for sacred music that doesn’t call attention to itself. But, the backlash happens because while those complex, jagged lines might be lots of fun for the singer, not so much for the listener. And so begins a movement toward vocal lines that are easier on the ears - smoother, more melodic, easier to sing, which also lines up nicely with developments in counterpoint and polyphony that allow major forms like the motet to come into being.

    And of course musicians, not being able to help themselves, start competing with each other to write more and more complex motets, which sparks another aesthetic backlash, and it all starts again.

    This is a gross simplification of course but just to give you an idea how this all works.

  • What is the nature of suffering?

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  • I define suffering the same way I define art:

    • I know it when I see it
    • I can look at someone’s suffering, call it suffering, while some pretentious jagoff next to me goes, “Pff, that’s not suffering. You clearly don’t know what real suffering is.”
    • Some suffering I like, some suffering I don’t.
    • I had to go to school to learn about other people’s suffering.
    • Some of us hide our suffering and some display it
    • Some people use their suffering to make money
    • I tried to show other people my suffering and they laughed at it. So I don’t show people my suffering anymore.

  • You find yourself teleported onto the stage of a TED talk right NOW with a large audience. What topic do you speak about?

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  • The title of my talk is “Innovation as Rebellion against Complexity.”

    I’ll start with my experience studying and teaching music history, and demonstrate how every major musical stylistic shift over the past 1500 years or so can be seen as a revolt against excessive complexity developing in the previous style. One example would be the shift from thick, complex polyphony that had become the norm in late Renaissance music, to the relatively simple and much-easier-on-the-ears style of early homophonic music. But I’d actually touch on all periods of music history.

    I’d then challenge my audience to ask themselves and each other if this trend can be seen in other fields as well. Do we see such innovative rebellions in, say, art? Or literature? Architecture? The sciences? And what about technology…

    …and are we on the cusp of a new rebellion against the massively complex technology that’s thrust upon us today? What does that look like? What innovations await us at the conclusion of that revolution?

    I mean I’d be winging the fuck out of it with only a few seconds to prep but wouldn’t that be great to talk about?

    You can see I’ve done a lot of thinking about this lol.

  • do you guys have some music recommendations

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  • I love Infected Mushroom, and like you, I haven’t been thrilled with their recent releases, and I really don’t have any similar suggestions, but…

    Missio recently dropped a new album, and are worth getting to know if you don’t know them.

    I also listen to a looooooot of Jack White. Just pick anything. Literally anything.

  • [Serious] What is the expected result of kicking out and rejecting all immigrants?

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  • And keep the rural poor and uneducated from realizing that they’re one of the groups.

  • Has there ever been a movie set in a superhero universe that is about a non-superhero character?

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  • Hancock? Is that the movie you were thinking of?

  • Has there ever been a movie set in a superhero universe that is about a non-superhero character?

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  • Yes to a point, but consider…

    …Hughie and Butcher both take Compound V in the books and a temporary version in the show, which gives them powers, and the universe is set up so, theoretically, anyone who wants powers can get them.

  • What's a good choice you've made recently, without it being obvious at the time that it was the right choice?

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  • I try to be as patient as I can with her because I still care about her. She’s got a lot of mental health struggles and she’s been through hell. Sometimes she takes it out on me in ways she doesn’t intend, and 99% of the time I can just confront her directly and that solves the problem. I already confronted her about this, and I haven’t decided if I believe her story yet but at least she knows where I stand. Legal action is the nuclear option but I’m hoping that this gets resolved well before that.

  • What's a good choice you've made recently, without it being obvious at the time that it was the right choice?

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  • Need to give a little backstory here…

    My ex and I have a kid together. He was born during Covid and I was away at the time, and it ended up that my name never got on his birth certificate. When we split up we never went to court over custody or child support or any of that stuff, we just made a civil agreement between the two of us how we’d co-parent. And it’s been working well so far.

    Well not too long ago I decided that I needed to legally codify my status as his biological father so I had the two of us fill out what’s called an Acknowledgement of Paternity, which gets my name on the birth certificate. There were no selfish motives at the time, it was just the right thing to do.

    Fast forward to today. My ex has a new gf and they’re getting very close and she’s been engaging in some fuckery where she’s telling my son that he can’t talk about dad (me) in front of his new “mama.” Never mind that fact that I provide the both of them with an insane amount of material support and that he’s with me every weekend. I don’t know what’s going on, but the situation smells to me like she wants to try and push me out of the picture. Well, guess what? I am legally the boy’s biological father, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto now. So if push comes to shove I am fully prepared to invoke those rights, drag her ass to court, and we can do all that custody stuff she never wanted to do.

    I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that, but I’m glad I secured my legal rights when I did or that would be a lot tougher.

    (Also to add I’m not posting this as ragebait nor am I soliciting advice. I know exactly how I’m going to handle this if I need to.)

  • What's your favourite cover of a song you dislike?

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  • Nobody sings a Bob Dylan song worse than Bob Dylan.

  • What's the best dream you've ever had?

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  • How do you handle that?

    Very poorly. Nothing prepared me for the sequence of events that led to this. Like you though, I hope it’s not forever.

    I follow their social media. I don’t bother them, I just like to know they’re okay. Maybe when I feel the time is right I’ll reach out.

  • What's the best dream you've ever had?

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  • Several years ago two of my kids went no contact with me. The circumstances are complex but I can understand their perspective and I respect their decision. It wasn’t entirely undeserved.

    About a year after that I had a dream where the three of us hashed out our differences and reconciled. And what makes this dream stand out among all my other dreams is that was the first and only lucid dream I’ve ever had. I remember every detail vividly and I remember having complete agency and full control over everything I said and did. I haven’t been able to recreate that experience since.

  • What is your justification for your own existence?

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  • I’m just here to keep the pretzel population in check.

  • Who have you gotten an autograph of?

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  • I have a bass guitar autographed by Steve Vai, Tosin Abasi, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Zakk Wylde. It was my first “real” instrument that I got for my 17th birthday, the bass that I learned on, and has been by my side my whole life. She’s retired and hangs on the wall in my studio.