An Audiophile's Confessions, plus the Thrill of Killing Innocent Virtual People

Posted: 2013-01-14 08:40:16.867

 

 

 

 

Alas the football season is almost over.  Where did it go?  It passed by so quickly.  Man, I love football.  Now there’s only three games left, boo hoo hoo.  

With my birthday just a week away I’ve finally decided on my birthday present this year: a new sound system.  I considered getting a Vita, a Wii U, and other things, but finally I decided I wanted a new sound system.  First of all, I’m giving my old one to my parents so they have nice sound in the living room.  Second of all, I’ve wanted a Yamaha sound system for months, and now is the perfect time for it.  It’s going to cost me some money (I’m paying for 2/3 of it, and my parents are paying for the last 1/3) but it will be worth it. 

I’m a bit of an audiophile, and while there are certainly better systems, the one I’m getting is at the top end of what I can afford.  I listen to music for about 20 hours a day, including when I sleep, and it’s very important to me to get the highest fidelity I can. 

Now, I considered getting a strictly stereo system, with really nice speakers and a Harmon Kardan receiver, but I eventually made up my mind to get a 5.1 system so I could watch Classical/Opera Blurays, which is my new jam. 

Now, I’ve spent $80 today buying some opera/classical BluRays and DVD’s in preparation for my birthday present, which I will get on Saturday when we are celebrating my birthday.  I’m really excited.  As time goes by I only seem to get more and more passionate about the music I listen to: it gives me such unbelievable pleasure, and there’s so much out there yet to listen to. 

If you’re an audio nut, BluRay audio is the shiznit.  It’s a lot warmer than CD’s, and with 5.1 mixes it sounds so full and round. 

The other thing about the system I am buying is it’s moddable.  I can buy other speakers for it later, and upgrade it piece by piece, which is the plan.  Some systems, like Sony, have proprietary connectors and crap that you can’t upgrade.  Fuck that noise, man. 

However, since I’m spending all my money on music, I won’t have the cash to spend on games this month like I wanted.  Far Cry is out of the picture, and if I can afford one game, I will buy Ni No Kuni.  I think I can afford that, but money will be tight.  Anyway, I really want to play that game, so I will make compromises. 

The things is I really love JRPG’s, they’re my favorite genre after all these years.  I love a great FPS and adventure game, sure, but good JRPG’s really do it for me, and there haven’t been many great ones this generation.  There’s been some good ones, and some very good ones, but not many, if any, great ones.

My favorite of course is Last Remnant, which everybody but me hates.  I love Last Remnant.  Sigh. 

I don’t know if it’s my new medication or what but I seem to have curbed my impulse game buying, which is a good thing.  I was buying way too many games I wasn’t playing.  I just can’t focus enough to play most games, I don’t know why.  It’s just hard for me to sit down and focus on a single thing.  It’s quite annoying. 

But I have been buying CD’s and DVD’s of music, which is a different fascination, but I always have focus for music.  I love music so damn much. 

I’d like to get Ni No Kuni, and I hope I can, but honestly, the game I really want is the new Etrian Odyssey.  I don’t think I’ve been so excited for a game for a long time.  I just really like first person dungeon crawlers/JRPG’s, and I love making my own characters and messing with them and calibrating them and buying equipment, etc.  I guess I am a serious nerd that way. 

Fire Emblem looks cool too, I must admit, so I think I will get that too.  I didn’t like the graphics in the older Fire Emblem games, but this one looks sweet.  The old ones looked like some C64 shit, and I just wasn’t having that.  Been there, done that, seen the movie, thanks. 

I also really want to play Tales of Xillia, but lord knows when that is coming out.  GTA looks great too, though I’m kind of tired of angry white dudez.  I’m sorry, but one thing video games do is relax me, especially when I’m killing cops and pedestrians like it’s going out of style, crashing cars and helicopters and blowing up people.  There’s a lot of games out there, but only GTA makes it endlessly fun to kill innocent people.  I mean, if you’re going to kill people in a video game, they might as well be innocent people, rather than lame bad guys. 

I remember when I used to play Goldeneye a lot and kill soldiers nonstop I used to imagine that those dudes had families that I was destroying buy putting bullets in the soldier’s heads. I dunno, there’s just something more satisfying about killing innocent virtual people than supposedly “bad” virtual people.  It fulfills some kind of weird human desire for utter destruction and pain that I would never entertain in real life.  But man, running over people in GTA, and then running them over again to make sure they’re dead: that’s pure pleasure. 

Anyway, that’s it for me right now.  I have some things to do today.  

Your Dream of Dark Angels

Posted: 2013-01-10 05:59:00.667

7.

Young Bruce Wayne arrives home early in the morning, when the sun is coming up like a string of horses, but before retiring to his bed, where he will at last sleep, he makes his way to his parents’ graves, which are on the estate’s grounds. 

                  He begs God: “Who will give me direction?  Who will guide me?”

                  No answers.                   

The clash of bullets and flesh haunt him – he was born into paradise – limitless wealth, parental love, many things both tangible and intangible.  All ripped from him. 

Just a night like any other, to the movies, until they made their way out of the theater and a shadow fell upon them, violence slashing into them from an unsteady hand and wild, impoverished eyes.  Yes, they caught the crook later that night – but to what end?  For punishment – what could punishment grant, other than the bitter salve of revenge?  No, there was no respite from this terror: the world was perhaps irrevocably rotten. 

Pink color floods into the sky.  The sun rises, and with it, a chill warmth.  Dawn.  But what is the worth of it, as darkness is sheathed in light?  Bruce cannot tell.  He cannot tell.     

Still, his resolve is unbearable.  “The world will change,” he tells himself.  “Because I will make it change.”

But how? 

And when?  

Modern Classical Wednesday!

Posted: 2013-01-09 15:15:09.913

We have some nice stuff here today, the highlight of which is Jonny Greenwood's "Convergence" down at the bottom, and Charles Ives' Symphony #2 Part One.  Enjoy, guys!

 

Marga Richter, “Lament for String Orchestra”

 

 

 

 

John Adams, China Gates:

 

 

 

 

 Messiaen, Something something "Jesus"  

 

 

 

Charles Ives, Symphony #2 (1).  Beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

The weekly Steve Reich, a nice performance of “Six Marimbas”

 

 

 

 

Jonny Greenwood, “Convergence”