VULT CULT

2010-11-30

The future of recording music for me - Reaper?

I've never been a fan of most digital recording technology for music. Maybe it's that I'm not hip, or perhaps I'm just a snob, but to my ears the quality, the richness in the music when recorded through analog isn't there in things like Logic, Pro Tools, or Cakewalk. What I record has no real presense or weight. And no, it ain't the instruments or the amps, as those setup have largely stayed the same over the years.

Despite the apparent ease of use (basically anyone who can write a song, can record one with just the right setup), I always imagined I'd always see it as nothing more than a glorified demo.

That being said, I'm checking out this product called Reaper - http://www.reaper.fm/ to see what they offer.

I'll keep you posted.

Before The Onion ... there was Airplane!

It's too bad one of creators went all right-wing a few years back. And it's too bad the Naked Gun series was all racist with its depictions of Arabs (that and watching O.J. Simpson is a bit much to stomach, knowing he murdered his wife in cold blood).

Still ... we have Airplane!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/airplane-predicted-tsa-fiasco_n_789604.html#s194147

Seriously, Airplane! was just ahead of its time.

2010-11-29

Dallas - The great American entertainment export of the 1980's.

Okay. I admit this blog has been somewhat serious (even grim) about various subjects over the last couple of years.

Maybe it's that part of me that's going all midlife crisis already. And by my own admission, I've not been a fan of much culture these past few years. I only recently found out who Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga are (i.e current big hypes being pushed by 20th century business models like record companies). They both kind of remind me of Justin Timberlake and Cyndi Lauper 2.0, though in the Lauper's case, she actually struggled for a long time before becoming successful (that whole thing about paying one's dues, working, writing, etc).

So I thought, why not publish a note about real escapism?

For many Americans in the previous latter half of the 20th century, there were soap opera television programs. They mostly ran during the day, were sponsored by large hygenge companies like Proctor and Gamble (hence the term soap operas), and contained a bevy of melodrama, bad acting, bad hair, and ... well that's about it.

Then, there's Dallas - the television series.

It started off not with a pilot, but rather as a 1978 mini-series - a production that spanned 4-5 one hours episodes that were broadcast over a few weeks or so as a test run. Its ratings were not bad, but not that great. It got picked up.

What started out as a Romeo and Juliet show about two people (Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes) married to each other from different families and such, turned into a Reagan/Me show about excess, evil, etc.

The over-the-top acting, the Southfork mansion, the cars, the hot women, the bombastic music. That plus all that back-stabbing, bed-hopping, yelling, sceraming, punching, oil, Lone Star State (Ewing Oil was an 'independant' oil company founded by Jock Ewing), coupled with strong writing, and good continuity make for the perfect American fantasy of the 1980's. Seriously when something 'happened' whereby they went to commerical, you'd swear the world was coming to an end just by the music alone.

Yeah Dynasty was there too, but we all knew it was a rip-off of Dallas.

It was Dallas that really ushered in the idea that soap operas can be successful in prime-time, as opposed to daytime.

Of course the key to it was JR Ewing, as played by Larry Hagman.

Seriously, Who Shot JR? was quite the phenomeon.

Sometimes I'll buy a TV show I grew up on and watching it now, discover how pointless and devoid of any real content it was. Don't get me wrong, Dukes of Hazzard is entertainment, but like Knight Rider, it was the car that was the show. You can only pull off so many plots where the car jumping over something resolves the plot.

But Dallas was different. There was quite a lot going on.

JR Ewing was a complex evil character. And like so many popular 'evil' characters, they themselves didn't think they were evil at all. Even when you didn't want to see his latest scheme to succeed, even if you didn't want him to win Ewing Oil from Bobby (who let's face it, every straight guy wanted to be. After all, he did bang the hottest chicks on the show, Pam and Jenna Wade. Though it turns out, so did Ray Krebs), the best part about the character was that the audience was really in on everything he did. Even when 'good' characters were doing something they thought they came up with independantly of themselves, in the back of the audiences' minds, we knew it was another move concocted by JR. And Larry Hagman pulled of the great acting feat of appearing both sympathetic and sincere when having dialog with other characters, as well as giving subtle and obvious cues to the audience that he was evil all the way through.

What a guy!

Okay, so not all the female characters were as multi-faceted. Sue Ellen (who I believe Mrs. Culture Vulture described as a tool) was forever an idiot, running back to JR each time. You'd think being put in a sanatarium, and being framed for shooting one's husband would be signs, but no. And yes, Pam had quite the stick up her ass much of the time (she only seemed to ever relax when Bobby was spanking her). And let's face it - Lucy was annoying and never really part of any major plot, unless it involved JR.

And it's true, that when Jim Davis (the actor who played Jock Ewing) died in 1981 from brain cancer, the show's direction focused solely on JR, which I think proved to be it's eventual downfall. A show can only focus on one character for so long before it becomes tiresome (this I recall from watching the show as a teenager).

But all in all, it really was the show that looking back, provided a true form of entertainment. And all this before the Internet, iPhones, Facebook, etc.

Sure many prime-time shows came afterwards, but it seems just about every major character is more a boy or girl, rather then a man or woman. And for all the money spent on the production, the writing, the stories, the dialog, and the acting fall flat. I'd even make the case that this extends not to just soap shows, but pretty much all television shows.

But for now, we're up to Dallas Season 7, and there's no let-up on the action and drama.

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Okay, I know I should be really spending more time blogging about the US 2010 Mid-Term Election results and their impact on the nation, or perhaps the latest Wikileaks relevation, and their impact.

Well yes they are important. Probably the impact of those will be long felt for very long time to come.

However, as a resident of Montreal, I think it only fair to take a moment and celebrate -

Alouettes pull off Grey Cup repeat

Ah yes. I know the CBC and TSN are Toronto-focused when it comes to sports. But it's hard to avoid focusing on Montreal when - you know - a team wins the big prize.

So on that note, every one sing with me -