Steal my music

Over ten years now I have been a member of music groups.  The music itself is geared more toward the underground therefore I have never once thought: “wow, my music is something that I can use to make a living”.  The get rich quick philosophyis exactly what destroys the art.  Art is created to receive a response.   The response and the appreciation from the public is the reward.  I have played a lot of live shows over the years.  I have only gotten paid maybe a couple times.  Playing live, seeing the reactions from the crowd, having the opportunity to bestow something beautiful on willing listeners’ ears – is all I need as a musician.  So when it comes right down to it, I share my own music willingly on Peer to peer programs and I want people to “steal” it.  And also hope they like it. 

Music is a huge part of my life.  If I wasn’t in a band I don’t know what I would do.  However, I will never quit my day job to try to squeeze money from something as pure as artistic expression.

Commericalism of literary fiction.

The publishing world is strange.  The Literary writers hate the genre fiction writers because genre fiction is purely entertainment.  Any student of a collegiate writing arts program can vouch for that.  However, it was surprisingly (to me anyhow) that at a horror convention, I was talking to a representative of a small press horror editor – and they appeared to hate literary fiction because it isn’t as marketable.   And commericalfiction prides itself on aspects of writing (many elements opposed to what we are taught at University) that sell books.  Note: I understand that it may have been this particular editor’s bias.  Regradless,  I find it strange that as a fiction writer we are supposed to create “marketable literary fiction” when in the publishing world they sometimes appear as polar opposites.  

Online Marketplace selling

Ever since an acquaintance of mine got away with selling fake items and not paying the seller on Ebay, I have been mistrustful of marketplace selling/buying.  Although, the ripoff artist that I knew was scamming people when Ebay was brand new and the internet was fairly new, my anxiety cannot be lessened.  And this leads to frustration – because I have stuff I want to sell!  I currently own a highly sought after small press horror novella that I bought for $8 and is now sold for over $400.  I am thinking of selling it on Amazon, but I still think I’m going to be bamboozled.  On top of that, the lovely US postal service has been atrocious.  I only receive one out of every five packages in fair condition.  My packages are many times broken or stolen.  I have friends who have had similar situations with UPS.  So I guess that leaves Fed Ex and mail insurance. 

I just wish I could make the sale the old fashioned way: physical exchange.  That is the only way I can be sure i am not getting ripped off.

Interactive Internet

After I had read three online articles on active internet aspects (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, and lonelygirl15’s webcam cinema), I was taken back.  I knew the internet was becoming less passive; however, it looks as if the future will have no passive websites to speak of.  In five years I’m sure internet passivity will be exinct because an active website will always trump a passive website in user popularity.  

Soon after I had read the articles, a close friend of mine proposed an idea: building a more interactive NHL hockey information website / forum.  Both my friend and I do not and cannot build websites so we will ask another friend if he is interested.  As three hockey fans we will address the areas in which we feel are lacking in other NHL info / forum sites such as HFboards and Hockey Buzz.  Other details cannot be disclosed.  After reading the three articles, I am confident that the idea can be successful.  The difficult part is the work: making the idea a reality.  

Thoughts on Wenger’s Communities of Practice

 

Wenger’s book concerns social interaction in the workplace and education.  The basic point are: social interaction plays a drastic role in creating our individual identity, social interaction helps us learn, we value social interaction, and community building is an inevitable trait of humankind. 

Abrasive aspects of the book were the lack of power, the lack of passion, the lack of logical argumentation, and the lack of scholarly references (although these references are mentioned in the notes section, I wanted her to refer to them explicitly in the text). Wenger claims from the beginning that the book is a “perspective” (pg. 9) and that book is “not a recipe” (pg. 9).   Such a claim does not only act as a scapecoat if anyone should argue with her perspective (McCluhan did the same thing), but it undercuts her theory – and, more importantly, as a reader I know I will not be proven anything by reading the book: I will merely be reading a person’s opinion. 

 The rest of the book is based on observations about human beings, constantly reinforcing the fact that humans are inevitably social.  Wenger only confronts the most glaring objection in passing.  The objection: McLuhan’s “the closer we become the more violent we are”, or Sartre’s “Hell is other people” (illustrated beautifully in No Exit).  The only instance she seems to retort the objection is on page 213; she says that our contestablity is a shared context. 

A good theorist proves their theory.  A good theorist also posits presumed objections and dismantles the presumed objections.  A wonderful example would be Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica.  Ignoring the religiousity, one can celebrate the structure of his arguments and the systematic breakdown of objections.  Wenger is the polar opposite of such a method.  She doesn’t seems to be striving for Truth, she appears to be striving to write a book. 

Finally, I would like to see how Wenger  reacts to the philosophies of Karl Marx because I noticed some echoing of his theories. I may have to dig for that because she seems to supress a lot of what she truly wants to say.

My views on McLuhan

I am quite old school.  I am a Neo-Classicalist to many degrees.  Therefore my vision of the past is much brighter than when I look around the world today (the future appears even darker).  I do not embrace a bleak outlook for the sake of being a downer or a pessimist; rather, I embrace the outlook because I believe it is the truth – based on rational argumentation and observation. 

Therefore I do not agree with McLuhan’s technological optimism.  I do believe that a utopian world is potential in humankind: the quest for solidarity burns in each of us.    I understand McLuhan’s argument:  humankind becomes one though the medium.  The advancements of internet has most likely suprassed his expectations.    However, the “global electronic villiage” although appearing to bring us together as a species, is actually doing the opposite. 

As in…

1) We do not speak to each other face to face as much.  Younger people are asking each other on dates, bullying others, say things they normally wouldn’t say behind the safe wall of their computer and cell phone (text messaging).  This behavior overlooks truly socializing as human beings.   It is dissolving the human social fabric.   We are socializing more through technology; however, we are socializing in isolation: behind a computer.

2)  McLuhan says that technology makes us work harder, and that the twentyth century child works harder than any child in history (pg. 79).   I have to say today’s American children do not work half as much (intellectually or physically) as past generations.  Yes there is more information in their head – but the information is quality?  Today the stress is upon practical functional information, e.g. how to operate a DVD player, rather than lofty abstract theory, e.g. questioning what it means to be human, the rules of logic, etc.   Partly due to technology, people have stopped questioning large scheme information, and have accepted more trivial information.   

I understand that the economic conditions (capitialism is more cut-throat than ever these days) play a huge role in the entire techology situation, and McLuhan was writing when the individual’s quest for property was not as brutal as it is today.  So I think in the context of his time, McLuhan’s vision of the future made more sense. Presently, reflecting on his views we can see where we fell short of his bright vision of the future – and the responisibilty is all ours.

  

After the M.A.

Time and time again people ask me what occupational plans do I have after I graduate from Graduate school.  I tell them that I plan on being a technical writer.  For the most part, their reactions are all the same – more so an expression – an expression that says “your dream is to become a tech writer? are you kidding me?” 

I am a bit of a cynic.  I don’t see an occupation ever being the root of my happiness.  If I am being paid to fulfill a task, that means that the task itself is not pleasurable.  Therefore, since pleasure is always a byproduct of success, I will choose a job where I will be successful and pleasure will come naturally.  I believe tech writing will be that job. 

My dream is to be a writer on the side and have a tolerable job to make money.  Recently, I sold my first book review to a small horror webzine so things are looking good, but I obviously have far to go.  I realized that one has to climb the latter toward their dreams one rung at a time – and also prepare oneself for that rung to break – then as one ascends higher, the goals are more realistic and success is much sweeter.

Browser homepage settings

As I read Nielsen and Loranger address the topic of website homepages, I began to think about homepages in general.  I wondered what people use as their browser homepage (when you first click on Internet explorer or Firefox, what page comes up first?) .  Since I am an advocate of the Favorites bar on Internet Explorer, I have the home page set on blank so I can control my internet navigation through my Favorites without having to wait for a homepage to load.  I suppose some people use their homepage each time they go online, but I have a different agenda most times I go online.  Does anyone else have their homepage set on “blank“ to resist unnecessary homepage loading?