Thursday, 4 July 2013

We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.

If you don't recognise the words in the title, here's the classic song from which they came.


An increasing number of people are becoming like birds in gilded cages. See The perfect crime.
"What's fascinating is this: the marketing is so powerful that some of the people being hurt actually are eager for it to continue. This creates a cultural feedback loop, where some aspire to have these respected marketing jobs, to do more marketing of similar items. It creates a society where the owners and leaders of these companies are celebrated as risk-taking, brave businesspeople, not as the modern robber barons that they've become."

Did I ever mention?...

13 comments:

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

Another way of looking at this situation. Ideally, consumers should dictate the brand and when they do, their self-interest will yield a positive influence in the products. However, it is worth considering what can happen once a brand develops such clout and influence that it can inversely manipulate the consumer into accepting and even unwittingly support mediocrity. And it does happen. They'll first start by delivering what is expected and holding the customer's ideas in highest regard, but once demand for their brand increases, they'll gently being inserting some of their own self-serving ideas and concepts, which the costumer won't take too much notice of until one day realising that a lot of the customer's own preferences are now dictated by--and geared towards--the orthodoxy of the brand in question.

Nigel Kinbrum said...

I'm doing too many things at the same time* and getting behind in my reading ;-)

I just read http://www.weightymatters.ca/2013/07/book-review-michael-moss-salt-sugar-fat.html

"The book is a painful joy to read. Painful because it does a bang up job of demonstrating just how screwed we all are – not only in that the food industry is savvier and scarier than we might imagine, but in the complicity of government to look the other way, or at times, as with the beef checkoff program, divert public funds to fight industry unfriendly messages as was done when the World Cancer Research Fund concluded that consuming processed meats raised the risk of developing cancer."
Meanwhile, the deniers continue to deny.

*My phone now has Live "The Secret of Monkey Island 3D" Wallpaper and the theme tune to MI 2 as my ring-tone. :-D

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

Oh, you fanboi!

Nigel Kinbrum said...

I took 1 hour, 3 minutes and 55 seconds of my life to complete "The Largo Embargo". I struggled with the use of inventory items in "hi-res" mode, so I kept switching to "320 x 240, 256 colours" mode, did something with something to something, then switched back to "hi-res" mode.

But yes. I am ruined!

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

Lol! And how are those callouses coming along? Got anything yet?

Nigel Kinbrum said...

Calluses. What calluses?

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

I got the impression that you were still trying to develop them through guitar playing. You know, breaking your fingers into the process.

Nigel Kinbrum said...

I'm getting behind in guitar playing as well.

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

That's Lucas Arts' fault.

However, if you really want to get calluses, play a few simple punk/ska style riffs by way of power chords and barre chords. The calluses will be there in no time.

Nigel Kinbrum said...

It's my fault. Those games are like Pringles. I popped! Now I'm wiggling. Anyway...

I have a major problem. When I try to do this:- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Guitar_barre_chord.jpg , my index finger does this:- https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vJZ1R5SQ6nU/UdZ5At3iWfI/AAAAAAAAApg/Nr07nvJOUnk/s512/20130705_080838.jpg

Apart from breaking it, how do I get my left index finger straight & pointing the right way?

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

It'll take some getting use to as I've seen many people with long and short fingers experience the same initial hurdle. For starters, you might want to try to relax your wrist a little and minimise tensing to avoid inward curvature of your wrist because that can cause the finger to naturally angle inward as well.

Outside of that, also do some finger flexing and stretching exercises. Don't let your hand cramp up after practice; make sure that you really stretch and spread out the digits once done.

Nigel Kinbrum said...

Morning! (I stayed out rather late last night)
I am curving my wrist inwards, to allow my fingers to come down at a steeper angle. This is trickier than I thought! Thanks for the advice.

Kade Storm A.K.A. Hedonist said...

Yes, it is tricky and in general, some guitarists--usually those who're into the very hard rhythm approach--develop stuff sturdy wrists while others develop a very powerful grip with a highly flexible and independent wrist action. However, this is a distinction that takes place at a later stage; for starters, you should aim to relax your wrists as much as possible in order to get the greater flexibility and range from your fingers.