The Thread Of Complete Randomness

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    Someone posted this ad on twitter, evidently one of the billboards at Euston underground station.


    This might be the absolute worst piece of marketing I have ever seen, and that's up against some pretty stiff competition. Apparently it's for the disinfectant Dettol. It's astonishingly bad. I might be wrong but it seems to be listing these everyday things as a way of reminding us of the cherished little things in working life, but it comes across as utterly patronising and reducing people's careers to a load of dull predictable mechanical actions. And it uses the word "cheeky", which should be an arrestable offence on its own (though "bants" isn't far behind).


    I'm probably overreacting but I don't care, I'm finding this fascinating in a grim sort of way. Plus I love the "Always read the label and product information before use" in small print at the bottom. i.e., "Don't drink it despite what the idiot US President says".

    Abandon all reason

  • Gaaaah! Another version of it - which also mentions "cheeky"


    [Blocked Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eg-mVMHWAAAbZVX?format=jpg&name=medium]

    Abandon all reason

  • Few things I love more than putting on a tie. So glad I can now disinfect it. I disagree with you though. I very much think the US president should drink it. It would help an awful lot of people.

  • I find this truly bizarre!

    This Saturday in Germany, a single organ chord held for 2,527 days changed and it’s kind of a big deal. The performance began in 2001 and will finish in 2640. The composition is titled "As Slow As Possible."

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/a…sible-organ-chord-change/

    It's bizarre alright, and kind of amazing. I think I'll grab a copy on vinyl since I missed the first 19 years.

  • It's bizarre alright, and kind of amazing. I think I'll grab a copy on vinyl since I missed the first 19 years.

    We're discussing this in the punk thread, of all places. I was just saying how much I like the idea. But I mentioned that even with its 600+year duration it's still not as long as Longplayer, the 1000-year long piece being played from 1999 to 2999.

    Abandon all reason

  • We're discussing this in the punk thread, of all places. I was just saying how much I like the idea. But I mentioned that even with its 600+year duration it's still not as long as Longplayer, the 1000-year long piece being played from 1999 to 2999.

    Strange that this subject is being discussed at the same time on another thread ^^

  • We're discussing this in the punk thread, of all places. I was just saying how much I like the idea. But I mentioned that even with its 600+year duration it's still not as long as Longplayer, the 1000-year long piece being played from 1999 to 2999.

    That 1000 year thing is a really cool idea that I have not heard of before. I imagine going and listening to it would be a strange experience, thinking of the people who will be listening to it's continuation in 500 years.


    I'm thinking of a dizzying sense of perspective/ existential-dread vibe of the sort induced by this:


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    (There's a more effective sped up version someone tweeted months ago that I can't for the life of me find).

  • What is it saying about the future of music when the number one all-time artist with regards to sales is Drake and the highest selling artist of the 21st century is Eminem? These guys have flown past The Beatles and Elvis Presley in that regard. It must be the immediacy that digital music provides. Beatles and Elvis fans actually had to leave their home and drive to a record store to show their support.

  • What is it saying about the future of music when the number one all-time artist with regards to sales is Drake and the highest selling artist of the 21st century is Eminem? These guys have flown past The Beatles and Elvis Presley in that regard. It must be the immediacy that digital music provides. Beatles and Elvis fans actually had to leave their home and drive to a record store to show their support.

    I dunno. Are those metrics indexed for population growth? Maybe it's inevitable that newer music will outsell older music, at least until civilization collapses and there are only a couple of hundred of us left. Also not sure about the correlation between popularity and quality. Also, maybe I'm too simplistic and focused on my listening preferences to worry about some overarching arc that music history is on. I would *love* to hear what's popular in a few hundred years time though.

  • I dunno. Are those metrics indexed for population growth? Maybe it's inevitable that newer music will outsell older music, at least until civilization collapses and there are only a couple of hundred of us left. Also not sure about the correlation between popularity and quality. Also, maybe I'm too simplistic and focused on my listening preferences to worry about some overarching arc that music history is on. I would *love* to hear what's popular in a few hundred years time though.

    Good points. I too am focused on my listening preferences. It just took me by surprise that hip hop and rap have surpassed rock and roll as the most popular genre of music in the 21st century.

  • What is it saying about the future of music when the number one all-time artist with regards to sales is Drake and the highest selling artist of the 21st century is Eminem? These guys have flown past The Beatles and Elvis Presley in that regard. It must be the immediacy that digital music provides. Beatles and Elvis fans actually had to leave their home and drive to a record store to show their supportI

    I think it will be a very long time before Eminem outsells the Beatles in total, and I doubt that he will. Rihanna however has outsold Pinkfloyd

  • I'm not sure it tells us anything about 'the future of music'. I'm never convinced by the value or meaning of these sorts of comparisons. Music has changed, the means of consuming it have changed, the way people view the whole spectrum of entertainment and culture - which itself has changed - has changed. What won't change is the groundbreaking phenomena Presley and the Beatles were, no matter which of these more recent acts might outsell them. What they achieved and set in motion has in its own way led to the situation we have today and in turn will lead to whatever happens in the future.

    Abandon all reason

  • Doing some work, just wrote the redundant phrase 'forward planning' and now mildly irritated at myself. You don't do backward planning for stuff you want to happen last year.

    Abandon all reason

  • Have you ever seriously considered just getting rid of your smartphone? I absolutely hate them but I have one because I'm not sure I wouldn't be effectively cutting myself off. Obviously those of us old enough recall a world before smartphones but is it possible to return to that world?


    I'm sure part of my deep dislike of them is my resentment of how useful they often are, and that it feels like I'm quite dependent on it.


    The two android ones I've ever owned seemed to be designed to fail within 2 years at the most (please don't start bombarding me with facts and opinions about why I should definitely get a Nectarine Superphone Plus 8.3 with multi-dimensional atom-splicer, holographic camera and intergalactic face-time function, it's irrelevant, I'll always hate whatever phone I have) and the materials needed to make these things are often toxic and under control of China which might one day decide to ransom them.


    But, you know...

    Abandon all reason

  • I have a Nokia 1616, look it up. I'm still alive.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • A Nectarine Superphone Plus 8.3? Seriously? Come on dude, you really want to stay behind the moon? My Hyperphone 17.6 has transwarp facetime, it works through wormholes and allows you to finish holocalls before you started them. I'm serious, I couldn't live without it any more.