Posts by thewatcher

Quote from thewatcher

I saw this a day or two ago. It is, in my mind, beyond extraordinary if true.

Researchers have done an experiment where they showed images to individuals who had a special type of MRI scan called "functional" MRI. It shows up which neurons are active at any given time. They then fed the MRI data to an AI algorithm and the AI algorithm recreated the images the person had seen. They were eerily close.

This is by far the closest thing to mind reading there has ever been as far as I know, and much closer than I would have thought was *ever* possible.

Imagine this becoming a tool of investigating crimes? Some sort of continuous MRI scan during interrogation where an image might pop into a person's head and gets tagged as evidence.

Between this, chatGPT, VR and that scientist in China who genetically edited a baby I can't help but feel like the future is starting to become present in a disconcertingly rapid manner. Think of how analog the world felt in the late 1980s (the earliest reference I have in my personal experience) compared to this shit.

https://twitter.com/heykahn/st…yP5_p7BRFRdm2rwCcgCQ&s=19

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To continue the steady drip-drip of slightly alarming new things happening, check this more music-related one out:

https://twitter.com/rpnickson/…/1639813074176679938?s=20

Maybe if one of us is determined enough we can generate "new" Genesis music.

Room service. First time in many years. Kids grandparents are looking after them. Pure bliss.

Btw it was rashers and sausages, poached egg, toast, fresh coffee. Delicious.

Quote from Stickman

I'm really enjoying this CD and was surprised when I logged on here to not find any discussion of it - or am I missing something ?

You'll have to provide a bit more information I think. Is it Foxtrot, the album Watcher of the Skies is on? Is it a bootleg of a 1972 concert? Or a compilation of some sort?

There should be a foxtrot album thread somewhere, I believe.

It's very good, I'm a big fan of the original, I think it's one of Genesis' best rock songs. I'm not sure how much heavier this is though, the vocals are definitely not as rocky as Phil's. The choruses have a touch of Def Leppard about them. Overall I do like it though! The comments are interesting, people talking about checking out Genesis.

Quote from thewatcher

I also wish they'd rerelease them, my copies have been away from me for years now and I'm nervous when I get around to having them in my possession again, I'll find discs missing or the boxes damaged. Kudos to Christian and his team.

I could weep. Its been years and the last time I was home to my parents house I had boxed up the most precious (I realize that sounds a big like smeegul) of my old collections; cd, DVD, vinyl and books. I intended to ship them to where I live. I didn't and my parents thought the boxes were in the way, so they turfed them out to the shed. The completely not-environmentally-controlled shed, cold and damp. The stuff is not totally destroyed but it has clearly absorbed some moisture and the packaging of everything has a distinctly doughy texture. Sigh. And fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

I think the Genesis boxes are the most valuable, I see the blue one cheapest for $490 now on discogs. But I had a bunch of other stuff, smashing pumpkins releases that have gotten very hard to obtain and consequently become quite valuable, a few 1st edition Stephen King books. I guess there's a lesson about minding things you really care about but I've too much a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach to appreciate it. Ah bolloxs anyway.

They could put 14 versions of the album in a box and charge 250 for it like Pink Floyd just did for DSoTM, but they won't because they're not shameless assholes.

Quote from Backdrifter

Oh right, I didn't know that.

I know someone who loves this track and is utterly devoted to it, praising and recommending it to anyone within earshot. At his house it'll inevitably get played, often following a "Oh, you don't know this one? Right, well listen to this!" while his wife sits there impassively with an air of "FFS, again..."

I mean, I really like it but I couldn't do that sort of evangelism!

Ah now. I'm not sure it's at that level either. It's a fine track, I'm a big fan, but not at the "no, no you have to listen to this" level. As an aside, I can't think of any song I'd do that with anyway, maybe it's a personal style thing.

In a funny way, it was a song partially responsible for getting me into Genesis. I was all of 7 and we took a family holiday by car to France. The album invisible touch was in the tape deck and played over and over and over again. The three bits I remember are the dancey bit in the middle of TTT, the opening bit of Domino 2, and - most of all - The Brazilian. It was obviously a few years later when I gained sentience and got into music that I became a huge fan (when WCD came out), but the early imprinting was definitely there. Genesis meddling with my neuronal tangle from a very early stage!

Agree with the above comments. Other artists are doing it, so where's the deluxe 50th anniversary 12 disc package of the Lamb, the one with Lamia (different ending number 3, alternate take), Waiting Room (take 7, extended version) and In The Cage (heavy version outtake) on it? Nowhere sadly, and it never will be outside of this forum and the imagination of anyone who cares to dream about such things. I'd personally be happy to see the likes (ok maybe not quite so outlandish...) but it just won't be.

Reissuing the sets they already made would be nice.

I love it. I think it's a good bit stronger than Do The Neurotic (which I really enjoy too). I particularly like the "choruses" and the sense of ambition it has. The drums are top notch, and the guitar while not prominent is perfectly executed when it comes in at the end. It builds to a great crescendo. 14. I find it very striking in a way unique to Genesis.

Picard season 3. Phenomenal so far. They are really getting the band back together with more and more of the Next Generation crew popping up each episode. Some of Worf's dialogue is too good to be true.

"I am Worf, son of Mogh, House of Martok, son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko, Bane to the Duras family, slayer of Gowron ... I have made some chamomile tea, do you take sugar?"

In the same vein, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry have apparently banded together to form a supergroup, Steel Harmony.

"The band’s debut single, “Metal Lullabies”, is an unexpected blend of soothing melodies and lullaby-like tunes with a subtle industrial edge."

😆

If it was a truly collaborative effort it would be "Selling the Czech Republic by the Koruna".

😆 got me for a few minutes there. That feeling in your head of "what?!" is a funny thing.

There's no serious doubt about this, is there? I mean in the sense that they *could* tour with Ray or Peter, it's as likely as a herd of elephants falling from the sky onto London this evening.

Quote from soundchaser

I don't think there's any lost love between Ray and Mike.

Actually I think you're correct. Ray said he and Tony were up for going back to the studio to do another album, but Mike was the one who said "meh, thanks but no thanks" (or something along those lines).

Quote from Bluedemon25

I see by the start of your second paragraph that you are familiar with Ticketmaster's proper name.

😆 Indeed. There is something absolutely vile about an entity that is in effect a middleman, providing no value whatsoever, charging "convenience" fees for emailing me a ticket to see an artist. And don't they own seatwave or some of these other sites that quickly fill up with scalped tickets at multiples of the cost? In essence motivating them to let scalper bots hoover up the initial tickets for any gig so that regular joes (and janes!) have a much reduced chance of getting a face value (+convenience fee) ticket? Very corporate, parasitical behavior and very much in the spirit of capitalism.

Quote from kb1977

Going to see him in late May. I wish he would play something a bit different this tour maybe from "Smallcreeps Day" or some other Genesis songs rather than the usual We can't dance, FYFM, Land of Confusion....

While that would be great, I'm not sure M&tM is the right vehicle for straying much more leftfield than LoC. They seem very, very "safe" to me. It'd also be great if he got Ray out for an airing of Not About Us or something.

Quote from HomeByTheSea

I don't have any expectations for other releases. I was shocked to hear about this one. Tony Banks continues to say the well is dry, yet here is another release. I'm not sure what to believe!

I'd take his comment with a grain of salt tbh, since the BBC set is incomplete we know the well is not *completely* dry. There's a wet leaf at the bottom, or maybe even a tiny puddle of brackish water (perhaps with a pair of eyes under the surface peering malevolently up). However, I suspect these will remain where they are.

Quote from Backdrifter

A friend had an offer on a house accepted. She then went with 2 family members to the house, having arranged this with the agent, so they could see it too. It rapidly became obvious none of the seller's family, who were there, knew he'd put it on sale or accepted an offer.

On arriving, the seller's son was just leaving. My friend introduced herself as the buyer. The conversation went:

SON: Buyer? Buyer of what?

CAROL: Well... er... the house.

SON: Which house? Which number?

CAROL: (points) This one. Number 1.

(SON looks aghast and shocked as though slapped in the face. Stammers, gets into car, drives off)

Carol is then greeted at the door by the seller, who looks confused and mutters something about the house 'not being show ready' and 'those damn agents never tell me anything'. Carol's relatives are now visibly shrinking with embarrassment. The seller takes them through to the living room where his wife is reclining on the couch with their dog, looking utterly baffled at the sudden arrival of 3 complete strangers who seem to want to have a nose around her house.

Carol, now sensing the purchase might not be as much in the bag as she thought, asks the seller if he has definitely accepted her offer. He glances at his now wide-eyed wife and blithers "Uh - well - erm - th - well aaaahhhh y-y-y-yes". By now even the previously relaxed contented dog is bolt upright. Cue big awkwardness.

They had the most hurried possible look around the house and left with some relief, no doubt leaving the couple and their dog to a rather tense afternoon.

Right there, that's the opening of a drama series. The rest practically writes itself.

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😆 If this is real, it makes me feel *so* much better about my non-existent communication skills when it comes to relaying information about critical issues to my wife. It's not out of malice, I'm just really unobservant.