What are you listening to?

[ploppy]

[Martin Penwald]

Tokyo Brass Style - Brasta Tengoku

Exactly what it sounds like. Big band with loads of brass.

Edit: Holy fuck, they have a cover version of the theme song from the late 1960s anime Attack No.1 on this. Awesome.

[Ace!]

I found a podcast called , where some dude talks with people about video games and culture. The first episode was recorded at the EGM funeral, and all he really did was interview people who worked for EGM. Most of it was interesting, especially the people who had been working there since the early nineties. All the talk about the value that magazines had back then, how much information we gleaned from two sentences (frequently incorrect) about a game that we never thought we would ever actually see.

Oddly (or, perhaps, fittingly) enough, the best part of the entire episode was an interview with Seanbaby, who started writing for them after the internet began. He talked a lot about what he did on the magazine, how much fun he had trying to say the things that he wanted to say, as opposed to what the editor wanted him to say. He was simply candid, and his limited tenure at the magazine plus his experience writing online seemed to help him deal with the fact that the temporal aspects of the magazine format, and his memories were positive without any melancholy.

Not so for the rest of the group. The end of the episode focused on how sad it is that video games no longer have EGM, that magazines are dead, and how big of a shame that is, because things are different now. And games are now all Peggle on the Wii, or GTA clones and boo hoo no more magazines.

People have been saying this for an eternity now, and I didn't care then and I don't care now. Magazines are dying because they're fucking expensive and there's simply no need for them anymore. And, as time passes, the technology has evolved and we can now actually read a physical magazine on a digital device. There is no reason for the magazine to exist, and it's only the people who have worked for magazines their entire lives who are complaining about the demise of the magazine. And I get that. If I made my living selling French ticklers, and then we developed a 100% effective birth control in a Binaca spray bottle, I'd complain that people just didn't understand how wonderful condoms are, and how kids today just won't understand primitive birth control methods.

Anyway, the second episode is about collectors, and it's really interesting.

[Ace!]

I ended up listening to all six avaliable podcasts while walking around Tainan today. I can't reccommend this show enough. Every single one of them was different enough, and all of the people interviewed were fascinating and told fascinating stories. I really like this show, and I can't wait for him to come back.

[Leon]

The sound of my brain oozing out of my ears as it melts due to the pressure put on it by the thought of possibly failing my calculus midterm.

[CapnHulk]

[Martin Penwald]

[geko]

subdivisions was always my favorite rush song

and now for something completely different:

[pwb]

[pwb]

I miss EGM a lot, actually. It was a staple of my childhood and even when I wasn't playing current gen stuff, I still enjoyed reading the magazine when my brother would pick it up every month. I miss magazines in general, and although they're still around a lot of the ones I would care to read are either 75% ads or just entirely defunct. I would like to start reading Retro Gamer but it's kind of expensive to pick up at a newsstand and ridiculously expensive for a subscription (due to the fact that it's an overseas publication).

Seanbaby's articles were the best, man. Me and my brothers would take turns reading 'em out loud and we'd be in tears after a few minutes. I also loved when they gave him his own review column, he'd always be made to play like Bratz or Barbie or Muppet's Party Cruise. Good stuff.

[Ace!]

[pwb]

I don't actually think books shouldn't exist, I love books dude. I've just heard similar words from ppl arguing that Kindle is a valid substitute for books.

But I still like magazines. I have some that date 10 years back, and it's always fun to go through them again. Especially if I liked the staff writers.

[BaconFat]

Kindle is a good substitute for books. In stead of a used booked market you can either just purchase an ebook copy which is quite cheap anyway or you can just pirate it (with the author getting the same amount of money as if you had bought it used).

The only problem is that its hard to get your current book collection on to it. But that was a problem for every new digital format. Rebuying movies on Blu-Ray is a bitch, as was replacing VHS copies with DVDs.

"Book smell" and "turning pages" is the sort of stuff hipsters say when they talk about the muddied base and deteriorating quality of vinyl as sounding "warm" and "just better yknow"

E-reader superiority what up.

[Ace!]

Vinyl doesn't sound better, but used books certainly smell better. If you don't miss the smell of old books then you, sir, are not a reader! You just don't GET reading like I do!

[mobilisq]

youre making me want to go to a thrift store and look through the book section

also im listening to this and wondering WHY THEY HAVENT RELEASED A NEW ALBUM