So, not quite a week in, and I've more to report about my adventures in cutting the cable cord, and joining the Internet TV wave:
It does feel better than the Cable thing. Absolutely, there are drawbacks. Live sports are hard to come by, and some of the payback in glitchy. Also,there are delays and lags, as well as a labyrinthian layout of content. However, it's a lot closer to what I think we all want: a la Carte TV: Watch only what you want, pay for only what you're getting. Like the rest of the internet, the amount of content is nearly infinite. So, if you look, you very well might find exactly what you're looking for. You might feel as if you have 'left the ranch", but I know that's an illusion- Netflix or Comcast, Viacom or Hulu- it's still a racket. Heck, Crackle is owned by Sony, and Amazon, is, well, Amazon.
I signed up for Hulu plus, Netflix, Plex, and I already had Amazon Prime. I also got Crackle, Nowhere TV, Havoc TV, Vevo, Smithsonian, NBC news, CNN international, Fox News, and TED talks. That gives me literally hundreds of channels, and thousands of TV shows and movies- an overwhelming amount of content. I could watch my TV 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the rest of my life and not catch up to that amount of content.
So, I'm saying so far, so good. I think I'm getting closer to the mission- which is still to find culture that I can feel is mine.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Killing Joke in doses large and small
It's interesting to me that, in all the years I've been a gatherer, I've met so few Killing Joke fans like me. Granted, with an extensive catalog ( 15 proper LPs, several live LPs, several EPs, and over 30 years down) as they have, there will be something for everyone, so gatherers tend to be a motley assortment, but still, I've met few transcontinental Marxist progressives with a more punk than industrial or metal take on them. Yes, I realize that Killing Joke are a punk band in the same way that the Ramones were a bubblegum pop band- a group of individuals destined to create something more than they intended. But still, context is key for me, and if you subtract the occult fascinations, I fail to see how Killing Joke are any less "Punk" than Gang of Four, Devo, or even the Clash. Punk, it seems to me, was always meant to be an adjustment, more than a position, you know?
So, removed from Album context, all these songs bear witness to both the linearity and expansiveness of Killing Joke. That is, there are obvious musical similarities between everything from Wardance through Corporate Elect, but at the same time you have everything from dub reggae through death metal coming into the mix of styles and influences.
The songs then, are broad enough that everyone from pinkos like me to Nazi Skinheads can find something to love and understand in them. Still, can no one else see that these are not cavemen- they're not just neo-pagan, and they're not just about bludgeon and violence- there's sophistication and an urbane appreciation of the fruits of true civilisation as well? So, my favorite stuff is the 1980-1985 stuff, but I also like the Democracy, and Absolute Dissent LPs. I hate nothing of what they've done, but I prefer the less headbanging, yet still not slick stuff.
Still it's all here- from Requiem to In Cythera. Even some alternate and rate tracks. But I can only suggest it for hardcore gatherers like me. If you're new to Killing Joke, or if you just dabble, I think it's better to just dig into the stuff you love- they have a vast enough catalog that you could just love, say, the Pandaemonium and Killing Joke ( 2003) lps, and hate the rest of their music, and they would still have made some of your favourite music, ever. As for me, I'm a gatherer- I will be there no matter what- because it's less about them, and more about my experience of the gathering.
So, removed from Album context, all these songs bear witness to both the linearity and expansiveness of Killing Joke. That is, there are obvious musical similarities between everything from Wardance through Corporate Elect, but at the same time you have everything from dub reggae through death metal coming into the mix of styles and influences.
The songs then, are broad enough that everyone from pinkos like me to Nazi Skinheads can find something to love and understand in them. Still, can no one else see that these are not cavemen- they're not just neo-pagan, and they're not just about bludgeon and violence- there's sophistication and an urbane appreciation of the fruits of true civilisation as well? So, my favorite stuff is the 1980-1985 stuff, but I also like the Democracy, and Absolute Dissent LPs. I hate nothing of what they've done, but I prefer the less headbanging, yet still not slick stuff.
Still it's all here- from Requiem to In Cythera. Even some alternate and rate tracks. But I can only suggest it for hardcore gatherers like me. If you're new to Killing Joke, or if you just dabble, I think it's better to just dig into the stuff you love- they have a vast enough catalog that you could just love, say, the Pandaemonium and Killing Joke ( 2003) lps, and hate the rest of their music, and they would still have made some of your favourite music, ever. As for me, I'm a gatherer- I will be there no matter what- because it's less about them, and more about my experience of the gathering.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
TV -Changing the channel
So, not a lot to say, yet, but I ( with my wife's blessing) finally carried through with my decision to cut the cable cord. We are an internet only household. But I still own a TV, and I am currently experimenting with a Roku. So far I'm liking Netflix and Hulu and Plex and a few other things, but give me a month to see where this goes.
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