scarface...

so, roomie picked up scarface the videogame in pheonix about a month ago. he's been playing pretty regularly since then and is a little over half-way through. i'm watching him play right now. it's set in miami beach - where i spent my last couple of years before moving to new york. pretty nostalgic, i've caught a glimpse of my old neighborhood. kinda cool.

so, here's the funny thing - although you might be tempted to view me with incredulous amusement, rather then outright hilarity. the funny thing - i've never seen scarface. the movie. how does one miss a phenomenon so central to the american psyche? dunno. never really tickled my fancy. anyway, that's not what i'm here to ramble about...

something roomie said about the gameplay. he said that to get through some of these mini-shoot'em-up missions your play has to be "fluid." to get fluid you have to get your skill improved over repeated plays. obviously. the thing that interested me is his follow-up comment. "it's supposed to feel like a movie." wow. full immersion in this artificial universe to become part of the movie. i'm not criticizing, i'm a lover of movies, excepting most horror and extreme chick flicks - we're talking steel magnolia and the hours. so enjoying the movie-going experience isn't something i'm adverse to, but wanting to become part of the movie. hmm. not really my thing. total immersion into an alternate reality seems like a negation of the, ah, 'real' reality. again, periodic engrossment - just finished reading phillip roth's 'the breast' - is a multitude of things: cathartic, edifying, escapist, evocative. but total immersion negates who you are in 'real' life. the person you've become. sure, i've heard the argument that one is allowed to completely reinvent themselves in these digital universes. i guess. but you can't smell spring in the air in these worlds. can't see a band sweat and feel the energy of a live show. you can't enjoy the taste of good thai. or great pizza. and, for god's sake, you can't fuck. immersing yourself in a world devoid of these sensory experiences seems a little silly.

whatever.

i'm just some dude ramblin' away...

my first meander...

i'm listening to animal collective - forest gospel on hollinndagain - and i'm loving the internal image the intro evokes. the static, intermittent almost, toy-like percussion. very abstract. which is my preference for most music. i enjoy the participatory process of good* experimental music. the listener must contribute for the music to gain transcendence, almost to make sense.

my strong, visceral aversion to a lot of popular music is because of its strong, visceral aversion to participation. with simplistic lyrics and simplistic hooks and choruses, the music forces you down a path not of your choosing. i guess if you like being led in life, you must really fucking love the radio. and mtv. and bet. and pitchfork. and. whatever.

reader. do yourself a favor and purchase this album, pack a bowl of the icky, and enjoy...

* 'good' meaning whatever i happen to have learned to love in music throughout my development. i wouldn't presume to define 'good' for anyone else. although if i think it sounds like crap, i'll tell ya.

the debut...

wow. i guess it was inevitable i'd start a blog. why, i ask? so someone would read my writing, i snarkily reply...

it gets better, i promise.

maybe.

so, the vitals - i'm mid-thirties, live in manhattan, love the usuals (experimental music, philosophical fiction, a good flick, and a transcendental fuck), work for a non-profit (which approximates my income), and enjoy a puff now and then. politically, i'm left of left. socially, do what the fuck ever, as long as it doesn't adversely impact me.

what else? who cares?

me.

maybe.