This is a difficult one to answer.

First, let me start off by saying yes, I do think that much of today's mainstream music is garbage. However, hasn't that been the case since sometime in the 90's? There's always been great music that is completely ignored by the mainstream. The reason why I barely even try to keep up on new music these days (despite being a music junkie) is the fact that there's SO MUCH great music from previous decades that is obscure and never got much attention.

To keep it on topic - There are some good reasons as to why mainstream music of today sounds 'bad' in a sense. One reason is that most of the top pop hits are written by the same small handful of people and recorded by various artists. Max Martin is one of them. You can read his story here: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/max-martin-powerful-person-music-business-people-never-even-head-name/

A second reason is that the playing field has been evened out to such a degree when it comes to composing and recording music that a lot of recordings can sound very similar. Virtually all studios track to a DAW (digital audio workstation) these days and have audio interfaces that are capable of capturing external audio in such pristine quality that it makes older digital recordings sound very dated, especially those from the 80's when digital tech was new. The cost for this stuff has also plummeted as well. My personal audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2) is about as cheap as it gets yet the sound quality is pretty great, especially compared to the Roland digital multitrack recorder I bought back in high school in the 90's... and it only cost a fraction of the price, especially when one accounts for inflation! In addition to this, powerful PC's are cheap and readily available these days and there's tons of free software effects and instruments that people use, and since most people aren't sound designers they tend to just use the (admittedly decent) presets for these bits of software, so it's not at all uncommon to hear the same sound in many different songs... although it's not like this didn't happen back in the day with hardware keyboards or rackmount sound modules. Basically, in the past each studio had a somewhat unique 'sonic fingerprint' due to the particular gear they used but today this isn't the case. The starting point is pristine and sterile now, lacking color.

A third reason why mainstream music sounds so shitty today is because our modern era doesn't really reward originality. People just want to grasp at trends while they are new and hot, ride them until they are played out, then drop that trend before it is seen as passé. It's all about making money. The entertainment business is just that - a business. The big labels and media outlets cater to the lowest common denominator; in other words, they cater towards casual fans of music who aren't discerning listeners, people who just want something new and catchy and popular to listen to. Mainstream music is safe and doesn't take risks or push the envelope, otherwise the Jews in control of the music industry (I say that literally) would realize that some new style of music could lead to an uncontrollable rebellion / renaissance / awakening. Music literally has that power, which is why people act as gatekeepers and ensure that only the most bland and 'acceptable' music is allowed to go mainstream. Just look at what happened to MTV. It was amazing when it was new and literally transformed society to a significant degree, but eventually a bunch of Jews took over and started diluting it and turning it into a mainstream/pop music channel sprinkled with reality tv... then it became more and more reality tv and completely disintegrated.

Mainstream music these days is also just plain lazier. The lyrics are vapid. The arrangements are basic and formulaic. The depth of musical theory and nuance put into writing songs is a fraction of what it used to be. There's very little dynamic range in pop music... it's all loud and in your face and lacks subtlety. Why is it this way? Because it is easy to crank out, and catchy. It doesn't require critical listening, just repeated plays so it gets drilled into your head. Songwriting in the 80's was much more clever and beautiful. Ever wonder why 80's tunes are so memorable? This guy gives a fantastic explanation: &t=877s


Anyway... long rant short, mainstream music sucks because it is made for people who are only casual music fans and just want instant gratification and not having to think about anything. There are no emotions to process with modern mainstream music. It is emotionless garbage with no soul, which is why I keep going to record stores and digging in the crates until my hands are dusty. Vinyl ftw.

Also related: https://thepatterning.com/2016/08/20/the-millennial-whoop-a-glorious-obsession-with-the-melodic-alternation-between-the-fifth-and-the-third/
 

Personally I think compression is extremely overused these days.

Also, not being able to quite hear shoegaze lyrics is kinda normal, lol.

It's so weird that in ALL of these years of playing W:A I've never seen it. I guess the situation has to be 'just right' in a basically pixel-perfect way.

It's crazy to think that when I started playing W:A it was with dial-up, basically nobody owned cell phones, and I wore Kikwear pants and JNCOs, lol.

I didn't even know that was possible. I've never seen above 25.

Rice doesn't bother me at all. One thing I've learned is that for Crohn's what triggers issues for people is different for everybody, although there are some foods that are nearly universally problematic. Rice is actually very gentle on my stomach. Another 'funny' thing that I learned is that, generally speaking, 'healthy' foods hurt me far more than junk food. Whole grain breads are definitely not an option for me, as well as anything packed with fiber. Basically anything that isn't easily digestible should be avoided. I also have been staying away from alcohol and fatty foods. The biopsy didn't reveal any cancer but I do have some polyps that can become problematic in the future. I also have some scarring and overall damage to my GI tract. The weirdest thing about Crohn's is the other effects that come from it, like joint pain, etc. I already have joint issues due to thyroid disease and genetics as well as past injuries. Some days I feel okay and other days I feel like I'm 70 years old. Getting older sucks! For now I'm just going to focus on continuing to lose weight to ease pressure on my body as much as possible. I've had issues with my weight for many years and I think that it had a lot to do with undiagnosed thyroid issues. I'm 6' tall and at my biggest I weighed around 330 lbs. There was a couple of times where I cut out drinking and shitty foods and started to exercise regularly and I lost tons of weight, but as soon as I stopped being disciplined, the weight came back. For me it's EXTREMELY easy to gain weight because my metabolism is shit. Back in 2008 I lost a ton of weight and got in pretty good shape, but by early 2010 I was fat again because I stopped exercising and drank tons of beer. I have been losing lots of weight the last several months due to not drinking and making sure to exercise daily but I wouldn't say I'm in 'good' shape. Right now I'm around 235 lbs which is actually fairly light for me, but I'd ideally like to hit about 205. All I have to do is just work out more but I'm a lazy bastard lol. My strength is good but my cardio sucks. I need to quit smoking.

WA is like the love of your life, or that ex that you compare every new girl against.

Because you spent the best moments of your life with her(best moments gaming with WA).

You pretty much idolize it, and only the same thing will satisfy you, any change, whether it's good or bad, will be ignored if it isn't exactly the same.

Exactly.


Worms Revolution was shit. It introduced several cool new gameplay mechanics but there were other flaws with the game that made it a disappointment. Worms Clan Wars was basically Revolution except they addressed a lot of the issues and balanced the game quite a bit. CW ended up being pretty great aside from some gripes about it being 2.5D. In terms of overall gameplay (depth of strategy primarily) I think that CW is one of the most strategic Worms titles ever made - perhaps the top.

WMD isn't a terrible game at all. The rope isn't as good as the rope in W:A but it's usable. The main thing different about it is that you can't bounce off of walls to gain speed. It requires some getting used to and it overall isn't *quite* as functional as the W:A rope but for normal gameplay modes it's definitely good enough. People should quit their bitching and just play something new instead of shitting all over newer Worms games, especially if they haven't even played them very much. WMD also goes on sale frequently so you can get it cheap. These days I'd rather play WMD unless I want to specifically rope - big rr, wxw, etc. For your normal default style games I think WMD is fun, but it can be aggravating due to crafting, vehicles, etc.

Quote from: TheKomodo on December 19, 2018, 03:00 PM

Quote from: Sensei on December 19, 2018, 02:50 PM

See you on Christmas.

No you won't.

Why not? I see no one... I sit basically in a dark chilly room alone, leaning against a solid cold wall with a laptop next to me... Laptop is old, and It has been giving me some issues for a while now, particularly with bsod. I also have a beef knife, and a couples of apples in a plastic bag. I guess I could do a lot of things with the things I have, if my laptop decides to die. Like everything else in my life, I don't recall my parents, they are like shadows haunting me in my dreams, I wake up crying, and my brain deludes me into believing I am getting tossed around and yelled at.
Though I do have a fond memory of this cable that I slept next to at a younger age on the floor, it was the battery cable to a laptop that one of my guardians owned. They also had one cat ''Limbo'', and he never loved me. He often scratched me, and I got in trouble because my guardians thought I was hurting him. But really... All I wanted was to cuddle with this cable... My stepfather always kicked me because I got too entangled in it. I guess that was the closest to a hug I ever got.
My stepmother always got so mad, with her infuriating look of thousand demons holding a kitchen beef knife, she came towards me, and I honestly thought my time was up. In reality, she cut the cable to free me from my own entanglement. Once I was freed, she smothered me with the cable until I passed out. As I regained consciousness, I saw dark blurry shadows fighting. I guess my stepfather wasn't all that happy with how her spouse cut his cable.
They wanted to buy a new battery cable, but instead they decided to invest on alcohol, because they only got along this way. Stepfather fixed the cable, and life went on until Limbo died due to starvation... I don't think they noticed all that much, stepmother seemed more happier, she bought more alcohol and they were relishing in intoxication, while I was a prisoner of their vanity.
All that ended when my stepfather died of a stroke. His spouse dragged his body to the freezer, and placed him in there. He was the main supply of food while she was getting worse everyday until she never woke up again.
I was left alone in tears, abolished by the worst of humanity. I decided to move on, and I gathered comforting remains, beef knife, cable, laptop and apples that sometimes were dropped on the floor by accident.
I placed the stuff I gathered in a plastic bag and moved on. I found a run down abandoned warehouse, it had weak wifi signal from a kebab shop a few blocks away. I was happy with that, until now, my laptop just died.

What the f@#!? Not sure where that came from but if it's true that's super sad.