Open Thread 051011

a'la 'daily kos'... for us 'new post' fiends; i sometimes wish there was at least one daily thread to condense all our daily insanity under one handy thread. don't you? if y'all dig, use this as someplace to post your random shout-outs, your day's rantings/ventings, and all other (hopefully transitory detriment...

i dunno why i decide to start with this, as some might consider midnight oil to be a tragically-unhip band in the category with steely dan, but i've always been weak for their pre-radio-friendly, early surf-punk/floydish psychedelia... and currently, my fave mp3 has to be this...

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Back On The Borderline - Midnight Oil

From the bar to the bedroom, I'm swimming in the neon...
Lighted pictures of a redhead, plastic-coated hard-on...

And sometimes when that mirror shows the smile of disbelief...
Stained signature of nightmares, they're stolen by the thief...

I'm back on the borderline!
Yes, I'm back on the borderline!

By the end, make a bet, and only place is laminex...
Laugh a lot, cry a lot, salt and pepper, supper sex...

And sometimes when that magic of the moment fails the test...
In retrospect, that diamond day did not make second best...
And sometimes when a thousand voices are tellin' you that you're wrong...
A saint in any form becomes a sinner all along...

I'm back on the borderline!
Yes, I'm back on the borderline!

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lol - i dunno; you'd just have to hear it at -max- volume like i'm doing now - i think they're great musicians, and really tight on this track!! it always gets me furiously bouncin' in my chair... and it's unfortunately too short.

i have some crazy dream that one day, we'll rid d.c. of all this psychotic riff-raff, culminating in a huge, free concert on the mall with oil reuniting for the last act of the night, with the biggest mosh-pit in recorded history... then encoring with a huge brass section to perform "best of both worlds," then topping the night with a never-ending version of "the power and the passion" with a huge fireworks display... bones might be broken, couples will be made... all hurting, healed...

you might say i'm a dreamer... but i -can't- be the only one. can i??

continue, or tagent at will.

This is my favorite post of the week !

I'd just like to say that Steely Dan is one of the hippest bands that ever was (and still is)!

Steely Dan is so hip that they come full circle and back around the other side.

(I saw them in Syracuse last year and they're still so cool they froze my brain)

nyak!! now that's prim-o shit, mang... (git it? 'PRIM-o'? haha, git it? nyaknyak, nyaknyaknyak... if ya listen to negativland's 'over the edge' tapes too, y'all know that caller... nyaknyak, nyaknyaknyak... nyk nyk nyk...

(but if you're new to negativland/ote, i highly recommend starting with volume 2/pastor dick, 'muriel's purse fund' - the cassette is actually a better edit than the cd, methinks, imho.

OMG, the illustrious chip midnight (and cory edo too and i share common musical interests!! now that made my 'hip' quota for the night... dig your templates, sir; wish i was in-world to experiment more with skin/fashion design...

and continuing the 'steely dan appreciation society', y'know, what've folks got against sd, anyways?? so, fagan can't sing... reminds me of an iggy pop quote... "hey, so-n-so (can't remember who) can't sing... -i- can't sing... LET'S SING!!" iggy's a great guy... from the simplest, most pure punk rockers, comes the most beautiful truths. wish i could remember who he was talking about, but not willing to trundle thru three/four hours' worth of 'history of rock' videotape to find out...

and of course you must know already, fagan's 'nightfly' is, minus a 2nd-side track or two, the most beautiful, cleanly-recorded album ever. "nine-ty minutes from new-york to paris... what-a-beau-tiful world it will be... what a glor-ious time to be free..."

not enough smileys in the world for donald fagan, that glorious pop-jazz jack-hole... why doesn't he record, like, -continuously?-

following upon this line of overly-elaborate musical detris, how about king crimson?? a friend who saw them live on the 'reunion' tour 'round 97/98 said it was the -LOUDEST- concert he ever saw... now, my county public library's so cool, they had the dvd of that show (for freeeeeee checkout, so that's the closest i got to it... but even through my shitty tv, i'd have to agree - the LOUDEST show ever performed!! bummer that they didn't do my favorite, "the sheltering sky", but that's understandable... not really a jam-worthy track. but i did a whole drawing based on that track...

well, i'm pleased that y'all had a lil' something to contribute too; i'll post another OT after midnight and see what happens then. take care!!

so how many smileys does it take to fill a tootsieroll tootsiepop?? i hit the 'smiley-limit' again... didja know using too many of them gets your post denied??

oh well, i should cut back, for lent, or whatever... lol

You are now on my official very cool person list, hehe. Nightfly is an amazing album. Couldn't agree more on the production values. My favorite Fagan solo song is one on the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack called True Companion. Gorgeous.

King Crimson is another of my favorite bands. I had the pleasure of seeing them live about two years ago. Belew and Fripp are pretty old men now (especially Fripp) and it's a blast to see them rock out such complicated music still (even if Fripp just sits in a chair and never makes eye contact with the audience). Sheltering Sky is great (the whole Discipline album is). Unlike most bands that have been around so long their most recent work is some of their very best. Female KC fans are a rarity. Most women seem to hate math rock for some reason.

lol, chip... -thank- you, as my, um, 'webmaster' (or 'avimaster') would take that as a compliment... um... knowwhuttimean? i (and my wm) don't wish to seriously mislead folks. i've wondered about asking about this more in forum, and have looked around to see if there were any threads (other than the random gripe about it, or threads titled like complaints - "only post as your 'real' 2L/1L self" regarding this kind of play. (that being said, i'm strictly 'lesbian'... but i have many friends, and love them all dearly.

i would propose making an entry in the sl wiki dictionary - 'femi'. kinda like 'furry' (maybe others could suggest a spelling that better incorporates a 'y' into the spelling)... that is, within SL (and other online environments), a male impersonating a female. the bad part about not being in-world, is having your 1L profile viewable. i can understand if it's a resentful form of play, but at the same time... well, why don't i let him speak for himself??

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nyoko's wm: ...

who am i? middle-aged? sure, i s'pose, but i still get carded once in a while. balding? my forehead's always been this high, and i've got pictures to prove it - and rather handsome, if not in the usual way. sexually-frustrated? well, hell yeah!! but, um, aren't we all? but not really hurtin' for it, either... i've had plenty already... so much it's own subject.

but if virtual sex was all i was after, considering i can't even play in-world right now, i wouldn't hang around the forums so much (even if only to assuage my sl addiction. i enjoy the company of educated, entertaining folk of all types...

and if i still talk a bit like 'nyoko' (smileys and all), it's because nyoko allows me to break my shell... ('awwww...' - nyo hell, i tend to use a lot more smileys than many others anyways; it helps to keep my 'online emotional syntax' understood. so much stiffness in online conversation, and i hate the constrictions of 'maleness'... though i'm alllll man, ba-bayyy...

i dunno; this is its own whole philosophy that i'm learning and adopting along the way myself. during my brief time 'inside', i got the impression that this 'psychological playtime' is a superficially misunderstood or underexplored genre of its own. (and not to downplay that it's a concept mis-used by others... i wished to try to take my characterplay seriously, instead of treating nyo only as a 'paper doll'...)

call it a pyschological schism, but she's become rather 'real' for me, in my mind -and- in my dreams... not necessarily as my 'dreamgirl,' but as a friend, a projection of my 'better half,' mentally. she's helping me to become a better person. strange, as i'd never considered how far playing nyoko as a character could go (nor did i put much forethought into doing so).

i'd hate to disappoint anyone thinking i'm a 'cool female', when really, nyoko is myself, my own experiences expressed through her. i should say though, there -are- terrific, brainy beautiful women out there into a lot of this music, believe it or not (though they may still have yet to be introduced to it. some of pat metheny's work can be a good introduction, if they're into modern jazz - see if they get into his fusion stuff. and yeah, 'discipline' is a good entry album; i haven't met a girl yet who doesn't completely melt to 'matte kudesai'. they may not be into listening to it -all- the time, but then again, neither am i... too many varied genres i like.

i'll leave off at that, and have nyoko finish up... take care, y'all.

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well, probably weren't expecting all that, i bet!! i hope that wasn't taking you overly-seriously, chip, but i hated to think that i'd mislead you too far without disclosing myself, as i should to you (as a personally respected skin/photoshop expert and to all, really... i respect you all, and would hate to disrespect you by not saying so.

but, i should have expected that eventually i would need to start the conversation, especially when i decided to start my own first thread (didn't think much about it at the time i posted it... seemed innocuous enough, just to launch an open thread. that being said, maybe others could comment about their thoughts and feelings about this kind of play; i'd be interested to hear about it.

i also felt spurred the other day about this subject, reading a thread regarding "needing XXX dancers - 'male' and female!!" i wondered, are there many 'female as male' characters out there? i'm sure there'd be so, but lol... i would think maybe a handful, in comparison to the 'male-as-females'. but that's a stereotype too, i s'pose.

well, discuss, if you like - as i said, i'd be interested to hear about the 'state of play'. otherwise, meet'cha in the next ot!!

I use a female av myself most of the time, and have in several of the MMO's I've played. My female MMORPG characters I did roleplay a bit, but not much. In SL I'm too damn lazy to roleplay but my female avs are nicer to look at all day.

i (and my wm appreciate it. i will now 're-integrate', just for simplicity's sake...

y'know, i do that too in every game possible!! 'the sims', of course... 'diablo' (the amazons, -of course-... 'myth II'... oh wait, no, that one, i just like the archers and the molotov-throwin' dwarves. i need to come up with a complete gamelist sometime, just to figure out the m-to-f ratio available in them...

(ny wm: why this happens, or rather, why -i- always do this, is maybe not so difficult to say, but really amorphous in nature (like my mental self, i s'pose. like you say, i too find my female characters nicer to look at all day... - but, most especially in sl, the nature of character and person-to-person interaction is a much, much, much more involved process. i know it's a difficult thing for ll to even put into words - a game? (they seem to resent that...) a 'glorified chatroom'? (i think they resent that even more...) an extremely complex and varied 'software platform'?? that's my favorite pick, as i think, eventually, the software should be carriable on a variety of 'hardware platforms', too... it is 'internet x10', with graphics, and as many varied forms of personal self-expression available.

in theory, in the end, everyone entering such environments are as 'true to oneself as possible', with, i guess i'd posit on the fly right now, the best possible expression of one's true, best self as possible. the freeing of oneself from rl, societal/religious constructs. (i wanted to include 'economic contructs' in that line too, but i'm afraid that ll's serverstacks are somewhat tied to that also; understandable...)

-- /30/ ... end ny wm

lol... anyhow, thanks again, chip, cory, and all others who hadn't - uh, 'fig'gured me out' by now. ideally, i'll let this hang as my 'forum full-disclosure', until i figure out a better way to do so (other than ruining my sig-space with character-play-ruinin' asides... just doesn't feel right, for what i am.)

and i hope that all y'all otherwise understand, and enjoy your time in sl and the forums... i know i am!! -i love you all!!- the -very- best, in rl, predominantly... and whatever's leftover, in sl, too. take care!!

fagan did one of the tracks in 'heavy metal'?!? really?? oh well, that's the early eighties for ya... 'sure, put donald fagan in 'heavy metal'...' lol; -that- makes perfect sense, lol!! which sequence was that?? the taxi driver near the beginning, maybe? i'm sure once you mention it, it'll become obvious...

that being said, i have to say that since 'rock and rule' came out on dv, i'm quite convinced that 'rnr' out heavy-metals 'heavy metal' - but then again, i'm a cheap trick fan since waaay early on (even if i was only like eight years old or so at the time, lol... the blimp-launching sequence, lou reed ('my name is mok, so thanks-a-lot', the ending demon-raising sequence... plus i was a fan of early nelvana animation, 'a cosmic christmas,' 'the devil and daniel mouse,' etc. and didn't they maybe have a semi-close/crossover relationship with lisberger's (-'TRON'-, baby!! old boston studio at that time?

and on the kc thread - y'know, belew is cool, -very- cool; a great and talented artist all his own... -buuuuut-... fripp, sitting on a chair, barely tapping the strings, -practically blowing out the amplifiers-... WOOOOOOW!! -toooo- cool, that cat is... i haven't done any web-surfin' on kc's history, but wasn't the story at one time that fripp and belew couldn't get along, so the full kc lineup didn't perform live for a long time??