Music Sucks

Now before I start, let me just say, not all music sucks. There are some hits of today that really work well, and there are many retro songs that have held on for decades. What I mean when I say music sucks is that for the most part, it really is not as enjoyable as it used to be. One of the biggest problems music has is a lot of songs now are what I coin “cookie-cutter” songs. You take a music track that is made in a few different versions and you put some lyrics that go with the style of song you are making and then you have a “new piece of music.” Even though if you rearranged the song a little, it could actually be another song. I think this stems from the flooding of the market, so to speak, of everyone wanting to be a musician. The field is oversaturated with new music and it all starts to sound the same. That cookie-cutter thing I was talking about is worse in some genres than others. Country music for example is bad for that effect. I could literally name a dozen different country songs that if rearranged the right way would be one of the other songs. They all sound the same to me. It is a little sad for me to say that people who claim to not be country music artists can make better country music than the people who want that career. Rhett McLaughlin of Good Mythical Morning, for example, worked most of the 2022 year on an album that dealt with the deconstruction of his religion, so it was not supposed to be a country album. However, amongst some other tracks that are not necessarily country, he had some real bangers of country music. I found it interesting to find such great country music in a list on an album that was essentially a mix tape. However, that leads me into the second biggest problem that music today has: the genres of music are slowly blending together in such a way that no one knows what genre it actually is. It is something that is being termed the “Music Singularity.” Essentially what starts to happen is because the knowledge that people can obtain becomes so regular and most of the music sounds the same anyway, there will be no individual genres. There will only be “music” and every person will have to decide what music genre the song actually is. There will still be different radio stations where the producers decide to play a certain song because it is there desired genre, but that same song will also be able to be played on a completely different station. It is already happening in some music. Taylor Swift for instance has done it for years and there is constantly crossroads of artists who collaborate and make a piece of music, even though their genres are supposed to be on opposite sides of the music spectrum. It will eventually reach a point where the only distinguishing factor will be the words that are used in the song that will tell us that it is a hip-hop song, or a rock song, or a country song, etc. However, that will not last forever, because eventually trucks will be driven in the city as much as they are driven on dirt roads. It will reach a point where an artist will take a generic set of instrumentals and paste in lyrics they have drawn from a word bank to make a song. If the “Music Singularity” comes to full fruition, music will become so boring that the only way it will be entertaining is through the likes of parody music from artists like BrentalFloss and Weird Al. Which is not inherently bad, but I definitely want to give recognition to the alternative thinkers in music now who are not afraid to push a boundary or two. Because while the rest of the music world cuts and pastes to make more songs to add to the 2 actually decent songs on their album so they can fill it up, those peripheral music artists will make songs that people actually want to listen to. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Destination…Expensive Wedding

I saw a news report today that said that destination weddings were at an all-time spike since before the pandemic. This particular news story provided the top three on the list of destination weddings in the U.S. Now, one would assume that the top three would be the most extravagant, luxurious places in all of America. Because, let’s be honest, if you are going to do a big wedding, you might as well do it right. However, while slots one and two were taken by Orlando and Vegas respectively, the number 3 was taken by Tulsa, Oklahoma. Why Tulsa, you ask? Because it is the cheapest place to have a wedding. Which really irked me. I thought the whole point of a destination wedding was to go all out and make it the most exuberant and outright expensive occasion, in a place where there is lots to do. I thought the idea was that the couple would be paying for the wedding for the next ten years, if the marriage lasted that long. If it didn’t, the bill would be part of the alimony. I guess I would just feel bad if my family and friends traveled all the way to my wedding, and then once the wedding was over, they just had to go back home. I mean if after my wedding they came home with a piece of apparel that said I flew all the way to a wedding and all I got was this crappy T-shirt, I think that would definitely weigh on their minds years down the road. My idea of a destination wedding is when everyone got back to their normal lives after being on vacation for a week and their coworkers asked what they did over that week, there would be a whole list of things that would be talked about, with the wedding being at the bottom of that list. I mean not that the wedding wouldn’t be enjoyable, but, come on, if I go all the way to a distant place for a wedding, I had better get a couple of fantastic photos and a few good meals, at the least. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Born Lucky or Lucky To Be Born

The other day the winner of the lottery was announced and a friend of mine was frustrated because he has played the lottery for years and has never won more than a couple of dollars. He said that some people have all the luck and that he had to be the unluckiest person in the world. I told him I did not believe in luck because any “luck” I had was due to immense preparation and lots of intestinal fortitude and that I thought everyone who seems lucky has done the same thing. For instance with the lottery scenario, how many lottery tickets did they buy in order to win. My friend buys one ticket a week, but most of the people who have won the lottery buy dozens a week. They, in essence, manufacture their luck. My friend just waved me off and said that I was a pessimist who did not believe in miracles. I couldn’t disagree, because I don’t believe in miracles. In fact, I think that people who sit around waiting for their ship to come in and pray and hope and pray some more are foolish because they could have been spending that time making things happen. Like with people who meet their soulmates and then have a friend who thinks they are just going to be walking through a coffee shop one day and find the perfect person. The soulmate was found through a lot of dating apps, a lot of dates, and looking around every corner. Or people who have gotten their dream jobs. They love going to work and everything about their jobs. It wasn’t pure happenstance. I can guarantee, that person worked hard every day. They hunted for months or years to find a workplace they could see themselves in and they methodically worked their way up until they finally made it to the job or position they desired. What I’m getting at is that people are not born lucky. Some people are lucky to be born and even without the same privilege, we all have the same opportunities to reach out and get what we want. It is just going to take a lot of grit, a lot of sweat, some heartache, a little knowledge, and very little horseshoes, clovers, or heads up pennies. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Food Geometry

Have you ever noticed that certain foods have certain shapes. It is something I call food geometry and I really do believe it exists. For instance, pies are circles, loaves of bread are rectangular prisms, Doritos are triangles, bananas are oblong, and apples are a sphere with a dent.  They are shapes we have come to admire in certain foods and I think the most relevant part of that is that a particular shape makes us feel a particular way. There is nothing better than getting a perfectly round orange, even if they are cute little Halos, because you know that orange is going to be delicious. And if you asked most people what shape foods should come in, they would respond with the shape they know to be most true for that given food. However, there are a few people who do not get the idea of food geometry and totally break the rules with their non-conformist anarchy. Pizza should be a circle cut into triangles or a quadrilateral cut into smaller quadrilaterals. It should not be cut in diagonal pieces. Sandwiches should be cut into triangles or half-squares. I don’t care how much crust you remove, you should never have a round or heart-shaped sandwich. It should always come as close to that triangle or half-square shape as possible. Do not mess with food geometry people. Demeter and Euclid might team up and beat the crap out of you if you do. Let us keep our food shapes without worry of experimentation. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.