Sad news to begin with. Looks like we lost two journals as this month ended. Rubber Soul decided the banter here was too much for him and pussyed out, I'm sure the guys would say – you might also say he was hounded out (how's that for a mixed metaphor?) - but whichever way you look at it, I have to assume his journal will not now be completed, which is a pity as it was shaping up to be quite interesting. And the manner of his departure, or rather, the circumstances under which it took place seem to have upset our old young friend Pet_Sounds, who has announced that he, too, is leaving. We'll be sad to see them gone. Well, I know I will anyway.
But life goes on. Does it? Yes, it does. Here's what's been happening while all that was happening.
The prophecy has been fulfilled! What? Oh, something about Future Sound of London. What? Look, just check it out here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html has gun porn (again) and an article on software to make you think someone is someone else, which is damn scary.
Not quite so scary,
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ong-picks.html has Sivan Arbell, Karen Beth, Chris Potter, Dir En Grey, A Perfect Circle, Barren Earth, Faun Fables and tons more. Mind you, though that's a lot of work, he's not satisfied with that and so has also opened up
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...not-music.html, in which he'll be reviewing and discussing everything he's interested in that isn't music. This includes his own personally-created computer game,
Pan's Labyrinth, Snow White and the Huntsman, Cold Mountain and yes,
Beautiful Dreamer, Ori: the needling finally paid off.
Michael Marshall, Brett Easton Ellis, Sarah Waters, David Mitchell ... just some of the authors
Mondo is pursuing in his
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...018-bitch.html
and in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-spotify.html it's El-P, Hundred Waters, White Stripes, ASAP Ferg and more under the
Mindfulness microscope.
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...p-lighter.html continues with such diverse topics as Black History Week, Benoit Pioulard, the chamber works of Kaija Sarriaho, art and science and, um, the genitals of female hyenas.
As mentioned in the intro, sadly, and for various reasons,
Pet_Sounds has decided to leave us entirely. Not just close his journal but leave the actual forum. I can't deny that recent unrest surely contributed to that decision (he refers to it himself) but it's a sad day. Therefore there will be no more entries in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...crap-heap.html, but you are of course free and indeed encouraged to check out what will now be an archive of his music and thoughts on same. We wish you fair winds, Spencer, and success in all you do. You will be missed.
Zoetrope is again the subject of
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html
And so too farewell and all the best to
Rubber Soul. He threatened to leave once before, I talked him out of it, but to be frank I'm not here to smooth ruffled feathers. My own have been disturbed in the past; sometimes I've ****ed off for a while (but always came back, sorry about that), sometimes I've gotten into huge pointless rows and sometimes I've just ignored it and let it slide. These days, the latter is what I try to do if at all possible. Life is too short (although in fairness, life is by definition the longest thing you will ever experience!) and people can be ****s. You don't have to let them get to you.
Some people enjoy being superior and arrogant, some like hurting others – it's the eternal struggle of the weak and the strong. Quite honestly, people here are very unlikely ever to change, so if you can't accept the bad with the good (if there is any good for you) then you're probably better off doing what Rubber Soul did, which was to leave. In a huff. Wouldn't quite recommend that last part; leaving with dignity, if possible, beats throwing your toys out of the pram and stalking off, though I recognise RS had just undergone a deep family bereavement. Still, people in general here don't care about that, and the sooner you realise that, the better really.
All of which means that we have to say goodbye to
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...55-2017-a.html long before it even got out of the sixties. Here's hoping we'll hear from him again some time in the future, but for now it's
No
Funny Post
of the Month
this time around. As you may have gathered from, well, the whole article really, the tone of this update is pretty downbeat and sad. It's never easy to lose members, much less longtime ones, and it's sad too when one of them has lost a parent while this is happening. So I'm really not in the mood for picking out funny posts this month and therefore this section is being skipped this time.
Can't ignore all the hard work though put in by MicShazam on his new journal, and that wins this month's
Other than that, not a lot more to say. I'm not personally depressed (not like last time) but for me at least, there's a pall hanging over the whole journal section at the moment, which hopefully will be dispelled, or at least will have retreated by the time I do March's update. Till then,
Toodles.