video (games) killed the movie star

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5 highest grossing movies according to wiki since 2004:

I have seen Avatar and the Harry Potter movies. Avatar was unique enough that it kept my attention. Harry Potter, well Sherri likes that stuff. How many times have I been on the Harry Potter rides at Comcast World (Universal Studios)???? Too many. When the movie studios are owned by, or controlled by the same companies that distribute the content, and profit from the merchandising, you can expect the big budget movies to be all designed according to the formula that generates maximum overall profit. Therefore, they are for the most part all the same.

Yes technology has turned any retard with a laptop into a "recording engineer" and there are video games like Rocksmith, but they do not teach you anything about music, only to play other peoples songs verbatim, which to me is boring.

Playing other peoples songs IS boring to someone who fully understands music and can write their own. For most, including me when I was about 10 years old, that is where you start. I took guitar lessons at my parents expense from an early age, maybe 8, until somewhere in high school. Back then I could care less about music theory, scales, modes or even how to make a chord.....just teach me how to play whatever, so I can jam with my friends. Rocksmith will do that, since it uses a real guitar, allows you to practice, and scores your playing. Guitar Hero.....is just a game...a crummy one at that.

The retard with a laptop can download backing tracks and play along for practice. The next step is to download MIDI files and learn how to arrange music. There is plenty of help, and a lot of junk on Youtube. If the person is still interested, there are all sorts of paths to learn from there.

I used to play my guitar a lot in the 70's and early 80's. Family obligations, job demands.....all took their toll, so I sold my keyboards (including a few that I wish I still had, like the real early 1st gen ARP Odyssey, and the Univox Mini-Korg) and hung up the guitar.

When my daughter reached high school she was in the marching band, and played the drums and keyboards. She had friends over all the time annoying the neighbors with their musical weapons. I dragged out my old Univox guitar (a rebranded Mosrite) and joined in. Again I got good at it. Good enough that Sherri surprised me with a new Les Paul for a birthday present.

Now, 15 years later there are no kids in the house to jam with and I have trouble with arthritis in my hands, so Rocksmith, or the PC and a DAW allows me to practice something, whatever as long as I can keep trying.

I have also decided that at age 62 it's finally time to relearn what music theory I picked up accidentally in my youth and learn what I didn't. There are now plenty of avenues to explore. I got a couple of theory books, and have found plenty of information on the internet for free. The DAW allows easy experimentation, and yes, instant gratification.....or instant disappointment.

All of these tools simply didn't exist years ago. Today, most any kid has, or has access to a PC. There are free tools, DAW's, software synthesizers, drum machines, and other musical instruments available with minimal or no investment that will give anyone who wants to, the ability to learn, play, perform, write, and record music. The only thing that seems to be absent is the ability to read and write conventional music notation.

There are magazines like Computer Music that come with a DVD full of the software tools and tutorials for making music. Oddly, the three that I find most useful are all UK publications. This makes paper copies rather expensive here, but the digital editions are reasonable, and the DVD material can be downloaded from their (slow) server.

Looks like I am gonna be a cranky old man. "Damn, whipper snappers" as I shake my fist in the air at the youth passing the front porch

I have been an outlier for most of my life, and here too. I can have fun playing the old surf music I grew up playing....remember the Ventures, they are still around. I played the songs my daughter and her friends played in high school, and went to the rock concerts with them. Today I can sit down with a DAW and a "button box" and put together some EDM, then lay a guitar track over it......I would still ride a skateboard if my sense of balance hadn't departed about 20 years ago.
 
Yes technology has turned any retard with a laptop into a "recording engineer" and there are video games like Rocksmith, but they do not teach you anything about music, only to play other peoples songs verbatim, which to me is boring.
That resembles the path that electronics and speaker designers have taken. Now, anyone can create a blog or sell a half baked product and actually be praised for it. There is no real education, no innovation or controlled testing of the theories, they just write it and people believe it.
 
I have seen Avatar and the Harry Potter movies. Avatar was unique enough that it kept my attention. Harry Potter, well Sherri likes that stuff. How many times have I been on the Harry Potter rides at Comcast World (Universal Studios)???? Too many. When the movie studios are owned by, or controlled by the same companies that distribute the content, and profit from the merchandising, you can expect the big budget movies to be all designed according to the formula that generates maximum overall profit. Therefore, they are for the most part all the same.

Well the Harry Potter franchise has made the author JK Rowling a billionaire.

However Forbes recently removed her from their list of billionaires because she gave $101 million to various charities and, even more bizarre, she intends to pay all her tax without shifting her part of the $15 billion HP business to a tax haven.
 
It goes without saying that I'm a grumpy old man, if not I'd be playing video games instead of messing about here !

Tonight is Sim-Racing Night - when I post this post and exit google, I'll be doing a lap of Targa Florio in a Pagani Zonda, then to Nos-VLN in a Z4GTR for 5 laps as warm-up for 3 league races - one of which is 'Club spec' GT's / 92 mins@ Nos VLN, the other two are WTCC Round 2 @ Brands Hatch / 20 mins race.
Enjoy your evening.

PS. Last good flick I watched was......:scratch: ....... Crystal Voyager (the surf flick with Pink Floyd's 'Echos').
Amazing stuff, well worth watching.
 
Well the Harry Potter franchise has made the author JK Rowling a billionaire.

However Forbes recently removed her from their list of billionaires because she gave $101 million to various charities and, even more bizarre, she intends to pay all her tax without shifting her part of the $15 billion HP business to a tax haven.
Whatever the reason, if she isn't a billionaire she shouldn't be on Forbes' list.
 
Me? I don't really have an opinion on anything HP. Haven't seen any of the movies, nor read anything by JKR. She certainly deserves credit for creating the characters and telling the stories. Hugely popular and successful.
And tremendous credit for her philanthropy. I suppose she prefers being on that list. I read that it was $160M for charity. That's waaay cool to me.
 
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I have seen Avatar and the Harry Potter movies. Avatar was unique enough that it kept my attention.

The special effects were good, but the plot as you know was Disney's pocahontas! The 6 legged animals on a low gravity world annoyed me and it kickstarted everything being in 3D for no good reason. However it was good entertainment.

Last night I watched the 2010 restoration of Metropolis. Still not sure what to make of that film. It's horribly prescient in some ways. Certainly makes a lot more sense with the missing footage back in!
 
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