rock'n'roll ruined my life

I find questions like this very interesting, because I invariably try to end up defending my own geekhood. But, I mean, honestly, how are people obsessed with music any different from those who become obsessed with football, for example? Or those who disappear up their own buttcracks into the increasingly narrow world of their particular religion?

Being a fan of music has never ruined my life. Though *playing* music probably nearly has... we were trying to add up the costs of being in a little indie band, because it's finally starting to break even. And then realise, with all the effort and money and other wasted input over the years, you'll *never* break even.

What if I'd finished art school? What if I'd been able to maintain a real job and a real career? What about the broken relationships with people who "just didn't understand"?

I'm not whinging, I'm not complaining- although there are a lot of things I'd do differently if I could do it all over again, the idea of doing it at all is not one of them.

But there *has* to be an element of OCD, or passion, or whatever the fucking medical term for being *driven* is this week, because otherwise why the fuck would you keep going?

Then again, is rock'n'roll good for you or bad for you? Despite all the havock the drive for music has caused in my life, if it wasn't for it, I would in all honesty be dead, or a drug addict, or worse. So I guess I prefer this.

Sorry, I'm feeling a bit down and rather depressed and "why the fuck do I bother?" today, so I've hijacked this thread for my own confessional. I suppose that's the same as running a white flag up a pole and inviting every flaming asshole on the web to come and jump on top of you and get a kick in while you're down. GO ahead. I'm going offline for a few days anyway.

Hmm. I started a music website to kind of stop myself from becoming somebody who only talked about music offline. It's only half worked but I feel healthier for having FT as an outlet rather than less so. I think music listening is a fairly harmless obsession to have, if you're going to have an obsession - for one thing you can do other stuff while you're also doing it.

Rock'n'roll attitude is bad for you in too large a dose, yeah. Like any attitude, really. The clue is in the word: it's a stance, something transitory, it's not a way of life.

Hahahaha...

Kate's post is a great reason for the majority of indie rock bands to go away.

However, Ty's Pillow Pals are unsuccessful in their attempt to break into the infant toy sector. They have no flair, like washcloths sewn together.

It's the chops argument again actually - too much focus on the drink/consumption of the drink, not enough focus on the content the drink is facilitating. Or maybe we need a "Booze Formalism" thread.

I have four TV Beanie Buddies in my house at this very moment.

Beer/lager/whatever IS the very definition of rubbish alcohol because 99.9% of it tastes like you're drinking piss. Apologies if you disagree but I drink because I enjoy tastes, not because I want to get wasted or because I want to have a conversation - if that's a side effect, fine enough, but that's like going to a restaurant and overpaying on food just for the chat or just to gain weight.

Actually, screw the alcohol, I wanna know why Tom finds trannnie Beanie Babies not odd.

But, you know, duh, obviously I drink stuff I like the taste of. I also drink alcohol for its effects, as does everyone else who drinks it.

Beanies - this is an Isabel thing - she'd dress her dolls in boys clothes and her bears in girls clothes for fun. So I'm used to it.

Is that supposed to be weird? I thought everybody did that with their barbies at some point. Ken was just so lame Barbie had very little choice in the matter.

I do wonder about what goes on with the poor Beanie Babies in Tom's household, though.

This is probably just proof that no one should live in Arizona, actually. You get THAT BORED.

But Bloom was also gay: and not, for the greater part of his life, flamboyantly or happily so. As an academic, he had had an unremarkable career so far: he was in late middle age and had not yet published The Book that has to be Published. There are just too too many ho-hum Straussians for this in itself to work for him. As an academic, he was not especially wealthy. Despite the teachings of his guru, age had nothing much to offer Bloom.

He looked towards popular culture — I believe — somewhat as some idiot hets resentfully watch and angrily envy gay men and women: in the (incorrect) belief that Planet Homo just has a totally fabulous time all the time (all that promiscuous sex, all that here-and-now fun). An elitist and a Straussian anti-democrat, Bloom nevetheless secretly wished the field a little more even: the PopCult fun should stop, that his unfun might seem less... lonely. He wrote his book. He hit his mark. He made his name and made his pile.

And his wild time began, and he partied till he dropped. His way — this is how I look at it — of saying, "Well, OK, so I was wrong."

The Straussians disown him. They hate how fags have all the fun.

The only specific thing the drink is facilitating is drunkeness, which occurs faster with bourbon than with beer. Doing "shots" is pretty retarted, though...why can't you buy liquor in a can?

1) Fuck shit up. For this I will drink only Stolichnaya straight out of the bottle, unless I'm really eager to fuck shit up, then I'll settle for whatever's around. Shots work, in this case, but like Kris says, they're wanky and I'd rather drink from the bottle. Doing shots of 151 Russian-style is alright because it's so wanky it's kinda funny.

2) Conversation. Tom is right, this is the best reason to drink. Drunk on beer is great, it's wonderful, because of the gradually increasing drunkenness and similarly increasing quality of conversation, but it takes too long. I don't wanna be talking to anyone for that long. Vodka tonics, white russians, bourbon, that's the way to go. Ally, comparing drinking for the sake of conversation to going to a restaurant and overpaying on food just for the chat is no good. What are you talking about? Of course I go to restaurants just for the chat. You think the taste of mussel shells in chardonnay is worth $17.95 or whatever? Not even the gnocci was worth that (I'm not saying the conversation was either, but that's only because we didn't drink enough wine). Drunk on wine is great too, in concept, but I've never drunk that much wine, and I'm not about to.

3) Why do I need a reason to drink again? Oh yeah, I don't.

I have them, lots of 'em, but they're boring. I'll just say that Rocket To Russia and Born In The USA figure into them big time.