WarIs4Profit

In places where development is sprawled over a large distance with little access to public transit, the economic blow is sure to hit the hardest. Buildings stacked on top of each other is the way to go.

Les Claypool slapping the intro to Master of Puppets in concert. Awesome!

Socialism can work, its just that everyone needs to believe in the system, it cant be achieved through coercion. Sweden is a fine example: their people are healthy, they have a prominent scientific community, and it works because they all want to be there. They resisted the EU and its commie constitution longer than most other europeen countries, because they didnt want to be coerced.

I prefer highway star, but any deep purple cut is welcome on my radio. The thing about metal lyrics that you have to understand, is most of the time they are singing about things that piss them off. When they sing about oppression, its not that they are for oppression, they are denouncing it. Metal is the ultimate form of protest music, in this day and age. Rappers sing about how they themselves are corrupt and dangerous, metal musicians complain about these people.

Wright has no experience working with honest caucasians; perhaps Obama has benefitted from his exploration of different social circles in the time since he and wright split paths. My take on Wright is that his inflammatory speeches are the progeny of the preceding era, in which blacks were hated and feared by many powerful white people. It is possible that Obama, as a young man, has found it easier to forgive than his aged pastor. 20 years is a very long time; Someone who is fixated on the issues of that day would most likely seem like a radical, or a racist.

Chromatic doesnt mean bad, although some people dont seem to like it very much.

These guys wrote some amazing songs, yet due to the strange style they utilize as the vessel for the musical dissertation (vs. compulsion), their fan base is not as widespread as many mediocre groups from the same era. I personally like Funk/Metal/Jazz, but it is a little overwhelming the first couple of times you hear it. This is my personal favorite: "Mama Didn't Raise No Fool" The best of times, the worst of times, the times you can't ignore. Sometimes you bite the bullet and flip flop on the floor. They tell you where to go, and they tell you what to do. They set your face on fire then stomp it out with their shoes. I ain't no fool. Mama didn't raise no fool. The times I can't complain are the times I do the most. On a diet of black coffee and prozac buttered toast. These eunuchs in their prada and Gucci flavored clothes. Wouldn't know a fresh perspective if it bit 'em up on the nose. I ain't no fool. Mama didn't raise no fool. Don't do as they say, just say as they do. No flavor's quite so bitter as the taste of one's own shoe. I ain't no fool. Mama didn't raise no fool. Another gem : "Year of the Parrot" In the year of our Lord Call it 1994 A fine vintage of mimicry There are those that take their sound From someone else's Toil Liking to parrots you see I've seen the likes of Kate Bush And Van Morrison Teaching the parrots to sing Take a Zepplin riff And you alter it a bit And make lots of money It's called plagiarism You want some of that cheese Just take a big ol' bite Careful not to choke on it please Now here we go It's called plagiarism A third selection : Mr. Knowitall They call me Mr. Knowitall I will not compromise. I will not be told what to do. I shall not step aside. They call me Mr. Knowitall I have no time to waste. My mouth it spews pure intellect. And I've such elegant taste. They call me Mr. Knowitall. I sup the aged wine. Oh I could tell such wonderous tales if I should find the time. I must be Mr. Knowitall For ideas they come in bounds. I am Mr. Knowitall So spread the word around. They call me Mr. Knowitall I am so eloquent. Perfection is my middle name And whatever rhymes with eloquent

My mistake; he sacrificed immediate prosperity, in the terms he had come to know through his life in the mainstream of society. He had been anticipating satisfaction in knowing that his music was appreciated by a lot of people, however the looters' prosperity did not last since it was founded in the manner of a leech. My point was that he chose self respect over money, the same way that all of Rand's heros do at some point, typically upon realizing that what they had respected was not genuine.

Opeth is sooo good, its one of the only modern groups I listen to atm. I think my favorite cut of theirs is Blackwater Park, not to mention that the entire album is a work of art. I love how Akërfeldt blends harsh metal singing with operatic interludes.

I belive a major distinction, being a material quantity in the eyes of the law, is whether you make a material profit through infringing on the copyright. People often cover modern songs they didnt write at concerts, yet you dont see those covers recorded on rock albums very frequently.

I think his point was that if the only professionals were auto mechanics, there would be no food, no shelter, no materials with which to build automobiles, or even people to manufacture them. One of the things that drew me to the objectivist philosophy is that it is totally based around reality. Your statement regarding auto mechanics indicates that you do not consider reality when making your simplification.

it really is the lazy way out, the mystical miracle solution to whichever problem is the underlying source of a child's dissatisfaction.

this could concievably raise some objections, but the U2 front-man Bono comes to mind.

Youre probably right, in the case of kids who are simply unable to concentrate. I should have been more clear about my statement, in that while schools do not cause a permanent case of the disorder, similar characteristics are observed in children who are not interested in learning in a structured group environment. I think that some teachers/administrators take advantage of the convenient avenue they have to control these children, by suppressing their behavior with drugs, rather than analysing the system they have created.

What did you expect from a guy who publicly gave away his money in the form of a game show?

Mandatory public education is the cause of ADD. Not only do students find themselves forced to study subjects of no interest to them, they are forced to learn things according to the method of a disciplinarian accorded the name of educator. Some of the smartest people I knew in elementary school were diagnosed with ADD; the only reason I managed to slip under the gratuitous drug dispensors' radar, was that I rarely uttered a word in class if not spoken to, due to being absorbed in some other task which was more to my interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kChDiQVAAE not for the faint hearted, humorous nonetheless.

the guy who played Aragorn would be good as Ragnar, his name escapes me. it's too bad that they can't cast Rodney Dangerfield as Orren Boyle. I think Harrison Ford would make a perfect Rearden, he has the composure of a man with the world on his shoulders. (at least he did in AF1)

George Harrison wrote some of the most meaningful songs produced by the Beatles, as many harcore fans will recognize. "Taxman" is a bitterly humorous examination of socialist society, "Something" is to date my favorite love song, not only for the lyrics, but the heartwrenching guitar solo and fills, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is the single greatest Beatles song ever recorded, in terms of the complexity of the melody and the wonderful message While Paul was an essential contributor, musically, and John had an incredible poetic talent, Harrison was the most original and independant member of the band.

When did I say that Ayn Rand didnt deserve her money? It seems every time I post something on this forum, somebody misinterprets what I write and then begins an argument based on their misinterpretation. To depict : To represent in words I will reiterate what I have said on the subject of media flavored "art". The whole bunch of drug bloated pop artists that have no artistic integrity or talent should stop whining about the fact that people are now capable of exchanging files through the internet. True art is not motivated by profit, and good musicians everywhere have been struggling for decades to achieve financial independance due to the overwhelming influence that the media seems to have on public taste. I ask this question of anyone who cares to answer me in their own words: Does the media reflect the views of the majority in order to increase ratings, or are they "behind the scenes" kingmakers who manipulate their audience into supporting whichever talentless shill they happen to view as a potential flavor of the month sensation. A good test (in my eyes) of whether you truly appreciate the music you listen to is thus: If you enjoy listening to the music ten years down the road as much as you did when it was first produced, you legitimately respect and appreciate it for its artistic merits, not for the sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people (the illusion being that these people are making their own decisions, and not simply following the media frenzy surrounding the art in question). PS I would never steal music, and on the occasion when I come across free recordings that I like, I purchase the albums at a later date. File sharing is not exclusive to thieves of art, it is a wonderful medium of advertising for those artists who do not get the representation in the media which they deserve. The only people hurt by this technological revolution are the artists who are not held in high regards by their fan base, who rely on the media to carry them. I could care less about their prosperity, and I would love to see these people eliminated naturally from the human gene pool. The only way to control file sharing is to enable an inordinate level of personal surveillance, which would more likely than not spark a bloody revolution, something which I believe should be avoided at all costs. Peace! edit: If you ask a muscian (somebody who loves music and would write music for its own sake, even if they had no opportunity to make a profit on it) what they thought was most important to them, pertaining to their work, they will reply that knowing that people appreciate their work is the most meaningful form of praise they could ever ask for. For example, in Atlas Shrugged, Richard Halley achieves media renown, yet discovers that this form of success was hollow, as the people who flocked to his concert in droves were merely following a trend, and their praise was meaningless. He chose to forsake financial prosperity in order to live with those who loved his music by their own judgements, and not by the hand of compulsion. Ayn Rand's views on this subject are quite synonymous with my own, regardless of the interpretation chosen by many of her followers. One can only guess at what she would have written about the modern world's issues, yet her philosophy clearly indicates that the artistic and industrial worlds coincide in the way that compromise in order to achieve wealth is the mark of someone who did not earn what they have reaped. I stand by my views.

They never attack industrialists, or people making their money in an honest fashion. Ayn Rand herself fully depicted the ways in which people can achieve wealth without earning it, such as musicians producing terrible, radio friendly (or in this day and age, MTV friendly) crap, and then complaining about technology and file sharing. I used to respect Metallica, because their music used to be well thought out and not rely on an image to make sales. I am an amateur musician, yet I could (and have) written better music than the current output of the majority of media chart topping "musicians". I have no sympathy for these people, since their art is hackneyed and unworthy of the respect of hard working individuals such as myself. Peter Keating was not a heroic character, yet he was wealthy and successful in the sense of media attention and hype. There are far greater injustices in the artistic world, and South Park holds no punches in their analysis of societal values. They (the creators) understand the difference between earning wealth and taking advantage of the stupidity of the media obsessed, intellectually deficient majority. When I listen to music, I enjoy it because it is good, not because it is popular and I would like to belong to the cult of media worshipping damned souls.

Cartman is typically representative of the weak and the corrupt, and while there are episodes where he is defeated by his lack of integrity, he does frequently appear victorious in the sense that he gets away with whichever scheme he has concocted. This is synonymous with Gail Wynand's change of heart near the end of the Fountainhead, where although he succeeds in restoring his prestige (by smearing Roark's name), he loses his personal struggle for his self respect. The one instance where Cartman is truly the heroic figure (in my eyes anyhow), is the episode where he infiltrates the hippie drum circle and blasts them out of the town with Raining Blood (Slayer). I'm not sure how to explain this peculiarity in the show's premise, except perhaps that Trey and Matt loath hippies more than corruption in the government, the media, and all of the other evils which Cartman represents. Then again, it's possible that they wish to portray Cartman as a necessary evil, in order to balance out the problems of the world.

King of the hill is somewhat of a wild card, I've found. Sometimes I find the episodes hilarious, but sometimes I can't bear to watch it due to the childishness of the dialogue. My interpretation of this is that the some of the writers are very good, while others have comedic deficiencies. I find that in particular, the Peggy oriented episodes are unappreciable, at least for someone with my dark sense of humor.

I wont go into my complicated view on piracy, but I will restate that Parker and Stone support media sharing, and have even figured out how to make money via agreements with the websites that host their shows.

FYI, although you are most likely aware, south park is easily available via web stream. The creators/writers are pioneers among artists, embracing the internet for its accessability and have negotiated a system whereby they retain a percentage of profits earned by internet sites broadcasting their work. generally, i use southparkzone.com, since I am canadian, and comedy central does not allow persons outside the US to view recent episodes on their site.