heavy metal - ozzfest - ASCII - Chthonic - government - conspiracies - tamarind - CD length

[10:58:48 AM] pD says: http://www.rocket-craft.com/works_car_en02.html

[10:58:53 AM] pD says: starting a new thread

[10:59:00 AM] pD says: makes it easier to input into blog

[10:59:34 AM] pD says: thanks for the link AE

[10:59:42 AM] pD says: what is it? a sofa/cushion?

[11:00:00 AM] AE says: stuffed plush engine toy.

[11:00:26 AM] pD says: ah!

[11:00:42 AM] pD says: btw, what defines heavy metal?

[11:01:53 AM] AE says: I think any element with a certain atomic weight or higher is classified as a heavy metal...

[11:02:11 AM] AE says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metals

[11:02:31 AM] AE says: according to the article, there are over 40 definitions

[11:03:02 AM] AE says: but the one I was thinking of is "having a specific gravity greater than 4.0

[11:03:03 AM] AE says: "

[11:05:00 AM] nsy says: this is heavy metal: http://downlode.org/Creative/metal_family_tree.txt

[11:06:21 AM] pD says: is Ozzfest a big thing?

[11:06:29 AM] pD is clearly not into the metal scene

[11:06:40 AM] nsy says: the tree is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger's_Journey

[11:06:52 AM] nsy says: yes, ozzfest is a big thing

[11:07:06 AM] AE says: that tree is awe some!

[11:07:24 AM] pD says: tree is a riot!

[11:07:30 AM] AE says: not only that someone would make it... but that they made it in ASCII!

[11:07:38 AM] AE says: that's some serious commitment.

[11:07:51 AM] pD says: wasn't there some kind of software that lets you do that in the old days?

[11:07:59 AM] nsy says: music geeks - our dexterous brethren.

[11:08:35 AM] pD says: now that i think about it, i think you can do with WordPerfect in DOS

[11:08:42 AM] pD says: still hard, of course

[11:09:09 AM] nsy says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art

[11:10:51 AM] nsy says: there are programs you can use, but they are not for ascii art "purists"

[11:12:18 AM] pD says: :'-) - happy crying

[11:13:28 AM] nsy says: haha - thats a good one.

[11:13:40 AM] nsy says: so, why are you asking about heavy metal?

[11:14:35 AM] pD says: well, i was told that there is a band from Taiwan called Chthonic that will be part of the 2007 OzzFest

[11:14:42 AM] pD says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chthonic_%28band%29

[11:15:05 AM] pD says: i also watched a documentary on Metalica which I rather enjoyed

[11:15:46 AM] pD says:

[11:16:01 AM] pD says: apparently, this band is really big in northern europe

[11:16:40 AM] pD says: so, going back to the definition of metal, what is it? beyond the face paint, i mean

[11:16:51 AM] pD says: would KISS be considered metal, for example?

[11:18:18 AM] AE says: very.

[11:24:56 AM] nsy says: there is a new surge of bands that wear a lot of make-up and costumes, etc. some call it goth metal, or a branch thereof. (see H.I.M.) for example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIM_(band). they don't do the makeup much anymore, though.

[11:47:39 AM] nsy says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music

[1:09:59 PM] pD says: nsy, thanks for the link on heavy metal

[1:10:02 PM] pD says: fascinating stuff

[1:10:42 PM] pD says: did you know that The Who was once the world's loudest band in Guinness Book Of World Records

[1:11:15 PM] pD says: the thing with metal for me is that they all seem to sound awfully similar

[1:11:55 PM] pD says: the use of power chords, for example, seems to provide an excellent way of propelling sound waves with an emphasis on volume

[1:12:06 PM] pD says: nothing wrong with the style per se, it has its places

[1:12:18 PM] pD says: but, i do get bored easily

[1:13:27 PM] pD says: what i find equally fascinating, oddly, is that they tend to have pretty interesting lyrics - at least not boring lyrics

[1:13:47 PM] pD says: but, again, due to the volume, i find it hard to understand unless there is sub-title or something like that

[1:17:41 PM] pD says: i enjoy the theatrics of metal performance - in many ways, it reminds me of opera

[1:20:21 PM] pD says: having said all the above, i would still try to get a copy of the Chthonic CD compilation. for the same reason that i have a CD of songs praising Chairman Mao

[1:20:36 PM] pD says: just because

[1:20:52 PM] pD says: and, i just read that their music has been banned in China

[1:21:21 PM] pD says: what is the thing with governments? do they not ever learn? ban something is equivalent of making something super-sexy

[1:21:43 PM] pD is wondering how to get a ban from a government, any government...

[1:21:54 PM] AE says: perhaps they are share holders in it...

[1:22:06 PM] nsy says: yes, maybe they hold stock in the things they ban...

[1:22:58 PM] nsy says: running out of tax dollars? buy stock in geffen then ban one of their acts

[1:38:43 PM] nsy says: i saw an interesting thing about music and electronics last night. it talked about this: http://www.snopes.com/music/media/cdlength.asp

[3:08:17 PM] nsy says: in case anyone's curious about the tamarind candies, here is more info about the tree: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind

[3:12:41 PM] pD says: i have heard similar story about CD length, but it has to do with Morita's (Sony Chairman) wife whose favorite music is the 9th

[3:13:47 PM] pD says: naturally, i googled a site that claims to provide the official sony history - although it looks awfully spartan for a "sony" site: http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-20/h1.html

[3:14:03 PM] pD says: that talks about the CD project between Sony and Philips

[3:21:34 PM] nsy says: yep - here's the quote... Philips argued for a 11.5 cm disc because this was the same length as the diagonal length of an audiocassette. Also, this size satisfied the DIN standard and thus would be the right size for a car audio system in the European market. But it was Ohga, a trained musician, who decisively presented Sony's argument for a 12 cm, seventy-five minute disc. He argued that, pictJust as a curtain is never lowered halfway through an opera, a disc should be large enough to hold all of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.pict Ohga believed that the disc needed to be of a practical size for music aficionados and that 95% of all classical music pieces would fit onto a seventy-five minute disc. Therefore, a 12 cm disc was necessary to guarantee seventy-five minutes of playing time.

[3:24:24 PM] pD says: in fairness, however, this description does not definitively addressed the "why" - for all we/I know Ohga is kissing up to the boss by making sure that the new gee-weez product would wow the boss's wife.

[3:25:14 PM] pD says: caio

[3:25:33 PM] pD says: NSA Chatters - another senseless commercial

[3:25:48 PM] nsy says: bye :)

==

NSA Chatters crew