scoobdog

Naturally, there was a 12:30 Laker game yesterday so I lost a whole hour of lazing around before heading over to the Crypt.

Terrible plan.

So, @ghostrek, what’s the plan for achieving this new positive outlook?

I've never had a household that was devoid of canine and feline family members so that might affect my answer, but, there really isn't a timeline. Just as with a hereditary family member, they're not "replaceable" in the sense one might "replace" a significant other. If you picked up a new kitty a day after losing your long time feline companion, you're not somehow replacing your old family, you're rescuing new family that can help you work through the grief of losing someone special to you. Each pet we take into our homes is a unique personality that can't be erased once they are no longer with us, and it become apparent when you learn to interact with your newest adoptee. What matters is your capacity to open yourself up to loving this new family member: whether or not you are able to process grief with the help of others or if you have to shut down to do so. If the answer is that you can love someone while grieving for another, then you can adopt a new pet right now.

It's more of a royal blue than a violet, but I think wither would work.

Are white people even allowed inside an Aldi?

They’re most known for their techno. Electropop is best oversimplified as pop music with heavy use of electronic instruments. It’s more or less created like traditional popular music. Electronic music is best oversimplified as a layers of sampled synthetic instruments and, at times, vocals. It’s created much in the same way as hip hop, but with the sampling in the forefront rather than a backdrop to the spoken word poetry. Weeknd might be closer to electronic than synthpop in theory, but his vocals are the primary instrument. Also, he uses a wide range of instruments in addition to the occasional sample.

The irony is that Japanese artists of the late ‘80s and ‘90s perfected the synthetic R&B sound in a way that made it palatable to the mainstream. We could go down a rabbit hole of all the Japanese pop from that era that was so subversively brilliant. (For the record, these artists were not so subtly influenced by the Isley Brothers from a decade earlier.)

Weeknd is something of a chameleon because his style is so heavily R&B that his synthpop (interchangeable with electropop) distills a lot of the harshness out of electronic instruments.

That surprisingly doesn't clash.

You a fan of electropop?

I've always wondered about this. I didn't start listening to my newest favorite band until about five years ago, so I haven't stalled in any way. Yet, I generally can't talk to most people my age about pop music because their peak is from the '90s. I think there's a stylistic component at play. For most X'ers, their formative years coincided with hair metal, new wave / post punk, and at the latter end of the scale, grunge. Millenials tend to start at post grunge and ska moving into indie rock, nu-metal and electropop. None of this include hip hop, which is a medium with its own distinct genres of its own that not only span decades but also genders. The point here is that each successive generation has a distinct musical genre with its adherents develop important identity markers around. That might no apply to people who are fans of electronica and its various subgenres. With a few exceptions like Daft Punk, the vast majority of ultra famous modern electronic DJs are either known for their collaborations with pop royalty (David Guetta, the Chainsmokers, Marshmallow, Martin Garrix) or are superstars within the fandom (Armin Van Buren, Above and Beyond, Deadmau5 and Kaskade). In almost all cases, they've all maintained popularity for decades. This is by no means scientific, just an observation: the idea that we might "stall" in our listening choices may have something to do with the kinds of music we listen to and, to an extent elements within the music itself. We've always known that afficiandos of more classical art forms will appreciate music and art from any time period bases solely on the style of that art form. A fan of Aida is just as likely to appreciate a recent staging of Aknhaten at the LA Music Center, for instance. But, to take that further, a relatively throw away pop tune like "Levitating" leans heavily on electric beats and auto-tuning - musical instruments that have existed in electronica forever and in popular music from the days of nu-wave. Another great example is how modern bands like my favorite, Cannons, incoporate the same laid back, reverb or ragae that bands like 311 coopted in the '90s. This isn't to suggest that any of these songs are transgenerational in the way that classics form the Beatles, Stones, Bob Marley, Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin or the Isley Brothers would be. They just happen to include some of the same hooks in them that mades songs from previous eras appealing as well. Mind you, all of this is coming from an artists perspective. I care about the nuts and bolts of art, even in mediums that I'm not proficient at like music composition.

Red Lobster. Place always takes like an hour and half and there’s only ever like ten people in there.

I think I get some credit for not actually posting said cartoon porn. I mean, i could, but I really care about all of you. Heck, if any of you decided to start chatting me up while on the shitter, I'd turn off the porn and actually talk back. That's how much I care.

But he was already cumming when he had it.....