song of the week: king crimson, epitath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KogHYeA0ns
there is something magical about this song. it's in the keyboards and the drumming and the bass notes and then the guitar. it's all so... wonderfully mystical. and it is perfectly sung.
poems of the week:
aaron fogel, the printer's error
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/036.html
(abit long winded but quite an interesting idea.)
alvin yap, 撑伞
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=443796211320
socialising has a marginal utility.
i was thinking about why i find casual conversation quite fun at first, and then about an hour or two after, i find it quite tiresome. and i didn't want to think that people were stupid and mindless most of the time, and because i was being too critical (gosh it keeps coming up), so i told myself to be more accepting and not pay so much attention. which is counter-intuitive because i don't like to be half-hearted, i.e. just nod and stuff, but nevermind that, just try and be nicer to what people say. then i was trying to think of why i found people annoying after awhile besides concluding that it was simply my fault (well, i've already come to acknowledge that), and i realised that the answer could be explained by economics.
and then it made sense to me. the sims is a lie - it's not that your social bar fills up to a maximum after a certain amount of socialising, it's that it becomes harder and harder to fill up. add marginal utility - more is not more. socialising that has a certain value becomes less valuable as an individual has more of it; thus the individual either becomes disinterested in that grade of socialising, or seeks a higher grade.
the usual assumptions apply as they normally would in economic analysis, i.e. limited size of the pie, self interest, rationality, value, perfect competition maybe? and i suppose a few more, which i doubt i'm capable of adequately enumerating. perhaps: that people have a 'social' bar that falls over time; that people realise that there are different values of socialising; that marginal utility applies to socialising, i.e. maybe more does = more; that people properly measure the value of socialising; and that they actually intentionally compare the value of socialising, either with more valuable socialising or with something else they'd rather be doing, or even with somebody else. but all these assumptions don't seem that far-fetched to me.
i don't think people actually do compare this. but i do believe that this is a powerful, if subconscious, factor in how individuals interact. i mean, often i realise i'm quite tired of being in someone's company, and well, guess how i got there.
an interesting extension is that the marginal utility of the society of each specific individual may also fall. therefore the more you listen to one person, the it seems like, yeah i already know what he's going to say, man, when is he ever going to get past this phase/ grow up/ stop talking already, etc. an alternative analysis could be that characterising people according to their tendencies when they socialise (aided in part by properly valuing their society) tends to cast them in a less forgiving light. but hey, tell me this isn't a (subconscious) factor to you.
this might be an explanation why, as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. or more generally, why couples do get enough of each other, why there is a short honeymoon phase, why people overseas want to stay in touch with people back home (because they're lonely, duh), why (personally) i generally like to speak with interesting people. it might explain many other things besides.
therefore, don't blame yourself when you find that people get annoying, blame econonomics. hell, blame the physical world we live in (it's how economics operates). ultimately, then, you can blame life.
understatement.
(i realise that this word is ironic underlined)
there is something hilarious about understatement. british people are a fabulous example. here's one - paul mccartney, sir paul: "When they started out, Oasis boasted that they were going to be bigger than The Beatles. And I felt sorry for them. It's a prediction that just doesn't come true. It's a fatal prediction. I sort of sit back and go, 'Good luck, son. Go right on by.'"
but the magic of understatement is in having a sort of self-effacing attitude. the true magic then is in someone who appreciates the understatement and finds it hilarious. most understatements go unnoticed, but i submit that an intentionally made understatement is always funny.
heifetz.
there is something awesome about jascha heifetz. his attack and his clarity and his speed and his tone. but you hear it, and decide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jascha_Heifetz#Technique_and_timbre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFaq9kTlcaY
achewood.
guys, there is simply no better webcomic out there than achewood.
the magic is in the comments. the early comments really appreciate the little things in the strip. regrettably, the more recent commentators are the more show-off kind, pretentious, self-aggrandising, etc. aka, ugly nerdy.
anyway, when was the last time you actually, actually, got out of your chair and rofl-ed about something?
let me tell you: today.
http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/uua17ffXP
now i know it doesn't make sense at all by itself. but that's the magic. this webcomic lives and dies by the strength of its characters, and let me tell you, those are deep.
and i love cornelius bear. give that bear a pipe.
http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/uuaftZZMW
(read until 23rd June, 2006)
thanks for listening, folks.
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postscript: george carlin, people are fucking boring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB8wWlPdYRs
