growler76

I think Interview With a Vampire took place in New Orleans, so that can't be it.

Peter Schiff posted a (audio) vid this morning that states some hard truths. Disclaimer: I only listened to about half of it before I had to leave for work.

I certainly feel that I was often treated as being less intelligent by strangers when I had long hair. Also, I've been working for my current company for over six years now, and I cut my hair short nine months or so after I first started working here. Even in this context, I think coworkers started taking me more seriously. I'm very well regarded by the company owners now, and recently when a coworker brought up how I used to have long hair, one of the owners said he didn't even remember me having long hair. It does make me wonder if my salary increases would have been influenced had I not made the change.

This is easy for me to say, since I haven't been engaging him, but I enjoy reading his perspectives. I also appreciate those that have been engaging him, especially since I can tell there is a lot of frustration. I'm frustrated myself just reading some responses because I'm not so sure there is an honest attempt by him to understand, although he seems to exhibit instances of it, but then other times I get the sense he is just trolling. IF he is sincere in wanting to learn, I would be interested to see if/how his ideas change over time here.

Those kids were hilarious and cute as hell. Today, a co-worker showed me a video on her phone of her niece that her sister had sent her. Her niece was late getting ready to go to school and came out from her room dressed all in pink and had painted her face all pink (sort of just splattered). When asked why she was dressed that way she said "I wanted to look like a cheetah!". It didn't make any sense whatsoever but she was happy as hell. I don't know what happened after that but I mentioned to my coworker that if I had a kid and that happened, I think I'd be half-inclined to just take her to school that way (well, that's if I was hypothetically actually sending her to school).

http://www.techtipsforall.com/2012/03/show-youtube-video.html?st=27&et=30&vId=aOnKCcjP8Qs&l=no&lnf=10&ap=yes

I've posted a profile on Match before and then I realized I didn't meet the minimum height requirements of 90% of the women* (I'm 5'6"). I was apparently even too short for many women that are 4'11 or 5'. Granted, I'm just average looking, but I hardly got any hits at all to my profile. It dawned on me that I was probably not even showing up in anyone's search results. Many of the women also posted a minimum salary requirement above mine, and I'm just under median for my area. *Disclosure: stat pulled out of my ass.

Or a script idea for the next Police Academy movie. Sheesh.

Thanks for bouncing your ideas back. I can see how it might appeal to people that felt silenced as children, and you might be right about the case with the Bring Me The Horizon vocalist. Maybe some people are drawn to either of these types of music for these reasons. I just want to mention one other thing about my personal foray into metal. I don't think I was traumatized (too much?) as a kid, and in fact I was a very happy and expressive kid in grade school. I know this not just from memory but from videos that were taken for school plays and talent shows and things like that. I also got good grades and enjoyed learning, and had great relationships with teachers and even adults in my neighborhood. Now junior high was a little different story...I became more insecure and introverted during that time, and I'd say my parents failed to prepare me on a lot of counts. But, I had already started to get into metal when I was in the 5th grade with Metallica. I was also listening to mainstream hard rock bands like AC/DC, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and the like from peers that introduced these bands to me. [side note: one of the kids that introduced me to some of these bands started hanging out with some other kids that did drugs, a year later when I was in the 6th grade, and I ended my friendship with him]. Going back even a few years earlier, the first song I ever declared as "my favorite" song on the radio was Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. So, for some reason rock and metal just spoke to me. In junior high I got into Megadeth and Slayer and it just took off from there. I didn't get into death metal, until several years ago when I had already been playing in a power metal band.as an adult in my mid 20s. I think it really just is an aesthetic preference for me (and as I mentioned before, probably an acquired taste). I'm picky about vocals as well...I don't really like most yelling or screaming (although the instruments usually can trump/override this anyway for me), but I like the growly vocals that tend to sound almost supernatural, demonic, or other worldy. Why exactly? i don't know. If there is a psychological reason for this, it's something I'd have to really delve into to figure out, because I haven't thought about it before, but this discussion has got me contemplating it at least. Keep in mind, I still listen to power metal bands that have singing like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest (to name more mainstream examples). Sorry that was longer than I anticipated, but I guess I just want to reiterate that I think sometimes there can be life events that might cause someone to like certain...art shall we say?...but sometimes it's just an aesthetic preference like flavor of ice cream, and that's why I don't take it personally if someone doesn't like the same things. And why do I keep bringing up ice cream? I must really be craving it.

Been listening to the latest Vader album during my morning commute to work all week. Coffee + metal = good to go.

I do not have much expertise in this area but I just want to say that I think you should really consider finding a place with roommates. I can't fathom what it is like to have a digestive disorder requiring special dieting habits, but it seems to me that you have a lot of things on your plate and perhaps eliminating most of them by getting out of the situation would allow you to focus more on this even without external help. At your income level, I would suggest even being open to finding a house with several roommates to split the rent with. At one point I lived in a house with 4 other people, and while it's not the most ideal situation (if you want independence) I think it is a logical option as a transition to get to where you want to go next (whether you know what this is or not). Roommates don't have to be best friends, they just have to be civil to each other and figure out win-win negotiations for their living situation. In my situation, I changed jobs a few times, slowly acquiring more income. Eventually me and one other roommate moved into an apartment, and finally I was able to move out on my own. Don't feel bad about your age and situation. I think I was older than you when I was able to finally do this on my own. I don't know what you can afford, but you might at least see if there are any rooms available that you might be able to afford. If you have circles of acquaintances (local forums/facebook?) to get feelers out that might help.

I'm just glad to see that you took initiative to better your situation and are finding some success. Also, I think it is great that you are setting up your next short-term goals. I don't know if you listened to Michael's recent podcast, but I think he has some good advice on goal setting, so you might want to check it out if you haven't yet.

Rainbow Jamz Your post got me thinking a little more, so here are some more thoughts, and I'll try to touch on the aspect of assumed dysfunctionality among metalheads. I have to admit to having been in the music nazi group for much of my younger life, or what is usually termed an "elitist", so I think I might have some insight to this type of group. I have always been open and accepting of most music outside of metal, but the closer music gets to metal without being actual metal, the more it gets attacked by elitists. This might extend to anything that is somewhat "heavy" which would make sense to me why your friend trashed your music preferences. It's almost like it's encroaching on his territory or something and he has to get all defensive about it. Perhaps the most prominent example of metal elitism in my experience was when "nu-metal" came out (the only band name example I can think of right now is Limp Bizkit). I am more accepting of music that I don't care for now days, but just to give some perspective of the elitist attitude, let me explain this example a little bit. Nu-metal was mainly a "mainstream" morphing of hip-hop with heavy guitars, that was being passed off as a sub-genre of metal. In the opinion of the metal elitist, this was not metal as it was not derived from or did not musically share the same elements in composition that make up most metal music. As an analogy, if I started playing a banjo it would not be considered bluegrass because I have no real understanding of bluegrass music and what I would come up with would probably not incorporate the music elements that most people consider bluegrass, or at least people who are really into bluegrass. Perhaps people that were not really into bluegrass might call it bluegrass though. Another example might be country fans that do not accept any of the top 40 pop "country" artists to be country at all. On the really extreme end of metal elitism, there were some people split into the Metallica camp or the Megadeth camp after Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica. I mean, there were rival fans between two bands that played very similar music, arguing about who was better. Even back then, (as a kid) I thought this was stupid, and I enjoyed both but I think it illustrates how music elitism can be very much like sports team/hero worship. So I can definitely see how there could be some dysfunction in some metalheads (maybe more than other genres?...I don't know) but there are lots of people that enjoy the music and realize it's just their personal preference like with anything else. I think this could be compared to someone that enjoys sports but that doesn't have to identify themselves as a "sports fan". I actually gave up on team worship when I was in junior high and there were a few different professional league strikes that year, and I was like "F these guys". I still watch college sports (football/basketball) once in awhile because I enjoy the game itself but no longer follow specific teams, and don't watch pro sports. Now this is just my biased opinion, but you might find some dysfunction among people that are part of the metal "scene". Not everyone, mind you, but I think that there are a subset of people that go to shows and parties and what not just for the social aspect or to belong to a certain group. There is a derogatory word for that among metalheads: posers. I had a view into this simply because I played in a band for a long time, and there were definitely some "regulars" at shows that didn't even like any of the bands playing. It might be possible that the caller's wife in the show referenced earlier, might fall into this group, but I can't say for sure. I didn't smoke or drink (still don't) and hated hanging around in bars, so I was only there to play or to see a particular band I liked and then leave. There were lots of people I knew who were similar, and those are the people I mainly would associate with. Believe it or not, despite the stereotype, there were actually always sober metalheads I could hang out with at shows. Lastly, I think the majority of people (no matter what music they like) are probably not chronic concert goers desperately trying to be part of social group, but just like listening to recorded music, and I think this crosses the biggest and most diverse spectrum of the population. Edit: Just listened to that Reign of Kindo clip. I can appreciate the musicianship and I like the jazz elements. No idea why anyone would bash on that. I can understand someone maybe saying a certain metal band isn't aggressive enough for their taste or something, but your example isn't even the same ball park. To say it sucks because it's not heavy enough doesn't make any sense. It's like saying this ice cream isn't hot enough. If it was it wouldn't be ice cream. To me it sounds pretty unique.

Just an FYI; you can change your display name under your profile settings.

I know exactly which instance you are referring to. I can't remember the exact conclusions that were being drawn from it right now but at the time I felt like the metal culture was getting thrown under the bus in that moment. I chalked it up to Stef pulling a Joe Rogan and just agreeing with the caller's bias. My recollection was that it was implied as if "well, that explains everything". The topic was about the caller's wife who was from Europe and was currently living in Germany I believe. I have never been to Europe but my understanding is that metal (I only mention "metal" as I realize death/black metal in particular is only one category of "screaming music' but it's what I am familiar with) is a lot more popular there overall than in the US (Germany especially), and there seem to be a higher percentage of European women into metal than American women. Now, there might be some correlation with this woman's disfunction, and her musical preferences, but they made it seem like it was such an obvious symptom.

Good tunes Wesley B. It is actually the same for me regarding the music and the riffs, even though my post above was focused on talking about the vocals themselves. The vocals are just one part of the overall atmosphere to the music. At least in my experience, it seems that bands (metal bands at least) that don't have a stand-alone vocalist (one of the instrumentalists does the main vocals) the music is written around the instrumentation first and can often go for long breaks without using vocals at all. There are exceptions of course.

I don't see an issue with it as long as the fans know what they are paying for and don't feel mislead. It seems similar to collector's edition DVDs that have "extras" on them. I usually don't spend money on that but some people really like that stuff, which is fine. Sounds like win-win to me.

I appreciate everyone's responses and it's interesting to hear about different perspectives on this topic. I think we all find different things that we get out of music which seem almost as varied as our tastes on the surface. For me I'm generally drawn to the sonic quality first, and I don't necessarily have to find the lyrics compelling, although sometimes I do. There are definitely certain songs I feel emotional about or more attached to because of the lyrical content. I like your analysis JanneW.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people complaining about the weather. It rains quite frequently where I live and it's almost a given that if it's raining, I'm going to hear a complaint about it from someone that day. Even the local newscasters give a negative connotation to rainy weather, like they are apologizing to viewers..."but it's going to get better toward the end of the week when the sun comes out! Just a few more days people!".

Good idea!. Although, I currently am not in the best living situation to store more arms than I already have (I'm in a small apartment) but our state has had increasing sales so those stats are positive. Still trying to figure out if I want to buy a house or move into a rental house. Moving to another state is on the table, so I just might end up voting with my feet.

Makes sense and I appreciate that insight. Thanks.

I have recently been going through this dilemma of the prospect of "defensive voting", but I decided to not vote. My state is in the midst of voting for more gun control and I've had the urge to vote against it. There is actually one gun control initiative and another initiative that if passed, would restrict gun control. I think the gun control measure is very likely to be passed. Not sure on the other one. Again, I decided not to vote though. I think moral considerations have to trump utilitarian considerations because if they don't then they are not universal nor consistent, and if they are not then there is no point having moral considerations in the first place. They become relative and not objective. So, I can't perform an immoral action of voting for utilitarian purposes. My apologies if I've used any incorrect terminology here. Having said that, I would like to phrase the question a certain way. Can the act of voting against laws that advocate more violence be considered defensive in the same way that violence can be justified against violence that has already been initiated against a person? On a certain level I feel almost like a pacifist that will just let the aggressors walk all over me. When I think of all the socialist laws that are continually getting passed here, I just want to move (with my only options being to "slightly less bad" areas).

Edit: Double post.

I don't particularly like bloody or slasher type horror movies but I do like some of the creepy ghost type ones. I particularly liked The Others and The Orphanage. The Devil's Backbone was also pretty good. All of these had pretty clever plots. Something about the concept of children being more perceptive of ghosts or supernatural beings (in a fictional world) also intrigues me.

I've been following this thread over the past month, and I just want to say that while agree that this was something Stef should probably not waste his time with, I'm very grateful for everyone that has participated in this discussion. While some may think it's not a worthwhile exercise, I've found it to be very helpful to me as far as how to approach such questions. Also, if this comes up again, now we can just link to this thread.