I've always resented online chat and messengers, much due to some bad experiences and the obvious depreciating effect it has on face to face communication. That, and the secret desire to remain uncontactable. Of course, it was only a matter of time before I was starting to download updates of instant messengers.
But I've come to realise, if you can't beat the system, then make it work for you. Yes, without the online messenger, I probably would have been distancing myself even further from friends in foreign lands and those lost in other realms of busyness and indifference.
It's like punk rock in the 21st century, isn't it? People say that punk is dead, along with the demise of the Sex Pistols and the commodification of punk rock. With Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne flooding TRL nowadays, it is difficult to contend the idea that the punk of today is but a commercial reflection of punk's hayday, and another despicable corporate ploy to milk the youth of its worth and its ever increasing spending power.
Punk still lives on, I believe, in a very different form. Of course, one can continue to argue the authenticity of punk rock as a music genre, and draw conclusions from today's pop-punk/emo punk/ ska punk/ punk pop/ emo-screamo and what-have-yous, citing its deviation from the three-chord, three minute songs of the 70s, which had so perfectly captured the spirit of doing-it-yourself.
Green Day made all the difference. American Idiot is punk in every sense. Instead of lashing out at American politics and corporate America explicitly in a head-on, give-you-the-finger manner, Green Day has adopted a covert form of punk, insidiously launching an attack on society by releasing the album two months before the elections, and have since convinced so many more to agree with their opinion that the Iraq War was but part of a redneck agenda. They recognised that punk was consumed by consumption. And that was the key to their success. Be part of the system. Then plant your C4 and get the hell out of the building. Kerry may have lost the elections, but they came away with the consolation prize in the form of millions of records sold and a grammy. Watch out for their DVD.
In the same way. I never would have been able to reach some people without using msn as a means to an end. I mean, its cold, its electronic, its gimmicky, its Microsoft. But who cares? I hate it for all its worth, and use it for all its worth at the same time.
By the way, I would like to give iTunes an extended pinky, for killing the only saving grace of Winamp, its AOL video collection. I moped over its death by listening to Simple Plan's new live album. And its only a matter of time before I totally convert to using iTunes.
But I've come to realise, if you can't beat the system, then make it work for you. Yes, without the online messenger, I probably would have been distancing myself even further from friends in foreign lands and those lost in other realms of busyness and indifference.
It's like punk rock in the 21st century, isn't it? People say that punk is dead, along with the demise of the Sex Pistols and the commodification of punk rock. With Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne flooding TRL nowadays, it is difficult to contend the idea that the punk of today is but a commercial reflection of punk's hayday, and another despicable corporate ploy to milk the youth of its worth and its ever increasing spending power.
Punk still lives on, I believe, in a very different form. Of course, one can continue to argue the authenticity of punk rock as a music genre, and draw conclusions from today's pop-punk/emo punk/ ska punk/ punk pop/ emo-screamo and what-have-yous, citing its deviation from the three-chord, three minute songs of the 70s, which had so perfectly captured the spirit of doing-it-yourself.
Green Day made all the difference. American Idiot is punk in every sense. Instead of lashing out at American politics and corporate America explicitly in a head-on, give-you-the-finger manner, Green Day has adopted a covert form of punk, insidiously launching an attack on society by releasing the album two months before the elections, and have since convinced so many more to agree with their opinion that the Iraq War was but part of a redneck agenda. They recognised that punk was consumed by consumption. And that was the key to their success. Be part of the system. Then plant your C4 and get the hell out of the building. Kerry may have lost the elections, but they came away with the consolation prize in the form of millions of records sold and a grammy. Watch out for their DVD.
In the same way. I never would have been able to reach some people without using msn as a means to an end. I mean, its cold, its electronic, its gimmicky, its Microsoft. But who cares? I hate it for all its worth, and use it for all its worth at the same time.
By the way, I would like to give iTunes an extended pinky, for killing the only saving grace of Winamp, its AOL video collection. I moped over its death by listening to Simple Plan's new live album. And its only a matter of time before I totally convert to using iTunes.
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