Whatcha Reading?

Don’t worry too much about catching up. At the current rate book 3 won’t start until half way through the next season.

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have you noticed there is a lot of things with Naomi that seem innocuous if you haven’t got that far but just shout Marco

Potential spoiler from later books.

Yes. And I just had to step away from the books until I can not be so attached to the characters during these chapters.

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I recently got about to reading some Jim Thompson. The classic Pop. 1280. It’s like a turn of the century ‘Andy Griffith Show’ filtered through the Cohen brothers and Quentin Tarantino. Our hero is a total amoral asshole but yet you root for the scheming misanthrope the whole way.

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Wait…Pop 1280 isn’t JUST a band?

I own this album…

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I’m making the most of the last week of October:

When that’s over, book 3 of Libba Bray’s “The Diviners” series, supernatural adventures of young adults in 1920s New York.

I can’t get hold of a copy of The Halloween Tree unless I drive to Maple Valley, 40 miles out or borrow an animation adaptation on DVD.

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I read the new Welcome to Night Vale Novel It Devours in about three days. Enjoyed it much more than the first novel – it seems less like a story with mandatory references to podcast episodes, and more like a genuine Night Vale story. It does work in the references, but more like the way a typical episode would.

Now I’m on Ann Leckie’s new one, Provenance. It’s entertaining so far – in the same setting as the Ancillary series but with misfit characters outside the Radchaai society.

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Just finished Brust’s new Taltos novel:

I’m on to Austral, which I bought on Kindle in the UK and exfiltrated since there is no US edition yet.

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Does anyone have Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust yet? Did you like it? Were you a big fan of the original series? Considering getting it for business travel later this week.

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I’m currently wrapping up Ripped, by Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune. It’s an interesting look at intelectual property in the music industry in the digital era, and how music is distributed, and whether downloading helps or hurts the artists’ bottom line.

@mindysan33, this may be right up your alley. Any thoughts?

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I have not read it, but will put it on my list. I did just finish reading this, though, which if you’re interested in the topic of music and value, should be of interest to you:

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i’m in the last hundred pages or so of the last book of the original series, and i’m liking it, so i’m looking forward to the new book for sure. soooooonnnnn

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I’m still reading the Ann Leckie novel, but I started on this too. Good stuff if you’re at all interested in electronic music, UX or design.

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That looks cool.

I’m going to find that now

12 posts were merged into an existing topic: The Devaluation of Music…?

Once Upon A Time In Shaolin does sound interesting. I don’t know the story behind this album at all, so I don’t know why they put it out. I will have to check it out.

But yeah, the value (and propagation) of music interests me. How does the music we hear everywhere get to be everywhere, especially since I have heard way better music from relatively obscure artists, and this music oftentimes influences the next generation of ubiquitous artists.

One interesting question that Ripped didn’t answer was, why are the record labels the bad guys? I understand they need to make a profit, and exactly how they do that needs to be hammered out so that it’s more equitable to everyone involved. So, if bands can promote themselves more efficiently without the labels getting involved, this should encourage the labels to step up their game.

And as for corporate music, Dave Van Ronk railed against this in The Mayor Of MacDougal Street as well… but Death Cab For Cutie or Bright Eyes is not Dave Van Ronk. Passing up an influential but obscure folk artist for someone more marketable is something I can see, but most of the bands mentioned in Ripped have huge followings. Did the labels miscalculate by passing these bands up when they were starting out, or is there a trend where artists who traditionally wouldn’t be marketable are now starting to become more marketable without corporate influence? Why does there have to be any corporate influence whatsoever? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the bands to do their thing, whatever it was that makes them unique and got them a following in the first place, and not interfere with that energy?

Basically, it just doesn’t make much sense to me that there’s corporate interference in music, and that the labels are taking so much money off the top when it’s doing them no favors. The record industry just can’t be that dickish for no reason.

We have a whole thread on this now!

Should we move this comment over, too? @waetherman?

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I was replying to your comment in this thread, and I’m talking about the books, but we can move it over to the thread. Right now, it’s on topic, but if we keep discussing it, it will derail the thread. Best to move it then.

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It can stay here and we can continue to talk in the other thread!

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