To find out who is best at passing exams.
But that’s about all.
Hobby Horse
Subjects about which I pontificate
Art In Inaction
If anyone didn’t think the purpose of the Arts was to prop up the establishment then Brexit and the pandemic has well and truly proven them wrong. With a few exceptions ‘creatives’ have by and large kept their heads well below the parapet for fear of upsetting the apple cart.
I’m not suggesting this is anything new or unique but the pretence persists that artists are a progressive force when they jealously protect their turf like everyone else. You only have to look at the eagerness to jump upon the environment destroying NFT bandwagon for example.
We have to look to the past for artists with opinions. I don’t agree with Morrissey but at least we know what he thinks. Billy Bragg & Michael Rosen are still fighting the good fight. But other than Paloma Faith and Little Mix where are the prophets and where are the visionaries.
Extra marks for spotting the Marillion reference.
Twitter Rant Endeth.
If It’s Broke, Break It Some More
With the signatories reading like a golden oldies playlist you have to wonder to what extent any proposed changes will improve the lot of future musicians rather than prop up another set of vested interests as extensions to the length of copyright and performing right laws has done.
Streaming, On A Sunny Afternoon
If XTC reformed to record a new album and only released it on Spotify, iTunes, or [insert streaming service here] I might be tempted to use them.
Everyone else… fair enough, your choice, there’s plenty of other folks to spend my music budget on.
What I find odd is that by not utilising something like Bandcamp which gives you more direct contact with the people who buy your music you’re limiting the opportunity to create a potentially long term following. (And there’s nothing to stop you using multiple services).
Maintaining Mediocrity
If we didn’t stick dogmatically to a system of artificial targets based on age but let children progress through school at their own rate then missing a bit of time wouldn’t be so disastrous.
I’ve Got Algorithm
When the exam marking business is sorted perhaps it’s time to consider replacing the current system of GCSEs & A Levels for something useful rather than maintaining it for the sake of those who don’t want to admit their qualifications are a poor indication of ability.
(Posted at the point results had been published for those not able to take exams due to Covid-19 restrictions which showed downgrading for poor areas whilst richer parts of the country and fee paying schools received much better grades).
Words
I wonder to what extent articles about ‘X number of words that don’t have an equivalent in English’ just demonstrate the limited size of the vocabulary of those writing them?
It’s a red herring anyway as it’s the descriptive power of the language that’s important not the ultimate number of words. I imagine the people who write this sort of rot also rate Shakespeare’s plays by the number of lines.
E.I. E.I. A.I.
People who rely on auto correct might consider whether what they write is likely to be easier to understand with a spelling mistake than the substitution of the wrong word.
Letting a computer make changes and not checking them can come across as worse than the odd human error.
Home Taping Still Not Killed Music
And when you look at book publishers increasing profits not being passed on to authors you have to wonder if the emphasis on piracy when talking about artists earnings is intentional misdirection.
Hobby Horse Sated
From the Twitters
The European Copyright Directive has reared its unsightly head again and what I find notable about these regular Rights battles is that the one group of people who are ignored are those of us who actually pay for what we consume. It’s always so called ‘creators’ versus pirates and the rest of us are supposed to just lump it.
It’s definitely made me buy more stuff second hand and concentrate my purchasing on independent artists. Why should I support those who want to make it easy for the Government to clamp down on dissent by enabling a censorship system that won’t work to stop piracy.
Like the ‘Home Taping Is Killing Music’1 campaign the concentration on the debatable effects of piracy just diverts from the money grab by the big media companies and the business practices of Amazon and the like which is where artists money is actually going.
And we live in a backward looking era where there’s hundreds of years of proven high quality books, art, and media for new work to compete with and a vast over supply of artists. There’s a lot of good writers, musicians, etc. about but very few decent plumbers. Supply and demand.
P.S. And in a desperate attempt to save the word from its current decline to just a marketing phrase – this is what creative means.
‘In 1965 Seiichi Miyake spent his own money to invent tactile blocks (or Tenji blocks as they were originally known) to help a friend whose vision was becoming impaired.’
- It didn’t. ↩