Broken Dreams Bands

There is a creature that frequently inhabits local bars on Friday and Saturday nights. These strange animals have several distinguishing characteristics, and are quite unfortunately no where near the brink of extinction.

The animal of which I speak is, of course, the Broken Dreams band. A Broken Dreams band is a group of normally middle-aged guys with careers, all of whom are now living out there long abandoned fantasies of rock and roll stardom by playing (poorly) old rehashed covers at dive bars on weekend nights. You can tell right away when you are dealing with a Broken Dreams band - they traditionally have top level professional equipment, but do not possess the skills necessary to validate the amount of money sunk in to said equipment. They all play the same songs, and the invariably take themselves way to seriously.

My feelings towards these bands is a strange mix of derision and pity. They piss me off because they obviously earn more money than they need in their real job, which is why they are playing American made Stratocasters through Marshall half-stacks and Yamaha Stage Custom drums, all of which cost thousands and thousands of dollars. They also obviously have always wanted to be a musician. However, they were never willing to put in the time, dedication, and sacrifice necessary to actually make a career out of music. Instead they got themselves a respectable, "normal" career, and just brought out music as a way through their midlife crisis. In and of itself that wouldn't be too bad, but they stereotypically act like they are the cat's fucking ass, as though somehow being on stage lent them a grandeur that only money can buy. Also, I can say from experience that the writing of music is the absolute hardest aspect of the art. Anybody under the sun can practice something that another person has already played - if you aren't writing it yourself, you don't have a whole lot to brag about. At the same time, though, I do feel sorry for these fools. Not everyone can make their living from music, and I understand that. Also, there is a kind of desperate melancholy in the way they so ardently play music written by other people.

So, next time you see one of these groups, feel free to make fun of them. Just, you know, quietly. To yourself.

Webcomics

I am a nerd.

I say this without shame or hesitation. Nowadays there seems to be much less denigration associated with the word - perhaps it is because there are simply so many of us, the word no longer symbolizes an outcast.

To be more specific, I am an internet nerd. The more time one spends perusing the world wide web, the more one becomes aware of a distinct internet culture. This goes beyond the cliched AIM abbreviations and L337speak - there is a brand of humor that is consistent amongst the things favored by internet nerds. I would liken it to an accent - a particular style of expression that is common amongst people with a similar background. Also, there is an astonishingly close communal feel amongst participants of these favored tracts of internet, the speed of which seemingly defies all logic.

Allow me to explain - perhaps the most accessible example of an online community are the millions of readers of webcomics. There are countless webcomics out there, but there are a group of about thirty or so that everyone who is interesting in webcomics is familiar with. These comics rose to the top not because of clever marketing or national syndication - people were drawn to them because of their quality, which prompted them to tell their friends, who told their friends, ad nauseum. It's the ultimate grassroots support, facilitated by instant information exchange. What this eventually creates is a sort of hyper-meme: it's almost as though as soon as one person in the crowd discovers something, or tries something new, everyone else discovers it simultaneously. This is facilitated by the artists of these comics, too. Let's say that a couple guys start making a comic, or podcast, or series of online videos, and it just happens to be hilarious. All it takes is for one person to discover it - they post it on Digg or Stumbleupon or Reddit, then a bunch of other people link it - maybe some of the artists of the top tier comics mention it in their newspost. Overnight, something can leap from obscurity to thousands of hits per day.

It's very interesting as well to see the spiderweb of influences that these things can have. For example, I remember being brought to an article on Cracked.com after seeing it mentioned on Fark.com. Later, I heard that same article being mentioned in Downloadable Content, the podcast that Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade make. Who know how many other sites mentioned the article or linked it directly, but it seemed like as soon as it was published, everyone knew about it simultaneously. This particular article was on 7 commandments that should be instituted for video game makers. Several weeks after the fact a friend emailed it to me like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I got the opportunity to act all haughty and condescending for having already read it. I rarely get the opportunity to act like that because I don't own an Apple computer.

Anyways, if you're interested, here are some of the most popular webcomics out there:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/
http://www.penny-arcade.com/
http://www.achewood.com/
http://www.samandfuzzy.com/
http://www.xkcd.com/
http://www.wigu.com/
http://www.pvponline.com/
http://www.cad-comic.com/
http://www.applegeeks.com/
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/
http://www.drmcninja.com/
http://www.starslipcrisis.com/


In addition, the path to true internet nerdom is paved with the following websites:

http://www.digg.com/
http://www.fark.com/
http://www.cracked.com/
http://www.break.com/
http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/
http://www.failblog.org/
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/

And for the truly adventurous:

http://www.hourofknowledge.com/
http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/
http://www.kotaku.com/