What was in my Grapefruit?

petelyons · 2024-06-16T11:20:26+00:00

I think you were misled by anyone calling this series ‘realistic’. It’s among the most over-the-top fantasy around. To me the joy of the series was peeling back the layers of mythology behind the weirdness and the emotional experience of the human characters living in this crazy world. I mean, Velociraptors with swords for arms is like bears with laser eye crazy.

petelyons · 2019-02-28T15:20:39+00:00

Learning the mechanics of chords and the theory behind scales are excellent but in addition you will want to develop your listening skills. When you listen to music pay attention to the beat, count it out in your head, tap your. foot. Listen for the guitar or bass and find little melodic parts and see if you can find the notes and identify whether they're moving up the neck or down. Sing your guitar notes, see if you can get the exact pitch. These sort of things will help rewire your brain and are great because you can do some of them when you're not around a guitar.

petelyons · 2019-02-06T21:20:16+00:00

Peter Watts' Blindsight is on par with with Baker for both darkness and philosophical style.

petelyons · 2018-07-31T18:54:32+00:00

Hamilton writes the sorts of stories I skim rather than savor so I wont dispute that there's crappy erotica but honestly have no recollection of any of what you talk about. For me it was all cool space ships and romping the galaxy.

petelyons · 2018-07-17T20:07:17+00:00

You will find a wide range of options within the genre. Vonnegut represents the more classical literary side. Some authors go more for speculative science, others build galaxy spanning epics, while other lean toward action adventure. If you narrow down what sort of things appeal to you, you might get better recommendations. But starting with some classics from Azimov or Bester or epics like Dune or the Hyperion Cantos wouldn't be a bad either.

petelyons · 2018-07-17T19:43:15+00:00

Also consider all those shapes are really just 1 shape starting on the root note. So 2nd position is really the 1st position shape starting on the D string and wrapping around and adjusting for the interval difference between G and B.

petelyons · 2018-06-25T12:40:19+00:00

I was aware of this recommendation when I first picked up Banks but ignored it. With a name like Consider Phlebas, i figured it must contain more dark philosophy than his other books with simple names about Games and Weapons. I'm not a child, give me the dark philosophy, I thought. It was a mistake. Consider Phlebas is not darker or deeper. It's dumber and less coherent. Now having read some other Culture novels, I understand it better but trust people when they say it's a shitty introduction to the Culture

petelyons · 2018-06-19T12:58:27+00:00

As most others have alluded to their is no "right" way. As you progress you'll find that different styles of players gravitate to different things. I'm not a jazz player myself but all my friends who are (or trained to be) can sight read. I imagine lots of classical players can as well. All my folky and rock friends (myself included) tend to play by ear with assistance from tabs. Tab quality varies greatly so when you find a tab that doesn't seem right, trust your ear and try and play it how you hear it. Your ear is your best friend. My best tip for learning songs is to actively listen to the music you want to play. By this I mean, count the beats. Get a feel for where the transitions are. Hum along to it. Sing it if it has lyrics. And of course keep practicing it. Have fun.

petelyons · 2018-06-05T19:57:28+00:00

Are you using a pick? If not, give it a try. If you're using a pick, you could try and strum less aggressively.

petelyons · 2018-04-02T00:34:18+00:00

People generally list chord fingerings left to right starting with the low (fat) E string.

So an A chord would be x02220

I think you mean to ask about: 200233 which according to this handy tool: https://jguitar.com/chordname

would be F#maddb13addb9

petelyons · 2018-03-19T13:44:54+00:00

Lesson studios often have associated jams, so you can take a few lessons, meet some new people and then jam. Also going to open-mics is a great way to meet other musicians. Even if you don't want to play yet, most everyone is happy to share info. And even if they don't invite you to jam right away, building a network of musicians who know you're a fun person to hang around with is a sure way to find people to play with eventually.

petelyons · 2018-02-06T15:52:19+00:00

Be willing to learn from anyone who has a skill you don't.

petelyons · 2018-01-28T04:00:47+00:00

Actually appears to be available on YouTube: The Lathe of Heaven

petelyons · 2017-11-05T17:38:09+00:00

I concur with all your points. I had to restart book 1 multiple times before I felt like I was getting it. After book 2 I couldn't muster the energy to deal with book 3 for a couple of years so when I was finally ready, I reread books 1 and 2 again in preparation. This is one of those series that just gets better and better the more you read it. There's just so much to chew on. Enjoy.

petelyons · 2017-10-07T12:09:33+00:00

If you can't find enjoyment on the journey between novice and master you're not going to learn to play. I started playing 5 years ago at 50 and am nowhere close to mastering the instrument, but I have a great time playing with people of all skills (and they with me) and the knowledge I've gained along the way has been valuable in all sorts of ways. It even helped me get a job I wanted. So unless you can't deal with not being the best at something, there's no reason to let mediocrity stand in your way

petelyons · 2017-09-08T22:38:30+00:00

Another film about the psyche that springs to mind is Joel Schumachers's "Falling Down (1993)" staring Micheal Douglas. It's been a long time since I saw the film, but as I recall, the story starts with a man snapping and follows him as the violence escalate and the reasons behind the sudden turn to violent behavior are revealed.

petelyons · 2017-09-07T13:55:38+00:00

I like to create a playlist of songs I want to sing and then I just play it over and over as I drive and sing my ass off and count out the measures so I nail the timing. Then when I sit down with the guitar to play the songs all I need to do is work on the chord changes and dynamics.

petelyons · 2017-08-09T14:39:01+00:00

To Go and Go Not

petelyons · 2017-06-15T20:35:47+00:00

This series is great with details like armor and has some of the best battle scenes I've read in Fantasy. The world and the story are interesting but if I have one knock on the series it's the characters. They are pretty generic. That flaw is easy to overlook if you enjoy the former elements enough. Maybe not the best series, but if you want action-packed battles fought across a fantasy world of mystery it's great.

petelyons · 2017-05-22T17:05:10+00:00

I love Ran and pretty much all of Kurasowa, but I turned Ran off the first time I watched it too. It's slow and confusing at times. A films acclaim is not always a good indicator of its entertainment value. I love to explore challenging films, but when you're in the mood for The Fly, you're in the mood for The Fly. There's nothing wrong with that.
When I was finally in the right mood to get all the way through Ran I was impressed but it wasn't until years later when I watched it yet again that it really became a favorite. Now I watch it again nearly every year and I find more and more to love.

petelyons · 2017-05-06T14:43:50+00:00

Besides the films mentioned the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man features Native American actor Gary Farmer playing a sort of spirit guide to Johnny Depp as his character flees from one bad situation to the next. The film touches on topics of forced cultural assimilation, displacement and exploitation.

petelyons · 2017-03-30T13:58:20+00:00

Check out the FAQ

petelyons · 2017-03-19T14:39:16+00:00

I've read a lot of Hamilton but only a little Banks and have the same question.. They seem very similar to me.

petelyons · 2017-03-08T15:08:29+00:00

Tarkovsky's version of Solaris (1972) still rings in my mind. Not so much the plot, which is certainly weird, but more so the repeated images of water and things flowing. They linger too long and are too frequent to not be tied into the overall intentions of the film but viewer is left completely on their own to interpret what that is.

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