The Best Notes of My Generation...

The following is the beginning of a list of the fifty (or so) greatest albums of my generation. It's incomplete, because there are some albums I'm not aware of that should be on this list. There certainly ought to be an early rap album or two on there, but I'm not in on that scene. For an album to be great, it must:

• Be popular. There have been lots of good albums produced in the last twenty years that either lacked large market appeal or distribution. They belong in another list.
• Be great as an album, not just have several hit singles. If every (or nearly) track is a great single, that counts.
• Have staying power. I don't care how many copies of the latest Backstreet Boys album sell, in ten years, nobody will care. Some albums on the list have demonstrated longevity, others probably will.
• Appeal to people who are not explicit fans of the artist. I might think that Troutmask Replica is da bomb, but people who aren't into Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band probably wouldn't enjoy it. One should not be surprised to see a great album in a music collection dominated by another style of music.

Please make suggestions.( Read more... )

Personal Insight

What I do is, for the most part, more important to me than whith whom I do it. I have trouble understanding people's need to watch movies with other peopleor eat with others. I understand the desire for conversation related to these activities, but I see people meet for a film and then leave after, without talking about it.

I think this is why I have few deep friends, but a whole host of friends I talk to when when we encounter each other. When I feel like gaming, I implement that desire. I rarely contact someone and say "We should do something... let's game." It's much easier to go on a bike ride or a hike on the spur of the moment than to try to coordinate several people's schedules.

This is, I think, also why I have a very small romantic history. A relationship invoves self-consciously spending time with another person for the sake of that person, rather than the activity. I think I would feel uncomfortable in a relationship where there wasn't mutual geekery of various sorts. And since I tend to do things on my own, not needing company to do things like eat, watch films, think about philosophy, or explore the world, I don't have an impulse to ask girls out. Especially since a lot of that is done in random slots of time that I have some trouble anticipating.

I already knew I am task oriented, rather than a people person. But the phrase "What I do is more important than who I do it with" seems to make things clear. Yay personal aphorisms.