The
title of this site comes from the following passage, as it
struck me as an interesting concept as well as a colourful
phrase when I came across it.
"The
techniques of autostimulation are extremely various.
Just as one can notice that stroking oneself in a certain way
can produce certain only partially and indirectly controllable
but definitely desirable effects (and one can then devote some
time and ingenuity to developing and exploring the techniques
for producing those desirable effects in oneself), so one can
also come to recognize that talking to oneself, making
pictures for oneself, singing to oneself, and so forth, are
practices that often have desirable effects. Some people
are better at these activities than others. Cognitive
autostimulation is an acquired and intimately personal
technique, with many different styles."
--Daniel
C. Dennett, Elbow Room
This
site doesn't have many visitors at the moment, but that will
hardly affect the content or frequency of posts herein.
I hope that doesn't bother you ... like it matters.
You may follow this link to add your own comment, but this is
what another "visitor" had to say
I
have been webmastering my own sites for several years now. (You
could say I've been the master of my own domain.) My
original home site entitled The
World Bri'ed Web is now in its seventh incarnation or
so. I write and record music, and use the site incessantly to
pitch the albums to all few of my visitors. I now invite you
to read my thoughts, rants, tidbits, musings, and brain-rains.*
May your stay be full of fruit.
*Brain-rain:
(n) Not as severe as a brain-storm, and hardly as vulgar as a
brain-fart, but somewhere safely in between.
February 23, 2005 HELP, I'M COVERED IN BEES
Yes, her lyrics have always been annoyingly cryptic pseudo-metaphors for poorly pathed streams of consciousness, and that's why I've never cared for Tori Amos. Yes, her first three albums showed piano chops and compositional skills that blow me away, still, and that's why I've always loved Tori Amos.
The worst thing she ever did was to work full time with the amazingly talented rhythm section she's been with for years. Matt Chamberlain and Jon Evans are fantastic, tight, and experienced musicians who have ruined Tori's song structure sensibility because they lay down a kick-ass groove like most groups only wish they could. No matter how well-played, jam sessions are boring to listen to. Besides, every song has the same textures, the same orchestrations, the same band feel. Tori can't really call herself a solo artist. I get the impression that Tori hasn't composed anything by herself, alone with a piano, in 10 years. Her piano has become a word I despise in music: Accompaniment! It didn't used to be. No instrument in a mix should be the "A" word. What a waste.
What happened to the strings and harmony-vocals in the bridge of Silent All These Years that make me tear up? Where's the opening harpsichord of Blood Roses that slaps me across the face? How did the exhilarating rhapsodic power behind the 9-minute epic Yes, Anastasia dwindle such that, now, anything over 4 minutes bores me? Doing 80-minute concept albums, in succession, is not innovative; but I don't care about innovative. If there were a "sound" from Tori's early work, then that's what I fell for, and that's exactly the ONLY missing ingredient in everything since somewhere during album four.
This album unfortunately must be filed under Background Music. I can't recall a single melody. The only memorable thing at all: Track 5 had some great time-signature changes, and a good set of progressions. Um ... yeah, I think that's it. 12:28 AM February 16, 2005 REFRAIN FROM PANICKING PLEASE
I was going to discuss some of the underlying philosophies throughout the subtext of the romantic comedy Hitch, starring Will Smith, to celebrate Singles Awareness Day two days ago. But the moment passed. Don't worry, because it would have been typical stuff, followed closely by what would degenerate into a rant on women and their insistent persistence of not being single, despite ... well, you know what? If I don't stop now, I'll get into that rant here, effectively voiding the purpose of this introduction.
What I will instead discuss are my anticipations for the upcoming months.
First of all, next week will see the release of Tori Amos' eighth album. To sum up my stance I'll give you a brief history. I became a fan before her fourth album. Her first three sold me. Her fourth one turned out to be good, albeit a little more electronic in some spots. Her fifth album introduced a whole slew of new electronic sounds, and looping "jam sessions" filling out too many of the songs' outro segments. Her touring at this time was, for the first time, in HUGE arenas, and with a full band. Her fourth album's tour was merely hinting at this new touring style.
Tori's voice was never meant to fill arenas. Her origins at piano bars gave her a soft intimacy that would fail at the large scale; but the large scale was necessary, seeing as her fan base had spread as such.
Her sixth album sucked. Granted it was all covers, which was fine, but any semblance of the songs' original souls had been stripped for the sake of electronica and drum grooves.
Her seventh album was a "concept album", containing 73 minutes of whatever the heck she wanted to say. I've never cared for song lyrics, so the whole premise was lost on me. It had a lot of good high points, however, since the electronica finally went away. The tour DVD from this album was mostly terrible, audio quality AND direction. Adding to the overly compressed vocal mix was clearly the wear on her voice, having stressed it out from touring large venues too long. It's not a pretty voice anymore!
This, her eighth album, is another "concept album" with 19 tracks. Hopefully the MUSIC itself has enough traces of what sold me on her first three albums that I can forgive her for her concept. However ... a reviewer has said that there are some changes to her style in this album, "but the greatest change is the grit in her voice; ... she sounds like she's channeling Chrissie Hynde--a welcome change from some of the preciousness of her earlier work". WHAT!?! Now I don't have anything against Hynde; she's great, in fact. But if I want grit, the LAST place I would want it present is in the soft, pretty, cute, intimate, quirky, adorable, sexy voice I came to love from Tori. Welcome change? Does this reviewer have some ill-conceived notion of the actual definition of "precious"?
Once again, I will buy Tori's new album with the clear, stated disclaimer: "Okay, but this is the last chance I give her. If this album isn't great, I'm done with her!"
Second of all (remember, I'm discussing my "anticipations" here?), the last week of April will be a time for celebration, as the film version of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy will be here. The full length trailer just premiered, and I'm psyched. Martin Freeman plays Arthur Dent. And this probably won't be the first time it will be pointed out by way of clarification: "Martin was Tim in The Office."
Third of all, Revenge of the Sith is going to keep me employed at least through early summer, seeing as its IMAX DMR conversion is definitely going to be the thing to see! The film you are about to see IS DEFINITELY an IMAX presentation!!!
Fourth of all, there's a new Fisher album in April, too.
I
have been webmastering my own sites for several years now. (You
could say I've been the master of my own domain.) My
original home site entitled 
February 23, 2005