High End Audio - not just for audiophiles

Computers have made setting up high end stereo systems more complicated than ever. Back in the day, setting up a high end audio system was easy. All you really needed was a good receiver, a record player, and some top quality speakers. Even once the tape deck and cd player came around, it wasn't too hard to set up a really killer high end home stereo system. Nowadays, however, there are so many different audio products in so many different music formats that  it has gotten very expensive and very difficult to figure out what musical system is best for you.

When you first set up a high end audio system, there are some really serious choices that you have to make. The biggest one is how digital you want to go. Every high end audio system, of course, makes some use of solid-state technology, but some them make it more important than others. A lot of serious technophiles, especially the ones who play games on the computer, like to run their entire sound systems through their PC. Other people prefer a more traditional approach, focused around a high-quality stereo receiver. Eventually, high end audio gear will move more and more towards the home computer, but for many reasons the two haven't been integrated yet. For my money, the best way to do it is to set up your stereo around the receiver, But who knows how it will change in a couple years.

Another issue is how you want to use your high end audio system. Do you want to listen to music, or do you want to watch movies more? There are high end home theater speakers that you can buy, but they are designed more around providing realistic soundtracks to movies then reproducing musical sounds. Don't get me wrong - this is serious, high end audio gear that will work well for everything. Nonetheless, a lot of it has gotten very specialized recently. It used to be that good speakers were good for everything. Now, you are increasingly asked what you will use them for.

My favorite high end audio gear to play with is in my car. The great thing about high end car speakers is that they are so simple to work with. A high end car audio system is a pretty unambiguous thing. It will work well for anything you are likely to listen to in the car. I wish that home audio equipment was that simple!

Why are Today’s Pop Music Lyrics so Self-Obsessed?

If you've been wondering lately about how today's pop music seems to be rather excessively about being self-centered, you aren't alone. Industry observers can't help but wonder about how pop music lyrics these days seem to be all about the individual - be it Taylor Swift wondering about why a boy can't see that he belongs with her or Rihanna screaming about why she can't find a boy who makes her feel like she's the only woman in the world, the world of pop music seems to be turning inward like never before.

The reason this seems to chafe with many people of course is that pop music lyrics haven't always been about narcissism or self-love. A study by psychologists in this matter in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts psychology journal feels that whereas songs in the past used to be more about society, about friends and family, about feelings, songs today seem stuck on explicitly making everything about oneself. They call it a 21st century health condition - obsessing too much over the significance of one's own grand self.

Using software to analyze pop music lyrics from all the top 10 songs over a 27 year-period starting with 1980, they found that songs near the beginning of the period they were looking at had a tendency to use words like “we” or ”us” a lot. Today, it's mostly about “me”. But of course, narcissism doesn't just stop at promoting oneself over everything else. People dislike narcissism because it usually comes with a gallon-can of meanness. And that, as everyone knows, is in abundant evidence in today's songs.

Pop music lyrics these days are about anger, about open cursing, foaming-at-the-mouth rage. In fact, rage today, is what young people feel identifies closely with freedom. Kanye West, a self-obsessed personality if ever there was one, makes his narcissistic meanness especially evident with lines like “You can't tell me nothing”; other pop stars like Pink love to rant and curse onstage.

Certainly, pop music lyrics may tend towards narcissism today; but not everyone is buying it. Music sells far less today than it ever did before. And one reason it doesn't sell as well is that there are far more outlets available today for indie bands. And of course, today's top 10 stars cater mostly to the team crowd. There is a vast market of grown-ups who just don't get represented on the charts. They listen to music from a long time ago because they will have no part of faddish bubblegum pop.

Collecting 80s Pop Culture

If you were born in the 1970s or 1980s, you may think about things from your childhood which are now a part of 80s pop culture. There are iconic toys that many adults now collect because they remember them fondly from growing up at that time. As with any other decade, there are clothing styles, decorating styles, color themes, fads, music trends, and historical events that will make anyone who grew up then wistful for days when things were not so complicated. Being a kid means less responsibility and more time to enjoy all of these things.

If you are into 80s pop culture, there is probably a personal reason for what you collect or what you may want to collect. There were two main music trends in the 80s of note. There was the hair metal of the late 80s and then the electronic, techno-pop of the early 80s. There was other music, especially pop music, that was big then, but the before mentioned created the biggest buzz. Most people liked one or the other, but usually not both. You can go out and find old albums and other band collectibles of your favorites if you remember either of these and want to connect with your youth.

Another collectible from 80s pop culture could be clothing accessories and jewelry. There were a lot of trends in these areas that died off and may be coming back around now. The colors were bright neons like pink and green and some pastels. The belts were hung off the hips. They started small and ended up being very oversized and vibrant. Colored pearls were popular for a while, along with wearing tons of bracelets of all sizes and colors all at once on each arm. Earrings and hair items were also large, colorful, and sometimes came in geometric shapes.

Toys are huge in 80s pop culture collectables. There are too many different toys that were popular to name them all, but you probably had your most favorites. You can find many of them online, though they are going to cost more now than they did then. Just a few of the most loved collectables are Rainbow Bright, My Little Pony, Transformers, He-Man, Weeble Wobbles, Strawberry Shortcake and friends, and various trendy toys that you may not even remember until you see them.

80s pop culture collectables can be anything you want them to be. If you remember something fondly, chances are good that you can look online and find what you seek. You may even want to see what you can find in consignment stores that deal in older toys and items, and you can even see what your parents may have saved in their attic. There are newer versions of these older toys on the market as well, though to be honest, they are not the same as the original. However, you may smile to see your children playing with something you use to play with, even if it is a newer and different version than you remember.

What I Like About Action Movies

For as long as I can remember, I have been a film buff. I like movies of all kinds, from suspense, to comedies, to documentaries, and everything in between. Of all of the different cinematic genres, however, action movies still hold a special place in my heart.

From the time I was a boy, I remember my father going to the video store and picking up a handful of movies for us to watch over the weekend. I remember that one of the first films I ever saw was Rambo: First Blood, a great action movie starting my favorite actor from that time period. It was amazing, because I think I was only six years old, but I still remember getting a lot out of it and really enjoying the movie. The reason I say it is amazing is because I can watch it today, 27 years later, and I still think it is great.

Another film from that era starred one of the greatest actors in action movies history, Arnold Schwartzenegger, and that movie was Commando. I always thought the way that Arnold lived was so cool, out in the woods, alone. Today the idea does not seem so appealing to me, but back then, it was all I wanted to do.

One of the action movies that will always hold a special place in my heart is Lone Wolf McQuade. This was for a couple of reasons. First, it was set in my home state of Texas. Second, the main character was a Texas Ranger, which I have always admired. Third, and most important, is that it was a movie that my father and I watched together, and both of us really liked.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was one of the action movies that my brother really enjoyed. I remember him actually making up a game that we both played outside in which we were characters from the movie. He set up obstacles and traps from which we had to escape.

Even in today's era of action movies, such as The Bourne Identity or Transformers, there is a level of excitement that most other genre's fail to achieve. What I mean by that is, while other types of movies might be just as interesting or even better overall, they don't seem to keep you on the edge of your seat the way that action movies do.

Action movies will always have a place in my heart because I rarely see one where I don't feel like it was at least fun to watch. They keep your mind occupied, and they take viewers into a world that most of us have never seen before. I think that those are some of the things that make them so special.