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"Roo" re-mastered: a Damning Confession
10 years ago
General
👑 Re-mastered
To my darlings, my wonderfurs- my rarest gems- those who actually read my journals. It is time to celebrate! Yes, it has been two whole days since I uploaded my opus, "The Unconventional Challenge, part 1"- and no one has deleted it...yet.
Therefore, as a special gift to you, I shall regale you with another 👑 journal! It has been awhile, so I know you are ready and waiting. So let's dish:
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away- the entertainment industry put out something called "records". Large 12" awkward black vinyl disk-things that were used to record sounds. An actual needle would drag across the surface in order to release those sounds. How barbaric! A torture worthy of Jake-the-Bear. A big, black 12 incher can be intimidating for some people, so they put out smaller versions called "singles". These things would be housed in "sleeves" and "covers". Sometimes they would mix it up a little and put out these disks in different colors, you know, collectibles. So people would buy these things- yes they actually forked over money for music- and they would store these things on "shelving units" for years and years.
Then someone invented something called "tapes". They could be 8 -tracks or cassettes. Long spools of brown ribbon that recorded sounds. Some people thought these tapes were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Other people did not feel that way. They still clung to their "records". The record execs wondered how to get these people to buy their tapes. Then some savvy person said, "I know. Let's 're-master' these things and add a bunch of crap to them so people think tapes are better." And so they did. And everyone bought them. If you were really "hip" and "with it" you played your tapes in something called a "boom-box". People actually carried these things around with them in broad daylight. So people would scratch their records and play their boom-boxes and do something called "break-dancing". Yes. It happened. I myself once performed something called the "worm"... In public. Tapes, however, had their drawbacks. The ribbons had a way of "catching" and getting "stuck" in the "tape deck". Once that happened, you were "screwed". I spent countless hours "respooling" them to get a few more plays out of them. If you were tech savvy, you made something called "mixtapes", often used as an expression of affection between lovers. The quality of these mixtapes was poor, which I suppose, delighted the entertainment execs.
Then came something called "compact discs". Shiny, golden, alien things. For many years, only the wealthy could afford them. I was not one of the wealthy. I looked at them from afar. The same problem persisted: How to get everyone to buy them? I know, let's re-re-master everything and force people to buy them. And so people bought them. And eventually the price went down and I bought a stack of shiny, golden discs so that I could be part of the "in" crowd. People who had money used to store them in "towers". I tossed them in a basket. Long, long ago. Far, far away.
Eventually someone asked: "How many times can you re-master something- and get away with it?"
So that was the end of that.
Let me tell you something: Having lived through all this re-mastered, down-loaded, digitized crap, the old vinyl doesn't seem so bad. Moving on to film.
Long, long ago- In a galaxy far, far away- there lived a humble director named George Lucas. He made some little crappy film called "Star Wars". Using actual spools of film. Personally, I did not think it was crappy- but George Lucas did. For years he droned on and on about all the things he would change if only he had the "technology". That dreaded word. Eventually he developed the sorely needed technology and re-mastered all the things he did not like. Which was almost everything. So he re-released his re-mastered monster. And we saw it... again... because it was remastered. So it was better... right? At least we could take solace in the fact that George Lucas could sleep at night knowing that his "vision" for that crappy little film had finally been fulfilled.
Yeah, I watched it... again. With great antici...pation. But something was...amiss. Rather than enjoy this re-mastered vision, I kept picking out all the crap that didn't used to be there. It was slightly... creepy. But as least I could sleep at night knowing George Lucas made that extra little bit of money off of it. Having lived through all this re-mastered, down-loaded, digitized crap, the original doesn't seem so bad.
Which brings me to 👑, who recently revealed that she has "re-mastered" some of her "art". For the purpose of selling it, of course. Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge her the opportunity to squeeze a little more blood from the porous stone that is the furry community. Or to dredge the bottom of that seemingly limitless well that is her art trove. The question arises, however, whether her artwork is indeed better because she added a bunch of crap to it. I suppose this could be taken as a compliment. The witty banter between artist and adoring minions is telling. See 👑's submission here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16902658/
👑 mentioned that while the remastered art was for sale, she would only sell the original sketch if she literally needed to eat. The minions hinted that they would be more than happy to take the sketch off her hands should that day come. But we all know it won't. 👑 refuses to sell the sketch because it is "really important" to her. I never took 👑 as a slave to sentiment. Perhaps there's more to that sketch than sentimental value. A lot more. The moral? Both 👑 and her savvy minions know the value of the "original" art. Remastered may mean better- but not necessarily best. Just ask 👑 and her minions.
Love, D-
To my darlings, my wonderfurs- my rarest gems- those who actually read my journals. It is time to celebrate! Yes, it has been two whole days since I uploaded my opus, "The Unconventional Challenge, part 1"- and no one has deleted it...yet.
Therefore, as a special gift to you, I shall regale you with another 👑 journal! It has been awhile, so I know you are ready and waiting. So let's dish:
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away- the entertainment industry put out something called "records". Large 12" awkward black vinyl disk-things that were used to record sounds. An actual needle would drag across the surface in order to release those sounds. How barbaric! A torture worthy of Jake-the-Bear. A big, black 12 incher can be intimidating for some people, so they put out smaller versions called "singles". These things would be housed in "sleeves" and "covers". Sometimes they would mix it up a little and put out these disks in different colors, you know, collectibles. So people would buy these things- yes they actually forked over money for music- and they would store these things on "shelving units" for years and years.
Then someone invented something called "tapes". They could be 8 -tracks or cassettes. Long spools of brown ribbon that recorded sounds. Some people thought these tapes were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Other people did not feel that way. They still clung to their "records". The record execs wondered how to get these people to buy their tapes. Then some savvy person said, "I know. Let's 're-master' these things and add a bunch of crap to them so people think tapes are better." And so they did. And everyone bought them. If you were really "hip" and "with it" you played your tapes in something called a "boom-box". People actually carried these things around with them in broad daylight. So people would scratch their records and play their boom-boxes and do something called "break-dancing". Yes. It happened. I myself once performed something called the "worm"... In public. Tapes, however, had their drawbacks. The ribbons had a way of "catching" and getting "stuck" in the "tape deck". Once that happened, you were "screwed". I spent countless hours "respooling" them to get a few more plays out of them. If you were tech savvy, you made something called "mixtapes", often used as an expression of affection between lovers. The quality of these mixtapes was poor, which I suppose, delighted the entertainment execs.
Then came something called "compact discs". Shiny, golden, alien things. For many years, only the wealthy could afford them. I was not one of the wealthy. I looked at them from afar. The same problem persisted: How to get everyone to buy them? I know, let's re-re-master everything and force people to buy them. And so people bought them. And eventually the price went down and I bought a stack of shiny, golden discs so that I could be part of the "in" crowd. People who had money used to store them in "towers". I tossed them in a basket. Long, long ago. Far, far away.
Eventually someone asked: "How many times can you re-master something- and get away with it?"
So that was the end of that.
Let me tell you something: Having lived through all this re-mastered, down-loaded, digitized crap, the old vinyl doesn't seem so bad. Moving on to film.
Long, long ago- In a galaxy far, far away- there lived a humble director named George Lucas. He made some little crappy film called "Star Wars". Using actual spools of film. Personally, I did not think it was crappy- but George Lucas did. For years he droned on and on about all the things he would change if only he had the "technology". That dreaded word. Eventually he developed the sorely needed technology and re-mastered all the things he did not like. Which was almost everything. So he re-released his re-mastered monster. And we saw it... again... because it was remastered. So it was better... right? At least we could take solace in the fact that George Lucas could sleep at night knowing that his "vision" for that crappy little film had finally been fulfilled.
Yeah, I watched it... again. With great antici...pation. But something was...amiss. Rather than enjoy this re-mastered vision, I kept picking out all the crap that didn't used to be there. It was slightly... creepy. But as least I could sleep at night knowing George Lucas made that extra little bit of money off of it. Having lived through all this re-mastered, down-loaded, digitized crap, the original doesn't seem so bad.
Which brings me to 👑, who recently revealed that she has "re-mastered" some of her "art". For the purpose of selling it, of course. Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge her the opportunity to squeeze a little more blood from the porous stone that is the furry community. Or to dredge the bottom of that seemingly limitless well that is her art trove. The question arises, however, whether her artwork is indeed better because she added a bunch of crap to it. I suppose this could be taken as a compliment. The witty banter between artist and adoring minions is telling. See 👑's submission here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16902658/
👑 mentioned that while the remastered art was for sale, she would only sell the original sketch if she literally needed to eat. The minions hinted that they would be more than happy to take the sketch off her hands should that day come. But we all know it won't. 👑 refuses to sell the sketch because it is "really important" to her. I never took 👑 as a slave to sentiment. Perhaps there's more to that sketch than sentimental value. A lot more. The moral? Both 👑 and her savvy minions know the value of the "original" art. Remastered may mean better- but not necessarily best. Just ask 👑 and her minions.
Love, D-
And yes, I still hoard all my vinyl, even have a couple of those pretty colored ones! I also have some of the 'Master Recording' type, taken straight from the master recording tapes (Best LPs ever!).