The $%*! frustration thread

[Syna]

Yeah, that's such a Capitalist/Calvinist attitude - "you deserve what you've got, so be grateful that it isn't worse [hell]!" It is certainly important to keep things in perspective, and I try to; so many of my peers don't have jobs, and so few people in general have full-time jobs related to creative writing. But I do really hate that capitalistic attitude of "your employer doesn't owe you anything, so shut up and be grateful," and of course it doesn't help that people are willing to put up with a lot more these days. The employers really have the upper hand, and that's honestly quite scary.

[ZeaLitY]

It's like that Subnormality comic. You think about humanity and feel good about sentience and civilization, and then you realize there are people who can't fucking point out Canada on a world map. And it makes you wonder...

[wiz Khalifa]

It's like that Subnormality comic. You think about humanity and feel good about sentience and civilization, and then you realize there are people who can't fucking point out Canada on a world map. And it makes you wonder...

a lotta those peeps be Nickelback fans, ironically enough

[Sajainta]

a lotta those peeps be Nickelback fans, ironically enough

I almost choked on my water when I read that.

You, sir, just made my day.

[Thought]

I am essentially uneducated when it comes to music. To give an example: I greatly dislike the Beatles (though I can appreciate them on a historical level), which I am told is an unspeakable affront to humanity. But the point being, I have no idea what it is about Nickelback that engenders such derision. True, they don't seem to be anything special, but there seems to be an entire level of fail that I don't understand. I don't suppose someone might be willing to elucidate the matter for me?

[ZeaLitY]

Hah, try listening to radio on a commute over the last few years. I forget when specifically, but there was a 2 or 3 year period where

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH, DURRRRRRRRR

was on heavy, unstoppable, suicide-inspiring rotation. They're not hated because they're mediocre and write mediocre lyrics and cash-ins; they're hated because they're mediocre and ubiquitous. Everyone has some friend who likes Nickelback, a bewildering fact that otherwise damns a respectable person. And then there's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs4tNeGyTyI

They cannibalized their own song. That was the fait accompli.

I hate modern rock in general, though. Seems like it's devolved into shitty melodies and production, the same godforsaken vocal style (parodied through Nickelback in this genius video), and testosterone-filled angry male lyrics.

[Sajainta]

^^^  Pretty much...

They're just a talentless band with a terrible lead vocalist and a slew of forgettable songs that all sound the same.  The same could be said for a lot of bands--like, say, Creed--but for some unknown reason Nickelback still remains popular and their shit is played everywhere.  They're just a crappy band.

But frankly, I have no idea what makes them such a huge punching-bag, as opposed to other lame "rock" bands.  I think it's incredibly amusing, but I have no idea where it came from.  I'm not sure when it became some sort of in-joke for people to collectively hate on Nickelback.

[Thought]

Thanks, Zeality. The first video was greatly interesting and the second was just hilarious. I'm not sure I understand yet (like Saj, still don't know what makes them stand out more than other bands... perhaps the lack of change?), but I definitely have a good inkling now.

[Sajainta]

In my personal opinion, Creed is about a million times worse than Nickelback.  But Nickelback still fucking sucks.

[Syna]

Yeah, Creed is worse, though they're so over-the-top bad that they're easier to make fun of. Maybe that's the reason people are less vitriolic about them? I mean, there are few pleasures in life so fine as mangling "Higher" with one's friends. 

Anyway, my uncle was in Seattle during grunge's heyday, so I have an especial contempt for people who STILL TRY TO SING WITH THE DAMN EDDIE VEDDER VOICE well into the 00s. Only one person should do that and that is Eddie Vedder.

[tushantin]

a lotta those peeps be Nickelback fans, ironically enough

I'm one of them.

>.>

<.<

Well, not a hardcore fan, but hell!

I guess I understand now. Frustration makes the world go bad. Makes em do evil things. When a boss is frustrated, the employees are screwed. When a teacher's frustrated, the children wanna go home badly. For ignorant people, frustration comes in the form of screaming "WHY DOESN'T THIS BLOODY THING WORK?!?!", but even the intellectual ones aren't spared, as their minds are constantly struggling to keep their sanity. When you're frustrated you don't give a shit.

And that's the end of empathy.

EDIT: Going with the music topic, as much as I like many rock music albums quite a lot of them sound similar and have unoriginal lyrics, which is why my taste sort of shifts in different directions. For some reason, based on my mood, my tastes vary between traditional, to celtic-new age, to Hindi, to concert/classicals, pure instrumental and tribal, or regional, or even complex trance. I just don't have tastes for metal though, unless I'm in an inspiring mood. 

[Lord J Esq]

Getting back to Subnormality for a moment, that's a great comic and everybody should take a look at it. (It's not just the big themes, but the little details, like "is built for climbing," which make it such a fine work.)

Thus, to spin up a frustration on the spot and thereby do honor to this thread, my frustration is that, ideally, the artist of that comic is closer to what I would call "ordinary" than "extraordinary," yet in real life he stands above most people. My real frustration is how refreshing I find it to encounter someone who thinks lucidly. That should be commonplace, not hard to find.

A curious side note: I played with the wording of this post and noticed that so many of these words which indicate non-exceptionalness are also indicative of popularity: normal, typical, average, regular, ordinary. I struggled to find a word less derisive than "mediocre" (because such a word is an insult to Subnormality and its author), yet free of suggesting representativeness of a majority of the population. I settled on the unsatisfying and awkward "non-exceptionalness" for lack of time.

[GenesisOne]

a lotta those peeps be Nickelback fans, ironically enough

Oh, look

Getting back to Subnormality for a moment, that's a great comic.

Oh, look. I just found the comic page relating to Nickelback. *Giggle*

Smells like Nirvana.

Maybe that'll ease some frustration in here.

[tushantin]

@Lord J Esq: ....My biggest frustration is your complexity of English. No, don't take that as an offense. I really find your words hard to understand until I finish reading them two times or more. Although it may seem simple, for some reason for me, it's not. I really wonder where you got that kind of intelligence from, because it's radically awesome! This often makes me imagine if you're capable of processing two or more situations at a broader range which should be impossible for any human mind.

That's pretty interesting, as I have some characters in a few stories who have almost total control over their languages, are decisive, evaluative and sophisticated just like you, and yet I often fail to bring them up to their fullest potential despite having a dictionary at hand. Of course, English is probably your first language, but still. You, sir, have my utmost respect! 

@VirusComix: LMFAO!!

[Mr Bekkler]

The Dahu is built for climbing. One set of legs shorter. It's a fictional (read: mythical) animal.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Dahu_by_Philippe_Semeria.jpg