St Mary’s Butts, Reading, England Superthread

[Axver]

I'm calling shenanigans on that. Mules or asses. No horses.

An ass for an arse?

 

[Axver]

I have known people that own horses, but again, it’s Kentucky.

There’s a park with stables near me that people that live in the city but want to own horses rent out. Every Tuesday morning when I go by on my way to school, there’s a girl right out at the front of the park letting her horse graze. Last week when I went by she must have been listening to music on her phone because she was straight up dancing. Like not just a little bit of swaying, she was getting it on.

I shouldn't just assume anybody who owns a horse is a rich toff, especially as I full well know better via a certain past Superthreader... but I still do anyway. Tories.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Dreamouloud is so bougie

 

[the tourist]

RIP the Superthread.

Most people who were here in the heyday either left completely or barely post anymore. So, meh.

 

[kiwilad]

So... never knew these sort of threads existed on Interference. Don't die, interesting thread.

 

[Axver]

I will always treasure the glory days of the Superthread. I was in a bad place personally but had so many good times here, and it led to so much in my life beyond this forum too.

So yeah I'd rather it didn't die.

Also, JACINDAAAAA!

 

[kiwilad]

I will always treasure the glory days of the Superthread. I was in a bad place personally but had so many good times here, and it led to so much in my life beyond this forum too.

So yeah I'd rather it didn't die.

Also, JACINDAAAAA!

So keep it alive. Massage its still-beating heart. Let this be your greatest legacy.

Yeah, Jacinda... Dealt with her a lot in my previous job, found her amazing. Clever, articulate, honest, warm, great phone voice...
Not sold on all her policies but hey, that's democracy.

 

[Axver]

I'd prefer my books to be my greatest legacy, but hey I'll take the Superthread.

Also I got some reckons on Jacinda into the ABC (final half of the article): Jacinda Ardern: Who is New Zealand's next prime minister? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[kiwilad]

Mmm. Fair summation. I'm also very interested in what happens with the Nats. A good portion of their senior MPs were in opposition when they began their careers. Then 9 years of unparalleled power and popularity.
Now?
Can't see them sticking around. Wouldn't be surprised if 5 or 6 of them are gone in short order.

Also, the fact Jacinda is young, attractive, progressive and female did really matter I reckon. NZers are so aware of how others in the world see us. And having a PM like Jacinda gives us lots of positive headlines, makes us proud. Regardless of how deeply you drill into policy.

 

[Axver]

Yeah, I'm curious if Bill English will stay on or if he'll hand over the reins. As long as it's not to Paula Bennett or Crusher Collins... god, that would be awful, I'd much rather Bill stay on.

I wonder if National will struggle in opposition. If they go into it with the mentality that they've been robbed of power and behave petulantly, it will probably blow up in their faces.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

ooh, people.

it's my friday night, it's about 9 pm and i'm trying to keep my eyes open. i'm such an old person. i met (like as in very briefly at one of those things where you line up to get shit signed) the guys from cut copy at acl.

 

[Axver]

I wish I could fall asleep at 9pm. I'm on such bad hours right now. If I get to sleep before midnight it's impressive.

 

[the tourist]

So keep it alive. Massage its still-beating heart. Let this be your greatest legacy.

For me personally I kinda left when the themes turned to sports, politics, shitting on U2, and when Desert Island went from actually making something and tagging it with artwork and whatnot and turned into a club of people who share a streaming service making playlists and sharing them that way.

 

[Axver]

Desert Island - and the song survivor competitions - really lost it when there ceased to be that critical mass for diverse participation. The forum might still produce good threads but it's not as active in the glory days of 2005-09 when you had more than enough people coming through regularly to make competitions like those worthwhile and interesting.

 

[the tourist]

Desert Island - and the song survivor competitions - really lost it when there ceased to be that critical mass for diverse participation. The forum might still produce good threads but it's not as active in the glory days of 2005-09 when you had more than enough people coming through regularly to make competitions like those worthwhile and interesting.

It was fine when the voting was done by the participants. Until it became a Spotify-fest. That's when it lost me, and that was one of the big things I enjoyed about interference.

But yeah, the forum has been slowly dying for years.

 

[Axver]

I found the downloading a pain, so I wish we'd been able to do web-based playlists sooner. But I didn't participate in the one that used Spotify, I was over it. I just never discovered much from most of the other lists.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I wish I could fall asleep at 9pm. I'm on such bad hours right now. If I get to sleep before midnight it's impressive.

this year's taken its toll on me. i always want to sleep. i'm still awake, but it's really just to see if i can stay awake long enough to let my food digest and maybe for the dryer to be done so i can put the laundry away. it's like i'm 50.

re: desert island, i lost interest once it became clear no one (well, enough participants, at least) was interested in actually discovering new stuff, the initial point of it all. instead, it was just a regurgitation of the same ~30 songs amongst a select few people. it got really boring. it wasn't like "aww man i didn't win," winning wasn't the point. it was just that it became painfully clear people weren't even listening to the lists i spent a really long time putting together, and the little feedback i would get was "you didn't use the remastered version of this track" as if that's really valid criticism. like okay yes but what did you think of the list i spent over a month putting together and have listened to in its entirety probably 15 times now?

 

[Axver]

this year's taken its toll on me. i always want to sleep. i'm still awake, but it's really just to see if i can stay awake long enough to let my food digest and maybe for the dryer to be done so i can put the laundry away. it's like i'm 50.

The stupid part is that I've been so bloody tired lately too. And then every night around 9-10pm I perk up and my brain's all "ha ha no sleep lol what were you thinking earlier?"

re: desert island, i lost interest once it became clear no one (well, enough participants, at least) was interested in actually discovering new stuff, the initial point of it all. instead, it was just a regurgitation of the same ~30 songs amongst a select few people. it got really boring. it wasn't like "aww man i didn't win," winning wasn't the point. it was just that it became painfully clear people weren't even listening to the lists i spent a really long time putting together, and the little feedback i would get was "you didn't use the remastered version of this track" as if that's really valid criticism. like okay yes but what did you think of the list i spent over a month putting together and have listened to in its entirety probably 15 times now?

Yeah, the discovery aspect seemed to go out of it a bit. Though for me even the stuff I didn't know usually didn't appeal; the lists skewed in directions that just aren't mine.

I think maybe if some of the lists from the early days had been used around 2010 when my tastes had clearly shifted beyond metal and towards lots of indie and synth stuff, I might've latched onto more.

 

[kiwilad]

The stupid part is that I've been so bloody tired lately too. And then every night around 9-10pm I perk up and my brain's all "ha ha no sleep lol what were you thinking earlier?"

It's the speedballs, man. You academics are always the darkest of inky dark horses.

Is anyone willing to sum up what the gist of Survivor was? That was all happening when I was too scared to even look at all the threads in the Lemonade Stand let alone join in.

 

[the tourist]

It's the speedballs, man. You academics are always the darkest of inky dark horses.

Is anyone willing to sum up what the gist of Survivor was? That was all happening when I was too scared to even look at all the threads in the Lemonade Stand let alone join in.

160 minute playlist. 1 song per artist. No repeated songs from previous iterations. Vote off your least favorite (or later, rank them).

My first experiences with The National, Fleet Foxes, M83, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Girls, Wild Nothing, Stars, My Morning Jacket, and many other artists I enjoy came from Desert Island mixes.

 

[kiwilad]

160 minute playlist. 1 song per artist. No repeated songs from previous iterations. Vote off your least favorite (or later, rank them).

My first experiences with The National, Fleet Foxes, M83, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Girls, Wild Nothing, Stars, My Morning Jacket, and many other artists I enjoy came from Desert Island mixes.

Damn. I came way too late to a hell of a party.

 

[Axver]

Remember the first version where it was just a minimum of 7 artists and you could have multiple tracks? Some of us created such shit compared to what we submitted to later editions.

I was really proud of some of those lists. I never make meticulous tracklists like those any more, except at the end of the year when I try to make something cohesive out of my favourite tracks of the previous 12 months.

 

[the tourist]

Remember the first version where it was just a minimum of 7 artists and you could have multiple tracks? Some of us created such shit compared to what we submitted to later editions.

I was really proud of some of those lists. I never make meticulous tracklists like those any more, except at the end of the year when I try to make something cohesive out of my favourite tracks of the previous 12 months.

I don't think I joined til 3 or 4. But yeah, I almost never make playlists anymore either. I miss it if for nothing but that. The only thing I wished was the ability to volume level between songs that were mastered for CD in the 80s vs. 00s.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

The stupid part is that I've been so bloody tired lately too. And then every night around 9-10pm I perk up and my brain's all "ha ha no sleep lol what were you thinking earlier?"



Yeah, the discovery aspect seemed to go out of it a bit. Though for me even the stuff I didn't know usually didn't appeal; the lists skewed in directions that just aren't mine.

I think maybe if some of the lists from the early days had been used around 2010 when my tastes had clearly shifted beyond metal and towards lots of indie and synth stuff, I might've latched onto more.

ugh i'm on the app and too lazy to separate the paragraphs. already took my sleeping pills so who knows what this post will look like...

lol exactly. i just spent the last hour looking at the austin subreddit just because i was too lazy to get up and go to bed. i wish i'd just gone to sleep any of the earlier times i felt sleepy. but i just had some horchata so i'm happy.

yeah, that's what it was about to me: discovering new artists. it's a shame that aspect got detailed; i suspect others felt the same way because it seemed to lose steam quickly after i felt it got too ridiculous.

 

[Axver]

I don't think I joined til 3 or 4. But yeah, I almost never make playlists anymore either. I miss it if for nothing but that. The only thing I wished was the ability to volume level between songs that were mastered for CD in the 80s vs. 00s.

Huh, I thought you'd been in it since the get-go, you were such a part of the Desert Island furniture for a while there.

And oh god yeah, volume levels was the killer. Having two songs that went together but were mixed at different levels was awful. You knew the segue worked, but it still sounded awful.

 

[Axver]

ugh i'm on the app and too lazy to separate the paragraphs. already took my sleeping pills so who knows what this post will look like...

lol exactly. i just spent the last hour looking at the austin subreddit just because i was too lazy to get up and go to bed. i wish i'd just gone to sleep any of the earlier times i felt sleepy. but i just had some horchata so i'm happy.

yeah, that's what it was about to me: discovering new artists. it's a shame that aspect got detailed; i suspect others felt the same way because it seemed to lose steam quickly after i felt it got too ridiculous.

Oh god the amount of times where I've said "I'll just refresh this page and go to bed" and then been up an hour later... ridiculous.

I think the problem for Desert Island is that as participants contracted, we ended up with a narrow group with largely homogenous tastes and an interest in winning - both factors that caused the variety of the lists to diminish.

 

[Axver]

You folks seen this colossal fuckwit's latest tweet? https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/921268814821588992

I was that fucking close to getting in on the "it's a photo of Obama weeping over Sandy Hook" pile-on that he fucking deserves, but technically my Twitter account is a professional one (I know, it doesn't feel like it; Australian academic Twitter is a good place).

But fuck me, what a callous dumb cunt. Who posts shit like that.

 

[kiwilad]

But fuck me, what a callous dumb cunt. Who posts shit like that.

You answered your question just before you asked it.

How many folk were participating in Desert Island when it was working? What's the critical mass we're looking for here?

 

[Axver]

We normally ran it with 16 lists. At its peak we'd have more people as standbys in case somebody from the original 16 dropped out. I think there might've been one that ran with 20 participants?

The main thing was balancing the number of participants with not having so many lists that there was too much to reasonably hear. Each list was 160 minutes long (two CDs), except for occasional "Mini DI" competitions of 80 minutes.

 

[the tourist]

We normally ran it with 16 lists. At its peak we'd have more people as standbys in case somebody from the original 16 dropped out. I think there might've been one that ran with 20 participants?

The main thing was balancing the number of participants with not having so many lists that there was too much to reasonably hear. Each list was 160 minutes long (two CDs), except for occasional "Mini DI" competitions of 80 minutes.

My favorites were the actual voting because you only had to listen to two lists at a time and we had like a week to do it. So it wasn't as overwhelming and daunting.