Disproving Your Own Point

Radio: "You're advertising-free with Scotty and Brett on 93.3!"

Me: "And yet, here you are advertising the fact."

Is there a word for when the act of saying something actively disproves the thing you were trying to say?

I've been swamped with recommendations

So, over at Confessions of a Former Conservative, there was some interesting discussion of the joys of Internet radio and the lamentable demise of local radio. This was particularly helpful to me, because in the comments on that thread I learned about a newish local radio station that I hadn't (until then) known existed. (It's 91.7 KXT, for anyone who's in the Dallas area and doesn't want to browse through the comments.)

On top of that, I learned of the existence of what may very well be the most absurdly over-the-top symphonic metal band in the history of history: Rhapsody of Fire. That suggestion came from Hashmir, who describe the band thusly:

Imagine having an Italian DM who barely speaks English, and has about 300 pages of campaign notes, and you’re never entirely certain what you’re doing in-game or why you’re rolling, but you do know that it’s goddamn epic and the sessions are always a blast. And then this DM cuts a symphonic metal album demonstrating absurd technical proficiency and compositional genius. He also hires Christopher Fucking Lee to do the narration for the album. And then sings a duet with him.

Well, if you hit up Pandora and choose “similar to > Rhapsody of Fire” (or whatever it is), I think they start you off with Dawn of Victory (the song). Assuming there’s just a set constant for any given band. That’s a pretty good introduction, but if possible, you really want to get the album experience — Rhapsody is one of those bands that loses a lot of its flow when you chop it up into singles, and their albums are sequential stories anyway. Not that you’ll be able to follow along.

If you can conveniently get your hands on one or more albums, via your means of preference (*ahem*), I’d recommend starting with Dawn of Victory (the album), Power of the Dragonflame, Symphony of Enchanted Lands, or Symphony of Enchanted Lands II (no relation). And yes, every single song and album they put out has a name like that.

On top of that, another friend sent me a recommendation over on Facebook. He thinks I might be interested in sharing Clausewitz' On War (which is pretty much the Western equivalent of Sun Tzu's Art of War) with Firstborn. (I don't know where people get these impressions of me. It's very mysterious, really.) In particular, he thought I might be interested because this version is Clausewitz as explained by cartoon bunnies and other forest animals.

I figure some of the people who read this blog might find that interesting, too.

Another Confession

I recently confessed that I don't actually watch TV, a revelation which has caused people (both here and in everyday life) to question my sanity, my morality, my health, and my worth as a human being. Since I am precisely the sort of person who tries to put out fires by pouring gasoline on them*, I am now going to offer another confession:

I don't listen to the radio, either.

Oh, I used to. I love music, and I play quite a lot of it. I used to have the radio on all the time. That changed about three years ago - maybe four. Or maybe five. (Having children has done horrible things to my sense of the passage of time.)

Well, whenever it happened, it wasn't a sudden change so much as the culmination of a growing disgust with the radio stations in my area. Why? Well, I can narrow it down to three basic reasons.

1. Popular music was going through a dry spell. This happens every couple of years: there's a period of a couple of months where the radio stations just aren't playing anything that I actually care to listen to. Come to think of it, that was true of most of the 90s, too.

2. Dee-Jays were becoming measurably stupider. This has actually been a trend throughout my life. To be fair, I don't whether they were actually getting stupider, or whether they were always this stupid and they've just been getting more air time in which to display their stupidity. (Honestly. The fact that Kidd Kraddick is still on the air... well, that's another whole rant, but call it Exhibit A.)

3. There is no escape from Morning Shows. Look, I'm not exactly a People Person, and nobody will ever mistake me for a Morning Person. So when I'm in my car on the way to work, the last thing I want to listen to is someone blathering on about their ill-informed opinions and idiotic attempts at humor or relevancy. (See point 2, above.) Play music. That is all I want out of a radio station in the morning. Frankly, it's all I want out of a radio station, period. You have to run commercials to stay in business - okay, I get that. You want to name the song, and maybe the artist? Fine... but after that, shut up. You want to play practical jokes on people on the air? When I become Emperor, you will be first in line for the Gulag. Keep it in mind.

Fortunately, technology came to my rescue. I burned a couple of mixed CDs as a stopgap measure, thinking I could play them when there was nothing on the radio. I titled them Dallas Radio Sucks volumes I and II, respectively, and dropped them in the console of my car.

A week later I added Volumes III - Volume IX. They were now on steady rotation; when I reached the end of one disk, I'd put the next one in. Two weeks after that, I worked my up to Volume XIV. Dallas Radio sucks is now up to Volume XXIII, and I haven't turned the radio back on in years.

And honestly, I haven't missed it.

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* Well, it could work. I mean, the sudden rush of flames could use up all the oxygen in the area, which would cause the fire to go out. Admittedly, it's a poor strategy for campfires and other outdoor applications... Also, come to think of it, if it worked in an enclosed space, I'd promptly asphyxiate. Maybe I should reconsider.