Whatever Happened to Rock and Roll?

    This week, The Dave Matthews Band streak of number one debuting albums ended, as their latest one, Walk Around the Moon, only debuted in the fifth position.  This is behind the juggernaut of Morgan Wallen, along with SZA and Taylor Swift.  At least they can be satisfied with the fact that they sold the most actual, physical albums, compared to the streaming and digital equivalents that pushed the other albums ahead of them.  I'm not sure how the individual tracks are doing, as most of the charts in the Rock category are behind a paywall.  What I am sure of is that none of the tracks debuted on the Hot 100, unlike Wallen who was able to have all thirty-six tracks place on the chart.  In fact, he still has the number one spot with "Last Night."   A bunch of the other songs are still tracking as well, well more than other recent artist have had after a few weeks.  This is just the latest detail in some disturbing trends on the charts.  The first is the lack of love for rock songs on the charts.  Just a few years ago, Panic! at the Disco dominated the number one spot on the Alternative Rock charts for over a year with the tracks "High Hopes" and "Hey Look Ma I Made It."  However, "High Hopes" barely made it to the number four spot on the Hot 100.  Soon after, the rules were changed one what can be called 'alternative.'  The current number one song, for both Alternative and Rock is "Something in the Orange" by Zack Bryan.  Hate to tell you this, but it is a country song.  I would even call it more country than "Last Night" by Wallen, and it covers much of the same situations and might even be a better song overall.  Very few 'real' rock songs are on the big charts any more.  Many new 'rock' songs that crossover are more a mixture now, rather than real rock.  A second trend is how much acts are relying on album debuts over singles.  In has been over a year since an artist has had multiple number one songs from the same album, with both Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X accomplishing this feat about the same time.  However, no album has achieved this goal since.  Not Adele, Harry Styles, Lizzo, Beyonce, or even Taylor Swift, although a new remix might give her a second smash hit.  Albums sweep the charts now as 'album equivalent' tracks debut, only for most to fall aside after a few weeks.  Most of the tracks are never heard from again.  Sure, a few might make a comeback, especially if done hit number one out the gate, but it is so hard now to have follow-ups.  I'm surprised that Wallen still has a few hits still trying to climb up the charts.  Even early debut "You Proof" is still holding on.  Yet, this feels like an exception to the current trend.  Maybe this bodes well for the DMB.  Maybe one of their tracks with chart in the coming weeks, although I don't feel it will happen.  I did buy the album, a few days after it was released, but I haven't had time to listen to it yet.  I've heard a few tracks on my spring Sirius free trial, as well as some streams online, but not enough to make any judgements yet.  However, even diehard fans are mixed on the album's reception, which I find to be strange.  Artists rarely stay at peak popularity for more than a decade or so without a big change-up, only to be kept going by their biggest fans until a late-career resurgence brings them back to relevancy. I just want to rock out again.  I'm not saying all of the new 'rock' is bad, just that it isn't really rock anymore. 

Neologisms for the Uninformed

     I do not ask for too much.  I mean, I usually know what I want, and that's just my preference.  One of the few 'big' dreams that I have is to be known as the creator of a new word.  The literary term for this is a neologism.  Some prefer the term 'neonym,' but that is more advertising jargon than anything else.  A neologism is not just an entirely new word, it can also be a phrase or a new definition of an existing word.  I've been trying to create one for a fairly long time.  In fact, I used one just last week in my previous post, 'blogcast.'  Before I define blogcast, I should explain its various components.  Blogcast is based on the word 'blog.'  Blog is what is known as a portmanteau word, which is a word made of two or more different one combined.  Common portmanteau words include 'motel,' from 'motor-hotel,' and 'smog,' from 'smoke+fog.'  Blog is made from combining 'web' and 'log,' in this case meaning a journal not a fallen tree.  A blog is an online journal that reports on various subjects as determined by its author, or blogger.  I actually prefer the term 'bloggist' as it looks more professional, as it is constructed similar to 'journalist.'

With this in mind, blogcast can be defined as the either the actual announcement of a new post to a blog, either a regularly scheduled post or an extra one, or as the continued regular posting of new material.  As a verb, blogcast can be defined as the act of actually putting out posts on a fairly regular schedule.  Used in a sentence, one could say, "Toby's blogcast is late this week due a busy schedule this morning." Or, "He should blogcast on a different day if he knows he might be late on its regular day."  Both are true this week. I don't have too much hope on this word making it mainstream, as it is just not catchy enough.  However, I have a second word waiting, 'dook.'  I define 'dook' as the digital equivalent version of a printed literary or non-fiction work, such as PDF.  Yes, there is already a word for this, an e-book.  However, my word has many benefits.  First, it is monosyllabic.  One syllable is easier than two.  Second, it starts with a consonant, making it quicker to say.  Third, it is unhyphenated.  This makes it easier to spell or type.  'Dook' is a portmanteau word itself, made from 'digital book.' It is supposed to be pronounced the same way as book and should rhyme with it.  Yes, it also looks similar to a word involving excrement, but this is intentional.  As a physical book store owner, I prefer the real versions of books over the electronic versions.  Yes, I do have a few 'dooks' of my own, but I would've have preferred the physical versions if I could have obtained them.  One could use the noun in a sentence such as, "She had to stop reading her new dook, as her computer, tablet, smart phone, and even e-reader, all crashed in a matter of seconds."  Here's hoping that one of my neologisms catches on.  With every instance it is used, either blogcast or dook will someday become mainstream and accepted by spell-checkers everywhere.

Rejected Topics for the Blogcast

    After last week's very emotional post, you would think that there is nothing about my life that would be off-topic.  Well, you would be wrong!  There are a lot of things that I wouldn't post on here.  Today, I will be discussing some of them. (If you think that it is weird that I will be talking about things I don't talk about, just enjoy the paradox and have fun on the ride.)  While I do discuss my mental health quite a few times, other personal things are too private to go into in such a public forum.  For instance, there is a topic that I frequently have wanted to bring up, but this blog is not the right place to do so.  I even came up with a possible title the day before I decided upon the topic for my last post, "Automatic Versus Manual." I would have started out about how most guys have an automatic incidence first, but I may have a manual experience first for reasons I won't go into.  This would then segue way into an automatic incident that occurred about fifteen years ago, one I still can't adequately explain even after researching it.  It was mildly frightening to say the least.  In fact, one could almost call it a nightmare if I hadn't been wide awake in the middle of the day.  Why, of course, I'm talking about automotive transmissions.  What else would there be? {Really? [Uh, yeah (I don't think so.)]}. Another thing I don't talk about on my blog would be a deep-dive into my hobbies.  It's not because they are too personal, but because they would be too technical and boring for non-fans to understand.  While I do bring up many of my hobbies, I usually just give broad strokes about them.  I only go into detail for when I think the general public has a good enough grasp on them.  However, many of my hobbies are very niche.  I want to talk about them, but this wouldn't be the best place for it.  For instance, I am a fan of a very niche tabletop roleplaying game series (TTRPG) That's the current for them, as RPG is mostly used for computer games instead.  On a forum for my game, I made a comment about how popular a possible supplement would be.  I wrote about how I would set up such a work.  Now, the formatting for that forum is a little unfamiliar to me, so it took me almost fifteen minutes to write a brief 'elevator-pitch' type paragraph the way I wanted to.  Here, it would have taken me half as long, and I could write much more as well.  While readers on the forum would like what I would've written, most of my readers here wouldn't even understand most of it.  I'm not really familiar with how to set up links to outside sites, or what the rules are on such things, so I couldn't write here or elsewhere and then set something up there.  Someone even private messaged me for more information and I am unsure of what to respond.  A final topic that I won't write about here is political issues, which is appropriate since yesterday was the primary election here in Kentucky.  I will not mention anything about the results or how I voted.  No way.  I wouldn't want to possibly offend half of my potential audience by talking about my views.  I could bring up an issue and clearly point out every single detail about how that issue affects me, and I would still end up being hated by those outside of my political leanings.  Even those in my own party could end up hating me for veering too much outside of the party's norms.  Yes, I would want to talk about such things, and I have hinted about my views at times, but I will never overtly mention something that could end up being controversial. I don't even want to think about what could go wrong.  I said too much; I've said enough.  (REM, "Losing My Religion")

Cue the Twenty-One Pilots Song

    I usually start thinking about an idea for my blogcast posts well in advance of me actually writing them, so that they are mostly composed before I start typing them in.  Last week, something occurred that almost derailed my plans, and I feel that I need to discuss this.  I found out about some bad news about someone I know (details not revealed to respect their privacy) from a secondhand source.  Immediately, my mind began race.  Are they okay?  Why hadn't they mentioned this before?  What should I do for them? Could this happen to me? It didn't help that I found this out just a few minutes before I was supposed to go to bed.  Fortunately, it only took me a little longer than normal to fall asleep, mostly by thinking on other topics.  It took me an entire day of struggle to come up with the right words to say before I ultimately reached out to them, mostly out of fear and embarrassment.  I'm not caught up on messaging etiquette and such that well.  I then waited another whole day or so before I read their response.  See, ever since I was a little kid, I've had problems with anxiety and panic attacks.  They may have been caused by a prank scare my great aunt and mother gave me.  I have an almost childlike innocence, or maybe naïveté would be a better word, and a strong sense of hope and wonder that leads me to see my world as a good place, if not exactly a perfect one.  Whenever something shatters this view, I can freak out.  Sometimes, I shut down entirely as my mind races to process this information, thinking and overthinking about what is happening. On the rare occasion, I take reckless actions to take control of a situation, trying to get my world back on track, as my mental energy just has to go somewhere, anywhere.  It doesn't even have to be bad news, either for me or someone else.  Positive news and even relatively neutral information can set me off.  For instance, like many other fans, I read the last "Harry Potter" novel straight through, finishing rather late at night.  I had a very hard time falling asleep, but not just because I was hyped up from reading so much.  No, I was mad, even jealous, at Harry because he got the happy ending he deserved, and my life was so miserable.  All I could think about was why couldn't I make something out of my life.  Sure, my store would have trouble not having another huge bestseller, but my anxiety was about more than that.  My life was such a lonely mess, and I couldn't help but keep thinking about everything I should have and could have done to have made it better.  I would wind up pacing to try and turn some of my excess mental energy into physical work, but it wasn't working.  I remember ultimately falling asleep, but I was still anxious the following morning.  I was worrying myself sick over this.  I frequently feel sick when I get like this.  It was well into the afternoon before I finally calmed down enough, partially assisted by my usual weekend weightlifting routine, to feel like myself again, but the thoughts hovered in the background for a few more days.  Something similar happened this past spring when I decided to drop out of my grad school class.  I freaked out about the course and flaked out on it, without even informing the rest of the class like I said I would.  I never even asked anyone if this was the right course of action until after the fact.  Many of these thoughts take over whenever I lose contact with the rest of the world, which is quite often.  I remember once, when I was in third grade or so, when school had to be let out early for a water break or something.  It was rainy, and that meant I wouldn't get to see my best friends who were in another class, that day.  The change in routine led me to be depressed for much of the afternoon at home, barely feeling anything and locked inside my own head.  I recognized that I needed to be around people to feel like myself, or just to feel.  For much of my life, I haven't been around people, though.  I always dreaded summer vacations, as this meant I would be by myself for most of three months.  I had tried to make plans upon graduating from high school to keep in touch with a few friends I felt could help me transition into college, so I could learn how to socialize and make more friends.  That didn't happen, leaving me vulnerable to my biggest attack back in 1996, indirectly the start of four years of doing almost nothing.  I've gotten a little better since then, but I still don't know how to act in a social situation.  I still haven't really made any new friends since high school.  I wish for something more.  My biggest anxieties can still pop up at any moment, and I still obsess over them, but it has gotten better.  One of the reasons I started this blog was so that I can vent my issues out, at a time when I had no one else to do so with.  The layer of anonymity I get here allows me to get personal with my problems, but it leaves some distance as well to prevent my social awkwardness from getting too great. I brought some of these fears up when I finally responded to my friend's message, and I did it at a time when I knew they were available and would see it.  Reckless, bold, and more in-character with who I was before I started having these attacks.  They responded by saying the would support me when they could, just like I had said I would support them in whatever way I could for them.  I decided to make that the subject of this post that morning.  I actually typed this days early, so I wouldn't chicken out or forget. I just did a few revisions before posting, but I still think I may have left something out.  I feel like I have a lot more to say to some people, directly, just to see how they are and remind them how much they are to me.  I get this way every year about this time, and this year I might just come through with my plans.  Thank you for listening.

I've Gotta Know When They Folded Them

    Just a week or so ago, I found out that yet another magazine I liked would be ending its print run and be digital only.  For some reason, these magazines are ending at about the same time every year.  First off, in 2020, was Muscle & Fitness. I had been reading the magazine since the 90s, back when I started weightlifting.  Okay,  I never actually went to a gym/fitness center, even though I was interested, but I have now been working out for about half of my life. I still am going though the remnants of my collection, cross-referencing the exercises and tips before putting them away.  I just realized this morning, while composing this post, that I have yet to regularly look up the website that they permanently moved to.  I don't even know if it is still up.  Last year, Entertainment Weekly finally ended its print run, after years of being a monthly magazine.  I had already given up my subscription, one that I had had since 1992, due to the lack of interesting articles and features.  The mag had just gotten to high-brow and not general entertainment any more.  I still check up their website about once a day or more.  It was one of the first sites I added to my favorites list when I got this computer.  For some reason, the site had always featured a wider variety of material compared to the mag, even though there is still a little too many things that don't turn me on.  Well, this past month, another magazine went online only, MacLife.  It was one of the last tech mags from the US still on the stands.  Unfortunately, it wasn't available locally, meaning I would only pick up an issue whenever I was out of town.  This meant I would only get an issue four or five times a year.  I was always thinking of subscribing, but I never got around to it.  Now, I am glad I didn't.  In fact, I probably picked up the penultimate issue this past February.  As of this time, I have yet to check out their website, as it hadn't been set up at the time when I read the news item online.  There was speculation that it would be behind a paywall, unlike the previous two magazines.  Now, paying about ten dollars a few times a year was something I could handle.  Even if the price has gone down from that, I wouldn't want to pay for an online subscription.  First, I don't want a sum deducted from a credit card every month.  I'm not that good at keeping ongoing payments straight.  Second, I don't read every article.  Maybe a little over half of them.  I would skim the rest if they didn't seem pertinent to me, although that was beginning to change ever so slightly after I finally got an iPhone.  Finally, I don't have the computer time to read even that much without having to forfeit something else.  Today's post is over a half hour late because I was watching videos online.  Something unexpectedly got uploaded this morning, and I wanted to see some of it. (It was a Smosh parody of a Family Guy reunion.) Watching it along with my regular Good Mythical Morning put me way behind schedule.  For the print version of the mag, it would take me days to finish it, as I would usually just read a dozen or so pages at a time to make sure I gave all my interests equal time.  Reading an online magazine would just waste computer time I could have been using for social media or games, even though I am playing more games on my phone now.  I was playing and winning so much on my phones last night, I actually had to stop because they were heating up too much and draining the batteries too fast.  I was watching streaming at the same time, so I could do more in the same amount of time.  Oh, I would also need to do schoolwork, when I actually go back to taking classes this fall.  As of this moment, the only magazines I get readily are my puzzle mags.  Two quarterlies, that I am three whole issues behind on in finishing, and my Games World of Puzzles that I have been collecting since grade school, most of that time via subscription.  There are others that I pick up when I find them, none locally, although I can't be sure if any of them are still in print or not it has been so long that I have seen some of them on the stands.  Maybe it isn't such a bad thing I have less to read.

I Misread That Song Title Once Before

    Last year, I posted a puzzle based on the name of various television shows, except one letter was changed in the title.  Find it here. I had so much fun, I came up with a second puzzle the following week based on a slightly different theme, either adding or deleting a letter.  Well, I have come back to do an update, but based on song titles this time.  I debated whether or not I should do this, as I usually create other puzzles based on song titles.  However, I came up with such good ideas, I finally came around to make this one up.  Below, you will find synopses of various songs that were popular last year.  However, one letter was changed in the title, creating an entirely different song.  Think of it a the start for one of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song parodies.  For example, if a clue read "A small municipality celebrates the bicentennial of the statue of their amphibian mascot," followed by the artists Lil' Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, your answer would be "Old Town Toad," which is based on the song "Old Town Road" with a 't' replacing the 'r' in the last word.  Each of the clues can be solved in the same way.  Scroll down to find the answers.  Good luck.

1. Men have a rap battle about how supremely attractive their spouses are.  Glass Animals
2. A public service announcement about one way to curb the pet population.  Kid Leroi and Justin Bieber
3. A woman gets a tattoo in such a place that she can point out where the sun rises, and where a certain part of her anatomy is found.  Adele
4. Notice to all woodworkers about the dangers of getting small pieces of wood caught under your skin.  Ed Sheeran
5. A man realizes the mistake of ordering shellfish for dinner on a blind date with a woman he just met, and now he has digestive problems.  Jack Harlow
6. An instructive tune about how peat is a renewable fuel source.  Latto
7. Scientists debate about how a man now has soda pumping through his veins instead of blood.  Elton John and Dua Lipa
8. Local meteorologist informs the public that it is almost rainy season, and one should start their moisture defense protocols.  Lizzo
9. Nuns have a fashion show to debut their new apparel line featuring bright colors and bold designs. Ed Sheeran
10. Are you in need of a colon cleanse?  Then try our newly improved product designed to remove even more waste!  Imagine Dragons
11. A man confesses about how he wants to cook his girlfriend, marinade her in the cooking juices, and then eat her.  Morgan Wallen 
12. I wrote a companion piece to this puzzle about the vertical struggle of having to come up with jokes and wordplay to make this puzzle funnier.  Kate Bush
13. A man with insomnia can't stop pacing, even though it is well past midnight and he needs to get to sleep. Harry Styles
14. Ozzy Osbourne confesses about his secret addiction to eating flying mammals after accidentally biting one on stage during a performance. Steve Lacy
15. Researchers debate on the intelligence of small insects.  Turns out, most aren't.  Em Beihold
16. A farmer worries about how he will till his fields, since they are all hard and packed.  Beyonce
17. Another farmer is scared that a fearsome creature is prowling on his property, for a second time. Zach Bryan
18. Vladimir Putin creates a propaganda song about how he is the epitome of Russian masculinity. Bad Bunny
19. A woman complains to her boyfriend about how ill-fitting her new jeans are. Doja Cat and The Weeknd
20. A tribute to Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa
21. Advice from Paul Hollywood about bread-making on a cooking show. Chris Stapleton
22. A famous musician leaves the business to a life of mediocrity.  Parmalee
23. A woman tries to shake off a "Karen" who is trying to take an item she say she wants.  Sam Smith and Kim Petras
24. Eureka! Someone just discovered gold in Biloxi. Kane Brown
25. A little kid just ruined a dress for the Met Gala by drawing happy faces in crayon all over it. Maren Morris

ANSWERS

1. "Heat Wives" - "Heat Waves"
2. "Spay" - "Stay"
3. "East on Me" - "Easy on Me"
4. "Slivers" - "Shivers
5. "First Clams" - "First Class"
6. "Bog Energy" - "Big Energy"
7. "Cola Heart" - "Cold Heart"
8. "About Damp Time" - "About Damn Time"
9. "Rad Habits" - "Bad Habits"
10. "Enema" - "Enemy"
11. "Basted on You" - "Wasted on You"
12. "Punning up That Hill" - "Running up That Hill"
13. "Late Night Walking" - "Late Night Talking"
14. "Bat Habit" - "Bad Habit"
15. "Dumb Little Bug" - "Numb Little Bug"
16. "Break My Soil" - "Break My Soul"
17. "Something in the Grange" - "Something in the Orange"
18. "Moscow Male" - "Moscow Mule"
19. "You Tight" - "You Right"
20. "Sweetest Pig" - "Sweetest Pie"
21. "You Should Probably Loave" - "You Should Probably Leave"
22. "Take My Fame" - "Take My Name"
23. "Unhold" - "Unholy"
24. "Ore Mississippi" - "One Mississippi"
25. "Circles around This Gown" - "Circles around This Town"

Watch My Feed for It Won't Watch Itself

    I was late getting into the online video craze, such as it is.  In fact, I have only starting watching certain channels on a regular basis this year.  It all started on Facebook a few years ago when I accidentally his the "Watch" icon instead of one of the other ones.  They way the order can change, randomly and then back, can be confounding.  Anyway, since I was there, I decided to see what was available.  At first, there was a seemingly random mix of almost anything.  Then, I discovered this comedian who was doing sketches instead of touring due to the 2020 lockdowns.  I began to look for his new episodes whenever they came up.  Sometimes, older videos popped up instead of new ones.  I ultimately began to follow him, because I sort of liked his material. He uploads one new episode per week, on average, although he has taken breaks, or put up a bonus episode.  Mostly, the sketches are topical takes with him personifying the various states in the USA or the Federal government.  At other times, he goes on deeper dive into a state to bring up such things as the names of various cities or their unusual laws.  Over time, my feed began to pick up more comedy bits, mixed in with the household hacks, video game replays, and bunny videos. BUHHNIES!!!!  Sometimes, I would get TED talks on mathematical challenges or logic puzzles. Astrological discussions would pop up regularly.  Lately, though, comedy dominates, with the gaming videos second, particularly one where various armed figures would battle it out while jerkily trying not to get knocked out.  One of the comedy bits involved a bunch of people being forced to try foods that might not be technically good.  I first thought that they were based outside of the US, like some of the English lessons, but I was proven wrong.  They were a comedy troupe from LA, some of whom were former child stars.  Soon, other videos of theirs began to show up.  Improv challenges, written sketches, or other games that weren't food related.  Hidden among those videos was one were these two men would discuss various topics.  After a few videos, between the comic book comparison lists and historical lessons (and the occasional health chats on topics outside the listing for this blog), I noticed that these two men showed up a few times with the comedy troupe.  Slowly, their other videos began to pop up.  They would do taste tests on various food products, play games based on where foods originated, redo recipes based on entirely different ingredients, and even have a few non-food based things.  Well, this past January, I finally caught their YouTube channel.  And I was obsessed.  I started watching the original clips on the day they came out, instead of the abbreviated versions I had been watching.  For example, this Monday's episode featured the men trying to figure out which price-point of certain foods, a recurring segment this time featuring their producer's favorites.  Whenever either one chose the highest price version, they would have to dance with a person in a cow costume.  For the last few times this segment aired, assassination attempts were made on the cow.  This time, the attempt was successful, as sticks of dynamite were attached to the cow's back and 'blew' up.  Bits of cow costume were everywhere, including part of an utter in the food they were tasting.  While most of the bits were later cleared out, some were still seen in the background.  For the version shown on Facebook the next day, which was only a quarter of so long, the cow's demise wasn't shown, but the costume bits were still seen in the background.  The original was funnier.  Through research, I found out the these guys' production company bought out the comedy troupe's a few years ago when the comedy channel was in danger of folding.  Now, they are part of the same family, and I kind of feel that I missed out for so many years.  Instead of watching clips of anime in the original Japanese or people laughing at other's mistakes/jump-scares, I could have been seeing more of this.  These two channels are now dominating my feed, and I can't help to wonder about how well their algorithms know me.  I already make sure I don't go to some websites before logging into Facebook or other sites.  The cookies start loading things that I sometimes don't think match with me.  Now, I just need to get some ideas on how to improve my own online media.  I'm beginning to think I have found a true calling here.