Comments on: TED2013: Takeaway roundup

By: Edwin Cuna

Edwin Cuna — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:49:00 +0000

She has a strong personal quality that attracts people and makes other people like them and be attracted to them. She is deeply glowing with passion and she exudes with coolness and truth.

By: ruadh

ruadh — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:36:00 +0000

That’s brilliant — the lions who are afraid of lights will miss out on opportunities to eat cows, but also get hit by cars less. The ones who learn to walk right past the lights will get cows, but also get run over. With no evolutionary advantage, the adaptation simply won’t happen.

By: C W

C W — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:29:00 +0000

What are the things baneoftrustfundkids likes?

you probably haven’t heard of them

By: C W

C W — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:27:00 +0000

Yes, baneoftrustfundkids, I’m sure you’re truly without privilege, like every other “unique” hot topic mallgoth.

Enjoy the projection of your own insecurities upon others.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:44:00 +0000

Your credentials for challenging the authenticity of others is somewhat lacking.

By: Rick Turner

Rick Turner — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:39:00 +0000

The personality is interesting. The music is not.

By: Melted Crayons

Melted Crayons — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:54:00 +0000

Calling someone a sellout or a hipster is really saying “I am the arbiter of taste and therefor superior”. Which is what hipsters do.

By: Paul Renault

Paul Renault — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 01:47:00 +0000

I have to say it: those eyebrows are creeping me out.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 01:05:00 +0000

It is interesting that he seems to be saying that the lions are afraid of lights because they think they’re people moving. Considering this behaviour ‘may’ be learned because the lions have become scared of cars with headlights, I don’t think that behaviour is going to go away. So the lions being wary of lights behaviour is probably based on cars being dangerous, and that isn’t going to stop, so the fence thing should continue to work

By: AwesomeRobot

AwesomeRobot — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:34:00 +0000

So I take it you disliked Amanda Palmer before it was cool?

You must be fun at parties.

By: Improbus Liber

Improbus Liber — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:25:00 +0000

Now I want a t-shirt that says, “contains depleted pointonium.” with a pointillist radiation warning graphic.

By: mindysan33

mindysan33 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 18:05:00 +0000

That kid is all kinds of awesome, to be sure!

By: mindysan33

mindysan33 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:22:00 +0000

Yawn. Are we ever going to leave the “you’re a poser” bs behind us? Are we still in high school here?

I have an idea for you! You don’t like her stuff, don’t buy her stuff… simple as that. Why not go support the artists you like instead of spending your time tearing down those you don’t? Seems far more productive to me.
[EDITED FOR MY DUMB GRAMMAR]

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:14:00 +0000

Over there in the corner, next to the bones to pick.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:13:00 +0000

Holy fecking shite on a bike; that’s some cool stuff – saving lions with light bulbs and teaching English with computer games. Thanks for reaffirming my faith in our carbon based lifeforms.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:09:00 +0000

“After years of creating beautiful works of detailed pointillism…” I read that as “depleted pointonium”; I guess a neuron-leak from my reading of the previous story about radiation.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:07:00 +0000

I’ve got some hatchets to bury. Do you know where they go?

By: PaulDavisTheFirst

PaulDavisTheFirst — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

I find myself wondering how many generations of lions it will take until they are no longer scared of lights. If you forced me to guess, I’d wager on 3.

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Axe-grinding is two doors down on the right.

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:39:00 +0000

I hate them all! Bunch of… People!

By: Bender

Bender — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:22:00 +0000

To change the tired subject, I think we can agree that the other three people are pretty cool. Especially the kid. :)

By: KBert

KBert — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:01:00 +0000

I believe AFP is living exactly what she’s been seeking all along; an authentic life, folks with opinions like yours, be damned.
She will never be mainstream simply because raw expression of emotional reality is shunned by so many. Scanning an audience before a show starts, the diversity is astonishing. They’re present to enjoy her abundant talent; she’s way more than an accomplished musician.
I’ve found her work wonderful from the start, seen her performances 4-5 times over the last 6 years, experienced her love for her fans and witnessed the effect she and her work has had on my daughter over this period. My girl also claims that AFP saved her life.
I’ll be turning 60 in 10 days and am as far from a hipster trust fund kid as you’ll meet.
And you really don’t have a clue!

By: Guysmiley

Guysmiley — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:51:00 +0000

Because anything you like is “good” and anything you don’t like is “hipster poser awful”? I don’t recall voting for you as the ultimate judge of taste.

By: baneoftrustfundkids

baneoftrustfundkids — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 12:52:00 +0000

Poser seeking the big sellout, no sale yet. Hipster trust fund kids can safely still claim to like her as she is not yet mainstream, nor will she ever be.
Just plain awful music. The ratio between hipster posing and talent is just too great.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 12:43:00 +0000

After having watched the cover of Creep (thank you for linking to it, I’ve never seen it), I would lay huge amounts of money that the actual instrumental part of the performance wasn’t designed to be the centerpiece, the rest of it was. If I had been in that audience and had a choice between her staying on stage and playing the chords perfectly on a guitar and her picking up a ukelele and walking around the room, interacting with the audience, I would have instantly gone for the audience participation option.

As for the Dresden Dolls’ stuff being flat, I think that was part of their sound and an expression of her feelings. Coin Operated Boy is an example of a song talking about very unhappy relationships, a feeling mirrored by the musical style.

But as much as I’ve enjoyed the majority of her work, Amanda ‘Effing Palmer wasn’t the only person this post covers. The other three people featured have all done very interesting and perhaps quite transformational stuff, from an artiist encouraging other artists to embrace their physical flaws and let it influence their art rather than trying to hide it, to a kid who may have helped save his country huge amounts of money and help farmers and wild animals coexist, to a man with a revolutionary way of proving that children learn best when they are positively motivated to, rather than forced to. All of these people deserve our attention, discussion and focus, not just the pretty lady who sings songs sometimes in various stages of undress, as much as I love that as well :D

By: Dr. Chronobiologist

Dr. Chronobiologist — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 10:47:00 +0000

She’s just not that great a musician…

You don’t enjoy her style of music or you believe her unskilled?

Here’s her playing a cover of Creep on ukulele https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faDiGGOrC1g something that most people could learn to do in a week. Definitely not requiring Mozart-level prodigal abilities. But goddamn I’m loving hearing it in the background while typing this. I bet that was a hell of a show to be at even if her music isn’t one’s style. Her crowd interaction is a 1000x better than the usual “Chicago!!! Are you ready to rock!!!” banter that neophyte fans suck up from rock legends. Here’s her cover of “Exit Music” from the same show for reference to instrument playing capabilities (or lack? I guess it depends on who you use for comparison) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwFbADEujnc

Her work with Dresden Dolls feels flat to me and it’s just not my thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC7DEv7Od38

But I wouldn’t say she’s a terrible musician because she sometimes plays songs I’m not inclined to enjoy. Maybe that’s because she sometimes makes songs that I do enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMgfRThylhU

By: Rick Turner

Rick Turner — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 08:14:00 +0000

If only I could find Amanda Palmer’s music appealing… She’s just not that great a musician…