Silver linings

I won't beat around the bush, 2016 was a bad year. I refuse to believe that it is just media coverage, this was a bad year. But there were a few things this year I really liked (mostly entertainment stuff for the purposes of this Post) and got me through, so I want to talk about them.

Music
The first thing is actually tied to an early unfortunate event, and that is Blackstar by David Bowie. I remember the moment I read about his death. I had "Lazarus" playing on Spotify when the Rolling Stone headline showed up on my Twitter feed. If you haven't heard the song, it is Bowie's song that kind of acknowledges mortality. That's been read into plenty, but at least I've had something to listen to from the get go.

I really can't mention 2016 without mentioning Kanye's new album. I adored The Life of Pablo by Kanye West. I've written about Kanye already and recent events have shown some interesting turns in his persona, but Pablo gave me a lot to identify with and lean on for strength. Also, just go ahead and lump his concert in there because I'll remember that little trip with Grace for years to come.

I actually saw quite a few concerts in the second half of my year. After I saw Kanye, I also got to see MC Lars, a longtime favorite of mine. He was every bit as nice as I could have hoped and the show with Mega Ran and mc chris was high octane and unique.

This year I had the habit of getting tickets to concerts as Christmas presents, the final show I went to was a Christmas show from Trans Siberian Orchestra. They make an incredible spectacle, but the highlight for me was when they had a tiger change into a dragon change into an attack helicopter. I still don't know why they did that, but that has yet to affect the degree to which I care.

Film

The next thing I loved was the new Coen Brothers movie Hail, Caesar! which really shouldn't be a surprise. It's on HBO at the moment, and that's good because it's hard to explain all the reasons I like this venture without ruining a lot of things, not by killing plot points, just really cool and odd jokes. If nothing else, the sheer amount of incredible names should speak about why I'd be so thrilled by a period movie like this.

Sandwiched between the album and the tour, I binged some serious TV and I have to say, Netflix had a good years. Bojack Horseman has been going strong for a few years, but that blend of flippant humor with serious and potent commentaries on sensitive issues (i.e. mental illness, abortion, nontraditional relationships) is something that I can't get enough of. Also, I didn't expect to like Stranger Things, but there are few things made that so perfectly fit with what I live. I know I'm not from the 80s, but I don't care. Just as I liked the setting of Hail Caesar! I adore that aesthetic that permeates so many things I love.

The other source of TV that entered my life was HBO. My family never paid for the cable subscription. We still don't. But I subscribe to HBO Now so I've gotten to enjoy what they've put out, and it has been some wonderful stuff. I enjoyed Westworld and Veep but my favorite has to be Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I'm impressed with the sheer variety they can produce and there has yet to be a time I could not get out of a funk with those three magic letters.

Games

Before I say anything here, I must acknowledge that I've been playing a lot of older games this year. For instance, I've only recently gotten into Skyrim. Not the remastered on on consoles. The PC version. No special mods. I just finally found what makes it fun. If you want to know what has had a major emotional impact, look to Spec Ops: The Line. It incredibly subverts expectations to show what war is like. To be fair, I haven't been to war. I probably never will. But I definitely can understand the stress there. That's just the beginning of my list of older games I liked this year.

Another thing that was incredibly cheery was Stardew Valley. I love that game. I have never experienced something that so easily made me feel comfortable. When I think about the gameplay itself or the story, there's nothing all that impressive. But the loop always makes me feel productive and relaxed. When paired with the incomparable soundtrack, it's basically a digital blanket I can cuddle into.

In terms of time sinks, there has been little that could compare in my life to Sid Meier's Civilization series, and Civ VI is not an exception. I don't know if I like it as much as IV yet, and I certainly haven't spent as much time with it. But its on its way. That could easily get to be my most played game. Full stop, It's going through the roof as we speak. Twenty hours in a week, thanks to winter break. Life is sad sometimes.

Tech

I need to give a shout out to my phone here. I'm on my own phone plan now, and I adore the phone I have for it. While I don't have the brand new OnePlus 3T, that wasn't announced until a few weeks after I got mine, but I don't care. I love my OnePlus 3. In our society, our phones have gotten to be an expression of who we are. My iPhone was fine, but I think this represents who I am better. It's a smart buy when considering value. It's unique because no one else has it. That's my problem with Apple products. They all blend in. They look nice, but boring. Where my phone is concerned I want to feel unique, and it is.

Person
I can't mention Stranger Things, Westworld and trashing on Apple without thinking about the person who spurred me to watch it, my wonderful girlfriend Allie. I try to keep an air of professionalism with this silly blog and not directly address her, but she is definitely my favorite thing about 2016. I'm not an easy person to be with, but she seems to be sticking it out. She leaves for Canada soon, but I know I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her. She makes me happy. I love her, and she's my favorite thing of the year.

Sounds Good

With the rise of MP3 players and smartphones, more people are listening to music on the go than ever before. While Steve Jobs influence is beautiful to see, it’s not necessarily as beautiful to hear. If you love music, and use Apple earbuds to listen to YouTube, then you are selling yourself short.

Let me begin by explaining my background and bias on this. I initially started making an effort to get higher quality sound after a friend harassed me about it for long enough. When my JVC marshmallow earbuds broke, I splurged and bought the baseline Koss PortaPro headset (which I would recommend for out of the house use against ANY set of cans) for $39. This essentially opened the floodgate.

I noticed a difference in the sound and truly enjoyed it; however, I didn’t think enough of the different experience to really care, though. So when those broke, admittedly because of me, I went back to some marshmallows. I made a bad choice.

While it didn’t sound bad, I couldn’t tolerate it. I had become acclimated to hearing clear mid range notes, crisp high’s, and a bass range that didn’t distort the rest of the spectrum. So when I couldn’t even make the difference between instruments, I went slightly crazy. I’m not honestly someone with a devotion to music, but I have learned to appreciate music on a much higher level by becoming an audiophile.

I’m a also a cheapskate, so let’s talk about how to get the best music experience, for a price that is not unbearable. Two pieces of initial advice, first avoid boutique headphones, and second, you don’t really need the best.

Let me start with the hardware. While I do give Beats by Dre credit for making people kind of care about sound, I also despise their abuse of consumers lack of knowledge, and the trend of celebrity endorsed headphones they started. Unless you find them for an incredible sale, or image really, really matters to you (they make a fine accessory for a certain sense of style), do not buy Beats, Skullcandy, Sol Republic, or anything in that vein. One specific reason for this is sound distortion. Boutique headphones usually have a slavish devotion to bass, but at a sacrifice. While the bass will usually have plenty of punch, it can actually ruin the mids and highs, which typically weren’t great to begin with. For the price, overall sound fidelity is deplorable.

I would also caution against certain other premium headphones. For instance, Bose, Sennheiser, Klipsch, and Audio Technica all make some really, really high end headphones that will absolutely give you the best listening experience possible, but is it really worth it? Even as someone who advises better sound quality, I would also argue these have poor price vs. performance. While those $300 Bose headphones will sound good, and certainly better than Beats at the same price, is it really better enough to justify the difference? I’ll discuss this more later, but for my money I’d say no.

Here’s what I advise: get headphones with an msrp of $40-$100, look mostly to Audio Technica, Sennheiser, Koss, and possibly Sony or JVC, and look for sales. On Cyber Monday a couple years ago I purchased some Audio Technica ATH-m50’s for a rock bottom price for at home use (they have a ten foot cord), but my focus here is out of the house, but let me get back to my focus, out of the house use. Currently, I have a new pair of Koss PortaPros and a pair of Sennheiser CX 686G running earbuds for when I don’t have space for headphones; I love my headphones, and they can get small, but sometimes they just can’t get small enough.

What’s great about PortaPros is they come with a limited lifetime warranty (I lost my first warranty card), and Sennheiser has really great build quality and sound quality for the price. Being as these are for out-of-the-house use, they are also remarkably comfortable, as a bonus. As a fair warning for Koss, they do look a little weird, for anyone concerned with appearances.

Now for the music itself. I won’t go into the technical details about meanings of this, but the measurement for sound quality is kbps. The higher the number, the better. Neither songs bought on iTunes, or listening to YouTube is ideal. Sound files from iTunes run around 256 kbps, and there is a wide variance for YouTube videos, though seeing below iTunes levels is, in my opinion, standard. CD’s, a thirty year old technology, almost always runs at 320, the maximum for the MP3 format. Numerically speaking, CDs provide a much more clear and true sound, which you grow to hear over time. Above that, there are lossless files, the most popular of which is flac, but there aren’t yet any practical phones or music players capable of using the files, and they’re also big.

So let’s stick to MP3. What’s the most affordable way? I would advocate using CDs. Here me out. Basically any computer can burn CDs, and if you’re really stuck on iTunes, it even has a ripping function built in. And if you’re into classic rock, you, your parents, and even your grandparents likely even have some ready on hand.

Retailers often have the album at a price that equals, or falls below the digital sale price. If you’re okay with going used (very low risk with albums), then Amazon has a great selection. Sometimes you can get the full album for less than the price of a few songs on iTunes. If you want to keep the CD, then you have a ready made backup. If not, then you can give it to someone as an unexpected present, and who doesn’t love that?

Do you need to do this for decent music? No, not really. However, if you want a far better listening experience, then low cost options are readily available to crank the experience up a notch.