(no subject)
Jul. 9th, 2019 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I've been watching Songland on NBC. Unlike other reality series -- the people presenting their songs are professional singers and song-writers, just not popular, and there's none of the idiotic drama or competitiveness. The contestants don't interact with each other at all. And there's no Simon Cowell style bully. My fun -- is to predict which song they'll pick. So far I've predicted all but two.
Prior to watching it -- actually for the past two years, Lando has told me how the songwriting biz works. You get an app or go on various internet sites that has a listing of all the needs of various performers and what types of songs they are looking for. Then you listen to it, and create something similar and sell it to them. Also, he told me that there are sites that provide you with the ability to buy rights to perform a song, one time, or recording rights, with different pricing options. And if you want to remaster it or do a different composition -- there's options for that as well. For example, Dolly Parton owns the rights to her original lyrics to I Will Always Love You, and her original composition, but she doesn't own the rights to the remastering of it or Whitney's performance of the song -- but she makes money of it, since she owns an option on it. (Which is why when people whine about Dolly not getting credit for Whitney singing that song -- makes me realize how little they know about the biz. Also, as an aside, a lot of black artists lost their rights to their songs because of how MoTown worked. Little Richard got screwed apparently -- according to Lando, who went on a rant about this.)
While I enjoy as background music -- like now as I'm writing this post -- this critique What NBC's Songland Says About the Sad State of Songwriting.
This is an interesting time to launch a primetime show about songwriters: Some are getting unprecedented name recognition while many are being exploited by an industry that depends on their work. As Tedder himself put it, in an interview with NPR, “If a guy working in the mailroom of Sony comes across the next Beyoncé, he gets more notoriety for discovering that artist than the songwriter that writes the song that becomes that artist’s hit.” Moreover, he points out, songwriters are often the least paid participants in the industry. Earlier this year, members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, led by Nile Rodgers, sent a letter to Spotify urging the streaming company to change its payment structure for songwriters. Alongside virtually every other streaming company (except Apple), Spotify had appealed a ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board earlier in the year that would have increased songwriters’ royalties through 2022. “Songwriters are not treated fairly,” Rodgers told NPR.
This is true. The only writers treated fairly are probably novelists and television writers -- and even those get kicked. Writing is a painful profession, and unless you want to starve, you get a good day-job.
The songwriter who lives across the hall from me, teaches music on the side. And Lando is doing what I do for a living.
Tonight's episode is for a song for Hobbs & Shaw - Too Fast Too Furious, premiering August 2. Which crazy as it sounds? I really want to see. It has Dwayne Johnson, Jason Straighthan, Idris Alba, and a hot female lead, whose name I forget. The trailers are great.
The other movies, I've decided I wouldn't mind seeing? The Kitchen (Elizabeth Moss and Melissa McCarthy taking over the Irish Mob in Hells Kitchen), and Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- a story loosely based on the adventures of Burt Reynolds (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his stuntman (Brad Pitt) in 1970s Hollywood, during the Manson Murders. Apparently the next door neighbor of Burt is Sharon Tate.
2. For Tv? I'm flirting with The Dark, Rain, Westworld, The 100 (although I don't think I can do it), Big Little Lies...
Co-worker wants me to watch "We Who Walk in the Shadows" - the vampire series that takes place in Staten Island, on demand. He loves that series. Keeps bugging me to watch it.
I have to be careful -- since I'm struggling with anxiety, depression, and rage (which is fueling the other two). So I stay away from anything that will take me into that place. Right now, I'm watching Songland. Co-worker said it was a shame I wasn't into sports. I do watch them on occasion. But I have to be nudged or reminded to do so. I have a tendency to forget they are on.
3. I've decided to give up alcohol, spicy foods, tomatoes, potatoes, cheese, and scale back on chocolate...for IBS and sciatica issues. (Also Chlosterol and Pre-diabetes...)
The only time my IBS was under control was when I went off all this stuff. Also, giving up alcohol will save me $40 a week, and possibly help with depression. (I've been struggling with depression off and on this year. It's embarrassing to talk about -- there's a huge stigma attached to it.) Also, I've noted I sleep better when I don't drink and am more focused.
Giving Up Alcohol Boosts Mental Health in Women
For women, quitting drinking may be linked to a significant improvement in mental health, according to a study published online this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The findings come from a comparison of two groups of people, which together included more than 40,000 people. In both, women who never drank alcohol reported the highest levels of mental well-being, but women who started out as moderate drinkers and quit during the 4-year study period had the greatest improvements in mental health, such that their well-being was close to that of the abstainers.
Mental health also improved among men who quit drinking, but the results were not statistically significant, say study authors Xiaoxin I. Yao, PhD, of the School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, and their colleagues.
The findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that moderate drinking may not improve health-related quality of life, co-author Michael Y. Ni, MD, of the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, said in a news release. "Instead, quitting drinking may be associated with a more favorable change in mental well-being, approaching the level of lifetime abstainers."
The researchers analyzed data from adults taking part in the FAMILY Cohort study, which analyzes things that contribute to the well-being of citizens in Hong Kong.
To account for cultural differences, the authors also analyzed data from the U.S. National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which was designed to measure alcohol use disorders and related diseases among adults in the United States.
For the study, the authors defined “moderate drinkers” as women who had seven drinks or fewer per week. "People who reported heavy drinking were excluded because the evidence for adverse impacts of heavy drinking on health-related quality of life is well established," they explain.
At the beginning, men and women who had never drunk alcohol reported the highest levels of mental well-being, after adjusting for a wide range of variables including sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, smoking status, self-reported physical health, and physical activity.
But at follow-up, improvement in mental health among women who had quit drinking during the study period was greater than women who were lifetime abstainers.
For people who stop drinking, the benefits may be similar to those experienced by people who quit smoking, who ultimately have health outcomes similar to those who have never smoked, the authors suggest.
4. Compatibility and Chemistry in Relationships -- seems to be more about heterosexual than LGBTQA or both, but it may apply to all relationships.
Prior to watching it -- actually for the past two years, Lando has told me how the songwriting biz works. You get an app or go on various internet sites that has a listing of all the needs of various performers and what types of songs they are looking for. Then you listen to it, and create something similar and sell it to them. Also, he told me that there are sites that provide you with the ability to buy rights to perform a song, one time, or recording rights, with different pricing options. And if you want to remaster it or do a different composition -- there's options for that as well. For example, Dolly Parton owns the rights to her original lyrics to I Will Always Love You, and her original composition, but she doesn't own the rights to the remastering of it or Whitney's performance of the song -- but she makes money of it, since she owns an option on it. (Which is why when people whine about Dolly not getting credit for Whitney singing that song -- makes me realize how little they know about the biz. Also, as an aside, a lot of black artists lost their rights to their songs because of how MoTown worked. Little Richard got screwed apparently -- according to Lando, who went on a rant about this.)
While I enjoy as background music -- like now as I'm writing this post -- this critique What NBC's Songland Says About the Sad State of Songwriting.
This is an interesting time to launch a primetime show about songwriters: Some are getting unprecedented name recognition while many are being exploited by an industry that depends on their work. As Tedder himself put it, in an interview with NPR, “If a guy working in the mailroom of Sony comes across the next Beyoncé, he gets more notoriety for discovering that artist than the songwriter that writes the song that becomes that artist’s hit.” Moreover, he points out, songwriters are often the least paid participants in the industry. Earlier this year, members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, led by Nile Rodgers, sent a letter to Spotify urging the streaming company to change its payment structure for songwriters. Alongside virtually every other streaming company (except Apple), Spotify had appealed a ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board earlier in the year that would have increased songwriters’ royalties through 2022. “Songwriters are not treated fairly,” Rodgers told NPR.
This is true. The only writers treated fairly are probably novelists and television writers -- and even those get kicked. Writing is a painful profession, and unless you want to starve, you get a good day-job.
The songwriter who lives across the hall from me, teaches music on the side. And Lando is doing what I do for a living.
Tonight's episode is for a song for Hobbs & Shaw - Too Fast Too Furious, premiering August 2. Which crazy as it sounds? I really want to see. It has Dwayne Johnson, Jason Straighthan, Idris Alba, and a hot female lead, whose name I forget. The trailers are great.
The other movies, I've decided I wouldn't mind seeing? The Kitchen (Elizabeth Moss and Melissa McCarthy taking over the Irish Mob in Hells Kitchen), and Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- a story loosely based on the adventures of Burt Reynolds (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his stuntman (Brad Pitt) in 1970s Hollywood, during the Manson Murders. Apparently the next door neighbor of Burt is Sharon Tate.
2. For Tv? I'm flirting with The Dark, Rain, Westworld, The 100 (although I don't think I can do it), Big Little Lies...
Co-worker wants me to watch "We Who Walk in the Shadows" - the vampire series that takes place in Staten Island, on demand. He loves that series. Keeps bugging me to watch it.
I have to be careful -- since I'm struggling with anxiety, depression, and rage (which is fueling the other two). So I stay away from anything that will take me into that place. Right now, I'm watching Songland. Co-worker said it was a shame I wasn't into sports. I do watch them on occasion. But I have to be nudged or reminded to do so. I have a tendency to forget they are on.
3. I've decided to give up alcohol, spicy foods, tomatoes, potatoes, cheese, and scale back on chocolate...for IBS and sciatica issues. (Also Chlosterol and Pre-diabetes...)
The only time my IBS was under control was when I went off all this stuff. Also, giving up alcohol will save me $40 a week, and possibly help with depression. (I've been struggling with depression off and on this year. It's embarrassing to talk about -- there's a huge stigma attached to it.) Also, I've noted I sleep better when I don't drink and am more focused.
Giving Up Alcohol Boosts Mental Health in Women
For women, quitting drinking may be linked to a significant improvement in mental health, according to a study published online this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The findings come from a comparison of two groups of people, which together included more than 40,000 people. In both, women who never drank alcohol reported the highest levels of mental well-being, but women who started out as moderate drinkers and quit during the 4-year study period had the greatest improvements in mental health, such that their well-being was close to that of the abstainers.
Mental health also improved among men who quit drinking, but the results were not statistically significant, say study authors Xiaoxin I. Yao, PhD, of the School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, and their colleagues.
The findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that moderate drinking may not improve health-related quality of life, co-author Michael Y. Ni, MD, of the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, said in a news release. "Instead, quitting drinking may be associated with a more favorable change in mental well-being, approaching the level of lifetime abstainers."
The researchers analyzed data from adults taking part in the FAMILY Cohort study, which analyzes things that contribute to the well-being of citizens in Hong Kong.
To account for cultural differences, the authors also analyzed data from the U.S. National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which was designed to measure alcohol use disorders and related diseases among adults in the United States.
For the study, the authors defined “moderate drinkers” as women who had seven drinks or fewer per week. "People who reported heavy drinking were excluded because the evidence for adverse impacts of heavy drinking on health-related quality of life is well established," they explain.
At the beginning, men and women who had never drunk alcohol reported the highest levels of mental well-being, after adjusting for a wide range of variables including sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, smoking status, self-reported physical health, and physical activity.
But at follow-up, improvement in mental health among women who had quit drinking during the study period was greater than women who were lifetime abstainers.
For people who stop drinking, the benefits may be similar to those experienced by people who quit smoking, who ultimately have health outcomes similar to those who have never smoked, the authors suggest.
4. Compatibility and Chemistry in Relationships -- seems to be more about heterosexual than LGBTQA or both, but it may apply to all relationships.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 11:06 am (UTC)I rarely drink, and it has definitely helped me. I don't do as well with alcohol on a regular basis.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 12:23 pm (UTC)I'm a moderate drinker -- four -five drinks if that, a week. But it is like pouring acid down my esophagus. Also it's high in sugar content. And well, it is a depressant. I'm going to stop buying and abstain.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 12:25 pm (UTC)My system apparently is having issues with it on a regular basis. It's like acid on it. Plus the high sugar. I'm a moderate drinker -- about four-five drinks a week. But I've decided to abstain now.
And yeah, Hobbes and Shaw does look like fun -- breezy dialogue, nothing too deep. I like fun action movies.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 05:38 pm (UTC)Instead if you watch any kind of media at all, you'd assume only former alcoholics ever turn them down, and every celebratory or even casual meeting seems to include them just like smoking used to be part of everything. I find it crazy.
Given everything known about the music industry, I would be interested in hearing who it does work for since that is clearly precious few.
Given my current movie pass, I plan on seeing Hobbs & Shaw as well which I probably wouldn't otherwise (certainly not in the theater). I agree that the trailers look like fun. After having seen Widows I'm not sure I want to see The Kitchen. Widows was a well done film but also depressing.
I do also want to see OUaT in Hollywood though, and the advance word on it has been good.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 10:43 pm (UTC)Like my Dad did. It relaxes me.
But, alas - my digestive system can't take it. It's the sugar content mainly.
And the acid. Also the kidneys and liver have to work extra hard to get it processed. Pre-Diabetic and Diabetic should not drink alcohol -- it turns to pure sugar in your system. Also, it tends to disrupt sleep particularly in regards to women, and can lead to depression and anxiety in women.
I went off it completely once before. Work -- sort of called me back to it.
I honestly think most people, I know my father did, drink because of work -- it's this conditioned view that it will relieve stress or as an award at the end of a bad day. My co-workers often talk about how they'll reward themselves with a glass of wine, a drink, or a beer when they get home. (Although a lot of my co-workers abstain.)
And everything it gives me -- I can get via meditation. Breathing exercises. And other means.
I had to go off coffee for the same reasons. I love coffee -- the taste, the smell -- but I can't have it. It makes me sick.
But I draw the line at chocolate, dang it.
After having seen Widows I'm not sure I want to see The Kitchen. Widows was a well done film but also depressing.
I'd heard horrible things about Widows, so that's interesting. The Kitchen is more comedic in nature and based on a graphic novel -- so I'm guessing it may be less depressing? Movie buddy wants to see it. I may talk him into the Quentin Tarantino flick yet, we shall see.
Hobbs and Shaw -- I may wait for on demand. This is not usually a movie I see in a movie theater. But it does look like fun. They had to kick Vin Diesel out and get Jason Stratharn for the series, but Diesel does not play well with others, and opted out.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 02:05 am (UTC)My father has begun to dislike them in his old age. And movie buddy? I don't know...the jury is out on that one.
What the heck? I adore them. That and really bad disaster flicks...just watched Geostorm over the weekend.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 02:10 am (UTC)But, stopping hasn't been that big a deal for me. And I can't drink the hard stuff -- if it's not mixed with something. Can't do whisky or bourbon at all.
(I don't how my father and cousin do it.) Also nothing carbonated. Beers out anyhow.
The media makes out like everyone drinks -- but I've noticed a lot of Meetup Groups popping up where "it's sober", and a lot of non-alcoholic bars. I think people are shifting away from it more and more.