Wednesday, September 09, 2009

"Log on to the Mystery Tour . . . "


The numerology of today's post (note the date) and a series of addresses, releases, and deliveries have given pause to us, here at The Nocturnes.

- Today marked the long-awaited release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game (see commentary below)

- Digitally remastered versions of the entire studio catlog of the Beatles were released today (after a 22-year wait). Available at your nearest Starbucks, Quiznos, Ace Hardware (the usual suspects) - oh-h and some record stores, too!

- Today Apple Computer did NOT deliver the Beatles catalog to iTunes (now iTunes 9).

- Leica formally introduced the M-9 (there's that # again!)

- President Obama delivered another 'teachable moment' (and a scolding) - no. not to elementary-school students - but to the American poeple and the foes of his Health Care Reform plan.

- Now, another "teachable moment" - from a photographic perspective. In the New York Times
coverage of "The Beatles: Rock Band" Seth Schiesel waxes pretty eloquently about the release (and not from a boomer, reverential frame of reference): " . . . no video game has ever brought more parents together with their teenage and adult children than "The Beatles: Rock Band" likely will in the months and years to come." But, our favorite obsevation by the author is this one: "Yet there is something about video games that seems to inspire true anger in some older people.Why is that? Is there still really a fear that a stylized representation of reality detracts from reality itself? In recent centuries every new technology for creating and enjoying music - the phonograph, the electric guitar, the Walkman, MTV, karaoke, the iPod - has been condemned as the potential death of "real" music."

Now, here I'll translate, for all you photo-types out there: "In recent centuries [mid-19th, 20th, and now 21st] every new technology for creating and enjoying photography - the glass plate, safety film, 35mm film, early Leicas, in-camera metering, SLRs, Canon A-1, Olympus OM-2, electronic exposure control, Pho'Shop, all things d-i-g-i-t-a-l - has been condemned as the potential death of "real" photography." Or, something like that.

Seth goes on to conclude: "But music is eternal. Each new tool for creating it, and each new technology for experiencing it, only brings the joy of more music to more people. This new game is a fabulous entertainment that will not only introduce the Beatles’ music to a new audience but also will simultaneously bring millions of their less-hidebound parents into gaming."

Lesson learned?

(". . . number nine, number nine, number nine . . . ")

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