FatherAlabaster

This is the one thing I have a problem with in your statement, because I'm not sure it works that way. I think it's appropriate to say that plenty of people reject racism all by themselves. Embracing it seems to involve forming connections with like-minded people. I'm not talking about extremism. I've seen enough casual racism to know that it's culturally ingrained (and no, I'm not just talking about white racism, though it certainly fits) - an in-group/out-group distinction taught by one's parents and peer group, reinforced by cultural stereotypes, and sometimes by the behaviors of other individuals or groups.

Man, that makes me miss having a place that feels like home. Somewhere with some space. Everything I own has been crammed into various single rooms and closets since I started college. I just added them up today; this is the 12th place I've lived in the past 14 years. I guess it's no surprise that adding to my CD collection isn't a priority. That room looks awesome. I kind of envy you.

Ninja Turtles! Of course. Guillotine operator or member of a firing squad?

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Hi Vanessa! NP: some fruity lullaby piano stuff that successfully got my kid to sleep a few minutes ago

Cheers, welcome!

Re: What Are You Listening To? One of my all time favorites!

So RO, which one's your favorite?

Re: Rate and Slate I'm always sarcastic, except for when I'm not. Sorry! I just see that you've been listening to a lot of melodic doom... didn't know if that was contributing to an overall sense of depression.

Re: Rate and Slate Listen to more doom.

Just got done listening to Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind. I liked this album when it came out but haven't listened in a while. Great riffs in spots. There's so much good energy in the guitars and drums that the vocals don't bother me...

Re: Top 3 albums/eps of the week. Yep, my mood changes frequently! Plus when I have the time, I actively seek out new stuff based on recommendations, related bands, sometimes just something random, and I'm frequently pleasantly surprised. I can't always explain what it is that keeps me coming back to an album, but those three in particular have been getting stuck in my head over the past few days.

We're all about the laughs, welcome aboard.

That's an excellent idea! I liked the first Thor movie. I like a lot of the recent comic book movies, they're just fun action fantasy. I even liked Superman, oddly.

I really liked parts of the Hollenthon - the clean chanting vocals and violin melodies, all the folk elements. They were well-integrated and enjoyable. I could have done without the guitar solo, and the power metal riff underneath it. Overall, weird and interesting if not 100% my thing. I don't really have much good to say about Ignite the Night (or Eldest 11 - whose song is it?), though - it sounded like a lame mashup of imitation Deftones with Sage Francis, attempting to be dramatic, but failing. I don't hate rap by any means, and it actually didn't sound out of place here. It just seemed incredibly shallow to me.

Excellent topics! Although I think the study of ontology is full of rabbit holes. Some of my favorite reading overlaps with those topics, especially Daniel Dennett's books. "Consciousness Explained" is a bit dated but still a favorite; sadly my copy disappeared. "Sweet Dreams" is a good short digest of some of the concepts. I also enjoy reading about history and evolution - Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale", Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, And Steel", and right now I'm working my way through some Fernand Braudel, although there's so much detail in his writing that I doubt I'll have the time to get the most out of it. And of course I love my sci-fi/fantasy novels.

Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax A Canorous Quintet - Silence Of The World Beyond Furia - Martwa Polska Jesien (haven't listened to it in a while but it's been stuck in my head every day.)

I doubt you'll find too many people here who collect metal CDs. The CDs I treasure the most are my Swans/Angels Of Light collection (it's not complete, but I have original copies of White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity and Love Of Life as well as later stuff, and the re-released versions of their collected older material). My absolute favorite is a white CDR with no printing on it, of the live Angels Of Light album "We Were Alive". I ordered the album as part of a crowdfunding campaign, years ago. It was only available online, to people who supported the upcoming studio album. The packaging was signed and handcrafted and all that... I somehow lost or misplaced it, was very sad, and wrote to Young God Records. Michael Gira responded personally and mailed me a replacement CDR free of charge. That means more to me than all the signed handcrafted packaging I could ever have.

I just bought the first beer I've had in days. Feels good staying away from it for a bit. As far as CD collections go, I have no idea what I have left. I have crates and boxes full if CDs, but I know some good ones disappeared during my many moves. I've ripped everything I care about onto my computer, years ago, and most of what I listen to regularly is backed up on several hard drives. I have some pretty hard-to-find CDs; the problem is, at this point, they're hard for me to find too!

I will, at some point. Thanks! It's the uniqueness of the presentation that sucked me in, the way it's all dialogue. I feel like I could almost just listen to it rather than watch it. Economy of means. What kind of boring non-fiction do you read?

The two that I used to listen to were Howl Mockery and Tenth Sublevel (my favorite). This is my first time through Massive Conspiracy. My impression is, still raw but much fuller production, more atmospheric drawn-out riffing and ambient synth stuff. Less angular overall than the other two. Maybe not as overtly vicious, but still energetic. The vocals aren't quite as good, but I really like it so far. edit - This song in particular is really sick, love the dissonant riffing: s3-tTeKBuog

Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life

I fell in love with it after a few listens. I like the energy on Songs For The Deaf, but this one is right up there in terms of songcraft, melody, atmosphere - one of my favorites of last year.