Pretending interest

Started by 71 dB, May 21, 2020, 04:10:32 AM

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71 dB

I'm curious about if people here feel the same way I often do:

When someone talks about say composer X or movie Y or whatever that isn't something important to me there is this pressure to pretend interest in order to appear nice and polite.

For me getting truly interested of something often requires time and effort. It might be a long process of years to get interested of say a composer for me. So when someone online tells "Dufay is so great" don't expect me to get interested in 10 seconds!

Sometimes I get interested very fast, but it happen very rarely. Four decades ago I got interested of Star Wars in Planck time (the shortest possible time interval in the universe according to quantum physics), Elgar in about 5 minutes (while listening to Enigma Variations on radio), old Doctor Who in 15 minutes (while watching the Jon Pertwee story "The Green Death" on a scifi TV channel) and so on... ...but in general it takes a long time for me to warm up/get interested. Months, years, even decades! One of the best examples is The X-Files. It's my favorite TV show, but I really fell in love with it around the time of Season 8, almost a decade after the the show started (actually they started showing the show in Finland in winter 1995, over a year later than in the US!). Another good example is Tangerine Dream. The first time I tried their music was in the early 90's. The experience kept haunting in my mind and in December 2007 I started exploring the band again studying their enourmous output and where to start properly. I concluded Force Majeure is it and I ordered the CD and when I got it December 31, 2007 my mind was blown away!  :o

So, most of the time I tell someone I am interested I am pretending. I don't like it, but that's how it is. Currently I am interested about Einar Englund's music for example. If someone recommended me Englund 10 years ago I was pretending back then, but now my interest is genuine. Pretending interest in social interactions is very annoying. Do you agree?
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

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Biffo

I don't even bother to pretend. If something doesn't interest me I don't even bother to read the thread. If I read the thread and it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment. If something, a work or composer, intrigues me and I try it out and if it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment; I respect other people's taste or judgement and refrain from negative comment.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Biffo on May 21, 2020, 04:21:36 AM
I don't even bother to pretend. If something doesn't interest me I don't even bother to read the thread. If I read the thread and it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment. If something, a work or composer, intrigues me and I try it out and if it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment; I respect other people's taste or judgement and refrain from negative comment.

+100!

8)
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Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

71 dB

Quote from: Biffo on May 21, 2020, 04:21:36 AM
I don't even bother to pretend. If something doesn't interest me I don't even bother to read the thread. If I read the thread and it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment. If something, a work or composer, intrigues me and I try it out and if it doesn't interest me I pass on without comment; I respect other people's taste or judgement and refrain from negative comment.

Well, it's easy to just read something and move on without saying anything, but when someone quotes YOUR post and recommends something it feels rude to not reply back...  :P

For example if I tell I have enjoyed watching TV show X somebody may quote that and say "Hey, if you liked X, you should try Y because it's similar!" The crazy thing about this is you don't know why I like X. Maybe the reason I like X is the biggest difference between X and Y so that Y lacks what I like about X? I have been recommended Harty and Medtner because to someone else these composers are very similar to Elgar, but they are NOT similar to me! I don't know any composer similar to Elgar who is unique to me, a combination of a dozen composers. Liszt's "poetic" style is similar to Elgar for example. Puccini's orchestra sounds a little bit like Elgar to me, but I find so much influences from other composers* in Elgar starting from Bach and Handel that it's impossible to say composer X is similar to Elgar and to me Harty and Medtner definitely do not sound like Elgar at all, but then again if you pay attention to other things I do maybe there are similarities?

* Because Elgar is a self-taught composer who isn't stylistically "restricted" to models favored by his teachers.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Biffo

Quote from: 71 dB on May 21, 2020, 04:47:40 AM
Well, it's easy to just read something and move on without saying anything, but when someone quotes YOUR post and recommends something it feels rude to not reply back...  :P

For example if I tell I have enjoyed watching TV show X somebody may quote that and say "Hey, if you liked X, you should try Y because it's similar!" The crazy thing about this is you don't know why I like X. Maybe the reason I like X is the biggest difference between X and Y so that Y lacks what I like about X? I have been recommended Harty and Medtner because to someone else these composers are very similar to Elgar, but they are NOT similar to me! I don't know any composer similar to Elgar who is unique to me, a combination of a dozen composers. Liszt's "poetic" style is similar to Elgar for example. Puccini's orchestra sounds a little bit like Elgar to me, but I find so much influences from other composers* in Elgar starting from Bach and Handel that it's impossible to say composer X is similar to Elgar and to me Harty and Medtner definitely do not sound like Elgar at all, but then again if you pay attention to other things I do maybe there are similarities?

* Because Elgar is a self-taught composer who isn't stylistically "restricted" to models favored by his teachers.

That is a different matter, I usually do reply, even if it is only to say thank you.

71 dB

Maybe I just stop pretending then...

Quote from: Biffo on May 21, 2020, 05:24:31 AM
That is a different matter, I usually do reply, even if it is only to say thank you.

Thank you!  ;D

Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"