Friday Five: I Don't Get It Either

This week's Friday Five:

1. Twitch is an enormously popular livestreaming platform mostly for watching people play video games. It has more than 1.5 million broadcasters and more than one million visitors per month, and Amazon acquired it for nearly a billion dollars in 2014. Which of your computer activities would you livestream if there were a way to make some money doing it? Playing The Sims 4, because I don't think anything else I do online is interesting enough to livestream. Like, are you gonna watch me watch YouTube? Or read Wikipedia? Or online shop? Actually, I guess there might be a niche market who would watch someone online shop. But I already know that there is success in gamers livestreaming playing The Sims 4. The popularity of streaming video game play used to confuse me, too (I mean, PewDiePie is the most subscribed YouTube channel with 57 million subscribers, and its mostly known for video game walkthroughs and commentaries), but then I think of all the times I used to watch my brother playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 when we were kids, and I do get the appeal. You get the entertainment of playing the game, seeing the graphics, characters, stories, and functionality, but you don't have to actually put in any of the effort or even pay to play it.
   
   
2. EDM (electronic dance music) is usually performed by DJs on stage in front of audiences, playing tracks they've mixed, right off their laptops. If you were a push-button DJ playing your tunes in a club, what would be your opening and closing songs, assuming everyone's there because they're into whatever sounds you're into? So... I guess we're in an alternative club?
   
   Opening song: Deftones - Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
   
   
   
   Closing song: Kavinsky feat. Lovefoxxx - Nightcall
   
   
   
   
3. What's a good Adele song, and why is Adele so popular? "Set Fire to the Rain." She's popular because she has an impressive vocal range, incredible vocal strength, and great control of her voice, and her songs are well-written, honest, timeless, emotional, and relatable. She appeals to all ages and there's no voice like hers in modern music.
   
   
   
   
4. The Walking Dead? I don't watch it, but I get the appeal. (Though I am surprised it's lasted this long. I mean, seven seasons? Bring back Buffy!) It's the same reason why all these shows or movies with fictional/supernatural beings are so successful — why I personally love shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, iZombie, Sense8, Dead Like Me, Shadowhunters, Bitten, and The Vampire Diaries. It's a different take/perspective on what these beings would be like if they were real, how these beings would be apart of or assimilate to humanity, and how each side would react. To me, it's quite fascinating.
   
   
5. Every generation seems to arrive at a "They don't write 'em like that anymore" attitude. Why does it seem like most middle-aged people lose interest in new music? I would honestly say it's every generation before Generation Z, but I think what it comes down to is the variance in subject matter, colloquial language (e.g. slang), and sound in general. We are creatures of habit; we don't like change. Every generation is defined by certain genres and specific sounds, and a lot of people think anything outside these sounds aren't quality music. A lot of today's mainstream pop music is vulgar, vapid, immature, and just lacking any real emotion or meaning. There's also a heavy reliance on synthesizers, auto-tune, and social media slang — which is not a good or bad thing, just an observation. (Though honestly, it's hard for me to stomach songs like "Swish Swish Bish.") But that doesn't mean there isn't quality pop music being made right now — it just depends on why you listen to music. Is it for the catchiness? For the lyrics? For the instrumental sound? My dad once gave me some good advice: If it sounds good, listen to it. It's why I don't listen to radio. I choose what I want to listen to.