From: Scott Chase (osteopilus@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon 21 Feb 2005 - 11:40:19 GMT
--- Gene Doty <gdoty@fidnet.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 20 February 2005 08:04, Scott Chase wrote:
> > I'm always a little hesitant about trying new
> things,
> > but if it's available in the US maybe it's not so
> bad.
> <snip>
> > A Brazilian tangent: I'm on a big Soulfly binge.
> Heavy
> > metal is big in Brazil, though not as much so as
> > soccer.
> <snip>
> >
> > The Canadian band Rush managed to draw some crowds
> > when part of their tour several years ago extended
> > into Brazil. There's a Rush mailing list run by an
> > Argentinian and includes Brazilian members too.
> The
> > Great White North has made cultural inroads within
> the
> > Southern Cone.
> >
>
> How about having some mate while listening to
> Soulfly? Contrary to another
> post that said mate is relatively mild, I've found
> it very high in caffeine.
> And Soulfly is very high in aural stimulation--you
> might get some interesting
> positive feedback going <grin> I've found both mate
> and Soulfly too intense
> for my old age . . .
>
Maybe the strength of the mate is related to the
infusion. My morning cup of coffee is rather strong
and gets me good and amped for the day. I could make
it weaker if I wanted. I wonder if mate varis due to
the way its prepared.
Heavy metal gets me amped up too. Music is a good
place to study what memeticists study (is Benzon in
the house?). Like coffee drinking there are trends
with heavy metal and other forms of music. We have
seen blending between heavy metal and hiphop going
back to the Run DMC/Aerosmith and Public Enemy/Anthrax
days. If you get caught in a mosh at a heavy metal
concert you will be rudely introduced to a behavior
commonly associated with heavy metal and (I think)
punk. Heavy metal drumming is known for liberal use of
double bass. Some metal guitarists were big on
classical style especially in the 80's. The 80's gave
us "big hair" (see Bon Jovi et al) and acid washed
denim. We can go back to innovators like Jimi Hendrix,
Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin to see
precursors to modern heavy metal. The heavy sound
might tap into some primal rage module from the EEA
days. I dunno.
Too much caffeine and Soulfly might send me on one of
those Cornholio tirades for which Beavis was infamous.
See below.
>
> Is a beverage like mate (like tea, like coffee, etc)
> a meme or is its use a
> meme? It's role in the society where it is used? (as
> with coffee's close
> association with sociability in US society?
>
Nadine had commented on her observations of coffee
usage in Seattle. It's at least trendy, given the
coffee houses and the spread of different varieties of
coffee drinks. At one point somebody somewhere started
drinking coffee and that idea/behavior spread to more
people. It was a contagion at some point in the past
which...ummm...gained a head of steam. People learn it
when they grow up in their coffee drinking social
group. I learned to drink mine black without sugar
from my dad. Other people prefer sugar, cream,
flavorings etc. Also, when I visited relatives in New
England I picked up on the practice of drinking iced
coffee. Iced tea is a common thing south of the Mason
Dixon line where I think you traditionally see iced
coffee in the US northeast. Nowadays the spread of
coffee shops may have made iced coffee drinking more
common everywhere. Do Brits find the idea of iced tea
repulsive?
With coffee and tea preferences we see variation on a
theme and the coffee houses have *capitalized* on
these variations offering an array of choices on their
menu.
I've never been to one, but I get the impression that
some coffee places have avante garde poetry reading
and such. My experience with this comes from an
episode of (cringe) Beavis & Butthead where Beavis
transforms into Cornholio after drinking a pot of
coffee.
Beyond its being an/a idea/behavior that has spread
through society, coffee usage has physiological
effects that cannot be ignored and maybe people get
somewhat dependent on its peppy effects or addicted to
it. I usually limit myself to early morning cup (s) of
coffee and never ddrink it after 5pm or so if I need
to get to sleep by 11pm. Coffee seems to cause
insomnia. In my universiy days I lived on the stuff as
its a marginal substitute for sleep.
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