the Amazon
I spend some days poking around amazon.com, for various reasons, not least of which is that I'm hoping, thru sheer force of will, to get their "Recommendations Wizard" (RW, if you like) to begin making intelligent decisions rather than throwing 19 early 90s Kate Bush records at me because I bought, and rated highly, Hounds of Love. And goddamn, I do love Hounds of Love. I love The Dreaming, too, but that doesn't mean I'm snatching up her whole catalog all nimbly-bimbly. In fact, I can't really forsee a world in which I wind up buying many more of Kate's records. That's not the point. THATS NOT THE POINT! The point is this: why call it a recommendations wizard? It's neither recommending nor is its skill anywhere near what I would call "Wizardry". At best, it is a "Purchasing Aggregator", which is much more dystopian and one of the reasons my dreams are filled with flying robots that find me in my bedroom.
So, of course Amazon isn't going to advertise a "Purchasing Aggregator", for the reason listed above as well as many others. But, really, the RW is, tho addictive, really a lot more trouble than its worth. For instance, I bought a book recently called - actually, it doesn't matter what it's called (I can't remember) - it's about how "the Gift" is a concept removed from normal capitalistic exchange and how art factors into all that. I was really looking forward to reading it, but now its lost underneath Catch-22 and Pale Fire (I know, what is this, high school? Sorry, I was sleeping then, didn't read this stuff. I thought I liked ee cummings then - which I didn't.) In addition to a million other things and all the articles I'm reading for classes at ASU. But anyway, shortly after I bought this book, just about everything with "gift" in the title started showing up on my flying robot machine and overwhelming me. Now, I'm sort of interested in those things that breach normal rules of capitalistic exchange - I'm a fan of the Hayekian conception of the free market as a mover of information, but skeptical that it must exist - but I don't think I want to read 10 books about gifts. Maybe I do, but not now. I don't have the time.
The other thing that pisses me off about Amazon is the customer list. The customer list shows up on sidebars very frequently, and is just as infrequently useful. I often read lists of people's top whatever records, and I'm quite a fan of them, but only in as much as they give some insight into the person's listening habits. As it turns out, everyone on Amazon who as listened to Stereolab hates Radiohead and thinks that, by hating Radiohead, they are striking a blow for real elitism against all those fake kinds of elitism practiced by mouth-breathing members of the General American Public (GAP; thanks Slaven). I happen to think that you can not only like Radiohead and Stereolab at the same time (you can also like Doveman and Supersilent and Deerhoof and all those other oughta-be-two-words-but-is-heavier-because-its-one bands) but that you can maintain a healthy elitism regarding your Radiohead consumption. I mean, sure, Kid A went to number one on the US album charts, but only you caught the Eno refrence on "Treefingers". And before I get called on the "one word bandnames" rant, I didn't exempt my own high school incoherencies. I'm past that now. Mostly. But anyway, unless you're listening to more than 40 new (or newish) records a year, you probably shouldn't be making a list. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. If you're not well-versed on Kant, don't send contributions to an ethics journal.
In this way, too, we can maintain our elitism, Radiohead-appreciators. And in case you're wondering, I chose 40 so that I can still make a year-end list with plenty of wiggle-room, should I want to take it.
Just in case you were wondering, this weekend was filled with watching my home flood again and listening to copious quantities of Stereolab and Muslimgauze. And still reading Catch-22.
So, of course Amazon isn't going to advertise a "Purchasing Aggregator", for the reason listed above as well as many others. But, really, the RW is, tho addictive, really a lot more trouble than its worth. For instance, I bought a book recently called - actually, it doesn't matter what it's called (I can't remember) - it's about how "the Gift" is a concept removed from normal capitalistic exchange and how art factors into all that. I was really looking forward to reading it, but now its lost underneath Catch-22 and Pale Fire (I know, what is this, high school? Sorry, I was sleeping then, didn't read this stuff. I thought I liked ee cummings then - which I didn't.) In addition to a million other things and all the articles I'm reading for classes at ASU. But anyway, shortly after I bought this book, just about everything with "gift" in the title started showing up on my flying robot machine and overwhelming me. Now, I'm sort of interested in those things that breach normal rules of capitalistic exchange - I'm a fan of the Hayekian conception of the free market as a mover of information, but skeptical that it must exist - but I don't think I want to read 10 books about gifts. Maybe I do, but not now. I don't have the time.
The other thing that pisses me off about Amazon is the customer list. The customer list shows up on sidebars very frequently, and is just as infrequently useful. I often read lists of people's top whatever records, and I'm quite a fan of them, but only in as much as they give some insight into the person's listening habits. As it turns out, everyone on Amazon who as listened to Stereolab hates Radiohead and thinks that, by hating Radiohead, they are striking a blow for real elitism against all those fake kinds of elitism practiced by mouth-breathing members of the General American Public (GAP; thanks Slaven). I happen to think that you can not only like Radiohead and Stereolab at the same time (you can also like Doveman and Supersilent and Deerhoof and all those other oughta-be-two-words-but-is-heavier-because-its-one bands) but that you can maintain a healthy elitism regarding your Radiohead consumption. I mean, sure, Kid A went to number one on the US album charts, but only you caught the Eno refrence on "Treefingers". And before I get called on the "one word bandnames" rant, I didn't exempt my own high school incoherencies. I'm past that now. Mostly. But anyway, unless you're listening to more than 40 new (or newish) records a year, you probably shouldn't be making a list. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. If you're not well-versed on Kant, don't send contributions to an ethics journal.
In this way, too, we can maintain our elitism, Radiohead-appreciators. And in case you're wondering, I chose 40 so that I can still make a year-end list with plenty of wiggle-room, should I want to take it.
Just in case you were wondering, this weekend was filled with watching my home flood again and listening to copious quantities of Stereolab and Muslimgauze. And still reading Catch-22.
posted by P at 10:28 PM
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