March 14, 2010 11

5 Things I’ve Learned About Snark

By Ann in Online

Since March is Snark Forums‘ birthday, and since it’s been the one forum I’ve actually stuck to over the last couple of years, I figured I’d write about it for a bit. Of course, a lot of people are also going to this over the next few weeks, and they’re going to say things like “Snark is soooo awsummz you shud tolly joinnnn!!!!111″ (well not quite, because 99.9% of them are spelling and grammar nazis). Therefore, I’m going to assume that you have already joined, or will do very soon, and am instead going to talk about Snark itself, and not about why you should join… because that would just get repetetive.

I joined Snark on 1st February 2008, when I was 16. I was blogging back then, but still used Paint Shop Pro, was hosted by someone I barely knew from my Piczo days, and often felt emo because nobody commented on my blogs. I’m sure you’ve been there. Many of the blogs I visited often referenced Snark, or seemed to be in one of these little circle of bloggers who knew each other, commented on each other’s posts, and were also a member of Snark… so I joined to see what all the fuss was about.

And do you know what? I was right! Snark was full of all these people who knew each other, and had really INTERESTING things to say on their blogs and on Snark. I didn’t introduce myself, but nosed around, posting here and there, and not getting much notice taken of me. Within a couple of weeks I’d decided that I didn’t like it since all the rumours were true: Snark was cliquey. It was full of snobby people with sites better than mine, more interesting things to say, who knew more about the internet than me, and who were all friends. I just didn’t fit in. Boo Hoo.

I, of course, blogged about this (the post has since been lost to the depths of time) and expected no more to come of it. Not so – Snarkers got wind of it, and started commenting, and one of them even blogged about it. And subconciously I learned my first lesson about Snark – the people there are interested in you (not in a pervy way, I hasten to add). They want to find out more about you, they want to relate to you, they want to talk to you. Because, after all, a forum is about talking, something which Snarkers love to do. I’d already isolated myself by not introducing myself, and by not actively joining in a lot of discussion – something I found hard to do since back then Snark was a lot more web-savvy-based than it is now.

So I attempted to integrate myself into this small community (and it was small – I remember when we passed 400 members… although 404 members was actually what everyone pointed out), since I’m sure you’ll agree that integrating into a community is the best way to learn about them. Now I think I can safely say I’ve done this, and am in a position to tell you all the other things I learned about the Snarkers.

  1. A lot of people actually suck at the whole internet-web-design-coolness-thing. Sure, there are a few more geeks than usual present, but most people are comfortably unintelligent when it comes to computer stuff. Maybe that’s why there are a lot of discussions about it – we’re asking other people for advice.
  2. People have the most unusual interests. I first encountered Jem when she was tearing apart some kid’s site in one of her follow up to a drama inducing Pants award. Now she’s had her daughter she’s turned into some crazy ninja mother, opening a whole new section for it in Snark.
  3. People say what they think, and they’re not afraid of the repercussions. A lot of people get fired up by important issues to them, and sometimes arguments start. But interesting issues are explored, and everyone has their own say, and that’s what I like. People aren’t afraid to be genuine.
  4. Sometimes people get the impression that Snarkers are a bunch of oldies because they use proper spelling and grammar. That, my friend, is the curse of the internet, and in my case, my FF spell checker. However, for the most part, Snark’s a mature bunch of people who just don’t like people adding extra letters to the end of wordsssss. Likeee thisss (incidentally, WHY do people do this on facebook ALL THE TIME NOW?)
  5. Snark’s different to other places. And I like it.

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February 6, 2010 12

On Classical Music and Elitism

By Ann in Music, Personal

Note: the use of the word “classical” is annoying. Sometimes it can be taken to mean exclusively western music, sometimes a certain period… in this post I am simply using it to encompass a worldwide genre of a more traditional way of making music, using a wide range of instruments… essentially as opposed to modern stuff you hear on the radio.

I know there’s a kind of movement within the classical music genre and “those weird people who listen to it” to actually encourage non-listeners to overcome their fears and take the plunge into full-on classical music listening. ZOMG BIG SCARY ORCHESTRAS AND WAILING LADIES. And while I’m sure most of my readers are very intelligent beings and know that there is actually nothing to be afraid of when confronted by instruments such as french horns, or long pretentious words like fortissimo, you must nevertheless admit that a large proportion of you people do not listen to classical music regularly. And I am sure an even greater proportion of your offline friends and acquaintances won’t even go near the stuff.

The thing is, amongst no-way-I-don’t-listen-to-that-weird-classical-shit people there is a kind of feeling that classical music players and listeners are part of an elite pretentious crowd who “understand” the music and don’t think anyone else can understand, because it’s “clever” and “more intellectual” than other kinds of more popular music. Or, at the very least, there’s a feeling that it’s just odd, and “different” and “not for them”.

In response amongst the classical listeners there’s a mostly prevalent feeling that this is NOT true, and there’s a move to try and interest non-listeners in classical music, because it’s NOT elitist, and it’s for everyone, and we should try and push away the prejudices.

But I, as a life-long lover of Classical… and then Baroque, Romantic, Minimalist, Neo-Classical and Expressionist music, as a violinist and a classical singer, and as a would-be Music student and then graduate, beg to differ. I AM an elitist.

BUT WAIT. See, I love classical music so much I think everyone should listen to it. Of course, there will be the people in the world who just don’t like that kind of music, just like I don’t like hip hop. I think. And then there will be the horrible people in the world I am forever prejudiced against and will never, ever understand, like my ex-boyfriend, who don’t like music FULL STOP. But everyone else should at least try it out, just like I think people should listen to other genres they’ve never tried.

“YAY!” you say, “Ann isn’t an elitist! That’s just a nice opinion!” OH NO. The reason I want everyone to listen to classical music is because I think it is better than all other types of music. And I think it is better because it is more intricate, more deep, more versatile, more evocative, and more far-reaching than any other type of music. Obviously, the “better than everything else” IS just an opinion, but you get my point on the elitist thing.

I think I am perfectly justified in saying all this stuff, because unlike the majority of you people, I have studied these kinds of music in depth, plan on doing so for the foreseeable future, AND have got to the point where I analyse everything I hear in detail, add a timestamp to it, make an educated guess to the composer and even figure out why this song has got to number 1. I have JUST read that over and realised how patronising that sounds and OOH I THINK I JUST LOST A FEW SUBSCRIBERS.

And yes, I’ve even got to the point where I refuse to listen to classical music on the radio because they pronounce names wrong, and call pieces of music “relaxing” and “invigorating” when they are so obviously only doing it for the pretentious factor because HOW is a calm violin sonata “invigorating”? Yes, you may award me double elitist points for that.

But now you see – there are two types of classical elitists. There are the actual pretentious ones who, believe me, sometimes even scare ME away from music because they honestly believe that they are better, posher, and more intellectual because of the type of music they listen to. Most of the time they don’t care two straws for the music they listen to, and rather than appreciating it for the awesomeness that it is, actually degrade the stuff.

And then there are the nice ones like me. I firmly believe that the music is better and “deeper” than any other, but I don’t claim to be any better than you just because I spend a lot of time listening to it, appreciating it and studying it. And believe me, I’m down with the “spread the WORRRD. Classical music is AWEEESOMEEEE” people out there. I want everyone to appreciate it for the wonderful music it is. But let’s face it – there are classical elitists, and there always will be. And I’m proud to be one, and I hope you will be one too.

(Be prepared for a crash course in all these different, awesome, clever types of classical music, coming to a blog near you)

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