I currently sit in front of my computer, next to me is my phone, and behind me is my good old record player. I tend to struggle at focusing while doing one thing, so listening to music is one of the only ways I can get myself to sit down and work. Today’s pick is rap duo Armand Hammer’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips. This album is not only fantastic, but it quite fits today’s blog.
The second track of this masterpiece is titled Woke Up and Asked Siri How I’m Gonna Die, produced by the great JPEGMAFIA. Both rappers express themes of existential dread and selfish constant hunger within modern society. JPEGMAFIA’s beat is jagged, uncomfortable, abrasive yet soothing, and full of very recognizable mouse clicks. Now, analizing this track, or any Armand Hammer track for that matter, would result in a very large and complicated essay. I am thus of course not going to do that, I simply wanted to use this track to describe a bit my experience with the digital today.
A day in the Digital for me:
I in fact did not wake up and ask Siri how I was gonna die for two main reasons. Number one, I have a Samsung, so I never ask Siri anything. Number two, I don’t really have an interest in asking Siri for how I’m gonna die. I did, however, wake up and check my phone. Now that I think about it, the first thing I do every morning is check my phone.
This time, I checked to see the result of a football match between my favorite team, Pumas UNAM, and this week’s rival, Necaxa. Due to the time difference between The Netherlands and Mexico, Pumas usually play their matches in the very early morning. Even if i were to wake up to watch it, the beauties of Mexican Football’s TV rights would make me unable too. Now, I’m not saying its impossible for me to watch it, but I would have to do quite a bit of stuff. First, i would have to get a VPN, then, I would have to pay for one of twenty streaming services that happen to stream the match. Since each company gets the rights to a select few teams, even if I wanted to watch every match, I’d have to pay for way too many of these services (not to mention the poor video quality that they offer which makes it even less worth it). Most of these streaming services are owned by the biggest Mexican TV groups, run by powerful men that have had more than just one hand in poisoning my country. I thus elect to not go through all that and watch Pumas’s matches live.
Still, Pumas is the love of my life, my childhood dream. So when I am not in Mexico and thus don’t have the oportunity to go to the stadium, I try and satisfy myself by simply waking up and checking the score immediatly. To no one’s surprise, we lost. A 2-0 loss to add to our four match losing streak. What a way to start the morning. I wish I could say that it ends here, that I tell myself “Welp, we lost, I am a bit sad but it’s not that big a deal, we still got more matches to go” and wonder off into the sunshine, but it is not the case. Along with the news of my team’s defeat, hundreds of YouTube and Instagram notifications flood my phone. I’ve had the same account since I was fourteen years old, so all the channels and accounts I have followed are still there. Both my feeds on these sites are thus completely full of posts, videos and whatnot that come to rub salt in my wound. The channels and accounts from Pumas supporters are filled with the rage of fans after the loss. I can deal with those, its usually small time streamers that actually have good stuff to say regarding the team. On the other hand, there are the “Sport News” accounts, those that know that provocative content is what gets you the most clicks. I therefore scroll thorugh my Insta seeing so-called “reporters” make fun of my team. Meanwhile, the comments hold heated debates between those who fell into their trap.
Now, I’m sure that you are thinking that I can simply just ignore all of this. And that you are right to an extent. I am not too affected by this, we haven’t won a title in thirteen years so I am no stranger to this type of slander. I am of course exaggerating a bit for the purposes of this blog (which goes to show that perhaps I am not so different from said Sport News accounts). My larger point with this experience is that just like in the Armand Hammer song, I woke up and immediatly checked my phone, sort of knowing that “death” or in this case the rabbithole that is internet is waiting for me to look for it.
Thankfully, my Mother’s birthday was coming up. I therefore to the whole day to prepare food for her celebration. I thus was able to escape my phone for basically the whole day. Now I end this blog by the same way in which I began. I sit in front of my computer, my phone next to me, and that same Armand Hammer record playing. I have to say that I feel rather peaceful
Song Rec of the Week:
To finish off every of my blogs, I wanted to give a song rec. I have already , mentioned the Armand Hammer song (which I highly recomend, along witht he whole album) but since this is the first blog, I will add another rec for free. This week it shall be:
Knees, by Injury Reserve from the album By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
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