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SHNABUBULA HATES CHIPTUNES...thank you time magazine


Sam Ascher-Weiss
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"It's probably the most limiting form of music-making I can think of," he says. "You're making somewhat unpleasant music with outdated computers. You need a masochistic desire to have something difficult to do."

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1917577,00.html

I am absolutely livid

I spoke to the woman on the phone, apparently she didn't like anything I actually said.. so she decided to completely fabricate quotes.

I don't mind somebody making me say things that are lame.. however... having me say something that contradicts everything I believe about the nature of a genre

I'm extremely passionate about:

"It's probably the most limiting form of music-making I can think of," he says. "You're making somewhat unpleasant music with outdated computers. You need a masochistic desire to have something difficult to do."

I spent nearly 20 minutes gushing over how beautiful chiptunes are and how much fun they are to write and how they are a pursuit as noble and intricate as writing for full orchestra...

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(zircon edit)

PLEASE DIGG THIS STORY:

http://digg.com/arts_culture/TIME_fabricates_quote_betrays_views_of_chiptune_artist

If you're on Twitter, retweet this - "DIGG/retweet please! TIME fabricates quote, betrays views of indie chiptune artist - http://bit.ly/ZeDmK (Digg)"

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LT EDIT: To summarize what happened for the first post, Sam's purported statement in the TIME article...

It's probably the most limiting form of music-making I can think of," he says. "You're making somewhat unpleasant music with outdated computers. You need a masochistic desire to have something difficult to do."

...was synthesized from this...

"mario 1 had great compositions but the actual textures are somewhat unpleasant in contrast to soundtracks that followed many of which are absolutely gorgeous just on a purely sonic level.. let alone as compositions. The intro to solstice is a good example"

and way later

"there are fringe elements of the community that take masochistic pleasure in doing things just because they are difficult, luckily though there are many methods available that are very intuitive and easy to use, all of us kind of bloop artists had tools that made things really easy and approachable, like famitracker developed by jsr, just a really excellent easy to use tool"

that's pretty much word for word what I actually said.. it's the only possible thing I can think of that she could be using in her mind to justify this.

...in order for the article's author to form her narrative, and the synthesized quote distorted Sam's genuine POV.

After banging his head though, Sam contacted the author, and eventually...

"You're making music with outdated computers. You need a masochistic desire to have something difficult to do.
Okay.. I'm happy now, it's still not something I actually said, but it's no longer a viewpoint that's significantly destructive to the image of chiptunes as a worthwhile pursuit

Seems like Sam's satisfied with the article revision, but everything's still here for posterity.

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Wow, that's unbelievable. I agree - it's one thing to make up a quote with more elegant phrasing, but this is outrageous.

EDIT: Wrote a letter to the editor. I suggest you all do the same, but please try to keep it as mature as possible (we don't want to look like 4chan here.) Also don't copy mine :P

Hello,

I would like to request that you please amend the quotes which you attributed to Mr. Ascher-Weiss to more accurately reflect his views. I am dismayed that a publication like TIME would not only fabricate an attributed statement entirely, but while doing so completely misrepresent the subject.

As someone who knows and has worked with him personally, I can attest that Mr. Ascher-Weiss is a virtuosic musician and composer who chooses to work within the chiptune format. He is extremely passionate about this art, which he considers to be every bit as deep and engaging as any other musical medium. To say anything to the contrary is a complete betrayal of the truth.

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Curiously is there any way to refute times report..?

I don't doubt Shnabubula and find times reporting absolutely bullshit on making such false statements but what about others who are ignorant of him..?

Any recordings or a verbatim of the interview (audio/stenographer on duty)?

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"mario 1 had great compositions but the actual textures are somewhat unpleasant in contrast to soundtracks that followed many of which are absolutely gorgeous just on a purely

sonic level.. let alone as compositions. The intro to solstice is a good example"

and way later

"there are fringe elements of the community that take masochistic pleasure in doing things just because they are difficult, luckily though there are many methods available that

are very intuitive and easy to use, all of us kind of bloop artists had tools that made things really easy and approachable, like famitracker developed by jsr, just a really

excellent easy to use tool"

that's pretty much word for word what I actually said.. it's the only possible thing I can think of that she could be using in her mind to justify this.

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What she SHOULD do is add a statement declaring to the public that she changed your quote. By just changing it, she's pulling a CYA maneuver that covers up the whole ordeal. From my perspective, the problem is not what she actually wrote, but that she wrote something that was never said. She's cleverly avoiding the real problem by fixing the secondary problem.

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