For a while, I'd forgotten the power of Fark to erase any faith in humanity people like Zimmer restore.

It's a DAMNED PUBLICITY GRAB! 100% of the "proceeds"? You mean AFTER everyone gets paid? because that's how it works. You gullible dupes!!! JUST DONATE DIRECTLY TO THE VICITMS

Holy fark, are you idiots stupid.

NewportBarGuy: PhiloeBedoe: It stinks like Redditt in here

Like 90's coding and premature ejaculation? Yeah, the AOL of the modern internet. Good for them.

Cold blooded!

Um....has anyone actually LISTENED to the music!?

It's a DAMNED PUBLICITY GRAB! 100% of the "proceeds"? You mean AFTER everyone gets paid? because that's how it works. You gullible dupes!!! JUST DONATE DIRECTLY TO THE VICITMS

Holy fark, are you idiots stupid.


THIS. If the Big Z cares about "Aurora", why doesn't he solicit money directly? Any reason he's going to pad the pockets of farkING APPLE TO DO THIS????

ExcaliburPrime111: People who want to help get an incentive to make a nominal donation, which if multiplied over a large enough number of people, will result in a substantial donation.

Sure, it might be possible for him to donate a ton of money directly, but here you are, crying over the possibility of donating $1.29, yet you expect someone else to pay out hundreds of thousands or more. Come on.

Yeah, this time around, I'm not sure what the complaining is about. He got his money from writing compositions for movies. These people got rich because people like you and I went to see a movie, we paid for tickets, and in the case of something like Batman, probably bought some sort of merchandise. If he just reaches into his wallet to give freely, he's giving them money that used to be yours. I doubt you've gotten through much of your movie-watching adult life without being exposed to Hans Zimmer. Ever seen Gladiator? Pirates of the Caribbean? Inception? You paid the man. What he's proposing is that you buy a copy of something he wrote, and that money goes to shooting victims. I don't see the outrage.

Also, I don't think some people know what "proceeds" means.

green arm band!!!

/nevar forget...sarcasm, dripping.

Acharne: Oznog: Having some trouble here. I listened to a bit of it and, being a Zimmer score, all I'm seeing in my mind is a movie clip of Holmes shooting everyone, in slow mo. After 3 seconds of him grinning and 4 rounds flashing out, we see a 1 second reaction of the crowd scrambling, 3 seconds of a brass casing slowly falling to the floor and another one just ABOUT to hit the floor, but then we cut to a camera near the door where people are scrambling over one another to get to it while the camera is moving upward on a jib arm, still in slow mo, then we cut back to the shooter on a close-up...

It's a movie score, which could be wildly inappropriate by some interpretations. Well I'm sure it's sorta just me and all.


Though I haven't heard the track, your description of the scene was so bang on that I know believe I have actually played the entire track, in my head, simply from the visuals you described. We're going to hell.

Good God, it's in my head now, too. Get it out GET IT OUT

He wrote and recorded this in a week. I don't want to buy rushed, uninspired music.

/douche factor of 11?

Apos: So....Zimmer is now the Fark pariah du jour?

Wow.

Class warfare is bad, rich people are the wheels that keep society going, but if someone with more money than you asks you to open your wallet and be giving, they're horrible people.

Welcome to Fark.

Good on you, Hans Zimmer.

Apos: So....Zimmer is now the Fark pariah du jour?

Wow.

I don't get it either, but... so it goes.

paulseta: Subby here.

Thank you for sharing the news, I'm enjoying the track as I write this.

WxGuy1: I feel bad for those affected by the shooting in Aurora last week. I really do. However, it's interesting how we, as a society, react to such events. In an average day, ~40 people in the U.S. are murdered, ~90 die in automobile crashes/accidents, and dozens of pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles. Undoubtedly, some of these people are every bit as innocent as the folks in the movie theater were. Where are their tributes and candle-light vigils? Where are their charity drives? The innocent people who die in non-dramatic stories seem to whither away in relative obscurity compared to the pop coverage of these types of shootings (Aurora, Virginia Tech, etc.).

I mention this not to diminish the events that happened in Aurora. I'm just curious as to why stories like this one "catch on". There are many innocent people killed doing things that we all do every day, so I don't think it's because "it could have been me". I suspect it's the result of the rare nature of the Aurora shooting and the relatively large number of deaths in such a small area -- it's such a "shocking" event, unlike the vehicle fatalities or murders involved innocent folks that we're now accustomed to as we watch/read the news. If people really cared about innocent people dying, then it probably shouldn't matter how they died (well, within reason). How many people have donated to the families who have lost innocent loved ones in car accidents or other fatal events since Aurora?

Quoted for truth.

On Harry Chapin's "Gold Medal Collection" there's a piece -- spoken word -- called "Thanksgiving Hunger Drives." It says much of the same thing: we open our hearts for special events, and forget what happens the next day, and the day after, and all the rest of the year.

700 Americans are dead. No, not all at one time. Not all in one place. But 700 Americans have died since the Aurora shootings. They've died on American highways. They were going to work, they were riding in their parents' cars, they were doing their grocery shopping ... odds are some were on their way to a movie theater. They all had friends, families, loved ones. 700 people dead, and we don't even notice.

58 Americans are dead. No, not all at one time or in one place either. But another 58 Americans have died since the Aurora shootings. They've died on residential fires. They were grandparents, parents, children, infants. They all had friends, families, loved ones. 58 people dead (one of them about half a mile away from where I sit typing this), and we don't even notice.

12 dead people are important.

58 dead people aren't important.

700 dead people aren't important.

One is a national tragedy ... two are business as usual. There are vigils, fundraising, and of course calls for laws, laws, and more laws for one ... nothing for the other two. Random strangers are deeply concerned about the one, but don't even notice, let alone care about, the others. "It could have been me" ... but so could the person who is just going to work and gets killed by another driver. And it's much, much, much more likely to be you. But unless you die in some public and dramatic fashion, the president won't make a speech. Flags won't be flown at half-staff. Composers won't write songs for you. Strangers won't put their checkbooks where their hearts belong. You'll be a nobody, just like the thousands of people who die in home fires, the tens of thousands of people who die on roads, the people who die in bathroom accidents and from dog bites, from lightning strikes and accidents at work. 317 people have been murdered since the Aurora shootings, but there's no national outcry. Why not?

It's worth listening to Harry Chapin's "Thanksgiving Hunger Drives." I'm sure you can buy it off Amazon or iTunes or your preferred music vendor. Personally, I've got the CD. He had it right. Okay, so we make a big deal out of it once a year ... then what? The people are still hungry the next day, the next week, the next month. More people have died of accidental causes in the time it's taken me to type this post than died in the Aurora shootings. What are we doing about them? Do we only care about big, dramatic events? Are we really that shallow?

Do those numbers scare you? Then wear your damn seatbelt. Don't drink and drive. Test your smoke detectors regularly. Don't be a statistic. Because you've got a lot higher chance of being one of those statistics than of being shot by a madman ... and you've also got a lot more you can do to avoid it.

Patterson: He wrote and recorded this in a week. I don't want to buy rushed, uninspired music.

/douche factor of 11?

You realize that television composers often only have 3-4 days to come up with tracks for an episode, right? Experienced composers, especially if they have a production team, can do magic in just a couple of days. Just putting it in perspective...

That's a lot better than that asshole Charlie Sheen donating 1% of his new show's proceeds to our troops. You know, just enough not to have to get into fractions.

I don't buy anything for a cause, no matter how important I think the cause is. If I want to donate to something (shooting victims, a Girl Scout troop, cancer research, whatever) I'll donate to them -- I'll write a check (or, these days, just go to my favorite charities' websites). When I see "5% of our profits go to charity" I read "95% of our profits and everything we can call an expense go straight to our pockets." Since the manufacturer's profit on a $10 item is likely to be around a dollar, a nickel would go to that charity. If I buy a cheaper item -- say, for $9 -- and send the charity the difference, they're making out 20x over.

If you want to buy stuff, buy stuff. If you want to donate money to a charity, donate money to a charity. But don't be fooled by the marketers who try to convince you that doing the former is the same as doing the latter.

And another 43 people have died on American highways since my last post. Where is their national outpouring of grief? 4 more have died in house fires. Where is their candlelight vigil?

Do you have a volunteer fire department serving your area? Did you donate to their last fundraiser? Who in your area helps the victims of fires? Do you even know? Did you give them so much as $1.29? And did you push the little "test" button on your smoke detectors yet?

WxGuy1: In an average day, ~40 people in the U.S. are murdered, ~90 die in automobile crashes/accidents, and dozens of pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles. Undoubtedly, some of these people are every bit as innocent as the folks in the movie theater were. Where are their tributes and candle-light vigils? Where are their charity drives?

Probably happening right now in their home towns, as they always do. I see them all the time. Routinely. They don't make national news because, you know, their deaths aren't national news. But they are honored by the people whose lives they touched, as is appropriate, and they are regularly covered by their local media, as is appropriate.

If a dozen pedestrians were killed by a driver who went out of his way to run them down, you bet it would garner national attention.

This shouldn't even need to be explained. It's man bites dog.

Worldwalker: And another 43 people have died on American highways since my last post. Where is their national outpouring of grief? 4 more have died in house fires. Where is their candlelight vigil?

The candlelight vigil is probably taking place in their home town. There is no national outpouring of grief for those highway deaths because they are 43 separate and unrelated incidents that did not take place on the national stage and did not take place in a place and context where tragic death is a known quantity like it is on the roads. If there was a single tragic accident that took a dozen lives, and at the hands of someone who purposely killed them, then you would see a national outpouring of grief.

But traffic accidents are a regular part of life. We expect them. We know some will be tragic. A dozen people being shot while sitting back to watch a movie is not a regular part of life. It's unexpected and shocking.

I'm not entirely sure what is so hard to understand about this.

Patterson: He wrote and recorded this in a week. I don't want to buy rushed, uninspired music.

Music written in a single night invariably sucks.

shoegaze99: Patterson: He wrote and recorded this in a week. I don't want to buy rushed, uninspired music.

Music written in a single night invariably sucks.

Beatles is possibly the WORST band in existence.

shoegaze99: But traffic accidents are a regular part of life. We expect them.

That's pretty much my point: We think some deaths are more important than others because some are "a regular part of life" and some are, well, not so regular. We're not reacting to the deaths -- we're reacting to the novelty. When you come right down to it, it's not about the deaths at all.

And no, there's no proportionality. Some people are honored locally, but most aren't. They might get a mention in the newspaper -- "fatal traffic accident at the corner of South and Main" -- but Hans Zimmer doesn't write music for them. Flags aren't flown at half-staff. Politicians don't make speeches. 14 people have died on the roads since I wrote my last post ... they all have stories just as special, just as tragic, as the ones in Aurora ... but CNN doesn't have those stories on their home page. The 77-year-old lady who died in a fire right near me on Friday night ... she got 574 words in the local paper. 384 of them were about how she might have been a hoarder. A woman died in a car crash last night, and her husband was injured, when another car ran a stop sign and T-boned them. Family members in a car following them had the joy of watching it happen. 120 words. I did a search on "Aurora Colorado" in that same paper and got 73 hits, of which inspection showed 22 were about the shootings.

Think about it: 12 people who were killed a thousand miles away are more important to the people in my town, and it's not all that big a town, than a person who was killed yesterday. They don't even tell us when yesterday ... just "Saturday." She gets 120 words, not 22 articles. She was someone's wife, someone's daughter, probably someone's mother or sister or co-worker, someone's friend. She was just as important to someone as Alex Teves. But she gets 120 words in a local paper, and nothing more.

Sure, I know why people do it. They latch onto the dramatic, the exciting, the unusual. That's why they're afraid of being killed by a snake but not a dog. Why they're afraid of flying but not driving to the airport. Why they do a lot of things. The "why do we..." part is rhetorical. My point is that we should really examine our thinking, our reactions, and ask ourselves if they're appropriate. It should be (at least!) just as big a deal to someone living in my town that a person was killed in a car wreck yesterday, with her family watching, than that some stranger was killed a thousand miles away. But like you said, "traffic accidents are a regular part of life." Too many people don't really care about the individuals, don't really care about the deaths, they just want something to get emotional about, and someone to tell them how and why to get emotional about it.

I think that's a big part of what's wrong with our country. We care about the dramatic, the flashy, the packaged-for-TV events, but not about the things that actually affect us. As I said earlier, how many of the people who have given money to any Aurora victims' fund have done the same for local fire victims, or even something like their local animal shelter or food pantry?

We need to look at, and react to, what's happening around us. Like Harry Chapin said ... what happens the day after Thanksgiving?

No, let's not.
Mass killings are bad enough, but the only thing worse is the inevitable hack artist making a "tribute" to deceased in order to get publicity for their shiatty song.

"Hans Zimmer'
I mean, whoever heard of this guy anyway. Why doesn't he get a real job?

Nezorf: Worldwalker: Speech.

Nicely written.

Thanks.

doubled99: No, let's not.
Mass killings are bad enough, but the only thing worse is the inevitable hack artist making a "tribute" to deceased in order to get publicity for their shiatty song.

I'm not sure if you're trolling or not.

In the unlikely event that you're really this clueless, Hans Zimmer is the man who wrote the music for the movie in question. That gives him a certain connection with the event. He also scored a hell of a lot of other movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, etc.

This thread has long ago petered out; such is the tao of Fark. My question, Harry Chapin's question, still stands: What happens the day after Thanksgiving? I think this emphasis on Aurora is the wrong focus -- we need to be looking at what we can do for the less-dramatic, but every bit as important, tragedies that don't make the national news for weeks on end. But that doesn't make Hans Zimmer a "hack artist". You might not like his music ... after all, there are people who like Justin Bieber, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that it takes all kinds and then some ... but Zimmer is nonetheless very well-known and, in many people's opinions (including my own), very good.

Worldwalker: doubled99: No, let's not.
Mass killings are bad enough, but the only thing worse is the inevitable hack artist making a "tribute" to deceased in order to get publicity for their shiatty song.


This thread has long ago petered out; such is the tao of Fark. My question, Harry Chapin's question, still stands: What happens the day after Thanksgiving? I think this emphasis on Aurora is the wrong focus -- we need to be looking at what we can do for the less-dramatic, but every bit as important, tragedies that don't make the national news for weeks on end.

There is one thing I'd like to ask, though.

Do you understand why events like this gets the attention they do? That's all I want to know. I understand you disagree, but that's not been my point.

JonBuck: Do you understand why events like this gets the attention they do? That's all I want to know. I understand you disagree, but that's not been my point.

Yes, I do. See my posts above regarding people focusing on the different and the dramatic instead of the mundane. My point is that we should be more aware of our own tendencies in that regard and try to do things that really make a difference, not just the "cause du jour" that makes us feel good.

As I said, the "why do we...?" part is rhetorical. "Dammit, stop doing..." just doesn't work as well.