CY’s Weblog

Popularity bred popularity?

Found an interesting topic. Do you like smash hits?? How do you choose which album to buy?

So what makes a hit?

A new study reveals that we make our music purchases based partly on our perceived preferences of others.

….. continue to read The Science of Hit Songs

Basicly, researchers created an artificial music market of 14,341 participants split into two groups to pick music from unknown musicians. In one group, the individuals had only song titles and band names to go on. The individuals in the other group saw how others had rated the songs.

One reader remarks

(the experiment) turns out popularity bred popularity, which explains why there’s so much crap on the radio

Another interesting remark is

It’s the law of physics that states that if one girl screams for something, it will make other girls scream … until all girls within a five-mile radius are screaming. Once you get girls screamin’, you can’t stop ‘em! They’re crazy! –Chef, South Park

This is exactly how I see those pop songs. Not many pop songs stay popular for long, the possible reason is that their popularity was created mainly by marketing rather than quality.

I am not saying that this is actually good science. Actually, if you know a little bit science, you will find that this research had made too many assumptions.

Following Comments:

hum~~popularity stuff~~rather complex….I would say that there must some reason essentially lead to the popularity, not just the popularity itself, ‘cuz the base(very first) quantity of ‘popularity’ should be large enough to bred even bigger popularity….(felt i am saying the tongue twister~~hoho)whatsoever, nothing comes from nothing~ as regard to the pop song,
well…u know, lots of the classical music today were once the “pop music” in the time when they had been written~what makes the difference is their qualities….i agree with u upon this point. today’s pop song is just like MASS production, ‘cuz music-making is also a popular thing…………so, let’s just wait and see which pop song we know will remain after fifty years or more……hehe…

oh, forgot to say>元er – 10/02/2006 22:51

when people need to make a choice, given that nowadays there are so many choices, taking other ppl’s preferences into account seems to be good idea and an efficient way to be entertained.
also, when people are talking about a song, you will want to listen to it so that you can talk about it. we all live with other ppl, so being influenced by others is unavoidable.i feel sad that the increasing number of choices is now obstructing us from having our own tastes and make it a bit inefficient for quility works to emerge, maybe?

yuaner, i like your comments, “lots of the classical music today were once the ‘pop music’ ” may be true. but i can hardly imagine when i am 80 years old say, any of today’s hits become “classical”. 200 years later,perhaps?

Published By CY- 11/02/2006 01:22

yeah~~it’s inevitable for us to take other people’s preferences into account when we are making our choises, so that we can get ourselves be involved in most of the talking.^^just read the article link above~only to find out that’s sth called social influence~
hehe, and it indeed, has given some negative effects on the emergence of good quality work, i agree.Yet, i want to say that nothing will obstruct u from having ur own taste, (u’v been doing it well i think~)and there will always be someone who share the same taste as u…..^^hoho….
why u so pessimistic about the prospect of today’s music ?well… maybe in ur mind, classical music has to be performed seriously by orchestras, i think the definition of classical can be broader….to some extents, Beatle’s music have already become somehow ‘classical’ in many people’s minds…..right?

Published By 元er – 11/02/2006 23:45

well, yuan’er evidently we share some interests and i am glad to say so. is that the reason you *..^^hoo…* ? hehe
i was not saying that something will prevent me from having my own tastes but in a rather general terms. you see, i am not a person with peculiar tastes i must thank the people i was connected to for it.
i am not pessimistic about today’s music that much, but i do not believe those hits will become “classical music” in future. In my point of view, rather narrow, classical music is refined and produced in the traditions of art which is contrasted with pop hits, and certainly must be concert music. beatles music are good and may become classical in many people’s mind as you said, but i don’t believe it will be universally recognized. on the other hand, i see the potentials of new-ages. like yanni’s

Published By CY- 12/02/2006 00:31

A New Tesco Nearby

A New Tesco Metro (Notting Hill Gate) shop which is just a few minutes walk away from my room started trading this Monday. It’s so coool, it’s the shop i have been longing for. No, to be exactly, its location is what i like because I use to walk either to High Stree Kensington to shop or a Tesco express(you know how small it is) just beside Holland Park.

They are giving coupons that gives you £3 off when you spend £10 or more. Looks goooooood, but beware that there are not as many special offers than other shops at this time.

I have tried the self check out machine there today, it’s cool! I used such checkouts at Sainsbury some time ago, and felt that is was ok. I have bought a coconut today, it could be wrose since you can strange smell something very strange (like some chemicals), had to dump it. Also got some pasta and cheese, bake them and …..yaaaamiiiiii !!

These day I try to devote some more time to work, but it seems to be very difficult since i have lost my interest in this subject. oh my ……

Strangely, I have related the new tesco to our upcoming exams, wierd feeelings, i must work hard!!

Tsunami Donations Comment

Tsunami Donations Comment

arg… another year, the second term of my university life have just begun.

The most upsetting news these days is certainly the tsunami in southeast asia on boxing day last year. I have been following all the information feed from all sorts of media it certainly is the most shocking disaster I have ever seen in my life. Big countries are in a competition of pledging donations, but how much aid will be actually delivered? Even China, which is a developing country who is still receiving help from developed countries pledges to give a lot(despite of many indonesian’s hostilities to indonesian chinese)

Western countries are particularly generous this time, which amazes me. Yeah, because too many westerners were there on holiday at that time, the destruction and hard feelings were actually witnessed and felt by them and delivered back to their families. Western media are bombing the public with shocking statistics and images which are really touching and have the power to make people spare some of their pocket money. Some of the rich people are generous too, like Jackie Chan, Michael Schumacher, but what about Bill Gates (I know, just because I don’t like windows)?

Aids seems to be in favor of Sri Lanka, I heard that India refuses some donations just because its government want to show that India is capable to deal with its own matter just like how Chinese government dealt with Tang Shan Earth Quake which kills thousands of people years ago. 440 and possibly more than 2000 Britons were dead in southeast asia, is this the reason why British were so generous and the media were so keen on following?

Media is really powerful, not many people will notice people in places in Africa such as Sudan just because they don’t report or give limited coverage of information.

ANYWAY, GOD BLESS THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING!

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Comments Previous | Next

Very good！

Published By songmuyang – 25/01/2005 04:40

Well Said! Cool comment!
keep up~~!
and I’ll be adding you to my favourate list

Published By Fan_Yang_ – 20/01/2005 00:23

Quote:
by the way, have you committed yourself to the living God?
Are u a brother ?
Published By Dragon – 10/01/2005 23:10
—————
no, but why i said “god bless” is just to express my best wishes to them, it does not necessarily imply i am committed to god or anything.

Published By Trivance – 11/01/2005 00:05

by the way, have you committed yourself to the living God?

Are u a brother ?

Published By Dragon – 10/01/2005 23:10

Hi!
You have quite a few interesting thing in your blog, I wil keep and eye on it … maybe you update it often with more news

cya Lili

Published By Lili (http://spaces.msn.com/members/lillykins1976) – 10/01/2005 21:27

hello how u doing long time no see. hope ur ok that and uni treating u well, its sad about the crisis but theres always been crisis everywhere else why cant people be always giving that much money?

Published By im_a_lady_you_no – 10/01/2005 17:28

trivance, a tall,handsome,clever and romantic boy seems a enthusiast as well, well mate ,good luck ,顶！keep in touch~~~

Published By man_who_invented_fire (http://spaces.msn.com/members/eplasinba/) – 09/01/2005 01:52

Great sentiments there. We will not see many, if any, natural disasters as big as this one in our lifetime, so get donating everyone!

Published By PvtRyan17 (http://spaces.msn.com/members/ashwhitfield/) – 09/01/2005 01:19

I’m actually quite glad that the countries from the “developed” world are donating considerable amounts of money to help the aid work going on in the aftermath of the tsunami, but the idea that anyone could treat saving lives as a competition is quite disappointing really.

Still, cool blog and thanks for the visit to my blog!

Published By Stealthio (http://spaces.msn.com/members/stealthio/) – 09/01/2005 01:16

Haha, you *bet* I use Firefox!

Published By Rach (http://spaces.msn.com/members/l337ch1xx0r/) – 08/01/2005 23:31

After school activities in the UK

This is an essay for The International Student Awards 2004 which is run by the British Council.
It’s an award scheme for those international students who are making the most of their time in the UK.

To get a rough impression of my extracurricular activities, please start from the 4th paragraphs.

Please do not worry about me; I am healthy and happy here. We have just had a party last Wednesday organized by the college, nice meals and nice karaoke songs, great fun.

I finally received an offer from Imperial College London. I am so happy that because my hard work has been paid off. I still remember the day when I first told you that I wanted to go to UK to continue my study then go to Imperial College. You, father and I had a long argument, now everything seems to be clear, even father will agree, we made a right decision.

I missed the tough competition of the University Entrance Exams in our country, but I entered a brand new one in UK which is not only solving hard questions. I have to work hard on my studies, keep my room tidy, cook for myself etc as I am away from you. You chose a state college for me because you want me to be more independent, I think now I am proud to tell you that I am now indeed.

Since last May, I started to work as a volunteer. I have been working for Scope, which is a charity shop whose focus is helping people with cerebral palsy. I have learned how to sort clothes; I can instantly and correctly tell you the size of a T-shirt or dress by just looking at it for a few seconds. I have also learn how to help to operate a store, do promotions, treat customers well and even how to react when I see a thief. Last time I was on the till, Sue the manager ask me to ‘notice’ someone which was suspected to be a thief. Sue said, ‘Just look AT him, give him some pressure, I don’t want you to challenge him, safety comes first’ At last, the man went away with nothing. Haha, I think I now may be able give some suggestions to my sister about her plan of opening a chocolate store.

Monday is the busiest day for me; I have continuous classes for a whole day. Even so, I choose to volunteer at night. What makes me so exciting? They are lovely British children. I work as leader/helper in the local scout. Every night on Monday, I learn from the activities we do and they learn something from me. We now know how to survive in forest and make fire without matches or lighter but our own hand and anything can be found in forest. I took them outside in fields in dark, use map and torch to find our way home, although the temperature was freezing, but everyone seemed have forgotten about it. We are now planning a new 24-mile-cycling trip. I will email the photos and tell you about it immediately after the trip. When it was Chinese New Year, we had a Chinese New Year evening. I told them about our country, fascinating fairy tales and taught them how to make dumplings. I made a standard dumpling as the same as you always did, one little boy asked me, ‘Why you make it like this?’ Dear mum, I can’t answer this question, can you tell me how to? Anyway, I was not good teacher that day because the dumplings they made that evening got countless shapes; they called them ‘creative design’.

When I started to do volunteer work, I didn’t expect any rearward. But now I have received a certificate of 100 Hour Award signed by the secretary of state for young people and adult skills, and I am heading to the Award of Excellence which requires 200 hours. ‘Why not have what you done credited’ Terry introduced me to the Millennium Volunteers scheme. Then I have a very kind counsellor Ruth who is always there to help me, answer any questions relates to the problems I encounter. They often offer some attracting activities and course to me. I participated in the ‘Residential Course’, there I met many new friends who are doing the same thing as me, and we played games, used recycled materials to form a band and learn to juggle. This half-term, I took four courses offered by them, Sign-language, First-Aid, Health and Safety and Customer Care. I hope that with these new skills, I will be able to help more people and myself.

Being a volunteer makes me feel that I am helpful to others and make the most of my time, but that’s not everything I do after school. I often go to different towns and cities to discover this fascinating country. I have been to almost every major city in England. I plan to go for a trip to Scotland and Egypt this Easter, so I am sorry that I am not going home. I know you miss me, I will have all the photos with me and beautiful background in it emailed to you! You know I like church, I have been to 26 different church or cathedrals. Last time I went to Ely cathedral, I listened to the choir with the BBC broadcasting team, loads of modern media equipment in this ancient building. I frequently go to the local church, not for services but for some old friends, I meet many old people who need some one to talk to. I have learned much history knowledge from them.

OK, the email may be a bit long this time, I just couldn’t help myself to tell you how happy I am now; I will see you this summer and tell you everything!

评论/留言 我要留言

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作者：absolute伊 　 个人主页　

valuable experience!
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作者：icewind only 　 个人主页　

向来觉得你的生活相比我的而言充实有意义很多，似乎每个人都可以决定改变现状，但做起来却有些力不从心，或许是渐渐习惯了这种懒散的生活节奏。很高兴看到你对目前生活的满意，祝福你CY
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作者：多恩来特 　 个人主页　

hehe..sounds like you are having lots of fun here..well..good luck for your competetion!