Not on contact with Vkontakte

So the inevitable has happened, as I expected and was quite obvious! Most of the music content on Vkontakte has become paid.

The main feature of VK for me was, of course, music, which was uploaded by the users and dumped in a huge pile. An archive where you could even find a no-name band rehearsing in the neighbor’s garage with their dad. Since VK introduced subscription to background music, I think everyone realized that soon all the music would become paid.

In the end, we got a service that plays to everyone’s disadvantage. It beats music services, social networks, video hosting, streaming platforms, and messengers. Why pay for an inconvenient player when there’s Google music, Yandex, and Spotify? To put it simply, Mailru’s greed really disappointed me.

Therefore – a new category: Music.

Todo list

I have this fairly ancient tradition to make a wish list at the beginning of the year. It is a list of desires and goals that I want to achieve in the new year.

So, recently I stumbled upon old notes that I made in 2015 and was surprised to see how things that seemed important change over time.

For example, the 2015 list of goals included:

  • Buy a camera
  • Rent an own apartment without parrents
  • Launch free public Wi-Fi in own city

Over the past two years, I have gone through a lot of spiritual, esoteric literature, and psychological work, purely out of academic interest. I do not subscribe to any particular view and still reject the attitude towards any specific socionics type. Now, everything that falls within my goals is only related to the development of abilities and understanding of the surrounding world.

Therefore, I am adding to the list by enrolling in a music school and traveling through Europe.

Of course, meanwhile, I continue to work in my favorite profession, constantly improving in my field, reading articles, and attending conferences. I love my work and am happy that it gives me the opportunity for personal growth. Moreover, I have never chased money. And I still believe that life gives me as much as I need.

  • Dec 22, 2018
  • /
  • Cars

I bought the Mark 2

Hello, my dear reader! Half of the journey related to buying and delivering the car to Sochi has already been completed. Therefore, you can relax a bit, sit by the fireplace, and write a short story about “how I spent my winter.” But then again, I became too lazy to write, so I’ll just make a small chronicle of recent events in pictures.

My new dark gray car and my friend’s white car, we arrived to buy
We are refueling after driving. All the gasoline spilled on the Vladivostok-Ussuriysk highway.
I went to the village where I grew up the next day.
I immediately broke the welded differential after drifting. LMFAO
The old welded differential turned out to be non-separable. The flange refused to come out, probably welded. The seals cannot be replaced. As usual, I came to refill the oil in the differential and now I am looking for a new IR-V differential.

The differential was pressing oil through the seals and throwing it on the exhaust. The constant smell of burnt oil reminded me that I would soon visit the guys at MasterMotors.

I found a used differential. It cost 5k (differential) + 3k (labor with oil). I also got some cool stuff. I replaced the Soviet-style steering wheel with a sport one because the turn signals didn’t work after turning the wheel backwards. I also fixed the car horn and received a climate control panel with working buttons from Vladivostok.
At the same time, the ordered cover arrived. I am preparing to send it.
I am preparing the body kit for repair and painting. They will be transported inside the salon. After repairing cracks and repainting, the Vertex front bumper will be shipped to Sochi by a transport company.
The Moscow – Sochi road is 1600 km long. I can’t travel without a bumper. Besides, I need to move around in Ussuriysk for now. The guys sold me the standard black Mark bumper for a cheap price. I estimated it and gave it for painting.

I can’t adjust the full-tap shock absorbers anywhere in Ussuriysk yet. I don’t know what the road will be like from Moscow. According to rumors, the M4 Don is the top highway in the country, but it is unknown what it will be like beyond Krasnodar. Therefore, I need to be cautious and raise the car a little bit.

Replacing coilovers with Tein Flex shock absorbers with EDFC stiffness adjustment module from the salon. Repair of the exhaust system.

While the exhaust is being repaired and the old shock absorbers are being replaced with Tein Flex, I decided to slightly change the appearance of the car. I bought a new trunk lid (without holes for a spoiler) and painted it. I also bought customized taillights and collected rare overlays for the taillights of the second model from different cities (it was not so easy to find them). Additionally, I replaced the rear window and installed a wiper.

I was very lucky to buy the front optics cheaply. I assembled the lighting with HiVision LED lights with a temperature of 6000K.


We redesigned the entire front lighting system. We installed turn signals in the bumper and ordered two 8 Ohm 50W ballast resistors to eliminate the fast blinking of LED turn signals. Now the LED turn signals flash at the normal rate.

Mijia

Accidentally got a scooter at a very low price during a rental sale.

Weight: 12 kg, range: 20 km. There’s something fun about zooming along the roads during rush hour at 25 km/h (not far). Or cruising along a long waterfront/park and then storing it in the car trunk. It doesn’t take up much space when folded.

Yesterday, I went for a test drive and rode to a bar (12 km) uphill. The battery died just as I got back to my house.

Meeting with the Zolotukhin brothers and the New Wave festival

Today I decided to take a walk and enjoy the autumn landscapes as usual. While walking down our pedestrian street, I suddenly saw the Zolotukhin brothers!

I just sat on the curb and was transfixed by their performance for an hour and a half. I couldn’t understand why these guys, who easily hit three octaves and play complex guitar parts without any pretension, are not appreciated much in our country. Why do thousands of people attend “New Wave” to watch some pompous guy from TV open his mouth to sing his mediocre song while showcasing his hairstyle, suit, and expensive glasses? How did it come to pass that artists who sing “I Fucked Your Chick” and “Lada Sedan – Eggplant” make a fortune and have a massive audience, while true musicians earn just pennies?

It’s not about the musicians; it’s about the audience. I don’t think it has to do with musical tastes either. If you advertise a piece of crap enough, people will flock to it like it’s the mausoleum. Popularity is certainly the decisive factor. Nowadays, popularity is equivalent to the amount of money invested in the artist.

However, there are indie musicians like Antokha MC, who went straight from the internet to performing in concert halls without too much investment. But this is an exception to the rule.

Overall, I can’t find an answer as to why music in Russia has become fast food. Bands, songs – they’re now seasonal. After a year, no one remembers them anymore. We don’t have new Talikovs, Shevchiks, Tsoys, Vysotskys… Or maybe we don’t need them?