h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Do you prefer a cd on which all the songs are kind of nice, or one which has two absolutely great songs, but the rest is crap?

In a wider perspective, would you prefer a long time of nice, but not so thrilling, well-being or a short time of mind-blowing happiness?

With the CDs I have a problem. See the CDs I buy tend to have one GREAT song which is the one I originally heard and made me want the album and then okay songs. But I cant STAND it when dad has a CD in the car which has two fab songs and the rest are awful.

The happiness...I really couldnt say. It depends what the rest of the time is like. I spend a lot of my time with almost crippling depression so a burst of happiness sounds wonderful but not if I have to be depressed for the rest of it. Long term okay sounds the best to be honest because surely even that will have its ups and downs?

Witht the CDs it's easy - I listen to music by XTC!

Life? It has its ups and downs. "If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor".

RF

Of course life has it's ups and downs. But it can be of different magnitudes. One can go for a long time and just live a daily life where neither the better nor the worse times are that different from each other. Everything is just OK kind of. Which I think is very different from the feelings of intense happiness, when everything is just so wonderful, and everything seems to be going your way, or the devastating depression when it feels like it would be so much easier to just not live. In my experience the stronger feelings don't last as long as the ones more to the middle..

Kat- I hope it will "up" a little in your life.

Hmmm Interesting question...
I think on balance, the middle ground where nothing massivly exciting or depressing ever happens is 'best'.

The danger in a life of extremes is that you may not make it out of one of the deep lows

Personally i would like to have my cake and eat it- half the time plodding along in a comfortable fashion, the other half with extreme thrills, and maybe even the (very) occasional bad thing, just to keep things in perspective...

In reality though, few people's lifes fall into either catagory exclusivly, though there may be long periods where it happens.

Actually it's a pretty pointless question really but for what it's worth i could *really* do with some extreme highs- never really felt that. Never been in love or bungee jumping, so that rules out many possibilities for extremes

Sure not many people live in either category. But I think some do try. Buddhist munks are a good example of people who have chosen to live the "middle" way. They are supposed to erase every burst of feeling in any direction and thereby find the happiness of living in harmony with everything.

On the other hand we have the traditional rock star life. Live for the kicks, "sex, drugs and rock'n roll". And I think if you live by that device you have a considerably shorter life expectancy.

Anyways, a little bit of both is by far the most normal I guess. And possibly what I would prefer, I have not really decide yet.

Being in love and being heart-broken are both pretty strong extremes to try out.. I can recommend it..

Notwithstanding all of the above, if you buy an XTC album, you will listen to excellent song after excellent song after excellent song. Their worst is better than most bands' best.

RF

Well that's your opinion. Music is an artform and as such is subjective and always open to individual tastes...

As for the original question, I would chose a CD of mediocre songs over one which was mostly dire, if 50% of the tracks were great and 50% were pathetic, I would consider it worth having...

I live a life that is full of chronic extreme lows, I think I've had at least 3 hospitalisations after suicide attempts this past year... The closest thing to extreme highs in my life came from my relationship with my now former fiancé, the way I feel now that relationship is over is great hurt, great loss and a sense of complete pointlessness to my existence.

At the moment I wouldn't recomend the life of extreme highs if you have to feel the extreme lowsthe way I do, fleeting highs and fleeting lows in a life of moderate happiness is definately preferable.

For music I'd go for the 1 great song.
One of my favourite songs, "Cathedral", is on an otherwise mediocre Crosby, Stills & Nash album. I can choose not to play the rest of it.
In life I think I'd go for moderately pleasant all the time. You can't only live the great bits.