The Cushy Blog

If I May Redirect Your Attention....

2011-03-18T11:14:00.000-05:00

Followers of this blog:

Things change. My interwebs 2.0 artistic efforts these days are either going into places with richer sharing features and community (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr) or especially my new blog, Garfield Grows Weed.

About that....

For decades now--since the cartoon first appeared in our local paper circa 1980--I have been fascinated by Garfield. My fascination first took the form of teaching myself how to draw him and his fellow characters (Jon, Odie, Nermal, Lyman [RIP]) at age ~9. By 5th and 6th grade, I'd written my own (albeit short and fairly lame) Garfield book, and I wanted to "grow up" to be a cartoonist. By college, my brother, Aaron, and I were taking white-out pens and fine-point art pens to real Garfield books and twisting the pictures and dialogues into sex-, drug-, and rock-n-roll-oriented meanings. (That was the golden age of art-within-art criticism/parody, a la Beavis and Butthead, Mystery Science Theater 3000, etc.) Jon became Jong, Odie became Orie or Die, and so on. In the years since, I have refined my techniques of détourning Garfield books by taking them via scans into Photoshop, even going so far as painstakingly constructing, letter by letter in FontLab Studio, a Jim Davis font.

So, I figure it's about time I began to broadcast some of my Garfield alterations to the world. Hence, the new blog (sample below). They are, of course, NSFW and for mature audiences. Much Love. Enjoy!

Garfield Grows Weed

Streaking For The Shy

2010-04-21T05:02:00.006-05:00

My first experience doing sound for a film was for this short independent one written and directed by my pal Splotchy. (Previously.) Now completed, here it is on Vimeo. Sort of NSFW. Enjoy!

Faceboobs: Gullible Men Wanted

2010-03-02T09:21:00.005-06:00

I am the repeated target of ads for dating sites on Facebook that feature (sometimes ridiculously) large-breasted women. Are you, as well? I'm not complaining yet, really, just noticing and blogging. Here is but a sampling. Enjoy.

I particularly like OvernightMatch's campaign for "responsive men" because, yeah, the problem with most dating sites is that the average man typically won't respond to a profile posted by an attractive woman with an enormous set. Note that I have not investigated any of these sites since I have no interest at all in signing up for any of them, but if they're anything like the mainstream dating sites I have used (Match.com, Yahoo Personals) I'm sure they're what one might call "sausage fests" of plenty-responsive men and understandably hesitant women. So, I'm only guessing that these are somewhat false advertisements, provocative and entertaining though they may be.

smsatnahP

2010-01-25T13:11:00.004-06:00

Courtesy of Joe at Electro-Faustus, the music from my previous post reversed and sped up 50%. Thanks, Joe!

smsatnahP (3:12)

Link

Phantasms

2010-01-17T09:42:00.008-06:00

Electro-Faustus EF102 Photo Theremin running through wah-wah pedal. Visualization by Rovastar+Geiss (Snapshot Of Space [LSB mix]).

Update: Electro-Faustus has now posted this video to their home page!

There's My Photo Theremin

2009-12-26T09:11:00.010-06:00

My brother gave me this for Xmas. It's an Electro-Faustus EF102 Photo Theremin. It's like a traditional theremin, but instead of interfering with radio signals you play with the amount of light reaching a photo sensor. Less light reaching the sensor results in a lower pitch, more light a higher pitch.

The following piece of sound was my first recorded experiment with the device. I turned the lights down in my studio and used my hand and a flashlight to play the thing. The piece is nothing special, but I have to say, a photo theremin is fun to play. Next time I'm running it through the wah-wah pedal.

Fall and Return (4:12)

Link

Real Dinosaur Sounds 2

2009-12-05T17:13:00.006-06:00

Another field recording in binaural of real dinosaurs, this time from the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. I found myself in a forest full of pachycephalosaurs (Stygimoloch). There was much discussion. Listen with headphones to get the full effect.

Photograph by Cryptonaut, taken at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina USA. Used with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Original audio recorded 11/13/2009 in Springfield, Illinois.

The Alleged Show

2009-11-19T06:17:00.005-06:00

I don't post often to this blog anymore, so you know that when I do it's for some important matter, right? Well, of recent importance is the fact that my brother, Aaron, and I NOW HAVE A RADIO SHOW! It's called The Alleged Show, and it airs Wednesdays 1-3PM CST on WQNA. In the Springfield, Illinois area that's at 88.3 FM, or streaming online it's at wqna.org. For more information, the show web site is here. And, my buddy Splotchy has created a Facebook fan page for it here. Tune in and check it out! That's all. I'm happy.

Make The YOU Difference

2009-07-23T12:09:00.003-05:00

This has been on the mirror in the bathroom at my work for as long as I've had my job--over 9 years now. I don't know who stuck it there; none of my coworkers will take credit for it if they did. But I want to thank the unknown responsible person, because its sentiment plus awkward typesetting gives me a little laugh almost every time I see it. Will make the I difference!

Frances Faye: 1994-2009

2009-07-22T15:51:00.002-05:00

RIP Frances Faye
1994-2009

(For Splotchy and family, with sympathies.)

Remember: On Music Celebrity Deaths and Spectacle

2009-07-09T04:56:00.011-05:00

The day after John Lennon's murder, Yoko Ono issued a statement: "There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean." Lennon's body was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. His ashes were then kept by Yoko.

After George Harrison died in 2001, he was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. On the first anniversary of Harrison's death, a "Concert For George" at the Royal Albert Hall was organized by Eric Clapton and included performances by many of Harrison's musical friends. The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation, which he set up to aid starving countries.

I work with my parents--they are of the Beatles generation, having seen them live at Busch Stadium in 1964--and the day after Harrison's death, I set up a small table in the hallway at our office with a picture of Harrison, candles, and a boombox playing their original 1970 cassette of All Things Must Pass on repeat. It's the only time I've ever done anything like that.

[Thank you, Benton Jennings.]

♥

The Eyes Have It

2009-04-16T05:37:00.005-05:00

I was tagged by Splotchy with this meme: post a picture of your eyes; tag some people.

I tag:
Manx
Becca

Capo Tasto: New Music

2008-12-30T08:55:00.006-06:00

Well hey, I just completed a 4-song, 18 minute EP titled Capo Tasto. (It's actually my first new music in more than a year.) The songs are all rock-ish instrumentals influenced by an eclectic mix of Cocteau Twins, Stereolab, and Pink Floyd. As usual with solo works, I played everything my own darn self. Here are them songs:

1. Ginkgo (2:28)

Link

2. Absolute Zero (4:38)

Link

3. Apropos (6:31)

Link

4. A World Tipped On Stereo (5:05)

Link

For those of you interested in the nerdy, technical aspects, here they are:

Instruments:
ESP 6-string electric guitar (with full and partial capos, various tunings)
Gibson Epiphone 6-string acoustic guitar
Artisan 6-string lap steel guitar
Essex 4-string electric bass
Sitar
M-Audio Keystation 66ES midi keyboard controller (with Mellotron and Moog patches)
Drum programs and samples
Chime board
Mbira (African thumb piano)

Effects and such:
Digitech RP-21D pedal board
Digitech PDS pedals of all kinds
Cutec Chorus pedal
Behringer MIC200 Tube Preamplifier

Software, etc.:
Ableton Live 6 (with Impulse) at 24-bit 96kHz (13 GB of source files)
iZotope Ozone 3 VST
Sony Soundforge 8
SFZ midi VST

Miscellany:
Fancy Shure-brand microphones (thanks, Kev!)
Random House Webster's Pocket Rhyming Dictionary

'Twas recorded December 19-28, 2008.

Thank you for your listening....

Cato Versus Clouseau

2008-12-11T09:21:00.002-06:00

My own video edit and YouTube upload, from "The Pink Panther Strikes Again": Cato versus Clouseau, with Chief Inspector Dreyfus spying from the apartment below. This is my favorite Pink Panther scene of them all, especially the slow-motion moments. Enjoy!

Science On a Sphere Fun & Learning

2008-11-27T06:56:00.005-06:00

A few photos from the installation of and training for the new NOAA Science On a Sphere exhibit at the soon-to-be-opening National Museum of Surveying here in Springfield, Illinois. Photos taken by Hwan Lim of the NOAA.

Click pics for larger versions...

My dad and brother helped out a little by configuring the router for us.

The impressive array of 'puters that run the thing.

Me in the foreground, happy to be learning.

Good shot for getting a sense of the sphere's size.

Me aligning the projectors. (That's a Nintendo Wii remote we use!)

More aligning the projectors.

Jupiter on the sphere.

Mars on the sphere.

Beautiful Earth on the sphere.

A photo by yours truly: One of my ice window pictures on the sphere.

Sphere!

McCain "Tongue Picture" Photoshop Gold

2008-10-17T16:55:00.004-05:00

(click for larger)

UPDATED! One more...

Created by and courtesy of Mike Holmes.

Two Days On Triton

2008-09-21T19:34:00.005-05:00

I made this when I was on Triton, Neptune's largest moon, in 2085 AD. It is time-lapse (3000x real-time) looking West, 99 km West of Mahilani Plume, over the course of two Triton days (about 12 days Earth-time).

Because of certain aspects of Triton's tilt and rotation and because of its orbital inclination of 157° up above and down below Neptune in retrograde, from this vantage point Neptune seems to set and then rise over and over in a loop with moons spinning round it going the opposite way we are.

We see peeks of our sun. The galaxy, our Milky Way, is prominent.

Music is from a 2007 piece titled "Lives of the Bloated Gas Giant Suns". Made using Starry Night Pro 4.

R.I.P. David Foster Wallace

2008-09-14T16:23:00.002-05:00

At his little house one day after class, I confided in him that I saw myself as different from most people. In a mostly kind way, he responded that it was a weak thing to say. I have never forgotten the truth to which that spoke.

Shake The Lake '08

2008-09-14T14:27:00.003-05:00

Finally getting this post UP!

Last weekend was something very special for many of us here.

Put on by a bunch of beer-loving, 70s rock playing, central Illinois good old boys, Shake The Lake has become an annual early September event near Hillsboro, IL, at Glen Shoals Lake. Three days of partying/camping, free food and beer, and two days of live music, it culminates in a Saturday night line-up of long-stays of the local music scene--Starry Eye, Fatal Charm, Sleepwalker, Edge of Gezzer, Hoosier Daddies. Members cross bands, everyone knows everyone somehow, and it's Skippy and Rage on sound & lighting natch. Unlike last year when we were calling it things like Drench The Lake, this year the weather was a blessing: variable clouds, a beautiful sunset, 70 degree temps, and little rain that waited until the end. There were two parasailers in the air above for a while. Probably 200-300 people showed up. Two pics I took with my phone camera (click for larger):

Fatal Charm on-stage, parasailer in the air, kids in the foreground, outhouses in the distance

Starry Eye on-stage: HUGE ROCK AND ROLL!!!!

DVD and therefore video due out sometime.

Link: myspace.com/shake_the_lake

Next year: Starry Eye & Cats on Holiday? I'm hereby spreading that rumor!

Early pics from the Obama rally downtown

2008-08-23T13:22:00.004-05:00

Click for larger...

In line, which was a dozen blocks long and snaked around a barricaded-off downtown.

Garbage in line.

Looking Northeast, giant flag.

Looking Southeast at the edge of the crowd, toward the stage area, which is far away and around the other side of the building!

Crowd streaming in.

Looking South. People continuing to arrive. The stage is around the other side of the Old State Capitol. What you're seeing is all spillover!

I stayed for a little while before leaving. It was pretty hot and very crowded, I couldn't see anything, and I ended up being by myself. Lame. My air conditioned house and television beckoned. Sorry Obama/Biden!

Googly-Eyed Toy TV Remote [Pic & Audio]

2008-08-22T18:10:00.005-05:00

My brother bought a Fisher-Price Sesame Street Silly Sounds toy TV remote for his 8 month old daughter (she loves remotes, and laptops). Here's a shot of one I stole off the net placed in front of a nice ocean scape.

When you press the buttons it plays boings and horns, numbers, Sesame Street characters speaking phrases, etc.

As my brother played it I recorded it as a "voice memo" on my new phone. Then I discovered I could make the recording my new ring tone...

So keep in mind that when you call me, this is what I will have just heard before I talk to you. It just might explain a few things, if I'm lucky.

Fisher-Price Sesame Street Silly Sounds Ring Tone (30 sec)

Audio Link

Dog-Day Cicada Song

2008-08-11T19:11:00.000-05:00

The lazy sound of late summer in the Midwest. Recorded 08/10/2008 at dusk on my back deck. 1 min, 32 sec. Binaural. Headphones encouraged.

Link

Getting Into Film?

2008-08-05T11:19:00.011-05:00

On Location, August 2, 2008

August 1-3, I had the pleasure of being involved in the shooting of a short independent film shot and set in Chicago and written, produced, and directed by my friend Splotchy. I was the sound recordist on the project, operating the boom mic, the mixer, and audio electronics stuff like that.

There was a lot of laughs, perspiration, collaborating, creating, setting up, tearing down, driving, working in a desolate industrial area of the city, seeing parts of the West and South sides of Chi I've never seen before. Incredible.

It was an opening and a great learning experience for me. The other 12 or so folks who worked on the shoot were such good people.

My body is still recovering from all the sweaty hard work and the discombobulation of travel, but it was one of those experiences that rewards you in profound ways.

More later...

Garrick Goes Crazy, Invades Cornfield, Etc.

2008-07-12T20:18:00.005-05:00

click for big pics

It was quite a thyme.

Here are the only sounds I captured. I encourage playing them all at once.

Farm Birds (Binaural)

Link

Cricket Chirping & Garrick Snoring & Dog Barking & Distant Siren (Stereo)

Link

Garrick's Truck Idling (Stereo)

Link

Rainbow

2008-07-12T19:40:00.000-05:00

Tonight I parked my car outside my house and looked up to behold this. Definitely one of the coolest rainbows I've ever seen. Notice the faint double-rainbow.

click for bigger

Proof That I Trimmed Some Bush

2008-06-16T17:51:00.003-05:00

Before...

After...

Roses! [Flower Roll Call]

2008-06-13T11:16:00.003-05:00

Also see:
Politits — Peach Blossom
Fran — Clematis
Splotchy — Daffodil
Dr. Monkerstein — Iris
Dguzman — Marigolds
Bubs — Scilla
Cap'n Dyke — Alstroemeria & Magnolia

Raaaaar: More Possible Dinosaur Sounds?

2008-06-10T17:00:00.003-05:00

I slowed down my Washington Park Pond field recording of geese, crows, and other birds by 150%. Even more so than before, the result floored me for its possible similarity to actual dinosaur calls.

The sound reverberations of the pond are also slowed down and therefore lengthened and lowered in pitch, resulting in the sound of a much larger space (as in the painting).

The geese end up sounding like sauropods or something, the crows like monsters, the nearby water bird like a velociraptor, perhaps. The three call out all at once to open the piece. It really astounds me.

Stereo, binaural. 2 minutes, 55 seconds.

Link

painting by Gerhard Boeggemann; image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License

Talk To Me, Washington Park

2008-06-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

click for larger pics

~ looking south over the pond about noon ~

Sunday I bicycled to nearby Washington Park. I visited the pond and the Rees Memorial Carillon seeking sounds. What I found was a treasure trove of urban park noises: wild life (lots of birds), carillon bells, and fountains.

These are binaural again of course, so listening through headphones is encouraged in order to experience the effect.

1) Pond 1
3 minutes, 9 seconds
As you can see in the pic a well-kept strip runs the length of the pond, for walking, biking, crawling, what have you. This was recorded sitting at the bank out on the strip facing west (right). Includes geese, ducks and other water foul. When the two geese fly past (behind you) one of them makes a very cool buzzing sound with its feathers. A plane comes in far overhead. I wish I knew what species of bird it is that starts calling out at 1:07, because I love the sound. Anyone know? I always hear them near the water.

Link

2) Pond 2
1 minute, 13 seconds
Still in the same spot. Two geese honk to each other across the pond while two crows caw to each other in the sky above. Great examples of animal communication. I wonder what they're saying?

Link

3) Carillon Fountain
30 seconds
Sitting on the ledge of the fountain at the foot of the carillon. The water seems to splash all around you.

Link

4) Carillon Song
47 seconds
A little bit of the carillon, standing thirty or so feet from the base in the trees. Those are the fountains in the background. Apparently, someone was practicing on the carillon at the time, getting ready for the coming festival. I do not know the song.

Link

~ at the pond, bad typesetting ~

Next time maybe I'll visit the stone gazebo for guitar and didgeridoo with heavy reverb...

White Oaks Mall In Binaural Audio

2008-06-01T10:13:00.002-05:00

I took a stroll through the local indoor shopping mall this weekend--White Oaks Mall--and of course I recorded the experience in binaural audio. Sounds abound: people talking, children playing, music wafting from stores. Put on those headphones and have a listen. 2 minutes, 47 seconds.

Link

Next I wandered into Aladdin's Castle, the arcade--a fixture in the mall since the late 1970s--although it has sadly been sized down in recent years and moved into part of the food court as the home video game craze has gradually displaced such public gaming places. (A few of the games were off and rolled back against the wall, others were surprisingly for sale. Sad.) This recording finds the place fairly active, nevertheless, with folks playing gun games, skee-ball, and one guy showing his amazing prowess on a Dance Dance Revolution rip-off, "Pump It Up" or "In The Groove" or something like that. 3 minutes, 50 seconds.

Link

I took another walk through the mall and came back to Aladdin's Castle after a bit to do another recording. The sound environment turned out much different this time: there were fewer players and more of the machines were in auto/advertisement mode. The only games being played were the motorcycle simulations. It's a much mellower recording than the first, enjoyable in different ways, full of a variety of sounds. 6 minutes, 22 seconds.

Link

Thanks for listening!

Daytime on English

2008-05-26T15:59:00.009-05:00

Another binaural recording--standing on the sidewalk of my street facing Monroe (South)--listening to cars going by, birds chirping and interacting, pedestrians talking, a dog barking, and an air conditioner humming in the distance. 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Listen with good headphones in a dark, quiet room.

Link

View Larger Map

Two Streets, Two Binaural Recordings

2008-05-26T13:31:00.007-05:00

My first binaural recordings! If you don't know what that means--and I didn't until just a few weeks ago (thanks, MC Special K)--it's worth a glance. Essentially, it's a method of recording sound such that when played back it seems very 3D. You need to listen through headphones to experience the effect, though!

1) Night on English St. (58 seconds)
Standing in my front yard facing Monroe Street, featuring a dog barking in the distance, faint wind chimes, a passing car that honks, and wind blowing through the trees.

Link

2) Thunder on Homewood Ave. (7 minutes, 10 seconds)
Standing on a back porch in quiet Jerome, featuring rolling thunder (at 02:10, 05:00, and 06:30), wind through trees, dogs walking on porch and dropping toys at the listener's feet, wind chimes, and other, very faint sounds. The wind interferes a little bit, but not too bad.

Link

The special microphones I used to make these recordings.

(The better the headphones, the better the illusion, of course. I find ear-bud style headphones to be the best for binaural.) Thanks for listening!

Cats Lens Flares Birds Sirens

2008-05-22T17:02:00.007-05:00

Cats in the window with lens flares video mixed with civil defense sirens, subtle birds, and a beat audio. 1 minute 43 seconds.

Starry Eye Performing "Roller" By April Wine

2008-05-15T10:46:00.000-05:00

My father and uncle's band, Starry Eye, covering the same song 21 years apart.

1986 @ 1518 East

2007 @ Shake the Lake

video produced by Bill Prose at Team Pro Studio

Cats Over The Window

2008-05-03T10:09:00.006-05:00

The power struggles of my cats, Mason and Galileo, continue: here sporadically documented over the window.

Awwwww. A happy ending.

~~~Update!~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Post Not About Much

2008-04-30T09:58:00.003-05:00

My efforts have been primarily directed toward A Blog Of Notes these days, so if you haven't checked it out, by all means do so. The April mixes are posted!

April Searching for Instrumentalist Sh*theads

2008-04-23T10:50:00.006-05:00

Manx, ~H~, and I had the pleasure of seeing one of our collectively favorite bands, Stars of the Lid, at Staerkel Planetarium on the Parkland College campus last night. Some memories:

driving across Illinois in the most beautifulest of spring weather
eating sandwiches and covertly drinking beer in the parking lot (very adult of us, no?)
hanging out in the lobby before the show with lots of framed posters of pre-Hubble space photography from the 1970s and 80s
the opening act, Christopher Willits, was a single guitarist/pc operator/what looked like a digital sequencer operator. He sounded to H like a blend of SOTL and Oval.
SOTL was: two guitarists/keyboardists, plus, for the tour, a cellist, a violinist, and a violist
tons of ultracool (see Cosmos) visuals to the show seemingly made in 1979
by the last 20 minutes of Stars' performance being in a trance-like state, seeing the strangest faces in the visuals
Manx meeting the band and getting their autographs; me saying to one of them (Adam) "great show" and him replying "thanks for coming" (icing on the cake)
$0 admission charge!
buying an ultracool poster
all in all, it being a trip full of whimsy and awe

What an excellent experience. More highlights are on Manx's blog here.

Of course, here is a sound sample I recorded of the show. It's a snippet from "December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface" off their most recent album, And Their Refinement of the Decline. It was their final song of the night. Relax and enjoy!

Mashup: Twisted Laverne and Shirley

2008-04-21T12:34:00.004-05:00

Knowing mashups are all the rage these days, I thought I'd yank this one out of the storage cabinet in my brain and blog it finally, for I've long heard in my head Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" running into the Laverne and Shirley theme song, sung thusly:

We're not gonna take it
No, we're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore
We've got the right to choose it
There ain't no way we'll lose it
We're gonna make our dreams come true
Doin' it our way (etc.)

Try it. You'll see how well one flows into the other both lyrically and musically. This would be fun to perform in a band as either a one-off joke or a regular performance (with other similar song mashups, perhaps, natch!).

A quick splice of the two in original song format would sound something like this:

Dinosaur Park

2008-04-17T06:03:00.015-05:00

I took a field recording I made a little while back of a gathering of birds in my neighborhood and slowed it down 200%. The result is exotic, alien-sounding. The intriguing question to me is, could this be something like what dinosaurs sounded like?

Mason and Galileo: The Epic Struggle

2008-04-16T10:59:00.006-05:00

I just love to watch my cats play fight. I've had some difficulty videoing them doing it, however, because often by the time I go get the camera out, power it on, and push record, they've quit or run off. Or, true to the animal studies equivalent of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, me attempting to video them changes their behavior--it causes them to come investigate what I'm doing. I finally realized that sometimes just as you have to waste a lot of photographs of a subject to get those few that are worthwhile, sometimes you have to shoot lots of video then literally edit the crap out of it; eventually, if I stay still, they ignore what I'm doing and have at it. Keeping the camera out on the coffee table where it's handy also helps minimize distracting activity.

What you won't see, then, is the ten minutes of me standing around waiting for them to barrel back into the room. What you will see is just a few roughly spliced together scenes of my cats, Mason and Galileo, running around the house crazy playing. Oh and, yes, Mason, the orange one, is the dominant one and almost always the instigator. All vocalizations are by Galileo.

Sound Quiz, Vol. 2

2008-04-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

~ Updated ~

Of the ten sound samples I'd recorded this time, Anonymous Communist got seven right and is the winner! Here is your badge, AC.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's time for another sound quiz! Here are the rules: leave your answers as comments to this post; she/he/it who gets the most right wins a fabulous "Sound Master Vol. 2" badge suitable for display on their blog or website.

Listen close!

Walk Sounds, Spring Sounds

2008-04-09T18:21:00.003-05:00

I worked at home today. At 3pm, I left on foot for a haircut. Yes, you can still walk to things in Springfield, if you live in one of those rare places. It was a beautiful early spring day in Central Illinois. Of course I took my recorder with me. Here are three sounds I captured along the way.

1) I arrived for my haircut early so I took a walk down what looked at first glance like a secluded hill with woods on one side and houses on another. Turned out the woods were just a large overgrown yard. But the extra flora meant lots of fauna--here in the form of the many birds I recorded. You can clearly make out a male cardinal and a dove.

2) After my haircut (no, no noises from the salon) I took a circuitous route back and happened to walk under a passing helicopter. I only got my recorder out in time to catch the latter half of its flyby.

3) Saving the best for last, who doesn't love the summer-foreshadowing sound of the Ice Cream truck heard in early spring? I was lucky enough to be a pedestrian on the local truck's route. I didn't stop the guy for a treat, but I did get the audio of his truck's passing by me. I especially like the tiny bit of Doppler Effect at the very end.

More Drug Pens

2008-04-09T07:16:00.000-05:00

Top to bottom, they are:

actos
pioglitazone HCI

VALTREX
valacyclovir HCI

COREG
Carvedilol

Flonase
(fluticasone propionate)
Nasal Spray, 50 mcg

Cymbalta
duloxetine HCI

Plavix
(clopidogrel bisulfate)
75mg tablets

Detrol LA
Tolterodine Tartrate
extended release tablets

nasonex
(mometasone furoate monohydrate)
Nasal Spray, 50 mcg*
*calculated on the anhydrous basis

CLARINEX
(desloratatide)
5mg TABLETS

OMNICEF
(cefdinir) capsules

PROVIGIL
(MODAFINIL)
Tablets

Boniva
ibandronate sodium
tablets
One tablet, Once a month

allegra
fexofenadine HCI

Diovan HCT
valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide tablets

OMACOR
Omega-3-acid ethyl esters

Viagra
(sildenafil citrate) tablets

CLARINEX
(desloratadine) 5mg TABLETS

RHINOCORT AQUA
Nasal Spray
(budesonide)
32 mcg

Symbicort
(budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate)
Inhalation Aerosol

Avandamet
risiglitazone maleate/metformin HCI

Zomig
Nasal Spray
ZOLMITRIPTAN

Allegra-D
12 Hour
fexofenadine HCI 60mg/pseudophedrine HCI 120mg
Extended-Release Tablets

Menactra
Megingococcal
(Groups A, C, Y and W-135)
Polysacharide Diptheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine

Micardis
Telmisartan Tablets

Avelox
moxifloxacin HCI
400 mg Tablets

Zithromax
(AZITHROMYCIN)

PROSCAR
(FINASTERIDE)

strattera
atomoxetine HCI

FAMVIR
Single-Day
famciclovir tablets

Lybrel
(ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel)

AcipHex
rabeprazole sodium
20-MG TABLETS

Sound Quiz, Vol. 1

2008-04-08T21:13:00.004-05:00

~~~~UPDATE

Here are the answers to the quiz. In retrospect #3 may have been too hard or out of the ordinary. Manx guessed radio static while Marie Carnes guessed spray mode at the car wash.

1) Idling bus
2) Refrigerator
3) Waterfall
4) Vacuum cleaner
5) Geese
6) ATM
7) Gong (no reverb)

Since no one got all of them right but both players were close and had such excellent guesses, I'm dividing the award in half. You each are half a Soundmaster! Congratulations!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My amateurish interest in field recording is peaking now that I've given up $300+ dollars to upgrade my recording device.

Here is the recorder I had been using, the Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder:

On the other hand (actually the same hand), this is the M-Audio Microtrak II, to which I have upgraded:

It's really nice!

Anyway, here are a few mildly interesting recordings I have made with it so far. If anyone can correctly identify the source of each and every one of these recordings in a general sense (like "cat" or "telephone") he or she will win the coveted Soundmaster Vol. 1 badge!

But you must get all of them right!

~~I'll post the answers in a few days.~~
Answers posted!

3200 Junk CDs

2008-03-31T13:46:00.008-05:00

I've been collecting these for almost eight years. Working for a computer company with software subscriptions has been the primary source, though a good few are from AOL advertisements saved up for me by my grandmother, Nicoderm CQ packages from all my (ultimately successful, heh heh) attempts to quit smoking, and casualties of bad disk-burners. Someday I will do something with them other than spindle them on metal rods sealed with hose clamps and prop them up in the corner of my dining room. Until then they remain just... 3200 Junk CDs (estimation) and counting.

Ilinois Basket and Junk

2008-03-30T17:58:00.007-05:00

I found this basket, one of my treasured possessions, at the Sangamon Antique Mall in Springfield years ago. The junk, too good for the ordinary junk drawer, has accumulated over time the way all junk does.

Drug Pens

2008-03-28T11:59:00.012-05:00

Top to bottom, they are:

COLAZAL
(balsalazide disodium)
Capsules 750mg

Diovan
valsartan tablets

Caduet
amlodipine besylate/atorvastatin calcium

Ketek
TELITHROMYCIN tablets

Lexapro
escitalopram oxalate

AcipHex
rabepreazole sodium

AcipHex
rabepreazole sodium

TriCor
145mg & 48mg
fenofibrate tablets

Evoxac
(cevimeline HCI)
30 mg Capsules

actos
pioglitazone HCI
15,30,45mg

MoviPrep
(PEG-3350, Sodium Sulfate, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Ascorbate and Ascorbic Acid for Oral Solution)

SPIRIVA
HandiHaler
(tiotropium bromide inhalation powder)

LOVENOX
(enoxaparin sodium)
Injection

Prozac
fluoxetine hydrochloride

ADVAIR
DISKUS
(fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder)

Condylox Gel 0.5%
(podofilox gel)

ZYPREXA
Olanzapine

VIAGRA
(sildenafil citrate)
tablets

Xifaxan
(rifaximin)
tablets 200 mg

FLOMAX
TAMSULOSIN HCI
CAPSULES 0.4 MG

The Signage of Negative Space

2008-03-24T13:39:00.030-05:00

The Signage of Negative Space will be featuring some of my contributions in the coming days. The blog, another started by my friend Splotchy, posts pictures of a certain style of signage that uses backlighting with a dark foreground. Here's a sample of one of my most recent shots, a church in my home town:
Splotchy calls this use of illumination/blocking "neagative space" because the image is formed by subtraction of an unlit area (the letters or symbol) from the lit area, i.e. the background. Photoshop geeks like yours truly know this effect as an "Outer Glow". A fine famous example of such signage is the Yahoo! headquarters sign in Sunnyvale, California:
For me, the darker the sign color and the brighter the source of illumination (to a point) the better. For all you Springfieldians or former thereof reading this (all three of you) a favorite local example of mine of negative space is the Bergner's sign at White Oaks Mall:
Is it just me, or is there something fascinating about these signs? Its use is somewhat rare, and perhaps that leads to some of the allure. In the greater Springfield area, we only found seven instances of negative space signage. Fortunately, Splotchy gets contributions from places rich in signage and as diverse as London, Austin, and Chicago. One reader, my brother, Manx, described the blog as "Very mellow. Very calming. Kind of the same way X-mas lights have on me in a dark room." That sounds about right.

A Blog of Notes

2008-03-20T13:08:00.004-05:00

My good friend Splotchy and I have become co-contributers to an "audio blog" we call A Blog of Notes. We regularly post sounds we've recorded from our environment--things like trains, ovens, cars, and cats--and describe those sounds in terms of notes on a keyboard. Yes, they're sounds you can listen to in your browser! You can hear the meows of my two cats, the doors closing on Splotchy on the Chicago Metra, and many more. Listen!

Special Adoptables

2008-03-16T07:04:00.018-05:00

In the loft an enormous barn in the wooded fringe of Mechanicsburg, Illinois there exists a very special place. There, cats who are surviving feline leukemia are given a place not just to live, but to thrive. I recently visited these "Special Adoptables", as the shelter calls them. I went to take pictures, visit a friend, and generally soak up the relaxing and playful atmosphere any cat loft is bound to have. All the cats you see here, including many others not pictured, are fully adoptable to the right home.* But first, a little about the shelter. (Click pictures for larger pictures.)

The barn.

Up in the loft, cats have their own rooms off a hallway and are generally grouped two or three to a room. Some are allowed to wander.

One room.

Another room. There are five rooms altogether. The place is still unfinished, and I could see it staying that way; how finished does it need to be for cats, after all? What amazed me was the actual luxury they live in. Notice the special cat furniture, the inclusion of human furniture (which the cats like and is great for human visitors), the linoleum floors, the windows with chairs in front of them (cats love windows!), and the overall cleanliness of the place. Very snazzy. But enough about that stuff. On to the cats!

This is Charlise (left) and Chumley (right). Charlise is a blue-eyed (rare for a cat) Siamese mix. She is 3 years old and loves to roll on the floor for attention. She is a lap sitter and will follow you around. Chumley is 2 years old and "loves to be loved". He was born in a flower pot and bonds well with people. These two are both sweet cats who have been waiting a long time for a home.

This is Shannon, the darling of the group. I could have spent hours with Shannon. She's a dainty, long-haired, 4-year-old tortie. She only weighs 6 pounds(!), and she gets along very well with other cats. She loves to play and would make someone a truly wonderful companion. And just look at that coat!

Bo is a big friendly guy. He will sleep in your bed and sit on your shoulder when you watch TV. He gets along well with most anyone he meets except for other cats, with whom he can get a little aggressive. He's 3 years old and desperately needs a home.

Skipper is a very special cat, indeed. He has three legs, no tail, and kind of a lion's mane. He's a little skittish even when he knows you. Once he relaxes, though, he is exceptionally playful and funny, with what you'd swear is an almost human sense of humor, not to mention the charming sounds he makes. He gets along well with other cats and forms special friendships with them. Skipper is an old friend of mine, and I know he'd make someone very happy.

Smokey is a large gray male with striking green eyes and a loving personality. Like two of the other cats at the shelter, he has FIV rather than leukemia. Smokey has a sweet-sounding, high-pitched meow that sounds very adorable coming out of a big cat like him. He loves people and dogs and is ready for a good home.

Toby was in the rafters the entire time I was there. Obviously a climber! He's 4 years old, very affectionate, and plays well with other cats. He and Skipper are best friends at the moment and groom each other. Toby likes to go on nursing home visits. He reminds me, especially in this picture, of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

*With basic care, cats who survive the first year of feline leukemia, which is 15% of those who catch it, can live long, healthy lives. Because the disease makes their immune system weaker than other cats, though, they need to be kept inside so they don't catch ailments or spread the disease to other cats. The disease is not transmittable to humans or other animals but is transmittable cat-to-cat through extensive contact, so these cats can only be housed with other "leukemia cats". Thus the shelter encourages adopting them in pairs (or more!), especially cats who have become friends at the shelter!

If you can, won't you consider giving one or two of these cats a home?

The Words Will Make You Out And Out

2008-03-12T19:08:00.017-05:00

Just some words I like and related pictures from Google Image search.

circuitous

polysemous

peripatetic

prehensile

nebulous

suffuse

quorum

caesura

cascade

obfuscate

umbra

glossolalia

obsequious

Hey, the Secretary of Education Lost to My Adopted Actor on Jeopardy

2008-03-08T13:21:00.009-06:00

I heard U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (left) on the NPR program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! today. She won the quiz, which was on Dungeon's and Dragons--a subject she admitted she knows nothing about--with help. I think because the joke prize--Carl Kasell's voice on an answering machine--was going to an American soldier serving in Iraq, as sometimes happens on these Saturday morning radio shows there was a tendency to let the contestant win. In the course of things, host Peter Sagal and Spellings exchanged memories about each being on Jeopardy. When asked how she did, the Secretary replied she'd "come in second", to which Sagal said, "Also known as losing" to much audience laughter. As soon as Spellings said she'd lost to my adopted actor, Michael McKean, I had to Google it, via which I found this picture as part of a Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip post titled "Education Sec. Loses to Dude from 'Earth Girls Are Easy'":
According to the poster at the Wonkette, this screen shot was just after the end of "Double Jeopardy". (The show aired back in November of 2006. The third contestant is Hill Harper, an actor from CSI: NY.) According to the web site J! Archive, McKean ended up walloping her $38,800 to $11,100.

It may be old news now, but it's still noteworthy.

Chunks #3

2008-03-08T08:59:00.008-06:00

Even more moments from my browser history....

Clinton said, "I've had people say, 'Well I wish I could vote for both of you.' Well, that might be possible some day."
Clinton Raises Issue of Run With Obama

Octave designations are necessary to correctly identify every possible note from the lowest to highest pitches. Unfortunately, there is no one standard system in place today that musicians use to designate octaves.
Table of Octave Designations

As used by the CTA, the name is rendered as the capital letter "L", in quotation marks. "L" (with double quotation marks) was often used by CTA predecessors such as the Chicago Rapid Transit Company; however, the CTA uses single quotation marks (') on some printed materials and signs rather than double, and it seems safe to say there is no firm policy other than use of quotation marks of some kind.
Chicago 'L'

Keyboard - Google Image Search to
Say No to Crack - A Keyboard Waffle Iron

Will you send me free sheet music?

No. Search the web for free sheet music.

Forum FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions - The Woodwind Fingering Guide

After more than a decade of struggle, the House on Wednesday passed a bill requiring most group health plans to provide more generous coverage for treatment of mental illnesses, comparable to what they provide for physical illnesses.
House Approves Bill on Mental Health Parity

A line drawing of a PCjr joystick.
PCjr Pictures

Examples of "oronyms" (which may only be true homophones in certain dialects of English) include

'mint spy' vs 'mince pie';
'ice cream' vs. 'I scream'
'stuffy nose' vs. 'stuff he knows';
'euthanasia' vs. 'youth in Asia';
'situation' vs. 'sit, you Asian';
'i.c.u.' vs. 'I see you'.
'depend' vs. 'deep end'
'Grace Gale' vs. 'Gray Scale'
'the sky' vs. 'this guy'

Homophone

Snippets #2

2008-03-01T07:48:00.009-06:00

More snippets from my browser history... Nothing too interesting. Two good-music-related ones, though.

Democratic voters are typically younger, likelier to be female and more racially diverse this year than they were in 2004, according to exit polls of voters from both campaigns.
Democratic Voters More Diverse This Year

Servers should be cautious about depending on URL lengths above 255 bytes, because some older client or proxy implementations may not properly support these lengths.
What is the limit on QueryString / GET / URL parameters?

badly drawn boy about a boy - Google Image Search

kaki king ...until we felt red - Google Image Search

I gave them an in-your-face muscle show. Nothing. One guy got up and left. I think I'm losing the crowd. Either I suck at entertaining or these people are more stoned than I am.
The Adventures of Huygens Sideways Part IX: Night of the Nature Boy

So far this week I have...

2008-02-27T19:19:00.019-06:00

...played my 1000th game of Solitaire at work on my Windows Vista PC since putting the machine together in November. That's approximately 15 games per work day.

...switched offices with a coworker so that each of us benefit (mostly in terms of ambient temperature). It really was amazing that we didn't think of it sooner. Suddenly there is a kind of radiance about my office area that wasn't there before.

...bought a recumbant stationary exercise bike. It has an LCD readout and measures your heart rate from the handlegrips and has programs and such. Too bad mine mostly just displays a blinking "E1" error with a beep. Guess I'll have to call the 800 number.

...watched a RiffTrax of Star Trek: Generations, which was funny where it counted: with Malcolm MacDowell.

...gotten a new rim and four like-new tires for my car, Big Red.

...drank an Old Fezziwig Ale by Samuel Adams, which according to the label contained cinnamon, ginger, and orange. It was okay. Not nearly as wine-cooler-ish as the Cranberry Lambic.

...was shown the art of kindness by someone, but that's all I can say about that.

nearing treats time
(and who messed up the rug??)

Schools of Code

2008-02-24T08:00:00.014-06:00

After hours of coding in VBScript, I'm so burned out that the patterns of thought continue to fire when I move on to something else. For instance, if I drop something I think, "Better debug that." Sort of. It wears off like it's fading out.

I sort of just picked up the language by glancing at examples. It's some kind of testament to the foresight of Illinois school district 186 of the 1980s that that was possible in indirect causality because of 10th grade Intro to BASIC (loved it), the foundation class for any programming skills I might have.

I used to spend early weekend mornings, after my paper route and before Mom, Dad, or my brother had woken, at the IBM PCjr programming extracurricularly and listening to cassette tapes like Thompson Twins' Quick Step and Side Kick.

I used to especially like to program for graphics. My programs were a mere few dozens or hundreds lines long in those days. Still, it was a very math heavy endeavor, with plotting lines and points and looping within loops. The loops within loops I write these days are thousands of lines long, sorting and printing insurance records for a well-known regional video store company, but the problem-solving sense of satisfaction remains the same as when I was 15.

Other languages I write in I either had to study hard--reading books, completing tutorials, taking a class--like JavaScript, HTML (technically not a programming language but rather markup). To get SQL down I had to buy an obese $60 book at Barnes & Noble that came with a CD-Rom.

Whatever the case, they all pay the bills at our little family computer business.

2008-02-23T21:41:00.001-06:00

Scraps #1

2008-02-21T08:32:00.016-06:00

I'm going to start a new series here whereby I bring in scraps of what I've been browsing. It'll basically be like a links post but with choice text from the page included.

This eclipse is the beginning of the end of the world, according to Buddhist and Zoroastrian beliefs.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_21%2C_2008_lunar_eclipse
UPDATE!
Since removed!

"He is essentially an honorable person," said William P. Cheshire, a friend of Mr. McCain who as editorial page editor of The Arizona Republic defended him during the Keating Five scandal. "But he can be imprudent."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html

dim txt
txt=" This is a beautiful day! "
document.write(Trim(txt))
Output:
"This is a beautiful day!"
http://www.w3schools.com/vbscript/func_trim.asp

But the most frequent complaint has been about the male-female ratio and gender roles. Papa Smurf makes all the big decisions, while lovely Smurfette, the most prominent of just three females, does little more than run around in high heels and look pretty.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18945311

Actual Products I Use

2008-02-17T11:59:00.005-06:00

As if!

No comment.

They're your average, generic trash bags. I really don't know how awesome they are.

This thing, the RocketFM, broadcasts your laptop's sound over the radio. I use it to play my mp3 collection over my living room stereo system; it's nice having no cable running across the living room. But, I can't decide, is the thing phallic or yonic?

Aww Cute

2008-02-15T19:58:00.006-06:00

IBM PCjr, circa 1984

If I Had a Special Birthday Wish

2008-01-24T18:27:00.000-06:00

If you know me in "real life", you know I'm fond of strings of lights. I currently have an RGB thing going in my living room, stringing around the speaker stands and fireplace mantle. It's become a guilty pleasure though as I see my energy bill climb a little bit when I've enjoyed having them on a lot. So I happened upon this site. LED Christmas lights! Isn't that nice?

Red is currently out of stock, but green and blue are in!

I love a new sink...

2008-01-20T08:55:00.001-06:00

This was an Xmas present from my parents. I finally got it installed this week. It's really shiny. Thanks.

G and I Hike

2008-01-13T16:53:00.001-06:00

It was a clear day, warm for January at 44 degrees F. My friend G and I arrived at the farm house complex. There were dozens of cats, ten chickens, and five cows. He first showed me the farm, and the 14,000 seedlings of garlic. We then wandered through high grass fields not farmed in seven years. Near us four huge deer took off and never looked back. We arrived at the green house, where G showed me the dirt he doesn't walk on, the fan that blows air between the two layers of plastic, and the holes through both layers caused by hail. Taking off into the woods and finally getting out my camera, I snapped a picture of this spiky (Honey Locust?) tree:

I think I have found weird garbage in the woods before, but this takes the cake:

Near the creek. Why is G carrying a glass galon jug of water?

More weird garbage...

Me and the graffiti...

In the saplings patch:

Approaching the grove:

That's a cow skeleton, G....

I can't take you anywhere...

Meme to Make a Band = Discrete Symmetry

2008-01-08T20:43:00.000-06:00

This meme has been going around. You go:

to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random for your band name, taking the first article title

to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
for your album title, taking the last four words of the quote

and to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ for your album cover art, taking the third picture, no matter what it is.

My results are...
Band Name: Discrete Symmetry
Album Title: A Waste of Time, from "Doing a thing well is often a waste of time." by Robert Byrne
Album Cover Art: Here

A little cropping and Photoshopping and...

Arrrr, Skulduggery be cluttery; Cadet retooled

2008-01-06T08:41:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd continue my PC pinball posting, and why not? This is Skulduggery, one of the three games that came on the $1.90 eBay auction-bought "Full Tilt!" CD. I haven't played it very much, maybe a few lazy hours of just bopping the ball around with the flippers and seeing what happens. Otherwise I haven't chosen to play this game much because unless I'm just not trying hard enough there seem to be no sweet spots on the flippers like there are in Space Cadet and, to a lesser extent, in Dragon's Keep. Sweet spots, in my estimation, are like in Cadet where you can repeatedly send the ball up into Hyperspace with the left flipper. Also, the missions aren't very intuitive or interesting tome. This not-too-shabby-for-an-absolute-amateur high score, two-birds included here because my high scores get wiped every time I close the program, was earned through completely random flipper hitting. as usual, click for larger image

Note how graphics-happy and cluttered the game is, a bit like Dragon's Keep. I do like the parrot noises and the "arr!" noise for bonuses, and that Mushroom Patch (upper right) surrrre is tempting. But by and large and small and medium, I prefer the space of Space Cadet. With that, on to that.

This is the version of Cadet that is probably already installed on your PC if you're running Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, or XP. It's fairly cartoony compared to the version that came on the "Full Tilt!" CD (see below). That's because it was designed for Mass Appeal. I love this game and have advanced to lieutenant (I used to play it on a Windows 95 system back in 1997 and have recently taken it up again). This solely-for-a-screen-shot game screen shot shows my current high score. It took me weeks of regular play to get scores near 10 million.One thing I've noticed about this game is that is plays differently on different PCs; maybe it's just the difference in keyboards, but it seems more than that. For instance, there are shots that are impossible for me on my office PC (Windows Vista with a wireless Logitech keyboard) but are almost easy on my home notebook (Windows XP IBM ThinkPad T22).

This is the version of Cadet that came on the "Full Tilt!" CD. In a few ways the game was retooled for the CD release. Beyond the CHANGE from cartoony to military in the sidebar graphics, somehow the flippers feel longer and slower. And the sweet spots are completely different. The spot I have been using to send the ball into the Launch Ramp (middle left) using the left flipper now sends the ball into the Hyperspace Chute (upper right). Really, the flippers send the balls to completely different places now. And some of the sounds are also different or new. This is a screen shot of pretty much the only serious game I have played of this version.
36 million! Compared to the older version of the game, it seemed way easier to send the ball into Hyperspace (and therefore easier to get the Center Post and to get free balls), inexplicably easier to avoid the Outside Lane lockouts, and harder to hit the Flags in order to Upgrade them for a Rescue Mission. Also, the ball doesn't go automatically from Hyperspace to the Launch Ramp like it does in the old version. Overall though, I was surprised at how easy it was to get this high score. I advanced to Captain!

Maybe more later...

54 Million on Dragon's Keep!

2008-01-01T17:18:00.000-06:00

Bosch! 54 Million on the pinball game Dragon's Keep. I got lucky and cleaned up on a maiden rescue mission. That might not be very much, I don't know. I've only been playing the game off and on for several days. (I play a lot of pinball on my IBM ThinkPad WinXP at home.)

Anyway, one reason I decided to document this with a picture is because every time I close the program the high scores are wiped. And why is that? Because Dragon's Keep, like Skullduggery (a pirate themed pinball game) and a retooled Space Cadet were not properly installed on my ThinkPad. When I purchased the install CD on eBay, the auction verbiage said "Windows 95/98" and that turned out to be true--once I put in the install CD, a message popped up that said "Operating system not compatible". So here's what I did: [geeking] I remembered that the version of Space Cadet that comes with Windows 95 Plus!, 98, 98 SE, ME, 2000, and XP (not Vista) is simply an .exe file. You can copy it (or more properly copy the entire directory) from one computer to another and have it work. That's what I did with Space Cadet and Windows Vista on my office PC, although the full-screen mode ended up being incompatible with Windows Aero mode, and in any case Space Cadet on a widescreen monitor like mine there stretches it all out horizontally. So getting back to the Dragon's Keep/Skullduggery/retooled Space Cadet install CD, I simply copied the directories from the CD to my ThinkPad and made shortcuts to them on the dektop. For some reason the splash screen and the high scores are nonfunctional, but I am able to play all three games and in mostly functional full-screen mode. [/geeking]

I may post more on my pc pinball exploits, I dunno.

Ice Storm!

2007-12-09T09:05:00.000-06:00

Click pics for larger pics...

Ice on the bush next door.

My car.

Firewood on the front porch, delivered and stacked by my dad.

Fireplace with Xmas lights around.

Images of Autumn: Wake and Rake

2007-11-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

I'm so happy. I've got two bags full so far, and that's just the front yard and it's still early in the season.The tree-culprit in this case is on the neighbor's property. It's beautiful!

A Criminal-Minded Pink Floyd Fan's Wet Dream

2007-11-11T09:04:00.000-06:00

I found this--Rick Wright's 1978 solo album Wet Dream--for $6 at a local record store that should probably remain nameless. I wonder what the penalty for selling this would be.

Outside
Inside
This is in gold-colored lettering.
Someone had already tried to remove this sticker and gave up. (It ain't coming off.)
For me, about half the tracks are worth listening to. Those sound most like Pink Floyd outtakes circa 1975-1978. Wright's talents are mostly clustered in his keyboard playing, so about half the tracks are instrumental. Where he does sing, his lyrics are the typical simple style he'd developed but lack the lyrical adventures of some of his better works from the Floyd days--"Remember a Day", "See-Saw", "Summer '68". Likewise the music lacks the adventure of some of his more exploratory Floyd compositions like "Sysyphus". Nevertheless, some interesting chord changes and saxophone solo textures are nicely used, and guitar solos full of Stratocaster plus delay pedals remind one of some of the better moments of "Wish You Were Here". No surprise there as the saxophonist/flutist and guitarst, Mel Collins and Snowy White respectively, apparently had been Floyd backing musicians for years.

Solar Myths

2007-11-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

Click pics for larger versions
1970-71. Horns and bongos bleep and blurt over drones of atonal, cacophonic nonsense. Moments of quiet. Low-fi recordings. Noodling guitars and Moog synths. Experimental chunks of jazz noise. Feelings of confusion and panic, mystery and curiosity. Bizarre, atraditional combos--a piece for two trombones. Instruments out of tune with each other. I don't know whether I like it or not, but it sure is compelling sound.

About his philosophy, I'm just going to quote Wikipedia on that one:

"Claiming that he was of the 'Angel Race' and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Ra developed a complicated persona of 'cosmic' philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism as he preached 'awareness and peace above all.'"

This is a Spanish-pressed edition of the record so that the label reads "Sun Ra y su Solar-Myth Arkestra". The liner (actually back jacket) notes are in English. I like how it reads "el disco es cultura", or "the disc is culture". Cool.

I Won!

2007-11-06T16:58:00.000-06:00

I am now the proud owner of an iSplotchy! Actually, I won the auction for the only prototype (pictured below). Words cannot move me. I am humdrum by this experience. Time will be told.

Something's Going On, Alright

2007-11-06T07:05:00.000-06:00

I heard this song, "Something's Going On" by Lambchop (pictured above, I think) on WQNA the other night, and I loved it. It featured singers being soft-spoken in a way I like. And that makes at least three contemporary bands I've heard who utilize such technique. So I've decided to call it the Soft-Spokeners movement, which would also include:

Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)... in whose beard was found a cricket once

Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo)... whom I met once and is a nice chap

Further evidence that something's going on with this (note the misspelling):

Of course, Davy Gilmour, Rickie Wright, and Roger "Arse" Waters of Pink Floyd were early pioneers in this movement.

Can anyone else name any more Soft-Spokeners?

Aww, Cute

2007-10-30T16:49:00.000-05:00

"I said I'd eat that fly, and I did."

Images of Autumn

2007-10-29T17:29:00.001-05:00

Some seasonal snapshots in front of the house.

A tree down the street. I do not know what kind of tree it is.

Front yard strewn with leaves. I think it looks like a face. See it?

Creeeepy half-dollar size spider for Halloween! She's been living in the bushes now for several weeks.

Presently Playing Halloweenishly

2007-10-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult's I See Good Spirits And I See Bad Spirits (1988) is gothic, industrial, nihilistic, dark wave blasphemy for dancing. The dualistic themes--good/bad, Satanic/Christian--are dangled about like a mobile made of sharp horror film samples, laden drum machine beats, and minor-key synths. Love and Rockets flirted with this sound but never came close to coming across this devilish or political: "a lover and a killer of Christ" ("Heresy", defining the Thrill Kill Kult); "TV disease is making us tired" ("Do You Fear (For Your Child)?"); and "expressionless faces staring at the novelty" ("Universal Blackness"). Originally from Chicago and a label-mate of Ministry on Wax Trax!, this was their debut. As someone who kultivates a fondness for such styles, I was surprised to not like this record much, although I've read they put out much better ones later. The loving fashion in which I shot pictures of the jacket, liner, and record, however, betrays how much I like the cover art:

Click pics for larger versions...

Jacket front.Jacket back.Liner side 1.Liner side 2.The word "spirits" reads the same both ways. Cool, eh?

Track Listing:

Heresy
X-Communication
Do You Fear (For Your Child)?
Easy Girl
Universal Blackness
...And This is What the Devil Does!
These Remains
On This Rack
Gateway to Hell
Scene One, Seen 'Em All!!

Video for "Do You Fear (For Your Child)?" Watch it! It's full of screams!

Country Skin

2007-10-25T11:18:00.000-05:00

Click pic for a larger, uncensored version.
Roxy Music's fourth album, Country Life (1974), is wavy, flanging, thrill-seeking, eclectic, glam pop. The first half is mostly by-the-numbers all that, with second and third helpings of double-time. The latter half explores slower and subtler textures via harpsichord, mellotron, harmonica, and strings. Brian Ferry helms for the most part, taking lead vocals and keyboards credits. The album is also graced with oboe and sax via Andy Mackay, who solos here and there. This is stuff that requires repeated listens, if only to get into Ferry's rich lyrics and get a clear sense of the kind of dense and playful artiness that pervades the record. The cover was controversial in several countries, including the U.S., and according to Wikipedia was censored for release; it features two women Ferry reportedly met in Portugal whom he convinced to not only pose for the cover but also help with lyrics; rumor has it one of them was sister to Can's guitarist and violinist, Michael Karoli. Rumor also has it that Ferry's a neo-Nazi, but we here at The Cushy Blog cannot substantiate that. The album reached #3 in the U.K. and #37 in America, and was ranked #387 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing:

"The Thrill of it All"
"Three and Nine"
"All I Want Is You"
"Out of the Blue"
"If It Takes All Night"
"Bitter-Sweet"
"Triptych"
"Casanova"
"A Really Good Time"
"Prairie Rose"

"All I Want Is You", live, date unknown (1976?):

As usual, rip is from vinyl.

More Presently Playing

2007-10-24T15:06:00.001-05:00

Still more of what I've been spinning on the turntable platter...

Lightning Hopkins - Original Folk Blues (1967)
Everywhere else, his name is spelled Lightnin', so I hope this is the same guy. Lightning/Lightnin' was a Texas musician who popularized a distinct style of playing the blues that influenced many musicians--he would play what sounded like several parts at once on the guitar. Some random notes: "Candy Kitchen" has a great title and great piano. Some religiosity surfaces in "Needed Time" when he sings the refrain "Jesus won't you come by here". Other recommended songs: "House Upon a Hill" and "War News Blues", which lyrics have relevancy again now and are so poignant I'll include them here (and make it the song choice for the player) because they echo exactly how sick I am of the Iraq war:

You may turn your radio on soon in the morning
Sad news everyday
You may turn your radio on soon in the morning
Sad news everyday
Yes you know I've got a warning
Trouble is on its way

Poor children runnin' & cryin', whoah mama
Mama now what shall we do
Poor children runnin' cryin', ooh mama
Mama now what shall we do
Yes she said you better pray children
Same thing is happenin' to mama too

I'm gonna dig me a hole this mornin'
Dig it deep down in the ground
I'm gonna dig me a hole this mornin'
Dig it deep down in the ground
So if they should happen to drop a bomb around somewhere
I can't hear the echo when it sound

R.E.M. recorded a song named after him on their 1987 album Document, although the lyrics bespeak no connection to Hopkins the man, that I can see: "low lands timberlands bad lands bird lands"? A year later he recorded the album Free Form Patterns backed by psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators; there's a record I'd like to get.

Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
Other than to expect some sort of folk music I didn't know what I was getting myself into listening to this. It's actually sort of folky but not, with lyrics that span a range of subjects and speak in first person plurals. There's more piano and experimentation than I expected. Ladies offered the US and Canadian top-40 hit single "Big Yellow Taxi". The next song, "Woodstock", has a chorus mantra for hippies over classic Rhodes piano: "We are stardust / We are golden / And we've got to get ourselves / Back to the garden". Other songs are sweet and lyrical pop, like "The Circle Game". Everything on this record is somehow at once both simple and dense. Trivia: According to Wikipedia, Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" was written about Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's infatuation with Mitchell; Sonic Youth's song "Hey Joni" is a tribute to her; and Frances McDormand's character in the film Laurel Canyon was modeled after her. Cover art by Joni.

All rips are from vinyl.

Lastin' Impact: The Albums

2007-10-22T12:02:00.000-05:00

Now I'm inventing my own memes. Here, in no special order, are five music records I feel have influenced my personality:

1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
The first time I ever listened to DOM, Drug Oriented Music, was with this ablum on headphones. As a musician, 20 years later, I still get this urge every now and then to write music that changes from something beautiful and slow to something trippy, fast, and crazy, a la "On the Run". Other favorite songs include: "Any Colour You Like" and "The Great Gig in the Sky". Rick Wright's keyboards are highlights for me.

2. The Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)
There's a song on this album called "Watching and Waiting". The lyrics go, "Watching and waiting for a friend to play with / I hope I won't be alone for very long". I used to listen to it when I was ten and feel lonely. I still love the song and the album. It's not one of their best albums, but it's a personal fave. The song "Floating" was the first song I ever played drums along with. My other song choices: "Out and In" and "Gypsy (Of a Strange and Distant Time)".

3. Beck - Mellow Gold (1994)
Ahhh, Mellow Gold. Back in the early nineties when this came out, you could find me drivin' my beat-up Chevy Cavalier Station Wagon with a single-speaker boombox in the passenger seat playing this album. On the other side of the tape was The Breeders' Last Splash. It was the only tape in the boombox for months. I still love this album. Favorite cuts: "Soul Suckin' Jerk", "Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)". Toothpaste!

4. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (1974)
I first heard this record in high school when Splotchy introduced me to the band and I picked it up on vinyl. Speaking of trippy music. Jeez. I still can't believe my ears when I hear it sometimes. Hurray for analog electronic music! The title track has to be one of the most original pieces of music ever written. Choice slices: title track, "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares".

5. Led Zeppelin - III (1971)
When I was growing up my father was in a local cover band that played almost every weekend. My mom would go to the shows and leave my brother and me alone to fend for ourselves, which we did usually with grace. Our typical Friday night routine during the winter months would be to build a fire in the fireplace, eat Domino's pizza, and listen to Led Zeppelin III on the turntable. Something about the album was just conducive to eating pepperoni to me; perhaps it was that spinning disc in the jacket. Song loves: "Celebration Day", "Out on the Tiles".

I'm going to tag anybody for this one, but I am mildly curious what 5 albums others would would list as having a lastin' impact on them....

Catholic and Not So Catholic Girls

2007-10-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

Clicks for larger pics...

I found Catholic Girls for $2 at Recycled Records in Springfield, IL, and I couldn't resist the album cover. It's 1982, all female new wave, sounding like a cross between Pat Benetar and The Pretenders with a good student of Stevie Nicks on vocals. According to All Music, their image wasn't an act, they really were Catholic girls, and an Archdiocese in Rhode Island banned them from playing because one of their songs seems to suggest God is a woman--in the choruses of "God Made You for Me", singer Gail Petersen sings, "God made you for me, so how can she take you away?" If you look really close, in the lower left hand corner of the back cover there's a little cassette tape symbol made into a skull & crossbones and printed above it "HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC"! Stephen Colbert, this is your kind of thing. Here's the video to "Boys Can Cry".

This was my first time listening to a whole Janis Joplin album. I went into it with a little trepidation because I have never had much of a fondness for her voice. Halfway through 1971's Pearl though, I was enjoying her wailing blues rock. I was surprised to even hear moments of heavy R&B jamming, a great organ solo on the unfinished "Buried Alive in the Blues", styles I'm more famililar with. The quintet band is fabulous and is named Full Tilt Boogie; they look like some cool guys, odd body shapes definitely included. It's sad that she died before the album was completed, but you'd never know to listen to her sing here that she was near the end of her life--her gutsy performance has so much vitality it practically jumps from the turntable. This one is staying on the floor in the Play Stack.

Songs with a /

2007-10-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Recently, going about my merry way, I happened upon several songs with a slash in the title. These included one from the new Radiohead album--"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"--and one from Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues--"I Get Wild/Wild Gravity". Natch, I became curious what other songs use a slash, and so I put together this little list:

UPDATED!
Thanks to Anonymous Communist for supplying nearly half of these and to Splotchy for his contributions, including actually being in band #31!

01. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" - Radiohead
02. "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" - Radiohead
03. "Morning Bell/Amnesiac" - Radiohead
04. "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" - Talking Heads
05. "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" - Simon and Garfunkel
06. "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" - Simon and Garfunkel
07. "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" - Bob Dylan
08. "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time" - Miles Davis
09. "Medley: Gemini/Double Image" - Miles Davis
10. "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" - The Beatles
11. "Zawinul/Lava" - Brian Eno
12. "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)" - Will to Power (a comma, a slash, and parentheses!!)
13. "Never Too Far/Hero Medley" - Mariah Carey
14. "3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds" - Jefferson Airplane
15. "Gene Machine/Don't Bother Me"- Bad Brains
16. "20/20"- Dilated Peoples
17. "The Sound of Failure/It's Dark..."- Flaming Lips
18. "It Overtakes Me/The Stars are So Big..."- Flaming Lips
19. "24-7/365"- Gang Starr
20. "White Summer/Black Mountainside"- Led Zeppelin
21. "Good Mourning/Black Friday"- Megadeth
22. "Chloe Dance/Crown of Thorns"- Mother Love Bone
23. "Raunchola/Moby Dick"- Nirvana
24. "Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17"- Pavement
25. "Speak to Me/Breathe"- Pink Floyd
26. "War at 33 1/3"- Public Enemy
27. "Kwah/Home"- RH Factor
28. "Letter/Not A Letter"- They Might Be Giants
29. "Dot/Eyes"- Tortoise
30. "Separate/Together"- A Tribe Called Quest
31. "1/8 Roofer" - Hindge
32. "Cut 1/2 Blues" - Beck
33. "Waka/Jawaka" - Frank Zappa
34. "Opus 1/2" - Benny Goodman
35. "Jimmy Silk/Supper By Ready Medley" - Red Krayola
36. "Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain" - Grand Funk Railroad

Radiohead sure has a thing with slashes.

I'm sure there are many more. These were just the ones I found in my WinAmp music library, by Google searching "songs with a slash in the title", and by banging my head against the table. Sometimes they're medleys. I thought about getting all the mp3s for the above songs and presenting a mix, but I don't know how good a thing that would make. Hypothetical conversation:

Passerby: "What are you listening to?"
Me: "Songs with a Slash. It's a mix I made. All the songs have slashes in the title."
Passerby: "Hmm. Just because all those songs have a slash in the title doesn't mean they all go together in a mix nicely."
Me: "Crap."

Can anyone else think of any more? / / / / / / / /

Note: To my knowledge, Slash does not have a song with a slash in the title. He probably just heard his name and thought we were talking about him.

Record Is Better

2007-10-18T08:50:00.000-05:00

Even more of what I've been spinning on the turntable platter...

This is a limited edition orange translucent vinyl pressing of Talking Heads' 1983 album Speaking in Tongues that a friend gave me years ago. Apparently, artist Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy Award for his work on the cover. I'd heard David Byrne before with Brian Eno on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts; I also have two records by husband and wife Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's other band, Tom Tom Club. But this was my first time hearing a whole Talking Heads album, and I'm impressed. It's dance music, new wave style, 80s synth pop like Oingo Boingo and Devo, with touches of funk, disco, and reggae. It's all that with witty lyrics. There is also lots of nice percussion detail like contemporaries Thompson Twins, and it's worth noting that Alex Sadkin mixed this album and produced two of Thompson Twins' albums (Quick Step and Side Kick and Into the Gap). Overall just great musicianship. I particularly like the reggae song "It Get Wild/Wild Gravity", "Swamp" for its touch of R&B, and I love the trippy keyboard solos in "Pull up the Roots". The only thing is Byrne's voice wears on me a little after a while, not a lot, just a little. But so I could see 5 or 6 songs from this disc being good Brewhaus music*. One more note: it was tough reading the vinyl gaps between songs while playing the disc on the player because of the translucency; I kept seeing the gaps from the other side!

Click pic for a larger version:

*Some of you will know what I mean by "Brewhaus music". Those of you who don't, imagine a 30-something bar with a popcorn machine and nice waitresses that plays whole albums by bands like The Cure, New Order, and The Replacements upon request.

ABC Mix Time

2007-10-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

Whelp, I joined in the fun for the Green Monkey Music Project Volume 9 - ABC. Theme rules are here. Downloads are here. I chose the orange star. My letters were U-Y, and these then were my selections:

"Up North Kids" - Papa M
Papa M--aka David Pajo--was a founding member of the band Slint and played with Tortoise and Stereolab before embarking on solo projects like this one. I like this song because it sounds like a musical interpretation of the term "laid-back", an underrated state of mind. Great mellow, front porch music with some beautiful guitar lines.

"Velouria" - Pixies
According to the Wikipedia entry on the song, "[a]s 'Velouria' was climbing up the UK Top 40, the band was offered a spot on Top Of The Pops. However, a BBC rule stated that only singles with videos could be performed on the show. To counter this a cheap video was made, with the band being filmed running down a quarry. In the video, ten seconds of footage (the time needed for the band members to reach the camera) is slowed in order to last for the duration of the song. However, the effort in filming the video was in vain; the Pixies did not play 'Velouria' on Top of The Pops while the single was in the charts." I remember when MTV premiered the video on 120 Minutes in 1990 and host Dave Kendal came back on and said something snide about ever showing the thing again. Too bad, I think it's cool.

As for the tune, how can you go wrong with a beautiful and rockin' love song that uses a theramin a lot?

"War" - Tones on Tail
Tones on Tail was sort of an interim band between Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, containing two members of both along with a Bauhaus roadie. The best term for this kind of stuff is gothic rock. I like this song because it has provided me with a basic and elegant way to describe war: "here comes trouble".

"X-Flies" - Mouse on Mars
Not "X-Files" but "X-Flies", a triumph in electronic lounge music by a European duo. Manx introduced you to Mouse on Mars in the GMMP Volume 5 - No Speak English. If anyone's curious, my runners-up for X were Aphex Twin's "Xtal", "XMD5A", or "Xepha" (yes, Aphex Twin has three songs beginning with X), Coldplay's "X&Y", or the "X-Files" theme from the album Songs in the Key of X. I stand by my choice.

"Young Man Blues" - The Who
Among the most rockin' of songs I know, "Young Man Blues" as performed by The Who on their record Live at Leeds is a tour de force of guitar riffs, drum rolls, and bass gymnastics. Sometimes I listen to it and I can't believe my ears. I don't know the exact economics behind what Roger Daltrey is singing about, but he sure sounds convincing: "ain't got sweeeeeet fuck alllll!"

Thanks be to everyone who contributed and thanks to Splotchy for once again being our mix master!

Steppenkinks

2007-10-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

More of what I've been spinning on the turntable platter...

This was Steppenwolf's first album, 1968. The opening song "Sookie Sookie" ("let it hang out baby"), I just love; great blues rock. The rest of the album, meh. Blues standards like "Hootchie Kootchie Man" get repetitive to me. I do like "The Pusher" a lot, though, and of course "Born to be Wild", both of which songs were used in the film Easy Rider. Manx and I invented "Born to be Mild" but we only have the first few lines written: "Put your car in neutral / Sit there in the driveway".

The one overriding word that comes to mind for this album: pop... writing about things like clothes and rock 'n roll itself, sounding like glam with flourishes of folk, blues, classical, big band. Really this album has it all, and it's all well done. It has mid-song changes in tempo and time and choruses of singers like Queen. Like its contemporary albums (1973) Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Who's Quadrophenia, eclecticism and variety seem to be the M.O., and it's every bit as concept as those better known albums, commenting on society through songs about characters. "Demolition" might go nicely nicely in a mix with The Police's "Demolition Man".

Presently Playing

2007-10-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

Ever since I bought my Panasonic SG-HM22, I've been listening to a lot of vinyl, and it's been great. Hence, I've decided to post a little bit about what's been on the platter.

The Nice was keyboardist Keith Emerson's band before Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. This original pressing of their third album, Nice, is from 1969, and the cover art for some reason has been apparently no longer used in any of the pressings or CDs since. Too bad; I think it's pretty cool. The music varies from psychedelia to jazz to proto progressive rock. The first side was recorded in the studio, and the second side live at The Fillmore East. Good stuff, but slightly on the pretentious side like everything touched by Emerson's pianist fingers.

Fairport Convention was according to All Music Guide the most popular folk-rock band in Britain in the late sixties. Liege & Lief features Sandy Denny on vocals. She's better known as the singer on Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore". The music is mostly renditions of traditional folk songs and is quite stellar. Great stuff. Thanks to Johnny Yen for turning me on to it via the Green Monkey Music Project Volume 7 - Speed It Up.

New Riders of the Purple Sage™ (apparently the name is trademarked) was a successful side project of The Grateful Dead. This record, their eponymous debut from 1971, features Jerry Garcia on guitars and Mickey Hart on drums. Jefferson Airplane's Spencer Dryden also plays drums. This is really good acid country rock, if there is such a thing.

That's it. I've lots more records on the back burners, including Talking Heads and Joni Mitchell, so stay tuned!

God's Answer

2007-10-08T08:57:00.001-05:00

This was a little booklet I picked up years ago when I worked at Kinko's. It's full of quotations from the Bible and was distributed by Good Shepherd Ministries. As soon as I got my mitts on it, I couldn't resist drawing a little on something illustrating "God's Answer". People must think I'm frog crazy, but really I'm just searching for meaning like everyone.

Extremely Tiny Frog Discovered

2007-10-05T11:07:00.000-05:00

We here at The Cushy Blog, you may have noticed, have an affinity for small frogs. Besides thinking they're neat and cute (and perfect for an avatar), we maintain that if there's an answer somewhere out there to the meaning of life, it must have everything to do with small frogs. Naturally then, we were ecstatic to learn that a new species of tiny frog has been discovered in India (article here). Named Nyctibatrachus minimus, a mere 10 mm in length it's so itty-bitty that it qualifies as the smallest land vertebrate in India. Here it is pictured on an Indian 5 rupee coin. We feel this discovery is a good sign, that it bodes well for the future of the world and especially for the future of The Cushy Blog. After all, The Cushy Blog rhymes with tiny frog! Rock on, little guy! Don't spend that rupee all in one place.

Thanks to Splotchy for calling our attention to this discovery!

My Choices for Green Monkey Music Project Vol 7

2007-10-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

Splotchy tapped me to join in the fun for the Green Monkey Music Project Vol. 7 (aka Speed It Up). For some reason two of my favorite songs of all time came right to mind: the slowish Led Zeppelin's "When the Levy Breaks" and the fastish Rod Stewart's "Young Turks". But for some other reason I ended up using neither for my mix choices. Instead, I chose these eight. As a public service, I calculated the beats per minute (BPM) of each using a digital metronome.

1. Cocteau Twins - "Multifoiled" [60 BPM]
Cocteau Twins are probably my favorite band of all time. Most music buffs have heard of them, but this song goes way back to 1985 and the Head Over Heels album, so far back that the longtime bass player pictured here, Simon Raymonde, hadn't even joined yet. (For a picture of the band circa "Multifoiled", see here.) This is a great bluesy, swinging, piano-driven number, and it's a departure a bit from what I'd consider their signature sound (songs like "Sugar Hiccup"). Who knows what she's talking about, but whatever it is it sounds cool. Guitarist Robin Guthrie has probably had more influence over my guitar playing than any other musician. I learned a lot about using delay and chorus pedals by listening to him. This song is from the remastered edition of Head Over Heels, far superior in sound quality (and much louder) than the original CD release. Slow with a swing.

2. Radiohead - "A Reminder" [76 BPM]
This song is a B side from their classic OK Computer album, appearing on the "Paranoid Android" single. I was looking for some Radiohead to share for this mix and this song seemed the right speed to be my #2. Plus I love the use of vibes in it. The song is in 3/4 time so it made comparing the tempo to my other "slow" songs somewhat difficult once I first started; I originally thought it was the slowest, but the BPM don't lie. By the way, putting this picture in the context of Splotchy's Who's In Charge Here blog would be funny: let's see, could the one in charge here be the one in focus?! Slow in 3/4 waltz time.

3. My Bloody Valentine - "Emptiness Inside" [91 BPM]
Two minutes and fifty seconds of shoegaze, "Emptiness Inside" is from 1988, before the band hit it big. Guitarist, singer, and producer Kevin Shields is also reknown for his contributions to the Lost in Translation soundtrack. His guitar playing is another that has greatly influenced mine, helping me pick up tricks involving the tremolo bar. Shields sings this one. This picture is pretty much the lone stock photo on the internet of this elusive band, so I can't attest as to its accuracy depicting the musicians you hear in the song. I wonder if MBV were ever nominated for an award for the best-looking band. Hubba hubba, huh? Slow-medium tempo rock with fast drum rolls.

4. Yo La Tengo - "One PM Again" [141 BPM]
Who doesn't like a nice sweet song by Yo La Tengo? Plus, this song feels like Fall to me (another song on the album is titled "Autumn Sweater") so it adds a little seasoning. The album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, is an indie classic now. I saw them on the next tour after that in a small club in Champaign/Urbana called The Blind Pig. Manx, ~h~, and I went and we arrived so early that we ran into Ira from the band outside the club, who told us of their lateness and vehicle trouble. We were also so early we got the best seats in the house (perched center on the balcony). After the show the three of us went down and stayed after to talk to Ira and Georgia. We talked with them for 20 minutes or so about music, album covers, the show, etc., and they were really nice. We gave James a CD of our own music. Medium tempo rock.

5. Pixies - "Planet of Sound" [155 BPM]
I also saw Pixies in concert, at Shryock Auditorium at Southern Illinois University in 1992 (on the tour for the album which "Planet of Sound" is from, Trompe le Monde) along with Splotchy. It was bad. The seating in the place, it being a college auditorium and all, was prohibitive of crowding at the front of the stage. Sweaty drunk people in tie-dye shirts were falling on other people. I'll never forget the sight of Splotchy pushing back against the surge of the inconsiderate crowd, the look on his face one of complete and understandable frustration. Seats were destroyed, we heard later, and apparently it was decided by the school that it was to have been the last rock concert at the auditorium. How were the Pixies? Okay. This song has long been one of my favorites of theirs. Medium-fast rock.

6. The Police - "Deathwish" [182 BPM]
Unfortunately I have never seen The Police in concert. I was a bit too young to go when they toured in the seventies and eighties, and I wasn't about to cough up the $150 or whatever it was to see them this past summer. The song is off Regatta De Blanc (French for "white reggae") and has long been one of my favorite fastish songs. I like that it boasts some strange guitar playing on the choruses. Just a great song. The lyrics are somewhat funny, I think, and are written in the first person about an automotive daredevil, possibly a race car driver: "Don't wait up 'cause I'll be late". Fast rock.

7. The Cure - "Why Can't I Be You?" [217 BPM]
Just a horny fast song off their album, which I love, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. As usual, singer, songwriter, guitarist Robert Smith takes love and obsession to new levels, singing such memorable lines as "I'm smitten I'm bitten I'm hooked I'm cooked". Very fast rock.

8. Beastie Boys - "Nervous Assistant" [382 BPM??]
This song was so fast I couldn't be sure about the beats per minute. It's off their 1996 Aglio e Olio EP, which features eight short punk songs all about 1-2 minutes in length. The lyrics according to the Lyrics Wiki are about just that, and the assistant in question sounds like a studio assistant: "Opens the door / Mics the drums / Nervous Assistant / here he comes". Must have been some hiring issues at Grand Royal records back in the day. Extremely fast punk.

Putting together this little mix was harder than I thought it would be. I started by foot-tapping with songs and trying to compare the tempos of each to one another, dragging and dropping them in WinAmp into slots where they seemed to go from slow to fast, but some of the songs were so close in tempo--particularly the middle speed ones-- that I realized I would have to use a metronome. It was more work than I thought it would be but it was fun! Thanks to my buddy Splotchy for being emcee and to all the other participants for their contributions. Enjoy!

The Trailer for My Favorite Horror Movie of All Time

2007-10-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

Sort of going along with Splotchy's "frightening Friday" posts of horror movie trailers via YouTube leading up to Halloween, here's the trailer for The Blair Witch Project. (I couldn't wait until Friday, I guess.) I can't say much for it, as there's very little to it and in keeping with the original publicity stunt secrecy surrounding the film, it leaves almost everything to the imagination. But I can say a few things about the film. It scares the bejeezus out of me for one, and it does so in ways that other flicks in the genre don't. Trying not to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, I'll just say that I like how TBWP like the trailer leaves so much to the imagination, keeping the antagonist(s) off screen. I also like the spontaneous feel of much of the acting. And, as a long time camper, I can certainly relate to how spooky and supernatural the woods can seem under the right conditions.

Once I bought the DVD a few years ago (ushering in my tradition of watching it each year around Halloween time) I discovered more facts about the film in the special features that made me like it: specifically, I love how the actors were genuinely scared because they were never informed as to what was coming next. Love it or leave it or some combination of the two, TBWP is certainly unique in its genre for its style and film-making approach. Anyway, on with the trailer....

Adventures in consumer electronics...

2007-09-29T15:11:00.000-05:00

Batteries charging on the new cordless drill I bought. Door waiting for installation. Listening to Emerson Lake and Palmer's Trilogy on vinyl. Some people say ELP's music is pretentious but I like it. Anyway, I also like a piece of consumer electronics. It's the vintage Panasonic SG-HM22 I just bought buy-it-now on eBay for $39.99 plus $17.81 shipping and put in my library with all the vinyl and CDs. So far I've listened to 2 records of J.S. Bach, the ELP, hours of NPR, hours of local community radio WQNA, and a few DEVO songs off Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo on vinyl.

The speakers are by MicroSonic (apparently manufactured in Portland, OR) and are rated for up to 50 Watts, which is a lot for ones so small. They sound incredible. They didn't come with the system. I'd actually found them a while back for $3 for the pair at my favorite resale shop in Chicago--The Brown Elephant. Oh how I miss that store sometimes.

The funny story is the turntable was set on 45 RPM when it arrived but I didn't realize it. I listened to the two records of Bach stuff before I noticed it just before (not when) I put on the Devo.

UPDATED!
Door installed in kitchen!

...Continued

2007-09-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

was better than "Pod People". The plot of "Fugitive Alien" is overly confusing, but it's better than the four interwoven, confusing plots of "Pod People". The best line of FA is "Ha ha ha ha ha ha, you stuck here!" whereas the best of PP is "It stinks!" I didn't like the Trumpy voice, the Smucker's jokes, or the "McLoud" jokes of PP, but I did like all the "Ken" jokes of FA. I did like some of the New Age music in "Pod People" though, but not the repetitive "Hearts of Space" riffs by Tom Servo.

Going to buy a folding door for my kitchen today... maybe. The weather's beauty full here today. Listening to NPR. Doing laundry.

Just popping in...

2007-09-28T19:57:00.000-05:00

While I was in my car stopped at a light today, I saw a one legged guy riding a bicycle across the cross walk in front of me. He was disheveled and wore a heavy flannel and old whitened jeans. He looked like a veteran. Just a weird thing. That's all I got. Well that, and, tonight I'm going over to my brother and sis-in-law's house tonight to watch Mystery Science Theater. Perhaps we'll watch "Pod People".

Aww, Cute

2007-09-24T18:19:00.000-05:00

Baby possum says, "Can I have a bite?"

On the use of 'n as an abbreviation for "and" or "ing"

2007-09-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

A Google search for "abbreviation n 'and' ing" turned up nothing. But I was curious if the way I've seen "rock and roll" abbreviated as rock 'n roll was widely and commonly used. I'd also seen that local country band Still Kick'n had made the same choice where abbreviating "ing". (Their domain name is of course stillkickn.com. Also, the bar where they were playing here recently apparently felt the need to write Still Kickin on the marquee because their letter pack probably didn't come with apostrophes. The name of the bar is Forty-Niner Bye-Bye. To make matters confusing, in the bar's ad space in The Illinois Times, the band is spelled STILL KICKN', and at the Still Kick'n web site the bar is listed as "The 49'er" under upcoming shows, a kind of use of the apostrophe I won't even go into here.)

The use of 'n for "and" or "ing" is of course totally different from writing still kickin', which seems to me more closely follows the rule of abbreviations that the appostrophe takes the place of the dropped letter(s), as with "Oh no you didn't!". A Google search for "rock n roll" turned up rock 'n' roll (the way I have written it in the past, following the rule), rock-n-roll, Rock"N"Roll, Rock'n'Roll, as well as rock 'n roll.

My point I suppose, despite my inconsistent use of quotation marks in this post, is the variety and inconsistency here. I think people make different choices based on how they feel it looks and that there is no written grammatical rule governing the use of apostrophes, quotation marks, or hyphens in place of the outer letters of "and" or "ing".

Which reminds me, I saw a license plate frame the other day on a loud, giant-tired, souped up Ford pick up truck that read EAT'N RAMS / SHIT'N CHEVYS. Only based on these case studies, perhaps 'n is more common than most forms of such abbreviations. In any case, if the owner of said truck or another owner of such a plate frame through some chance ever reads this post, I will only say that the message implies too strange a magic truck digestion system for me, but I like the apostrophes!

Pics of a drum set and make-shift home music studio

2007-09-21T07:07:00.000-05:00

The drum set which I have recently acquired. It's loud. I know, I need some more cymbals.

The New Post

2007-08-14T09:03:00.000-05:00

It's been soooo long since I posted, I thought I'd better get something new out there.

I bought a nice recliner couch at Barney's Furniture on Saturday morning; the upholstery is micro-fiber; it's being delivered today. Then I visited Gar and Jill, who were working at the Farmer's Market downtown, and ended up hanging there for an hour with them, eventually wearing an apron. That afternoon I visited Splotchy and his family at his parents' house and ended up staying for dinner.

Gar, Vio, Splotchy, Mrs. Splotchy, Manx and I went to see The Simpsons Movie on Saturday night. I thought it was funnier than a typical episode of the show these days and that the music and cartooning were award-worthy. I think it will be nominated for Oscars and such. Gar, Vio, Splotchy and I went to The Brewhaus afterwards for drinks and stayed until 1AM.

Sunday morning I went to the Illinois State Fair with Splotchy for two hours. The heat was almost unbearable, but I ate two Bob Vose korn dogs and drank a lemon shake-up and was reasonably entertained.

Sunday night, I dined with Manx and Mrs. Manx at their house, then we watched Hot Fuzz. I fell asleep and woke with a start when I thought a doorbell in the movie was my own. I believe at this point I now have a history of falling asleep during movies.

That's about it. Tonight is open mic night at Cafe Kanichiwa with Bruce Williams and whoever else shows up. Tomorrow night is jamming and partying with Manx night. The cicadas are singing their song.

The heat of the weather is really impressive and compressing....

Copywrong Volume 1: Bronoculus

2007-08-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

Since YouTube will apparently be implementing copyright protection software sometime soon, I figured I'd go ahead and upload some of the music videos I've made that gratuitously sample video works without permission.

For Volume 1, I've selected a Bronoculus video. Bronoculus was (and still sort of is) a rock band consisting of myself, Manx, and Mrs. Manx, with occasional guests sitting in. Our philosophy is that the best songs are unplanned.

"(I Gots All) Tune Cookie"
(Manx on bass, Mrs. Manx on guitar, yours truly on drums and vocals)
video samples: Bob Uecker's Wacky World of Sports (© 1988 Sports Legends Video, Inc.); America in the 40s (© PBS, aired 3/22/99); home movie footage by DLR Productions. I'm the brown haired boy in the flannel out in the woods.

Aww, cute

2007-08-02T10:05:00.001-05:00

"What's the problem?"

The Lovely Ms. Gillian Anderson

2007-08-02T07:20:00.000-05:00

Note: This is basically a transpost from my web site, so if you've seen it already, feel free to just move on.

According to her own web site, Anderson was born in Chicago, was a punk and trouble maker with a pierced nose in high school, later earned her Bachelor's from DePaul in Chicago, and was married in a Buddhist ceremony. IMDB quotes her, "When I think of normal, I think of mediocrity... and mediocrity scares the f*ck out of me!!" I had a really difficult time choosing just these four pictures of her; she also obviously really enjoys being photographed!

Update

2007-08-02T06:57:00.000-05:00

Finally getting my body back into shape and feeling a little better since the move. I've been jogging and doing free weights and sit-ups. Zen-wise, one thing I've noticed is that too much bowing makes for a bad back. House-wise, I could use all kinds of things--a desk, a couch, a chair--but the place is nice the way it is, except for the grill and the fireplace, which both need maintenance. I'm particularly into the library these days. Beanbag chairs are more expensive than I thought they would be, but I may splurge and get two for the library so I can spend time in there with my brother, Manx, listening to tapes and records or whathaveyou.

Lunched out with a client yesterday. It was fun!

Both of my next-door neighbors are big guys with big trucks. One of them, also named Tim, is in a heavy metal band and they practice in his basement. I can hear them at 9:30 PM sometimes throughout my place. Maybe I'll ask him if he wants to jam. Haven't asked him to turn it down yet. I should ask him if my noise bothers him.

Still missing the drum set.

The cats demand play time.

Are you going to see The Simpsons Movie? Me, certainly. Are you staying home a lot to watch something Star Trek related? Me too.

Looks like the fun is almost over...

2007-07-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

YouTube anti-piracy tool due sometime in the fall

Google’s YouTube is set to have video fingerprinting software tested and enabled sometime in the fall according to statements made in court on Friday. Read rest of article...

It stinks!

Looks like we'll all be searching for a new video site to use soon. Of course, if it hadn't been Viacom it would have been some other head-up-its-ass company else doing the suing.