Owe yourself, but no one else

The 3am-phone-call ad I'd like to see.

2008-03-07T18:37:00.001-08:00

This 3am phone call business is out of hand. How about:

... It's 3pm in an auditorium on a college campus.
... A prospective presidential candidate is on stage during a Q&A session.
... Near the back of the auditorium, a student, under a pile of campus security guards and local police says, "Don't taze me, bro."
... The student is tazed and arrested.
... Which candidate is most prepared to throw their weight around from the stage to diffuse or reverse the situation?

I was interested in John Kerry until this incident. That he stood there and did nothing, and, furthermore, acted as if the whole scene wasn't happening and encouraged everyone to ignore it, showed he didn't "get it". For all of America to see. You lost me, John.

This whole 3am phone call business is similarly silly to me.

More than a year has gone by ...

2008-03-03T18:19:00.001-08:00

... without an update. Lots is going on, lots to discuss, lots to be seen, lots to inspire. I am getting together some ideas for my next post and hopefully things will be more regular. Thanks for reading!

Kuler than you and me combined

2006-12-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

Quite a cool tool from Adobe - Kuler!

Titanium Software - tools for Mac OS X. Great system maintenance tools.

More on search engine data. Here is Processing AOL - a blog.

I cannot believe how cool these photos are. Wow.

Chords, chords, chords. Scales and modes, too. This is a great web tool.

I've been listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen lately. Please visit cohenchords.com - lyrics and chords for every Leonard Cohen song arranged by album.

Currently listening to, Leonard Cohen - "Songs of Leonard Cohen".

New laptop, new post

2006-10-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Typing this from my brand new MacBook Pro; I'm very happy. Really nice machine, really easy to set up and migrate from my old, trusty TiBook. This makes me a firm believer in Apple. Nice one, guys! This thing's a beaut'!

Lots of interesting articles and things to consider lately. Here is a nice selection.

Open Type? Adobe? PDF? Font Management? All you need is a paintbrush. A great selection of Balinese typography (via PingMag); hand-painted. This is skill, people.

Hanayo, yes, that
Hanayo, having worked with Panacea, doing other stuff. How cool. (again, via PingMag)

For fans of Maeda's S I M P L I C I T Y, here is the Phillips Technology "Sense and Simplicity" PR Campaign. Some good stuff in here. I recently finished reading Maeda's "Laws of SIMPLICITY" book. I found it to be a good read, but I found it to be rather rough around the edges and had the feeling of being rushed to print. Nevertheless, it needs to exist, and does.

BibliOdyssey is something I could scroll through for days. Now you can, too. Amazing.

Real-time disaster tracking. This map has a view of incidents worldwide. This one has a map of the United States. When you click on an incident icon, you get a zoom-able Google Map of where the incident took place. Quite incredible. I noticed that they have had an incidence of Avian Flu in Montana recently, for instance.

Check out these amazing archival pictures of grain elevators! I cannot overstate how much I love things like this. (via Pruned)

And, in the, this is what Phil lusts for category: The Adobe Type Collection. Why the hell is this so expensive? It's probably worth it, but damn.

So, check this out. You can undo Adobe PDF password protection using the Mac OS ColorSync utility! (via MacOSXHints)

10:47pm, Seattle time. I just looked out the window to my left and noticed it was raining. Pleasant.

Currently listening to, Neurosis - "The Eye of Every Storm". I'm still not sold on this record, really. I guess they have two new ones coming out real soon.

I'm not busy. Justin K. Broadrick is. Man.

"I can't believe you're still using that screen saver," she said.

2006-09-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Whatever. I came upon these cool screen savers that plasq makes. (via Create Digital Motion)

There is (apparently, don't laugh - altho I get quite lonely, I can't know everything) a technology that ships with OS X Tiger called Quartz Composer, upon which these screen savers are based. Here is some more information on Quartz Composer (QC), via Apple, via Wikipedia, and via QuartzComps.

Plasq also makes this thing called Wormhole that looks toooooo cool.

And from the "You're not old skool" file comes this. That's right, wood and some other components.

Yes, I like John Frusciante. Check out this interview with him on effects, etc. Complete with close-up pictures of his live pedalboard!

The most excellent Gutterbreakz blog is offline for a redesign, but they've left us PLENTY to read and listen to. That Blogroll list down the left alone is awesome! Thanks!

26 years ago today, one of my heroes, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin died of an alcohol overdose. Go watch some videos of Bonham and some Bonham enthusiasts.

Speaking of music and heroes, there is a community developing around The Mahavishnu Orchestra. A new book about the band, some collectible artwork, musical analyses, etc. are all surfacing. Go here for more. Some looks quite wack, but some looks quite interesting for the nerdily inclined.

Why radio sucks (+ other stuff to distract you from that idea)

2006-09-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a unique real-time Flash app that shows what songs are beginning to play in various U.S. markets east of the Mississippi River. Note that it looks like the playlist from every frat party or college bar you've ever attended. (Everyone has, at least once.)

More writing with water. (via Spherical Robots)

The Greylodge Podcasting Company carries great media links, including Podcasts and films downloadable via Bit Torrent.

Quite a good reading list! (via Speak Up) Speak Up also does an interesting thing called, Word It. I am a fan of the doom one, myself.

STEAL THIS FILM! (I'm still downloading, but I like the concept.)

Free audio books from ThoughtAudio.

May 16th of this year marked the 40th Anniversary of the release of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album. A guy named Clayton Counts did a mashup album with pairwise track-by-track mixes of Pet Sounds and The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The mashups are pretty dope, especially if you are a fan of both albums and understand that Sgt. Pepper's woudn't exist if it weren't for Pet Sounds. The lush stuff with the strings is quite good in mashup form. You have to use Soulseek or something to get the whole album, because of an EMI Cease & Desist order around making this available on websites and blogs. I found it quickly on Soulseek.

Great quote (well, modified)

2006-09-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

Original:

Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... To the future. To the horizon. Never his mind on where. He. Was. Hmm? What. He. Was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Feh. Excitement. Feh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!

Modified:

Ready to get shit done, are you? What know you of getting shit done? For eight hundred years have I trained people who get shit done. My own counsel will I keep on who gets shit done. A person who gets shit done must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... To the future. To the horizon. Never his mind on where. He. Was. Hmm? What. He. Was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Feh. Excitement. Feh. A person who gets shit done craves not these things. You are reckless!

Made me think, anyway. Know anyone like this? I know you do.

And, from the "everything is as it should be" file,

Tonight's late-night snack partner

2006-09-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

Here she is. Lucky me! Cat bro!

I had my lawn mowed today, and tonight, she appeared. I know she's been around because I've seen her scurrying away when I pull up to my place. When I went out for coffee at like 10:30 tonight, she was there, and I coaxed her into playing with me. I played with her until she (playfully) bit me. But she was giving me super hard headbutt action! I went in and got a bowl of my cat's dry food and left it for her. The first pic there is of her trying to figure out what to do with the big white bowl.

When I came back from coffee like 45 mins later, she was still there, lying on my cool garden wall. (!!!) I hit the supermarket on the way back and I got 3 cans of soft/wet food that were on sale. I opened one of those babies, and she went to town! Very happy. Very very very happy cat. More hard headbutting!

She is a female, and as you can see, she has a calico sort of pattern. She appears to be feral, yet also appears to be declawed. Interesting. She is pretty skinny and was obviously very hungry. I'll try to go out and meet her again tomorrow night with more food.

My new neighborhood cat bro!

Peep it. Consumption reduction plan, pt. 1

2006-09-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Niki at Mobius Cycles in Seattle for her help. The thing rides real nice now.

My goal: bring down my gas consumption by 1/3. And soon. Certainly by year's end.

Next thing is to figure out how to carry a drum kit on the back of this thing. In the rain.

Currently listening to, Exhumed, "Platters of Splatter"

Doug Nufer: to see is to believe. Plus, Eric Greenwalt. Seattle authors!

2006-08-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

His reading last week here in Seattle was great. This guy agrees. Have a look at soultheft records for information on ordering his new book.

Along with Doug's new double-novel comes the first poetry collection by Seattle's Eric Greenwalt. Again, soultheft records has ordering info.

Listening to Meshuggah, "Destroy, Erase, Improve" (again)

Dreamy architecture

2006-08-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Wow. The work of Luke Chandresinghe is quite amazing. His Institute of Ideas blows my mind. Here is a great interview (via PingMag). Please take the time to contemplate these ideas.

Currently listening to, Meshuggah, "Destroy, Erase, Improve"

The long tail and Tower Records

2006-08-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's happening! Help accelerate it!

Two articles to kick your ass

2006-08-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

One. (via sfgate)
Two. (via gapingvoid)

Go out and get some shit DONE.

Keepin' it simple

2006-08-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Beautiful articles

2006-07-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

And beautiful presentation. Check this out (via style.org) and this, too. Check out the other articles there, too.

Spiders on dope. And their pusher.

Yay! Super Mario Clouds! Here, too!

Time for bed.

Baby, I could use a meal.

2006-06-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yet another IQ Test. Try it out. I scored in the 130 range. Woo, I'm smart or something. I don't have nearly as much free time as my fascination with these things might suggest.

Beautiful photos of the first millionth of a second, by Edgerton's Rapatronic device. (via Gravestmor). More here.

Two great sites about computational art. evolutionzone and unlekker.net; clicking around on the little thumbnails on the left leads you to cool things like GasWorks. Have a look at evolutionzone's workshop page. And friends of evolutionzone.com - jump off!

More on Proce55ing: processinghacks codetree (this is awesome!). I have gotten no closer to my dreams of learning the language and doing something original, although I have played around with some code and various samples. Another good collection of pages about generative code/art. Smokinggun.com has good computational graphics stuff and a great Flash presentation.

Superformula (via dataisnature)!!! (Or, your graphics can look like Autechre sounds.) This leads naturally to a discussion of vvvv, and a discussion of why it's not Mac-based yet. Tawk amongst y'selves.

I think I've pointed this one out before, but it's worth mentioning again. Schiffman's Nature of Code lectures.

Oh, and speaking of free time, Free Science and Video Lectures Online. No, I mean good ones - Knuth and some classics.

Subtopia. Quite a dense and intense blog.

Currently listening to KISS, "Dressed to Kill"

A swarm.

2006-06-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

A swarm of interesting things.

Flash books with turning pages and background music. Speaking of books, check out the amazing Bird Hand Book. And, Historical Anatomies on the Web. And Life and Death Masks.

Someone is interested in this. How cool.

Cool online indie films.

Look! Code tools for writing generative forms into PDF files. Neato!

An interesting photostream of sketches, generative art, and Proce55ing. And the quite cool 50 People See photostream.

Math-y stuff! What's special about this number? Multiplicative persistence. Wallpaper groups.

Hello, Sun.

Japanese War Tuba and more. (via MusicThing) Acoustic radar. Sure, the Germans were in on acoustic radar, too.

The story behind "ni channeru".

Currently listening to Slayer, "Seasons in the Abyss".

No Bono? No bueno.

2006-05-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

This made me laugh.

Also, my voice is one of those in the collective, "Aw!" from the crowd upon hearing that Pruned suffered a massive hard disk crash that claimed nearly everything.

R.I.P. Desmond Dekker.

Oops, I lost my admin password again.

And this pic is just DOPE. How beautiful.

Mmmm, it does go well with the chicken

2006-05-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Del.icio.us again, Phil.

So, I started a Del.icio.us account, for those who might be interested. I also added the code here for my cloud, as you can see down the right side.

I feel that my cloud is already suffering from some of the effects of these open tagging systems, but I will attempt to maintain control. We'll see, er, you'll see how it goes, I guess.

Currently listening to, Melvins, "Houdini Live 2005"

Maps, sketches, ...

2006-05-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

My "Personal DNA Map" (via PersonalDNA). Mouse over the color bars to see the dimensions of personality they measure. Not clear why they use "DNA" in their title, though.

A very interesting use of Flash to lead you through the questions. I liked the use of the n-dimensional types of questions and how the controls were implemented. Try it - it's fun!

Some interesting sketches.

Cell phone jackassery

2006-05-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

I was simply trying to eat a cupcake and read interesting stuff when the guy next to me uses the phrase, "I'll just Mapquest that bad-boy" and ends his call with, "whatever's clever, man!" Congratulations, Saturday's Douchebag of the Day! We love ya.

In spite of that guy, however, there is some really great stuff here. I am trying to learn proce55ing!

Currently listening to The Clash, "Super Black Market Clash"

Misheard Lyrics: my personal list

2006-05-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone's got 'em. Here are mine - I'll continually update this list.

Heard as: When Loraine walks in, you'll clean your nose
Lyrics: When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
"Dreams" - Fleetwood Mac

Heard as: All those dago freaks who used to pay the Feds
Lyrics: All those day-glow freaks who used to paint their face
"Kid Charlemagne" - Steely Dan

Heard as: I don't wanna be here in your London dojo
Lyrics: I don't wanna be here in your London dungeon
"London Dungeon" - Misfits

Heard as: This guy is bitching violently
Lyrics: The sky is pitching violently
"The Fountain of Lamneth: III. No One at the Bridge" - Rush

Heard as: I'm not talkin' 'bout the living (also, the limit) / and I don't wanna change your life
Lyrics: I'm not talkin' 'bout movin' in / and I don't wanna change your life
"I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" - England Dan & John Ford Coley

Heard as: Baby come back, you can blame it all on me / I was robbed, and I just can't live without you
Lyrics: Baby come back, you can blame it all on me / I was wrong, and I just can't live without you
"Baby Come Back" - Player

Beautiful complexity

2006-05-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that I would describe as having this attribute. Here is a nice collection. What are the "collections" in your own life?

Currently listening to Pelican, "Australasia"

Great guitar solos

2006-05-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Erin and I have been exploring our musical pasts. One thing that keeps coming up over and over is me saying, "Yep - that's on my list of greatest guitar solos in rock," over and over. So what is that list? Here goes. I will update this particular post as I think of more. Enjoy.

In no particular order:
"Easy" - The Commodores
"Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" - Pink Floyd
"We Will Rock You" - Queen
"Almost Human" - Kiss
"Peg" - Steely Dan
"Don't Look Back" - Boston
"Warning" - Black Sabbath
"I'll See the Light Tonight" - Rising Force
"For the Love of God" - Steve Vai
"Don't Stop" - Fleetwood Mac
"I'm Broken" - Pantera
"Not Now John" - Pink Floyd
"Something" - The Beatles

Currently watching Killing Joke, "XXV Gathering!" DVD

Ask not what your Slayer can do for you

2006-04-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ask what you can do for your Slayer. June 6.

And one from the, Honey Sticks are not for the Uncoordinated file: I just watched a guy bail an entire 12 oz mocha all over himself because of a honey stick. I don't know. I think they should be banned. The issue is, when squeezing the honey stick to get its contents into your coffee, soda, nose, whatever, you need exceptional control over the squeezing dimension as well as the downward force you're using. For successful honey deployment, you must reduce downward force gradually so that you are at or near zero when you run out of honey stick, lest you slam your hand into the coffee cup, soda, or, in the case of your nose, punch your own face (just as Herzog wants you to), just creating embarrassment for yourself. Perhaps I'm just sore.

Currently listening to John Frusciante, "Shadows Collide with People"

Sell, sell, cells!

2006-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

More interesting design tangents via Pruned.

Plant science, targeted gene experession. Be sure to check out photo section 1 and photo section 2 (drosophila) - hundreds of confocal microscopy (microscopy of small areas with very direct, specific light that yields higher resolution) pictures. Specifically, the plant cell architecture series is just mind-blowing. Nice navigation scheme and layout, too.

Microscopic wood anatomy. With great links: 1 (Central European Species) 2 (Michael Wolf, Architecture of Density).

---

As a follow-up from my previous post, Art from Code and The Rasterbator. Yeah.

And yay, a fun toy from one of my favorite math-y authors. And, of course, fractint.

Currently listening to Jandek.

Computational art

2006-04-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Some cool sites that got my attention today. Some Java, some native. Some typography and font-related. I love this stuff. Recommended if you like stuff like John Maeda's work.

Processing.org
caligraft.com
Robmeek.com

These came to me via Typographica.

Currently listening to Slint, "Spiderland".
good night my love / remember me as you fall to sleep....

Coffee makes me, well, work.

2006-04-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Lots of good shit out there to read. Here goes.

Great discussion of what this guy calls, "remedial landscapes". "The terminology of mining will be replaced with that of surgery, and the terminology of war will be replaced with that of medicine..." Whoa. Via e-tat.

Get your dope mixtapes and stream captures from Barefiles.

Check out the gorgeous presentation (a Flash app you shouldn't block) and ideas by Mary Miss. For fans of urban architecture as well as works by people like Noguchi and Cristo.

Software you can "get behind" is available from Ranchero Software, makers of MarsEdit and Net NewsWire for Mac. These tools just make sense and they're cheap.

Watch dust devils blow across the surface of Mars.

The new Jesu record is out. It just gets more and more beautiful. Justin K. Broadrick's blog.

If anyone has 3D Studio Max and can help me with this, I'd greatly appreciate it. I want to make some movies!

Currently listening to Mare, self-titled album.

Oh yeah, fuck Citizen Cope. That music suuuuucks.

Colors. Patterns.

2006-04-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

A few flickr sets that have caught my eye recently: 1 2 3

Listening to Jesu, self-titled CD.

Implode the music biz, part I

2006-03-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

Bring your iPod to a friend's house. Download iPodViewer. Trade music files with them.

Small victories amongst the usual pangs of anxiety. Parked for 1.5 hours having only paid for 30 mins; knowing that, I really enjoyed my nap. Watched A Joyful Noise with Erin. Been thinking about the commitment of those musicians. Mind-blowing. For instance, (paraphrasing) if you follow the leader, you live where the leader lives. And the discussions about how their involvement in the music transcended any scene other than what was going on at Sun Ra's house. Including any social scene(!!!). Intense for a bunch of young male musicians. Super intense.

Last night, I saw Gogol Bordello with Erin. That was another level of ... Now I know what my friend Matski was saying when he mentioned these guys with such reverence. Execution.

Get committed.

Visualize

2006-03-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

A very interesting hierarchical graphing idea via Information Aesthetics. Led me to Mapping the Google News Aggregator, which is a variation on the SmartMoney Market Map idea. And another Voronoi side note.

Shit. I feel myself purchasing Mathematica very soon. After that? Quotes from Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science". Save us.

While I'm at it, I kinda am intrigued by this from Amazon's "Search Inside!" program. Have a look at the entry for J.G. Ballard's "Crash" in their catalog.

Space in which to consider....

2006-03-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Saw Jan Svankmajer's, "Conspirators of Pleasure" last night. Some beautiful shots and ideas in that movie.

Great, open conversation/thinking into the wee hours of the morning serenaded by the swooshing of cars sprinting by on the SR-99 Viaduct. She is something else.

Another link in a long list of sites that make me happy these days: Data is Nature

Just outside the window now: A man parks in a loading zone and shuts his car off while still in reverse. The key doesn't come out of the ignition because the car is still in gear. The man beats his steering wheel in frustration while his child screams and howls in their harness in the back seat.

Listening to Godflesh, "Slateman".

Community. By example.

2006-03-22T02:16:00.000-08:00

Just got home after playing a benefit show for a friend. Lots of good people came. They all donated. No big deal. No bullshit. Just doing the right thing. Fucking great to be involved. Go do this sort of thing for someone you know who needs it. It's really easy. Really easy.

Now for some ice cream and Godflesh, "Hymns".

... is there water in the pool?

2006-03-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

If there is, then it's possible to DROWN after I jump. Great.

Here is a great feed that really excites me: Pruned
Simply gorgeous.