Remi's Bloglet - Wednesday 18 December 2002

To hell with 'Most Essential' or 'Best'! I want my 'Least Essential' and I want it now! _
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07:49:43 AM, Wednesday 18 December 2002

'The Two Towers' reminds me of September 11th! Time to Protest! _
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07:38:17 AM, Wednesday 18 December 2002

Creative Commons has a bunch of neat open licenses designed to create a more legally friendly atmosphere for people interested in using other's creative works. They even have a nifty license chooser. I will definitely be using these licenses for my own projects, and I'd encourage the would-be writers, artists, and musicians out there on the blogmass to take a look and use these to stop the 'all-for-me' intellectual property gridlock that seems to have gripped creative people everywhere. _
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06:57:27 AM, Wednesday 18 December 2002

Because the madman Dave Wisdom is a member of the student station WUOG here in Athens and because all the DJ's are on 6 hour shifts and need a break, pine~nut will be taking to the airwaves for a live concert around 12:45pm. However, thanks to new legislation that would have retroactively forced the station to pay $.07 per-song per-listener since June 2002 for its webcast (it looks like WUOG would only have to pay $.02, but that's still a fair amount), you won't be able to listen to an independant band that's performing for free, needs the exposure and doesn't care about piracy, and isn't signed to a major label (and never will be!). Thank you RIAA, you bunch of technology killing thugs. _
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06:20:50 AM, Wednesday 18 December 2002

Whoah! Off the 'Powell's Bestseller List':
12. Get Your War On by David Rees _
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05:44:41 AM, Wednesday 18 December 2002

Why do I get the feeling that this whole Kissinger thing was just an elaborate ruse to make Oliver North a more palatable candidate for the job? _
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04:15:55 AM, Sunday 15 December 2002

I'd occasionally do a lameBeatboxing riff with Andrew if the time was right and Liz and Liz seemed susceptible to being utterly embarassed by it, but this site is serious about beatboxing and the amazing repetoire of sounds one can produce. Even has a tutorial!

[via metafilter] _
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11:59:37 AM, Friday 13 December 2002

The wind is blowing outside.
The wind is making deep moaning sounds.
The wind is moving things about. _
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07:25:44 AM, Friday 13 December 2002

Liz just had an idea for a Trading Spaces-type show. She'd go to someone's house, except instead of being a sort of plain house it would be a house with nice stuff, and then she'd take all their stuff and replace it with our old blue couch and all the dirty clothes on the floor. She would also show her midriff. _
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06:39:54 PM, Tuesday 10 December 2002

From Warren Ellis's e-mail newsletter 'Bad Signal':

Maybe I could take a few years off and come back with a really bad
single, like Blur. I love that they're trying new things, but "Don't Bomb
When You're The Bomb" is ugly and disappointing. If nothing else,
it's a pisser that Damon Albarn's backed off from his own gift as a
wry, sloganeering lyricist. It's like watching a violinist chop his hand off
because he really wants to go and play football. It sounds like what
it is; some confused lads in a studio recording every little thing they
find, including the phone, and somehow imagining they're the first
to do it. It's Seventies electronic music, all dopesmoke and chunky
jumpers. I hope the album's got something a bit more substantive
to it. When a band gets to Blur's stage, I think they should be forced
to make an album in a month, or be taken round the back of the
studio and shot in the head with a humane cow killer. Just bang:
fucking great nail fired into your brain.

. . . I'm listening to "Go" by kait0 instead. It goes clangclangclangclangclang.
Clangclangclangclangclang. BOOM.
_
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06:34:41 PM, Tuesday 10 December 2002

The Journal of Metallurgy interviews Rick Lyon, the sword- and weaponsmith for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[via boing boing] _
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11:58:36 PM, Sunday 8 December 2002

There are apparently problems with the wigu.com domain, use www.topato.com for now. _
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07:15:30 PM, Friday 6 December 2002

A quick update for Heart of the Blogmass. I'm still waiting on a commentary or two and several people still need to send in CD's. It's too late to quit, you're in this and I will bug you until you write something for me. I want your sooooooongs. You know who you are. _
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12:32:23 AM, Friday 6 December 2002

St. John's very rarely calls days off, my Senior year was an anomaly in that it had both Floyd and the blizzard in the same year (those were the only days that were called off during my entire time there). However, the rule of thumb is: Roads open, so is SJC. This mostly stems from the fact that the college probably hasn't adjusted to the idea that a decent portion (i.e. more than 3 or 4) of the undergraduate student body doesn't live within walking distance of campus, which was true for most of my time there. _
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06:46:54 PM, Thursday 5 December 2002

No, thank you, I don't want a phone reminder about a television show. _
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03:33:21 PM, Thursday 5 December 2002

My band, pine~nut, will be playing another show at SeTH-Haus on Saturday. With assits from Dave I've written 4 new songs, so this time it will be orginal-heavy. It's nice that the music juices are flowing again. I'll be lugging the 4-track with us in an effort to record this outing. Excitement. _
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03:11:39 PM, Thursday 5 December 2002

Great, I, Robot is finally being adapted for film, but they're casting Will Smith in the lead and they're not using Harlan Ellison's excellent adaptation. _
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03:53:52 PM, Wednesday 4 December 2002

Two days after the plane ride, my left ear finally popped! _
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03:27:03 PM, Wednesday 4 December 2002

I demoed a new song today. It's called Sleep. _
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03:23:14 PM, Wednesday 4 December 2002

Speed is the essence of production. Akira Toriyama wrote and drew all of the weekly Dragonball installments. A rarity among manga artists who usually have a stable of assistants to help them. Toriyama could produce up to 14 pages in 20 hours. An exceptionally complicated installment would take him a week. This makes me ache with jealousy. _
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02:09:36 AM, Wednesday 4 December 2002

FUCK YOU! I KILL YOU ALL! _
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12:29:50 AM, Wednesday 4 December 2002

Ooh! Ooh! I forgot to mention Penzeys! If you live near one of their stores, go now. It is like dying and going to nose-heaven. Seriously impressive spices and some of the deepest, richest hot chocolate ever. _
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05:50:47 AM, Monday 2 December 2002

A slow last day with the family in P-burgh. Liz and I are both feeling under the weather (does anything suck more than being sick on vacation?), but we trooped on and went to the Frick Cafe for lunch. Best. desserts. ever. I can't even describe how good the Egg Nog creamy-thing was, except it was light where you expected it to be heavy, and restrained where you expected it to be overly-sweet. The potato soup was amazing as well, with a wonderful mix of celery root, potato, and a light creamy broth. Even the Turkey Meatloaf sandwich was super-tasty.

After lunch we wandered around their Drawn to the Avant Garde: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century French Drawings exhibit. Many of the drawings had great energy and passion in their slap-dash looks. It was punk-rock fine art. We spent the rest of evening with me and Liz sniffling on the couch and watching Super Troopers and Brotherhood of the Wolf. I'd recommend avoiding Super Troopers at all costs, but Brotherhood is a pretty good action-movie/period-drama. Brotherhood drags in places, but makes up for it with a plot that keeps you guessing and a sense of style that goes on for miles. _
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05:44:53 AM, Monday 2 December 2002

So today we (Liz, me, and my parents) went out to see Bowling for Columbine. I was impressed that it actually felt a little more like a movie, with Moore allowing his footage to talk for itself, and that it seemed a bit less sure of the ultimate answers to the problems of the gun culture in the US. It had some extremely uncomfortable moments (I had never seen the tapes from inside Columbine during the shootings, and I felt that his use of the 9/11 footage felt cheap) but overall the movie was effective, had some light moments, and an activism scheme with two Columbine victims that actually worked. The cap-off interview with Charlton Heston was scary and sad, but I've seen complaints elsewhere that said Heston was 'ambushed' or 'abused'. If Heston's the spokesman for the NRA, he should have the ability to answer difficult questions about his organization's positions.

Bowling for Columbine feels like a conversation starter instead of the final word. _
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04:39:48 AM, Sunday 1 December 2002

Went down to The Strip today, always quite a bit of fun. Bought some cheeses at the truly excellent Macaroni, and got some prosciutto from the place that makes it upstairs. Wandered around through that various good smells and then came home, exhausted. We had turkey leftovers (I made a cranberry dipping sauce for the turkey which turned out quite nicely) and played the new Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, sang some Hannukah songs, and lit up the new menorrah. Then it was time for movies.

Man, I love Donnie Darko, which got my mind racing just like the last time I saw it. Then we watched Bread and Tulips, which was absolutely delightful, sweet, and funny. If you're feeling down, see Bread and Tulips, it's the perfect thing to put you in a good mood. _
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12:59:18 AM, Saturday 30 November 2002

With my parents in their cozy house in Pittsburgh. It is snowing, and cold out, but the house, as I said, is cozy, and warm. It's going to be a nice vacation. _
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02:45:29 PM, Wednesday 27 November 2002

Good grief, they did release Uncle Buck on DVD . . . I'm betting more for the John Hughes connection than the John Candy/Macauly Culkin angle. _
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04:24:27 PM, Sunday 24 November 2002

So I unsubscribed from Modern Tales. The final straw was the redesign of the front page, it takes almost twice as long to load, now, and doesn't offer anything interesting or new to the site. A lot of the automation I sort of expected (such as a 'favorite comics' page for subscribers, because the navigation through comics on Modern Tales SUCKS) never appeared. I got tired of site owner Joey Manley's constant pronouncements both on the site and on the ecartoonists list I'm on. Also, I stopped reading most of the strips (I only read Teaching Baby Paranoia and Odd Jobs at the moment), and I don't visit the site very often. It's depressing, I had high hopes for Modern Tales, but after 8 months of promises, I didn't see anything changing except the front page, and that wasn't enough. _
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01:33:49 AM, Friday 22 November 2002

Doggy Fizzle Televizzle _
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12:17:40 AM, Friday 22 November 2002

The Day I Joined the KKK-Was Super Fucking Gay. Is exactly what it sounds like.

[via mefi] _
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03:32:57 PM, Thursday 21 November 2002

Gerbilboy? _
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03:49:57 PM, Wednesday 20 November 2002

If any of the people out on the blogmass are still interested in recording, but had a lot of trouble getting ProTools Free to work, Audacity is a very nice little audio recording/editing program with similar functionality and a simpler interface. It's also open-source, so improvements should continue on into the future. A good tool for quick demos and spur-of-the-moment recordings (even if it does lack proper pan and level control). _
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09:43:04 PM, Tuesday 19 November 2002

Pitchfork does its Top 100 albums of '80's. I think my main complaint is that there are bands that get two, three, and even four entries. Still, as far as great proto-indie rock (with some other stuff thrown in for good measure) goes, it's a pretty good list, and I can't really argue with their top 10. _
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07:58:19 PM, Tuesday 19 November 2002

Hey, Fat Seth, the band I did the recording for, has a new site, complete with the entire record for free download. So, if you're curious about what I spent October on, check it out. _
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06:30:27 PM, Sunday 17 November 2002

Just as a quick break from my reviews of blogmass CD's, I'd like to give a shout-out to my friend Jonathan over at Invisible City for helping me fix my computer in a surprisingly painless process. Thanks again, Jon. _
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09:49:52 PM, Saturday 16 November 2002

Martin's Ninja Mix
There are very few Ninja's on this mix. There are many, many novelty songs, though. There are bits of the CD that aren't for me, but some of the individual songs are so weird, so unique, so good, that I can't help but coming back to this mix time and time again.

Pumping on Your Stereo-Supergrass: I swear they were saying, "Can you hear us humping on your Stereo." A good rave-up opener.

Bra-Dismemberment Plan: This is such a strange song, especially after the straightforward rocking of 'Pumping'. A strangely danceable track, despite the weird tempo changes and scattered rhythm.

Pinche Juan-Cafe Tacuba: I like this song, although I probably couldn't tell you why. Joyous spanish shouting does it for me, I guess.

We Dug a Hole-okgo: I swear that the lead vocal on the verse sounds like the guy from Everclear (specifically off that song 'AM Radio'), but you can't hate a chorus as catchy and nonsensical as 'We dug a hole and put our hands in it.'

Find the Cat-Grand Buffet: This song is nothing but pure novelty power. I can't get it out of my head, I find myself humming it in strange places and trying to remember all the people this person's friends with. It reaches into the most primitive part of your brain and clubs the 'Pleasure' sensor over and over.

Ghost Rider-Cex: Not quite as catchy as 'Cat', but plays with gangsta rap tropes and comes up with comedy gold.

KOMPRESSOR Does Not Dance: An online superstar's classic track. I'd criticize it but it's really good, and besides, I do not want to be CRUSHED.

Billy Nye Theme: I was a Beakman's Lab man, myself.

Happiness is a Warm Pun-Super Furry Animals: I wish I could understand the words to this, I really liked the lyric for 'Rings around the World'. A fun song to rock out to.

Big Six-Judge Dread: A slightly below-average reggae-rap thing. Didn't do much for me other than being slighly naughty.

This Poem...Sucks-Mike Myers: If smoky poetry jams weren't dead by the time this came along, they were afterwards. A classic.

Satan Gave Me A Taco-Beck: Anti-folk for the slacker generation. The silliest song about gastrointestinal distress ever.

Furry Happy Monster-Sesame Street and REM: The original was evil. This was like evil with an extra serving of evil con queso on top.

Grooving to the Moscow Beat-Red Elvises: I really think the title says it all.

Gerty's Farewell: A nice happy tune with nary an electric guitar to be seen. Soothing.

The No More Tears Formula-The All-Classic Baked Godds: A plodding creepy song with an acoustic instrument nary to be seen.

The Gold Finch and the Red Oak Tree-Ted Leo/Pharmacists: Ted Leo and his drugstore-dwelling pals try really hard, but everything they do scream 'average!' to me. I've heard a good chunk of their material, and seen them live and nothing really impresses itself on my mind. That said, this song is pretty and definitely captures a serene mood on the edge of panic well.

I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day-The Pogues: More prettiness. I like this song, and combined with the previous one it makes me happy and still.

You Fuckin' Die! I Said...-The Pixies: And then there's this classic Pixies riff, which brings me back into the world of terror Martin has created on CD.

When You're Evil-Voltaire: I love this song. It really sounds evil. I wish I knew if it were part of a larger piece. I certainly would like to know more about this character.

Don't Touch Me!-Brak: Brak fucken rules. And the faux-freestyle of this song only makes it better.

Student Loan-Mary Prankster: Funny seriousness from the master of the form. I need more Mary.

Ninja Song-Real Ultimate Power: There are better 30 second songs out there.

Arigato We Love You-Pizzicato Five: I want to like Pizzicato Five so badly, but I can only really get into 'Twiggy Twiggy'. This light songs starts to drag on after a while.

Keep it In Your Pants-Satanicide: As Always, Martin brings it back to the funny. This raunchy song rocks my world. It would be nothing without the introduction, though, which is as funny as the song itself.

Female of the Species-Space: Space is utterly harmless, cherry-picking riffs and sounds that are familiar and alien at the same time. One of those pop groups that just faded away after their first album. I would have liked to have seen where their appropriating style took them as they matured.

Isla de Encanta-The Pixies: SCANNER! (I used this song on my mix, just to give you an idea of how much I like it)

Maclennan-The Popes: I love these little interludes of Irish music. They add a lot of character to the mix, and are great listening to boot.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1&2-Flaming Lips: The first part is a very airy and sweet pop song that I can really sink my teeth into. I like how it slowly gets more mechanical sounding as it goes along, and the endless samples keep the song from feeling like it's losing energy. The synthesizer-freakout second part doesn't quite live up to the promise of the first, and while it might be a good simulation of a robot battle, it's not all that great a tune. The mix ending on the cheers of the crowd at the end of Pt. 2 is a cute touch, but it seems like a weird choice to end a CD that's this much fun on a dissonant and slightly annoying track. _
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04:12:09 PM, Saturday 16 November 2002

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