Monday, May 29, 2006
If I Can't Be Funny, I'll Be Random (Or I'll Just Be Arthur, Whichever's More Believable)
Catherine found a cool blog by using the 'random blog' button on blogger.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Warning Forever
Found this game when I checked out Somethingawful a few weeks ago. It's essentially a top-down shooter of Raiden fame which just consists of boss battles back to back. Each boss is built around a central core with weaponry that is adapted by the AI based on your performance in previous levels. Which means that, in theory, it'll get pretty hard pretty quickly if you keep doing the same stuff over and over.
Every other aspect of the genre (different weapons, powerups, smaller things to shoot at, fancy little landscapes to fly over etc.) hasn't been put in the game, so it's pretty simple.
It's easy to learn, but hard to master, as they say.
My high score (all options are set on standard) is 18459500, at level 16 with 5 deaths.
(Oh, and if you do play it, don't use the default weapon. I have no idea why they even give you the option, since most of the later levels are spent shooting in all directions. The firing-cone...thingy is so much more practical)
If you like that kind of game, you should check it out.
Every other aspect of the genre (different weapons, powerups, smaller things to shoot at, fancy little landscapes to fly over etc.) hasn't been put in the game, so it's pretty simple.
It's easy to learn, but hard to master, as they say.
My high score (all options are set on standard) is 18459500, at level 16 with 5 deaths.
(Oh, and if you do play it, don't use the default weapon. I have no idea why they even give you the option, since most of the later levels are spent shooting in all directions. The firing-cone...thingy is so much more practical)
If you like that kind of game, you should check it out.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
BIRTHDAY PIZZA!!!
Also, Jeff's 26th birfday was cool. Started off having dinner at a place called "Panarotti's Pizza and Pasta" (Panucci and Pavarotti had a baby, see...). The entire night was more or less spent laughing at Craig (at least, by Catherine and myself) giving pathetic puppy-dog-eyes expressions with bits of food hanging out of his mouth.
In retrospect, we were acting like children. HOORAY!
I also ate other people's food. First, a slice of pizza that was offered to me by some people at the table I didn't know, then a slice (or three) of Catherine's pizza, then a few of Jeff's. He had a hawaiian/something that we concluded was actually beef jerky.
I didn't have any of what Craig was having. He described it as primordial ooze. I disagree. It looked more like primordial ooze with melted cheese on the top.
We then went to Kelly's (after dropping Catherine off at home...she was sleepy, and had to work this morning). I didn't stay long, but I was there long enough to hear a guy singing Smells Like Teen Spirit. Now, most people would not try to sound like Kurt sounds when singing that song, but this guy was trying a little too hard. It sounded like Tom Waits was doing a cover of the song.
In retrospect, we were acting like children. HOORAY!
I also ate other people's food. First, a slice of pizza that was offered to me by some people at the table I didn't know, then a slice (or three) of Catherine's pizza, then a few of Jeff's. He had a hawaiian/something that we concluded was actually beef jerky.
I didn't have any of what Craig was having. He described it as primordial ooze. I disagree. It looked more like primordial ooze with melted cheese on the top.
We then went to Kelly's (after dropping Catherine off at home...she was sleepy, and had to work this morning). I didn't stay long, but I was there long enough to hear a guy singing Smells Like Teen Spirit. Now, most people would not try to sound like Kurt sounds when singing that song, but this guy was trying a little too hard. It sounded like Tom Waits was doing a cover of the song.
Ted The Supreme Freakin' Bass Tech
OK, here's the thing. My bass has active pickups, which, for those of you who don't know, means that the volume controls and tone controls etc on the bass actually boost the signal, rather than cut it (as passive pickups do). This means, that unlike passive pickups, they must draw power from somewhere internally, and that means that there's a battery inside the thing somewhere.
Now, I've had the bass since about early October, and the battery it came with ran out for the first time after a few months. This resulted in normal playing for a few minutes before the signal (even if running through a clean channel) became distorted, coupled with a gradually increasing loss in signal as the battery lost what was left of its charge. Replaced the battery, all was well.
This leads me into another point. I don't like to think that I'm a complete idiot, but even the best of us slips into temporary periods of stupor from time to time. This leads me into yet another point.
See, if you're up-to-date with the wordings on this here blog, you'll know I've recently had other trouble with the bass, with it sending all sorts of crazy sounds to the amp, with a barely audible bass tone somewhere in there. But you'd think that, despite having pretty different symptoms this time around, that I would have thought to replace the battery anyway - you know, just on the outside chance that a dying battery is actually the problem - instead of just sitting around until I can get it fixed. Once again, this is only to be certain that it's not the cause.
Well, I bring this up because that is pretty much what the problem was, as I found out last night.
I was playing around with it unplugged, then I looked at the nearly full battery that has been sitting around on my desk since January, for just such an occasion, and decided to give it a shot. What the hell, right?
"STEEEEMPY! YOU EEEEDIOT!"
Now, I've had the bass since about early October, and the battery it came with ran out for the first time after a few months. This resulted in normal playing for a few minutes before the signal (even if running through a clean channel) became distorted, coupled with a gradually increasing loss in signal as the battery lost what was left of its charge. Replaced the battery, all was well.
This leads me into another point. I don't like to think that I'm a complete idiot, but even the best of us slips into temporary periods of stupor from time to time. This leads me into yet another point.
See, if you're up-to-date with the wordings on this here blog, you'll know I've recently had other trouble with the bass, with it sending all sorts of crazy sounds to the amp, with a barely audible bass tone somewhere in there. But you'd think that, despite having pretty different symptoms this time around, that I would have thought to replace the battery anyway - you know, just on the outside chance that a dying battery is actually the problem - instead of just sitting around until I can get it fixed. Once again, this is only to be certain that it's not the cause.
Well, I bring this up because that is pretty much what the problem was, as I found out last night.
I was playing around with it unplugged, then I looked at the nearly full battery that has been sitting around on my desk since January, for just such an occasion, and decided to give it a shot. What the hell, right?
"STEEEEMPY! YOU EEEEDIOT!"
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
"It's me! Willy knows it's me...what's the problem?"
About an hour ago, I heard a neighbour's room get buzzed from downstairs (for anyone reading this who doesn't know, it's a security block), then shortly after, another faint buzz. Couldn't tell whether or not it was the same place. Then about 15-20 minutes later, I get a knock at the door. I ignore it, but walk up to the door. As soon as the guy knocked a second time, I yelled out 'who is it?'
He asks to see some guy by a name I didn't catch.
'Nobody here by that name'
He insists that there's a guy here by that name.
'Nope. Bye!'
Bullshit, he tells me, he knows he's in there.
'No.'
Is there anyone Vietnamese there?
'No. Bugger off.'
Was there anyone called so-and-so?
'No', then I just walked walked away and sat back down to play UT.
I get the impression this guy was trying to rip someone off. If anyone fell for it, I say they had it coming.
Go here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_neologisms_on_The_Simpsons
He asks to see some guy by a name I didn't catch.
'Nobody here by that name'
He insists that there's a guy here by that name.
'Nope. Bye!'
Bullshit, he tells me, he knows he's in there.
'No.'
Is there anyone Vietnamese there?
'No. Bugger off.'
Was there anyone called so-and-so?
'No', then I just walked walked away and sat back down to play UT.
I get the impression this guy was trying to rip someone off. If anyone fell for it, I say they had it coming.
Go here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_neologisms_on_The_Simpsons
My mum never got the irony of calling me a son of a bitch.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Nobody Else Was Doing It...I Just Wanted To Be Cool...
I've been thinking about the kind of music that I'd be creating for Poweranimal to play, and this has inevitably caused my mind to drift to music that I listen to frequently, and that which has influenced me a great deal (even at this early stage of the band). I still have no idea what I want Poweranimal to sound like. Hell, I have less idea of what I *expect* it to sound like, given that there are another two (possibly) equally opinionated musicians who are contributing to it.
The music I listen to is often heavy stuff. 'Metal', ja?. I think the reason I've become drawn to that kind of music is simply because of it's lack of simplicity. Many of these groups begin with the intention of creating music that's aurally challenging, and do this with downtuned instruments, distortion, distorted/screamed/growled vocals, and What Have You. Hence, it's only natural for some of these groups to take it one step further and apply this principle to the composition of the music itself.
Mudvayne, one of the first 'heavy' groups I started listening to (ending my almost exclusively electronic musical taste) started out by making music in this way. The lyrics on their first album (L.D 50) were incredibly confrontational, and pretty damn vulgar, and quite often bordering on immature. But the musicianship of each of the band members who DIDN'T sing was (and still is) pretty damn impressive, particularly the bass playing. Ryan Martini is probably the biggest influential figure in my playing. The lead lines came from the bass rather than the guitarist, who is devoted to providing background textures with various effects, as well as rhythm (probably one reason these guys are often overlooked by metal fanatics). This usually demands a bit more attention from the listener. The song structures on L.D 50 are actually reminiscent of Tool's earlier stuff, just a lot heavier, so one could refer to it as 'progressive' music if one were so inclined (I'm not, but that's neither here nor there). This means that the songs take more than a few twists and turns, and even their later albums, despite sticking to shorter, simpler songs, still have often ridiculous time signatures and tempo changes, which take many (many, many) listens to get your head 'round.
Contrast this band with another pseudo-metal outfit, Slipknot, which I got into at around the same time as Mudvayne. Mudvayne were often accused of being ripoffs of Slipknot, although that's a widely disputed claim, for good reason. The only similarity that they shared musically was the 'heavy' aspect, rather than the musical complexity and depth. This is probably why I never even bothered spending money on anything by Slipknot in the early years (hooray for p2p!). Admittedly, I own their 3rd album, but I only bought it after being impressed with an artistic change in direction, in which they seemed to be delving into acoustic and experimental areas in their songs. Buggered if I can remeber the last time I listened to it, though. What I'm trying to say is that (generally) Slipknot often just take a traditional rock/pop song structure and 'Heavy it up' with distortion and angry, angry lyrics.
Another band which are undisputedly 'metal' (even I have no trouble categorising their music) is Meshuggah. People who listen to Jen Kidman's monotone bellowing often just don't get it. I guess I don't blame them, with the crazy guy rarely even changing the note he's yelling out...not only throughtout an entire song, but often a whole album. The same goes for the guitars and bass chugging away, often using a handful of chords for an entire song. Or...album...
The main criticism people have with Meshuggah is that they have no melody to their songs. I'm always quick to tell those people that they're missing the point entirely. Clearly the band are aware that they're not dazzling anyone with an array of colourful notes and chords. They're just focusing on the counterpoint to the tonal/melodic properties of music which is often neglected in almost every genre in western music:
Rhythm. Polyrhythms and polymetrics are what these guys are good at messing with, and the music is quite technical as a result. Following the beat of the guitar lines, drum kickers, hi-hat, and, hell, even the vocals is a bit of a mental challenge. It honestly takes a lot of concentration to keep track of where you are when playing, or trying to play a Meshuggah song. But when you do, you can see just how clever the guys are at making a song that demands your attention. When you start devoting your attention to their music, a song with ridiculous complexity can become quite catchy. The catch is, this music requires a lot of active attention from the listener, otherwise it is indeed 'Just Noise', as the expression goes. As though there's a kind of music out there that isn't 'Just Noise'. But I won't get into that.
There are many, many bands out there who are basically just Metal for the sake of Metal. Copies of copies of copies, all trying to sound like the band that sounds like the band that sounds like Pantera. I don't listen to these bands for the same reason I don't listen to, say, Jet, or Wolfmother. Anyone remember Jet? Well, I'm willing to bet that that same fate is reserved for Wolfmother. But, for the same reason I don't listen to them, I don't want to end up with the same 'Let's Be Like These Guys!' philosophy as these groups.
Herein lies the problem. I'm constantly aware that eventually, I'm going to have to allow a song to influence the music I'll make, no matter how hard I try to prevent it from happening. (And that this is likely to happen sooner rather than later.) This inevitably keeps me from enjoying what I'm playing, which is not a good thing.
Catherine did shed some light on the issue, though, by bringing my attention to the differenciation between mimicry and influence. So...that settles that, I guess. Heh, heh.
I do enjoy the stuff that Catherine and I come up with together more than stuff that I attempt to play by myself anyway, so hopefully when all three of us get together and start jamming, the input of two other people will result in me enjoying the noise even more.
I might even forget that I sound like a Ryan Martini clone. Unlike Mudvayne, we're playing with a vocalist that can sing well in a live environment.
Damn. I just realised that none of this explains how I think Poweranimal will sound. Although, in a way, maybe it does.
(This has been a self-indulgent rant that I intended to publish only if I make any kind of point while writing it. I don't think I did, but it took me a while to write, so I'm just going to put it up here anyway, bad grammar and all. EAT THAT!)
The music I listen to is often heavy stuff. 'Metal', ja?. I think the reason I've become drawn to that kind of music is simply because of it's lack of simplicity. Many of these groups begin with the intention of creating music that's aurally challenging, and do this with downtuned instruments, distortion, distorted/screamed/growled vocals, and What Have You. Hence, it's only natural for some of these groups to take it one step further and apply this principle to the composition of the music itself.
Mudvayne, one of the first 'heavy' groups I started listening to (ending my almost exclusively electronic musical taste) started out by making music in this way. The lyrics on their first album (L.D 50) were incredibly confrontational, and pretty damn vulgar, and quite often bordering on immature. But the musicianship of each of the band members who DIDN'T sing was (and still is) pretty damn impressive, particularly the bass playing. Ryan Martini is probably the biggest influential figure in my playing. The lead lines came from the bass rather than the guitarist, who is devoted to providing background textures with various effects, as well as rhythm (probably one reason these guys are often overlooked by metal fanatics). This usually demands a bit more attention from the listener. The song structures on L.D 50 are actually reminiscent of Tool's earlier stuff, just a lot heavier, so one could refer to it as 'progressive' music if one were so inclined (I'm not, but that's neither here nor there). This means that the songs take more than a few twists and turns, and even their later albums, despite sticking to shorter, simpler songs, still have often ridiculous time signatures and tempo changes, which take many (many, many) listens to get your head 'round.
Contrast this band with another pseudo-metal outfit, Slipknot, which I got into at around the same time as Mudvayne. Mudvayne were often accused of being ripoffs of Slipknot, although that's a widely disputed claim, for good reason. The only similarity that they shared musically was the 'heavy' aspect, rather than the musical complexity and depth. This is probably why I never even bothered spending money on anything by Slipknot in the early years (hooray for p2p!). Admittedly, I own their 3rd album, but I only bought it after being impressed with an artistic change in direction, in which they seemed to be delving into acoustic and experimental areas in their songs. Buggered if I can remeber the last time I listened to it, though. What I'm trying to say is that (generally) Slipknot often just take a traditional rock/pop song structure and 'Heavy it up' with distortion and angry, angry lyrics.
Another band which are undisputedly 'metal' (even I have no trouble categorising their music) is Meshuggah. People who listen to Jen Kidman's monotone bellowing often just don't get it. I guess I don't blame them, with the crazy guy rarely even changing the note he's yelling out...not only throughtout an entire song, but often a whole album. The same goes for the guitars and bass chugging away, often using a handful of chords for an entire song. Or...album...
The main criticism people have with Meshuggah is that they have no melody to their songs. I'm always quick to tell those people that they're missing the point entirely. Clearly the band are aware that they're not dazzling anyone with an array of colourful notes and chords. They're just focusing on the counterpoint to the tonal/melodic properties of music which is often neglected in almost every genre in western music:
Rhythm. Polyrhythms and polymetrics are what these guys are good at messing with, and the music is quite technical as a result. Following the beat of the guitar lines, drum kickers, hi-hat, and, hell, even the vocals is a bit of a mental challenge. It honestly takes a lot of concentration to keep track of where you are when playing, or trying to play a Meshuggah song. But when you do, you can see just how clever the guys are at making a song that demands your attention. When you start devoting your attention to their music, a song with ridiculous complexity can become quite catchy. The catch is, this music requires a lot of active attention from the listener, otherwise it is indeed 'Just Noise', as the expression goes. As though there's a kind of music out there that isn't 'Just Noise'. But I won't get into that.
There are many, many bands out there who are basically just Metal for the sake of Metal. Copies of copies of copies, all trying to sound like the band that sounds like the band that sounds like Pantera. I don't listen to these bands for the same reason I don't listen to, say, Jet, or Wolfmother. Anyone remember Jet? Well, I'm willing to bet that that same fate is reserved for Wolfmother. But, for the same reason I don't listen to them, I don't want to end up with the same 'Let's Be Like These Guys!' philosophy as these groups.
Herein lies the problem. I'm constantly aware that eventually, I'm going to have to allow a song to influence the music I'll make, no matter how hard I try to prevent it from happening. (And that this is likely to happen sooner rather than later.) This inevitably keeps me from enjoying what I'm playing, which is not a good thing.
Catherine did shed some light on the issue, though, by bringing my attention to the differenciation between mimicry and influence. So...that settles that, I guess. Heh, heh.
I do enjoy the stuff that Catherine and I come up with together more than stuff that I attempt to play by myself anyway, so hopefully when all three of us get together and start jamming, the input of two other people will result in me enjoying the noise even more.
I might even forget that I sound like a Ryan Martini clone. Unlike Mudvayne, we're playing with a vocalist that can sing well in a live environment.
Damn. I just realised that none of this explains how I think Poweranimal will sound. Although, in a way, maybe it does.
(This has been a self-indulgent rant that I intended to publish only if I make any kind of point while writing it. I don't think I did, but it took me a while to write, so I'm just going to put it up here anyway, bad grammar and all. EAT THAT!)
Friday, May 05, 2006
I Know, I Know...
The sidebar looks like crap. It's not finished (disregard that sentence if the sidebar does NOT look like crap). I can't be bothered saving it on my hard disk, so I'm just publishing what I've done before I go to bed. Less clicking involved.
Remember I mentioned my bass had a pickup down? Well, now it's the main circuit that's buggered. Whenever I plug it in, the amp goes batshit, which makes playing rather difficult, resulting in me being put off playing it altogether for the time being, until I can get it fixed, which will be in June.
I've also stopped looking for another job for a few weeks. I've been put onto part-time at SP, and I'll start doing phone work, so I'm going to see how that goes money-wise. If the commission doesn't make up for the lesser hours (and the fact that I have to drive out to blacktown), I'm scrammin'.
Any of you who have UT2004 (and still play it) should try playing the single player ladder on Godlike. I've been at it for well over 5 months, and I've only just drafted a team. Now I just have to beat them...it'd be a lot easier if that silly currency system wasn't there...
edit: I ended up staying awake for another hour, so the sidebar's pretty much finished. Except for a little anomaly in the 'recent comments' section that I'll fix in the morning...
Remember I mentioned my bass had a pickup down? Well, now it's the main circuit that's buggered. Whenever I plug it in, the amp goes batshit, which makes playing rather difficult, resulting in me being put off playing it altogether for the time being, until I can get it fixed, which will be in June.
I've also stopped looking for another job for a few weeks. I've been put onto part-time at SP, and I'll start doing phone work, so I'm going to see how that goes money-wise. If the commission doesn't make up for the lesser hours (and the fact that I have to drive out to blacktown), I'm scrammin'.
Any of you who have UT2004 (and still play it) should try playing the single player ladder on Godlike. I've been at it for well over 5 months, and I've only just drafted a team. Now I just have to beat them...it'd be a lot easier if that silly currency system wasn't there...
edit: I ended up staying awake for another hour, so the sidebar's pretty much finished. Except for a little anomaly in the 'recent comments' section that I'll fix in the morning...
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Now that I've had a little time to reflect, I have a few more things to say about 10000 days. It sounds a lot like Opeth's 'Ghost Reveries' at times. 'cept a bit better.
Zounds! A sasparilla swimming hole!
Last one in's a Freemason!
Zounds! A sasparilla swimming hole!
Last one in's a Freemason!
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Had the first listen over 10000 Days tonight.
A logical progression from Lateralus. Er...much more focused on the rhythm section than any previous release, but I think the big surprise would be Maynard's voice. His singing style has changed dramatically. Quite a lot of eastern chanting mixed in with a lot of reverb in more than one song, but overall, he keeps to a lower pitch. Except in 'The Pot', where he sung such high notes as to trick me into thinking they had a guest vocalist singing it.
The heavy rhythmic focus on the music brings their music more in the direction of Meshuggah's end of the pool, what with many chugging, palm-muted guitars to be found being played alongside some very catchy drum and bass lines, almost always to a complex beat. However, Maynard can sing quite well, and he uses his range effectively, even if most songs this time 'round are in the lower end of his register. This gives me the impression that this stuff will be more appealing than Meshuggah's lyrical/vocal offerings, which are basically nonsensical gibberish bellowed out in a monotone by a swedish nerd. (Don't get me wrong: You all know I love Meshuggah for that reason)
I'd go out on a limb and say that this release sees them change direction artistically more than any other album they've put out. But for Tool, that's not saying much.
The bottom line (so it appears): I was impressed.
A logical progression from Lateralus. Er...much more focused on the rhythm section than any previous release, but I think the big surprise would be Maynard's voice. His singing style has changed dramatically. Quite a lot of eastern chanting mixed in with a lot of reverb in more than one song, but overall, he keeps to a lower pitch. Except in 'The Pot', where he sung such high notes as to trick me into thinking they had a guest vocalist singing it.
The heavy rhythmic focus on the music brings their music more in the direction of Meshuggah's end of the pool, what with many chugging, palm-muted guitars to be found being played alongside some very catchy drum and bass lines, almost always to a complex beat. However, Maynard can sing quite well, and he uses his range effectively, even if most songs this time 'round are in the lower end of his register. This gives me the impression that this stuff will be more appealing than Meshuggah's lyrical/vocal offerings, which are basically nonsensical gibberish bellowed out in a monotone by a swedish nerd. (Don't get me wrong: You all know I love Meshuggah for that reason)
I'd go out on a limb and say that this release sees them change direction artistically more than any other album they've put out. But for Tool, that's not saying much.
The bottom line (so it appears): I was impressed.
