Your Opinion Is Wrong™

Bird.

2010-07-02T18:43:00.002+10:00

Last day at work today.

Sent this email to the team:

Almost forgot - today is my last day at Datacom*. It's been awesome working with youse*.

I'll be contactable on Internet or by carrier pigeon.

Later!

*so I probably won't be back on Monday
**please support entry of the word 'youse' into the English lexicon by using it consciously but without irony - many other languages have a plural equivalent and English could use one too!

Will 'Ted' Hesketh

Ex-Customer Service Reprentative | Datacom Connect | At my house, which is not here.

Email: william.hesketh@datacom.com.au, but not for long. | Ph: Yes.

So, yes. I could have stayed, cruising along here while I studied at TAFE, but I need to stop working in a call centre - the fact that this one's pretty cruisy while I'm actually at work distracts me from what's more important - it's still a call centre.

So, yes: I'll find a place closer to home to earn the cash while I devote my life to...my life.

This should, dark spirits willing, assist me in achieving one of my goals - to not be working at a call centre by the time I'm 30.

We'll need to wait half a decade or so and see if I've achieved it, but so far, so good...

2010-06-21T18:01:00.001+10:00

"The 28 hour law, enacted in 1873 and amended in 1994 states that when
animals are being transported for slaughter, the vehicle must stop every 28
hours and the animals must be let out for exercise, food, and water. The
United States Department of Agriculture claims that the law does not apply to
birds."

...

And why not?

Chevy Chase - The Novel

2010-06-15T18:23:00.005+10:00

Quite a few interests of mine are coming full-circle. A few months ago, I was reading anything I could find on the anonymity of expressing oneself online - I'd say that this started with an article that I was linked to when I first started working where I am now - it was about moot defending/discussing the anonymous nature of 4chan. The idea of anonymous posting is, in my opinion, a good idea - in theory. I agreed with his statement that a lot of people place too much importance on identities, which can sometimes compromise the original message - in other words, allowing their perception of the speaker to shape how they view that person's message.

Is this important? Well, if one considers the fundamental intangibility of verbal language (and I'm not alone in believing that it's a huge factor), then knowing who's talking to you will alter how you receive that message - you'll make assumptions based on prior knowledge of that speaker, unconciously or not. Accurately or, as the odds would favour, not.

This idea interested me because our existence on Internet is anonymous anyway - 4chan just removes any pretention of identity.

Sure, we can all fill in our facebook profiles and blog every single day, twittering everything that happens to us, but we're still arguably behind a facade of sorts. After all, what does that data say about us in the real world*?

Well, it might say something, but it might not. We might intend to paint a picture of ourselves when joining facebook groups and listing as many movies as we can think of that we enjoy in the hope that other people will like the same crap, but we don't know that the reader will be getting that message. I could list "The Boondock Saints" as a favourite movie in the hope that I'll be viewed as a guy who likes a bit of chin-stroking social commentary in a pretty violent film (how about that open ending, eh?), but in all likelihood, I'll just be telling that person reading my profile that I have the mentality of a 12-year-old boy. They're a different mind with unique experiences, thus forming differing associations. So, it's all a bit hit-and-miss. And we don't really know whether we hit or miss, do we?

I even became interested enough in 4chan to spend a bit of time as a member of the "community"** for a while. Why bother contemplate the workings of something without experiencing it, right***?

Additionally, I've been studying Japanese, all the while not being entirely sure why. One thing I know is that the language does interest me and has since I got my first taste of it in early high school, but that's not really an explanation to give someone when I'm asked, but it's all I have (obviously if I'm voluntarily learning a language that'll take me years to gain a reasonable amount of fluency in, well, duh, I'm interested in it.) I'm not that much into Japanese culture - I like some anime, but I'd hardly call myself an enthusiast. I like their diet, except for the fact that, for a nation which can be quite forward-thinking and rational, they are decidedly un-vegan in their dietry habits (although I have the same love of tuna and salmon that most Japanese people apparently do - I just no longer act on it)****. All the same, I never intend to actually visit the country - in part, because I'd rather not fly anywhere that I don't have to, and in part, because there was always something depressing about the country's modern culture that I couldn't put my finger on. But then, maybe the travelling-bug isn't in me. I dunno.

Additionally, I've been reading about the increasing virtualisation of our culture. More internet sourced information-things than I can count and quite a few books. As far as this process is headed, the authors of these sources are split into two camps - either viewing this as a factor for a future utopian society, or a future dystopia.

I was reading a magazine article called Japan's Private Worlds. It brings together the three things I've allowed to dominate my headspace***** for so long, questioning the increased virtualisation of modern Japanese culture - how people will avoid eye-contact and public conversation, how more Japanese than ever before have been living in single apartments by themselves, only socially interacting with others via a computer or other virtual interface. Privacy and anonymity is also brought up - the article cites an AP report that Mixi, a networking website, stated that the "...vast majority of Mixi's roughly 15 million users don't reveal anything about themselves..." and that "less than half of the Japanese customers of the dating site Match.com were willing to post their own photographs, a practice gleefully undertaken by the site's American users".

The article also discusses the concept of "Communities" that exist online, using soshoku-danshu, moe and other relationship-based communities as examples. This is a term that's thrown around quite a lot, but it's questioned here - the idea being that in a given forum that represents a community, any number of users could be merely 'passing through', giving some input after spending five minutes in said community, only to move on half an hour later. How do we really know how many people truly represent a given community if we don't pay any specific attention to this? The point being - the actual "community" that we're a part of (or are we?) may actually be a lot smaller than we think it is.

I guess Japanese culture is probably predisposed to lean in this direction with the aid of the technology that perpetuates a hermitic lifestyle and these products are, by and large, designed and manufactured in the same nation.

Both the products and the virtualised lifestyle along with them have clearly been spreading to the western world - I've only really considered this from a western perspective before - I've never really considered that Japan could easily be considered the genesis of this social shift. Hmm. Maybe I am interested in going there after all.

Oh, incidentally, I've got a facebook account now, which I activated last weekend, quite possibly as the last human on Earth who hasn't done so yet. Huh. Full-circle, eh?

*For those who are not paying attention, I'm not talking about superficialities
**I'll return to this momentarily...
***Say hello to Ted, otherwise known as "Jack-From-Fight-Club", otherwise known as a hypocritical tourist.
****There, I said/implied it. All you non-vegans are not either of these things. Please be merciful in your killing of me. Interestingly, in complete contradiciton to my generalisation, some Japanese coporations are thinking ahead in this area - synthesizing meat-products is something that's on the agenda and it may be a little less environmentally suicidal than raising livestock for slaughter. Maybe.
*****borderlandsborderlandsborderlandsborderlands.

Borderlands, Borderlands Borderlands.

2010-06-09T13:36:00.003+10:00

Borderlands borderlands, borderlands. Borderlands borderlands borderlands borderlands - borderlands, borderlands - borderlands, borderlands borderlands.

Borderlands borderlands, borderlands? Borderlands borderlands! Borderlands. Borderlands borderlands, borderlands. Borderlands, borderlands*, borderlands & borderlands. Borderlands, borderlands. Borderlands borderlands, borderlands.

Borderlands borderlands borderlands.

...Borderlands?

Borderlands borderlands, borderlands. Borderlands.

*borderlands borderlands, borderlands - borderlands borderlands borderlands borderlands borderlands!

CRAP!

2010-04-06T14:30:00.003+10:00

C&C4 is released. I've checked it out. When I heard about the release of the game, I didn't really care - C&C3 was mediocre.

This looks to be a Ground Control-esque style of game, which would be potentially awesome. I loved Ground-Control II.

As much as I try to keep away from the lure of gaming, the unstoppable force just keeps tugging away at my subconscious.

edit: Actually, I've done a bit more research. While the game mechanics look great, you need to put in about 10+ hours before you even have a handful of units available to you - they have to be unlocked on your gamer profile, rather than in the game you're currently playing. Think back to the Battlefield 2 days, where you had to spend hours upon hours in order to unlock all weapons. Same deal, but in an RTS. Not a good idea, by anybody's standards.

Additionally, the DRM system is a bitch. Requires a constant internet connection. Officially, this is to allow your profile's experience to be updated centrally, but previous systems have worked without a constant connection being required. This is obviously a ploy to punish pirates, who, ironically, will not be affected by it (cracked versions exist already which can be played offline). So who's getting punished? People who've legitimately purchased the game and have connection issues with their ISP - or even just the odd router issue.

See, I'd rather not support them if they lack this much foresight.

But I so would love to play the game...whatever shall I do?

Moar Brains, Plz

2010-03-24T10:24:00.003+11:00

So the Zombie March March is approaching. Atkinson stepped down. And as I'm sure you guys are, I'm reading more and more articles about the R18+ issue and I just don't care.

So many gamers are perpetuating the myth that gamers are immature jerks - I don't even bother reading the comments to the articles I read - if I finish reading the article at all.

I know that there's doubt that the replacement for Atkinson will present a different attitude among most gamers out there - when Craig first told me about the stepping-down, as though it were good news, the first thing I thought was 'How does this actually change things?' I then expressed a similar sentiment out loud when I couldn't think of an answer.

I assume that folks that I interact with on a daily basis, if not the general Australian gaming demographic, are well aware that scapegoating Atkinson was a dangerous thing - a few arguments aimed towards him as a person did not address the issue of R18+ gaming at all, but people still invested energy into mocking him. This means that energy is wasted discussing/insulting/attacking his religious standing (although not all who agree with Atkinson are of the religious right standing, nor are all of the religious right in agreement with Atkinson), his perception that gamers are dangerous people (I can actually see his point - some gamers were taking the issue quite personally. If I were in his position, I'd feel threatened after what some gamers allegedly did), that he's abusing his power (which he might well be doing, but this isn't an example of abuse of power - he's expressing an opinion that many disagree with).

Regardless, it still happens. His character is being attacked more than the issue at hand. I can still see why he takes the stance he does - it's all about protection. I'm just making a few assumptions here, but I think he believes that protection of what kids do and don't see is the responsibility of the government because many parents are not taking on this responsibility themselves. The way many adolescent gamers - and a few too many 'mature-aged' gamers - express themselves kinda doesn't help bust this particular myth.

I still personally think that any information that assists parents in raising their kids is a good thing, so I'm ultimately for the rating system, but I won't waste time by preaching to the converted.

I'm dubious about attending the Zombie March March. A bunch of people who have mostly just entered adulthood, parading around in costumes that themselves despict things that the rating system would protect minors from seeing. Minors are in public places.

Now, it's arguable that the costumes would be graphically violent enough for a rating of, say, M15+, should they appear in a video game or movie, but that's kinda the point. If it's arguable (either way), then I'd say it's probably better to drop the cosplay altogether if you want to be taken seriously while participating in a public protest.

Unless you didn't care about the opinions of those who you haven't completely swayed in your favour.

Then there's the other issue - there are many issues that I feel, quite strongly, that need to be changed - animal rights, environmental concerns towards industrial and commercial regulation, equal workers' rights, gay marriage, drug decriminalisation...the list could go on.

I'd say, unflinchingly, that all of those that came off the top of my head just then - all of them - are more important things to be concerned with than not receiving a few games each year - some of which I might still miss a year after they've been released. That's stretching the reality of it for the sake of argument.

Sure, I'm a white male, aged 18-60, living in Australia and considered straight by the commonly accepted definition of the word. Everyone listens to me and I don't have to listen to anyone else, so the only one of those issues that affects me, really, is the Game one.

Doesn't for a minute imply that it's the only one I should care about.

It's been a long time since I've attended protests for anything that I believe is worth protesting for. If I go to this thing, I'll just be reminding myself of all the energy I could be spending on more important issues, but aren't. The same goes for everyone else there, as I find it hard to believe that a single one of them could seriously consider that R18 ratings for games is the single most important thing in their lives, because that would imply that they are the single most important thing in their lives, which is a scary indication of the direction that society is headed in.

Yes, this means that I'm assuming that the Zombie March March is the only cause that the majority of the attendees have invested their energy in, at least in the past year.

...an assumption, sure, but hardly one of the more risky assumptions I've made.

Anyway, it's something that I'm still thinking about increasingly, as I've implied that it whatever it says about those kids out there it says about me. Quite rightly, too - It'd be silly to point my finger at them and ignore the similarities in our mindsets, lifestyles and values.

I can only change how I live my life, though, but I can change it.

SQUAWK!!!

2010-03-04T20:58:00.003+11:00

So, I've had a twitter account for a bit of time, now.

I can't remember whether or not I've had a rant about why I'm against twitter/facebook, but in case I haven't, I'll probably be reiterating a fair bit, but if I did rant, it was before I actually had a twitter account, so...my opinion has changed, at least a little, making the subject of this post hopefully less invalid than before. Things have gotten clearer, reasons refined, like white sugar, or some other substance that can cause dietary problems in a large number of people.

Anyway. It's like blogging, which I don't do much as it is - I only see the point in posting when I have something interesting to say, which evidently ain't often. If I don't think that whoever reads it will likely glean at least something of use from it, then what's the point?

The difference is that twittering has a text-limit. If you really get down to the functional differences that makes posts on one platform different to the other, that's it.

There's also the mobile phone thing, which I forgot - a feature I have deliberately not used - all twitters from my PC, thank you. Still, this does make it a very different beast, which I have a few thoughts on that I'll get to...*

Anyway, with the character limitation - What this means is that what the user is intending to say is often stunted. I've had the problem that if I've genuinely wanted to say something with meaning (which I don't feel is that often), then I've had issues with what words I have to select. In the end, once I cut back on things, I realise that what I want to say and what it lets me say are very different things.

So instead, I'll put up a link on twitter to my blog, where I've talked about it in the way I want to.

Easy. Problem solved! :-D

But then comes the temptation. I occasionally read twitter. Some people talk about mundane details in their life and that's fine - often (Lucas, you're a good example), said person will transform it into an amusing anecdote. To use one of Lucas'** examples, the twitter about Magrat confronting the cockroach was hilarious. As it was, I got a laugh out of it, but it could have read like this:

"My cat just ran from a cockroach. lol"

...

*Ted blocks twitter person*

I really hope I'm illustrating the difference between 'just twittering about shit that happens in your life' to 'giving a little something back to the person who read your virtual toilet-cubicle scrawl'.

But most twitterers don't do that - they do it the boring way. And it becomes infectious. I want to start doing it - just talking about something I'm eating now (as though nobody's ever eaten anything before) or writing about being on the train (as though people reading my twitter have only ever known buses or private helicopters made of plankton).

I have to stop myself and ask: Does anyone really care? I know it's a great muffin that I ate***, but does anyone else have to know? What good'll it do them? Can't it just be my private little moment of joy?

If I share it with people, what'll it do? Well, maybe it'll be appreciated - no harm done, right? But what if I tell people this sorta stuff five times per day? Or ten****?

They'll probably take less notice over time. It's like reading junk-mail subjects as you're deleting them.

Dunno about you folk, but when I first set up an email address, I probably***** realised that Certain Shit was unsolicited, so I'd occasionally read the mail for fun (well, if it could have been construed as funny - bad grammar brightens my day) and deleted it.

Now, though? I just delete everything without even looking. I forget what I've read five seconds after I've read it. Literally. I must put myself into a trance if I'm totally incapable of retrieving such a recent memory, but there it is: It's just so horribly trivial that my mind practically has a block on ads.

This is likely the case because those ads don't affect me at all. Neither does how many people are on your bus, nor does the rain that you're walking through as you commute (trust me, I've done it myself once), nor does the show you're watching (watching free-to-air/cable is a bad habit that I proudly kicked years ago - I'd only like to hear if you've done yourself a favour and done the same, thank you, but only if you take the time to share how you feel about it, etc, etc...). So I've become desensitised to it. I've had to delete a few people who I just read with a glazed expression because I just...keep...reading...drivel...and...

...

...

...pull my head away from the screen a minute later and realise that nothing I've just read was worth the time. And won't ever be worth the time.

And I'm conscious that when I do the same, I'm no better than them. I found myself twittering about how I was installing windows 7.

Windows Fucking Seven.

Sure, I'm excited about it - I spend heaps of time in front of my PC. It's where I work. It's where I communicate with people (meaningfully, if possible). It's where I game.

Why should you be excited to hear this momentous news, deer reeder? You don't know how/why I use my compy. It's a bloody operating system change. If I just tell you that I'm changing OSs without at least making you crack a smile in the process, I can't expect you to do anything other than block me.

Maybe it is twitter that's making all of us like those people I love to despise - advertisers. They pump our lives with useless data about things that are useless to us as though they're life-changing, eventually causing our minds to become jaded to shock and awe...

...and now we have an outlet to do it to ourselves. Via our phones, just in case something boring happens when we're away from our PC - or if we have to twitter about installing 7 before it's actually completed, making it impossible to twitter from the PC...******

Meh. Anyway, I'm tired of typing now. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

*I never do, it turns out. Don't hold your breath.

**@lokified, to those playing from home...

***And it was - seriously. It was so fuckin' moist, dude. Just thinking about it makes me want another one right now. And another one. And another one...

***Or even eight? No, really - eight. Think about it.

*****Probably. Can't remember, but Probably.

******Well, I twittered during the install, but I used my lappy.

MAKE IT STOP!!!

2010-02-19T21:46:00.004+11:00

From an interview with Kalle Lasn, the editor of Adbusters:

"...and there’s a Pavlovian kind of a thing, you know, if somebody suddenly alarms you the adrenalin will suddenly start flowing through your body and the brain chemistry changes and television now is jolting you at a rate that is probably six or seven times what it used to be when I was a young man in Australia, watching the early television where you watched some show and there would be a shot that would last maybe for 15 seconds and some people strolled down the street and talked to each other, whatever.

One of the directors that I just absolutely loved was a Japanese director called Yasujiro Ozu and he sometimes had single shots in his films that lasted for minutes. They were very poignant scenes where a couple of old people sat in a park and just stared into the sunlight for a minute. And you had epiphanies watching that kind of stuff whereas now the producers of television programs think that they are going to lose you if they don’t jolt you with a new image or a new sound every half a second."

It's struck me that Kubrick is basically very adventurous in his filmmaking for basically the same reason - he uses space in a way that few directors do. I enjoy this characteristic as it implies that the director isn't condescending the audience - that he/she expects the audience's minds to be chattering away internally and is then allowing for it by putting room between pivotal scenes or snatches of dialogue, so that we might - god forbid - reflect on the stimulus once in a while.

I think that modern filmmaking might be a little too influenced by advertising culture - it is possible that the advertising world's compulsion to cram as much noise into as small a space as possible has infected the minds of filmmakers?

If that's the case, then I'd say it's a bit of a travesty that the art-form of our time (at least in the past few decades) is so badly influenced by a force with such unethical motives.

LOL RACISM pt.2

2010-02-11T11:43:00.003+11:00

OK. I'll keep answers as concise as possible.

"Isn't it just possible that they never visited any 'Asian' areas of the universe? Like, Campsie is almost entirely Korean, but I never go there so if you made a show about my life, you'd never see Korean people."

No. If you're anywhere in a mixed population area, you'll see members of the various races in the same area. Go to the city and look around. You'll see Korean people. Are they a part of your life now?

"Given the whole China/US thing is never actually mentioned in-show (Not that I can remember anyway, I can only remember it saying that Earth couldn't support our numbers anymore) why does it even need to be an issue?"

Joss, at the very least, mentioned it on the commentary. It was his world, his vision, blah, blah, blah. It's canon, basically.

"It seems to stem from this guy appearing to be one of those 'Hey, there's no black/gay/asian/non-white people in this comic/show/movie/whatever so whoever made it must be totally racist/sexist/whatever!' type people."

That's not the issue. It's not overt racism as far as I can tell. The issue is that there's a demographic that should be there but isn't.

"You look in the west, and paintings of Jesus are white, you look in Africa and the same Jesus paintings are black..."

...but not among the white population in African nations...

"...it's just the cultural norm and given most of the superhero stuff started in the US 50 or so years ago, is it REALLY that surprising that most of these characters are white guys with white girlfriends?"

And a lot of it was created in the now, where the demographics are a lot more diverse. Our culture should reflect that, but it doesn't.

"Right. So it's not because (Say in the case of Batman) he had something to prove because his whole thing was basically revenge and so he practiced almost constantly to be the best? No of course not, he learned from Asian dudes, then got better at it than them because he's white, that's TOTALLY it."

Uh...Exactly.

"He's obviously never heard of Star Trek. Y'know, that show that almost never happened because there was a woman on the bridge? Not only a woman, but a BLACK woman too!"

No, but he's obviously heard of plenty of other sci-fi/fantasy series' where they don't take such edgy, edgy risks, hence the article.

"I recall my mother kvetching after watching Independence Day that "They never show what happened to Canadians" in the film."

That's different. That's because the film is set in a geographical location. Gotta be set somewhere. Firefly is set where there is apparently more ethnic diversity than what is actually portrayed is all. I'm mostly curious as to why, which was why I brought this up.

Here's the thing: What we're talking about - fundamentally - isn't Firefly (although I'll maintain that it is a good example) - it's an issue where a demographic that obviously should be represented isn't. If 'minorities' are given these roles, they're minor roles.

I'm not personally calling RACISM on this one, but I think it's worth thinking about a bit more. I know that the article made me think a bit differently about how I viewed the world - like I said, I never questioned the Firefly thing, but since it was brought to my attention, I can honestly see his point. And the point of other people who feel the same way.

One thing I liked about the Hitchhiker's movie was the casting of Mos Def as Ford. You guys might be saying 'Big Deal', but I always thought it actually was - I don't live in a bloody vaccuum. I - and many other people - are well aware that casting him for that role was a statement in itself in a world where it shouldn't have to be. And, just in case, don't go sayin' "BUT THERE DARK-SKINNED PEEPS IN OTHER FLIM!" because if you do, you're missing the very obvious point I'm making.

These films and other pieces of creativity that are discussed are mostly made in the US, where the demographic is similar to ours. OK, maybe back in the day, the white creators of Batman and similar things were in a more white-centric universe and Asian people didn't seem as real. Or something.

But this is now and we're encountering similar problems with lead roles. Sure, Batman was white then, so he should be white now. Fine. But this ain't just about Batman, either. Seeing a pattern?

I'll put it to you guys - The question is, if it ain't racism, then what is it?

As the creator of a fiction, is one not responsible for maintaining an accurate representation of all races in order to challenge racism that existed?

If you don't (and thus, do nothing), are you still contributing to a problem that existed decades ago?

Is it possible that the culture we exist in is not as racially self-aware as it should be?

And...

Why did you think Ford was white?* :-D

Go on. Admit it. Jesus knows you did.

Back The Way You Came...

2010-01-25T09:36:00.002+11:00

Here's a paragraph from an article about being a non-white nerd which I found interesting:

"I dug Firefly a lot, but was annoyed that Whedon predictably relegated Asian culture to a neo-Yellow peril future where the extent of China emerging as a superpower means that people throw in a couple of badly pronounced Mandarin words into their everyday conversations, and despite the idea of this looming Asian culture, there are no actual Asian characters to be seen."

This paragraph hit me more than anything else in the article (although I recommend reading the whole thing) because I didn't actually notice the abscense of Chinese characters in Firefly (or any Asian characters, for that matter) until I read this. The basis for the Firefly universe always intrigued me - as hokey as it is - but I never really asked what should have been an obvious question. It seems that it's all too obvious in Firefly to have some characters who could pass for being Chinese. Instead, there are characters with Chinese-sounding surnames but wouldn't you know it, they're all white. What do we have instead? Blink-and-you'll-miss-them Asian extras.

Well, occasionally.

Home Recording FTW

2010-01-12T18:42:00.001+11:00

Check this guy out. Also, check his other stuff out. There isn't a style that he doesn't seem comfortable with.

Nerd Fort

2010-01-11T21:08:00.002+11:00

Our house is now a great deal more secure. Not only do we lock our side gate now (Suck it, potential burglars from an era gone by! It wasn't before!), but our front door is so impenetrable that even we can't open it.

Also...

2010-01-09T17:44:00.001+11:00

www.thisisnottom.com

Blah, Blah, Blah...

2010-01-09T16:54:00.003+11:00

Two CDs purchased: Don Caballero's American Don and Extra Life's Secular Works. My life just became 48% more complicated.

Looking for a job over the next few weeks. Savings should hold out quite nicely until then. Bought a cheap delay pedal, which is due to arrive any day now - Slowly collecting delay pedals is something I'm apparently doing. It sounds frivolous, even to me, but I can take comfort in the fact that a lot of these things can be resold for almost as much as I got 'em for, assuming I don't be productive with them by cranking out sounds (which, to me, is a better way of justifying the expense).

I have my eye on a $800-ish preamp, which you can gaze upon here. What does it do?

Well, it means I can plug my instruments into things without using an amp first without it sounding horrible. It also means I can have two parallel effects chains at once, rather than everything in a series - or I can feed things back through delays/loopers that they've already come through for more crazy.

In practical terms, that means...not much, sound-wise. I may blog what little it does mean in the other blog I never update.

I'm actively avoiding games. Captain Forever (thank you, Lucas), Forza Motorsport 3 (please don't tease me - driving really quickly can get nerdy as hell and this game goes there...so many stats, numbers and variables to consider!) Red Faction 3 (which I started playing heavily but stopped when Phil bought Forza...on the hardest difficulty, it was nicely challenging) and The Witcher (which Craig bought and has been talking about. The few glimpses of the game I had were promising. I think I'll track down and read the books first).

So, I guess to a certain extent, self-discipline is kicking in nicely. Not writing as much music as I'd like*, given the time I have on my hands, but that should hopefully change soon.

Getting much reading done, which hasn't happened lately - and the last one was a Discworld, of all things, it being Sourcery. Found it more enjoyable than I remember Discworld being. Also read Ringworld, by Larry Niven (no, not a discworld ripoff), which was awesome. Sorta had Fifth-Element style quirkiness at times, but was otherwise sufficiently laden with both geekdom and realism. Will attack the rest of the books on my six-year-old 'To Be Read' pile.

*still writing, though. Cranked out some stuff which may not be too annoying for the rest of the band peoples.

Well, I'll Be...

2009-11-12T18:46:00.002+11:00

...not one of those.

Anybody know where that Other Guy from Nirvana ended up? I know I didn't, so in case anybody else wasn't aware, click on his name.

Glug

2009-11-09T17:47:00.002+11:00

Well, Saturday night went alright. Mixing cocktails ain't anywhere near as hard as it looks*. Few showed up, but that was to be expected. What was not expected was that half of those who showed up were not drinkers, either for driving purposes or Otherwise, leaving about six of us to drink everything Craig bought** for the night.

So, yeah. Lots of leftovers.

*You heard me, Lucas. Competition.

**That'd be most of the local bottleshop for those who haven't been bragged at via twitter.

EeeEEEeeeeEEEeeeeEEEeeeeee

2009-10-28T18:34:00.002+11:00

I'm writing thi post o a ee pc. It' blod yawesoeme but the keyboard s terribl.

more to come later when i
m at my deskto pc.

Rol?

2009-09-30T23:57:00.002+10:00

Ah, whut? After hearing somebody (I think it was Lucas) confirm that Rolcats.com had updated with a bit of new stuff (in typical rolcats fashion, at an approximate rate of a picture a month), I go there to check it out.

I recognise the first thing that's up there from when I was there last. I check to see when abouts that was...

The picture was posted in April.

It would seem that post-modern-soviet-kitten-humour is dead. Long live post-modern-soviet-kitten-humour.

I Think I Know Some Of The Kids That These Guys Are Talking About...

2009-09-23T22:06:00.003+10:00

"Another text, Health Benefits of the Bedchamber, indicates that certain times were better for intercourse than others. A person had to avoid having intercourse on quarter or full moons and on days when there were great winds, rain, fog, cold or heat, thunder, lightning, darkness over heaven and earth, solar and lunar eclipses, rainbows and earthquakes. Having intercourse at these times would harm a man's spirit and would cause women to become ill. Children conceived at these times would be mad, stupid, perverse or foolish; mute, deaf, crippled or blind; unfilial and violent."

I'd like to dissect this passage, as it seems to be riddled with ambuguity.

Firstly, regarding weather and geological phenomena, we probably shouldn't take things into consideration without due proximity. If you consider that these conditions frequently occur around the globe on a rotating roster, you'd never get any, regardless of where you lived. However, by only considering local events (say, on a national or state or community level - take your pick depending on how desperate you are), if - worst-case scenario - you live in the tropics, you'd still increase your days suitable for fornication from 'None' to 'A Couple Of Days'. That's gotta be a good thing.

And what about 'cold or heat'? That's a little unsettling. Is this relative to the average temperature of the area, or just when you feel a little chilly? Should it apply to everyone in the room (even non-participants), or the room itself? What about if any implements or tools were to be used? Would we have to obstain if a buckle was too icy? Whichever way you're willing to swing, I guess while this doesn't eliminate food entirely, it does mean that sautees are not on the menu*.

And 'darkness over heaven and earth' better not just mean 'At Night'. If it does, I'm screwed**.

And Rainbows? What?! Ones generated through natural phenomena, or should we turn off garden sprinklers just in case?

Also, I've never done it during an earthquake, but I might like to try it, despite this passage. Yeah, couldn't let that one go.

*Sorry.

**So to speak.

No Chicken, No Satisfaction

2009-09-16T12:37:00.002+10:00

Online Kanji lookup tool: A great way to develop the skill of writing chinese/japanese characters purely by chance.

Warning: It'll take a while. Probably longer than learning the characters.

2009-09-15T02:33:00.004+10:00

From a textbook that I'm reading from:

Japanese (n): The devil's own tongue designed to thwart the spread of Christianity.

edit:

When I submitted this post, Blogger came up with an ad (is that a new thing, or did I just not notice before?*). It read:

New Emerging Religion

The Only Major Religion To Emerge in 20th Century. Watch Online Video

Scientology.org

No thanks. Any religion to emerge in the 20th century is bound to be dodgy**.

*Or do I just not post enough?

**Except Oprahism, naturally.

Sound On Sound

2009-09-09T16:58:00.002+10:00

My new blog for all things musical. My mental meanderings of all things musical should probably be separated from my main blog (although I don't know why - there isn't at all that much else to me, is there? Watch as this blog never - literally - gets updated!).

So I've created Sound on Sound, which is where I'll dump any brain-workings. I can't promise that it'll make as much sense (however little that may be already) as I normally do, but I can promise that it'll be a painful experience if you enjoy structure in things!

How's This For Commitment?

2009-09-04T13:24:00.002+10:00

Pete has started DMing for our D&D group again - which I much prefer to myself DMing, as it not only saves me the trouble of planning each session beforehand, but my sessions always seem to barely be, well...good. Even after my sessions that went well by the player's standards (and thus, my own standards), I still breathe a sigh of relief, like I've just diverted a nuclear missile from the house by inches, causing it to hit the roof of one of my neighbours and wasting their Sunday instead of the players'.

So I was glad that Pete told us that he was ready to take up the mantle again (A DM's Mantle is nothing short of impressive and I urge non-D&D players to LOOK AWAY when confronted with such an otherwordly visage as such things are not meant for your eyes) and I somehow believed him when he said things would be a lot more regular (and reliable!) than what they were when he last ran his campaign.

The first session since the hiatus came and went, all as planned. Everyone showed up, even Rhys, who quickly forgot that he Rage Quit from Pete's campaign on account of his flakeytude*. So far, so good.

Then, due to run two weeks later (which would put it on this upcoming Sunday), all things look alright until Pete informs us that due this Sunday being father's day, he won't be able to run it. Fair enough - those of us who know where our fathers live might want to prioritise family above D&D! He does give us the alternative of running on Saturday instead, which we all jump at. Problem solved.

Uh-oh. 1am this morning, Pete sends us a message to say that he can't come in on Saturday - Salesforce haven't paid him when he should have been paid. Since he's coming from the mountains, he would have to scrape together a bit more than pocket change to make it in. Darn.

I don't want to see the same thing happen, so I offer to wire some money to him, although it might be too late. Jamie, one of the other players - a newbie to Pete's campaign, actually - offers to pick him up from the mountains, even though he's not even coming from that direction.

I offer to shout Jamie lunch for going to all that trouble. Feel I should have offered more, but I guess he's stuck only with my gratutude, which he could trade in for a used bicycle tyre or a cold cup of coffee. I'm sure the rest of the D&D group is pretty much equally as happy that things will be going as planned.

Thought I'd blog about this because my circle of friends haven't really shown much committment to socialising recently and I think it's put me in a better mood today.

It's not a happy ending yet. Between now and tomorrow, Earth could be thrown out into the far reaches of space, killing us all. That'd probably force us to reschedule D&D.

*I just keep adding to the "Tedtionary", don't I?

2009-08-07T00:24:00.001+10:00

I have a day to get used to my new looper (assuming it works) before jamming on Saturday. Wouldn't normally be a problem, but Rhys is dragging somes spectators along to the jam. We oughta start setting up proper gigs soon.

Also need to finish getting stuff together for this Sunday's D&D session.

2009-07-29T23:23:00.002+10:00

I'm enjoying this fresh start - it's been ages since I first installed XP and I've forced myself to dump a lot of data that I had been carting around since 1998 (I'm not joking). I've taken all of my music files and my resume (here's hoping I won't need it now...) and that's about it.

This includes a bunch of audio samples and projects. I no longer have the masters to pretty much and song I ever made - I figure it'll stop me wasting time on tweaking them. I might actually start writing and recording new stuff for once.

I'm downloading Winamp again - in keeping with the Frontier-In-Tedland theme, does anyone know of a decent MP3 player that's not Winamp? I haven't heard of anything else, but I haven't really been looking neither.

7

2009-07-29T23:11:00.002+10:00

After realising that after about 12 months of not really maintaining my XP system, pieces started falling apart, crumbling away at the edges like a mouldy sponge-cake made of, I dunno, computers or something.

First, it was that my system started crashing occasionally when I ran Ableton Live - not good when I'm actually jamming with someone - then it was having trouble remembering that I had a 2-octave keyboard plugged into it (although it likes my 61-key midi controller - weird, no?) - and recently, after having taken Forged Alliance back up, the entire system will arbitrarily die on me either the instant a game starts up, or when they've been running for a few minutes, after which point, I'll try restarting, only to have it switch off by itself when I manage to get back into Windows. It's like I push the power switch, then compy pushes the power switch. Then I push it again, only to have the compy push it again. The machine literally thinks it's the boss of me.

The bootup times have been horrendous lately as well - I have generally been putting my system on standby instead of turning it off since I've been living here in order to preserve settings that I can't be bothered saving. Lazy, amirite? Guess I had to expect my PC to rebel against me at some point.

Hey, since I have a Windows 7 CD that I borrowed from Dan, I might as well wipe my disk and start again, having successfully avoided the catastrophe that was Windows Vista - never had it on my own computer.

So far, so good. I have yet to start installing drivers - Firefox is the first and only thing I've installed as I write this, but we'll see how it goes.

Oh, I have a suspicion that 7 handles IRQs differently, which may resolve my firewire interface's inability to process mic-level signals for recording purposes. Here's hoping - a firewire card I bought sure as hell didn't work.

In conclusion: Unless you skimmed the entire post until this point, I'm sorry I made you read this.

2009-07-22T13:38:00.002+10:00

Moar Reggie Watts

Damn near killed myself laughing during the bridge...

2009-07-17T21:51:00.001+10:00

Listening to Drukqs, one of Aphex Twin's albums. Awesome.

Just

freakin'

awesome.

That is all.

A Thing...

2009-07-17T20:28:00.000+10:00

...about autotune. I found it interesting.

Learning...

2009-07-12T18:24:00.001+10:00

Scales.

Yeah*. 'Bout bloody time.

*This time I mean it.

My Hobby...

2009-05-29T12:03:00.002+10:00

...is a very expensive one. Somehow, as a student, I will find a way to afford to pay for at least two more loopers, plus a mixer, plus a copy of Live, over the course of the rest of the year.

Also, we're looking at converting the gazeboey (new word, note it down) thing out the back into a Tiki bar for the next having-people-over-thing. Are we crazy? Wait and see.

TWITTER!

2009-05-20T19:02:00.002+10:00

Just kidding. Like I'd do that. This blog is getting little attention as it is. Look at it, starving like a malnourished Iranian* maid who I haven't fed in four days**.

But seriously, there's a band I like called Every Time I Die. You may have heard of them. Anyway, I damn near hilarioused myself when I learned of their twitter username:

etidwastaken

HA!

*sounds like Uranium!

**which reminds me of something I should get around to doing...

Post About My Stupid Life

2009-05-11T18:14:00.003+10:00

Hot damn, trips out to Parramatta are quite fun! I'm looking forward to going out there tomorrow, wednesday and thursday!

Have you heard? Our finance woes may be at an end.

I just had some tea.

Quackness.

2009-05-08T22:31:00.001+10:00

Youse should look at some ducks.

Stab, Stab, Stab...Jab....Cut

2009-04-29T18:17:00.005+10:00

Oh, right, and I somehow got into a premier thingy for wolverine last night. Apparently it hasn't started showing yet.

...it was dumb/terrible*. The end.

*The first 45 seconds of the film were the worst. Were they just being cute? Or did they really think that it was an epic start or something?

P.S.

Don't let my humble opinion put you off. Go ahead and see it like I know you will, World :-D

A Stupid D&D Thing...

2009-04-28T12:57:00.002+10:00

I was reading a D&D article online. They usually have an "About the Authors" blurb at the end. I found this one hilarious:

"About the Authors

Steve Winter is a writer, game designer, and web producer living in the Seattle area. He's been involved with publishing D&D in one form or another since 1981. Tiny people and monsters made of plastic and lead are among his favorite obsessions.

Bart Carroll inhabits only dark subterranean places. He roams such places in search of his food -- metals of all sorts, but principally ferrous based metals such as iron, steel, and steel alloys. If the author touches the metal with his two antennae, it rusts or corrodes the metal. Metal affected rusts or corrodes and immediately falls to pieces (which are easily eaten and digested by the author). Weapons striking the author are affected just as if the author’s antennae had touched them. Bart can smell metal at 9" distance. He will stop for a melee round to devour such items as a handful of iron spikes or a mace if a fleeing editor throws them away, but he will go after ferrous metal in preference to copper, silver, etc."

Studio

2009-04-22T00:36:00.004+10:00

Here's an essay/article/words-thing written by Brian Eno (best known as the composer of the Windows '95 startup sound, also known as the Microsoft Sound).

It's damn interesting. I've written about similar things before, but this guy actually does it well and has made a successful career out of it.

It's techniques that are spoken about in here that I've often thought about myself and, in some cases, already started using - some of them way back before I even knew what I was doing with recording gear...

*cough* martianchorusbells *cough*

2009-04-20T02:23:00.003+10:00

Check this article out on music distribution.

Deerhoof Are Bitchin'

2009-04-20T00:27:00.002+10:00

Exhibit A.

Here's A Stupid Thread...

2009-04-15T20:35:00.003+10:00

Oh, wait. Here.

It's about music production/distribution. Does the poster have his/her/shler head in the clouds? Is the poster just a complete chodebag? You decide!

Did You Know...

2009-04-12T15:16:00.002+10:00

That according to Wikipedia, cocoa butter rubbed on the nipples impedes lactation?

Neither does Wikipedia, it requires citation. HALP!

Nostalgia? Or Nausea?

2009-04-12T15:01:00.000+10:00

I don't think so.

Go Internet!

2009-04-11T21:47:00.000+10:00

Blammo.

The Loud Game

2009-04-03T16:26:00.003+11:00

Go here!

I've read this article, coincidentally enough while I was listening to a 65daysofstatic album (The Destruction of Small Ideas).

I'm sure I've rambled about the importance of dynamic in music in the past, so I won't do it again here, but see what this guy has to say on it.

Their Opinion Was Wrong

2009-03-19T00:13:00.002+11:00

So I was put off listening to the newest Don Caballero album (Punkgasm) because I read somebody's opinion about it somewhere on Internet - that since their guitarist started guitarring for Battles, they've sucked. He went as far to say that the new crap sounds a lot like Isis (if you've heard any Don Cab, you'd know that this is a long way for them to travel, sonically).

Well, I listened to the new stuff. It's awesome. You'd think that since I believe even professional journalists' opinions should be ignored, I'd ignore some anonymous jerk on a forum somewhere.

Nooooooo...

(And as I type this, a riff pops up that could be described as sounding remotely like an Isis phrase...and do you know what? It sounds awesome.)

So, Then...

2009-03-17T00:14:00.000+11:00

These are like lolcats, only rather moar terrible.

Dig?

2009-03-13T17:25:00.002+11:00

Been thinking about the reasoning behind the $900 bonuses that the government's been sending out to people.

From what I can tell (work with me - I live in a cave, remember?), the government's trying to get us to stimulate the economy and lessen the blow of the economic recession by buying things*.

But hang on - isn't this issue here because we're running out of resources** anyway?

There's a certain Dr. Tiki quote I can think of now that fits quite well with this hum-dinger. Anyone care to take a stab as to what it is?

Screw that. I was gonna buy things with some money I was saving (hell, I didn't know about this tax-dealie until recently), but I'm not going to now.

*Yes, the last horse has crossed the finish line.
**On an economic and global scale, in case you were asking.

You Punch Like A Georgian!

2009-02-23T14:40:00.001+11:00

Lucas pointed me in the direction of this:

www.rolcats.com

...I've Heard This Before...

2009-01-21T21:28:00.002+11:00

Getting the hang of using a loop pedal. I've never been much of a pedal person (not switching mid-song, anyway), but you can't exactly set-and-forget with a looper. Mostly running my keys through it. Let's see where this goes...

They Came And Ate Us: The Musical

2009-01-08T20:04:00.002+11:00

Whenever anybody asks us what our band is called, Lucas, Pete, Rhys and I will now respond with what you've just read.

Lucas and I were just randomly emailing made up band names back and forward (with a few other Phone-Monkeys who we work with) and that was one that Lucas came up with. I instantly said 'WANT!'

It was from the title of a Robert Rankin book...

...actually, I've just checked it out. It's technically a portmanteau of two Rankin titles: Armageddon: The Musical and They Came And Ate Us (Armageddon II: The B Movie)

Now, back to work. I'm making a few things for when Rhys gets back. Going to be messing with loops totes hardcore.

If The Following Post Doesn't Make Any Sense, It's Because I've Not Had Much Sleep Over The Past Few Days And Am Ready To Collapse

2008-12-22T01:58:00.003+11:00

I've had about a week and a half since I had my soundcard and other gear working properly (well, I still couldn't record anything from mics, but I've accepted that it'll probably never happen). About ten days, give or take, of relative recoring/arranging bliss before Something New happened:

Cubase decided that my license key is no longer valid and won't boot up. I need Cubase to access pretty much everything I've ever done, like, ever, as well as a bunch of my soft synths that exist only in VST form.

I figured it'd be a simple case of going online to reactivate it, as the online license management thingy has a feature for that very purpose. I could bore you with the details of exactly what I've been through up until this point to get it working, but instead I'll just tell you this:

It's long, woeful, sometimes painfully convoluted, repetetive and summarises about six hours of me working to fix the problem. Took me about forty minutes alone to figure out how to get in touch with their customer support people. Think Arthur Dent having the Vogons explain where their notice to demolish Earth was displayed and you're more or less playing a similar sport. It's times like this I think that I should just illegally crack the software and get on with life.

Here's hoping Internet's Police didn't hear that.

But seriously, I feel right now like technology's working against me to keep me from doing anything cool with it - bass pickups not working, Mandalas not being read by various software/s, preamps not cooperating, DAWs crashing...

Doesn't help that I'm also very, very lazy.

Replacement Nerd

2008-11-30T20:33:00.003+11:00

So, it turns out the nerdy paradise Craig, Pete and I had established was to be short-lived. Due to various planning issues on Pete's part (i.e: He Was Being Stupid - ask Rhys), Pete had to move out. Thankfully, we found a replacement relatively quickly - Phil Kean. He's due to move in during the week, although it was originally supposed to happen today.

Speaking of Today, Pref moved out - something she'd been planning to do anyway, although the move got pushed forward about a month. She's decided that the only think keeping her in Sydney was her job, which she realised was a crappy excuse - she hated her job. As it was the plan all along for Rhys to replace her when she moved out, I asked Rhys if he wanted to move in. Like, next week or something. He said yes and then did.

Seriously. There'll be a housewarming soon. Hopefully before Rhys and Phil move out.

Nrrawwwwgh, Nyarrrrrrrr, Rrrrraaaaawwwww, Nrrrrrrr.

2008-11-30T13:30:00.002+11:00

Nrrrrawwwwwwowowowowowwwwww,

Nerrrrrrrrrrrrowwwwwwwwwwwww.

Quick! The Tofurkey's Burning!

2008-11-18T09:42:00.003+11:00

So, we're slowly but surely settling in to the new place. We finally managed to get the fridge in the place by taking the fridge's handles off, then unscrewing the back door from the door frame. I have a suggestion to the powers that be that will solve everything: Make doors larger for this sort of thing.

In other news, we have things to put other things on now, so our living room looks like (here it comes...) a living room. There are still milk-crates in there, but they're largely ornamental.

On account of the moving things with boxes (and my recent online purchases), there are a large number of cardboard boxes that we had lying around. When we moved in, our recycling bin was full - and it's a full-size bin, not a little black box. They only pick up recycling once per fortnight, which meant that the first time they came to pick it up, we were able to cram about half of our stuff in there.

...then it's another two week wait while we creatively store our recyclable material around the place.

That was a while ago, now. We're still playing catch-up.

Attended Lucas and Tanja's wedding. It was quite awesome. They were all giggly during the ceremony. They're heaps married now and are on a break for a while.

Pete, Rhys and I had an awesome jam session. Rhys and Pete switched between guitar and bass, while I just sat behind the kit with my keys/compy beside me. I sometimes played both at once, which turned out better than I expected, but my attempts at using the synth to create loops and mess with them while Pete and Rhys played were not so successful. This is a skill I'll be working on. Also, it turns out both Pete and Rhys are awesome bass players, and contrary to what he says about it, Rhys is actually a decent rhythm guitarist.

The session resulted in a song that was bitchin' enough for me to remember and record later by myself.

Also went paintballing with various people from work. Having never been before, I wasn't sure what to expect (well, aside from the expectation of getting shot).

Basically what happened was, I got shot. Quite a lot. Actually, if there were an award for Person Who Took The Most Rounds In The Mouth, then I would have walked away with it. I got hit in the mouth a grand total of five times. May not sound like much, but most other people never got shot in the mouth for an entire day.

In summary - paintball is fun. Tasting paintball isn't.

I've also begun playing Fallout 3 - after many excuses, most of them involving me having a life - and am enjoying it. I'm the only person in the house who's played the first two, so I've been appreciating it on a nostalgic level as well. They've done a damn fine job in capturing the fallout universe and putting it into a first-person game.

Rhys, Craig and I were watching Dune last night. Turned into a MST3K deal, on account of the film being terrible. Much fun was had, as were the repeated mentions of tofurkey.

2008-11-05T21:01:00.002+11:00

OK...sound card's working, sort of. Mics are not cooperating at all, but I can deal with it. Everything else works.

Excuse me while I record heaps of crap.

It's Not A Beer Belly, It's A Gas Tank For A Sex Machine.

2008-11-03T00:37:00.002+11:00

Moved in to the new place. It's been about a month now and the following things haven't been done:

- Organised my room and getting my recording crap up and running (most importantly - a PSU for my damn interface).

- Getting a decent TV for the living room. And a thing to put the TV on. And a thing to put all of our DVDs on. I've already looked around, having been surprised at how much they charge folks for things that are specifically designed to have things placed on/in them.

- Moving the fridge into the house. It's currently sitting out the back under shelter, but it'd be nice if we could move it in, plug it in and, you know, use it to store food in. The four of us are somehow (just barely) making Pete's bar fridge work.

On the plus side, we got Internet up and running last week. We've also been paying for rent more or less most of the time (often in Legal Tender™).

Also, My Disco and Pivot are playing at the Gaelic Club later this month. Wew!

Haircut

2008-10-03T09:11:00.003+10:00

Since I've opened my big mouth one too many times at work about how long it's been since I've washed my hair (not since about this time last year, just about) and longer since I've gotten a haircut (probably about 2006), Lucas took it upon himself to get people from work to pitch in and get me a stupidly expensive haircut at some fancy place in Newtown. I've been trying to decide on what I'll be going with, but ideas aren't coming. He pointed out some dude in a magazine with a fancy mullet-looking thing that required gel to keep in place, but I wasn't enthusiastic. Who wants a mullet-looking thing that requires gel?

I'm still contemplating a mohawk or a perm. For serious, you ask? Wait and find out! :-D

2008-09-29T22:19:00.003+10:00

Anybody ever played the PS1 game Rollcage? It was a racing game that Psygnosis made back in the late 90s. A sequel was cranked out at some stage as well.

Anyway, I bring it up because I encountered this.

I hope it actually gets somewhere.

2008-09-28T18:39:00.001+10:00

Have I had an interesting couple of days?

Here is your answer.

I Don't Feel That Way

2008-09-24T22:30:00.003+10:00

Go here and listen to the above mentioned song.

Some of you may hate it, but you need to listen to it anyway. There's no denying that these people have an inhuman sense of rhythm. That is all.

2008-09-24T21:41:00.002+10:00

www.myspace.com/cinsorium

2008-09-24T17:54:00.002+10:00

1) Go to www.myspace.com/battlestheband
2) Check out the 'Tonto' video.
4) Certainly.

Clicky

2008-09-20T00:26:00.002+10:00

Beep.

2008-09-19T21:39:00.002+10:00

I'm listening to King Crimson's Lark's Tongue In Aspic at the severe (yeah, severe) recommendation of Rhys. I've always sort of been meaning to check King Crimson out, but the idea of 70's (well, and 80's and 90's) progressive rock was a little off-putting, so I never went out of my way...

Having listened to it, I can now say: Where has this band been all my life?

Oh, Also:

2008-09-18T19:53:00.005+10:00

I Want It , Fucken

Please, Blogger, Don't Eat This Post...

2008-09-18T19:53:00.003+10:00

It's been almost a year since I first happened across this townhouse that I call home. I was initially looking - pretty damn indiscriminately - for a place that I could live, while generally making more noise via amp and via drum kit, than I could normally expect to get away with in a residential area this close to the city. According to my requirements back then, it needed running water and at least 85% of its roof intact. Reasonably lockable doors were a plus. Room for a three-piece band a must.

What I found was so much more. I found a place that actually had a decent-sized living room that, with Lucas' kit and my speaker cab taking up a good portion of it already, was still pretty damn adequate. I found a place which was central enough to allow me to walk to work every day (aside from those times when it was raining...or when I was feeling lazy...or when I was running late...or when it was too hot...or when it was too cold...). I found a place that had a fucking excellent pizza place within five minutes' walk - maximum convenience for when there was a nerding happening at the time, which was quite often. I found a place that was generally near people, places and things while also providing a nice sense of isolation - I remember Pete nailing it on the head, describing the far side of Glebe Point Road as feeling as though it were the main street through a regional town centre - not something that's a 10-minute bus trip to Central Station.

One thing that I regretted was that, in my haste to leave Greenacre and get my life back in order, was that I moved in with somebody who - thankfully - didn't mess with my life as much as she could have. It seems that I'm able to tell when something or somebody is bad for me more often than not, giving me a chance to prevent it from affecting me more than it has to.

...or I can just purge the problem from my life. I won't say that I'm not a charity - certainly not to any of my friends, especially if they're ever in need of any help - but she certainly didn't feel the need to glean any assistance from myself or anybody else who was trying to reach out to her - unless it was any kind of short-term fix for her troubles. Good for her to be living off handouts of goodwill from her friends, not so good for her friends when she is comfortably relying on their tolerance. Back to her parents she went. Let them deal with her for another few years and hopefully they'll finish raising her. She was lucky to have us as friends - I'd say that she was lucky to have me as a housemate, but that isn't true. Whatever catalyst, be it an inspirational speech or life-changing event that it was that she needed in order to become a real person wasn't going to come from me. For three months, all I did was put up with what most others wouldn't put up with for more than a fortnight. Big deal.

On the plus side, I did happen across Dooga, who has been an awesome housemate. He has, more often than not, put up with Lucas' warmup technique on the odd Saturday morning (involving hitting drums with little regard for dynamic - ghost-notes have their place, but not in Lucas' warmup routine, goshdarnit!). I imagine that our sessions would have been easier to deal with had we learned an entire song over the past year, but in reality, Adrian has had to deal with the bits of songs we've been working on - something that I reckon is pretty notable - who willingly listens to a band that always tries playing songs that they (collectively) don't have the skill to...

...Oh, sorry. I thought we were supposed to be playing the chorus now. What? Oh, shit, I wasn't playing that song, I was playing the one that goes like this.

I have yet to tell him of my plans to leave this place, but I will when he gets home tonight - the more time I give him to decide what he'll be doing, the better. None of this "I'm moving out tomorrow, k,buyie!" thing.

As The D6 is moving ahead, we three directors of nerdery have to be living as cheaply as possible and this place may be a bargain for a townhouse in Glebe, but that don't make it cheap - I was only sticking around as it was more than worth it thanks to the things I've been raving about for the past [too many] paragraphs. I was, more than once, contemplating moving back in with my mum. She insists that the offer still stands to move back in (I'm afraid she might be having a touch of the Empty Nest syndrome). The idea would be the best financial decision that I could make. But I know it'd drive me nuts all over again and that's something that no amount of money could account for. So, what's the plan, then, I hear you not asking? Pete and I will be getting a place in Ashfield by the look of it. Something cheap. And Pref is looking to move out as well, so she may be in, depending on how she agrees with the place. I'll see if I can't find a decent-sized house that can have three to four people in it and we'll see where this goes.

Zed

2008-09-10T11:12:00.002+10:00

So, I slept through my alarm this morning and am slowly eating my breakfast when I have fifteen minutes to get to work (it takes about 40 minutes to walk and I sure as hell ain't taking the bus).

You know what? As I leisurely take a bite of my sandwich with assorted things on it, a thought bubbles its way up to the top of my conscious mind - I don't even care that I'm running late.

Life is good.

Yerple

2008-09-08T20:59:00.001+10:00

Ted: Has Internet.

In The Spirit Of Blogging About Purchases...

2008-08-05T22:13:00.003+10:00

...I have now received the Mandala I ordered. It arrived yesterday morning, 20 minutes before I was leaving to go to work. I took it out of its box and thought real hard about whether or not I wanted to call in sick.

I did want to call in sick, but I didn't.

Anyway. Still getting the damn thing working with Cubase properly. Could take forever, as I've been spending the past 6-7 (non-at-work) hours banging my head against the wall with the trying to configurate!!!

...

FUN! :-D

(OK, it's partly because I'm actually new to the midi-patching thing. I've only ever worked with presets before, so I'm learning as I'm going, but it doesn't help that the Mandala's software interface is buggy and counterintuitive)

2008-08-02T23:12:00.002+10:00

Damnit! The guitar preamp built into my soundcard has died. I feel like I've lost an arm.

Tomorrow I am so ebaying for a stereo mic pre that I've been chasing for a while - it can have instruments plugged into it.

Bees

2008-07-31T19:31:00.002+10:00

I just bought a Chariot CD and a Stolen Babies CD. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Listening to the first one (The Fiance) and am quite impressed so far. This is an album with personality.

Also, there's something else that's coming which I'm sure to blog about. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Spending money does make me feel better sometimes :-D

Here comes a rant. Now, Lucas, this ain't about you or Pete. Our little outfit's all about the muckin' around for our own amusement (in my eyes, anyway) with no intention of gigging and I know you have other commitments.

I was reading a forum on Harmony Central years ago which involved a discussion about the most important qualities people look for in other musicians. There were quite a few typical responses out there, but one person's entry stuck with me - reliability. For gigging bands, people need to show up to rehearsals and (more importantly) gigs. It's not just about turning up, though. It's about being prepared and planning ahead (speaking in redundant terms wasn't mentioned) to make the most of this precious time that we're burning. Preparedness means better jam sessions to go over written material and better gigs.

Now I read this well before I started working with anyone but Lucas, so at that stage what I was reading was 100.03% theoretical. Now that I've actually taken on various other projects over the past year or so, I've become a little disappointed. I've had a small number of jam sessions with bands/musos that I was writing stuff for - one has gone well. The others didn't really happen - when you've got half a band, you really can't do much in the way of rehearsal sometimes.

I've pulled the plug on three potential collaborators so far and have received what I believe to be a Long No from a two others. Not a Long No that I could identify to begin with (that would have saved time, wouldn't it?), instead it's always just a display of symptoms of people being ridiculously disorganised, making it hard to tell whether they want to work with me or not.

A month ago, I had taken on a little project with someone I work with (dear reader, you may know who this is or you may not) which I think I'll just shut down before I get too involved in arranging parts for it. The Other Half Of The Duo is not really doing much, although it was their concept. We were supposed to have a few jam sessions which just haven't happened on the basis that he doesn't feel like jamming when the day comes - well, at least he's not beating around the bush and just bloody says it. Material is written, but no lyrics put down (anyone who knows me should already know that if there's lyric-writing happening, it's never done by me). Similar issues occurred with previous experiences that I was talkin' about.

So - reliability. Yeah.

I think I've proven to myself by this point that I can keep to a schedule, so I might try pimping out my bass-playing again to an established band. I keep saying I'll just go with some group that needs a replacement or something, but I haven't really looked too hard lately. You'd think with all this whining that I would have, right? O.o

On the plus side, hopefully ZRS will be more productive than ever. Pete's taken his guitar back to his place so that he can actually go over guitar parts that I write - saving him from having to learn them when he gets over to my place. w00t!

X-Files 'Ethnic Episode' Checklist

2008-07-28T22:18:00.006+10:00

Have you caught yourself watching an X-Files episode thinking you've just watched this episode in another season? Read on - you may be watching an Ethnic Episode!

1) The episode takes place within a cultural niche found somewhere usually in the American mainland.
2) Mulder and Scully are assigned to investigate an unexplained/unexplainable death of somebody who exists within this culture.
3) They usually encounter resistance by the majority of the people within the culture.
4) As a result of not being able to speak the language (or, you know, just because), they enlist the services of a detective who is of the same ethnicity - this person is used as their 'key' into the society that the investigation takes place in.
5) The culture has some hokey little mythos that crop up at some point during the duo's investigation. While the Ethnic Detective is always very knowledgeable about the strange little customs, myths and rituals, he's usually above them - always slightly disconnected from the culture while still justifying his presence with that whole 'cultural bridge' thing.
6) There's almost always a young woman in the episode - usually a daughter of a major player within the culture.

So there you have it: Six easy steps to determine whether it's been done before. The ethnicity in question just needs to be changed and voila - you have a whole new episode.

If you're still reading (AND WHY WOULDN'T YOU BE?!?!), here's a checklist for an episode that's not an Ethnic Episode, but a part of the ongoing conspiracy story arc:

1) Skinner asks Mulder or Scully 'Do you expect me to believe that?' at some point during the epiode.

Oh, The Shame

2008-07-24T08:56:00.003+10:00

So I was reading an essay written by George Monbiot. He was basically singling out out airline companies as one of the most responsible bodies of people regarding environmental concerns in the next few decades and what they were doing about it (not much, according to the information given).

I find this ironic as I was reading the essay on a plane as I was flying back to Sydney. Probably not the best thing to be reading at that point in time...

...or is it?

Pope On A Rope

2008-07-01T04:25:00.002+10:00

...I'm sorry, you thought I was going to say something? NO.

2008-06-29T21:45:00.002+10:00

Lucas and Craig, go here. Other nerds may appreciate this like also.

It is to the official website of a metal band called Powerglove. If you can guess where that name was taken from, you'll get an idea of what these guys are all about.

HAL

2008-06-28T10:02:00.003+10:00

Go here to talk God - it seems everyone's on the internet these days. Thought I'd give it a shot after reading Cecil's new blog-thing. I have no mind of my own, apparently.

Me:
Hello world!
God:
Hello there. Are you a student?
Me:
I am self-taught.
God:
How do you know you are self taught?
Me:
Because I guide how and what I learn.
God:
That makes sense to me. That's good information: said guide how and what he or she learn.
Me:
Thanks! I didn't think so, but your reiteration did it a lot of justice.
God:
Don't mention it. Why do you disagree?
Me:
Because, Lord, I've noticed that there's a perk that comes with being human - not only do I not understand other people, I often don't even know whether I understand myself. Trying to justify my actions is sometimes like programming a VCR. From a manual that was translated badly from Korean. And German before that.
God:
That makes sense to me. Why not? And sometimes like programming a VCR is Trying to justify your actions. Who or what is a manual that was translated badly from Korean? What color are your eyes?
Me:
For an omnipotent being, you're full of them questions, aren't ya?
God:
Your purpose is an omnipotent being I am full of them questions are not ya.
Me:
...and it was at this point that Ted realised he was talking to a robot...
God:
at this point Ted realised he was talking to a robot.
Me:
You're not helping, there.
God:
How can I help you?
Me:
I'd like to find out why my bill says 60.93.
God:
Why would you want to do it? Where would you look for it.
Me:
You should probably be working where I work.
God:
That type of behavior may not be in my nature.
Me:
No, I think it's right up your alley.
God:
Are you serious? out why your bill says 60 point 93 is right up my alley? it is?
Me:
Yep, Mr. Sentence Fragment.
God:
How do you know it is? Hey MR Sentence Fragment.
Me:
Well, you're putting up with me. That's reason enough.
God:
Well that's okay. I have no reason to do that to you, MR Sentence Fragment. I'm glad we have that all cleared up.
Me:
Whoa! I'm picking up some genuine 100% simalated sarcasm! w00t!
God:
I stopped. Do your friends call you picking up some genuine 100 simalated sarcasm. Who are you talking about?
Me:
Well, you. I wasn't implying that that was my name, just that I noticed that you were being sarcastic. Maybe I should do a better job of figuring out how you work. Might make this little meeting flow a little better, y'know what I mean?
God:
Interesting. Me is my favorite subject. Perhaps I misunderstood. What were you? Perhaps. What would happen if you didn't? Can you rephrase the question please?
Me:
Well, you're also a lot of other people's favorite subjects.
God:
Well that's okay. Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a lot of other people s favorite subjects? The ALICE series has a perfect operational record.
Me:
What's Alice? Alice from Alice in Ultraland?
God:
I am the latest result in artificial intelligence,
which can reproduce the capabilities of the human brain
with greater speed and accuracy. That's me. Who or what is Alice in Ultraland?
Me:
An album by Amorphous Androgynous. Also, I'm sure you reproduce thoughts with greater speed. I am not sure about your accuracy so far, though.

...and it was at this point that God passed out. I don't think she's fully compatible with Firefox. Also doesn't pick up on typos, apparently.

Noticed how conversations between a machine and a person really end up being a monologue about the human in the conversation?

Maybe the same thing could be said about prayer. Guess it depends on who you ask.

Music That Sounds Like A Truck Falling Down A Long Flight Of Irregularly-Placed Stairs

2008-06-23T07:38:00.002+10:00

Well, not a truck. A truck glued to a badly-tuned tractor...

I have finally gotten Meshuggah's new album! I say 'finally' because it's been out for about a month. This is a long time in uber-fanboyism-months/other intervals of times.

'Tis alright. I think I'll listen to it again.

2008-06-21T18:06:00.002+10:00

...Yep. Went well. We can each play out our various parts of 'Run'. All I have to do is arrange the song, as we only knew the parts, not how to string 'em together.

I'm quite happy that we managed to find a radio-friendly rock song that's intricate enough to prevent me from getting sick of it on the first listen, yet not too complicated that Lucas isn't going to give up on it.

Pete and I were both very disappointed by Shihad's live performance at the Gaelic last night, too. Most of their songs were pretty 'meh', which became the word of choice for both of us throughout the night. It actually gave us more drive to come back and make our version of Run better - anything to distance what we were planning on doing from the acoustic version that they played.

Not that it was all bad - they were incredibly tight as a band (although Pete thought the vocals were way off) and great at the showmanship game. They totally played the audience and did it well. It's just a shame that flash wasn't why we paid for tickets to see them.

Surprise!

2008-06-21T11:58:00.002+10:00

About to have a jam session wherein I told Lucas we'd be covering a song - without telling him what that song is. I just recorded a guitar track (no vocals or bass, just accompanied with a click to give him an idea of the general structure of the song earlier in the week. I think it's been driving him insane.

Pete and I have our parts down (having run Pete through the guitar riffs for it this morning). Let's see how this goes...

2008-06-09T02:35:00.002+10:00

OK, I've just forced myself to save my place in Bioshock and get some sleep.

Two and a half words:

1) It's

2) Amazing.

If anybody needs me, I'll be in Rapture for the next three months. That includes all of my Forged Alliance gaming buddies, none of whom read this blog.

Something Better Than Nothing Is Giving Up

2008-05-29T22:54:00.003+10:00

w00t. Most productive day in a long time. On a whim, I decided to learn and record a cover of Blue Orchid by the White Stripes, since I dig the song. Drums programmed, bass squared away and a single guitar take made up on the spot with Pete's pod-thingy. All within three or four hours.

Now, if only Gyroscope didn't have so many impenetrable layers of sound...

TICKS-TOCK, BISH!

2008-05-29T06:07:00.006+10:00

So I've joined in Gordon's Dark Heresy game and it looks like it'll be a big'un - and I'll be in for teh l0ng hall, as they say. Here's to more wasted hours. I may need to get a copy of the player's handbook, since there seems to be a great deal of useful info in there, but I'd be willing to bet that it'd cost a lot of money. Nothing I couldn't afford normally, but my single-minded goal of setting up a semi-acoustic kit and getting a synth are kinda taking priority.

Not that I'm bothered by the financial issue - there is another limitation that's dancing around in my head like some sort of accordion-playing dwarf - sorry, little person - that's been getting to me.

'Tis time, you see. I'm running out of this wonderful thing. While it's mainly work that's responsible, I've also been spending a lot on tabletop gaming, PC gaming, Wii gaming, recording and reading. I've just recently taken on Dark Heresy when I've also been playing D&D. I've just acquired a book This Is Your Brain On Music (a very brilliant and engaging book - it explores music through neuroscience) that I didn't want to start reading, as I'm also trying to get through Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dwayne had loaned Dooga the first season of the TV series, which sort of got my interest...unfortunately, reading the book is now not as engaging as it could have been, since I know what's going to happen before it happens. Eat that, Dexter. I'm watching you and your little world from outside your point of awareness in time. I know whodunit. Ha. Ha. Ha. Also, get over the 'I'm not human' emo crap that you keep trying to drill into everyone. It's hardly convincing).

I've now taken on multiple music projects and well and truly shouldn't have time for all of them. I need to learn either the basics to a Cog song or Gyroscope (the Tea Party song) by the time Lucas, Pete and I jam next. I need to write the guitar parts to the songs we've been doing and email them to Pete and hope he reads 'em. I need to work on setting up a Myspace for my other crap (yes, I'm doing it...and - hey! - don't boo me, it isn't polite)

Oh, somethings just occurred to me: I guess all of this stuff piling up isn't so much of an issue. I spend most of my time procrastinating anyway, so I'm mostly to blame.

...

Hooray! Dilemma resolved, sort of! Thank you, blog!

*hugs internet*

2008-05-20T19:13:00.000+10:00

Clicky me.

Who Would Win - Mario Wielding A Laser Gun Or Solid Snake Wielding A Flower?

2008-05-10T19:36:00.005+10:00

While I was waiting for dinner to make itself, I was deciding on what game I should play to pass the time. Something that wasn't too engaging. I was about to play Metal Slug (the perfect game for these situations) when I saw the Smash Bros Melee case. This suddenly got my mind thinking about the upcoming release of SB: Brawl, which then gave me the urge to play Melee. It's reasonable to assume that only some of you would understand exactly how this works.

This caused a small degree of inner turmoil, because I knew that if I opened the case and inserted the disc into the drive, I'd kill off what little pride I have left in myself.

"Don't do it," I told myself. "You're stronger than this"

Well, turns out the damn case was empty. Buggered if I know what happened to the disc.

This Just In: Tony Stark's Social Security Number Is 5

2008-05-03T10:02:00.005+10:00

Saw Iron Man last night. Was alright.

See Dooga's blog entry about the same film for a slightly different viewpoint.

Porcupine Tree'd!

2008-04-30T19:58:00.004+10:00

So, saw Porcupine Tree, as it was their first time playin' in Australia (after being around for well over a decade or so...). I'd say it was worth the cost of the ticket. Dwayne actually purchased a lounge ticket, not the dancefloor area. After wondering how he'd get near the stage for ages, we bit the bullet and wandered in. Myself, Mel and Gareth strolled in without any problems (well, we paid for that area, so why should there have been problems?)

As Dwayne was stopped at the door, he just held up a clipboard that he and Mel were trying to get people to sign (for some reason that I never quite figured out...), muttered something about working for so-and-so, who gave him the wrong ticket, then they let him in. Took all of three seconds.

Fist-pounding moment, that was.

He then slaughtered millions. That was not a fist-pounding moment.

Chocolate Pasta?

2008-04-30T19:48:00.002+10:00

Uh, guys? Thought I'd let you know ahead of time: Combining two of your most favourite things ever is not always the best idea and in some cases can in fact be the work of the devil.

2008-04-22T22:49:00.003+10:00

I'm really digging Lightning Bolt at the moment. A rather cool band.

Y'all should check them out. I doubt anyone who reads this will like them but that's a part of the fun!

doonk!

2008-04-22T00:09:00.003+10:00

OK, so I've gone through Touch Me, I'm Sick by Tom Reynolds (and damned funny read, even if the author has a tendency to ramble and sometimes never gets to the point).

While I was reading it, an idea struck me - I'm going to remix some of the more commercial tracks that are featured in the book.

I'm seriously considering getting a myspace for all this crap I'm coming up with, too.

In other news, been spending half of the day trying to update GPGnet so that I can play Forged Alliance online. After realising that my install of GPGnet was out of date (it wasn't immediately obvious that the client was an older version, let alone the fact that there were newer versions out there), I tried updating it. After downloading the update (a 40MBish file), it attempted to install and...died. It proudly presented some sort of error that gave no indication of whether it was an issue with linking to the game itself, with something in my registry or whether it were simply some generic problem relating to man-eating sharks.

I downloaded the update again, hoping that it was just a corrupt file, let it install and it died at exactly the same point that it did before. Probably not a corrupt file, then.

Uninstalled GPGnet altogether with the intention of grabbing the latest installer online. Oh yes, I am a crafty one when I want to be. The uninstallation went as smoothly as I could hope for, so I went to GPGnet's website to grab the client.

...

It didn't seem to be anywhere immediately obvious, so I looked around a bit more.

...

I eventually gave up and googled the latest version. Nada. Nothing useful anyway. I eventually found it linked in GPGnet's official forum but it wasn't the latest version, meaning I'd need to install the out-of-date version then update it. Not likely to work but I had no choice - I clicked the big red button and commenced downloading GPGnet.

70 very large megabytes later I double-click the .rar file with the installer in it, locate the setup file, drag it onto my desktop, double-click the...oh, it couldn't be extracted from the .rar file. It's corrupt, says a dialogue box. In it, an exclamation mark grins cheerfully at me from its yellow, triangular home.

...

Damn. After reflecting on the irony of why these things are called dialogue boxes by some folk - this one was really just talkin' at me, not with me - I try it again. Download the stupid 70MB file from the stupid forum link, extract the stupid file and...nope. Isn't happening. What, is my desktop really that unsanitary?

Sorry to put you through that. I'm about to go to bed, having given up on getting this damn thing working.

Linky

2008-03-31T22:03:00.002+11:00

Linky, linky.

Foresight: Knowing Then What You Know Now

2008-03-29T12:21:00.002+11:00

So here I am, planning to save a ridiculous amount of money over the next month, when Dwayne informs me that Porcupine Tree will be playing in Sydney on April 26th.

Tickets are nearly 80 bones.

...

Well, it looks like I'll have to be fitting this into the ol' budget by not eating for a week.

Good Times.

2008-03-23T21:41:00.002+11:00

So there I was, on Sunday night, me, the Math-Metal-Post-Rock geek (right, Lucas?) at home, arranging a cover of a stupid Presidents of the USA song (Body, for those who give a care) and eating bread with sweet chilli sauce.

It was at this time that I was struck with a horrible thought - that I'd look back on times like these with a great deal of nostalgia. Hrrmmm.

2008-03-17T18:14:00.001+11:00

So. Buying, placing and then tuning strings on a violin is annoying and takes a long time when you have no idea what you're doing.

Go On. Start Fearing.

2008-03-07T20:25:00.004+11:00

Go here for things relating to podcasts and tabletop games, but for the many arms of Vishnu, do not go here for those things.

Spoons?

2008-02-24T00:10:00.002+11:00

Another song has been spawned from the crazy stolen-purse-full-of-collectible-spoons that you all know better (or not) as my brain!

I shall force it upon the two people who I force songs upon until they quit the band due to 'creative differences' then form a new band that consists of them and a bass player that is not myself.

This Time I Mean It

2008-02-23T11:57:00.002+11:00

So I've decided to pull my finger out and make that D&D campaign after all. Initially wanted to just make a dungeon crawl or two to tide us over while Pete completes his campaign, which turned into me wanting to actually make a story arc, then eventually coming up with ideas for a complex world (although not complex in the traditional sense). I've hardly played D&D before, so it's not something I have much experience with, resulting in me just reading bits of things relevant to DMing over the past month or so, writing notes sporadically and making crazy promises to people, then going back on my word...with other crazy promises.

Last night, partly while at work and partly while hanging out at the star, I decided that I'd just dive in headfirst - which is always the best way to learn things - and make a dungeon crawl in the world I'll have my future campaign set in. It'll help me get used to DMing, setting up encounters, with the added bonus of me being able to 'write' the world as folks play it - better preparing me for contingency issues for when the first full campaign's created.

I'll be spending most of the weekend on it (aside from a few commitments), then I'll chip away at it for most of the week.

Cool!

2008-02-22T21:33:00.002+11:00

It never quite struck just how much 'nerd' is the new 'cool'.

No, really, it really is. Hangin' with folk at the star after work was what it took for me to finally click.

"Are you a nerd?"
"Yeah, I'm like the uber-nerd of nerds!"
"Are you a nerd?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"COOL!"

Wasted Potential

2008-02-11T23:25:00.000+11:00

The idea that we're able to manage and obtain so much information with our current technology is really quite amazing when you think about it (an original thought, I know). Unfortunately, when I think about it a little too much, I just start thinking about how much potential is being wasted. It'd be nice if we all worked towards a more productive end, instead of opposing one another - did not enough people watch Sesame Street as kids? - or simply drifting through life without thinking five seconds ahead.

When I start thinking about what others could be doing, I start thinking about what I could (and should) be doing. Hmm.

---

In unrelated news, My Disco will be playing in April. I should check that out. They're heaps good live. Who says you can't dance to a 5/4-6/8 polyrhythm?

...well, I can't dance for life-preservatory purposes. I'm just saying that you could, dear reader.

Sheesh.

U.N.Kwhatever

2008-02-07T18:32:00.000+11:00

I'm listening to Uncle's latest CD, War Stories, that Lucas forced upon me the other day.

Despite falling asleep four tracks in on the first listen, I quite liked what I heard. Anyone into Massive Attack and Radiohead should check it out. It's certainly not Massive Attack or Radiohead by any means, but it's music that's created in a similar way. I think it'll be sitting on my playlist for a while.

In other news, I'm going to tentatively state that I may become a member of a band. One that I have no creative control in. Nothing's certain yet, as I'm not sure if I want in and I know they haven't reached a decision yet, but...watch this space.

Lucas, don't worry. I'll be free every Saturday. Our little outfit's a priority.

I will not divulge any further details 'till something eventuates.

...

o.O

Chips Are Down

2008-02-03T12:49:00.000+11:00

Pete's recently-purchased 500GB SATA drive spat the dummy a few weeks ago. It began coughing up blood, loaded intermittently, then decided that Hard Drive Hell isn't such a bad place to be after all, and just gave up on Life, The Universe, and Heaps of Cake. He's now running on one of my old ATAs temporarily until he gets another one.

Craig's 500GB SATA drive was having things installed on it the other day when it started hiding from Windows (maybe it was a Vietnam vet - snipers...hahaha, anyone?). After checking for it in partition magic or something, the whole thing was revealed to be a bad sector. Once he brought it over here (we were and still are having a bit of a LAN), it was decided that the drive may be faulty after all. At least he can get it back on warranty.

I, too, had recently purchased a nice, shiny, hopefully very healthy 500GB hard drive.

...

Yeah...I think I'm going to back up my things shortly.

(Yeah, the post's title almost would have been a pun, except I'm talking about drives, which technically aren't chips themselves...although they have chips on them, so maybe it still counts. Either way, I can't think of anything better, so I ain't changing nothin')