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Sands of Time - 'Tribute to the Beach Boys '76' From: 45 rpm single (1976) |
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Harry Nilsson - 'You Can't Do That' From: Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) |
This seems to be the thing to do when you can't pick just one song by an artist to cover, as 'Tribute to the Beach Boys 1976' is similar in both sentiment and execution to Harry Nilsson's assemblage of bits of Beatles tunes: 'You Can't Do That,' taken from his 1967 album 'Pandemonium Shadow Show.' I've included an MP3 of that song below, as well.
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Sands of Time - 'Tribute to the Beach Boys '76' From: 45 rpm single (1976) |
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Harry Nilsson - 'You Can't Do That' From: Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) |
AMG had this to say about the Sands Of Time:
"Eric Baragar, Tim Campbell, Michael Goettler and Steve Smith organized the Sands of Time in 1966 in Ontario, Canada. The band recorded only one popular single, 1970's "I've Got a Feeling," and broke up in the early '70s, but re-formed with vocalist Don Thompson (from Noah) as Bentwood Rocker."Those who are interested can find futher information on the band here, and an official site detailing their 2001 reunion here. Information on all things Harry Nilsson can be found here.
Also of interest is Rob Grayson's (Slightly flawed) assembly of bits of every Beatles song in alphabetical order [via waxy.org]. As usual, if you know of similar tribute montages, let me know in the comments. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Andy Baio EMAIL: log@waxy.org IP: 4.38.40.69 URL: http://waxy.org/ DATE: 07/01/2004 04:21:57 PM Whimsical Will's "Beatle Rap." ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Current Events STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 316 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/06/2004 04:40:26 PM ----- BODY: I moved to Ann Arbor. Also: I'm playing three shows this week, and the rest of my time will probably be spent 'settling' and 'sleeping,' so... come to the shows and check back here next week. Details:
WEDNESDAY! July 7th!----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Arjan EMAIL: thank.you@but.no IP: 212.159.203.204 URL: http://home.hetnet.nl/~macplurkis/vu/ DATE: 07/07/2004 09:21:23 AM Christ! Work Is a Four-Letter Word, the cover that broke up the Smiths! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: you@havemyemail.com IP: 134.215.221.210 URL: DATE: 07/07/2004 10:39:01 AM See ya Thursday, Adam. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: michelle EMAIL: michellemarie@gmail.com IP: 208.39.170.77 URL: DATE: 07/12/2004 09:42:24 AM cool flyer ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Great artifacts unearthed by the move, Volume 1: STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 338 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/12/2004 05:34:08 PM ----- BODY: The best magazine cover ever:
I'll be playing drums with The Pop Project at the Magic Stick in Detroit.
Also performing: New Grenada, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Rescue.
Get there early, we play first (~9:00).
$8, 8 PM, All Ages~*~
THURSDAY! July 8th!
I'll be playing bass with The Recital at The Shelter in Detroit.
Also Performing: Ambulance LTD, and Robbers on High Street.
Get there early, we play first.
$8, 7:30 PM, All Ages
~*~ FRIDAY! July 9th!
I'll be playing bass with The Recital at Stormy Records in Dearborn.
Also Performing: El Boxeo, and Javelins
Get there early, we play last.
$5, 8 PM, All Ages
Gamorrean Guard + Beach Ball = Awesome.
Seriously, how has no one yet made one of those spraypaint stencils out of DARTH VADER HOLDING A MASSIVE BOOMBOX?! I've already done the hard part. Email me if you actually want to use it / improve it and I'll send you a high dpi file.
"Found out on Sunday night that my Futurist LP was stolen and sold on ebay for 810.00 and afterwards found all these websites discussing the sale and "how dare she" type comments. Just thought the fact that it was taken from me and sold might add a little spice to your archives.Vindicated! More in the Electrical Audio thread. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: MP3's of the week: Advertising Pop Trifecta STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 458 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/19/2004 04:03:16 AM ----- BODY: A Beatle, a Monkee, and Harry Nilsson.Thanks,
Kim Stahr"
My friend Zach Curd recently unearthed this bit of trivia on one of his frequent excursions into internetland - Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was hired as a spokesman for Japanese leisure suit company Simple Life in the mid-1970's. Four television commercials were filmed, and at least two jingles were recorded. Singing backup vocals on the jingles: Davy Jones of the Monkees and pop mastermind Harry Nilsson.
Obviously, this is the best thing ever. Mr. Curd quickly consulted the filesharing networks and managed to turn up two of the jingles, and one of the actual commercials. I present them here for posterity, and in the hopes that the other commercials, in which Ringo is said to encounter "unusual creatures while wearing his Simple Life suit and lip-synching," will turn up.
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Ringo Starr - 'I Love My Suit' From: 'Simple Life' Leisure Suits Advertisement (197?) |
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Ringo Starr - 'Simple Life' From: 'Simple Life' Leisure Suits Advertisement (197?) |
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Ringo Starr - 'Simple Life' From: 'Simple Life' Leisure Suits Advertisement (197?) |
My pick of the two jingles is the Nilssonian 'I Love My Suit.' As always, I have included the lyrics below for your perusal.
I love my suit
(He loves his suit)
It keeps me warm
(It keeps him warm)
It feels so good, it makes me smile, it fits my form
I love my suit
(He loves his suit)
It looks so good
(It looks so good)
If I could wear it all the time you know I would
Well I'd wear it on the beach
and I'd wear it in the shower
I'd wear it every day and every minute of every hour
I love my suit
(Fade out)
This hat is great for confusing people. It has an illustration of a log on the front, and the word 'LOG' on the back. It was part of the 'Ren and Stimpy' merchandising juggernaut.
Wu Eezer T-shirt
When I was in high school, I made this T-shirt, co-opting the Wu-Tang 'W.' It once prompted a classmate to sternly implore that 'Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with' (Repeat).
'Dork' T-shirt
When I used to skateboard (badly), there was a company called New School Productions, who made this T-shirt. Classic.
Weirdly Prescient Alien Workshop T-shirt
Another artifact from my ill-advised skateboarding days is this 'rebellious' T-shirt, made by (former?) skateboard accessory powerhouse Alien Workshop. Maybe I should sell it on eBay as an election day uniform. I guess the fact that this is relevant just goes to show: the more things change, the more things stay the (HEAD EXPLODES).
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Canadians before they were indie darlings, part 1: Neko Case
Before Neko Case was a big shot alt-country star, she was the drummer in a band called Maow. Here's a Moaw cover from Canadian weekly Exclaim. Neko's the one with her heart being removed.
Morrissey Pillowcase
Coming soon to eBay! When I saw Morrissey on the 'Oye Esteban' tour, he had these for sale, and they were too ridiculous to not buy one. That's right - a pillowcase that says 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.' I totally forgot I owned it until I dug it up in the move. Prodigiously ridiculous. He also had branded condoms for sale on that tour.
Canadians before they were indie darlings, part 2: Carl Newman
Here's another Exclaim cover, this one featuring pop wunderkind Carl Newman in an ill-advised post-Zumpano, pre-New Pornographers, pre-solo career project: Superconducter. Carl's in the middle.
Kempas Edible Oils. Mmmm... edible oils!Kempa.org:
A bizarre German site featuring a giant downloadable zip file containing photos. The photos appear to be from some sort of camp / gathering / party circa 1978. This one is my favorite:
I just found out via this messageboard posting that it was Baker's collection that enabled Fantagraphics Books to assemble the strips necessary for producing their Complete Peanuts series. The first volume was released this spring, with the second (of 25 total) coming in the fall.
Despite Baker's best preservation efforts, however, there are several strips that may well be lost to the sands of time:
"With PEANUTS 1953-1954 going to press next month, we're setting our sights on PEANUTS 1955-1956. So far we've got all the strips gathered except for three very pesky missing Sundays, which we have only in truncated form (from the Nicholson Baker/Duke collection). If anyone by chance has any of these, let us know.Those disappointed by Baker's last novel 'A Box of Matches' (Me) can look forward to 'Checkpoint' which is published on August 10th. The premise: Two men discuss an attempted assassination of George W. Bush. Oh man, call O'Reilly! This is gonna be a SHITSTORM of overreaction. His publisher (Knopf) has already released the following:...
These are REALLY obscure. I know PEANUTS completists/experts who apparently haven't even been able to track down a microfiche version.
The good thing is that the truncated ones we have were black and white, so they're cleaner than color ones would be."
"Checkpoint is a work of fiction by acclaimed author Nicholson Baker, a novella that explores the peculiar angst many Americans are feeling right now about their country and their president. The book is set up as a conversation between two old high school buddies. One of them, in despair about the direction the country is going, is convinced he must kill the president; the other tries to talk him out of it.----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: MP3's of the week: Musical 'mistakes' / scoldings STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 344 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/26/2004 02:23:31 PM ----- BODY: For people who are obsessed with music and the process by which it is recorded, filesharing is the greatest thing ever, as it offers easy access to session tapes. Session tapes, for the uninitiated, are generally recordings of a band working in the studio, complete with mistakes, between song banter, conversation, and tomfoolery. After downloading many such sessions, I've noticed that some people choose to edit out all the 'superfluous' conversation, neatly isolating each take into its own track. This drives me crazy, because one of the reasons I love sessions so much is for the banter, which often reveals unseen dynamics to the inner workings of a band.Baker wrote Checkpoint in response to the powerless seething fury many Americans felt when President Bush decided to take the nation to war. "How do you react to something that you think is so hideously wrong?" asks Baker. "How do you keep it from driving you nuts? What do you do with your life while this wrong is being carried out? What are the thoughts—the secret thoughts, the unpublishable thoughts, so to speak—that go through your head?"
Some people have rational responses. Others do not. Baker’s book does not suggest violence is ever an appropriate response. But in order to understand the reasons why a violent act is always a mistake, one must first look at the contemplation of such an act.
The dialogue in Checkpoint is angry, funny, pointed and absurd. All of it has relevance to our world. And it is through the conversation in this novel that Baker hopes to raise important questions about how we react to violence—both individually and as a nation."
My favorite example of such an outtake consists of Mickey Dolenz hellaciously scolding Peter Tork for screwing up a take in the midst of the recording sessions for the Monkees' 'Headquarters' album, but there are tons of other examples. In the outtakes from the Rolling Stones' 'Beggers Banquet' album, there's a clip of Mick Jagger expressing his impatience with the speed at which Charlie Watts was learning 'Sympathy For the Devil.'
The banter doesn't necessarily have to be quite so heated to be entertaining. My opinion of Ryan Adams aside, I have to give him credit for including a bit of friendly studio squabbling as the first track on his 'Heartbreaker' album. In it, he and fellow musician David Rawlings can be heard arguing which Morrissey album 'Suedehead' appears on (Anyone who has more than a few morrissey CD's knows that tracks frequently showed up on more than one release).
In addition to the 'scoldings' and banter that I so deeply crave, I am also a huge fan of 'happy accidents' that occur and end up being released. A great example of this is the end of the Archers Of Loaf song 'Bathroom,' released commercially on their collection of odds and ends, 'The Speed of Cattle.' At the end of the take, the drums abruptly cut out and the rest of the band comes to a halt. The resultant exchange is priceless, especially if you're a drummer. Another commercially released example is the Whiskeytown song 'Bar Lights' which ends with Ryan Adams explaining through laughter that he flubbed the lyric and broke a string in the same moment. Turn up your volume for the choice bit of posturing at the end.
I'm convinced that there are tons of these moments lurking about in the useless knowledge section of people's brains. It is in the interest of expanding my library of audio joy that I solicit your favorite bits of studio exchange and happy accident-ry. Since most of these bits are pretty short, I'll volunteer to host MP3's of pretty much any that get suggested. My goal is to put together an entire mix CD of these moments, and give it a dopey title like 'WHOOOPS' or something equally lame.
MP3's of all the moments mentioned above are included below. I've also posted MP3's of several of the bits suggested in the comments. I'm working on rounding up the others. Woo.
Chris, who wrote to me about his own bottlecap mosaic in progress after I posted the writeup on mine, has finished his.
"Hey man, it's more or less done, still looking to put a protective coating on it so I can use it as a table without worrying about scratching it up.While searching for a suitable material to pour on it I found this site. Also a pretty cool bottle cap project.."
Here are a few pics of mine, I think it turned out pretty nice, I'm happy with it. I am huge into sailnig so this was a natural selection for me considering the colors of caps I had sitting around.
For those wondering I first glued the caps down using a glue gun. I then applied UNSANDED grout to fill in the gaps. Then I colored the grout to help emphsize the color changes. I think it really helped to the color the grout.
It would be awesome if you posted any of these on your website! Please credit it to: "Chris Sivers and his drinking buddies at the University of Waterloo."
Cheers,
Chris
Related:
Candy Heart mosaic, via Chrisnull.com:
"Nearly eight foot tall toddler bearing American flag. Built from several thousand pieces of Brach's small Conversation Heart candy. The war in Iraq distracted me from painting, so I built this figure. Slogans on candy include 'Mad 4 U', 'Hero', 'U R Bad', 'Be True', 'U R Mine', 'Go Boy', 'Dinomite', 'You Rock', 'Clueless', 'Awesome', 'Don't Ask', 'Don't Tell', 'You Rule', 'See Ya', 'I'm Sure', 'Gotcha', 'Got Love?', 'Fax Me', 'email me','Dare Ya', 'No Way', 'Just One'."
"The poster was made at Takakura Junior and Senior High School in Nagoya (Third major city in Japan, one hour or so south of Tokyo by bullet-train).""The 44 thousand tiles were cut out of coloured drink-pack cartons! The poster uses only 24 colours. Each tile is 3 cm². The finished masterpiece is abouit 4 metres high by 8 metres across. It was their first ever mosaic poster and it took about two weeks to complete."
From the 'Link Pile:'
Answering my own question Dept.
I finally got my hands on a copy of Karaoke Revolution, and got to experience it first hand. It does, in fact, grade based on pitch, as well as rhythm (the timing of each word). You can, however, 'fool' it by just humming the correct notes on beat - you don't need to know the words at all. The difficulty settings allow you to determine how forgiving the judgement will be. All in all, a totally useful music game. Weird! The disc also has some interesting 'behind the scenes' video of the in-studio recording sessions for each song in the game (They're all 'soundalikes'), and the second volume has a Darkness song, in case your falsetto needs work.
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Andy Thompson - 'LP of My Eye' From: LP of My Eye Mini-CD (2002) |
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The Pop Project - 'House of Books' From: Forthcoming release of some sort (200?) |
A bit of google, liberally applied to the nagging question of their origin reveals that they are in fact "Pluots" - plums crossed with apricots, and they are DELICIOUS. I've also found reference to them being called 'Apriums' and 'Flavor Grenades.' 'Flavor Grenades' would probably be equally effective in the 'Incite five year-olds to nag mom for this fruit' department.
That night I dreamt that the world was being invaded by dinosaurs who turned people into crazy, bloodthirsty zombies by biting them. Good times. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: eddie EMAIL: ki0sk@ki0sk.org IP: 204.89.69.14 URL: http://ki0sk.org DATE: 08/12/2004 08:34:51 AM they really do look like dinasaur eggs. or maybe something rejected from the willy wonka factory. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Charlemange EMAIL: whimpyandpew@yahoo.com IP: 138.88.173.31 URL: http://charlemange.net DATE: 09/03/2004 08:33:25 PM I"m eating one now for the first time. Very good! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Six degrees of Jon Brion STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 567 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/16/2004 10:44:31 AM ----- BODY: Fun on The Jellyfish mailing list:
"We are in the process of digitizing all our CDs so that we can share 'em all over the house via the wireless hub. I was reading in [the liner notes to] The Wallflowers' "Bringing Down the Horse" that Jon Brion played on it, and I started thinking... what hasn't that guy been on?! Well, since Kyle loooves the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game (and he is sickeningly good at it) I thought... why not a 6 degrees of jon Brion game? i bet it can be done. He has worked with a fairly wide variety of musicians and with some really famous ones... on this record alone he is credited along side Sam Phillips, T-Bone Burnett, and Michael Penn. Not to mention the Roger Manning connection (he's been on lots of stuff too) Spilt Milk is like the JFK of the Kevin Bacon game... "The game hasn't really kicked off on the list yet, but I can't wait, so I'm issuing a challenge. If we get stuck, you'll probably want these workarounds for the recently redesigned Allmusic. I worked out Jon Brion to Kevin Bacon, via movies (In two steps!):
Jon Brion was in "Boogie Nights" with Burt Reynolds (Brion played 'Awards Ceremony Band Member')The challenge is to get from Kevin Bacon (Who records music with his brother as 'The Bacon Brothers') to Jon Brion, in six steps or less, using only albums they've worked on. It looks like the Bacon Brothers have had some high profile guest appearances (ie Jon Bon Jovi), so it should be doable.Burt Reynolds was in "Starting Over" with Kevin Bacon!
Incidentally, in piecing this entry together, I googled for six degrees of Kevin Bacon a bit. Given the state of geekery on the web, I'm AMAZED that no one has attempted to write some sort of Kevin Bacon Game php script using the imdb php class. So I guess that's a bonus challenge. Write that. UPDATE! I don't know how I missed the Oracle of Bacon on first googling, but I did. So yes, someone has written such a script. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: you@havemyemail.com IP: 134.215.220.46 URL: DATE: 08/16/2004 12:15:34 PM I've thought about the Bacon program, but I'm a tool and won't devote time to it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.159.215 URL: DATE: 08/17/2004 01:42:03 AM Gotta fix that Roger Manning link, not the same one. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brandon Mills EMAIL: bsmills@uiuc.edu IP: 69.212.101.104 URL: DATE: 08/21/2004 12:37:23 AM Kevin Bacon- member of Bacon Brothers Jon Bon Jovi- guitar on Bacon Bros Forosoco album Kevin Shirley- engineer on Bon Jovi's "Always" single Silverchair- Frogstomp album engineered by Kevin Shirley Van Dyke Parks- Silverchair's Diorama album includes string arrangements by VDP Rufus Wainwright- his self-entitled album features string arrangements by VDP Jon Brion- produced the same Wainwright album the lynchpin is Van Dyke, who may have an even better 6 degrees of separation than Brion. He appeared in a film with Grace Kelly and Alec Guiness and helped on the arrangements for the Jungle Book's "Bare Necessities" for christsake! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jordan EMAIL: x@x.com IP: 68.40.133.13 URL: http://x DATE: 09/17/2004 06:48:09 PM Jon Brion to Kevin Bacon? I can only do it with seven steps: Jon Brion > Matt Chamberlain > David Bowie > Robert Fripp > Hall & Oates > Jon Bon Jovi > Kevin Bacon. I'm sure there's a much shorter way, possibly involving Jim Keltner. -- Jordan ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: (Mariokart Double Dash)^8 STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 570 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/17/2004 11:16:20 AM ----- BODY: One of my current places of employment, the Ann Arbor District Library, had a pretty great event this past Saturday. As part of their Axis Teen program, they're sponsoring a five-month long Mario Kart Double Dash Tournament. Tournament play takes place once a month, and judging from the reaction Saturday's event was met with, each month's proceedings will draw more kids into the library.
Eight Gamecubes were networked together in a LAN, and the S-video outs of each station were taken to a Video Toaster rig, which in turn had its output fed to a projector. This displayed the view of the leader of the race in progress, intercut with live video of the players and bracket information - all on a large screen in the center of the room. 8 players (16 in team mode) were able to play simultaneously on dedicated screens.
The Ann Arbor News wrote a story on the event, and I have a ridiculously shaky .avi of the room in action from my camera.
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AADL Mario Kart GT 8.14.04 |
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Big Fish Eat Little Fish - 'Word Awk' From: I Am Shorter Than You Are Taller Than Am I |
UPDATE!
Another great example pointed to in the comments is 'Bob' by Weird Al Yankovic, suggested by Andy Baio. I should probably clarify and say that the lyrics to this example are palindromes in the classic sense, whereas I was describing the lyrics of the Big Fish Eat Little Fish song as palindromic. If one were to write the lyrics out, they wouldn't be a palindrome, per se. This is making no sense. Perhaps an illustration is in order:
A bit of the lyrics to Yankovic's 'Bob:'
I, man, am regal - a German am IEach line is a palindrome. In the case of the lyrics to 'Word Awk:'
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Ment Face De Self Such With Live You Can HowThe lyrics are palindromic in a broader way, in the sense that the entire song is the palindrome, as opposed to being made up of a series of palindromes. So you see, if one were to treat each WORD in 'Word Awk' as a LETTER, THEN it would be...(Head Explodes).
Space My In Self Your Cing For
By Place Word Awk Such In Me Put You
Lone A Me Leave But
Ly Lite Po This You Tell To How Know Don't
I!
Don't Know How To Tell You This Politely
But Leave Me Alone
You Put Me In Such Awkward Place
By Forcing Yourself In My Space
How Can You Live With Such Self-Defacement?
Another of the links posted in the comments references a book I'm trying to read right now: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. This is a good book to read if you like music, math, and art; and don't mind your head exploding occaisionally. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: the Other michael EMAIL: xraysmalevich@xradiograph.com IP: 12.166.42.53 URL: http://scp.xradiograph.com DATE: 08/30/2004 10:47:47 AM I had heard of musical palindromes before (primarily as regards Canons), and here are some brief google-returns: *Mauchaut's motets, & others *The World of Numbers has an ugly page on musical palindromes *Genetic music Douglas Hofstadter, &c *Palindromic wind chimes, based on the Quartal scale *a palindromic composition by James Tenney is buried deep within this page. I don't remember hearing of Tenney, before...but anybody who considers Nancarrow a major influence can't be too bad. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Andy Baio EMAIL: log@waxy.org IP: 4.38.40.254 URL: http://waxy.org/ DATE: 08/30/2004 11:44:59 AM Every line of Weird Al's "Bob," his tribute to Bob Dylan off his "Poodle Hat" album, is an actual palindrome. (Here's the MP3. Lyrics.) Here are some palindromic lyrics, but I don't think they've been set to music. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Adam EMAIL: adam@kempa.com IP: 141.217.171.115 URL: DATE: 08/30/2004 12:07:05 PM Oh man, I KNEW I was going to regret not buying the latest Weird Al album. And I'm being sincere. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Casper EMAIL: nifo@casperbass.com IP: 65.195.121.66 URL: http://www.chromaticmusings.com/ DATE: 08/30/2004 12:14:20 PM Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (a jazz group who are far better than their name) did a instrumental palindrome called "UFO TOFU". ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: blah@blaha.com IP: 134.215.220.46 URL: DATE: 08/30/2004 01:46:22 PM Yankovic. Add the K Adam. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: groverloaf EMAIL: groverloaf@juno.com IP: 12.153.240.74 URL: http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com DATE: 08/31/2004 02:23:05 PM Someday mother will die and I'll get the money Mom leans down and says, "My sentiments exactly, You son of a bitch" I palindrome I (I palindrome I) I palindrome I (I palindrome I) And I am a snake head eating (snake head) The head on the opposite side (snake head) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) See that bulletproof dress hanging from the clothesline See the medical chart with the random zig-zag Now I'll help it decide I palindrome I (I palindrome I) I palindrome I (I palindrome I) And I am a snake head eating (snake head) The head on the opposite side (snake head) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) "Son I am able," she said "though you scare me." "Watch," said I "Beloved," I said "watch me scare you though." said she, "Able am I, Son." See the spring of the grandfather clock unwinding (Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age) See the hands of my offspring making windmills (Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age) Dad palindrome Dad I palindrome I (I palindrome I) I palindrome I (I palindrome I) And I am a snake head eating (snake head) The head on the opposite side (snake head) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) I palindrome I (manonam) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: MB EMAIL: mysticalbeast@gmail.com IP: 24.46.251.204 URL: DATE: 09/04/2004 03:04:36 PM The song "Kew. Rhone" from album of the same name by Peter Blegvad, John Greaves and Lisa Herman (which I just got done writing about at my website) ends with a long riff on the palindrome "Peel's foe, not a set animal, laminates a tone of sleep." ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Ridiculous Mix CD Packaging Part Deux STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 581 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/31/2004 09:07:29 AM ----- BODY:
More here. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: groverloaf EMAIL: groverloaf@juno.com IP: 12.153.240.74 URL: http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/ DATE: 08/31/2004 02:19:56 PM I love it!!! Where's mine? Sarah gets all the good stuff! : ( ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Print Media Excitement! STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 585 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/06/2004 04:38:34 PM ----- BODY: My bottlecap mosaic is mentioned in the Fall 2004 issue of Venus Magazine (Le Tigre on the cover). The mention is on page 73, in an article discussing craftster.org. Site originator Leah Kramer chose some of her favorite projects from the site, and apparently my mosaic was among them:
"Some projects on craftster are way more art than craft. In this project, Adam Kempa pays homage to his late brother Chris by creating a mosaic of Chris' likeness made entirely out of different types of bottle caps. It's an unbelievable technical feat and a touching expression on Adam's part."Wow! Super nice, and Exciting!
Disclaimer: the iPod in the photo below is propped up on several teabags - the two don't fit together nearly as well as the photo might lead you to believe. The speakers were manufactured to fit the original gameboy, so they are significantly thicker than the iPod.
Based on these facts, it should be clear that Snerdles are the greatest thing ever.
I'd love to see a behind the scenes of how these things are made. I'm assuming it's automated, and if that's the case, just think! ROBOTS that make MOSAICS out of NERDS. No, wait - ROBOTS that make SUPERHERO mosaics out of NERDS, FOR NERDS.
Update: There are examples of other, less geeky varieties of Snerdles here and here. Snerdles appear to be produced by Au'some Candy Company. I emailed them about the production process, but haven't heard back yet.
Other, more detailed snerdles links: here, and here.
You can buy Marvel Snerdles in bulk here.
I was also recently alerted to an article on Jellybean mosaicist Peter Rocha, which ran in a recent issue of 'Stuff' magazine. Jelly Belly has a (creditless) gallery of his works here. There are a few photos of additional works here. Unfortunately, Mr. Rocha is no longer around to bask in my e-preciation (Thank you, 1999!). From the article:
"The artist, who immortalized such celebrities as Laurel and Hardy and Queen Elizabeth in his Jelly-bean portraits, died on April 20 at the age of 65. Each of his portraits used about 15,000 beans, and his Ronald Reagan piece hangs in the Ronald Reagan Library."
My Roommate Ryan baked a Pi:
If you're in the market for an easy to install wiki, I can wholeheartedly recommend Qwikiwiki. Simplest installation ever.
A few footnotes to last week's lonesome 'pi pie' entry that sparked so much inspired humor - Several other pi pies have come to my attention. The ridiculously detailed one at the end was submitted by Andy Baio, though he doesn't know the source of the photo.
"Kempa, Adam of Detroit, Wayne County, Mich. Independent American candidate for U.S. Representative from Michigan 1st District, 1960; Independent American candidate for delegate to Michigan state constitutional convention from Wayne County 5th District, 1961. Still living as of 1961." [link]
Further digging yields the following eerily applicable excerpt, from a summary of the September 12th, 1961 Michigan Constitutional Convention:
Bonus points to anyone who can tell me how to find anything else about this guy.
Update!
I found the following results page, showing the voting breakdown between the parties involved in this campaign. The Democrat won, the Socialist beat him.
More:
Born: Dec 24th, 1913. Erie, New York.----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Flickr STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 632 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/26/2004 04:27:59 PM ----- BODY: This is a test post from
Died: February 6th, 1975. Detroit, Michigan.
, a fancy photo sharing thing.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
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Hey friends.
I've been MIA for the last month or so, so I figured I'd drop a line here to keep you posted on the excitement that is my life.
After another round of fruitless second interviews, I find myself back at square one in the job search department, so I'm working on tweaking my PHP / MYSQL skills. The perfect project for doing that is to bring my various web-ventures up to date, so I'm tying up all sorts of loose ends. Hopefully all of these scattered efforts will coalesce into something tangible within the next few weeks.
I've also been spending lots of time working on several music-related projects. The Recital will (hopefully) FINALLY finish that full length we've been talking about for release in the new year, and I'm incubating several fun massively-collaborative recording projects, so if you're interested in that, get in touch.
I bought one of these Gameboy media readers, and have successfully transferred an episode of a television show to my gameboy advance. (Loosely related sidenote: I'm considering purchasing either a gamecube or an Xbox. Gamecube seems to have better games, Xbox is more customizable. Got a strong opinion one way or the other? Convince me).
During the first presidential debate, Bush said "Mexed Missages," so naturally I registered Mexedmissages.com. Unfortunately I used a bargain-basement back-alley registrar, who confirmed the order but sat on it for 24 hours while someone else registered it. LAME. They're not even doing anything with it!
What else? I'm taking a train to Chicago to see the Zombies with Love tommorrow night. That should be pretty amazing. Also, I'm working on three more vinyl articles in my spare time, so if that first batch bored you, WATCH OUT! That's about it. Write back.
Adam
P.S.
If you have anything to say on the matter of Wordpress vs. Movabletype, let me know about that, too. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Adam EMAIL: adam@kempa.com IP: 141.217.171.234 URL: http://www.kempa.com DATE: 10/07/2004 12:52:06 PM It's been pointed out to me that I made it sound like I'm unemployed. I actually have two jobs. I'm looking for one full-time position which will enable me to visit a doctor occaisionally. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brad S. EMAIL: brad11310@aol.com IP: 216.115.60.247 URL: DATE: 10/07/2004 01:18:04 PM X-Box is much better then Game Cube ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: koyetay EMAIL: koyetay@gmail.com IP: 137.229.58.6 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/koyetay DATE: 10/07/2004 08:22:52 PM In terms of console choice, it all depends on what you want to do. If you want some interesting and innovative games, go witht he 'Cube. Miyomoto still has a few projects in the works, I'm sure. However, the x-box has the advantage of the Live system. This is undoubtedly the most well-implimented console online-gaming network. But here's the thing, you can get that on your computer too (Should you happen to have a halfway-decent machine). ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: koyetay EMAIL: koyetay@gmail.com IP: 137.229.58.6 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/koyetay DATE: 10/07/2004 08:25:02 PM (I guess this was too large, had to break it up) Personally, I'd go with the GC, as online-play has never been that huge of a deal to me and I have been consistently wowed by the titles from Nintendo. Plus, Paper Mario 2 is coming out soon and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you? Would you? I thought not. My favorte forum about gaming has to be this one if you want to do a bit more research: forums.insertcredit.com. They really don't have any major bias against any one system, on the whole, and have some rather interesting discussions about game design and theory. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Koppin EMAIL: stickitinmybutt@kempa.com IP: 165.121.210.150 URL: DATE: 10/07/2004 08:46:28 PM Dude, you should buy a Gamecube, or I'm moving out. No XBox. Donkey Konga or Halo 2? No choice. Donkey Konga. Plus I can steal a bunch of games from the family. They'll never notice that they are missing. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: koppinrules@koppin.com IP: 69.208.122.157 URL: DATE: 10/08/2004 01:16:48 AM Koppin - I'm glad you're an angry videogame dude....go back to bed. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: juba EMAIL: juba@juba.com IP: 216.43.88.133 URL: DATE: 10/08/2004 09:50:28 AM i have a modded xbox, and it is one of the best things ever. not only can i rent a game and just copy it to the 120 gig hd (uh...in theory!) but you can also install emulators for basically any system ever, and play all the games on your tv, the way they were meant to be played. i have every nes and famicom game ever ready to be played. check xbox-scene.com for modding info. gamecube? it's cheap, but there's only like 2 good games for it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: koyetay EMAIL: koyetay@gmail.com IP: 137.229.58.6 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/koyetay DATE: 10/10/2004 06:18:59 AM Ahem. 2? No, my friend. Observe: Metroid Prime Super Smash Bros. Melee Pikmin (And pikmin 2) Tales of Symphonia (if you're in to action rpg's) Viewtiful Joe (It's been ported to ps2) Mario Golf Mario Sunshine Paper Mario 2 Alien Hominid (later this fall) The legend of Zelda: The four swords Eternal Darkness This most certainly isn't all of them, but the most I feel like listing off at the moment. Yes, there are a preponderance of first-party titles here, but they're all great games. And don't start talking about how "kiddie" they are, because anybody who plays them knows that some of these are gaming bliss. Personally, I'd say screw it to both and pick up a ps2. In terms of good games, it beats both, hands down, especially if you want to play any classics. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Chris Hatfield EMAIL: DokterXnoXSPAMXrock@hotmail.com IP: 66.188.47.97 URL: http://penis@dick.wang DATE: 10/11/2004 01:57:28 AM The modified X-Box sounds pretty cool, but I have to mention the one title that completely justifies the purchase of a Nintendo Gamecube: Super Monkey Ball 2. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rickle! EMAIL: vazarus@hotmail.com IP: 68.42.109.133 URL: DATE: 10/11/2004 02:58:01 PM Yeah dude! GameCube is like, totally sweet and stuff and like, X-box isn't. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Shafter EMAIL: SHAFTER79@YAHOO.COM IP: 162.48.138.249 URL: DATE: 10/13/2004 09:34:29 AM Definitely the xbox...a hard drive is so much better then memory cards...and the new game fable is sweet...or just wait till mid next year...xbox2, ps3 and a new nintendo system ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: chris EMAIL: chris@uprecords.com IP: 64.81.17.129 URL: http://www.uprecords.com DATE: 10/22/2004 03:30:16 PM i had a gamecube and still went and got an xbox. the espn sports games are way better than anything ever, and they seem to only be on xbox but maybe that has changed with this year's batch. anyway, xbox rules because i can now play online. it's funny about the online playing, they advertise it trying to hint how 'you never know who you're playing against..' like celebrities, etc. i like movable type pretty well. i haven't used it a tonne. but i'd say use that. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Zombie Attack! STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 677 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/13/2004 01:50:04 AM ----- BODY: I made a special trip to Chicago this past weekend to see a performance by the remnants of my 2nd-favorite british invasion band, The Zombies. Singer Colin Blunstone and Keyboardist Rod Argent have assembled a backing band and taken the Zombies back-catalogue on the road. They played nearly everything I had hoped to hear, including a good 80% of "Odessy & Oracle," all the early hits, and even their arrangement of Gershwin's 'Summertime.' There was a slow patch in the middle of the set consisting of material from their much-maligned new album, an Argent song ('Hold Your Head Up'), and a song from an earlier Blunstone solo effort.
The backing band consisted of Argent bassist Jim Rodford (Rod's Cousin), his son on drums (ridiculously talented), and some faceless dude who looked like Jessica Simpson's Dad on guitar. Save for a gratuitous guitar solo by Mr. Simpson - who had managed to remain pretty understated for the bulk of the set, everyone was very tasteful in their reproduction and occasional accentuation of the original parts. A few purists on the Zombie Heaven mailing-list were whining about the blasphemy of performing Odessy & Oracle songs without a live mellotron, but that's to be expected from old-guy pop-fan crybabies.
I should probably say that the primary reason I was there was to hear Colin Blunstone sing some of the classic Zombies songs live, so I was pretty happy to find that his voice is still in great shape, and the vocal harmonies by Mr. Argent and Mr. Rodford were spot on.
At any rate, the next day, a "friend of the band" posted the following message on the Zombie Heaven mailing list. I can't vouch for its credibility, of course.
"You know the reason I love this list we're on is that we're all passionate about The Zombies and most of us know what we want to see and hear. That's one of the reasons why 'As Far As I Can See' saddens me so much. I suppose that first of all, it being listed as a Zombies album really gets to me. I know people will come back and point the finger in the direction of New World, but there is a difference between the two. When New World came about all of the Zoms (Rod included) had a chance to reunite the group. It was an open invitation to all, but Rod made it clear that he didn't believe in going back, and everybody respected that. He gave the project his blessing and so Colin, Chris, & Hugh moved along with it and brought in other people who could help. It may not have been the greatest album of all time but it was put together with the very best intentions.'As Far As I Can See' comes across as a little bit of a joke. When Chris White sang some backing vocals on it he had no idea at the time that this was going to be a "Zombies" album. He thought it was another Rod & Colin album. Rod had told him of his dream where he saw (in lights) the names Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone with the words "are Zombies" underneath, but never once let it slip that they would be selling and touring this under the Zoms name. Paul knew but understandably didn't care due to his own situation [Original guitarist Paul Atkinson died of cancer early this year. There's a memorial here -ak], but Hugh didn't have the foggiest. There wasn't even a phone call out of basic common courtesy to let him know about the whole thing.
It wasn't until the Paul Atkinson benefit concert that either Hugh or Chris got an inkling of what was going on. All that aside, do you want to know what the very worst thing about all of this is? I'll tell you anyway. The most upsetting thing is that, more than anything else in the world, both Hugh Grundy and Chris White want to tour O & O with Rod and Colin. Hugh and Chris are waiting to tour America doing the whole of O & O much in the same format as Brian Wilson is doing with Smile, and Rod and Colin know it. I have personally spoken to three of the four Zombies about this recently and I get the same responses every time. The man standing in the way is Rod Argent. He still doesn't believe in "going back" except of course when it helps him sell a few extra 'solo' records. There have been discussions with Rod about an O & O tour (and whatever could come of that, but one step at a time) and his response has been an insult to the rest of the Zombies.
So far, he has said he will consider it but only if Hugh and Chris agree to letting him use his current touring band. He would like to give Hugh a tambourine and let Chris sing backing vocals and of course his lead on Butcher's Tale and a verse of Brief Candles.
My last conversation with Rod was about 18 months ago and is more revealing now that it ever was then. He believes one of the main reasons that The Zombies "failed" was because nobody (apart from him) was a good enough musician, which was what he tried to correct when putting Argent together. His main argument for not putting an O & O tour together is pretty much all related to that. He says that neither Hugh or Chris have played professionally for well over 30 years and that they're just not good enough. His short sightedness bemuses me, it really does. It even scares me. It's one of those things that I had kept to myself because I believed that perhaps it wasn't my place to stir up trouble, but I'm just so sick and tired of it all now.
I apologise for the length of this rant, I really do but I leave you with this thought. The Zombies want to reform, Rod doesn't respect them enough to even give it genuine consideration. You can draw your own conclusions.
Roger"
Naturally, this got a pretty big reaction on the list. Another member suggested:
"Perhaps, as a compromise, The Zombies could tour again, and half their set could be older material, with Hugh and Chris, and the remainder with the new band."
...and Roger responded:
"This was suggested by Hugh and Chris. They would have Rod, Colin and the new band up for the first half doing newer bits and pieces and the second half would be The actual Zombies doing O & O and a couple of others that people may want to hear. Rod didn't like that. New band all the way or nothing. Hopefully there's some life left in this yet as the last thing that anybody wants is a legal fight. That would just dash any hope of anything ever happening and we would be the people that suffered most. Nobody would like to see that."
The next day, this message appeared:
"After reading with amazement, as probably most of you did, Mr. McClair's message from October 10th, I decided to forward this to Rod. In a first e-mail he told me he never heard of Mr. McClair and that he would make time, inspite of his busy schedule, to mail me a detailed reply. And so he did.Rod's message:I appreciate this very much, because the travelling and playing concerts almost every other night must be very exhausting. That Rod takes the time to write to us proves to me once again what a great guy he is and that he does not take his fans, and especially this group, for granted."
"Hi Cobi,Here is an explanation, as detailed as I can make it, of our current situation./ Could you post it on the group so that people can get a true picture? Thanks!
I don't normally reply to this sort of stuff, but this message makes me really angry - I just cannot let the mis-information and inaccuracy stand. Firstly - I HAVE NEVER SAID, OR FELT IN ANY WAY THAT THE ZOMBIES " FAILED" (!) BECAUSE THE MEMBERS WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. THIS IS NOT ONLY DAFT BUT OFFENSIVE. In fact, Chris will tell you that on first hearing the box set in 1997( the first time for years that I had re-listened to Zombies material), my first call was to him to say that I had forgotten just how good his bass playing was!
Secondly, I would welcome a much heavier involvement from Chris and Hugh in the event of performances of O & O. Again, Chris will tell you that I phoned him just before our current U.S. tour to suggest that he and Hugh might start familiarising themselves with the songs with a view to us getting together after our current period of touring, to see how we play together after all these years . As some of your members know, I personally get my energy from creating and playing new songs. However, within that context, both Colin and I are delighted to play the old stuff as well. If we do O&O, I would regard it as a "period piece", and would like to recreate it as faithfully as possible. However - you have to realise that we haven't tried anything like this for many years, and we HAVE to see what is practicable. IT IS NOT ME WHO INSISTS THAT WE SHOULD NOT PLAY AS A UNIT. Colin will tell you that it is me who has been arguing strongly to him for ages that if we do it at all, we should try to recreate it with heavier inv olvement from Chris and Hugh. PLEASE !!!- "I'm using The Zombies name to sell a few more solo records!! I have never been motivated by money, and am not now. If so, why would I spend a year doing a classical album which can only bring me back a quarter of the money I laid out to record it?
Colin and I are trying to do what we are doing at the best level we can This means that, far from making a lot of money, the whole effort is about a struggle to break even! We are not complaining - playing and touring hard with this great band is a joy, and absolutely what we want to do. I can tell you though, that we are many thousands of pounds away from a break even point. If I want to make money I can stay at home, collect royalties from my back catalogue, and not have to use them to subsidise what we are doing now! The context of cost also brings to bear on the possible O & O performances. If we do it, we have to involve extra singers and at least one extra keyboard player. I would see us being able to bring this off in two or three places - London, New York, L.A? - but touring extensively with such forces would be financial suicide. I can tell you we would not pull the size of audience that Brian Wilson has to make it viable.
The fact is that we haven't "reformed" anything. Our situation has evolved naturally, through delight and enthusiasm, and it's only the fact that we are working together in such a band situation that has led us to acknowledge our inevitable Zombies connection . We are always at pains to tell reporters that this is our, current, take, and we always insist on our own two names on albums and publicity so that people are in no doubt. This does not reflect on the original incarnation of the band - in fact I can tell you that it has already stimulated sales of O & O in the U.S. No body is in any doubt.
Well , that's it. I have absolutely no interest in replying to this "Roger McClair" personally, but I do not want your members to suffer such personally offensive mis-information.
Rod Argent"
Kempa.com - your #1 source for '60-year-old dudes squabbling about their band' gossip. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.208.122.157 URL: DATE: 10/13/2004 06:55:31 PM Adam - That post was not only DAFT, but offensive as well. Seriously though, I find it hard to believe that the Zombies couldn't turn out Brian Wilson level-audiences. I don't know a single hipster who hasn't blabbed about O & O to me at least once. Better yet, get those Zombies a hip backing band like the Wondermints and the cool people would come around due to association. Why can't old dudes market themselves? Ridiculous. Do the shows at Majestic Theater type places, and have SLGTM type bands open each show. It would be gold. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ted EMAIL: emiller5@emich.edu IP: 164.76.104.204 URL: DATE: 10/14/2004 11:43:30 AM They played pretty well in Royal Oak too. I had pretty much the same complaints: the unsolicited ten minute Argent jam, axe-wailing and the sub-par new songs. Also, they botched "This Will Be Our Year", but apologized. Otherwise, it was really neat. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: I shoulda been a designer STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 678 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/19/2004 04:28:39 PM ----- BODY:
| Though it occurs to me that my idea of 'cool looking' is the rough equivalent of most people's idea of 'hard to read.' |
"More details to come... clear all other plans! Be a part of the tomb...ERRR...Milestone! Nothing will be the same after this! Pass it on! The more the scarier!"
This thread on the Fantagraphics message board has previews of Canadian cartoonist Seth's designs for volumes three and four of 'The Complete Peanuts.' Each volume of the hardcover series covers two years worth of strips and will feature a different Peanuts character on the cover. Volumes one and two, released this year, feature Charlie Brown and Lucy respectively. As you can see below, Pigpen and Snoopy have been chosen for next year's volumes. Click each image for a larger view.
Fantagraphics representative Kim Thompson adds:
"The final cover will have a different colored logo (like the first two, it will be a variant of the main background color but in a metallic ink, but those don't show up real well on digital images so we're sticking with the neutral/tan ones for now), a Snoopy image in the upper left hand corner instead of the repeated Charlie Brown (the upper left hand image repeats the main character), and of course the "INTRODUCTION BY ---" copy. But it's good enough as a spaceholder for Amazon.com."
There is a giant feature on Seth in the latest issue of Comic Art Magazine (AKA the best magazine in the world, ever), which includes some lengthy discussion of the Peanuts designs. I quote liberally from the Comic Art article below, in the hopes that your mind will be blown and you will immediately order a copy of your own.
"These are the covers from the Schulz reprint proposal that I presented to Jeannie Schulz. Basically, Gary [Groth] went through all the dealings and then after they'd got things fairly concrete, where it looked like it was going to happen, they brought me down so I could talk to Jeannie and show her what I wanted to do with the book. I went there with a small talk planned, basically to tell her that I felt Schulz's work was so wonderfully sophisticated and that it had been, I felt, undersold in the last 30 years-pushed as kids' books, really Pop-y, and that I wanted to try to put together a package of some sort that had some quality of understatement to it. So, here is the production art that I brought down to sell the idea. These fake covers I put together are pretty rough, really. I outlined how the books would fit together and what the design system was...originally. I was planning on one book per year and I wanted to do 50 covers with Charlie Brown's face on each one. His face would have been taken from the specific year and then you could chart his changes over 50 years. Basically, everybody but me felt that was too much, that we should vary the characters, which is what will happen. This original idea was to demonstrate how much variety there really was just in the Charlie Brown face itself. Conceptually I like it, but I didn't really expect them to go for that. So, we'll have 25 books with all the characters appearing once on the covers-one face per book-although Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Lucy (maybe Linus too) will reappear-Charlie Brown will defmitely be on the first and the last books. Not all the characters can get the cover-but everyone will make the spine. I'll start the early volumes with the minor characters, like Shermy. Each cover-featured character will dominate that specific volume's design.""In many ways, the design has stayed almost exactly the same as I originally conceived it. The endpapers for each are completely assembled from Schulz's background imagery, which I've reworked. I'm keeping the same endpapers for each decade. so it'll change once we hit the '60s, and what's interesting is that by the time we hit the '90s. there are almost no backgrounds: it'll become very minimalist. with just a bit of grass, or some detail to build around. When you open the book, I want the reader to move into Schulz's work in a quiet way, so they start with the environment-then you cross a double-page splash of just grass that will lead you into the book. The grass will be updated every 10 years as well, which no one will even notice but me. That will lead into a series of spreads that go throughout the book before you enter into the strips. Each book will feature one of the iconic places - 25 iconic backgrounds I can work with (Snoopy's doghouse for example). It's a pretty straightforward design system, in that with each volume I don't have a huge amount of elements to change, just certain spreads. I have to replace elements here and there with new imagery from that volume's years, of course. Things slowly evolve over the whole series. but in a very subtle way, which from book to book really isn't noticeable, but by the time you get to the last book the changes in the strip and the characters will be very clear."
"In the design, what I'm going for-I hope to create a package around the work that shows it in a slightly different context than it's been presented in for years. I don't want the reader to think much about it at all, but when they come to it, I hope they're led in and out of Schulz's work in a way that puts them in the right mood to read it again as the subtle work that it is, not as the product that has been pushed for so many years by merchandising and TV specials. But, we'll see. Jeannie Schulz was very receptive and easy-going about things. I was somewhat prepared that if there was any sort of conflict and I felt myself being pulled down the road having to do the same old boring Peanuts books that everyone's done, I would probably back out of the project. I was happy that she was so open, and what's great about Jeannie Schulz is that you could really see when talking with her that she thought of Charles Schulz as a genius. You know, when someone's been married for 30 years (or however long it was), it would be very easy to imagine the widow feeling the exact opposite: sick to death of that irritating husband who spent all his time in the studio complaining about being a sad multi-millionaire. But she didn't have that quality at all."
Now that we've got some insight into the theory behind the design, why not take a look at the plan from a marketing standpoint? One of the posters on the Fantagraphics webforum posted the following question:
"Any indication of how the sales of Complete Peanuts 2 compare to the first? I would imagine this volume will be a better indicator of what the long term sales will be, minus the media frenzy and testing how many people will want to buy a $30 book every six months. I notice that it's at 178 on Amazon, with the boxed set in the top 500 as well."
Fantagraphics font of knowledge Kim Thompson responds:
"It's hard to do a one-to-one comparison because of the box set. If you count initial sales of Book 2 as an individual title vs. initial sales of Book 1, Book 1 wins. If you count initial sales of Book 2 in all configurations (within or without the box set) Book 2 comes out ahead.""I expect Book 3, which won't have holiday sales or a box set (and the least popular main Peanut, Pigpen), will dip a bit. Book 4, on the other hand, will have a triple whammy: holiday sales, a box set (most likely), and Snoopy, by far the most popular character, on the cover -- as well as being probably the first book where the characters really look entirely like themselves."
"Long term, who knows? Volumes 6 through 10 might slow down a bit, but on the other hand the '60s are the peak period."
You may or may not remember that due to the sad state of our nation's newspaper archives, there were still several 'missing' strips from the years covered by the second volume. Fantagraphics representative Kim Thompson keeps us updated on this matter in this thread:
"[At press time] The only thing missing was a top strip (title panel and first, "breakaway" panel) for one Sunday, and Seth did a minimalist faux one to keep the format consistent. (This is all acknowledged and detailed in the back of the book.) Should the full Sunday ever materialize, subsequent reprintings will include the "real" top strip.""Oddly, 1955-1956 (Vol. 3) has THREE Sunday strips with missing top strips. Well, we have about four months to try to find them."
"Very few papers printed the strips at the time, even fewer have decent copies available, and of those that do all the ones we've found ran just the bottom 2/3rds. I'll post the dates here just in case, but trust me, even obsessive PEANUTS collectors have come up snake eyes on 'em so far."
Fans of Seth's work should also check out the August 23rd issue of the New Yorker - he did the cover.
I'm a sucker for animation to begin with, but this is the BEST kind: Old, Black and White, and absolutely Music-centric. These cartoons were made when speech was still used sparingly in animation, and the on-screen action was closely tied to the often elaborate orchestration of the soundtrack. The DVD consists of 9 black and white Tom & Jerry animated shorts from 1931-1933.
Clearly, these are not the characters that first spring to mind when one thinks of 'Tom & Jerry,' but they get a pass since they were there first. The manufacturer of the DVD, Genius Entertainment, shrewdly attempts to exploit this confusion in the on-box copy:
"Two of the most popular cartoon creations are together again in this one-of-a-kind collection of their most fun-filled escapades. Poor Tom is always going up against the wise Jerry in their cat-and-mouse games. You'll enjoy these hilarious shorts over and over again."Watching the shorts reveals that this Tom & Jerry are actually a team of sorts, and don't "go up against" each other at all. There's a good website with information on these cartoons here.
If you're a big weirdo and interested in getting a copy of your own, check out the nearest Target, dollar store, or if you don't feel like getting up, you can order it from Amazon (Though it'll cost you an extra fifty cents).
Bonus: The Horror double-feature DVD's also feature 'Spooky' Tom & Jerry shorts of the same vintage, which are not included on the Tom & Jerry DVD. Rib-cage xylaphones abound! ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: DAVID EMAIL: SURF.ZEN@VERIZON.NET IP: 4.14.32.11 URL: DATE: 11/23/2004 05:16:45 PM ?? ??p Stumbled on these at my 99 cent store and have since loaded up on about $35.oo worth. Great old television shows, funky low budget biker movies, cartoons and more than a few very good films like Marlon Brando's 'One Eyed Jacks" Check it out ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: James EMAIL: dearslayer357@hotmail.com IP: 24.140.34.180 URL: DATE: 12/21/2004 11:26:11 AM I bought Family Enforcer and I went to watch it and it was a completely different movie. It was "Death Collector" ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Barry I. Grauman EMAIL: IP: 4.67.40.217 URL: DATE: 06/06/2005 05:03:22 PM Yep, those "Dollar DVD's" are sure a great bargain- but let the buyer beware! I recently purchased a "LONE RANGER" dvd {at a FAMILY DOLLAR store} featuring the first four episodes of the series from 1949, which I haven't seen in a long time. I'm still waiting to see them, because, even though the disc was clearly labeled "THE LONE RANGER", what I SAW were two episodes of "BAT MASTERSON" starring Gene Barry from 1958, with a "bonus" episode of "THE ADVENTURES OF JIM BOWIE" (1956). A nice surprise, and I thought about keeping the disc...however, the picture froze towards the end of the disc and I could not get my player to "read" the disc properly!! [YOU'VE had this experience before, haven't you?]. In the end, I exchanged it for a very good transfer of Hitchcock's "BLACKMAIL" (1929). So, I can only conclude, "you pays your money and you takes your chances". Nine times out of ten, you'll probably be satisfied with your "dollar dvd"..but keep an eye out for that '10th purchase'! ;) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: DVD Collector EMAIL: IP: 69.234.39.133 URL: DATE: 07/08/2005 12:03:05 PM Yes, there are some great buys on dollar DVDs, but you have to pick carefully. Another source of cheap entertainment is the 50-movie box sets from Treeline Films. They have about 10 different ones. I've found them for as low as $20, that's 40 cents per movie (at Big Lots and Rite Aid), but you can also get them online (for about $30) at www.dvdmegapacks.com. I would say there are some worthless titles on each box set, but those are in the minority; more than half of the titles are worth watching to one degree or another. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: George EMAIL: George4440@hotmail.com IP: 172.156.99.69 URL: DATE: 12/04/2005 11:02:18 PM Yes, I've lucked out and found a few dollar dvd's at the second hand stores I did find dvd's as GREY LADY DOWN, JOHN WAYNES NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY VERY GOOD BTW, ALSO LONE RANGER DVD AS STATED. SAY DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE SOME 12 0' CLOCK HIGH STARRING ROBERT LANSING AND PAUL BURKE CAN BE FOUND? PLUS SOME OBSCURE B MOVIE SCI-FI ETC? Some of the mega packs are good, try megapacks at local biglots if any around area. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jesse Long EMAIL: halfyouth@yahoo.com IP: 63.151.7.26 URL: http://Lufkin,TX DATE: 02/21/2006 03:06:33 PM I'm desperately looking for classic tv shows that aired in the late 60's and early 70's that cost $1 each.If you could send this information to my email halfyouth@yahoo.com I'd appreciate it Jesse long ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Meredith M EMAIL: IP: 204.185.19.25 URL: DATE: 02/23/2006 02:53:27 PM What can I saw about $1.00 dvd movies? They're FANTASTIC!!! If you are an old movie sucker and a low budget college student (like I am) dollar dvd's are perfect. I have found so many old movies...some good, some ok, some not-so-good, but all of them cheap. I have found silent movies, vintage cartoons, old horror movies, and even some comedies. I'm not saying that all dvd's at the dollar store are what they claim to be. I recently found a Woody Woodpecker dvd, but when I brought it to the dorm it only had 1 Woody cartoon on it...but since it had so many other vintage cartoons on the disc I decided that it was worth the false adverstising. For parents looking for clean entertainment for their children (like during road trips if there is a dvd player in the car) these movies make a perfect travelling companion. For parents that are concerned about the trashy cartoons that now have seemed to overrun the cartoon channels, there is a way to provide quality entertainment at a very, very, VERY resonable price. For parents $1.oo dvds are a great way to stock up on entertaining movies. For college students these cheap dvds are perfect for those on a low spending budget. Perfect! .....A college student ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: lavernelisa@yahoo.com. EMAIL: lavernelisa@yahoo.com IP: 68.98.89.102 URL: DATE: 03/30/2006 03:23:04 PM any good places where they specilize in sellinf horror dvds. THE MUMMY DRACULA FRANKENSTIEN ANY INFO APPRECIATED LAVERNE ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Chris Alexander EMAIL: harryangel13@aol.com IP: 204.92.66.241 URL: http://www.meridian-music.com DATE: 04/03/2006 09:06:39 AM Man, I LOVE these Public Domain Dollar DVD's. And surprisingly, some of the transfers are great. I just picked up Alberto De Martino's Crime Boss with Telly Savalas, a great sleazy Italian crime drama with an amazing score, and even though part of the opening credits were missing, the film was widescreen and really colorful. I've bought stacks of these titles, all of them really fun... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Tommy Tobin EMAIL: tommytobin@rock.com IP: 204.62.96.213 URL: DATE: 05/20/2006 01:43:24 PM I bought "His Majsety The Scarecrow of Oz" It's a silent(1914)movie dvd with dubber music & talking. It's a very cool piece of history. The original version of "The Wizard of Oz". Well worth a look;especially at $1! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Emma K. EMAIL: Jean3@lycos.com IP: 70.107.8.17 URL: http://lycos.com DATE: 06/15/2006 01:57:19 PM I've found some 'treasures' myself, but if I could locate 'My Man Godfrey' (The second version with David Niven '57) and 'Trap Happy Porky', on any of these DVD's I'd truly have hit the jackpot. I intend to keep looking until I do find them though. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: bap EMAIL: IP: 67.0.10.235 URL: DATE: 06/17/2006 10:48:49 PM Reply to Emma K.: Try your local Dollar Tree store - I believe they might have My Man Godfrey. (I noticed it after buying it at ShopKo for $5.) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 67.0.10.235 URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043618/ DATE: 06/17/2006 10:53:43 PM P.S. You might want to pick up Happy Go Lovely it's a good movie - esp. for a buck. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: PrinceDeeder EMAIL: IP: 69.214.5.58 URL: DATE: 07/25/2006 12:46:55 AM there are numerous DVD's they got for a buck. i stumbled upon Sherlock Holmes when i was standin in line at the store. im gonna go to a few of the other family dollars and see which ones they have. i wanna find more of the sherlock holmes and some of there martial arts dvd's. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 66.176.235.218 URL: DATE: 04/19/2007 08:00:57 PM one episode of tom and jerry features them mocking black people its on you tube very racist ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 1:40 AM. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 695 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 11/03/2004 06:45:59 AM ----- BODY: Fox has already called Ohio, CNN maintains it's still too close, and I'm going to bed. Meanwhile, people are still voting in Ohio (link to first-hand account). I really hope Kerry stands his ground and waits for each and every vote - provisional or otherwise - to be counted in Ohio before making a premature concession.
"Klaatu's John Woloschuk just called me to ask if I could track down a rap song for him called "Lay You Down". Apparently, a sample of Klaatu's 1974 song "Dr. Marvello" is used in it, and John's starting to see royalty cheques from sales. Because Klaatu has no control over their master recordings outside of Canada, John's curious to find out the context of the sample under which Capitol in the US agreed to license it."I've included MP3 samples of both below. They didn't even bother to isolate the parts without singing - The Klaatu vocals are audible beneath the raps!"Turns out....the song is 50 (fiddy) Cent and his posse G-Unit from their 2003 Interscope album "Beg For Mercy". The "clean" version is called 'Lay You Down'....the "dirty" version is called "Lay Ya Ass Down."
"Also, their song "A Million Miles Away" has also been covered recently....a rather luxurious royalty cheque has popped up for that one out of the US. Can't seem to find a source of who recorded it though. Anyone?"
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Klaatu - 'Doctor Marvello' From: 3:47 EST (1976) |
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G-Unit - 'Lay You Down' From: Beg For Mercy (2003) |
I'm trying really hard to just accept the situation and not get sucked into the crazy conspiracy theories that are already circulating, and I certainly don't doubt the willful stupidity of my countrymen. But still...
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MC5 - 'The American Ruse' From: Back in the USA (1970) |
Challenge: Is the approximated cover design of the book being read by the two figures in this illustration based on any real book? Close-up below.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: nat EMAIL: natapol@gmail.com IP: 169.139.19.60 URL: http://www.icontemplate.com DATE: 11/08/2004 01:31:45 PM Working at a library, it does look familiar. It looks like Robert James Waller "Bridges of Madison County." It's probably something else though. Here's an Amazon close-up: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/044651652X/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-4599713-4124140#reader-link ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jkottke EMAIL: jason@kottke.org IP: 12.111.24.68 URL: http://www.kottke.org DATE: 11/08/2004 02:15:22 PM I was wondering which book it was too. The Tipping Point popped into my mind, but that's not quite it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: sarah EMAIL: sfabian@emich.edu IP: 164.76.108.241 URL: DATE: 11/17/2004 12:49:02 PM why dont you ask your metafilter buds? they might have more ideas. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Abigail EMAIL: libronaut@yahoo.com IP: 24.199.99.235 URL: DATE: 12/07/2004 08:49:23 PM This is random, but maybe the Spiral Staircase, by Karen Armstrong? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375413189/qid=1102470497/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-2440556-3142464?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: robin EMAIL: robin@robin.com IP: 216.249.90.176 URL: DATE: 12/24/2004 03:25:32 AM not sure which book that is, but i noticed the tomine cover immediately upon picking up that issue because that is clearly based on the craigslist 'missed connections' section, that most everyone prob knows about; craigslist having originated in san francisco. and that cover also obviously takes place on the SF muni trains (i'm thinking the girl's on the J-Church line, since girls are always getting called out on the J-Church). tomine lives in berkeley. i just wanted to represent for the bay area. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Chris Schaper EMAIL: cdschaper@yahoo.com IP: 69.225.220.169 URL: DATE: 03/10/2005 11:54:14 PM I just checked, and the cover is available at the cartoonbank. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Fred Kleisner EMAIL: fredkleisner@mac.com IP: 67.168.125.184 URL: DATE: 04/23/2006 06:12:55 PM I am looking for an Artist's original (or similar) of the cartoon cover from what I believe was the New Year's Cover of the New Yoryer, by Adrian Tomine. The scene is an airport waiting lounge - all flights canceled; there are seven characters shown - a multi-cultural scene - all reading! It was awesome - I would love to own the original or a copy. Thanks, Fred Kleisner ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: robert EMAIL: IP: 69.112.168.6 URL: DATE: 10/10/2006 08:29:02 PM robin, that's pretty clearly a NYC subway line from one of the BMT lines. Possibly the Q or the R. Unless Kawasaki Rail Car makes trains for both of them with the exact same design. It's not SF Magazine. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: RSS Combiner? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 714 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 11/15/2004 10:38:12 AM ----- BODY: I'm screwing around with all sorts of RSS trickery, but I'm having trouble finding a way to combine two distinct RSS feeds into one, new feed. Any ideas? ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: John EMAIL: here@there.no IP: 212.159.203.212 URL: http://www.xml.com/ DATE: 11/16/2004 02:56:31 AM Write an XSLT style sheet to merge the two? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Adam EMAIL: adam@kempa.com IP: 68.41.142.175 URL: http://www.kempa.com DATE: 11/16/2004 09:19:58 AM A starting point (See comments). Thank you, mystery John! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Dave EMAIL: davidlantner@gmail.com IP: 68.50.220.186 URL: http://ibabylon.net/~david DATE: 11/22/2004 07:21:52 PM Waxy posted a link today to reBlog which offers reFeed, which seems to provide what you seek; I haven't installed it, but take a look. reGards. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: MP3 of the Week: Amazingly Juvenile STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 707 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 11/15/2004 06:05:46 PM ----- BODY: Wow... Just - WOW. People got paid to record this in an expensive studio. I'm amazed there hasn't been a flash video for this in a b3ta newsletter yet.
RIYL: People sticking their heads in your room and saying 'What the FUCK are you listening to?"
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Eddie Murphy - 'Boogie in Your Butt' From: Eddie Murphy (1982) |
I'd previously been thwarted in my efforts to order it through Amazon Japan. A few weeks later, the kit showed up in an issue of Readymade Magazine, and they were apparently flooded with requests for further information. Several importers have since picked up the kit for distribution in the U.S. If you contact Readymade about where to purchase the kit, they refer you to verycoolthings.com, which is currently selling the kit for a ridiculous $70 US. Their page for the kit does offer this link to a pdf the English version of the instruction Manual. If you're feeling thrifty, you can get it for ~ $30.00 (depending on the exchange rate) through Hobby Link Japan by clicking here. Both importers are awaiting November restock shipments.
Below is an image of the model after assembly. In short, you swing a weight into place above the needle, turn on the motor, and Speak into the horn. As the motor turns the platter, the sound vibrations striking the horn are transmitted to the needle, which scratches a linear representation of these vibrations into the surface of the media (In this case a CD-ROM, though several soft, white plastic discs are also included). For playback, the weight above the needle is reduced, and the needle rides in the grooves it had previously scratched out. The vibrations of the needle are in turn transmitted to the horn, producing the audible playback. Woo, science!
I've only tested it once, but it works and that's good enough for me. The audio is predictably thin and warbly, as should be expected when using a rickety plastic turntable and a sewing needle to cut grooves into a CD-ROM. This seemed like as good a reason as any to start figuring out iMovie, so without further ado, the reason you're all here: A video of the model playing back audio of me singing a bit of 'Young At Heart' in a warbly Muppet voice.
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Gakken Berliner Gramophone Model - "Young At Heart" From: My Diningroom Table |
The most interesting bit of information I can add to all of this is that this particular model is part of a series of 'adult education' models - called Otona no Kagaku. On a whim, I searched the hobby link Japan website for the rest of the models in the series, and was rewarded with the following totally great news:
Oh, hottest of damns! Somehow I missed this when looking at the Japanese Gakken Website (It could have something to do with it all being in Japanese). It appears to be similar in abstraction to the gramophone kit, constructed of interlocking wood pieces, and the recording is scratched into a plastic cup. Some of the other kits aren't too shabby either. Here are two 'automaton' kits in the same series.
Clumsy conclusion: Four Stars! ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: tatergirl EMAIL: yumpotatoes@yahoo.com IP: 163.192.21.41 URL: DATE: 11/22/2004 02:17:48 PM Oh! Can you please post the link to the Edison Cylinder kit? I can't find it on the site... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Kevin Ryan EMAIL: ryan@kevinryan.com IP: 219.202.68.56 URL: DATE: 11/22/2004 06:59:43 PM The Edison Cylinder is at http://kids.gakken.co.jp/kit/otona/vol01.html ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: dave EMAIL: drauh@mac.com IP: 141.211.98.73 URL: http://drauh.typepad.com/ DATE: 11/22/2004 10:25:33 PM http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?GAK366431 also lists the edison cylinder ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: popeye cahn EMAIL: popeyecahn@netscape.net IP: 141.248.144.185 URL: DATE: 11/23/2004 04:12:27 PM "Oh hottest of damns!" gotta steal that one! But first I gotta git that kit. Thanks for the info. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: duus EMAIL: duus@andreasduuspape.com IP: 132.66.16.12 URL: http://www.andreasduuspape.com/ DATE: 11/24/2004 08:18:27 AM nice! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: lortab EMAIL: lorta@hotmail.com IP: 203.97.97.131 URL: http://lortab-i.nylonex.com DATE: 02/15/2005 11:15:19 PM ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: ohbananadrink EMAIL: tep23@pitt.edu IP: 130.49.147.60 URL: DATE: 04/03/2005 07:23:49 PM hey, i don't know too much about this stuff, but it's seriously blowing my mind right now. With the japanese Gramophone, can you listen to those recordings on a regular turntable? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jackie filurgy EMAIL: mathmonk909@yahoo.com IP: 192.88.212.56 URL: DATE: 04/06/2005 02:18:07 PM both of these kits are great! theyre available to U.S. customers at a great price on this site http://thekarakuricorner.com ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: scott evans EMAIL: gse@antisleep.com IP: 64.121.197.99 URL: http://www.antisleep.com DATE: 05/17/2005 02:25:19 AM I just built one of these and was a little disappointed at the sound. I mean, I didn't expect much, but it's *extremely* quiet -- hard to hear over the motor noise -- and really, really warbly. Did yours sound similar or does mine need some more tweaking? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: john EMAIL: imprec@importantrecords.com IP: 70.22.169.184 URL: DATE: 07/12/2005 11:15:58 PM Greetings Everyone, I just completed assembly of the Berliner model and I too was a wee bit disappointed with the results. I was unable to understand what i'd spoken while recording. I also noticed that even in playing mode the needle will still leave a groove in its path which makes me think that I may be cutting the groove which I'm trying to listen too. However, I don't know how to reduce the weight anymore than I already have by flipping 1 of the 2 weights to the back. The movie here makes me think that I could be experiencing better results. If anyone has any tips let me know! Best, john ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: robert EMAIL: rmillmanip@yahoo.com IP: 141.154.108.156 URL: DATE: 08/29/2005 10:32:09 AM I built the Edison three weeks ago: easy to put together, sounds OK. They have translated instructions in English for the kit. I purchased it on ebay and this guy seems to get all the Gakken kits at a good price (mathmonk909@yahoo.com Ebay name:thesocialite909). ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: peter EMAIL: harle@folklorist.zzn.com IP: 160.94.9.122 URL: DATE: 10/07/2005 08:58:25 AM I had a great time putting mine together. While I agree that the sound is quiet and distorted, this is true for most of the earliest recording devices, as well. See: http://www.nps.gov/edis/edisonia/very_early.htm I'd love to hear from anyone who has been brave enough to tinker with theirs in search of better sound. The paper cup/styrofoam horn assembly, in particular, seems ripe for replacement. Perhaps someone with better skills than mine has tried a different diaphragm, or found a way to support a longer horn without throwing the weight and balance completely out of kilter. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Aaron Phillips EMAIL: aaron@karakuricorner.com IP: 66.215.197.157 URL: http://www.karakuricorner.com/servlet/the-240/PHONOGRAPH-EDISON-STYLE-GAKKEN/Detail DATE: 11/05/2005 04:40:40 AM hello everyone, i received a package yesterday from a collegue at gakken. enclosed was the new 2005 edison phonograph kit. beautiful execution of the record/playback mechanism and the sound quality is very very nice compared to the previous version. i think everyone will be pleased with this new offering. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Stacy EMAIL: stacy_yx@yahoo.com IP: 202.42.161.40 URL: DATE: 02/12/2006 07:54:17 PM hi.. can i find out if this kit allows you to play commercial CDs? or only plays whatever you have recorded using this kit? this kit is like so cool! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jodie EMAIL: waysababe@sbcglobal.net IP: 135.214.42.162 URL: DATE: 02/17/2006 11:09:42 AM Ok... I went on a mission to find another kit in this series. It is an AWESOME star projector. I was content with puting it together and using it face value until I saw the magazine that came with it. It obviously offers many more options, ideas, etc and looks too cool to set aside. The big issue... I don't read Japanese. I am feverishly hunting for someone or some group that has translated the thing. I know there are anime groups that do that sort of thing. Any help would be greatly apreciated. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: willian EMAIL: mei@gramophone.cn IP: 218.17.84.185 URL: http://www.gramophone.cn DATE: 10/23/2006 11:20:57 PM hi every one we are a leading manufacture which produce all king of gramophone with large function such as 1)home cinema system effect 2)dvd+radio+turntable+5.1amplifier +external input 3AM/FM Radio 4)Plays 33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPM Records 5)compatible disc: dvd,svcd,cd,mp3,mp4 ,jpeg,pictvre-cd.ect 6) individual remote control 7) Adjustable Tone Control 8) Programmable 20-track Memory 9)Repeat Play 10)CE,CB,UL Listed 11)multi audio decoding:dolby ac-3 mpeg,pcm,hdcd etc 12)multi video output: composite video.s-chromatic aberration etc 13) one year limited Warranty ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 201.50.5.82 URL: DATE: 12/24/2006 06:39:01 PM ja ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ikke EMAIL: dit@datdus.com IP: 83.119.88.2 URL: http://www.datdus.com DATE: 12/25/2006 09:25:21 AM Nice projects. Especially the CD recorder. Never thought you can actually pull this off. :) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: kim byoung soo EMAIL: hl1inj@hanmail.net IP: 125.178.66.12 URL: DATE: 05/30/2007 06:58:38 AM 안녕하세요 구경 ìž˜í•˜ê³ ê°‘ë‹ˆë‹¤ ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Free SuperBowl Commercial Idea STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 720 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 11/24/2004 10:12:25 AM ----- BODY: I can't be the first person to come up with this idea, but I'm amazed it hasn't actually been executed yet. Maybe it has and I just don't know it.
FADE IN: CUBICLE.Do you have to have a specialized degree to be an advertising "Idea Man?" ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sarah EMAIL: 1@1.com IP: 141.217.171.199 URL: DATE: 11/24/2004 11:27:20 AM Adam, you have some good ideas. This is not one of them. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: j@j.com IP: 166.90.205.26 URL: DATE: 11/24/2004 01:04:52 PM if you want to shoot it for fun, let me know. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sara EMAIL: forhimilive24 7@cs.com IP: 68.74.133.230 URL: DATE: 01/30/2005 05:44:16 PM Dumb... but creative i will admit. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: ron EMAIL: rondizi@hotmail.com IP: 209.67.183.5 URL: DATE: 05/02/2005 01:06:15 PM I think this is a good idea, very creative. But I have a better idea that I think would be the most talked about funniest commercial of the day!! I wish I knew who to pitch it to ): ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mike EMAIL: IP: 68.190.162.230 URL: DATE: 10/02/2005 09:25:54 PM Yes, you need a degree to be an advertising idea man. What you did was branch off of an already used idea. You used the "can you hear us now" trademark, along with similar monologue. In order to come up with an idea, you have to have extensive research to back it up. Then there are many steps before it even gets to the creative/execution end of things. To create one ad, means you are a monkey... to create a successful ad campaign means you know what you are doing (and talking about). ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Johnny EMAIL: poeta007@hotmail.com IP: 24.147.85.163 URL: DATE: 01/12/2006 04:44:59 PM I have a great car commercial idea, but haven't talk to anyone yet. Nobody ever came up with this... Will get attention from the whole world... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mario EMAIL: gonzalezmar@aol.com IP: 71.9.92.58 URL: DATE: 01/29/2006 11:59:58 PM Is there a department (within a business) that just focuses on developing commercial ideas? How can a person present their idea to a company? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Corey EMAIL: thomacor@gmail.com IP: 148.61.224.51 URL: DATE: 03/18/2006 12:07:06 PM that's the stupidest idea ever. 27 seconds of a guy doing nothing, showing no features of the product or promoting it in any way. you're leaving 3 seconds at most to connect the name and by then everyone would have turned the channel. don't pursue this any further. plus, you didn't even think of the idea in the first place. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Malana EMAIL: nana_crofoot@comcast.net IP: 69.246.1.60 URL: DATE: 11/30/2006 07:43:44 PM I have an idea for a superbowl commercial for Lays Potato Chips. I was wondering how to get it to the right person for the idea to be examined. Well, I'll just post it here. A woman gets on a bus with a bag of groceries for a superbowl party. The bag has a bag of Lays Potato Chips sticking out the top. She sits somewhere near the door at the back. A guy at the front of the bus is staring hungrily at the bag of chips. When the bus comes to the next stop, he jumps up and runs past the lady, snatching her bag of Lays and runs out the back door of the bus. Lays...they're that good!!! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: J. Cotton EMAIL: Jcotton123@comcast.net IP: 71.196.239.193 URL: DATE: 12/17/2006 09:47:45 PM I have an idea for a superbowl ad. This would be an ad for and energy drink or bar. I'd like to see the fastest player in the NFL break a long run, and the referee run and pass the player. This would be great for "GO FAST" or such a product. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Grego EMAIL: lpd3808@sbcglobal.net IP: 68.78.126.154 URL: DATE: 12/20/2006 01:05:27 AM Superbowl Beer Comercial: Three fans arrive at the dome early. Nonchalantly ease into their seats. Fan One "So why did we come all this way to watch this game?" Fan Two "It's freezing back home." As Fan Three takes off his shirt, revealing his team's logo on his bare chest adds "What's a little snow, the player afraid of getting frostbite." Fan Two hands Fan Three an ice cold beer. All three fans begin to visualize they are back home, in thier home stadium (example Chicago)watching the players warming up. It begins to snow. The players begin to play in the snow. Off to the left some of the players are building snowmen. To the right some of the players are having a snowball fight. Directly in front of the fans one of the toughest players (example Brian Urlacher) is making a snow angel. A snowplow comes out and begins to clear the field, pushing all of the snow to one of the corners of the stadium, creating a huge snow mound. One of the players yells "King of the hill". All of the players stop what they are doing and make a mad dash for the top of the hill. It's a frenzy, players attemt to climb the hill. One of the teams quarterbacks makes it to the top. The quarteback throws up his arms in triumph. Out of no where the oposing teams linebaker (example Brian Urlacher) tackles the quarterback knocking him from the hill. As he peers over the side and emits a low growl he is knocked off the hill by the opposing teams kicker. (kicker only uses one finger due to the linebacker being off balance). All three fans snap back to reality. Fan Three puts his shirt back on, sits down, takes a sip of his ice cold beer and shivers. Out of no where a snow ball strikes Fan Three in the face. Fan two takes a sip of his beer and with a smirk says " I didn't see that coming." ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Pledge Bait STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 724 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 11/30/2004 07:46:30 PM ----- BODY: Having fallen embarrassingly behind in the maintenance of Acmenoveltyarchive.org, I thought I would make an attempt at bringing the following item to people's attention before its too late:BORED EMPLOYEE (ON PHONE): Yes. (LONG PAUSE) Yes. (LONG PAUSE) Yes. (REPEAT AND INTERACTS WITH CUBICLE FOR 27 SECONDS. CHECKS EMAIL, GOOGLE, ETC.)
CROSSFADE TO:
Verizon Logo: "Can you hear us now?"
Cartoonist Chris Ware and 'This American Life' Host Ira Glass have collaborated on a DVD which is only available to those who donate to public radio. The DVD contains the narrated slideshow that Glass and Ware were presenting at various speaking engagements during the past year. I've pasted some background on the story below, taken from the official website for the DVD.
"Ira Glass and cartoonist Chris Ware decided to co-report a story together. Ira does the sound. Chris does hundreds of drawings. The result is a 22-minute story, with sound and images, now on DVD for the first time.""This story has never been on the radio. It was presented in pieces – as it was completed – on This American Life's May 2003 "Lost in America" tour, and at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. It's the true story of a boy named Tim Samuelson, who became obsessed with old buildings, especially the buildings of Louis Sullivan in Chicago, during the 1960's and 70's when they were being torn down."
"At one point, hearing that a favorite building at Clark and Adams is being demolished, a thirteen-year-old Tim demands to meet with the architect who's designing the glass-and-steel building that'll take its place: Mies van der Rohe, one of the most famous architects in the world. Tim finds van der Rohe's office. The legendary architect meets with the teenager."
"Much more happens. It's a very sad story, drawn with beautiful pictures."
The DVD is only available in exchange for making a hefty pledge to your local public radio station. If you're interested, but your local 'This American Life' station doesn't appear to be offering the DVD, they can probably still get it for you.
A bit more on the DVD and packaging:
"Audiences who saw the work presented onstage saw huge projections of Chris Ware's drawings. The cartoon buildings were tall as buildings."There's a quicktime preview of the DVD available for viewing here. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Andy Baio EMAIL: log@waxy.org IP: 4.38.40.164 URL: http://waxy.org/ DATE: 11/30/2004 09:01:24 PM Please let us know if you find out when it's possible to order this, or pledge to receive it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: j.schad@gmail.com IP: 68.72.135.151 URL: http://thismundanelife.blogspot.com DATE: 11/30/2004 11:01:59 PM This past August, at the grand opening of Millennium Park, Ira did a live performance of this. I really wanted to go, but it started at 11:45 pm and my parents were in town and they didn't want to go down to the park that late so I didn't get to see it. C'est la vie. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Christopher Merritt EMAIL: chrism@bakersman.com IP: 64.136.131.194 URL: DATE: 12/01/2004 10:36:08 AM I can't wait for this DVD - the presentation Ira Glass & Chris Ware gave at UCLA in Feb. was astounding. I've been told that later next year, this DVD will be avalable in retail as well... ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Again with the Coverspotting. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 726 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/01/2004 11:42:58 PM ----- BODY: With this entry, I'll be continuing my recent habit of only updating this website when I spot the work of an artist I like in a place I'm not expecting to see it. I was in Borders today and noticed that the cover of the newest Michael Chabon book, "The Final Solution: A Story of Detection," has cover art by long-time indie rock poster designer Jay Ryan. You can view his website here, or sort through this gallery of his work at gigpopsters.com. This cover is pretty underwhelming compared to his other work - two of my favorite posters by Mr. Ryan are this one and this one."To accompany the DVD, Chris has designed a 96-page book, full of never-before-published photographs of Louis Sullivan buildings, in their glory and in various states of demolition. Also, there are DVD extras: audio outtakes, a look at Chris's pencil sketches, a high-resolution version of the movie that plays on PCs and Macs. "
"As he worked on this, Chris said he wanted it to be the most beautiful thank you gift public radio has ever offered listeners. The whole package is this gorgeous little book, filled with photos, with the DVD tucked inside. It's being released first and exclusively through public radio pledge drives, and not available anywhere else."
For the past three years I've been involved in an annual effort to get local members of a growing Michigan(ish) music community to record Christmas songs. Getting 20 plus part-time music-makers to agree to contribute a Christmas song is one thing, collecting the song in order to meet a deadline is another entirely.
It is in the interest of encouraging everyone to contribute that we stress a Lo-Fi friendly policy. We typically set a deadline around the beginning of December and keep pushing it back as we try to gather everyone's submissions to burn a master. Once this is done, we put together a few hundred hand-packaged CD's and distribute them.
Over the course of three CD's we've collected 63 original and traditional holiday songs with production ranging from Parsons to Barlow, all of which are available for download in a variety of formats (mp3 / zip / torrent) here. This year, I play on these songs and recorded the basic tracks for this one.
Over time, this compilation has become an excuse for people to write and record in groups independent of their 'normal' band situations. This inevitably leads to a slew of pseudonyms and joke songs, which punctuate the more somber/sincere offerings nicely and keep the mood 'balanced.'
It's worth noting that we used a wiki to organize this year's efforts. Everything (With a few exceptions) went smoothly, and we finished up about 2 weeks earlier than last year. Imagine that! Wiki + Musicians = Productivity!
Also still available is my Christmas Mix from last year. I haven't stumbled across enough new christmas music to justify a new installment, so I defer to last year's page, which I am very glad I left up.
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Pledge Drive - 'XMas Rhapsody' From: Here (2003) |
Also recommended by me is that 'Where Will You Be Christmas Day?' comp that Pitchfork wrote about last week. Good stuff for fans of all things archival and old-timey. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.157.164 URL: DATE: 12/09/2004 02:48:10 PM I disagree about "X-Mas Rhapsody" being totally good. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is good, and that's why you like it, I think. This song is just different lyrics over the exact same music, and the new lyrics are often awkward. Lame, I say! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Libby EMAIL: KermitTFIsGreen@aol.com IP: 152.163.101.8 URL: DATE: 12/15/2004 01:14:57 PM I have been searching for 2 Gayla Peevey songs, one is The Angel In The Christmas Play and the other is I Got A Cold In The Node For Christmas. Do you have them? I've searched the entire net and everyone has lyrics and ways to buy the record, but I need it as an mp3/wav. Someone please help! If you have it, please send it to me!! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Michael EMAIL: animalrevolution@hotmail.com IP: 68.121.216.182 URL: DATE: 12/17/2004 10:12:38 PM Zach, it sounds as though you described this track as being nothing more than a parody. The funny thing is that this track really IS a parody and I doubt that the creator's had anything else in mind. The music was re-recorded by new artists and done brilliantly, in my opinion. That it sounds like "the exact same music" speaks volumes about their talent as, let's face it, nobody was ever better than Queen. Ever. Ever. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.157.164 URL: DATE: 12/19/2004 06:29:31 PM I totally agree about Queen being awesome. I guess my point was that a Christmas Queen tribute is just kind of pointless. I don't really feel that passionately against it or anything, its just not my cup of tea. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: JULIE ALDERSON EMAIL: CAMDENJULIE@AOL.COM IP: 12.109.107.253 URL: DATE: 11/27/2006 02:32:43 PM I have been searching for 2 Gayla Peevey songs, one is The Angel In The Christmas Play and the other is I Got A Cold In The Node For Christmas. Do you have them? I've searched the entire net and everyone has lyrics and ways to buy the record, but I need it as an mp3/wav. Someone please help! If you have it, please send it to me!! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Venting: The reason internet publishing was invented. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 856 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/17/2004 05:55:29 PM ----- BODY: Oh man, who wants to hear an angry story about the Post Office? Oh, everyone does? Then I'll tell it!
This holiday season the loose musical collective in which I participate tried an experiment. We offered to mail out a free holiday CD to the first hundred people to request one (Don't bother requesting one now, we're completely out - BUT you can download it for free). We've been mailing these 100 CD's out in batches over the last week. Today I took the last pile of 20 to the post office.
The Setup: You can mail a modestly packaged CD in a cardboard sleeve almost anywhere in the US for sixty cents. This is convenient, because we could pick up a sheet of sixty-cent stamps and just drop them off at the window - we wouldn't have to wait for the little label spitter-outer to shoot out 20 stickers each time we stopped by. The first several batches of CD's: No problem. Today's batch: big problem.
It seems that in packaging this batch, I had taped over the sixty cent stamps with 100% transparent cello tape. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if this is another one of those things that everyone in the country but me knows, but apparently if you put tape on a stamp, it becomes VOID. At least that's what my postal teller told me.
When she told me this I thought she was kidding, so I sort of chuckled - until she gave me this weird dazed look and asked if wanted to buy new stamps for the envelopes. Then we got into a bizarre discussion about how I'd already paid for the service of their delivery, which clearly hadn't happened yet, and here she was - asking me to pay again, for the same service.
I asked her what would have happened if I had dropped them in the mailbox instead of taking them to the window, and she explained that not only were they void, but attempting to use them would be MAIL FRAUD because they couldn't be cancelled.
It was almost five o' clock and there was a christmas-sized line of weary postal patrons behind me, so I asked for a number to call to speak to someone about it and paid her, just to get out of there.
So: I paid $24.00 for $12.00 worth of stamps, and my dastardly scheme to include sixty cents of free, FRAUDULANT postage with each holiday greeting I sent: FOILED.
...and to think I never went ahead with my "Mail a Taco Bell Chicken Quesadilla to someone" experiment (The packaging is very envelop-ish) because I felt bad for the poor postal workers who would come into contact with it. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Valentine EMAIL: me@valentinehellman.com IP: 65.172.197.33 URL: DATE: 12/22/2004 11:57:37 AM Got my comp in the mail last night. Thanks. I noticed the stamp was taped over, but didn't spot any additional postage on it? Did they just make you pay double and not mark the discs? I'm not sure that everyone knows about the "no tape over postage" rule but I did. Of course, I worked in a mail room for three years. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: SNOW DAY! STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 858 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/23/2004 11:44:12 AM ----- BODY: Oh man, a snowstorm closed work today, so I got to lay in bed and watch cartoons (The Venture Brothers and Tom Goes to the Mayor Xmas specials) until I was sufficiently awake. I found one more MP3 to post for christmas, so here it is:
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North Coast Noel - 'Enter Snowman' From: North Coast Noel (2001) |
It's a fusion of Metallica's biggest hit and Frosty the Snowman. The rigorous recreation of the intro is a bit tedious, but if you skip ahead to 1:12 where the vocals kick in, it's pretty good. It took my roommates and I awhile to figure out what was being said in the chorus - it's "Thumpity thump thump." The Hetfieldian exclamations during the "truck hitting the bed" part are pretty good, too.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brad S. EMAIL: Brad11310@aol.com IP: 216.115.60.247 URL: DATE: 12/23/2004 03:16:56 PM This snow day sucked i still had to work and am still working right now. its the slowest day in ever so i have resorted to playing paper football with a makeshift up-right. I hope everyone elses snow day is more eventful then mine. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rob EMAIL: Robikus@yahoo.com IP: 161.38.222.14 URL: DATE: 09/18/2006 07:17:16 PM Hi, My Name is Rob. I wrote the parody song 'Enter Snowman'. Glad you liked it. I handed it over to 3rd Ear productions, they did a wonderful job recording it. I also did some parody work on my own under the alias Bubba Phicheman. Mostly just playing with midi and samples, but if was fun to screw around with. Glad to see someone is enjoying my work. Rob ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Selloutica EMAIL: kissed_by_angels@hotmail.com IP: 68.45.151.197 URL: DATE: 12/17/2006 01:50:08 AM hey, i heard your song on John Solomon's 24 hour christmas show last december and i could never find a copy of it anywhere. thanks for posting this great great song :) ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Radiohead, P.T. Anderson, and Michel Gondry STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 860 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/28/2004 12:02:35 PM ----- BODY: Apparently there exists a black and white video for Radiohead's "We Suck Young Blood," shot by director P.T. Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia). Here are the details, from Thom Yorke:
"Paul Thomas Anderson came into the studio and he brought this camera with him, it was exactly the same camera model that they shot the Nosferatu in, basically this camera is a box and you wind it, and you have to have a tempo to wind it to and if you wind it fast or slow you get this extraordinary movement, and we wanted to shoot this really over the top vaudeville b-movie thing with it, because that to me is partly where it was coming from, and also it was really sick and sexual in a really peverse way, very L.A. as far as I'm concerened. I think that was the reason why we went to L.A., because 'we suck young blood' was our take on Hollywood really. in fact, we went out to a party that night everyone was dressed as mad hatters, it just fit completely. we went to this place, it was just... [whispers] you people are so silly. and it was like that's how they dressed every day to create an impression. it was brilliant. we felt like old people, maybe we'd missed something."This quote comes from a relatively rare promo interview CD [cover], discussed in a thread in the P.T. Anderson forum at xixax.com, which I found via this posting on metafilter. Posters in the same thread appear to have determined that the clip does not appear on the latest Radiohead DVD, "The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of all Time".
Also of note is the bad blood that apparently exists between the band and director extraordinaire Michel Gondry:
"I generally find a good way of communicating to prevent clash, but I had one terrible experience with Radiohead," he says of his 2001 video for "Knives Out." Gondry, going through a breakup at the time, transferred his despair to a character played by lead singer Thom Yorke, grieving anxiously in a crowded hospital room.----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: sdf EMAIL: IP: 66.66.135.8 URL: DATE: 11/20/2006 12:01:38 AM sdf ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Zumpano Videos STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 863 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/02/2005 05:08:11 PM ----- BODY: I added two videos to my Zumpano page: "I Dig You" and "Behind the Beehive." They appear to have been encoded using some archaic codec, so quicktime chokes on the sound. Until I find the time to re-encode them, you should be able to play them with VLC (Mac) or MPlayer (PC)."I showed him a storyboard and every single detail: he was completely excited and happy for it - and then, it turned out, they all criticize me for being selfish and putting my own views on it and my own introspection," says a still peeved Gondry. (Yorke and Radiohead declined to comment for this story.) "And they didn't let me use my video for my DVD!" he adds, his voice rising.
"And I'm really mad at them for having done that to me, that they abuse their power! It did not go smooth, but if it went smooth, it would be mediocre."
If anyone stumbles upon a digital copy of Zumpano's video for "The Party Rages On," let me know.
I Dig You (From "Look What The Rookie Did")
(Right-click to Download)
Behind The Beehive (From "Goin' Through Changes")
(Right-click to Download)
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.157.164 URL: DATE: 01/05/2005 12:41:39 PM What is UP with 1990's throwback pop bands having TERRIBLE fashion sense? Jellyfish first, then Zumpano? Should The Pop Project grow out our hair again and start wearing sports jerseys or something? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: sarah EMAIL: sarah.fabian@gmail.com IP: 164.76.107.149 URL: DATE: 01/07/2005 10:55:25 AM Zach--NO. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Spider-Man 2 STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 864 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/03/2005 10:28:44 AM ----- BODY: So, I finally got around to seeing Spider-Man 2. It was pretty fun, even if it did seem to hit the same notes as Spider-man 1, in roughly the same order. One thing about it has been bugging the CRAP out of me though.
Ok, so Dr. Octopus wants a batch of Desirable Compound X, which only Harry Osbourne can afford. Osbourne wants Spider-Man dead because he killed his father, so he tells Dr. Octopus to kill Spider-Man. He is to accomplish this by finding Peter Parker, who has a reputation for being able to find Spider-man. Upon locating Parker, the first thing Dr. Octopus does is THROW A CAR AT HIS HEAD. He doesn't know that he's Spider-Man yet. If I was banking on an obscure piece of information that only one random guy had, I probably wouldn't push my luck by seeing if he could whip his precious-information-containing noggin out of the way of a flying vehicle. Am I missing something? Perhaps this has been discussed elsewhere. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mr. Rickle EMAIL: vazarus@hotmail.com IP: 68.42.109.133 URL: DATE: 01/04/2005 03:44:13 AM I noticed this as well. The best thing I can come up with was Raimi had an idea and wanted to do it, plot lines be damned! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: f@off.com IP: 166.90.205.26 URL: http://www.joecwik.com DATE: 01/04/2005 11:14:16 AM I'm glad this bothered someone else besides me. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: allison EMAIL: allison@jinjurly.com IP: 204.38.4.80 URL: http://jinjurly.com DATE: 01/04/2005 05:48:57 PM when you first posted, i was going to comment with this elaborate fanwank i came up with after i saw the movie. but on reflection, i think i'll spare you. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Matt C EMAIL: strategiczero@gmail.com IP: 24.26.75.142 URL: DATE: 01/04/2005 11:41:28 PM I wondered about it too when I saw the movie and I came to two conclusions, neither of which are really workable, but it's all I've got... 1. Ock just *knew* Parker=Spidey. Call it Octopus Intuition? B. Given the neural connection between his brain and the Ock-Arms, the good Doc could chuck the car precisely to maximize the scare value and minimize the "death by flying car" value. OR (just occured to me) Ock figured if he raised a big enough ruckus, Spidey would swoop in. Creating his own drive-through cafe seemed to be the best way to ruckusify the situation? I tend to agree with the Raimi just wanted to bust up a window and use some slo-mo shots idea. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rich G EMAIL: richgreene80@hotmail.com IP: 68.21.43.139 URL: DATE: 01/05/2005 12:17:39 AM I love how you put SPOILERS above a post about a movie that I dunno about 100 million people before you have already seen. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Phhggghhhhhhtt EMAIL: mclap38@yahoo.com IP: 24.33.240.85 URL: DATE: 01/05/2005 12:18:01 AM Notice how long it takes pete and mj to see who it is that threw the car. i think that doc ock threw the car in the general direction to get their attention, and it just happened to come that close to them. phhggghhhhhtttt ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: SUPERFRANKENSTEIN EMAIL: tpeyer@aol.com IP: 24.18.142.141 URL: http://superfrankenstein.blogspot.com DATE: 01/05/2005 04:19:09 AM I think it's an accurate piece of Silver-Age Spidey plotting. Throw cars now, think later. Can't let too many frames go by without a fight! This isn't a put-down of the movie or the comics; I love both. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: allison EMAIL: IP: 68.41.142.175 URL: DATE: 01/18/2005 11:57:26 AM actually there were a couple of variations, but here's the one i found the most credible with the passage of time: first, consider that the (underexplained) artificial intelligence of the mechanical octopus arms has varying degrees of sway over dr octavius' mind at different times throughout the story, from the moment they are joined. with no ai influence, octavius sinks into grief, so when he is functional, all of his actions are controlled at least marginally. when octavius is mentally absent (as in the operating theatre), the ai works for self preservation *only*, with violent result. it is in the ai's interest to preserve the life of the dr, but keep him confused in order to maintain at least marginal control. an important part of that is to keep him distracted, and the bete noire of fission (or whatever it was) made an excellent focus. when he visits harry, his motivations, driven by a desire to vindicate his project (rather than those of the ai) are ruling his actions, allowing him to be pretty coherent during the discussion. he's still fairly violent, arrogant, and nuts, but he is comparatively ok. however, the focus on the project cannot be maintained while he is working on a tangential errand - and his mental engagement in an interaction with parker, who would by association remind him of the pleasant dinner/conversation about love/good memories of his wife/her death (nominally at his hand) was something that the ai could not risk - indeed, when octavius is focused and sees parker, he commits suicide. so. he's in the driver's seat with harry, but the ai is in control by the time he gets to the coffeeshop. and the ai has no interest in the success of the project, and it is arguably better for it if the project remains a frustrated task, one that can be used indefinitely to control poor dr octavius. so that's sort of incoherent, sorry. but it gives you the idea. and these things all make more sense in my head than they do with actual words. see what curiosity gets you? nothing good. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Constructive Criticism? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 868 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/04/2005 01:00:23 PM ----- BODY: Indie Comic artist Johnny Ryan, known for his 'Angry Youth' Comics and general poor-taste, has been skewering the elder statesmen of indie comics in his 'Shouldn't You be Working?' strip. These strips are mostly not safe for work, and are archived on his website, though some URL-archaeology was necessary to get to some of the older ones. You should probably have an unhealthy knowledge of the indie comics "scene," and a high tolerance for extreme vulgarity to appreciate most of them. There's an interview with Ryan (Conducted by Peter Bagge) here if you'd like some background.
Also of note:
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Andy Baio
EMAIL: log@waxy.org
IP: 4.38.40.164
URL: http://waxy.org/
DATE: 01/04/2005 09:19:47 PM
Funny, I was just reading about his parody of Craig Thompson's "Blankets." Have you been able to find that one?
Before he was making fun of indie cartoonists, he was making fun of classic Sunday strips. If you dig through the latter 2004, it looks like he moved onto mocking superhero comics also.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Phil
EMAIL: zero@zerolives.org
IP: 67.38.152.137
URL: http://zerolives.org
DATE: 01/05/2005 11:13:26 AM
HAW. Also in the newest issue of TCJ, there's an interview with Ivan Brunetti! Sa-weet.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: J
EMAIL: pushpaw@gmail.com
IP: 206.45.174.20
URL:
DATE: 01/05/2005 01:05:35 PM
The Blankets parody can be found here.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Eli
EMAIL: eli@AADL.ORG
IP: 68.41.142.175
URL:
DATE: 01/05/2005 03:02:35 PM
Great post, Adam, even the Gawker Media Ventures Family of Products thinks so. If your boss didn't already know about your blog, he does now...
(full disclosure: I am Adam's boss.)
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: RotJ
EMAIL: rot_j@yahoo.com
IP: 70.17.112.26
URL:
DATE: 01/05/2005 08:09:13 PM
Google index
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim Treacher
EMAIL: howy@do.ing
IP: 68.58.58.240
URL: http://jimtreacher.com
DATE: 01/07/2005 08:03:32 AM
Johnny Ryan is hilarious. See here and here unless you're gay, a Muslim, and/or a sourpuss. And buy the Angry Youth Comics paperbacks, for Christ's sake.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Adam
EMAIL: adam@kempa.com
IP: 68.40.133.13
URL: http://www.kempa.com/
DATE: 01/07/2005 06:48:49 PM
3:02 PM, Eli?
"Shouldn't you be working?"
ZING!
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: You Make A Better Door Archaeologist Than A Window An Animator
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ID: 872
CONVERT BREAKS: 0
ALLOW PINGS: 0
DATE: 01/06/2005 01:30:43 AM
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You may have read about the recent discovery of a bit of animation on an ancient Iranian goblet, said to be the first recorded example of man-made animation. The article that's been making the rounds (I first saw it on Cartoon Brew, it was also on Boing Boing the other day) can be found here.
Here are the important bits for those too lazy to click through to the article:
"An animated piece on an earthen goblet that belongs to 5000 years ago was found in Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchistan province, southeastern Iran.""The earthenware found in Burnt City, one of the most developed civilizations dating back to 5000 years ago, show the images of goat and fish more than any other subject. It seems these animals were used more than any other by the people of this city."
"On this goblet, with a diameter of 8 cm and height of 10 cm, the images show movement in an intricate way that is an unprecedented discovery. Some earthenware found in Burnt City show repetitive images, but none of them implicate any movements."
"While excavating the grave in which the cream-colored goblet has been found, we came across a skeleton that probably belongs to the creator of this piece", Mansour Sajjadi, the Iranian archaeologist responsible for excavations in Burnt City told CHN.
At the end of the article, there's a link to a short .avi that the archaeologists put together to show off the animation. You can view that file here. Unfortunately, they chose to keep each frame on-screen for three seconds, and then crossfade into the next frame. Anyone familiar with the principles of animation will see that this presentation completely defeats the purpose of the sequential images.
I was pretty excited to see the first example of animation, so I was understandably disappointed with the video file offered with the article. I wanted to see the animation as it was intended, so I took the .avi and edited it down into the animated gif below. E-Archaeology.
There aren't any photos of the actual goblet itself in the article, so I assumed that the illustrations stretched around the sides of the goblet and were intended to be viewed by spinning the goblet, which implies looping. This is what I do with my free time.
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"When I was about 10 years old, someone gave me a bunch of 45's, all lousy no-name performers; No wonder they were giving them away!"This is all in reference to my article thingy on parallel-grooved records. If you remember this record, and know the name of the artist, please let me know. Googling the title with a few select search terms didn't help much. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mike EMAIL: aaa@aaa.aaa IP: 198.202.236.135 URL: http://www.theberryzone.com DATE: 01/12/2005 01:46:34 PM You'd think the artist would have had some foresight made a more google-friendly song title. Anyway, no luck finding any info, except for a guy who had fish named thomas, richard, and harold, and the fact that the three names can be converted to "tom's dick is harry" when using nicknames. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joyce wilson EMAIL: jamesjhannon@cableone.net IP: 24.116.38.50 URL: DATE: 05/14/2006 10:24:26 AM Vinnie, are our long lost friend from William and Mary and also Virginia Tech. I know a little red haired girl named Sarah who would love to hear from you. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Making Watching Football Nerdy STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 879 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/11/2005 11:19:55 AM ----- BODY: I'm what you would call a casual sports fan. One of my roommates, however, is always watching ESPN. I wandered into the living room on Sunday while "Sportscenter" was on and saw the BEST THING EVER."Anyhow, one of them was a female singer singing a song called "Thomas, Richard and Harold". It was a kind of torch song about this girls' inability to choose from among the three boyfriends mentioned in the title (And they say men can't commit!)."
"At the end of the song, she reveals that, although she's somewhat fond of this trio of losers, that "Whenever I hear those wedding bells, I always think of..." and then she passionately mentions a fourth name. Well, after about twenty spinnings of the disc, I noticed that the name at the end seemed to change each time. Needless to say, it freaked me out. I thought the record was possessed or something. Someone in my family (my older sister, possibly) figured out, or already knew, that multiple grooves were possible. Up until then, the coolest thing I ever heard on record was the B-side of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Ha!" ("!aH aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT!").
First, some background. My pet peeve with watching football for the last, oh, 26 years has been the presentation of information. The top of the screen would usually have some sort of strip across it with a number denoting the quarter (1-4) and another number denoting the current down (1-4). Usually, these numbers are not labelled. People like my roommate, who watch football all the damn time just KNOW which is the quarter and which is the down. People like me spend a few plays watching to see which number changes to asses the present state of the game.
The information graphics would change from season to season and channel to channel, and sometimes they were better than others. Usually you could determine which was the quarter number because it was closer to the gameclock. Still, i've always said that there had to be a better way to do this - someone should be able to glance at the screen and get all the information immediately without having to fall back on deductive reasoning.
Anyway: back to Sportscenter. Apparently, this season, FOX (At least I was told it was FOX) has started superimposing an arrow on the field conveying who has posession, what down it is, and how many yards to go for a first down. This SORT of solves the problem, unless you tune in during a time out or something. I only saw clips on sportscenter, so I don't know how they handle the information between plays, but this is a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.
I think I freaked my roommate out a little bit, because I was so excited when I saw this that all I could do to display this excitement was point at the screen and yell "YEAH!" The fact that a play had not yet begun when I chose to point and yell made the whole situation even more ridiculous.
I tried hunting around a bit for an image of the 'Arrow' in question. I watched a few of the NFL video clips on foxsports.com and wondered why they were all talking heads and no sports before it dawned on me that the NFL probably hasn't liscensed game footage for the internet yet. Not satisfied with simply making watching football way nerdy, I pressed on - searching google for usability studies on sports information graphics. So far I haven't turned up too much, but I did find this usability study on Electronic Program Guides, which my local cable company (Comcast) should definitely peruse, as certain submenus of our 'On Demand' system kick you back to the main menu every time you try and back up. I'm sure ESPN or the networks must have someone who does this internally. What a great job that would be. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rob EMAIL: shereda@gmail.com IP: 128.104.11.22 URL: http://www.shereda.com/weblog/ DATE: 01/11/2005 03:09:19 PM It would be nice if you could hit the "Info" button on the remote and have it display something like, "Patriots' ball, 3rd and 2 at the Steelers' 40." It would be even nicer if the people typing these captions at ESPN or the cable company or whatever were free to editorialize: "Absolutely horrible call by the referree puts the ball at the Vikings' 5, but don't worry, the worthless Lions won't score anyway." ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Fox Mackenzie EMAIL: FoxMackenzie@gmail.com IP: 68.38.20.159 URL: http://www.foxmackenzie.com DATE: 01/16/2005 09:19:50 AM As a female, I'm sort of gender-disposed not to know what the flaming hell is going on whilst ESPN is on. ANY sort of help they can give me, including this lovely arrow concept, is MOST welcome. Right now, I'm trying to hide my football ignorance by asking about a million times a day, every time I'm near a tv, even if reruns of Martha Stewart are on, "So...who's winning?" and make the appropriate grimace or arm-pump depending on which team the responder is rooting for. It's only polite, really. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: aqeeilyas EMAIL: soccer_ramzan@yahoo.com IP: 202.91.111.6 URL: DATE: 12/01/2006 08:36:39 AM Ramzan Traders Manufacturer Exporter and Importer P.o.Box No: 1238 Sialkot 51310 Pakistan Ph: 0092-52-3560475 Cell: 0092 333 8699899 Fax: 0092-52-3258638 Email: rt@skt.comsats.net.pk soccer_ramzan@yahoo.com Email Message Dear Sirs/Madam, We would like to take this immense of pleasure to introduce our self as a leading manufacturer and exporter of best quality Sport Goods, footballs, rugbyballs, voleyballs, goal keeper gloves, shin pads, boxing gloves, sports wears, tee shirts, track suits and as well for your valued import requirements. We hope and understand that you are also a leading importer/buyer of all our above mentioned items and we ask to you try with us to check our better workmanship our quality of products and better dealership with our prestigious clients. Quality Policy We produced our all our offered products in highly skilled supervisions and craftsmanship that indicate the best dealership and services to attract more and more customer for everlasting relations in between us. Our all unit are fully equipped with latest technology and machineries where our skilled full workers are doing their best jobs and preferring to produce best quality products at very reasonable prices to make long time relations with our customers. Catalogues & Price Lists We warmly welcome in advance your esteemed company to give us some favorable considerations to see our product catalogues and to check our best prices according to your valued requirements to make every better satisfaction, because its our company policy we always prefer to deal with valued companies and believe in the best quality of products instead of quantities. Now we look forward to have your better comments and consideration in order to start our fruitful outstanding in between two companies and assure once again to have every possible satisfaction and relaxation in working attitudes. With best regards, Hope to hear from you soon, we remain Yours Sincerely, Rehan Munir - Production Manager. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Comic Books and Electronic Amusements: An Eternal Golden Braid STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 887 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/14/2005 12:32:28 PM ----- BODY: A choice panel from DC's forthcoming 'Bizarro World' Hardcover.
Previous installments: one, two. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: sarah EMAIL: sfabian@emich.edu IP: 164.76.108.241 URL: DATE: 01/17/2005 05:08:13 PM this doesn't do it justice! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Best Supervillain Ever STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 896 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 01/25/2005 12:13:02 PM ----- BODY: From the cover of Marvel Comics' 'Sleepwalker' #4:
Amazon has a brief 'behind the scenes' page with a video describing their process available in Windows Media and Quicktime Formats. Essentially, they mounted a camera on top of an SUV, hooked it up to a laptop and a GPS unit, and drove up and down each street, presumably capturing images at predetermined intervals (From the video, it looks like they may have been looking ahead, capturing video for future implementation, and stripping out frames at pre-determined intervals for this project). Here's one bit where a bus drove by as they were capturing the storefronts, blocking the camera's view (update: UPS Truck).
Presently, 'Block View' is only available in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, New York City (Manhattan), Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco - but Amazon claims that "More cities and images are being added all the time. Chances are that your city will be captured soon!" I can't wait for Detroit to get this treatment, making online exploration of the remote corners of urban ruin possible. In the meantime, Detroitfunk does a fine job of documenting the city the old-fashioned way.
Bonus additional thought: How long before NYC graffitti connoisseurs begin documenting the various tags that show up in Amazon's database (quick example)? [Update: similarly, this slashdot comment proposes a number of games based on the photo database.] [Update Again: A Flickr group containing interesting things found in Amazon's block view database can be found here.]
Further Thoughts:
Most of the comments on the slashdot thread relating to this deal with maintainability and how often they'll be able to refresh the image content. One particular quote: "A block in NYC can change dramatically in a year..." got me all excited about how they could keep a record of urban changes from update to update. Then even I got weirded out by how nerdy that is. This also reminded me of an interview with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi that I read around the time Spider-Man 2 was released. The interviewer asked him what he was going to do with his Gabillion dollars, and he launched into some crazy scheme about placing cameras above New York City and taking one image per hour forever. Anyone else remember this article? [Update: Here it is]
Another interesting usability concern: "One issue that is confusing me, and I might just be missing something here, is that I can't seem to find the other side of the street. I did a search for my local supermarket (in manhattan) and I got a great picture of the store on the other side of the street. There's no "turn around" button anywhere. Did they just take photos of one side of the street??" ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: groverloaf EMAIL: groverloaf@juno.com IP: 12.153.240.74 URL: DATE: 01/28/2005 08:42:58 AM This may be the best thing I've ever seen!!! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: MP3 of the week: Internet Success Story STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 911 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/01/2005 02:47:50 PM ----- BODY: Lessons of the internet: If you're looking for something, put up a webpage asking for it. Eventually someone who can help you will stumble across it and get in touch. That's what happened with this particular song. I posted the following early last year:
"I'm on another ridiculous quest.A few weeks ago, Jeff T. contacted me with the whole track. It probably won't hold the same appeal unless you've also been looking for it for four years, but here it is either way. I've also added it to the Zumpano Rarities Page.In 2001, I heard that there was a tribute to the Who's 'The Who Sell Out' in the works, featuring the likes of Zumpano, The Flashing Lights, The Young Fresh Fellows, Swag, and members of the Blake Babies, Cheap Trick, the Smithereens.
Towards the end of 2001 a 30 second clip of Zumpano's track surfaced on Audiogalaxy, and that was the last I ever heard of the project.
A little poking around this week has revealed that the project was being put together by a label called Futureman records - apparently a Detroit based project run by someone called Keith Klingensmith. There used to be a website at www.futuremanrecords.com but it's gone now. I'm hoping someone loosely connected to me by friendster might know something about it.
It sounds like a fun project - "The original album, we are doing every word, every chunk, in order. The Radio London stuff, and the ads between the songs, are all going to be covered." Does anyone know what happened to this release?"
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Zumpano - 'Silas Stingy' From: The never-released "New Sell Out" album (A tribute to 'The Who Sell Out') |
Hoping for similar success, here are two more obscure bits of media I am (passively) searching for:
CONAN: I'm told you were just traveling? You were...where were you? You were in Canada pretty recently.AMY: Yeah, I just went to Toronto for the day and, um, we had to go through immigration, you know? And, uh, because of the heightened security, I get really nervous now even though I'm not doing anything wrong.
CONAN: Right.
AMY: And I'm always afraid that for some reason they're not going to let me back into the country. Like, that they're gonna be, "No, we're full." You know? "You can't come back in."
CONAN: Right. (laughs)
AMY: So I got to immigration and I just started babbling like for no...and I don't have anything to hide, and, uh -- well.... Um, but, and the guy was like, uh, you know, "Why'd you go to Toronto?" and I was like, "Oh, I was here for a confirmation. I mean, a christening. I mean, I mean, I was here for a day and, uh, you know...I know how to make a bong out of an apple!"
CONAN: (laughs) It just comes out, yeah!
AMY: It just comes out!
CONAN: How do you make a bong out of an apple? (Amy laughs) We'll talk later.
AMY: Very slowly!
I just posted this to my flickr account and then searched the tags for any other photos tagged with 'forcedperspective.' No dice. I was hoping for a bunch of pictures of people holding their arms out with tiny siblings standing on their hands (example). Maybe there's some other keyword I'm not thinking of.
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AUTHOR: sarah
EMAIL: sarah.fabian@gmail.com
IP: 164.76.108.241
URL:
DATE: 02/02/2005 12:38:57 PM
It should also be noted that you had to coax your girlfriend into taking the photos in the first place--to the casual observer, it looked as if she was taking pictures of some random 80's dude laying in the grass (rather than pictures of her boyfriend EATING said 80's dude.)
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AUTHOR: Zach N.
EMAIL:
IP: 198.108.104.115
URL: http://www.elboxeo.com
DATE: 02/02/2005 02:10:09 PM
You two are the cutest!
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AUTHOR: clap
EMAIL: clappy@clapsadle.com
IP: 69.133.88.78
URL:
DATE: 02/02/2005 10:26:49 PM
http://www.dpchallenge.com/how.php?HOW_ID=35
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: Hot Email Anecdote Action
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ID: 914
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DATE: 02/06/2005 01:56:15 PM
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I got an email a few days ago with the subject line "This is not spam." Naturally, I assumed that it was spam. I let it sit in my inbox over the weekend, and in the midst of my weekly Sunday-morning ritual of trying to catch up on a bazillion things before the week begins, I discovered that it was not, in fact, spam. Magritte would be proud.
You'll note that the reason I never seem to catch up is because I waste time awkwardly photoshopping dead artists into bad jokes about email. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: mike lee EMAIL: IP: 70.152.97.152 URL: http://djhkukd DATE: 01/18/2006 06:12:22 PM ; j z' zx jx ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Out-of-Season XMAS Crafts: Vol. 1 STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 915 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/07/2005 12:06:39 AM ----- BODY: I've been obsessed with those 3" mini CDR's ever since I realized you could buy them in bulk. Unfortunately, the sleeves that are available for CD's of this size all have some sort of aesthetic imperfection that drives me completely nuts. This is because I'm insane. As part of my Christmas 2004 "ridiculous mix CD" campaign, I decided to solve this problem. I began the project with three goals in mind:
I'm pleased to report that I accomplished all three.
The first thing I did was tackle the sleeve design. I never realized how much work went into designing a simple envelope, but I went through a whole range of prototypes before finally hitting on a design that worked for me. Some of the rejects are pictured below.
Since I'm such a nice guy, I've included a .pdf of the sloppy sketch I used for a template, so you can make your own Kempa-approved aesthetically perfect mini CD sleeves. Just click the image below. I transferred the template to thick cardstock for extra durability. As you can see from the photo below, the finished product is delicious looking.
Next, I constructed a special box to hold a year's worth of sleeved mini CD's using the duct-tape / cardboard method I outlined here. I covered the result in brown Kraft paper, and added an inter-office envelope-ish closure mechanism. Finally, I spent a kabillion years making 12 mix CD's. The final product is below.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: diana EMAIL: dianaidris@yahoo.com IP: 161.139.100.142 URL: DATE: 02/07/2005 06:25:00 PM adam..as you know, you are insanely nuts. just to reaffirm your claims..i've yet to come across any creature as crazy and weird. kudos of sorts to ya. at least you're a creative nutcase. so it's kewl. ha. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: mark EMAIL: livesidog@gmail.com IP: 68.83.2.213 URL: http://www.livesidog.com DATE: 02/07/2005 09:39:28 PM Wow, nice. My girlfriend and I made Christmas-themed mix CDs for friends and used 3" CD-Rs as well (I found a bunch on clearance at Wal-Mart -- 10 for $1, with mini jewel cases). I have to admit, however, that our packaging was nowhere near as nice. The original mock-up that my girlfriend originally made was going to be somewhat elaborate, but we didn't have the time to put together 20 of them, so we just did a mini one-sheet to fit in the little jewel cases. Oh, and we put together a little companion website in lieu of more extensive liners. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Flickr Pipe Dream STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 916 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/08/2005 10:47:00 AM ----- BODY: One of the great features of Flickr is that you can subscribe to be notified via RSS whenever someone posts a photo tagged with a search term of your choosing. One of the tags I subscribe to is 'Mosaic,' which comes up with lots of photos of relic-variety mosaics, as well as the occasional mind blowingly awesome modern mosaic.
Today's feed contained this image. What is it? That requires a bit more explanation.
"The idea of this group is to create a large mosaic of collective pictures, that has a web of lines running through all its constituent images, separating the full image into patches and creating emergent shapes. The concept should be visible in the group icon I created from the first four images in the pool. Join in the fun!"Really nerdy people will wonder if the production of this mosaic is automated, and I'm going to venture a guess that it is, based on the tagging methodology for the longline group:
"The picture should be tagged with the "long line" tag. In addition there needs to be a "LL" tag coding the sides the line connects to in the picture. The sides are numbered, starting from the top in clockwise direction. A picture connecting the left to the bottom and right would thus be tagged with "LL234"...So it looks like the latter tag could easily be used to write an application to logically arrange the images into a connected mosaic, based on which sides are specified (Further research shows that I was right).
The first thing I thought of when I saw the mosaic was the NES game Pipe Dream:
In summary: Obscure puzzle game sub-genre + Flickr group + mosaic + this iPhoto poster tutorial [via Waxy] = some awesome wall-art. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Out-of-Season XMAS Crafts: Vol. 2 STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 918 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/09/2005 12:44:07 AM ----- BODY: Around December 2003, I discovered the Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments, and got it in my head that I should learn to make music boxes. What little information I was able to turn up on this archaic process proved to be too involved for the purposes of that year's gift-giving, so I defaulted to an electrical solution, based in part on a project I had been working on in school the previous semester.
The project was a talking clock, designed to speak the time at the push of a button. I used the knowledge of IC-based audio playback that I gained in completing this project to build a simple circuit that would play a song of my choice when a switch was triggered.
From there it was simply a matter of tracking down a box big enough to house my cobbled together mechanism while managing to appear 'Christmas-y.' There's a clickable quicktime video of the 'Music Box' in action below. When closed, the lid of the box opens a switch that leads to the 9V battery, so the same battery is still chugging along without having to involve a user-invoked power switch.
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Music Box - "O Holy Night" From: My Diningroom Table |
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As Christmastime rolled around, I set out to combine a praxinoscope / phenakistoscope (sometimes spelled with an 'i') hybrid with the faux 'music box' concept I had constructed the previous year. The first step was to find something to animate. I ended up using frames from an old phenakistiscope disc that I found here. If all went according to plan, the animation should look like the image below:
I divided the CD face up into 12 equal wedges in Illustrator and dropped each frame of the animation into a wedge. I ended up with a pretty decent recreation of the Phenakistiscope disc. Animating this disc required devising a way to construct a 12-sided, reflective cylinder. I tried several different methods, and what I finally ended up doing was getting some reflective cardstock and folding the cylinder together from a template I cooked up in Illustrator.
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Music Box - "Caroline" (Harry Nilsson) From: My Diningroom Table |
It was "Look Out For Pirates," volume #22 in the Random House Beginner Books collection, originally published in 1961. I searched Amazon to see if it was still available, and found this page - filled with comments recommending that it be reprinted for both nostalgic and educational purposes.
As I recall, we had it checked out from the library for so long that we eventually had to buy it. I'm amazed I still remember this, so I'm curious if other people remember the first book they were able to read on their own. Post in the comments if you can. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: j.schad@gmail.com IP: 66.158.3.107 URL: http://thismundanelife.blogspot.com DATE: 02/14/2005 11:13:56 AM I don't remember the book, but I taught myself to read when I was in Kindergarten. So when everybody was doing "Getting Ready to Read" in first grade, I got to go down to the library and read books, and I remember being particularly partial to books about spiders and wolves for some reason. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mike EMAIL: mberry@go.com IP: 198.202.236.135 URL: http://www.theberryzone.com DATE: 02/14/2005 02:46:01 PM The Joss Bird...here's the synopsis: The joss bird pursues the thief who steals her egg. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Liz EMAIL: redreddreads@yahoo.com IP: 63.204.135.198 URL: DATE: 02/16/2005 03:15:11 AM Hi. Interesting topic. I just have to share my story. When I was eight or so, my parents bought me an electronics set. It was an unusual gift, since my mother always thought I would grow up to be a wife and mother like she did. I didn't know what to do with it until I devised a plan that would be both entertaining and get my parents off of my back. I put together a circuit that, when broken, blared a horn and flashed a light. I taped the tenuously connected wires across my bedroom door and doorjamb and waited. Like clockwork, my mother cracked open the door around 10pm to check on my sleep status. That's when I learned that electronics could be used for awesome purposes. Needless to say, my mother stopped checking in on me at bedtime. As an adult I've designed lasers and am thinking about writing an electronics book. I live, happily, with my boyfriend and have no children (much to my mother's displeasure). Thanks mom! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Liz EMAIL: redreddreads@yahoo.com IP: 63.204.135.198 URL: DATE: 02/16/2005 03:19:57 AM As far as the first book I could read on my own? It was a Sesame Street book featuring Grover, and it had the theme "There's a monster at the end of this book". I recorded myself reading it so that I could later listen to it and scare myself silly. Not sophisticated, but it was a suspenseful story. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: patita EMAIL: patita@thoughtintersect.com IP: 24.227.175.2 URL: DATE: 02/17/2005 05:29:35 PM Green Eggs and Ham. I'd come into school early and read it with my kindergarten teacher. There's a Monster at the End of this book is a real favorite though. on the topic of books that come out of the depths of childhood, I recently tracked down a copy of In Search of the Saveopotamus. aah, such delight! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Angela EMAIL: angelamarie32@hotmail.com IP: 69.166.195.100 URL: DATE: 02/21/2005 07:58:10 PM "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seus was my first. I used to run around the house shouting the words at anyone who would listen. My sister who was 7 years older than me got so tired of it she hid it in her room. I found it and she stole it from me again, this time tried to flush it down the toiet. It didnt work but made a huge mess and one very unhappy 5 year old with a soggy book. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Erin Elise EMAIL: erinelise@comcast.net IP: 68.43.177.229 URL: DATE: 02/22/2005 12:38:45 AM Of course I remember the first book I ever learned to read, probably because it was the most annoying book ever, and I insisted on reading it aloud to everyone I knew. It was called, "The Teeny Tiny Woman". I don't know that you could really call it "learning to read" since the ENTIRE book consisted of the words "teeny" and "tiny". In fact, the first page of the book was, "There was a teeny, tiny woman who lived in a teeny, tiny house, with a teeny, tiny dog." See what I mean, throughly annoying. But I was still proud of myself. I've since learned to read books with more than just 3 different words, but that book will always have my heart. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: heidi EMAIL: heidsco@hotmail.com IP: 209.98.249.71 URL: DATE: 03/15/2005 09:33:59 PM Can someone help me? When I was a little girl, I had this collection of books, a series...with burgundy and tan covers, and gold type on the bindings. In one of the collection, (of I think twenty or so books,)there was the story "Teeny Tiny Woman". It was MY FAVORITE STORY! In this version of Teeny Tiny Woman, she finds a hen, rather than a bone. I would love to locate this series of books again, but have NO idea who the collection was created by, or when it was circulated....any ideas???? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sarah EMAIL: sntmcd@hotmail.com IP: 4.8.167.235 URL: DATE: 04/25/2005 02:21:23 AM Look Out For Pirates!! is my all time favorite childrens book as well. Reading the book and thinking how cool the captain was. Had it growing up...wish i still did! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mona Estrada EMAIL: GataMona@comcast.net IP: 67.181.70.82 URL: DATE: 09/13/2005 07:28:52 PM I bought this book at a second hand store for my son, he loved this book and read it many times. I am now buying for my grand chlidren. This will be a christmas present for my son actually! He still loves this book and he is 35 years old lol ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: LWE EMAIL: lwevans@mho.com IP: 64.58.0.42 URL: DATE: 07/31/2006 11:04:20 PM We still have our copy of "Lookout for Pirates!". It was my brother's book and I used to sneak it out of his room to read it. My son now loves this book and is planning on writing a sequel - he thinks the pirates must get off the island some day by building boats out of all of the trees on the island. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Whats In Your Fridge? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 924 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/15/2005 11:42:15 AM ----- BODY: I've lately gotten into the bad habit of drawing faces on each milk jug I come across, as seen below.
I was taking a picture of my latest effort in his natural environment (The fridge) when it occurred to me that there should be somewhere online where people can share images of the insides of their refridgerators (a la MTV's Cribs), JUST BECAUSE. Then I realized that someone smarter, stronger, and faster than me had probably already started such a group on Flickr, and I was right. There are, in fact, two distinct groupings of this variety: whatsinyourfridge, and whatsinmyfridge. Here's mine (Click the image for a larger, 'Nosy Neighbor'-sized version):
Now, should you feel the compulsive need to add faces to Milk Jugs as I do, I encourage you to upload photos of your creations to Flickr tagged with 'Milkjughead.' The world would be a better place if you did. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rob EMAIL: rdshereda@wisc.edu IP: 68.190.125.93 URL: http://www.shereda.com/weblog/ DATE: 02/15/2005 10:29:23 PM Man, if that counts as a "bad habit," you must be doing pretty freakin' well. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe cwik EMAIL: IP: 67.38.19.106 URL: http://www.joecwik.com DATE: 02/16/2005 09:51:56 PM I added a milkjughead to my flickr. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: dave EMAIL: IP: 68.249.242.162 URL: http://www.oneonetwothree.com/photography/portfolio/perishables%20web%20large.jpg DATE: 02/18/2005 03:12:44 PM My friend Matt took this picture of his fridge. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Old Roll of Film STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 925 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/16/2005 09:43:33 PM ----- BODY:
In January of 2005, she got a flat tire, and finally had to clean out her trunk. It was at this time that the tank was unearthed - still sealed tight, but having weathered two winters and summers in the car. I took the tank in to a local photo shop and had them develop the film.
The negatives definitely appear to have been affected by the time / temperature / etc, but there were still some fun shots, which I posted to Flickr. Woo.
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DATE: 02/17/2005 12:12:05 AM
Funny that you mention spoon:
http://tracker.zaerc.com/torrents-details.php?id=1630
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AUTHOR: Adam
EMAIL: adam@kempa.com
IP: 68.40.133.13
URL:
DATE: 02/17/2005 01:08:19 PM
Just before posting this, a friend of mine handed me a cdr of the above disc. It was already in CDDB. Crazy.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: Cool? Yes. Pioneering? No.
STATUS: Publish
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DATE: 02/21/2005 11:50:35 AM
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A band called The 8 Bit Construction Set is getting a touch of internet publicity by claiming that their record is "the first ever use of the vinyl recording medium for software distribution." Not so.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: Nerdy Idea: The Nintendo DS and 'Bar' Games
STATUS: Publish
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DATE: 02/22/2005 01:19:33 PM
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When I first read about the touchscreen and wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS, the first thing that crossed my mind was how perfectly suited it would be for mimicking those touchscreen games that litter bartops across America. This probably has a lot to do with the minor 'Boxxi' (aka Samegame) addiction I developed a few years back.
The primary manufacturer of these games is a company called Merit Industries (Incredible Technologies - The 'Golden Tee' People - offer a competing platform called 'Touch It'). Each unit contains dozens of relatively simple 2D touchscreen-controlled minigames, of the 'ridiculously addictive' variety. There's a good page with an overview of all of their offerings here. This seems like a natural project for porting over to the DS, so I'd be surprised if Merit hasn't already licensed it.
The consensus seems to be that the data can be copied, but there appears to be some sort of hardware DRM that prevents cloned hard drives from functioning properly in Merit Machines. I've seen no mention of anyone trying to examine the data from a programming perspective. Merit's own Hard Drive FAQ is here.
Bonus Idea
While thinking about my first idea, another one occurred to me. Seriously, so many ideas!
You know that NTN trivia system that some bars / restaurants have? Again, DS coding capabilities still have a ways to go before this would be possible, but its concievable that someone could throw together a similar interface with minimal effort - the only stumbling block would be supplying a large, changing batch of questions.
Perhaps a more appealing solution would be for someone to figure out what protocol NTN uses to communicate the questions and answer choices to the handheld units, and devise a way of intercepting the data and parsing it for use on the DS. Let me tell you, that would be ONE COOL DUDE.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: darin EMAIL: darinfic@gmail.com IP: 68.43.8.81 URL: DATE: 02/22/2005 01:37:28 PM i love NTN trivia! every tuesday night, buffalo wild wings. if there was a way to hack that shit and let me play at home with a ds or something, that would be the greatest moment in my life. every moment ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sarah EMAIL: sarah.fabian@gmail.com IP: 69.241.232.152 URL: DATE: 02/24/2005 08:08:29 AM YOU developed an addiction to Boxxi?.... C'mon now...who was the one seeing samegame patterns on your tiled bathroom floor?... ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Viewer Mail STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 928 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 02/24/2005 11:06:44 AM ----- BODY: I got this email Yesterday. Totally great.
Hey I wanted to thank you for inspiring me. Your ridiculous mix CD packaging gave me an idea for a Valentine's Day gift.- Clint
A huge thanks goes to David Pouchard for recording the program and sending me the tape (You can view David's bibliography of Ware's work in French publications here). I got the PAL videotape transferred to DVD (Expensive!), and am seeding a torrent of a small (but watchable) quicktime file containing the entire episode. Click here if you don't know what a torrent is and follow the directions. Otherwise, you can grab the torrent file here. The show is mostly in English with french subtitles, so don't worry too much about the language barrier!
Also - why the hell don't we have Art TV here in the US? I'd happily watch it in french if it were available to me.
UPDATE!
You can download the whole file the old-fashioned way here (it's being used in a college course, so take advantage of the educational institution-sized bandwidth!), or view it in three parts here, here, and here. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jean poole EMAIL: IP: 202.63.58.203 URL: http://www.octapod.org/jeanpoole DATE: 02/28/2005 05:50:09 PM thanks for your efforts in sharing this~! :-) appreciated in australia ;-) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: chris EMAIL: csivori@austin.rr.com IP: 207.114.255.2 URL: http://www.letterneversent.com DATE: 02/28/2005 06:08:04 PM Great video, with lots of insight. Thanks you. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: MrBlank EMAIL: mrb@blankheadspace.net IP: 12.207.134.31 URL: http://www.blankheadspace.net DATE: 02/28/2005 08:25:59 PM Thanks for sharing. I really liked this. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: antoine EMAIL: IP: 70.50.8.42 URL: http://phono.com/acaillet DATE: 02/28/2005 11:55:56 PM i regret arte tv every day since i quit france. great programs without advertising. on the net, you can listen to arte radio http://www.arteradio.com ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: marty EMAIL: marty@kosmograd.com IP: 217.169.1.74 URL: http://www.kosmograd.com DATE: 03/01/2005 09:06:59 AM Thanks, this is great. Gud bless the Intrawebs! Ware comes across as even more introverted and obsessive than I could have even imagined. Watching him draw, it's almost like he finds the whole process painful. I almost wonder if in some Mrs Doyle (Father Ted) masochistic way he 'likes the drudgery' - he could certainly do with a more ergonomic set-up. I would have liked to have seen more shots of buidlings in Chicago cut with his own beatutiful renderings, and try and find out more about his relationship with the place, maybe see him outside, sketching. Watching this program you could almost believe he was agoraphobic, and never left the house. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Bryan EMAIL: IP: 24.103.109.128 URL: http://www.geocities.com/itsthebryanshow DATE: 03/01/2005 02:07:17 PM I don't know if the channel sneaks over the border to you, but TV5 in Canada says they show Arte TV. I can't find it on the schedule, though. I do remember looking for it earlier this year when you were looking for a videotape copy of the Ware special. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Roland Tanglao EMAIL: roland@NOSPAMrolandtanglao.com IP: 65.39.152.178 URL: http://www.rolandtanglao.com DATE: 03/01/2005 03:29:21 PM AFAIK, Arte is a joint French and German TV channel, not just French. At least it was from 96-98 when I lived in Germany. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Bard Edlund EMAIL: edlund@edlundart.com IP: 66.108.75.231 URL: http://www.edlundart.com/ DATE: 03/01/2005 11:22:19 PM Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate the effort. As for art tv in the US, we do have Ovation, though I've never seen a show about comics on there... it's kind of "dated" I guess you could say. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Me EMAIL: IP: 62.194.63.225 URL: DATE: 03/01/2005 11:22:47 PM With a Mac and Bittorrent unable to download ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Behanger EMAIL: IP: 213.84.92.34 URL: http://www.retecool.com DATE: 03/02/2005 06:18:14 PM It's not your Mac, 'me'. Kempa does not seem to be seeding it anymore. Alas... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: chris hope EMAIL: IP: 68.6.189.175 URL: DATE: 03/02/2005 08:50:08 PM Adam, a huge thank you. I thought I would never be able to see that show. You rock! And to the above poster... it seems to be seeding now, and I am using a mc. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Adam EMAIL: IP: 68.40.133.13 URL: DATE: 03/02/2005 10:43:33 PM Should still be seeding... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 24.29.194.174 URL: DATE: 03/03/2005 04:30:50 AM "Also - why the hell don't we have Art TV here in the US? I'd happily watch it in french if it were available to me." This channel is available on Time Warner cable (at least here in Ohio, it is), along with a bunch of other foreign channels. They're like $15/month *per channel* (except for the Spanish package), so I never really thought about buying them. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 24.29.194.174 URL: DATE: 03/03/2005 04:38:10 AM Er, sorry, I guess I was wrong. The channel labeled "Art" is actually the "Arab Radio and Television Network." Heh. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jane EMAIL: IP: 69.202.92.6 URL: DATE: 03/09/2005 08:09:36 PM thank You!! He is so wonderful! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ricardo M. EMAIL: enlargeyourponies@gmail.com IP: 201.6.122.6 URL: DATE: 03/11/2005 07:25:33 PM Thanks for sharing indeed! Much appreciated in São Paulo, Brazil. (still seeding like crazy) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Duke Hardway EMAIL: IP: 24.10.95.0 URL: DATE: 03/11/2005 08:45:33 PM Something this rare needs to be passed around. I'll seed it for a while... Thank you for posting this. It is funny that an american artist would receive more fame in other countries (although, isn't that usually the case with the 'good ones'?) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 68.198.8.225 URL: DATE: 03/11/2005 10:57:47 PM Agreed. I'll be seeding this all weekend whenever I'm home. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: m d EMAIL: no@spam.com IP: 24.215.147.172 URL: http://minimaldesign.net/ DATE: 03/12/2005 09:48:13 AM Downloading right now from the torrent - thx to whoever is still seeding it. I really appreciate. I grew up reading French comic books (being French and all... ;) That's the one thing I still miss after living in the US for 10 years... I'm not too crazy about US comics in general, but thankfully they're a handful of geniuses like Chris Ware out there... I can't wait to see this thing!! cheers, m d ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Paul EMAIL: IP: 68.36.206.37 URL: DATE: 03/12/2005 12:21:58 PM Thanks so much for putting this out there! Love Ware. I'm going to keep seeding it, but I'm new to blog torrent and have a dumb question: the window says download successful and that people are currently uploading it, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to PLAY it. (No, I'm not eighty years old.) Using OSX. Someone please help. Thanks again. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Paul EMAIL: IP: 68.36.206.37 URL: DATE: 03/12/2005 12:29:24 PM Got it. Please disregard previous post. regards, Albert Einstein ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Till EMAIL: till@till-lassmann.de IP: 80.171.115.141 URL: http://www.till-lassmann.de DATE: 03/13/2005 03:13:56 PM and a great thanks from germany - i thought i had missed this issue of the great comic-heroes-documentary for good.. youre a hero! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Joaomaiopinto EMAIL: joaomaiopinto@gmail.com IP: 212.113.164.99 URL: http://pleasepatronizeoursponsors.weblog.com.pt/ DATE: 03/15/2005 07:54:24 AM Hi there, thanks so much for sharing this Now I`m going to spread the word... Lisbon - Portugal ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brad EMAIL: brad@bradcornelius.com IP: 24.14.36.137 URL: DATE: 03/16/2005 12:30:13 AM Thanks so much for all this effort on your part. What a great treat to get a peaceful, unobstructed view into Mr. Ware's home and studio - it was truly fascinating to watch. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: essl EMAIL: mike@essl.com IP: 24.90.83.190 URL: http://mike.essl.com DATE: 03/16/2005 07:53:35 PM Thank you so much for posting that. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Nico M EMAIL: micronicos@gmail.com IP: 81.139.237.103 URL: http://micronicos.com DATE: 04/11/2005 08:47:33 AM Love your site - any chance of seeding the .torrent? Best Regards, Nico M ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: andy EMAIL: ballpoint@earthlink.net IP: 63.159.200.18 URL: DATE: 04/11/2005 06:45:42 PM hi-- i am a third of the way through downloading this, but a few days ago lost the trail...any chance someone couild seed this for a few more days? it would mean a lot--thanks! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brendan EMAIL: angry_edwin@earthlink.net IP: 24.193.194.118 URL: http://www.groovelily.com DATE: 04/19/2005 12:24:30 PM Would anyone be willing to seed this again? I'd love to see the footage, but I can't begin to download with no helping seeders. Thanks! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: aricher EMAIL: IP: 64.1.142.242 URL: DATE: 04/22/2005 05:41:25 PM Somebody please reseed this. My BT client has been up for days with no action. I'd be willing to scan some of my Chris Ware original art to post on the Acme Archive in exchange for the BT seeded file. Please help folks. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Conor EMAIL: IP: 213.202.187.210 URL: DATE: 05/12/2005 10:22:16 PM Would really appreciate a seed if possible.. Dublin, Ireland ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: JB EMAIL: jonny.burton@wanadoo.fr IP: 83.200.210.167 URL: DATE: 09/27/2005 03:31:50 PM Just to join in with the request for reseed! I'd love to see it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: belt EMAIL: IP: 87.82.5.163 URL: DATE: 11/01/2005 07:48:33 AM bump, I want teh vid too, but torrent link no working ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: cucoloris EMAIL: IP: 12.182.96.66 URL: DATE: 11/21/2005 04:42:05 PM I'd love to see this too. Any chance of getting this torrent reposted and reseeded? Or, if not, maybe just the quicktime video uploaded to a free file hosting site, such as rapdishare? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: cucoloris EMAIL: IP: 70.225.184.160 URL: DATE: 11/28/2005 09:07:31 PM Hey, great to see this torrent link is working again! If there's anyone out there willing to seed, that'd be wonderful. Thanks! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Gabriel EMAIL: IP: 87.202.3.225 URL: DATE: 03/16/2006 03:39:00 AM Could someone please reseed this or alternatively upload it at www.savefile.com or some other file sharing site? Thanks in advance :) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: David P. Moore EMAIL: dpworks@sbcglobal.net IP: 156.3.9.141 URL: http://www.customflix.com/209002 DATE: 04/24/2006 06:10:38 PM HOOKED ON COMIX Volume 2 has an extensive TV interview with Chris W. Check it out on Customflix.com ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Hugo EMAIL: rin@tin.com IP: 76.20.135.227 URL: http://www.torrentz.com DATE: 03/23/2007 02:57:47 AM If n I was a pumpkin! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Bottlecap Round-up STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 931 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 03/08/2005 01:34:59 AM ----- BODY: In December 2004, I was forwarded the following article about a fellow bottlecap mosaicist. I've pasted the relevant bits of the now-unavailable-online article below. The fulltext of the article, which was published in North Carolina this past November, is preserved for posterity here. The only other reference to this artist's bottle cap work I've found is to her appearance as a guest on this North Carolina Talk Radio show. There don't appear to be any images of her bottle cap art online. I'm posting this in the hopes that the artist will stumble across this site when searching for their own name, and send me some photos.
'Pop' art: If the cap fits, paint it
By Catherine Brennan HagoodNeed to quench your thirst for some refreshing art? Molly B. Right is celebrating "pop" culture by using old soda bottle caps, Liquid Nails and metal backgrounds in place of traditional oils and canvas.
[...]
Right's bottle-cap mosaic series is a foray into the pop-art world with an Old World twist. Her more traditional subject matter completely contradicts the nature of the commercial-oriented world of soda, yet the complex pieces of artwork blend together like cherry and Coke.
Right's renderings of the Mona Lisa, the Virgin Mary, plus many others are created with layered bottle caps (some rusted, some completely new), and are thoughtfully glued on her metal canvas.
The images might then be touched up with a bit of paint, but the bottle caps are often untouched, leaving the Mona Lisa with soda-pop logos all over her face.
[...]
"I realized how big my paintings were going to be when I used a single bottle cap for the pupil of an eye. I built the eye around the pupil and realized that my finished product was going to be really big," Right says.
Fortunately for her, Right located the owner of an old bottle cap factory and was able to buy the caps by the thousands.
She actually primes some of these caps by "rusting" them in her back yard before applying them to her artwork. The rusted caps allow for a variation in the color, which lets her add shaded elements or color changes to her pieces.
"I put some of the caps in my yard for a while to let them rust, otherwise they would all look brand new," she says.
Other bottle caps are used in pristine condition, such as a black bottle cap with a small, white polar bear logo used for a pupil with a twinkle in the eye.
Right's final mosaic images are awe-inspiring because of the amount of difficulty in creating something well-rendered with such a difficult medium.
I also recently received a nice email from yet another fellow bottlecap mosaicist, who pointed out the existance of several other artists active in the cut-throat world of bottle cap art:
Hi Adam,Your bottle cap mosaic is really stunning... and I appreciated the links to other artists as well. Like you, I thought I was the only one doing this kind of thing, but I'm not all that surprised to find myself wrong on that count.
I've been doing bottle cap mosaics over the last few years and would love it if you included a link to them on your page. Check them out here. The bottle cap pieces are in the second row from the top.
A few other links to other artists who do great bottle cap work:
Remi Rubel (link, link)Ross Palmer Beecher (link)
Rick Ladd (link)
Sorry to hear about your brother, but I'm also glad to see that you've found such great ways to memorialize him, both with the artwork and the scholarship. Best of luck with everything,
John
You can view my bottle cap mosaic here. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: johntunger EMAIL: john@johntunger.com IP: 66.211.71.62 URL: http://johntunger.typepad.com/studio/ DATE: 04/22/2005 09:54:19 AM Hi Adam, Thanks for the link! Just noticed a few people had visited from your site. I moved the bottle cap pieces to a different location on the page linked above, so I thought I'd provide the new URL: http://www.johntunger.com/gal_mosaic.html#caps I'm posting all the latest bottle cap work to a new blog here: http://johntunger.typepad.com/artbuzz/bottle_cap_mosaics/index.html Anyway, thanks and hope all is well with you. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Barbara EMAIL: rootsreality@yahoo.com IP: 69.236.189.68 URL: DATE: 11/07/2005 03:50:36 AM Bottlecap Mosaic artist Molly B. Right was profiled on an HGTV show called "Offbeat America" yesterday. You mentioned that you haven't seen her work. If that is still the case, check out this stuff: http://www.mollybright.com/mollybright.htm She first paints the portrait on a metal background, then works it in bottlecaps. Good stuff, eh? ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Lost in Translation? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 932 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 03/22/2005 12:56:54 AM ----- BODY: Several years ago, my girlfriend Sarah bought me a notepad, which I promptly put into a pocket of my bag and forgot about. I unearthed it a few days ago, and noticed some of the ridiculous details for the first time.
There are two different designs on the sheets: one features a dog drinking in his doghouse with a bird perched atop the roof, and the other depicts the bird sniffing / pecking his arse. I'd love to know what the text says, or what is supposed to be going on here. Any insight is welcome.
"I am sixteen years old and have grown up watching Robin Williams. I look up to him. These "comments" on your site offend me. Unless these people have documented proof or any type of proof that Robin Williams is a "joke thief" I think you should try quoting people who do (if you can). I do not mean to offend you but, it is my opinion that you should also post comments of those who stand by Robin Williams. These other "hater" comments are nothing more than stories and unless you have proof Lies. I think these people should concentrate on themselves, and what they have done wrong - not a wonderful comedian who has brought joy and happiness to so many."----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brendan EMAIL: brendan.wiles@gmail.com IP: 68.5.44.9 URL: DATE: 03/29/2005 04:48:37 PM This kid has lived sixteen years of lies! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Greg EMAIL: IP: 68.163.55.73 URL: http://www.youlookgoodinblack.com DATE: 03/30/2005 05:50:17 PM That kid's message is so much funnier than Robin Williams. I'll give Mr. Williams a few days before he steals it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: gayman1600 EMAIL: IP: 24.11.160.29 URL: http://popproject.com DATE: 04/01/2005 10:57:00 PM upon concentrating on myself, i realized i didn't care, and adam is probably right. thank you adam for being right even when you step on the faces of all those who enjoy convicted joke stealers... bitches! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brett EMAIL: oconnorb@dogheadbone.com IP: 64.207.42.203 URL: http://www.negatendo.net/~brett DATE: 04/13/2005 02:04:05 PM You know, I was thinking about this the other day: Isn't it strange that many of the the "serious" roles Robin Williams plays involve someone becoming obsessed with / experimenting with / being invovled with someone else's thoughts, ideas and memories? What Dreams May Come. One Hour Photo. The Final Cut. Yea, I know it's a stretch, but maybe he does so well at these roles because they play into some kind of subconcious moral conflict that is derived from his joke thievery. I haven't been smoking weed. I swear. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Non-Narrative Video Gaming STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 942 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 04/10/2005 01:56:18 PM ----- BODY: There was a really good article on the Guardian website this past week which summarizes my 'disconnect' from the sprawling worlds of most current 'blockbuster' video games. Part of the reason I've embraced the Gameboy Advance and the Nintendo DS are because the (relative) technical limitations of the platforms seem to keep the games truer to the genre-style play I grew up with. The author uses 'Yoshi: Touch & Go' for the DS as an example, and that just happens to be the last game I bought. It's sort of a 'throwback' in that you start a new game, play until you get a game over, and the primary goal is a high score. I'm going to use the same pull-quote I've seen used elsewhere, because it sums up my hopes for the direction of the DS so well.
"For gamers, it is difficult to grasp: many people enjoy playing, experiencing these new types of games that don’t fit into the mold of what we typically consider a game. How can a game not be divided into levels, or have boss battles, or upgrades or unlockable content? Playing just for the sake of enjoying playing? ABSURD!"The full article is here. I found it via 4ColorRebellion, which has become my one-stop DS information site. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Will EMAIL: willyates@gmail.com IP: 68.40.192.196 URL: http://www.willyates.com DATE: 04/11/2005 08:51:50 PM It's like punk rock vs. prog rock all over again. The rock and roll parallels are everywhere. Video games started out simple and fun, and the youth went wild for them. Advancements were made, but everyone was still cool with things. But then games just got too complicated. So now people decide that simple is good again, and there will be a simple rebirth. But then simple games will become more complicated, while still being viewed as simple games, until, thirty years from now, someone puts out "Frances the Mute: The Game". At some point the future Pitchfork of video games will reexamine the excess of the '00's, and decide that, hey, a lot of those complicated video games were actually pretty cool and not as pointlessly complex as we originally thought. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ted EMAIL: IP: 67.162.211.74 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/~mrbraukoff DATE: 04/12/2005 02:30:34 PM Wow, Will- I really like that comment. p.s. my bike is in your back yard. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Adam EMAIL: IP: 208.170.4.234 URL: DATE: 04/12/2005 04:31:12 PM Agreed- Best comment ever. Will wins! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Clappy EMAIL: clappy@clapsadle.com IP: 69.133.88.78 URL: DATE: 04/13/2005 08:26:53 PM I think that the reason so many people in there mid to late twenties like the "simple" games so much is only partly because those were the types of games we grew up on. how about the fact that we all dont have the time to get involved with a massive multiplayer game? Many of these games are really fun if you have 40 hours a week or more to put into them. But, if you dont, then you do not really experience everything the game has to offer, and its like trying to watch just the middle of a movie. Or, it could be we are getting old. When even simple video games came out, our parents would talk about how they grew up without them and didnt understand how fun they are. Personnaly i love the simple games and the complicated ones too. but, as my free time becomes less and less, i do not play the complicated ones as much. i wish i could, because i love games like city of heros, planetside, counterstrike, and star wars galaxies. I just think that saying games need bosses and levels and an end is just short sited because you are putting your own limitations on the game. sorry this post is kind of crazy, i am typing fast so i can get to bowling. id like to comment more later. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Moody Youth STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 945 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 04/23/2005 02:34:18 AM ----- BODY: Garage Sale find:
Four volumes from the "Moody Youth Library." What a great name. They appear to be vaguely Hardy Boys-ian, (Titles include 'Scotty and the Mysterious Message,' 'The Case of the Dancing Fire,' etc.), though my brief googling has revealed some christian edu-tainment connotations, so maybe they were the churchgoing Hardy Boys.
That said, if I were starting a bad emo record label, it would totally be called 'Moody Youth Records.'
April 24th, 2005
The Chosen:
Up-to-the-minute coverage of Michigan-area snow-covered tulip photography available here (Thanks, Scott).----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Scott T. EMAIL: scott.trudeau@gmail.com IP: 68.40.193.49 URL: http://sstrudeau.com/ DATE: 04/24/2005 07:32:24 PM Tulips seem to be the star of the day. http://sstrudeau.com/?p=42 ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: RDS EMAIL: shereda@gmail.com IP: 128.104.11.58 URL: http://www.shereda.com/weblog/ DATE: 04/25/2005 04:33:09 PM Maybe I'm insane, but I think I see a face in that glass. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: clapmastaflex EMAIL: clappy@clapsadle.com IP: 69.133.88.78 URL: DATE: 04/25/2005 08:05:36 PM ok, so it snowed and you got a pic of the tulips with snow on them. BUT, WHY WERE YOU SNAPPING A PIC OF THEM THE DAY BEFORE? seriously!!! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: james EMAIL: katmandu1102@sbcglobal.net IP: 68.73.192.129 URL: http://tulips DATE: 05/14/2006 09:45:41 AM once the pedals of my tulips fall off when can i cut the entire stem and leaves to the ground? ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Classic STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 947 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 05/04/2005 10:52:51 AM ----- BODY: Someone at Northeastern State University in my home state of Oklahoma left the following comment on the HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL tulip entry below. I deleted it, because it has absolutely nothing to do with tulips, but I wanted to preserve this poor soul's bilious rage for posterity.
"fuckin waste of time, keep your little barnes and fuckin noble stories to someone who cares, like the other helpless, bitchin barnes and noble cashiers."----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: the Other michael EMAIL: xraysmalevich@gmail.com IP: 12.166.42.53 URL: http://www.xradiograph.com DATE: 05/04/2005 01:15:31 PM He must have been driven insane by the face in the glass.... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: joe.cwik EMAIL: a@a.com IP: 69.128.85.37 URL: http://www.joecwik.com DATE: 05/05/2005 09:39:50 AM YOUR home state of Oklahoma? When did you move? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Dayna EMAIL: IP: 12.73.81.194 URL: DATE: 05/05/2005 07:47:49 PM The "strange writing" you didn't know about on Ozzy's album are Anglo-saxon runes. It says "Ozzy Osbourne rock and roll madman." Coincidently, I learned this language from my friend Kemper after Ozzy saw the runes on his album cover. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: "Joe Heller" by Kurt Vonnegut STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 955 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 05/14/2005 01:10:11 PM ----- BODY: From this week's New Yorker:
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Bill Spellman EMAIL: spacemanbill2000@hotmail.com IP: 24.1.173.33 URL: http://www.wearetexaslovers.com DATE: 05/14/2005 07:39:43 PM viva la vonnegut! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Vinyl Video STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 951 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 05/15/2005 07:04:24 PM ----- BODY: Vinyl VideoJOE HELLER
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, "Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel 'Catch-22'
has earned in its entire history?"
And Joe said, "I've got something he can never have."
And I said, "What on earth could that be, Joe?"
And Joe said, "The knowledge that I've got enough."
Not bad! Rest in peace!- Kurt Vonnegut
Based on the obsessive-compulsive nature of my previous postings on all aspects of vinyl technology, several people have recommended that I check out Vinyl Video, an artistic venture by a collective of European artists, who encode black and white video data into the grooves of vinyl records, and play them back through a custom-built set-top box. The box, which decodes the video data and transmits the signal to an ordinary television set, is available from the Vinyl Video website for approximately $2500.
The collective has commissioned video and animation from a wide variety of artists, whose submissions have been encoded into the proprietary format and pressed onto vinyl in extremely limited runs. You can view a gallery of the video playback produced by the artists here, and listen to samples of what encoded images sound like when played back on an ordinary turntable here. The product of all this work has toured as an installation through a number of galleries around the world. Below is an excerpt from French animator Cecile Babiole's contribution to the series - '100 Loops,' which consists of 100 loops of tiny skeletons dancing.
The most interesting thing I discovered while looking around for the Vinyl Video website is that it isn't the first technology used to encode video data into the grooves of records. In fact, there was a 'format war' of sorts that broke out amongst companies encoding video onto grooved discs, well before the VHS / Beta wars were waged. CED's appear to have been the dominant iteration of this technology, though I've found reference to a number of similarly imagined formats, including VHD videodisc system, Magnavision/DiscoVision, phonovid, and teldec.
CED's (Capacitance Electronic Discs) were produced by RCA. The actual discs were housed in plastic 'caddies,' which were inserted into the player. Once inserted, the player automatically extracted the disc from the caddy and began playback. To remove the disc from the player, the caddy was reinserted. There are some handy video clips depicting this process in a variety of formats available courtesy of the CED magic website.
Some great quotes I stumbled upon in my browsing:
"Why Collect RCA VideoDiscs? American Technology. The CED system was envisioned and manufactured (all discs and the RCA players) entirely in the U.S.A., and it was the last major electronic entertainment format to have this distinction. It was also RCA's splashiest product introduction, and the last major thing the company did before its disposition by GE in 1986."Some people embrace the CED format for the very reason others have deplored it - the grooved, stylus-read media. CED represents the final chapter in grooved media that began with the Edison Cylinder in the 19th century. In an odd twist of history, LaserDisc and Audio CD were cool back in the early 1980's due to the newness of lasers in consumer products. But with the passage of time, the unusual capacitance pickup in the CED system has a retro appeal lacking in the commonplace laser pickups of today."
I decided I needed a closer look at one of these discs, so I spent $3.99 of my hard-earned wages on a copy of (the un-altered cut of) Star Wars. The caddy is easily opened with a pencil, and the disc can then be examined. Below is a side-by-side comparison photo of a de-caddied CED and a regular LP.
There's a good explanation of the actual mechanics involved in this technology here.
"One of the great misunderstandings about the CED's is around this point. The "needle" stylus rides in a groove. The information is is recorded in pits beneath the groove and varies the capacitance in the pickup. The groove was nothing more than a way to guide the stylus. It is NOT at all similar to LP's. The stylus would move in the track, an angle change in the stylus carrying mechanism was sensed, and a motor would move the arm. Very similar to tangetial arm phono pickups.""The plus side of using the groove to guide is that you had to only have an information track, and the physical groove replaced a servo track. The other capacitance system, the JVC VHD system, used a flat disk (no grooves). Two capacitance tracks were underneath the surface of the disk. One to guide the "sled" as it it was called, the other picked up the information. JVC was able to get 1 hour per side on 10" disks. While it enjoyed success in Japan it was never introduced here. I saw a JVC demo of the unit about 1980 or so."
As I find a way to relate nearly everything to videogames in some way, it should come as no surprise that I have sniffed out just such a connection in the case of CED's. While there was a spate of Laserdisc-based games in the 80's that are revered as classics and actively emulated (See the daphne project), it turns out there was one lonesome arcade game that was developed to use CED technology: NFL Football.
Bonus trivia:
The Doors
A decidedly less technologically advanced coupling of moving pictures with records can be found built into the liner notes to the Doors' first post-Morrison album: 'Full Circle.' The record's cover contains cardstock punch-outs that allow the listener to assemble a zeotrope depicting the evolution of man.
As the photos below depict, I assembled my zoetrope, and tested it out for myself. My findings were that it's not all it's cracked up to be. You can get a faint glimpse of the motion occurring, but I wasn't able to discern enough detail to tell what exactly was going on. This may have a lot to do with the fact that I have horrendous vision and the lighting of the room in which I conducted my 'experiment,' so your milage may vary.
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Red Raven
While doing the research for my initial spate of vinyl articles, I happened upon a few references to records that could be played back with an animation effect. No label name or title information was given in these references, so I thought I had hit a dead end. A few weeks ago, while shopping at Stormy Records, Co-owner Windy showed me a Red Raven release, which I immediately recognized was an example of what I had been looking for. Subsequent consultation of eBay and Google have yielded a wealth of information on the label and its products.
It turns out that there are two varieties of Red Raven records. The earliest were small picture discs, with the frames of animation visible beneath transparent grooves. An example of an early Red Raven picyure disc can be seen here. These picture discs, in my opinion, are flimsier and less visually interesting than the later Red Raven releases, which are unique in that only the outer half of the surface area that is typically used for storing audio data is grooved. The inner half consists of 16 frames of looping animation, printed on an oversized label. When the record is placed on a turntable, a special 16-sided mirrored carousel is placed on the spindle. The rotating frames of animation are reflected up into the faces of the mirror, and an animation effect is achieved.
As is often the case with toys that induce fond childhood memories, the functionality hinges upon a piece that is easily lost, broken, or both - the mirrored carousel. While Red Raven records can still be purchased relatively cheaply, the real obstacle to examining this phenomenon first hand is acquiring one of the custom-made 16-sided mirrors, which usually go for around $150.00 when they surface on eBay.
Through the magic of the internet, we can see several examples of the (surprisingly high-quality!) animation loops used on Red Raven releases. Four of these animations can be seen below (Click each image to view the page from which they were taken, with further information):
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In all, 16 records were released, making for a total of 32 unique animations, each containing the titular Red Raven in some way. Each record was pressed on vivid color vinyl (at 78 rpm), so they're pretty fun conversation pieces even without the mirror (If you like dorky conversations, that is). A complete listing of all known Red Raven sides is available here. It's also worth noting that these 78's were released in Sweden under a different name - "Film-Karusell". More information on these alternate versions is available here.
Nasa's grooved video
Even NASA got in on the grooved-video-encoding action, developing their own proprietary format for sending video of the Earth up into space. In this case it was still images, but whatever, it counts.
"Grooved records containing images and sounds of Earth were placed on the two NASA Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The Voyager Interstellar Records were not CED's, but gold-plated Audio LP mothers made of copper, which normally would be used to make stamping molds for vinyl LP's. The records were specially mastered to spin at just 16 2/3 RPM and needed several seconds to play back each still image. Playback directions and a stylus cartridge were included with the records. RCA was involved with the production of the Voyager records, and the image reconstruction uses multiple scan lines similar to television."
Below is a photograph of the gold-plated aluminium case for the Voyager records. The images on this 'sleeve' are pictogram instructions for playback. To me this is the most interesting part of the whole package, but I'm obsessed with usability and boring shit like that. For maximum appreciation, I suggest you play a little game: imagine you found the case pictured below. Click the image to view a close-up, and try to decipher the significance of each image. Then visit this (non-NASA) Voyager Record site and read the solution (About half-way down the page). Puzzle-rific! Hint: It's WAY more complicated than you think. Come on, this is NASA. You'll either see the solution and go: "BLAH BLAH BLAH BORING," or you'll be like "Dude. DUDE." Yep. I know you, and I'm pretty confident it'll be one of those two reactions.
Just when you thought this record couldn't get any better, there's this:
"The cover of the Voyager record also contains an ultra-pure source of Uranium-238 to serve as a radioactive clock for determining the record's age."It's official: Best liner notes ever.
NASA has an official page on the "Golden Record" here. From this site, you can hear samples of the audio we chose to send into space (highlights include "A Tame Dog is Barking," "Agricultural Sounds Including a Tractor," "The Voice of a Chimpanzee is Heard Above the Others," "A Horse and Cart Starting on a Dirt Road and Progressing to a Paved Area," and "The Sounds of a Bus;" along with greetings in 55 of Earth's languages), as well as samples of the images encoded.
Below you'll see one of these images, carefully chosen as the most likely to appear bizarre out of context (The NASA site explains that the photo's purpose is to illustrate how "the mouth performs a variety of functions in eating and drinking"). The full listing of the musical compositions included can be found here, and of images here. The story of the collection of the audio greetings in 55 languages is here.
~*~
John Baird
Finally, there's John Baird. For some reason, this was the last bit of Vinyl Video triviality I managed to unearth, but it's turning out to be the most interesting. Baird recorded 30 line video onto 78rpm records in 1928. He also demonstrated a 600 line HDTV colour system in 1941. Mindblowing? Yes.
The best starting point for learning about Baird and his accomplishments seems to be his wikipedia entry. For those looking to delve into the intracacies of Baird's experimentation with video recording, TVDawn.com has lots of great information on Baird's efforts here, including "a results summary for tired executives", a summary of which discs have survived the decades, and images recovered from phonovision discs.
"In 1996, a privately recorded aluminium disc, with just the cryptic words "Television 1933" written on the label, was discovered to contain the earliest-known recording of a television broadcast - in fact, a television special (Figure 5). Featuring the Paramount Astoria Girls, the recorded fragment was discovered by the author to be from the first television revue broadcast on 21 April 1933, just eight months after the start of the BBC Television Service. The non-stop action on the disc overturns the established views on the 30-line BBC programmes of staid amateurish performances. The camera technique, lighting technique and production features are all unusual, unique and professional. The rapid pace of the performance is stunning and provides us today with a true measure of Britain's heritage of television programme making.For those who would rather watch television about television than read about television, there is a lecture based on the book available for download in the (hopefully) soon-to-be antiquated realvideo format here.In early 1998, another discovery was made. A set of unmarked privately recorded aluminium discs has been revealed to contain high quality original 30-line vision recordings from the BBC's 30-line service. One of the singers on the discs is almost certainly Betty Bolton (Figure 6), a well-known contralto, who performed over a dozen times in front of the 30-line cameras. Her vision-only performance on disc is exceptional. After 1500 programmes, the BBC 30-line service closed on 11 September 1935. In November 1936, the BBC re-opened its Television Service with high-definition television. The massive technology leap that television had made left recording technology far behind. It would be nearly 20 years before direct video recording could catch up."
Things I'm looking for:
Dzama has created a series of six injection-molded plastic action figures called "Uzama: The Monsters of Winnipeg Folklore." Each of the six figures is limited to 2500 pieces, manufactured and packaged with faux-vintage Kenner Star Wars production values. Kinda neat, if you're into both artsy fartsy types who paint with root beer (He does!) and Star Wars. Mr. Dzama's rising star, coupled with the insane collector's market created by the likes of the Kid Robot and Giant Robot stores also makes these figures a no-brainer for eBay speculation-types.
"What is rather strange though is that ... this code actually depicts 'X-Y' based on the General version of Baudot's code (there was no & in the original version) and 'X9Y' in the new amended versions of the code.UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that the key to this code is included in the actual CD booklet (LAME). I'm also told that there is an additional coded message on the back which (predictably) reads: "Make trade fair." Meh.
If this sort of nerdery interests you and you missed it the first time around, here's a link to my previous collection of coded covers. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.140.237 URL: http://www.popproject.com DATE: 06/10/2005 10:38:25 AM I know this will be a big surprise, but I really like that album cover! Man, we always agree. Always. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Will EMAIL: willyates@gmail.com IP: 68.40.192.193 URL: http://www.willyates.com DATE: 06/14/2005 08:13:45 PM Haha, I was just going to write that I actually really like the cover, and then I noticed that Zach has done the same. I like it! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Koppin EMAIL: erik@suburbansprawlmusic.com IP: 216.11.79.21 URL: DATE: 06/22/2005 10:47:55 AM It's funny how an internet empire like Kempa.com has turned into a place where only his friends tell him that his opinions are wrong. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: George Hotelling EMAIL: george@hotelling.net IP: 68.40.103.89 URL: http://george.hotelling.net/ DATE: 07/20/2005 10:05:50 AM Someone made a page that will encode letters you type in into colored Baudot using JavaScript. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Houdini and Detroit STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 976 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 06/16/2005 12:29:15 AM ----- BODY: I just saw Neko Case at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. In the middle of the set, she mentioned that she had heard that Houdini had died in the theatre. I've heard the same story a number of times in the past, and I also remember hearing a few other bands mention it from the stage, so maybe someone affiliated with the Majestic complex is spreading the story.
At any rate, it's not true. The basic sequence of events was:
- Tuesday, Oct. 19th - Punched in the stomach in Montreal
- Sunday, Oct. 24th - Performed last show at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit
- Monday, Oct. 25th - Hospitalized
- Sunday, Oct. 31st - Died at Grace Hospital, Room 401
This stuff is all pretty easily google-able -- I used the 'Houdini in the New York Times' section of houdinimuseum.org for the timeline above. There's even an entire site devoted to Mr. Houdini's death. The site in question is hosted by Geocities, so it could go down without any warning, but it's worth noting that it includes photos of the Garrick Theatre and Grace Hospital; a copy of the death certificate; newsreel footage of the funeral (mpg); and recollections of the final show.
Detroitfunk (one of my favorite Detroit-centric websites) recently posted an entry with present day photos of the surviving landmarks of the story (here). Actually, I just found this entry on Motorcityrocks which mentions the Majestic rumor and correctly identifies the Garrick Theater as the site of Houdini's last show, so this entire exercise was futile. Bah.
a.) Like to have a diesel engine, followed by a non-diesel engineUnfortunately, google reveals that this is a "catchphrase" of sorts. Slight consolation: at least most of them get the 'than' right. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Tony EMAIL: IP: 65.222.58.15 URL: DATE: 07/06/2005 04:45:46 PM Man 1: "I be stroken then cummin." Man 2: "I, rather, be cummin then stroken." ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: BP EMAIL: bnmliving@charter.net IP: 24.247.167.80 URL: DATE: 06/30/2006 02:19:41 PM Cummmins makes the diesel that goes in the Dodge while International make the powerstoke diesel that goes into a Ford .....So with that being said, this guy would rather be "Cummin then Stroken" meaning he would rather have a Cummins diesel than a Powerstroke diesel....and I do not blame him! I guess if you do not drive a diesel pick-up you just wouldn't get it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jesse EMAIL: janesmith@aol.com IP: 67.8.150.66 URL: DATE: 08/20/2006 01:23:59 AM I don't blame him either, I was actually searching for that same decal/sticker when I ran into this lame site. Before I go print my obnocious, vulgar, obscene sticker, you need a sense of humor. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Great Essay on Anti-Records STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 986 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/06/2005 02:05:29 AM ----- BODY: I have about 30 emails which date back to February rotting in my inbox, under the pretense that I'm somehow going to find the time to 'properly' research and present the information contained therein. Since it's becoming increasingly obvious that I need to finish the things I've started and not let new projects accumulate in my inbox, I'm going to attempt to jettison some of these links over the next few days.or
b.) Like to indulge in a puzzlingly-sequenced masturbatorial act.
1963 Milan Knizak: "in 1963-64 I used to play records both too slowly and too fast and thus changed the quality of the music, thereby, creating new compositions. In 1965 I started to destroy records: scratch them, punch holes in them, break them. By playing them over and over again (which destroyed the needle and often the record player too) an entirely new music was created - unexpected, nerve-racking and aggressive. Compositions lasting one second or almost infinitely long (as when the needle got stuck in a deep groove and played the same phrase over and over). I developed this system further. I began sticking tape on top of records, painting over them, burning them, cutting them up and gluing different parts of records back together, etc. to achieve the widest possible variety of sounds. A glued joint created a rhythmic element separating contrasting melodic phrases... Since music that results from playing ruined gramophone records cannot be transcribed to notes or to another language (or if so, only with great difficulty), the records themselves may be considered as notations at the same time."...and the list goes on. Many people hate shit like this, but I bear the eternal curse of loving the concept and invariably being disappointed by the result. I've done a little digging for a book that appears in the works cited of this article and that I've seen mentioned elsewhere: "Broken Music: Artists' recordworks." There are reviews on the web, but I've thus far not found an affordable copy (The "best deal" so far: the used copy currently on Amazon. A mere $565 and it's yours. Fetchbook finds copies as high as $1317). This appears to be a sort of online representation of the exhibit that the book details.
1964 Robert Watts (phono records): "...I made a series of spray-painted records for a Fluxus performance at the Fluxstore on Canal Street. These were played by the audience, and as the paint wore off, gradually the music was revealed." (From Extended Play - see bibliography).
1982 Martin Turner creates "Ekliptizs-cher Rhythmus", a plexiglass record with one groove in which certain markings are made. Says Turner, "The constellation of the stars of the date of birth is applied ... by means of scratching or hatching, marked as an acoustic event. When played on a record player, a certain rhythm results, which, in itself cyclic recurrent, varies with each person."
1983 Die Todliche Doris releases "Chore and Soli" in an attempt to liberate their work from the typical pattern of critical comparison to past work- a box set of eight mini-records playable only with an enclosed, battery-operated player (in actuality a device used to reproduce sound in talking dolls). Each album contains perhaps thirty seconds of sound, about the same amount of time it takes to insert the disc in the apparatus. A thousand copies were made.
"Here's a scan of a strip Chris Ware did for the Daily Texan back in 1988. Sorry about the quality of the scan, but it was done through glass and in two parts. I'm not going to unmount it in order to scan it."
"I'm pretty sure that "Bande" was the name of many of those Daily Texan strips, all of which featured the semi-circle head guy. Chris didn't always put the word Bande as the title though. I have others with no title, and one that has the title "Komix", but they all feature that same character."
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Cinecast - 'Doppelganger' From: Cinecast #18: 'Fear and Loathing in Gotham City' |
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: bborcttocs EMAIL: scotcrobb@mail.ru IP: 4.229.180.253 URL: http://op8.com DATE: 07/11/2005 03:01:59 PM My ipod rattles. Surfs up. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Boring you with my current reading habits STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 990 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/10/2005 11:47:22 PM ----- BODY: I picked up 'Britpop!' by John Harris for a couple bucks at one of those book liquidation-type places, and have been pleasantly surprised by how awesome it is. Well written, thoroughly researched, and comprehensive! In addition to couching the tales of musical evolution in the appropriate social and political context, it's filled with all sorts of inconsequential details that I love knowing. For example, Justine Frischman: Trust funder! Her sass-factor and the relative appeal thereof will now have to be recalculated. Also, Rough Trade Records: painfully idealistic!
"One thing is for certain: during the first phase of its existence, Rough Trade demonstrated its disdain for music industry decadence by refusing to send journalists and radio stations free records. 'We just thought, "These records are so good, they should come and get them themselves,"' says Travis. 'It's very expensive to give away hundreds of records, simple as that. It makes a lot of economic sense to make people come to you.' The principle was also reflected in the non-existence of guest-lists at Rough Trade-related concerts. 'The important people,' says Travis, with an undiminished enthusiasm for the principle, 'were the kids who wanted to get in.'"Awesome! If you've counted yourself a fan of any british rock band since 1990, and you like some history with your music facts, I hereby recommend it. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: darin EMAIL: darinfic@gmail.com IP: 63.209.135.142 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/whasterisk DATE: 07/11/2005 04:21:00 PM is there anything in that book about the band sleeper? man, do i love that band. also, thanks for the maniac mansion link. it will always be my favorite video game of all time! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: clap EMAIL: clappy@clapsadle.com IP: 69.133.88.78 URL: DATE: 07/11/2005 06:47:04 PM http://www.elasticated.org/press.php?id=8 ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: More on (Moron) Runes STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 992 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/11/2005 09:56:01 AM ----- BODY: Awhile back I wrote a post on albums with coded messages hidden in their liner notes (here). One of these was an Ozzy Osbourne LP ('Speak of the Devil') which I was unable to find reference to deciphering on the internet. The image I posted was duly deciphered in the comments, but I've since recieved an email detailing a more 'humorous' message coded on the interior. I can't take credit for the title of this post - it was the subject of the email I recieved from Jeff Broderick. He writes:
"I don't know whether you're still interested in this whole thing or not, but some time ago I translated all the runes I could find on that Ozzy album, and the result is kind of humourous, if less than profound. The cover: "Rock and Roll Madman Ozzy Osbourne" The inside: "Dial a Demon Productions in Conjunction with Graveyard Graphics Proudly Present the Madman of Rock Dumping in El Satanos Toiletio Real Tasty Howdy." Now, I only have this on a scrap of paper, since I don't have the album itself anymore. Can anyone verify this translation?"That's about it. I'm not particularly compelled to go searching for Ozzy Osbourne Live LP's in order to confirm that this is accurate, so take this with a grain of salt, I suppose. If you happen to own a copy of the 'Speak of the Devil' LP, and are willing to put in the time to confirm this, the 'key' can be found here. Now then, if you need me I'll be dumping in El Satanos Toiletio.
"Howdy! Dial-A-Demon productions in conjunction with graveyard graphics proudly presents the madman of rock dumping into El Satanos toiletto. A tribute to Randy Rhoads, the axeman. That kid was my lifeline, you know? He was such a dynamic player and I'd rather not talk about it anymore because it cuts me up every day of my life. Randy Rhoads rest in peace and love."Wow! Totally sincere! Also: worth the effort! ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: economy1 EMAIL: 3c0n0my1@gnte.org IP: 207.13.113.122 URL: DATE: 07/28/2005 06:14:16 PM You know, I hadn't thought about this since the album first came out and I spent the time (I used to have more of that) as a teenager to do this decode. And I actually remember it now that I've seen it again in print. But what made me think of it (and search to find this site) was this week's edition of This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow (that's the key, actually). Thought you might be interested... http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=19396 ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Published?! STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 996 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/15/2005 05:35:02 PM ----- BODY: I have a short review of Gakken's Berliner Gramophone and Edison Cylinder kits in the 'Toolbox' section of the second issue of Make Magazine. If you aren't familiar with Make Magazine, it's basically a comprehensive quarterly manual of nerdery. This issue also includes articles on writing your own Atari 2600 software, building a robot from an old mouse, and running linux on ipods if that helps frame things for you. You can pick up a copy on Amazon, or at your local newsstand (I made a point of visiting the Barnes & Noble where I once worked to purchase it).
"We would like to make this offer to your readers living in the US: if they mention your site in their comments when they order this kit, we will refund their shipping, keeping their total at $59.99, and we will upgrade their shipping to USPS Priority (2-3 day delivery)."I just checked with Peter and they're still willing to honor this deal, so if you've been waiting for an excuse to order nerdy model kits, go nuts. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jjg EMAIL: jjg@jjg.net IP: 64.121.192.166 URL: http://www.jjg.net/ DATE: 07/16/2005 04:52:30 AM You should totally move your site to distantdrunkwookie.com. Also, congratulations. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jake EMAIL: elvissinatra@hotmail.com IP: 65.248.233.2 URL: http://www.gloriousnoise.com/ DATE: 08/24/2005 06:17:01 PM Hi, I just wanted to let you know that Verycoolthings.com is still honoring the free shipping deal when you mention this site. I got one for my birthday and I'm very excited to put it together and try it out! ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Make trade harder to read STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 998 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 07/20/2005 10:29:54 AM ----- BODY: George Hotelling pointed out in the comments to my post on the Coldplay coded cover that someone has written a javascript tool to encode the text of your choosing into colored Baudot (AKA the coldplay code).
"(1) The news logo behind the aliens translates as gibberish because it is gibberish; andA less politically-pointed coded message can be found in nearly every 'Spy Vs. Spy' strip. The original artist, Antonio Prohias, 'signed' the strip in morse code. Interestingly, though the late Prohias (1921 - 1998) no longer pens the strip, his coded signature still appears in it. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: lou EMAIL: capwell@gmail.com IP: 12.210.119.72 URL: DATE: 08/01/2005 05:20:10 PM interesting fact about prohias- he was one of the more well-known political cartoonists in cuba, and after castro came into power, he defected (or got the boot from cuba, i forget which) to the states since castro was not impressed with fact that someone in the media was so critical of him. spy vs spy apparently held all kinds of anti-war sentiment for prohias, too, and at least in the beginning was more of a "see how futile war is?" kind of statement than a "how hilarious are these bumbling spies?" one. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Red Raven Carousel in action! STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1005 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/08/2005 01:17:16 AM ----- BODY: Shortly after posting my round up of vinyl video implementations, the eBay market price for the carousels used to view Red Raven Animation records dropped significantly, and I was able to pick one up for far cheaper than they were selling a year ago. In the course of researching the previous article, I'd found plenty of visuals of the animation contained on the records, but no footage of the actual records themselves in action, which is really where the appeal lies. So, without further ado, here is a short video clip - just click on the image below. The record is playing at 45 RPM since my turntable doesn't do 78.
(2) Yes, apparently if you translate the crawl, I mistyped the word "moron" as "morpon."
And while I'm flattered that so many of you would take the time to figure that one out, I have to say, you're scaring me a little bit here, people."
The face of the Imbroglio clock consists of a soup of multi-colored shapes on transparent backgrounds, which rotate and convene hourly in such a way that the numerical representation of the hour is visible, however briefly. Definitely not the most functional clock, but endlessly appealing to my nerdy sensibilities. If it weren't $120, I would be all over that shit.
Clearly, this is awesome. Here's his email:
"I have a story I thought you might be interested in. Long story short is that I used to be in a cheesy Christian band, and we had a single that was on a double-CD compilation. This comp sold 250,000 copies and since it contained two CDs the RIAA certified it platinum. I have possessed a platinum record for the past six or seven years. I had it hanging over the toilet in my bathroom. Anyways, last Saturday my friends and I busted it out of the frame and put it on a turntable.You might be interested to know these facts about the record:
- The hole in the middle was the size of the hole in the middle of a CD.
- There is extra space around the outside of the record that gets covered by the matting which makes it larger than a standard 12" LP.
- There is only information on one side of the "record."
- The thing is extremely thin as well. Like tin can thin. Thinner even.
- The strangest thing is that when I played it, everything was backwards. I ended up spinning it backwards to hear the recording.
Anyways, the record always looked like it only had two tracks, and it turns out it did. The tracks were not what the same as the ones that are on the compilation record. After some research I think that the tracks are from a Salsoul Orchestra 12" single. I don’t know who they are, but I downloaded a snippet of one of their songs from the single and I think it is a match. One of my friends taped the whole experience and hopefully I will post this somewhere if you are ever interested.There's more backstory at the link. Hooray for Mr. Hellman's inquisitive nature -- we now have EVEN MORE useless vinyl-related knowledge!Here is my full write up if you are interested, which is also where I will eventually let people know where to find the video footage."
It seems this concept could easily be expanded into an even more self-contained object by enclosing some ultra-thin speakers in all that open space.
Perich plans to release the objects with his music encoded onto the IC's, you can sign up for his mailing list at the link above for more information.
UPDATE
Yep, those are volume potentiometers. More here.
MP3's of the music accompany this Wired article about the project. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Motorcyclists and Me STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1016 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/09/2005 12:51:30 PM ----- BODY: Scene: A few years ago, driving on I-96 towards Detroit.
Motorcycle comes screaming up behind me on the left. Swerves into my lane, cutting me off in ridiculously-close, Hollywood-novelty style. Is that enough? No, that is not enough. Said motorcyclist proceeds to POP A WHEELIE, and stand on his back pegs. This pose is maintained for the better part of a minute. Doing 80. On the freeway. I thought I was being attacked by Ghost Rider or something.
Scene: A few days ago, driving on a main road in Ann Arbor.
Motorcyclist swerves from behind me, presumably because I was moving too slowly for him. Upon passing me on the left, motorcyclist appears to jump off the bike proper and SIT ON HIS HANDLEBARS for several seconds, before remounting his motorcycle. How is that even possible?! Don't you have to have your foot on a pedal or something?!
So: for some reason, my mere presence on the road apparently compels motorcyclists to do 'tricks.' Needless to say, this is extremely weird. Is this some sort of "You got served!" thing that motorcyclists do? Like "I just passed you! Here's a trick to remember me by! I served you!" Perhaps. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: craig horky EMAIL: Art_guerilla@hotmail.com IP: 63.144.65.62 URL: DATE: 09/09/2005 03:23:14 PM the real question here is wether they were crotch rockets or cruisers. it makes a difference. i have not yet done a trick while passing someone on my motorcycle, but i drive a cruiser and thus i am inherently less inclined to do stupid tricks. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: valentine EMAIL: me@valentinehellman.com IP: 65.172.197.33 URL: DATE: 09/09/2005 03:32:26 PM I think the clutch and gas are in the handles of motorcycles. They were on the motorcycle my father-in-law owned. I think the starter is activated by foot. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: ted miller EMAIL: edwardmichaelmiller@gmail.com IP: 164.76.104.247 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/~mrbraukoff DATE: 09/09/2005 03:33:54 PM coincidence last night, mike severance and i were on I-94 when we saw a pack of motorcyclists. one of them was doing wheelies at what must've been 90 miles-per-hour, which was sort of unsettling. i kept expecting him to do a jump onto a flat-bed truck and do a spin off of it. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: mike EMAIL: mike@frantic.org IP: 24.26.128.126 URL: http://frantic.org DATE: 09/09/2005 05:40:41 PM Sometimes when I pass people, I'll pop out of the Jetta's sunroof & do a little shimmy. I don't think it has the same effect, though. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Video Games that break the fourth wall in interesting ways STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1017 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/12/2005 05:59:52 PM ----- BODY: I've recently come across references to two video games that interacted with the player in a pretty unique way. I've never experienced either of these first hand, but I'm intrigued, and curious if other such examples exist.
The first example I've seen referenced is 1993's 'X-Men' for the Sega Genesis. I've read incomplete accounts of what exactly this 'breaking of the fourth wall' entailed in a few different places, but this is the most complete account I've found:
"At the end of the level "Mojo's Crunch," you will be in a room surrounded by tv screens with Prof. X's face on them. When the timer starts to run out, Prof. X will tell you to reset the computer. At this point press the RESET button on your Segas Genesis. You will see a screen that looks like binary code. After this fades out, You will then move on to the last level, Ateroid M."AT least that's the most coherent description I found of the goings-on. Anyone who grew up with the NES and it's successors can relate to the horror of a mid-game resetting, which is why I was particularly enamored with this bit of ingenuity on the part of the developers.
Ever vigilant in my efforts to be both nerdy AND thorough, I was curious how this oddity had been handled in the various Genesis emulators, so I did a bit of googling. It looks like it hasn't been handled at all: "Sadly - emulators can't emulate the soft reset function."
The other example of such weirdness involves a recurring character in the 'Metal Gear Solid' line of games - a character called 'Psycho Mantis.' From the wikipedia entry on Mr. Psycho Mantis:
"When Solid Snake faces Mantis, Mantis demonstrates his psychic powers by breaking the fourth wall. In the pre-battle cut-scene, he activates the controller's rumble feature, then reads the player's memory card. Then, at the begining of the actual battle, Mantis yells "Blackout!" and causes the screen to go completely black except for the words Hideo (a reference to the director Hideo Kojima) in green all capital text in the top right corner of the screen, much like TV or VCR on-screen-displays. Many players mistook this to be a glitch in the game, while it was supposed to trick the player into thinking that he or someone else changed the TV or VCR input, as a slight attempt to throw the player off.The reading of the player's memory card involves checking how often they've saved their game in reaching the battle with Mr. Mantis, and commenting on the relative wisdom or recklessness that this symbolizes. The card is also examined for specific game saves which are then commented on ("I can see into your mind. You like Castlevania, don't you?").
According to various sources, the best method for defeating Mr. Matis involves configuring your memory card and controller connections, mid-game. Again, from the wikipedia entry:
"The easiest way to defeat Psycho Mantis is to for the player to remove the memory card, plug the controller into the Player Two portal (which prevents The Parasite from predicting your battle moves) and equip both the FA-MAS and the Thermal Goggles (FA-MAS is useful for attacking Mantis with speed and power, while the Thermal Goggles prevent him from turning invisible on Snake [by detecting his body heat] and making Mantis unable to hide from your attacks). The battle should be a lot easier now, if not impossible to lose (on easier difficulties)."So, looking at this from a game design / programming perspective, we have the following: Leaving your controller in port 1 during the battle passes your button presses onto the logic code that controls Psycho Mantis -- So he's 'reading your mind.' The game will accept controls from the player 2 port without passing them on to the enemy's artificial intelligence logic.
This means that the designers assumed that the player would mentally extend the scope of the game they were playing to the physical space around them, based on nothing but subtle contextual hints. Crazy. And awesome. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rich EMAIL: richgreene80@hotmail.com IP: 141.217.128.195 URL: DATE: 09/14/2005 06:11:43 PM I played Metal Gear while on a week-long trip in Marquette. I would play it for a few hours every day after I woke up and before I went out drinking, the roommates in the house I was staying in vowed they wouldnt tell me how to beat the Mantis until I tried for 2 straight days myself, because it took them that long. But as I remember you can "phone" other characters in that game, so I simply phoned one of them and they told me to switch the controller to Port 2 so Mantis couldnt read my mind. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Leebert EMAIL: monkeyfury71@yahoo.com IP: 24.162.133.42 URL: DATE: 09/18/2005 12:12:05 AM The Gamecube's "Eternal Darkness" did this to great effect. The more encounters and fighting you did with the wierd/supernatural beings in the game the lower your sanity meter got until evenutally you would start seeing "glitches" like your character suddenly losing his head, or geometry clipping going bad and your character is halfway in the floor, even a blue screen of death error. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Greg EMAIL: gregsa00@hotmail.com IP: 67.38.10.62 URL: DATE: 09/20/2005 01:03:31 AM i remember the x-men game and how frustrating the "mojo's crush" level was. It takes about an hour and a half to reach that point in the game (if you're good). i don't think anyone figured out the answer to beating that level by any sort of logical deduction. no, the only way anyone discovered the 'reset' trick was out of sheer frustration. i must have played through the game 50 times before i reset my genesis in a blind rage during the countdown. it was like the matrix or something. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Testing... STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1018 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/13/2005 12:40:33 AM ----- BODY: I'm looking for people running Mac OS X 10.3 or newer to help me test a nerdy little application I wrote. Let me know via email if you're interested in helping out. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: garvin EMAIL: garvin@garvinmusic.com IP: 24.131.223.179 URL: http://www.garvinmusic.com DATE: 09/13/2005 12:03:09 PM i can test your app. i am running Tiger OS 10.4 ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Coding after midnight. Rockin to the dawn. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1019 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/16/2005 11:06:19 AM ----- BODY: The Short Version:
I wrote an application for OS X 10.3+ that rips the audio from DVD's to your iTunes / iPod. I use it to listen to commentary tracks - it could concievably be used as a language-learning tool (Listening to the alternate language audio streams from familiar movies). You can download the application here. Feedback and / or donations (if you find it useful) are appreciated.
The Long Version (Nerd alert):
I've always been a huge fan of DVD commentary tracks, primarily because I'm obsessed with all things "Behind the Scenes." A few weeks ago I noted that lately I just don't have the time to watch all the movies I'd like to see, let alone rewatch them with the commentary track. What I do have time for, however, is portable audio. Every so often I'll hit a stretch in a project where I'm doing something relatively mechanical, and having narrative audio like This American Life to follow help make the time melt away. I duly filed the idea in the back of my brain.
Roughly a week later, this tutorial popped up on Lifehacker. Basically, it details ripping the audio track from a DVD using command line options and Open Source video player VLC. This got me playing with VLC, but I was unable to find a command line option to switch the audio stream to grab (Though I did find some discussion of adding it as a feature). I posted this ask.metafilter thread looking for leads, and someone suggested MPlayer.
After wrestling with getting fink up to date on my Mac, and then compiling MPlayer and LAME, I had the basics. I devised a command line program that will take the output of Mplayer and feed it in to LAME, resulting in an easily portable MP3.
For some reason, I decided I would learn how to make this into an application for others to use. When I described this idea to my girlfriend, Sarah, she said:
"You have completely lost your mind this time."Which clearly means I'm on to something. So I set about learning the joys of Interface Builder and Applescript Studio during the wee hours of the past week or so. I now have what I think is a functional version of the application I set out to create. It will even take the MP3 it spits out and add it to a playlist in iTunes. You can download it here. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: j.schad@gmail.com IP: 68.23.40.184 URL: http://thismundanelife.blogspot.com DATE: 09/17/2005 09:04:36 PM That's great. But what about us non-Mac user? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Kevin EMAIL: scelops@sbcglobal.net IP: 70.255.62.117 URL: DATE: 03/15/2007 11:10:36 PM This does sound great. Have you developed a version for Windows? -K ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Hello World - Jason Shiga STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1006 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/18/2005 11:30:44 PM ----- BODY: The work of Jason Shiga first came to my attention in 2003, when he won an Eisner award for "Talent most deserving of wider recognition." A few months later, I read a write-up on his then-current interactive comic book, 'Hello World,' and immediately ordered it from the USS Catastrophe store, hoping for the best.
'Hello World' turned out to be a tour de force in the relatively uncrowded field of interactive sequential narrative. In concept, it's a bit like a combination of the obsessive block diagramming of software development and the traditional comic book narrative. Put simply, it's an ambitious, illustrated "Choose Your Own Adventure" story, complete with a self-contained inventory system. The pages of the book itself are cut into two halves - the upper half contains the narrative, the lower half displays your current inventory.
It's a bit difficult to explain the function of the book without actually experiencing it or seeing it in action, so I've provided a short video clip below. It's a must-see, if only to truly appreciate the complexity of the book Mr. Shiga has put together.
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| Jason Shiga - 'Hello World' |
"Hello World has two tiers that work independently of each other, not unlike the mix-n-match monster books of your childhood. Memory is stored in the bottom tier while the story takes place in the upper tier. The panels of the story are connected by a network of tubes. These tubes constantly dip in and out of the memory tier to determine what happens next in the story."
Those familiar with my interests are by now realizing that this discovery -- comic books that are NERDIER than NORMAL comic books?! -- ranks pretty high on my list of best shit ever. Obviously, I had to find some of his other work. What follows are summaries of two of the other noteworthy books I eventually tracked down, as well as a 'highlight reel' of the new work that Jason recently added to his redesigned Shigabooks website. First though, some perspective on the guy behind these comics. Here's the bio from his website:
"You could say that cartooning was in my blood. My father was an animator and worked on such shows as Obake no Q-taro and the legendary Bas Rankin Rudoph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special.""My parents have always been supportive of my interests. In highschool, I drew comic strips for the school newspaper and started to take up animation as well. In 1998, I graduated from Cal with a degree in... Pure Mathematics. Why? Well, ever since I was ten years old, I had always thought that math was the best subject because even if you're locked in a room for 25 years with no books you can still study it."
"Currently, I work at the Oakland Public Library as a Library Aide and do freelance cartooning for magazines."
Meanwhile
'Meanwhile' is another interactive comic book that is less work-intensive on the part of the reader, and generally a much more readable iteration of the same 'Choose Your Own Adventure' concept -- a reversal in balance of plot and principle when compared with 'Hello World.'
In 'Meanwhile,' the paths the reader can follow are linked by pipes that extend between pages. Transitions from page to page are coordinated via tabs that extend beyond the edge of the page. If the reader follows a path to a tab, the page is turned and the reader continues on the newly-revealed page, starting from the tab. Confusing? The best way to get a feel for it is to experience it yourself, which is now possible online, as Jason has put together a Javascript version of the book here.
Fleep
'Fleep' isn't an interactive comic, but it managed to capture my interest nonetheless. While it doesn't turn sequential narrative on its ear in the same way many of Shiga's other works attempt to, it does have elements of logic and puzzle-solving built into the relatively straight-forward narrative, which will appeal to many of the same readers that would be enthused by his other efforts. The story begins with the main character waking up locked in a windowless phone booth with no memory of the events landing him in said situation. The rest of the plot consists of this character trying to piece together the specifics of his predicament, based on clues in the phone booth, information obtained using the telephone, deduction, and math. Awesome.
Fleep has been available online in its entirety for quite awhile, and made the rounds of notorious nerd-hives such as metafilter sometime last year (mefi discussion here).
For those keeping score, the print version has the best production values of any of the books I've yet seen. Nice thick paper and better print quality than the interactive comics (Which I imagine are far more expensive to produce).
Further Online Works
I originally started piecing this entry together shortly after I originally ordered these books in early 2004. Research at the time seemed to indicate that Mr. Shiga had disappeared from the face of the earth shortly after winning the Eisner award. I emailed him in early 2005, asking about his next project and the availability of additional copies of "Hello World." Here's what he had to say:
"I'm currently working on a new choose your own adventure type comic. The gimmick this time is that you get to choose from 7-20 branches at every node (by the way, you only get to make 3 choices before a crazed gunman shoots you in the stomach). This project should be finished within a couple months. I won't make it in time for this APE but it should be available by the next one."About a month ago, Mr. Shiga emerged from e-exile and completely revamped his website, adding all sorts of new content and revealing that he's been doing interactive comics for Nickelodeon Magazine in the interim ("I started working for Nickelodeon Magazine in 2003. It is an awesome responsibility knowing that my comics could potentially corrupt over a million children across the country. I do mostly double page interactive spreads which the kids seem to love."). Some other highlights from the newly updated site, in relative order of recommendation, include:"As for obtaining a copy of "Hello World", you're out of luck as usscatastrophe sold out recently. I'm not selling any copies on my site because I get killed on the shipping. I will be selling copies at APE so you should come down if you're still in the area.
The video linked below, which I recently found via the Make Magazine blog shows the secrets of other bits of arcade machinery, including the tension adjustment on claw-grabber games, and the hidden coin harvesters on those 'coin pusher' machines. Sneaky! It's realvideo (10 Minutes, 25 MB), but it's worth it -- just click here or on the image below for a direct link. The host of the video is Tim Hunkin, his site, which is packed with nerdy goodness, is here.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: TGIF - The Ballad of Jesse Frederick STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1027 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/29/2005 07:28:32 PM ----- BODY: At the beginning of 2005, I resolved to spend much of my free time figuring out how to run a tiny indie label by actually doing it. In the past eight months or so, I've learned:
It seems like a joke: cover the theme songs to four popular early 90's sitcoms and release the results for hipster consumption. In reality, this release is a painstakingly crafted tribute to the work of Jesse Frederick.Without further ado, here's a sample of each of the four tracks that make up our completed TGIF EP:
In 1971, a 19-year-old Frederick recorded his self-titled debut for legendary manager Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records. In the wake of the relative silence following the album's release, Frederick recorded a pair of follow-up albums for two different labels - neither of which ever saw the light of day.
By the late 1980's, Frederick had found his way into the world of TV theme music - composing a number of memorable themes with longtime writing partner Bennett Salvay. We feel that the songwriting, arrangement, and density of craftsmanship on display in these four short themes is legitimately mindblowing.
Fittingly, syndication ensures that each of these compositions will receive perpetual airplay -- resulting in a uniquely modern, pseudo-anonymous eminence.
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The Pop Project - TGIF Preview From: "TGIF" |
If you'd like to order a copy, it's $5 shipped anywhere in the US, just click here.
We turned up all sorts of ridiculous information in our Jesse Frederick-related research. Here's a fairly thorough summary, aurally annotated with MP3's throughout.
Side 1 (MP3):There's a November 1971 article from some sort of MIT publication here, which reviews both the LP and a live set at a venue called the Pee-Nut Gallery. Some highlights:
1. Prelude: To A Woman
2. Bless Me Daddy
3. Victoria Lenore
4. You Can't Hide Away
5. Finale: To A WomanSide 2 (MP3):
1. Sweet Bye And Bye
2. Slave Runner
3. Alley Lady
4. When She Goes
5. No Reunion
"To help the Pee-Nut Gallery get rolling, both Warner Brothers/Reprise and A&M records have brought in new musicians to debut at the club. The first to arrive was Jesse Frederick, the second to sign on Albert Grossman's Bearsville WB subsidiary label (the first being Lazarus, who released a fine premiere album last month). This young man from southern Maryland is definitely someone to keep your eye on. His music ranges from solo guitar and voice to a rocking three or four man electric back-up. He has a decidedly interesting voice that grows on you, somewhere between a Joe Cocker and a Randy Newman, with a bit of a Band vocal thrown in.""At the Pee-Nut Gallery, Jesse Frederick was the more impressive of the two: Both albums suffer from over-orchestration which is mercifully eliminated live. As Frederick leans more heavily on the music, the fact that his backing musicians were very tight and competent only enhanced his set."
Better Days (1986). IMDB description: "Brian McGuire is a California teenager who lives and loves life in Los Angeles, until something happens to his family and he must move to his uncle's place in Brooklyn. He has a hard time fitting in with the crowd but makes two friends he can count on, wisecracking Luther and the very hip Snake." [MP3]
Perfect Strangers (1986). All your online Perfect Strangers needs should be met by this site. The wikipedia entry for Perfect Strangers is here.
Full House (1987). Wikipedia Entry.
Family Man (1988) [MP3]
Family Matters (1989) was a spinoff from Perfect Strangers (Harriet Winslow was a co-worker of Larry and Balki at the Chicago Chronicle). The relevent Wikipedia entry is here.
Going Places (1990). IMDB description: "The production staff of The Dick Roberts Show has its hands full booking guests for the outrageous talk show and dealing with its egomaniacal host." [MP3]
Step By Step (1991). Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers, etc. I hated this show. I didn't know Bronson Pinchot was on it, but according to IMDB, he played 'Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux' during the 1997 season.
Getting By (1993) was a sitcom about "two women living together in a large house." What a premise. Turns out this show was a spin-off from Family Matters (see here). Telma Hopkins, the actress who plays Rachel Crawford (Harriet Winslow's Sister), also apparently sang backup on a number of Motown records (see here). [MP3]
On Our Own (1994) was a sitcom about a group of kids who continue to live in the family home after losing their parents. [MP3]
Pride & Joy (1995) bears the distinction of being the only televised Frederick theme I can't find. The IMDB comments describe it thusly: "The cast of this sitcom was made up of several now-familiar faces, but at the time they weren't particularly well-known. It was a fairly forgettable tale of two young married couples who were neighbors and friends. All four characters were plain vanilla; this was before comedic performers like Caroline Rhea and Jeremy Piven developed their distinctive personas we have come to know and appreciate."
Meego (1997) was Bronson Pinchot's series following Perfect Strangers. He played an alien named Meego, from the planet Marmazon 4.0. Meego only lasted six episodes, and also starred the kid from Jerry McGuire. This theme is instrumental, but does feature some ridiculous Bronson Pinchot-as-alien dialog. I'd be interested in seeing an episode of this. [MP3]
Two of a Kind (1998) was an Olsen Twins-centric series. The theme is instrumental and fairly unremarkable, but it's here both for completeness and to illustrate the post-TGIF glory days patronage that Frederick recieved. [MP3]
I found a relatively high resolution version of the cover online (click the image above to download), then used Photoshop to adjust the contrast until I had a relatively distinct image of the waveform. Obviously, this isn't the best method to use if you're attempting to preserve the integrity of the waveform, so I definitely lost some resolution by doing it this way.
At any rate, I ended up with the image you see below. Click the image to obtain a higher resolution version for your own experimentation.
The next step was to turn the finished image into sound. To accomplish this, I used a windows program called Bitmaps & Waves. This required that I cut the image of the waveform in half - which produced the image below. Same 'click for higher-res' standard applies for the whole of this article.
Feeding the image of the half-waveform into Bitmaps & Waves resulted in a full audio file, as seen below.
Here's an image of the finished audio file. Close enough, right? So what's it sound like? Click here, or on the image below to download an MP3.
Admitting Defeat
So why does it sound like that? I should first preface this with the fact that I didn't retain very much of the soundwave stuff I learned in various physics classes, and everything I say from here on in is based on stuff I've picked up while using audio editing software. In short: take everything with a grain of salt.
My understanding is that the file I produced emulates only the volume envelope (variation in level), and position with respect to time (rhythym) of the recording, and not the actual sound waves (oscillations) being produced. Bitmaps & Waves appears to use a simple Sine oscillator to generate the soundfile based on the image you provide. Based on this, I don't think it's possible to retrieve the actual audio content being displayed on this cover, so rather than stay up any later thinking about this, I'm handing off my work as it stands to the internet at large. Maybe someone with more insight will devise a way to figure out what the damn sound is.
My current theory is that it's a clip of the lyrics from the album, and that some obsessive Kate Bush fan would be able to determine which bit of the album is represented by comparing the Waveforms of the album audio with the image on the cover. Believe it or not, even I'm not that obsessive. No, really.
Update: Mystery Solved
Well, if you read far enough down into the comments on this post, you'll see that someone has, in fact, located the bit from the album that appears on the front cover. Turns out it's a bird call, which is available as an MP3, here.
As many suggested in the comments, speeding up the MP3 I originally produced several hundred percent was indeed the way to go -- doing so actually produces a pretty convincing match to the rhythm of the source audio. Here's an MP3 consisting of both the source 'bird call,' and my original recovery effort played together, for the extra inquisitive among you. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: jrusman@haverford.edu IP: 68.163.158.238 URL: DATE: 10/03/2005 01:48:41 AM I just ran into your site....and let me tell you. I like you. And this. Keep it up -J ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.208.116.140 URL: DATE: 10/03/2005 03:09:04 AM I'm glad the graphic designer hired for this album took approximately 3 minutes to create the cover in photoshop. So lame! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mike EMAIL: IP: 68.41.51.171 URL: http://www.theberryzone.com DATE: 10/03/2005 10:59:43 PM http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=8891 has a brief little write up on this, interesting stuff... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Alan EMAIL: alan@alanhunt.ca IP: 65.92.117.73 URL: http://alanhunt.ca DATE: 10/11/2005 04:21:12 AM Of course! "The true message will only be revealed when you buy the album." ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Uncle Vinny EMAIL: unclevinny@gmail.com IP: 131.107.0.105 URL: DATE: 10/11/2005 07:21:15 PM Have you tried speeding the sample up, so that it takes 3 seconds to play instead of 30? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: LL Cool F EMAIL: louis_lane_@hotmail.com IP: 68.157.8.146 URL: DATE: 10/11/2005 11:18:15 PM It says "All your base are belong to us." ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: gorjus EMAIL: prettyfakes@gmail.com IP: 65.77.247.61 URL: http://www.prettyfakes.com DATE: 10/12/2005 09:53:12 AM This? Is so, so rad. Got here via Stereogum, by the by. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: jaykayess EMAIL: self@jaykayess.com IP: 63.119.139.35 URL: http://www.jaykayess.com DATE: 10/12/2005 10:07:10 AM I don't know anything about Bitmaps And Waves, but the cover art only shows the envelope of the sound-- if it also had the pitch, it would look like a big gray zigzag, and not a solid blocky color (if that makes any sense!) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Hangnail EMAIL: Hangnail@hangnailphillips.com IP: 69.136.253.72 URL: DATE: 10/12/2005 03:27:16 PM This was a fascinating and noble attempt at doing the impossible. The visual graph used in most wave editors is a representation of amplitude vs time. As your mp3 shows, the missing ingredients, frequency, timbre, etc are not represented here. Perhaps a better approach would be to record the CD and study it for this sequence. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: jrusman@haverford.edu IP: 68.163.239.82 URL: DATE: 10/12/2005 05:03:10 PM And doubtless, some one is gonna do that (or has already done that) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: john EMAIL: johnwallis42@yahoo.com IP: 67.93.171.50 URL: DATE: 10/12/2005 05:11:42 PM It's Kate Bush saying "Paul is dead" backwards, now go to bed. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: fishy EMAIL: aquafishy@yahoo.com IP: 142.68.252.201 URL: DATE: 10/13/2005 01:26:47 PM There is a track on the upcoming album with birdsong, bet it's a sample of a sound file ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: barry EMAIL: bmonahan66@hotmail.com IP: 63.110.83.248 URL: DATE: 10/13/2005 08:58:18 PM you are awesome ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: ied EMAIL: iedsri@aol.com IP: 67.142.130.22 URL: DATE: 10/14/2005 02:43:52 AM A noble effort, thanks! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Dave EMAIL: IP: 213.84.92.34 URL: DATE: 10/15/2005 05:42:12 PM I'm a sound editor by profession and thus I spend a lot of time looking at waveforms and projections like these. All I can say is that you can't decode the image back to sound, since it's not zoomed out enough. You do not have enough information. It's even hard to tell weather tis is speech at all. It could as well be any instrument, like a sax. There's also no information about the fundamental pitches, let alone the sound spectrum modulated over those. To do a analysis, you need to be zoomed in to these waves a bit more. Then you can tell the chaotic moments like "t" and "s", and the pitchy ones. But even then, it's hard te understand it as speech. Speech is way to hi-res for such an image. I enjoyed the article though. A lot. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: june owens EMAIL: owensevertron@aol.com IP: 195.93.21.100 URL: DATE: 10/15/2005 08:24:36 PM Jesus, Kate if you read this - what a load of cranks. Please just keep writing music - you lot who do you think you are Steven Hawkins stop trying to analyse every breath Kate makes just sit back and enjoy like a fine wine. too much thinking hurts your brain!!! Love June Ps Stop being "Heavy People " ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: John EMAIL: IP: 24.251.226.238 URL: DATE: 10/16/2005 01:01:42 AM I say let's give the graphic designer/art director some credit. Using very simple imagery and precise composition, he/she has evoked a graphic treatise on the blurred boundary between sound and vision. Maybe that's something Kate Bush explores on this disc? Sounds feasible given the painting/sunset/sunrise lyrical motif. June--lighten up. Thinking isn't such a bad thing and nobody's getting hurt, so lay off. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jack Foster EMAIL: jack_foster@vfc.com IP: 65.32.28.104 URL: DATE: 10/16/2005 10:54:47 AM Thanks a lot man. Listen, I'm a graphic designer, not for EMI or records for that matter, but I put a lot of work into 'encoding' my stuff. It's about being multi-layered, and for the people out there who want to go that extra mile, there's something around that corner for them. I won't presume to understand Ms. Bush's mind or motives but it seems like she applies a lot of depth to her music as well as her visuals, I'd go so far as to say I doubt it's a random wave, and i doubt she'd put it there if she didn't want people to perceive that it has some connxion, whether literal or just text painting. You're not a nutte, not obsessed, it's just like doing a crossword and my hat, for one, is off to you. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rick Kahn EMAIL: musicware4u@hotmail.com IP: 24.42.36.40 URL: DATE: 10/16/2005 10:36:38 PM I am familiar with waveforms having used Sonic Foundry (now Sony) Sound Forge. I believe that Kate simply liked the way the waveform looked, that's it. I don't think there is any cryptic message although I would have to hear Aerial to know that. It is an interesting project you took on. I say this while listening to the waveform you produced. Is it possible that maybe this waveform follows the mood from one track to the next? Great job at checking this out though. I met Kate Bush at a party thrown for her by EMI in Canada. This was at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. At that time they were giving her an album sales award (gold or platinum-don't remember) for Hounds Of Love. I will predict here that Aerial will become her biggest album, sales wise, to date. Now that all her clones are gone, Kate can come back to the forefront. Go figure, Kate's timing was just perfect. I have yet to find any tracks to hear from the album other than King Of The Mountain. No, wait, I thought I had Aerial Tal (track 13) but it's a fake. Yes, I have ordered the cd from a UK dealer as a matter of fact; I just want to hear the album already. Anyway, all the best to Kate. Oh, and thanks for the letter you wrote and the Hounds Of Love album cover you signed for me Kate. I still believe that other than Joni Mitchell, there has been no better female singer ever than Kate. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Grand EMAIL: animalrevolution@hotmail.com IP: 209.233.199.18 URL: DATE: 10/17/2005 04:06:25 AM Cat's out of the bag! Adam is Kate Bush! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ziggy EMAIL: suclaasen@hotmail.com IP: 65.95.34.166 URL: DATE: 10/25/2005 02:21:56 PM Hey! I really enjoyed it and I appreciated all the work you put into this. I read some comments here, and all I can say to the 'critical voices' is this: Kate Bush has always been a pioneer, especially in the field of sound sampling and the use of vocals. Just listen to The Dreaming - Leave It Open - where she is flangering her voice into a deep, cool hollow. Pretty spaced-out for a 24-year-old lass! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Kent Coltrane EMAIL: dcarbglobal1@yahoo.com IP: 24.215.237.95 URL: DATE: 10/25/2005 05:15:20 PM I played the clip of the wavefile you created and it told me to go sell my car, divorce my wife and have a sex change! It's an encrypted mind control device you have unleashed on the world - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 66.31.69.35 URL: DATE: 10/27/2005 08:17:30 AM Hi great work! but thanks to a post by dannis on thee homeground forum there is a photo ov thee back cover ov Aerial showing two more waveforms could you combine these three waveforms? photo here http://www.streetsonline.co.uk/default/templates/catalog/dvd_cover.jhtml?prod_id=50486367&op=large_image&image=IMGBC ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Michele EMAIL: IP: 172.147.186.85 URL: DATE: 10/29/2005 08:23:17 AM I have a copy of the record and the soundwaves are also part of the booklet. On the last page it says these are the sounds of various species of birds. Kate loves birds, as you know. The album is spectacular and gets better on each listen. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: rikki nadir EMAIL: jeremyr7@yahoo.co.uk IP: 62.255.64.4 URL: DATE: 11/05/2005 06:51:53 AM 'Aerial' is what you Americans call an antenna - turn the cover on its side and what do you see?. Doh! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rick Kahn EMAIL: rkahn@rogers.com IP: 69.197.170.155 URL: DATE: 11/07/2005 11:09:11 PM I am listening to Aerial right now for about the 15th time. I will go on record here as saying this is one of the 100 best rock/alternative or whatever albums ever produced. It is as good as Hounds Of Love and The Dreaming. I can just see the public response to this album being great as we get to hear very little real talent. Kate is one of a kind; so is this album. Aerial is release Nov 6th in Europe, Nov 7th in North America. Go buy it because an album this important has not been released for over 20 years ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: richard EMAIL: IP: 86.140.155.46 URL: DATE: 11/10/2005 07:53:09 PM just opened track 6 side 2 - the one where kate sings with the bird song- with wavelab and the shapes of those bits look very similar to the cover , thus probability is it is birdsong, perhaps not even used in the album, if I can be arsed I'll search the album for isolated snippets and check em out ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Marc EMAIL: IP: 62.253.96.40 URL: DATE: 11/12/2005 08:14:29 PM Download this teaser file and all will be revealed. http://www.suspended-in-gaffa.com/kate/KateBushpreview.wmv ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Steve EMAIL: alex02.clarke@btopenworld.com IP: 86.128.115.112 URL: DATE: 11/13/2005 03:59:37 PM I read all these posts with interest! I love the way people are seeing this puzzle from various angles. There might possibly bee something that you're all missing though. Keep looking.... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: pea hicks EMAIL: phix@optigan.com IP: 68.8.37.182 URL: http://www.optigan.com DATE: 11/17/2005 09:42:07 PM hi there- i'm guessing others have probably figured this out by now, but i haven't done a comprehensive search on the web... anyway, i located the aerial cover waveform on the album itself. it's at 37:28 in CD2 (or 3:18 into track 9). it is, of course, a birdsong. here's a screen grab: http://www.operazero.org/peamisc/bushbird.jpg now, in this pic it doesn't look 100% like what you see on the cover, because the waveform as shown on the cover is just the birdsong solo'd, so you see the entire waveform in sharper detail. on the album itself it has other sounds around it, so the finer details at the beginning and then end of the waveform are obscured. but when you listen to the actual sound, you can hear those finer details and sonically they match up with the visual waveform as it appears on the album cover. anyway, just thought you'd like to know! pea ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Joe EMAIL: IP: 62.252.0.4 URL: DATE: 11/22/2005 09:35:46 AM Great stuff - fantastic to read the article and then all the comments and actually be rewarded with hearing the waveform and having the puzzle solved, thanks to Marc, three posts above. And I'm not convinced by the aerial - antenna theory. Aerial as in 'from the air' seems more in keeping with the album's themes. I love the album. Who else will sing, in earnest, the words 'washing machine'? Joe ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: emile EMAIL: nospam@nospam.com IP: 84.82.84.221 URL: DATE: 11/23/2005 11:44:51 AM You should play it faster. I tuned it up little bit, sounded more like a bird. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Christie EMAIL: c_dove1@btinternet.com IP: 62.252.128.15 URL: DATE: 02/07/2006 09:49:27 PM fascinating stuff guys, I'm a big Kate fan and agree 'aerial' has connotations for a lot more than just an antenna. Read somewhere bout it being based on some old text - my mind is very foggy so sorry for the lack of clarity. Anyhoo great stuff, ya just gotta love her. C ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Rick Kahn EMAIL: rmk4162@rogers.com IP: 69.197.170.155 URL: DATE: 02/15/2006 02:01:29 PM Aerial is right up there with Hounds Of Love and The Dreaming as one of the best albums of Kate’s career. In some ways, Aerial is her best album. In terms of musical maturity, production, arrangement, concept etc.. this is one of the 100 best albums of this century in my opinion. I always wonder how well a great album like this will do in the marketplace despite the fact that I do not work in the entertainment business and don’t stand to earn a dime from the success or failure of this album. Is the over 35 year old audience that embraced Kate’s music from say, 1978-80 and on going to respond favorably or at all to this long awaited album? The answer is very simple, who the hell knows. Will young listeners 16 to 29 embrace this album? Do many of them even know what real talent sounds like? How much of what they listen to is produced by a truly talented artist? Even the marketing wizards that will promote Aerial, some of whom that know how great an album it is don’t know for sure. EMI’s executives, A&R people etc.. don’t know for sure. However, as a Kate fan and a long time lover of music in general, I would “guess†that this album will be freaking huge. Much bigger than EMI could or would imagine. Why, because an album of this caliber has not been produced by any rock/alternative recording artist for at least 15 years. Melody, song structure, imagination, musical vision….TALENT. What’s been missing from most of the crap (for lack of a better word) is TALENT. Kate is one of the last few really talented recording artists that also happen to be at the top of her game. To think she managed this when her focus for the last 7 years has been mostly on what matters most to her, Bertie. When most recording artists have kids, that’s it for their musical inventiveness escapades. Not to mention the fact that Kate had to sit idly by while other so called artists made bank off of her creative output. Tory Amos should send about two thirds of her income to Kate. I wondered whether Tory was just filling a “Kate void†for some of those fans out there; she probably was, but not for me that’s for sure. Some would argue that Aerial is not commercial enough. This much is true..in some odd ways. I say this because it broaches a very commercial accessibility without being too typically radio friendly. The next singles should be, in my humble opinion, How To Be Invisible, then, Somewhere In Between. You might be surprised, by my third choice, Mrs.Bartoluzzi. It is become this song is reminiscent of Kate’s earliest work, only with a more mature voice. This song is so odd in it’s ode to the simplicity but meaningfullness of an appliance. This song reminds me of King Crimsons song Discipline in terms of the direct meaning of something that is consciously on the mind of the narrator. Who sings a song about “taking my laundry basket and putting all the dirty linen in it†and makes a great song out of that? “The waves are coming and they are going outâ€.. the imagery she conjurns up from the agitating cycle of a load of clothes being washed. This a great example of how much of a genius Kate is. The duet that Kate does on Somewhere In Between with Rolf Harris I believe fits in perfectly with what the AOR (old term huh) audience responds to. Not a commercial duet which in of itself in un-usual. A song as personal as The Coral Room is reminiscent of a little song we all know that was featured in a John Hughes movie of all things, This Womans Work. Even a song like Mrs. Bartoluzzi with kates “wishy washy†rambling is a perfect example of how a musical genius can pull off something that, if sung by other artists might border on annoying. Imagine Celine Dion singing Mrs. Bartoluzzi.. I don’t ever want to hear that if you know what I mean. The way Kate sings the words “washing machine†three times at the end of the song is awesome. She gets you thinking about it in a way that one normally would not. “It took hours and hours to scrub it outâ€.. sounds like Kate is singing about blood on the carpet, perhaps a murder. Then you realize, this is just a song about someone doing their laundry. The genius of this is that no other artist could get away with a song like this. I notice the imagery of the “dancing skirt†mentioned in this song showing up in the King Of The Mountain (Elvis costume) video. The way Kate mimics the bird in Aerial Tal also shows a jazz sensibility that you rarely see in her music. What is that at the end of the song that she is singing by the way? Every song on Aerial is great. The title track is the most emotionally charged track in my opinion. “What kind of language is this?†“I can’t hear a word your’e saying..†Using the birds as an underlying “score†with the violins as it were, is just amazing. Some great guitar playing on this album, in fact, all the musicians on this record are awesome. This is a well crafted and chosen collection of songs. I love the hype surrounding the sound wave on the When I heard The Dreaming for the first time in 1982 upon its release (I owned all of Kate’s albums up to that point), I couldn’t believe how original it was. I mean, Never For Ever was very original but The Dreaming was on another level. Kate was now the female equivalent of Peter Gabriel, sort of, but better. I love the fact that Kate takes musical risks not just for the sake of taking them. Also, the artists she chooses, who would have thought of having Peter Erskine or Gary Brooker (a welcome revisit) on their album? I’m a drummer and fan of many great drummers including Peter Erskine. I saw him play live with Weather Report at the now defunct Ontario Place Forum. I would like to see Kate do an album with the compass point all stars as well. Namely, Wally Badarou, Sly & Robbie and others. There are many artists I would like to see her work with. Wayne Shorter, John Cale, Adrian Belew, David Bowie to name a few. By the way, in the song Prologue, I love the way you think for a moment that Kate is going to do an opera passage, but she doesn’t. It’s like a progressive opera in a way. “It’s gonna be so good..†reminds be of Cloudbustings lyric. Her piano playing with that 10CC ish sounding background (I know that Lol Crème does some backing vocal on this album and the 10 CC influence is deffinitely heard on this song). It’s great to see that Kate appreciates this highly underrated band. EMI should make sure the fans get a full length dvd for Aerial with interviews etc..There is a market for this just waiting to consume it. I mean, we should only know as much about the making of the album or Kate’s personal affairs as she wants us to know. I respect her need for privacy. The articles that refer to her as a recluse etc.. are just ridiculous. There are many artists that rarely grant interviews or have a lot of exposure. Lou Reed, John Cale (who by the way, must do an album with Kate some day..) and others. I remember how we waited over 2 hours for Kate to emerge from wherever she was at that party in 1985 I refer to in my original email to you, below. Fasionably late, probably not. Her people were probably scopeing the room to make sure there were no undesirables, who knows. What ever the reason, Hounds Of Love was successful because it was a great album and there were a lucky select few that got to see Kate get an award for the sales of that album. Also, Nocturn is pretty phenomenal. Just listen to it progress with the sound effects and then it turns into a modern Everything But The Girl sounding type song. The tempo, mood, groove etc.. except with Kate’s own stamp. “We long for something more†sort of like Kates version of “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for†only with many layers and tectures. Is that Mick Karn playing bass on this one; no probably Kate right? An artists work is more important than how they respond to the public or what their attitude towards fame in general is. The only negative that comes up in conversations I have had with others about Kate is how she keeps such a low profile and is not prolific enough. I mean, when most artists release new material on a regular basis, this is going to be obvious. On the other hand, you have artists like Prince that have a dozen unreleased albums in the can at any given time. Anyway, this is not a too little too late scenario. If some believe it’s just a too late thing then they might not buy this album and they will just miss out on it. When I was at one of North America’s largest records shows recently, right here in Toronto in October, I talked about Aerial with a few people I knew were big Kate fans. This one guy who bought anything Kate related, a real collector, had admitted that he lost interest in her music over the last 12 years since The Red Shoes. I will be speaking to him again soon to see what he thinks of Aerial, which, by the way, he didn’t even know was coming out. Boy will he be surprised. Here is my prediction.(since found to be unfairly un-available to Kate-She should have won record of the year!) Aerial will outsell any previous Kate Bush release. It will be nominated for and win a Grammy (not that that means anything considering some of what they have honoured in the past). This album will get some surprising itunes download action. As I mentioned earlier, EMI should, in my opinion, release How To Be Invisible next, then, Somewhere In Between. Now, here is a suggestion that would be a welcome one by many music fans. Pink Floyd (all members except Syd ofcourse) a major 50 (arbitrary number) tour 8 city with…Kate Bush backing them up. Imagine that. A sellout in every city for a once in a lifetime tour. I mean, The Beatles are gone, what’s left? Too bad they scrapped the Harvest label on which Kate was on the original roster. By the way, no offense to EMI or CBS intended here, but, make damn sure this album gets the promotion it deserves. There are only so many musical talents (getting records label deals) left. A Sensual World was also great but didn’t really get the promo kick it deserved. I am selling part of my cd collection privately and posted the ad on Craigslist, Canuckaudiomart and a few other sites. Included in that ad was a promo banner for Aerial that I “borrowed†from another site. Check out the Kate Bush newsgroups, web sites like GaffaWeb etc.. to get the feedback as I’m sure EMI will do. In fact, if you like, I would consider a part time position gathering feedback info and input on Aerial if you like. I work in sales, but, music and film are my first loves. -Rick Kahn (somewhere north) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: EMAIL: IP: 82.163.179.178 URL: DATE: 03/01/2006 12:52:02 PM surely its a blackbird call used on the album.?? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ken EMAIL: ken@snoogles.net IP: 65.41.71.71 URL: DATE: 06/20/2006 10:10:43 PM Sure enough... It's the bird call. Yes, I had to check! I loaded it into Cool Edit and can see it rather clearly. Nice. ;-) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Delius Montoya EMAIL: gh54j1@gmail.com IP: 70.27.77.173 URL: DATE: 09/27/2006 11:47:44 AM Great comments Rick. Too bad Kate does nothing to promote the album or her "career". I don't blame her for not wanting to be a promotion machine for her label but really, any artist has to give something back to their fans. At least do an appearance on Saturday Night Live again; Lorne would do that in a second I'm sure. That breakfast that her son Bertie ate yesterday was paid for by me, you and 1,000's of other fans. Yet, Kate has rarely shown any appreciation for us whatsoever. It's almost like I want to stop being a fan cause she doesn't care. I hear she got some people turfed out of that party back in 1985 at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. Apparently she had industry people and such wait over 2 hours before she came out into the room. She must of had her people scope out the place before she showed up. I wonder, is Kate a paranoid schitzophrenic? Great talent but the lady has issues. Hopefully for her sake now that she is a mother, for several years now, she will be less paranoid cause that kid may as well be booked into therapy cause he might need it. Hopefully if she reads this site (which I highly doubt-some thought EMI set this whole thing up), say hello to your fans once in a while. At least do some tv appearances etc.. the kids today don't even know what talent is so it would be nice if they knew you existed. I mean this as a fan of your music. I have an idea for Kate. Go on the BBC and do an interview explaining why you don't tour or promote your album. I mean your income could double by doing some promotion. Bayswater is expensive.. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Joe Durbin EMAIL: anon@anonymouse.com IP: 70.27.77.173 URL: DATE: 10/15/2006 05:43:06 PM That 2nd last post is way too long. Interesting response but can the publisher of this site reduce it's length? Way too long. Kate has never spent as much time on pleasing her fans as this guy obviously did writing this letter. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Great article on Kate that I found EMAIL: IP: 70.27.77.173 URL: http://rickscollection.wiki.com/Home DATE: 11/15/2006 02:34:48 PM he early 1970s record industry executives noticed that adventurous musicians could actually make money. Kate Bush was one of the artists to profit. In 1974 EMI made an unusual move and gave Bush some money "to grow up with," and she spent three years continuing her dance studies, honing her vocal skills, and developing a more mature songwriting style. In 1977 she recorded her first album, The Kick Inside, and the first single, "Wuthering Heights", reached the number one spot on the British pop chart just one month after its release in early 1978. However, though Kate Bush has been a best-selling artist in the U.K. for almost ten years, she stayed virtually unknown in the U.S. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 In the American musical mainstream, the most innovative performers are often among the least commercially successful. This seems to be somewhat less true in Great Britain, where avant-garde artists such as Laurie Anderson have reached the number one position on the pop singles chart, and where the most commercially successful female recording artist is Kate Bush. Kate Bush's music integrates intellectually challenging subject matter into complex and often experimental instrumental arrangements. Bush's conquest of the British pop music charts leads one to wonder how such an artist has been able to succeed within the constraints of the music industry, and what effect a pioneer like Bush has on mainstream popular music. 2 Kate Bush's entrance into the music business was unusual in itself. She began writing songs while still in her early teens, and by the time Bush was in her mid-teens she and her family had produced a demo tape which contained fifty of her compositions. Though every record label to which the tape was circulated turned it down, it was not long after this that friends of the Bush family brought Kate's music to the attention of Pink Floyd's guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour was impressed by Bush's songwriting skill and four octave vocal range; and thus, in 1974 he financed a three song demo for Bush, made with Pink Floyd's producer Andrew Powell. The tape was sent to EMI, Pink Floyd's record company, where it was heard by Terry Slater, the executive who signed the Sex Pistols to a major label contract. Slater was quite impressed with the demo and signed Bush, even though she was only sixteen years old at the time. In recognition of her relative youth, EMI made an unusual move and gave Bush some money "to grow up with," and Bush spent three years continuing her dance studies, honing her vocal skills, and developing a more mature songwriting style (Vermorel, 1983: 86-87). In 1977 she recorded her first album, The Kick Inside, and the first single, "Wuthering Heights", reached the number one spot on the British pop chart just one month after its release in early 1978. 3 Kate Bush did not prove to be a one shot wonder. Her next album, 1979's Lionheart, was a critical disappointment, but it did produce a top twenty single in the U.K. With 1980's Never For Ever Bush debuted as coproducer, and by the time The Dreaming was released in 1982, Bush was the sole producer. She not only produced her 1985 album Hounds of Love, she recorded it in her own studio. Each album, with the exception of Lionheart, spawned more than one British top twenty hit. EMI is certainly thrilled with Kate Bush's success, yet it seems unlikely that the company could have predicted Bush's profitability at the time of her signing. Indeed, even her earliest recorded material dealt with unusual topics such as supernatural phenomena, incest, and poisoning, and Bush's vocal phrasing has always been somewhat bizarre, to say the least. Certainly then, Kate Bush's contract with EMI is the result of several conspiring factors. Though the relative importance of each element can only be guessed, EMI's market position and the nature of the recording industry in the 1970s provide clues into the conglomerate's motives for signing Kate Bush. 4 I do not think too much emphasis can be placed on the fact that it was David Gilmour who brought Kate Bush to the attention of EMI. At that point in time Pink Floyd was a very important act to the company. The progressive band had just released its eternally-selling Dark Side of the Moon on EMI's Harvest label in 1973, and Pink Floyd were respected and successful veterans of the art rock scene. Other members of Pink Floyd were seeking out fresh talent at the time, and EMI management would have surely thought it in the company's best interests to cater to the band members' whims. 5 The importance of Pink Floyd to EMI was symptomatic of a larger development in the British music industry in the early 1970s. A number of progressive artists were selling substantial quantities of records in both Great Britain and the United States. The acid rock of the late 1960s had evolved into the art rock of the 1970s, with bands like Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Traffic, and Genesis becoming industry mainstays. These artists experimented with synthesizers and other newly developed technologies in order to create fresh sound experiences. Once the commercial viability of these musicians was proved, record companies were eager to jump on the progressive bandwagon. One study of the musical tastes of British teenagers done in 1972 found that almost half of the middle class teens surveyed favored "progressive" music over mainstream pop (Murdock and Phelps, 1972: 150). Undoubtedly the middle class teen market was one that record companies desired to tap. EMI had already shown its commitment to progressive rock by launching the Harvest label, and by the early 1970s it was clear to industry executives that adventurous musicians could actually make money for a company. Thus, in 1974 EMI may have been more likely to believe that an experimental performance artist like Kate Bush could sell records than it might have later in the decade. 6 Another factor that cannot be overlooked is EMI's dominant position in the British record business during the early 1970s. Since 1950 the record industry in the U.K. had been dominated by two giants, EMI and British Decca, and EMI's position was strengthened substantially in the early 1960s when the label had the foresight to sign the Beatles to its Capitol division for American distribution of Beatles' records. Although increasing competition from American labels and the defection of the Beatles hurt EMI as the decade passed, the company mustered enough resources to form Harvest, its own progressive subsidiary, in 1968. By 1969 the corporation controlled an array of interests that gave EMI both horizontal and vertical control over numerous aspects of the music business. Therefore, it is not surprising that the conglomerate entered the 1970s in a strong position. By the middle of the decade, EMI was manufacturing one-fourth and distributing one-third of all records sold in England (Frith, 1981: 140-142). 7 Financial success clearly gave EMI the economic means to invest in the development of new talent. Moreover, it is in the long-term best interest of a large company to continually recruit new talent, because "nobody wants to depend on a small number of acts" (Records, 1980: 326). Labels lose artists to other companies, lifestyle alterations, and death. Record companies depend on a constant influx of new talent to ensure that the organization will survive, and, in the words of one observer, "the larger the company, the greater its need for new 'product'" (Stratton, 1982: 91). 8 The mid-1970s were definitely a key time for labels to be on the lookout for new talent. The British record industry was reaching a stagnation point, and Artist and Repertoire (A&R) people were searching for anything that might prove to be "a 'Next Big Thing', the new Beatles phenomenon," that would invigorate the industry (Laing, 1985: 7). After all, one reason behind the continuous search for new talent is the recognition by industry executives that they are working in a "taste" business. The commercial success of a particular artist or musical genre is often difficult to predict; therefore, the record industry must produce sounds which appeal to a variety of musical tastes. If, for example, Kate Bush or a Kate Bush clone became the "Next Big Thing," a label would not want to miss out financially on the trend. Thus, record companies see that it is wise to invest in a wide range of talent just in case something outside of the musical status quo captures the public's attention and wallets. EMI may have been gambling when it signed Kate Bush, but it was a gamble that paid. When "Wuthering Heights" reached the top of the British chart only EMI had a Kate Bush, and the idiosyncratic nature of Bush's music made the construction of a Kate Bush clone an accomplishment almost beyond the powers of imagination. 9 In addition, one should not forget that EMI signed Kate Bush at a time when visually-oriented rock performers were growing in popularity. Kate Bush's early career was aided by her training in mime and dance and her striking good looks. The visual presentation has always been an important component of Bush's music, and her single "Wuthering Heights" was released with a video at a time when such promotional clips were rather rare. By the time the video explosion reached Britain in the 1980s, old hands like David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush found themselves in advantageous positions from which to exploit the medium. 10 EMI's position in the British music industry, Kate Bush's undeniable talent, the musical climate of the 1970s, the involvement of David Gilmour as a "gatekeeper", and a number of other factors conspired at that specific point in time to make the addition of Kate Bush to EMI's stable of musical talent seem a wise maneuver. Once Bush proved a profitable artist for EMI, the company probably thought it best not to tamper with a successful formula and allowed Bush a great deal of artistic freedom. 11 However, though Kate Bush has been a best-selling artist in the U.K. for almost ten years, she is virtually unknown in the U.S. It was only with her 1985 album, Hounds of Love, that Bush received any significant recognition in the U.S. Hounds of Love reached the 30th position on the Billboard album chart, largely on the strength of the single "Running Up That Hill", which peaked at 31 in November of 1985. However, Bush has yet to attain the kind of success in this country that she enjoys in her native England and Europe; and though "Running Up That Hill" brought Kate Bush new fans in the dance clubs, Bush seems destined to remain a strangely British and European phenomenon. 12 Indeed, the fact that Bush's music is popular on a mass level anywhere in the world seems unlikely, considering the lyric content of her songs and her odd vocal style. For example, in Bush's 1981 British hit "Sat In Your Lap", Bush sings of her crisis of spirituality in the chorus: Some say that knowledge is something that you never have. Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap. Some say that heaven is hell. Some say that hell is heaven. However, Hounds of Love has been Bush's most lyrically complex album. The second side, titled "The Ninth Wave", consists of seven songs which cohere around the concept of a drowning victim's harrowing journey through the collective unconscious. 13 Though critics and interviewers now seem obsessed with the unusual nature of Bush's lyrics and sound, her popularity in non-English speaking countries suggests that other factors have allowed her to succeed in addition to, or perhaps despite, the unusual subject matter of her songs. Yet these factors have not been sufficient to ensure her success in the American market. Perhaps one reason that Bush's popularity in England has not been duplicated in the U.S. is because she is a very English singer. Throughout most of the history of rock music in Britain, singers have used accents imported from America (Laing, 1985: 26). This began to change in the early 1970s when singers like David Bowie and Bryan Ferry employed English accents, and Bush herself acknowledges their importance in the formation of her own vocal style, stating: "I think most of the stuff I have liked has been English. With the majority of other people — well, they were listening to Elvis and people like that and most of their heroes were American. The artists I liked, such as Roxy Music and David Bowie, were all singing in English accents and, in fact, were among the few in England who were actually doing so at that time. I mean, Elton John, Robert Palmer and Robert Plant sound American when they sing" (Swales, 1986: 2-3). 14 Moreover, Bush's Englishness is not merely confined to her accent. As Terry Slater of EMI puts it: "Kate is a real English girl, she's from the roots of Great Britain. It's not a gimmick or produced. She's the first really English girl singer for a long time" (Vermorel, 1983: 92). Bush has even celebrated her native land in songs like "Oh England My Lionheart". The essential English quality of Bush's music and image has certainly had a profound impact on her popularity in the U.K. and perhaps on her inability to achieve widespread recognition in the U.S. 15 Bush appeared at a moment in the history of British rock in which a great deal of space for a singer like her had just opened up. In One Chord Wonders, Dave Laing notes one of the victories won by female singers in the punk era of the mid-1970s was the opportunity to experiment with a wider range of vocal sounds. Certainly Bush, who gained popularity in post-punk England with a repertoire of unearthly shrieks and guttural whispers, took advantage of this space to convey a disturbing breadth of emotion. Yet Bush's music was also a reaction against the one-dimensional angst and unorchestrated discord of punk, using melody and often frail vocals to create a surreal world of affect. 16 Which ultimately brings us back to the idea of image. Described by Laing as "poetically enigmatic," Kate Bush transcends more voyeuristic objectification (Laing, 1985: 89). In her videos and live performances, Bush presents a series of dramatic personas that distance the viewer, even as her lyrics invite him/her into the most recessed enclaves of Kate Bush's soul. The Kate Bush the viewer sees is merely a projection. Bush herself affirms this: "When I perform, I'm definitely someone else. She's a lot stronger and I wouldn't be as daring as her" (Vermorel, 1983: 83). On stage, she becomes Catherine of "Wuthering Heights", the outlaw of "James and the Cold Gun", the child-woman of "Feel It". Bush's enigmatic image has been important to her success in non-English speaking countries, as well as in the faddish, often image- oriented British Isles. However, those British listeners who were hooked by the novelty of "Wuthering Heights" discovered that there was a profound intelligence behind the image, an intelligence that allowed Bush to pass from the realm of mere image into the world of respected musicians. 17 The relatively small size of the British and other European pop music markets makes them more susceptible to the influence of images and fads than their American counterpart, and this fact undoubtedly accounts in part for Kate Bush's inability to achieve anything more than a cult following in the U.S. prior to the mid-1980s. Rather than focusing on her sexuality and striking physical appearance, American critics have tended to praise Bush for her skill and artistic vision; and the complex nature of these elements have generally limited Bush's American following to a handful of devoted fans. However, with "Running Up That Hill", Kate Bush gained devotees in American dance clubs, while the album Hounds of Love received considerable airplay on AOR radio. Thus, Bush was at once occupying the seemingly contradictory roles of progressive rock heroine and dance-funk queen, neither of which converged in any significant way with the American pop mainstream. Furthermore, few Americans were exceedingly aware of Bush's image. Although MTV gave substantial airplay to one of the two videos for "Running Up That Hill", visual exposure to Kate Bush has been quite limited in the United States. Her only tour, which occurred in 1979, was confined to England, and her controversial performance on Saturday Night Live in that year did not create a lasting impression in this country. 18 Yet even though Kate Bush herself has not been a significant presence in the American pop mainstream, her influence has been felt. Perhaps more than any other female artist, Kate Bush legitimized the use of the rather eccentric vocal ranges and phrasings that one can now find in the music of artists like Cyndi Lauper. Bush also helped to revolutionize the world of rock and pop instrumentation through her pioneering use of the Fairlight synthesizer, especially on Never For Ever and The Dreaming. By moving beyond pre-set and artificial synthesizer sounds, Bush discovered new ways to sample a variety of natural resonances in order to deepen the structure of her music. Only now are mainstream artists catching up with experimenters like Bush in their uses of synthesizer technology. 19 In spite of her importance in these two areas, Kate Bush has probably had the greatest impact in her role as a performance artist. To Bush, the visual presentation of the music and the music itself cannot be divorced, and thus, it is not surprising that she was the first female pop star to combine her music with classical and modern dance training. Bush's idea that the combination of music and movement allows the artist to express a more complex range of emotion has been translated, though in a simplified form, into the work of current American music video superstars like Madonna and Janet Jackson. What was once novelty has now become the norm. 20 While Kate Bush will probably never attain the level of popularity in the U.S. that she enjoys in the U.K. and Europe, she certainly has not been without influence in the world of mainstream pop music. Despite the unlikely nature of her British success, Kate Bush has persevered and used that success to gain greater artistic freedom, thus continuing to grow in her role as a pop music pioneer. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Great article on Kate that I found EMAIL: bob@bobjertkonesgetik.com IP: 70.27.77.173 URL: DATE: 11/15/2006 02:38:44 PM he early 1970s record industry executives noticed that adventurous musicians could actually make money. Kate Bush was one of the artists to profit. In 1974 EMI made an unusual move and gave Bush some money "to grow up with," and she spent three years continuing her dance studies, honing her vocal skills, and developing a more mature songwriting style. In 1977 she recorded her first album, The Kick Inside, and the first single, "Wuthering Heights", reached the number one spot on the British pop chart just one month after its release in early 1978. However, though Kate Bush has been a best-selling artist in the U.K. for almost ten years, she stayed virtually unknown in the U.S. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 In the American musical mainstream, the most innovative performers are often among the least commercially successful. This seems to be somewhat less true in Great Britain, where avant-garde artists such as Laurie Anderson have reached the number one position on the pop singles chart, and where the most commercially successful female recording artist is Kate Bush. Kate Bush's music integrates intellectually challenging subject matter into complex and often experimental instrumental arrangements. Bush's conquest of the British pop music charts leads one to wonder how such an artist has been able to succeed within the constraints of the music industry, and what effect a pioneer like Bush has on mainstream popular music. 2 Kate Bush's entrance into the music business was unusual in itself. She began writing songs while still in her early teens, and by the time Bush was in her mid-teens she and her family had produced a demo tape which contained fifty of her compositions. Though every record label to which the tape was circulated turned it down, it was not long after this that friends of the Bush family brought Kate's music to the attention of Pink Floyd's guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour was impressed by Bush's songwriting skill and four octave vocal range; and thus, in 1974 he financed a three song demo for Bush, made with Pink Floyd's producer Andrew Powell. The tape was sent to EMI, Pink Floyd's record company, where it was heard by Terry Slater, the executive who signed the Sex Pistols to a major label contract. Slater was quite impressed with the demo and signed Bush, even though she was only sixteen years old at the time. In recognition of her relative youth, EMI made an unusual move and gave Bush some money "to grow up with," and Bush spent three years continuing her dance studies, honing her vocal skills, and developing a more mature songwriting style (Vermorel, 1983: 86-87). In 1977 she recorded her first album, The Kick Inside, and the first single, "Wuthering Heights", reached the number one spot on the British pop chart just one month after its release in early 1978. 3 Kate Bush did not prove to be a one shot wonder. Her next album, 1979's Lionheart, was a critical disappointment, but it did produce a top twenty single in the U.K. With 1980's Never For Ever Bush debuted as coproducer, and by the time The Dreaming was released in 1982, Bush was the sole producer. She not only produced her 1985 album Hounds of Love, she recorded it in her own studio. Each album, with the exception of Lionheart, spawned more than one British top twenty hit. EMI is certainly thrilled with Kate Bush's success, yet it seems unlikely that the company could have predicted Bush's profitability at the time of her signing. Indeed, even her earliest recorded material dealt with unusual topics such as supernatural phenomena, incest, and poisoning, and Bush's vocal phrasing has always been somewhat bizarre, to say the least. Certainly then, Kate Bush's contract with EMI is the result of several conspiring factors. Though the relative importance of each element can only be guessed, EMI's market position and the nature of the recording industry in the 1970s provide clues into the conglomerate's motives for signing Kate Bush. I do not think too much emphasis can be placed on the fact that it was David Gilmour who brought Kate Bush to the attention of EMI. At that point in time Pink Floyd was a very important act to the company. The progressive band had just released its eternally-selling Dark Side of the Moon on EMI's Harvest label in 1973, and Pink Floyd were respected and successful veterans of the art rock scene. Other members of Pink Floyd were seeking out fresh talent at the time, and EMI management would have surely thought it in the company's best interests to cater to the band members' whims. The importance of Pink Floyd to EMI was symptomatic of a larger development in the British music industry in the early 1970s. A number of progressive artists were selling substantial quantities of records in both Great Britain and the United States. The acid rock of the late 1960s had evolved into the art rock of the 1970s, with bands like Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Traffic, and Genesis becoming industry mainstays. These artists experimented with synthesizers and other newly developed technologies in order to create fresh sound experiences. Once the commercial viability of these musicians was proved, record companies were eager to jump on the progressive bandwagon. One study of the musical tastes of British teenagers done in 1972 found that almost half of the middle class teens surveyed favored "progressive" music over mainstream pop (Murdock and Phelps, 1972: 150). Undoubtedly the middle class teen market was one that record companies desired to tap. EMI had already shown its commitment to progressive rock by launching the Harvest label, and by the early 1970s it was clear to industry executives that adventurous musicians could actually make money for a company. Thus, in 1974 EMI may have been more likely to believe that an experimental performance artist like Kate Bush could sell records than it might have later in the decade. Another factor that cannot be overlooked is EMI's dominant position in the British record business during the early 1970s. Since 1950 the record industry in the U.K. had been dominated by two giants, EMI and British Decca, and EMI's position was strengthened substantially in the early 1960s when the label had the foresight to sign the Beatles to its Capitol division for American distribution of Beatles' records. Although increasing competition from American labels and the defection of the Beatles hurt EMI as the decade passed, the company mustered enough resources to form Harvest, its own progressive subsidiary, in 1968. By 1969 the corporation controlled an array of interests that gave EMI both horizontal and vertical control over numerous aspects of the music business. Therefore, it is not surprising that the conglomerate entered the 1970s in a strong position. By the middle of the decade, EMI was manufacturing one-fourth and distributing one-third of all records sold in England (Frith, 1981: 140-142). Financial success clearly gave EMI the economic means to invest in the development of new talent. Moreover, it is in the long-term best interest of a large company to continually recruit new talent, because "nobody wants to depend on a small number of acts" (Records, 1980: 326). Labels lose artists to other companies, lifestyle alterations, and death. Record companies depend on a constant influx of new talent to ensure that the organization will survive, and, in the words of one observer, "the larger the company, the greater its need for new 'product'" (Stratton, 1982: 91). The mid-1970s were definitely a key time for labels to be on the lookout for new talent. The British record industry was reaching a stagnation point, and Artist and Repertoire (A&R) people were searching for anything that might prove to be "a 'Next Big Thing', the new Beatles phenomenon," that would invigorate the industry (Laing, 1985: 7). After all, one reason behind the continuous search for new talent is the recognition by industry executives that they are working in a "taste" business. The commercial success of a particular artist or musical genre is often difficult to predict; therefore, the record industry must produce sounds which appeal to a variety of musical tastes. If, for example, Kate Bush or a Kate Bush clone became the "Next Big Thing," a label would not want to miss out financially on the trend. Thus, record companies see that it is wise to invest in a wide range of talent just in case something outside of the musical status quo captures the public's attention and wallets. EMI may have been gambling when it signed Kate Bush, but it was a gamble that paid. When "Wuthering Heights" reached the top of the British chart only EMI had a Kate Bush, and the idiosyncratic nature of Bush's music made the construction of a Kate Bush clone an accomplishment almost beyond the powers of imagination. In addition, one should not forget that EMI signed Kate Bush at a time when visually-oriented rock performers were growing in popularity. Kate Bush's early career was aided by her training in mime and dance and her striking good looks. The visual presentation has always been an important component of Bush's music, and her single "Wuthering Heights" was released with a video at a time when such promotional clips were rather rare. By the time the video explosion reached Britain in the 1980s, old hands like David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush found themselves in advantageous positions from which to exploit the medium. EMI's position in the British music industry, Kate Bush's undeniable talent, the musical climate of the 1970s, the involvement of David Gilmour as a "gatekeeper", and a number of other factors conspired at that specific point in time to make the addition of Kate Bush to EMI's stable of musical talent seem a wise maneuver. Once Bush proved a profitable artist for EMI, the company probably thought it best not to tamper with a successful formula and allowed Bush a great deal of artistic freedom. However, though Kate Bush has been a best-selling artist in the U.K. for almost ten years, she is virtually unknown in the U.S. It was only with her 1985 album, Hounds of Love, that Bush received any significant recognition in the U.S. Hounds of Love reached the 30th position on the Billboard album chart, largely on the strength of the single "Running Up That Hill", which peaked at 31 in November of 1985. However, Bush has yet to attain the kind of success in this country that she enjoys in her native England and Europe; and though "Running Up That Hill" brought Kate Bush new fans in the dance clubs, Bush seems destined to remain a strangely British and European phenomenon. Indeed, the fact that Bush's music is popular on a mass level anywhere in the world seems unlikely, considering the lyric content of her songs and her odd vocal style. For example, in Bush's 1981 British hit "Sat In Your Lap", Bush sings of her crisis of spirituality in the chorus: Some say that knowledge is something that you never have. Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap. Some say that heaven is hell. Some say that hell is heaven. However, Hounds of Love has been Bush's most lyrically complex album. The second side, titled "The Ninth Wave", consists of seven songs which cohere around the concept of a drowning victim's harrowing journey through the collective unconscious. Though critics and interviewers now seem obsessed with the unusual nature of Bush's lyrics and sound, her popularity in non-English speaking countries suggests that other factors have allowed her to succeed in addition to, or perhaps despite, the unusual subject matter of her songs. Yet these factors have not been sufficient to ensure her success in the American market. Perhaps one reason that Bush's popularity in England has not been duplicated in the U.S. is because she is a very English singer. Throughout most of the history of rock music in Britain, singers have used accents imported from America (Laing, 1985: 26). This began to change in the early 1970s when singers like David Bowie and Bryan Ferry employed English accents, and Bush herself acknowledges their importance in the formation of her own vocal style, stating: "I think most of the stuff I have liked has been English. With the majority of other people — well, they were listening to Elvis and people like that and most of their heroes were American. The artists I liked, such as Roxy Music and David Bowie, were all singing in English accents and, in fact, were among the few in England who were actually doing so at that time. I mean, Elton John, Robert Palmer and Robert Plant sound American when they sing" (Swales, 1986: 2-3). Moreover, Bush's Englishness is not merely confined to her accent. As Terry Slater of EMI puts it: "Kate is a real English girl, she's from the roots of Great Britain. It's not a gimmick or produced. She's the first really English girl singer for a long time" (Vermorel, 1983: 92). Bush has even celebrated her native land in songs like "Oh England My Lionheart". The essential English quality of Bush's music and image has certainly had a profound impact on her popularity in the U.K. and perhaps on her inability to achieve widespread recognition in the U.S. Bush appeared at a moment in the history of British rock in which a great deal of space for a singer like her had just opened up. In One Chord Wonders, Dave Laing notes one of the victories won by female singers in the punk era of the mid-1970s was the opportunity to experiment with a wider range of vocal sounds. Certainly Bush, who gained popularity in post-punk England with a repertoire of unearthly shrieks and guttural whispers, took advantage of this space to convey a disturbing breadth of emotion. Yet Bush's music was also a reaction against the one-dimensional angst and unorchestrated discord of punk, using melody and often frail vocals to create a surreal world of affect. Which ultimately brings us back to the idea of image. Described by Laing as "poetically enigmatic," Kate Bush transcends more voyeuristic objectification (Laing, 1985: 89). In her videos and live performances, Bush presents a series of dramatic personas that distance the viewer, even as her lyrics invite him/her into the most recessed enclaves of Kate Bush's soul. The Kate Bush the viewer sees is merely a projection. Bush herself affirms this: "When I perform, I'm definitely someone else. She's a lot stronger and I wouldn't be as daring as her" (Vermorel, 1983: 83). On stage, she becomes Catherine of "Wuthering Heights", the outlaw of "James and the Cold Gun", the child-woman of "Feel It". Bush's enigmatic image has been important to her success in non-English speaking countries, as well as in the faddish, often image- oriented British Isles. However, those British listeners who were hooked by the novelty of "Wuthering Heights" discovered that there was a profound intelligence behind the image, an intelligence that allowed Bush to pass from the realm of mere image into the world of respected musicians. The relatively small size of the British and other European pop music markets makes them more susceptible to the influence of images and fads than their American counterpart, and this fact undoubtedly accounts in part for Kate Bush's inability to achieve anything more than a cult following in the U.S. prior to the mid-1980s. Rather than focusing on her sexuality and striking physical appearance, American critics have tended to praise Bush for her skill and artistic vision; and the complex nature of these elements have generally limited Bush's American following to a handful of devoted fans. However, with "Running Up That Hill", Kate Bush gained devotees in American dance clubs, while the album Hounds of Love received considerable airplay on AOR radio. Thus, Bush was at once occupying the seemingly contradictory roles of progressive rock heroine and dance-funk queen, neither of which converged in any significant way with the American pop mainstream. Furthermore, few Americans were exceedingly aware of Bush's image. Although MTV gave substantial airplay to one of the two videos for "Running Up That Hill", visual exposure to Kate Bush has been quite limited in the United States. Her only tour, which occurred in 1979, was confined to England, and her controversial performance on Saturday Night Live in that year did not create a lasting impression in this country. Yet even though Kate Bush herself has not been a significant presence in the American pop mainstream, her influence has been felt. Perhaps more than any other female artist, Kate Bush legitimized the use of the rather eccentric vocal ranges and phrasings that one can now find in the music of artists like Cyndi Lauper. Bush also helped to revolutionize the world of rock and pop instrumentation through her pioneering use of the Fairlight synthesizer, especially on Never For Ever and The Dreaming. By moving beyond pre-set and artificial synthesizer sounds, Bush discovered new ways to sample a variety of natural resonances in order to deepen the structure of her music. Only now are mainstream artists catching up with experimenters like Bush in their uses of synthesizer technology. In spite of her importance in these two areas, Kate Bush has probably had the greatest impact in her role as a performance artist. To Bush, the visual presentation of the music and the music itself cannot be divorced, and thus, it is not surprising that she was the first female pop star to combine her music with classical and modern dance training. Bush's idea that the combination of music and movement allows the artist to express a more complex range of emotion has been translated, though in a simplified form, into the work of current American music video superstars like Madonna and Janet Jackson. What was once novelty has now become the norm. While Kate Bush will probably never attain the level of popularity in the U.S. that she enjoys in the U.K. and Europe, she certainly has not been without influence in the world of mainstream pop music. Despite the unlikely nature of her British success, Kate Bush has persevered and used that success to gain greater artistic freedom, thus continuing to grow in her role as a pop music pioneer. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Alan EMAIL: prfctday@aol.com IP: 195.93.21.6 URL: DATE: 04/27/2007 09:52:08 AM That's a blackbird. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Eyeball Pillow STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1038 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/17/2005 01:27:01 AM ----- BODY: While shopping at Target the other day, I was pretty excited to discover that they are selling Murakami-esque 'eyeball' throw pillows as halloween decorations. Since I fervently peruse Target's halloween section every year (The design is always so good!) and didn't notice them until now, I figured I'd point this fact out to any like-minded folk who happen upon this.
Now I need to buy another one, so my couch will appear to be sentient.
UPDATE!
I bought another one. Exciting, I know. Doesn't it look like it's PLOTTING? Inset: Also doubles as a cheap Residents costume.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: darin EMAIL: darinfic@gmail.com IP: 68.43.10.212 URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/whasterisk DATE: 10/17/2005 02:05:43 AM i also enjoyed the spider pillows. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason EMAIL: j.schad@gmail.com IP: 66.158.5.245 URL: http://thismundanelife.blogspot.com DATE: 10/17/2005 12:33:19 PM Right now it kind of looks like a one-eyed relative of Chairy from Pee Wee's Playhouse. "One-eyed Couchy" perhaps...... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: LPS EMAIL: culturetrouble@gmail.com IP: 207.215.249.242 URL: DATE: 11/07/2005 08:27:41 PM hahahahahahahaha. sentient furniture = genius. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Meir EMAIL: emes1231@aol.com IP: 24.92.142.231 URL: DATE: 04/11/2006 09:19:36 PM hey, i need one of these eyeball pillows. where can i get one. I had one and someone threw it out, and it was probably one of the most important things to me. Please help and tell me where to get one now. i need it before JUNE 27. e-mail me please ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: More Ancient Ware STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1042 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/23/2005 10:51:31 PM ----- BODY: Among really nerdy dudes who obsess over things like the beginnings of Chris Ware's career, the primary representation of his early work has long been 'Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future,' an out-of-print collection of College-era strips featuring the titular character. 'Floyd Farland' is illustrated in a modernist style that is completely unrecognizable when compared with Ware's later works, so it's somewhat difficult to trace the path of his 'artistic development.' It was recently pointed out to me that additional college paper-era Ware material was collected in a trade paperback called 'Commix,' published by Protein Storm Press in 1988.
After I expressed interest in seeing what the book contained, Chris Rice pointed out that Mile High Comics had a copy in stock for just over cover price, so I went ahead and ordered it. The book is of the 'Garfield' size and shape, and contains all the fascinating developmental beginnings that I'd hoped to find in 'Floyd Farland.'
Included are several strips bearing the title 'Comick Strip,' presumably published in the Daily Texan. Four of these, which bear separate titles and appear to have been published on consecutive days, can be cut out and joined together to form a circular, infinite comic strip. There's a brief Floyd Farland strip, an oddly postmodern page-sized lettering of the word 'Joke,' and an interesting precursor to the faux-advertising style that Ware became known for when The Acme Novelty Library was publishing regularly.
This one is an interesting combination of advertising imagery and linear narrative, a disconnect that echoes another of Ware's early works - 'I Guess,' which is available online here.
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Gregg Einhorn EMAIL: IP: 71.107.252.49 URL: DATE: 10/25/2005 05:35:57 AM that is really interesting! i'd love to see more. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Christopher Merritt EMAIL: cdylanm@earthlink.net IP: 71.116.175.153 URL: http://www,christophermerritt.com DATE: 10/25/2005 11:45:46 AM Adam - where on God's green earth do you find this stuff??? Fascinating. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: William Mendoza EMAIL: william@hoax.cc IP: 159.153.4.50 URL: http://hoax.cc DATE: 10/25/2005 07:11:29 PM Chris Ware signed my copy of Floyd Farland at a recent book signing in San Francisco. He cracked a joke about how he usually confiscates the book, but I don't think he is interested in taking it from fans... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Chris Rice EMAIL: chrismidweeker@yahoo.co.uk IP: 88.109.255.82 URL: http://www.indiecomics.co.uk DATE: 05/02/2006 06:14:33 AM Hi Adam - Good to see you got a copy, interesting little book, isn't it? ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Two good 'Joke' band names. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1044 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/11/2005 01:19:28 AM ----- BODY: I haven't sunk to the level of posting an IM conversation for quite awhile, so I figure I'm about due.
Zach: "performances from breathing underwater, broken sunday, autumn and wasp, pillar of autumn, forever in a day, between broken ends, the evening raid"----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach EMAIL: zachcurd@gmail.com IP: 69.209.142.6 URL: DATE: 12/11/2005 12:13:50 PM "hahahah" I say! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Charlie Lesoine EMAIL: helloitabot@yahoo.com IP: 24.126.230.198 URL: http://hearingotherpeople.com DATE: 12/12/2005 03:25:12 AM my bands called Other People, and we insist on not being billed last because it would just cause confusion. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Dylan Axel EMAIL: IP: 216.60.71.136 URL: DATE: 06/03/2007 12:01:36 AM There's actually a band called "also known as", and they were in the middle of one of my flyers. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Grandpa McOutrage STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1045 CONVERT BREAKS: 0 ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/13/2005 12:18:55 AM ----- BODY: Plenty has been written online about 'socially conscious' clothing company American Apparel, their risque advertising, and their sexual harrassment-happy CEO of late (link, link, link, link). I've been 'not a fan' of their ads on sites I read, but nothing had ever been overt enough to make me actively 'Anti.'
Zach: those are all real band names
Adam: hahaha
Adam: you should name a band that
Adam: "Those are all real band names"
Adam: And insist on always being billed last
Zach: hahahah
Zach: that would be pretty funny
Adam: I'm starting a band called the mapquest directions
Adam: and we book shows
Adam: and just never show up
Zach: hahahah
Maybe I'm turning into a grandpa, but this American Apparel 'holiday' ad (link) officially makes me 'Anti.' Really? THAT'S your holiday message? A faceless female ass with "STUFF THIS" in block type beneath it? Stuff this ass? Good job guys.
Also, thanks to Pitchfork for accepting advertising that brings that classy 'soft porn' aesthetic to their site.
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AUTHOR: Randy Bishop
EMAIL: randy@iddream.com
IP: 199.46.199.231
URL: http://www.iddream.com
DATE: 12/13/2005 12:06:40 PM
You're not alone. I've been turning off image loading lately when I visit PitchFork at work.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: SSM Holiday Sampler 2005
STATUS: Publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
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DATE: 12/15/2005 12:29:00 AM
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We've put the annual Suburban Sprawl Music Holiday Comp up for download over at suburbansprawlmusic.com. This is the fourth year we've put the comp together, and all four year's worth of MP3's are available for free download. Some highlights from newcomers to this year's comp:
The City On Film - "O Holy Blanket (A Christmas Waltz)" [MP3]Of course, many of the SSM standbys also appear in one configuration or another, contributing both characteristic and uncharacteristic holiday songs.
I was a huge Braid fan, and Mr. Nanna's post-Braid band Hey Mercedes was kind enough to play a benefit show for the Art Scholarship we set up in memory of my younger brother, Chris. The City on Film is Bob Nanna's long-running one man band-ish project. Needless to say, I'm really excited to have this song on the comp.
Knight & Doble - "The Man With All The Toys" [MP3]
Shawn Knight (New Grenada, SSM's resident sleeve artist of late) and Christian Doble (Kiddo): Even greater than the sum of their parts!
The Canadian Dollars - "Outsourcin' Christmas (The Unemployed Little Elf Song)" [MP3]
I'm not sure yet if the 'Canadian Dollars' name is just for fun or if he really wants his identity kept secret, so I'll play it safe and say that this guy has impeccable production abilities, is super nice, and writes music you can hear on the Cartoon Network.
Hairshirt - "Xmas in Mesopotamia" [MP3]
Local favorites Hairshirt serve up an oblique Christmas card to Iraq, Run through a Depeche Mode filter.
Timothy Monger - "Airstream" [MP3]
Tim (of Great Lakes Myth Society fame) delivers a stripped down Carol that has made me notice way more Airstreams this year.
Chris Hatfield of Those Transatlantics isn't a newcomer to the comp, but I love the crap out of his song, because it's like a painstakingly researched history lesson crossed with a comic book, and I harangued him into writing it just a few days before it was due. So good!
Chris Hatfield - "Born Again Pagan" [MP3]So... the 'Reason for the Season' is actually to make sure that all those other guys who had the idea first didn't win out.
"Born Again Pagan" taught me the history of Christmas that everyone should know:
"It's very tough for us North Americans to imagine Mary and Joseph trudging to Bethlehem in anything but, as Christina Rosetti memorably described it, "the bleak mid-winter," surrounded by "snow on snow on snow." To us, Christmas and December are inseparable. But for the first three centuries of Christianity, Christmas wasn't in December -- or on the calendar anywhere.
If observed at all, the celebration of Christ's birth was usually lumped in with Epiphany (January 6), one of the church's earliest established feasts. Some church leaders even opposed the idea of a birth celebration. Origen (c.185-c.254) preached that it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Birthdays were for pagan gods.
Not all of Origen's contemporaries agreed that Christ's birthday shouldn't be celebrated, and some began to speculate on the date (actual records were apparently long lost). Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20 but noted that others had argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) championed January 2. November 17, November 20, and March 25 all had backers as well. A Latin treatise written around 243 pegged March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had followed the same line of reasoning to conclude that Christ's birth and baptism most likely occurred on Wednesday, because the sun was created on the fourth day.
The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen's concern about pagan gods and the church's identification of God's son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival." - Christianitytoday.com
"I was lucky enough to save a couple of months worth of hand-written documents by the producers recording each session -- who they were recording, the musicians, what they did that day, what songs they were working on..."Included in this sheaf are the handwritten production notes for Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' Album, bearing working titles, session dates, musician credits, and other significant details. For people like me who obsess about behind-the-scenes minutuae, this is literally heartbreaking. Multiple books have been written around similar documentation of Elvis / Beatles / Who / Rolling Stones sessions. Superbowl parking has eliminated the possibility for such a Motown book.
I grew up in Detroit. I visit regularly. My parents still live there. I had not idea that there were documents still in that building. I just called the Mayor's office and was told that I should call Motown to complain and not the City of Detroit, who 'once again is getting blamed' for something going 'wrong' in the city.Alison Stankrauff, Archivist and Assistant Librarian at Indiana University South Bend says:
I was also told that scholarly or neighborhood groups should have gone through the building to search for historic materials. I don't know if anyone knew that items were still left in the building.
It's all so incredibly tragic.
I'm a transplanted Detroiter - I went to Wayne State University, and worked at the labor archives there... While I was a student, and was thinking of jobs, I got to talk with Berry Gordy's sister, Esther Gordy, who runs the Motown Historical Museum when I was going through the museum... She told me at that time that there were lots of documents down at the building on Woodward that needed going through, and that they didn't have anyone to do it - and if their budget allowed, etc., they'd be hiring, etc. This was probably 2001...Jim A. Beardsley says:
Obviously it never got done, and yet more vital Detroit history is lost. So sad!!
Thanks very much Chris for the headsup and link--that was a thought provoking report on NPR. It's no surprise that there are many ex-Michiganders around the country who may take an interest in the story. What is surprising is the apparent lack of interest from those closer to the source. Does the Motown matter represent standard archival management in Detroit? Should this be a wake-up call for Detroit archivists and historians? Are they all hibernating permanently? Maybe the "exers" should come back to help exhibit the value of taking a proactive role in local history appreciation and preservation. Let's hear some good news on Detroit archives from the locals, please.Deborah Rice, Society of Women Engineers Archivist at Wayne State University in Detroit says:
You have to remember that the Motown Museum (the original recording studio) is still around and I'm sure most people, including area archivists, assumed all of their records were there. I also had no idea that records were left in the building they occupied from 1968-72 until I heard the NPR story. I was as shocked as a lot of you were. Obviously it was not common knowledge and I think it's uncollegial to point a finger at area archivists and accuse us of not caring. I deplore not only the loss of records, but of the building itself, for what it stood for historically in terms of Motown Records, but also because it was a piece of architectural history as it was an Albert Kahn building. I assumed, as did most others, that the building was an empty shell like so many abandoned buildings in Detroit that are constantly being torn down despite protests from local preservationists. It's unrealistic to assume that archivists or local historians should have "known" to go through the building before it was torn down. Most people don't just go exploring through an abandoned building in Detroit - not exactly a safe endeavor. The situation is perhaps a sad comment on our city, but one that should not necessarily extend to the entire archival community.Tanya Elder added:
The NPR story reported that Hitsville on Grand Blvd, which is the Motown Museum, knew about the documents but could not get the funding to get them out of the building. Other than that, I wonder what other routes did they or the gentleman in the piece go about to advertise the need to get them out of the building. Wayne State has a library school with an archives component, I wonder if they were contacted?To which Allison responded:
The gentleman in the piece reports that he had been in the building several years ago and took some of the documents out of the building. The link to the NPR story has additional photographs of the interior of the building.
Anyway, it's too late, and as I said before, very very tragic. I wish I had paid more attention, I live in NY and only go back once or twice a year. Makes me feel a bit guilty myself.
I second your feelings of guilt - transplanted as I have been for a few years now... I still feel that I personally could have done something about this...So yeah, I guess that's the point of all this: to point out the weird cocktail of guilt and anger that this story inspires. An encouraging ending to the documents rescued by Mr. Wilcox:
"I was transferring the Motown documents that I rescued after and during the demolition of the Donovan Building to the possession of the Detroit Public Library Special Collections director, Mark. He was as happy to recieve them as I was to donate them. They are now officially part of the DPL, here in Detroit, where they belong. Needless to say I was contacted by a wide variety of institutions, but never in my mind for one second did I consider putting these documents in any other collection. They are now happy and safe and will be cared for with love and expertise."Be sure to visit detroitfunk.com for the best local coverage of this week's madness.
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NPR - 'Motown Building Razed for Super Bowl Parking' |
"I'm no expert on Kevin Gilbert, or Sheryl Crow, but do know some things... KG pretty much made her. She played keys for him on part of the Toy Matinee gigs I think. KG and some other LA guys had a lil project where they'd all get together on Tues nights (hence Sheryl's debut albums title) and jam/write songs. They had enough material for an entire album, and Sheryl had been around some of the tues nights (was KG's girlfriend) so she sang the demo. It made the rounds, someone decided to pick her and the album up and it was produced out and released. When it blew up and she was famous overnight, she talked and acted like it was her baby and she was responsible for the whole thing. So she dumped Kev and started her career. In my opinion it really sucks to claim material that isn't yours, and then turn your back on the person that wrote most of the stuff and got you your big break. Kev was pretty bitter about this... And yes Kevin died whilst wacking off. Doesn't mean he wasn't a brilliant musician/writer."Intrigued, I pulled the quote and pasted it into my ever-growing list of nerdy things to investigate, and forgot about it for a year or so. A few months ago I vaguely remembered this story, so I did some googling and found what appears to be the most thorough investigation of the scandal and Mr. Gilbert's subsequent death: "More Than 'The Piano Player'" by Joel Selvin, which you can read online here. The article brings the specifics of Mr. Gilbert's complaints with Ms. Crow into focus:
In August 1992, (Bill) Bottrell convened Gilbert and other musicians at Toad Hall with the simple agenda of collaborating for the fun of it every Tuesday night. "We were all good, not to be immodest," Baerwald said. "We were also all cynical, embittered by the process of pop music. We were trying to find some joy in music again."From there, the article goes on to detail some of the particular grudges held towards Ms. Crow:A party atmosphere predominated -- "Bill would sift through (the music) the next morning while we were all nursing hangovers," drummer Brian MacLeod recalled. Then Bottrell introduced a project he thought might force a little focus onto the freewheeling, chaotic sessions. Crow had finished an album for A&M Records, but despite the $500,000 spent on it, nobody at the label was thrilled with the results. Hoping for a quick fix, A&M hired Gilbert to remix the album, which was, in the immutable illogic of the record industry, already scheduled for release. Crow's manager asked Bottrell to step in as well.
On Crow's first Tuesday night with the club, Baerwald showed up with musical sidekick David Ricketts (from the 1986 David and David album), both of them high on LSD, with the first verse already written to a song, "Leaving Las Vegas." Baerwald picked up a guitar, Ricketts the bass, and the band fell together to pick up where it had left off.
For most of that year, Bottrell and his Tuesday crew -- now working all week long -- scrupulously fashioned and reshaped Crow's album. Because everything was a collaboration, songwriting credits were equally shared. "Everybody was equal," said Baerwald, "except Sheryl. She wasn't one of us. We helped her make a record."
Gilbert's name wound up on seven of the 11 songs; he sang and played keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. His relationship with Crow was kept separate and even a secret from the group. "I'd see long conversations in the parking lot," Baerwald said.
After nearly a year of working together, all for one and one for all, the Tuesday Night musicians were shocked to learn they didn't figure into any more of Crow's plans. Bottrell got the news when he met her to hand over the finished master in a Sunset Strip coffee shop. Although there had been much talk of hitting the road together to promote the record -- bassist Dan Schwartz even bought a new bass for the tour -- "she essentially told me to get lost," Bottrell said.
"I add Sheryl Crow to a long list of people in Hollywood who told me they were my friend until they got what they wanted from me," Schwartz said."I think I'm a tinge jealous over her upcoming release [1996's 'Sheryl Crow']," [Gilbert] wrote in his journal. "It's probably going to be huge so I have to prepare myself mentally for that. If she gets what she wants after behaving this way, she'll be absolutely intolerable."
For Gilbert, the final straw came when Crow sang "Leaving Las Vegas" [From 1993's 'Tuesday Night Music Club'] on the David Letterman show. Afterward, when Letterman asked her if the song was autobiographical, a flustered Crow blurted out, "Yes."
"I've never been to Las Vegas," continued Crow, who nobody remembers having contributed greatly to the writing of the song. "I wrote it about Los Angeles. It's really metaphorical."
The next day, she and Gilbert exchanged angry words over the phone. He wasn't the only one furious. Author John O'Brien -- who wrote the novel that inspired both Baerwald's early song lyrics and the movie starring Nicolas Cage -- was still grumbling about Crow's gaffe to his literary agent on the day he blew his brains out, a scant few weeks before the movie deal was complete [The film was released in late 1995].
Despite the tension with Crow, most of the Tuesday Night Music Club attended the Grammy Awards in March 1995... Crow sat in the row in front of them. Crow picked up three awards, including Record of the Year for ``All I Wanna Do,'' a Tuesday Night instrumental with lyrics borrowed from verses in a little-known volume by a poet in Vermont. A week later, Gilbert was still wearing his Grammy medallion around his neck like a badge of valor.
So yes, all this scandal, followed by death by autoerotic asphyxiation (See the article) -- an insane story in and of itself. Then I find out that his friends have posthumously released a concept album he had been working on -- a song cycle about the music industry called "The Shaming of the True." Naturally, I had to hear this. If you feel the same way, you can listen to clips of each song here, or buy the whole album here. The production on most songs isn't my cup of tea, so I don't necessarily recommend the album as a whole, but the narrative thrust is every bit as hostile towards the music industry as you might imagine. The track below is a perfect illustration, and the arrangement is hard to beat.
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Kevin Gilbert - Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men) From: "The Shaming of the True" |
'Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)' is an actual acapella fugue, sung from the points of view of several A&R men, to a new prospect ('Johnny Virgil'). The lyrics are available here (excerpted below).
Hi, John, it's Mel from Megalophone
I've been listening to your tape for the 19th time
Oh that's another call - can I call you
Back when I was in a band we used to sound like this
And I loved your songs, they reminded me of myself
You sound like Air Supply meets Gwar
In a good way; Here's my other number
Can you wait for just a sec -
That's another call coming in
I'll get back to you -
Have my girl take your information
Hi, John, it's Guy from Groanophone
Heard some talk about the band and the way you sing
I really think it's great - Can we make a
Deal with me, call me a friend, we'll be a family
You're a talented individual
If you sign here on the dotted line ... that's good
And my nephew will be your producer
etc...
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...and that just leaves one other loose end. The mysterious, unreleased first sheryl crow album - the debut that 'Tuesday Night Music Club' replaced. The album is pretty easily found on file-sharing networks - I've posted one song below so you can asses for yourself the trajectory her career may have taken had she not met Mr. Gilbert. It's not nearly as immediately dismissable as I'd hoped it would be, but it's still a far cry from the 'organic' production found on 'Tuesday Night Music Club.'
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Sheryl Crow - The Last Time From: Unreleased 1992 Debut |
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Zach Curd EMAIL: IP: 70.141.181.150 URL: DATE: 04/19/2006 01:22:36 AM I just read that Van Dyke Parks did some string arrangement work on that unreleased Sheryl Crow record. He is everywhere. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: ted EMAIL: edwardmichaelmiller@gmail.com IP: 71.66.224.103 URL: http://mrbraukoff.livejournal.com DATE: 06/08/2006 01:06:46 PM wow. i really like "the last time". it sounds like jellyfish. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Calico EMAIL: calicomoonchild@yahoo.co.uk IP: 195.93.21.103 URL: DATE: 10/31/2006 08:00:57 PM I would kill for this album, I spent 10 hours straight looking for these "file sharing networks" and found one retarded link after another. Joining god knows what in the process, I only have the above link as a WAV file. Can anyone share the rest? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Marty EMAIL: IP: 192.131.85.3 URL: DATE: 03/12/2007 02:25:31 PM Many of the Tuesday Night Music Club members have denounced what Joel Selvin wrote and felt he took what he said out of context. Check this book out for comments from Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, and Dan Schwartz about what they thought about Joel's article. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Marty EMAIL: IP: 192.131.85.3 URL: DATE: 03/12/2007 02:29:00 PM Sorry, guess I should put the link :-) http://www.amazon.com/Sheryl-Crow-Fool-This-Game/dp/0823084310/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/103-9382661-2811854?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173724049&sr=1-3 ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Weird MST3K / South Park Convergence STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1049 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 03/07/2006 12:36:43 AM ----- BODY: I posted this clip to my youtube account a few weeks ago and subsequently forgot to post it here. Here's the description I wrote for it:
"I noticed this weirdly predictive MST3K quip the other day. It comes from a 1991 episode - "Fugitive Alien," and consists of a now familiar death / kenny / those bastards sequence. Struck me as weird since South Park premiered in 1997. No idea if Trey Parker & Matt stone have ever discussed the source of the recurring catchphrase -- and this probably isn't it -- but it seemed oddly coincidental."Someone in the comments has already accused me of dubbing in the 'bastards' bit myself, but I assure you it's unaltered.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Barli sent me an email thanking me for the link. Since I think he's doing something important, and I was working on a similar bit of coding for another project, I offered to throw together and host a quick, three template, database-driven site so he could showcase the results of his work, spread the word, and raise money to continue. Here 'tis: Digitalfunnies.com.
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The impetus for my altering my setup was the upgrading of my ancient 266 MHz Pentium II from Windows 98 to XP. It turns out that the ridiculously cheap radio card I had been using for most of 2003 doesn't have a an XP driver, and learning to write drivers was beyond the scope of what I was willing to do to get this particular pet project running. As such, I invested in a Basic Hauppage 'WinTV' card, which enables a PC to capture both FM radio and Cable TV. With the advent of custom-built PVR computers, there is a ridiculously wide range of this sort of card available, but for my purposes, the original WinTV card works fine.
Why an internal radio card in the first place? I could, in theory just run the output from my stereo tuner into the line in of the computer. This however, would require that I remember to set the receiver to 'tuner' whenever a show airs, which I know I would not do reliably. An internal solution means not having any extra steps to remember.
When I first set out to revise my set-up, my wishlist was to have all of the following happen automatically:
Several people suggested that I could simply use RadioLover in OS X to accomplish this, but that would require me to make sure that my powerbook is on and connected to a reliable internet connection whenever a show airs. I wanted something I could set up once and completely forget about, a la Tivo.
Here's how I did it on my particular set-up, your mileage may vary.
Software
After deciding on the hardware, the next order of business was dealing with the annoying issue of the bundled software. One indisputable truth I have found when dealing with radio cards is that the included software is always terrible. This has been true of every single piece of hardware I've tried. In a few cases, the software was relatively functional, but certainly not user-friendly. There are, however, a wide variety of software front-ends for this kind of hardware, and after using several on a trial basis, I finally went with Axife MP3, primarily because it offers direct to MP3 recording (not the post-recording Wav conversion that many offer), a user-configurable naming template, and a skinnable GUI.
Once Axife is installed and properly controlling your radio card, you simply add the stations on which your shows air as presets. You can then schedule the programs in question using Windows Task Scheduler. You may have to set up several events for each program you want to record (For example, see the screenshot of my eventlist below). I record 'Loveline' 6 days a week, and 'This American Life' every Saturday. I used to record Car Talk too, but even I got sick of the same jokes after awhile (see here for more on this). Each mp3 is saved with the show title and the airdate in the filename, in a directory that is "shared" over my home network.
Moving Stuff Around
Once I've got the recordings, the next concern is getting them onto the powerbook. I first tried to automate the exchange from the PC end, "pushing the files over to the powerbook via FTP. When this didn't work I petitioned the ask.metafilter community for ideas, which worked wonders. It was suggested that I use a command line shell scrip to "pull" the files over from the XP box. The way I did this was to save the script, and then set up a recurring alarm in ical to call the script. This was before I was aware of the 'Cron' funtionality built into OS X, which could easily be used to achieve the same result, and would probably produce a less-cluttered calendar, but I haven't bothered to change it. If you'd like to take a crack at it, a decent GUI to cron in OS X is Cronnix. Here's the shell script to mount the shared XP folder and copy all mp3 files contained therin.
do shell script
"mount -t smbfs //User:Pass@CpuName/Path /Users/Username/Radio"
do shell script
"mv /Users/username/Radio/*.mp3 /Users/Username/RadioMac"
do shell script
"umount /Users/adamkempa/Radio"
Onto the iPod
Ok, so I've got the recordings onto the powerbook, what next? Importing to iTunes. This I accomplished using an altered version applescript that I probably originally found on Doug's Applescript for ITunes page. The script takes any audio files found in a folder and imports them into iTunes. I run this using another feature of OS X that I didn't know existed at first: folder actions. Folder actions enabled me to run the script whenever files appeared in the folder. The script is below, just paste it into script editor and click 'compile.'
All set, right? Almost.
It turns out that the folder action was attempting to import the MP3's before they had finished transferring from the XP machine, so I had to establish an intermediary folder. I know, I know, it's getting complicated. Here's a diagram.
do shell script "mount -t smbfs //Adam:baghead@ADAMXP/RADIO /Users/adamkempa/Radio" do shell script "mv /Users/adamkempa/Radio/*.mp3 /Users/adamkempa/RadioMac" do shell script "umount /Users/adamkempa/Radio" do shell script "mv /Users/adamkempa/RadioMac/*.mp3 /Users/adamkempa/Documents/Radio"I have smart playlists that search the filename for the show titles and pull in all new MP3's bearing those names, so the previous night's show is always in my itunes, ready to play the following morning. the final step is to automate the syncing of an ipod, so that this data is transferred to my ipod if it is attached. That way, all I need to remember in order to listen to these shows on my commute is to grab my ipod before leaving the house. Woo.
There are a couple of bleeding-edge factors threatening to make my method obsolete based on sheer convenience. I would gladly welcome such changes, but until that happens, this is what has been working for, that commercial ventures that http://radiotime.com/what-is-radiotime.aspx looks like it could be the killer app in this department, but I haven't been able to find any reviews online yet, and my method works. http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/15/radioshark.html http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/radioshark.ars/1 https://sourceforge.net/projects/radiopod/ ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Ware: Process STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 952 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 05/13/2006 09:04:31 PM ----- BODY: Several months ago, I wrote a bit about a book / DVD combo that was only available as a 'Thank You' gift for donating to Public Radio. I managed to get my hands on a copy of this and what follows is my assessment.
Ivan Brunetti thanks Mr. Ware for teaching him the ways of the Photoshop action in one of his strips, which I am unable to locate at the moment. http://www.comicartcollective.com/detail.cfm?page=C5694E29-5C5E-462C-8115FD99042EA624 Computer ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: Review: Lost Buildings (With more behind-the-scenes Chris Ware) ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Shuffle CD / Aleortic Music STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 949 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 05/14/2006 02:03:38 AM ----- BODY: I've had this 'article' brewing in my brain and on my hard drive since sometime in 2003 (The introduction of the iPod Shuffle was the last time I got really motivated to finish it up). This whole ridiculous tangent was sparked by a link I saw on waxy.org -- a Japanese CD called simply "Random." The description offered on the website reads as follows:
"This CD used on random play mode only. It has 99 scales included in the 99 tracks. When using the "random" function, the CD will automatically select random tones, and make a new melody. And when selecting random and return function simultaneously, the new melody will play endless! Please make sure that your CD player has a random function. The interval of sound will be changed depending on the CD player."Naturally, this blew my mind and I had to have it -- this sort of thing fascinates the crap out of me. You might remember my incomprehensible rant on Dice-based music, or that imaginary essay I never ended up writing on algorithmic music. Since the CD's description used the words 'scales' and 'melody,' I was anticipating something a bit more intricate than what the product actually turned out to be: 99 tracks, each consisting of a single note being struck on keyboard.
Below is an MP3 of a minute or so of the CD playing back on shuffle. Hypnotic, yes -- but not nearly as exciting as I was expecting after hearing the concept. I always hate when I hear about a great, creative idea, and it turns out to be implemented in the most inane way possible. Since that turned out to be the case here, I decided to look into whether or not similar musical experiments had been conducted.
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Random CD Sample From: "Random" |
The only other instance of unique listener-interactive randomization I'd encountered was a board game found in the liner notes to The Detachment Kit's 'Of This Blood' CD. Folding out the CD booklet reveals the game board, on which you are instructed to use a penny as a marker and the Detachment Kit CD, set to random, as a die. Each player will take turns advancing the track and moving the number of spaces indicated by the random track number selected. Clearly, this would work with any CD, but let's humor them.
I ran this concept of random music by several people, and my friend Will came up with another good example:
"Autechre, in their infinite awesomeness, already did this. They were/are part of a collective called Gescom that put out a minidisc-only release in the mid-90's called "Minidisc." This takes advantage of the fact that those minidiscs (not the mini CD's) supposedly have zero time between the end of one track and the beginning of the next even when on shuffle. The entire album was meant to be listened to on shuffle for a different listening experience each time. I've never listened to it, but I'm sure it's the best thing ever done in human history, since Autechre was involved."
Since I was unable to locate anyone selling a copy, anywhere (Not even on eBay!), I guiltlessly downloaded an e-copy of GESCOM's 'Minidisc,' and played it on shuffle in winamp, using a 'No Time Between Tracks' plug in. Those familiar with Autechre's work can probably imagine what it sounded like based on this sentance: "Noisy Autechre, but more so." Those who are unfamiliar can become so with the aid of the MP3 below. This is a short sample of the randomized output - the intended sound of the finished product.
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Gescom Minidisc Sample From: "Minidisc" |
Looking for slightly more melodic implementations, I next turned to the 'I Love Music' board, which is quickly becoming my website of choice for all musical queries - the ask.metafilter of music questions, if you will. You can read the resultant thread here. The ILM community managed to come up with several other examples of this technique, all of which I've attempted to track down and subjectively review below. A few months later, a related thread was started on ask.metafilter, which yielded the term 'Aleortic Music.'
Aleortic Music is _______. While this perfectly describes what I'm looking for, it also begins to cover algorithmic and 'generative' music. I was trying to keep this particular obsessive quest limited to the use of the CD medium, so for now I'll leave these tangents alone. FOR NOW.
Review-ish
Farmers Manual - Explorers We 60 1 minute songs. atmospheric with low-in the mix beats and occasional 'distressed audio equipment noises".
Otomo Yoshihide - The Night before the Death of the Sampling Virus Japanese Speech Horrific distortion Atmospheric noise 77 tracks all bearing the titles of large corporations (ie Sega, Sony, Roland, Sanyo, TDK, Casio Sharp, Toshiba, etc)
Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute
What? 183 tracks? What for? There is a reason..., August 2, 1999 Reviewer: Sparky P. "jsparkyp" (composer, all around nice guy, not insane) - See all my reviews It might be bewildering at first. The first disc has 98 tracks; the second, 85. If you listen straight through, you do not perceive any discontinuity. A collection of John Cage pieces performed by friends, collegues, and admirers. Frank Zappa (American composer [complete biographical blurb that he provided]) contributed 4'33". Laurie Anderson tells a few Merce Cunningham tales. Seems like a fun tribute from the git-go. But wait! (And this is where the fun begins!) Switch your CD player to the shuffle (random) mode. Now look what happens. It goes from, say, Yoko Ono's piece to the Kronos to the Moraz prepared piano performance to Ken Nordine's narration - all in the matter of seconds. It is a great to homage to Cage himself with the great use of the random chance operations that he might have enjoyed. Every performance of this disc becomes a unique experience (just like Cage). For even more fun, try playing both discs at the same time (provided, of course, you have the means; if not, improvise). Or add another sound source as well, like, say, the radio, or the television very low, or a tape of white noise. The possibilities are endless. I had the pleasure of trying this one day with FOUR players going on simulataneously: two with these discs, another with Miles Davis far in the background, the fourth with a disc of bird calls. It was quite a fun sound environment and I would not hesitate to try it again. But that was my experience. Your experience may be different.
http://www.lunakafe.com/moon19/fr19.php
Pump http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/r/rip-off-artist/pump.shtml Probably the closest to scratching the particular mental itch that the germ of this idea has created. The song titles alternate between wordplay ("Queasy Like Sunday Morning", "Backsync Boys") and self reference ("What's That Buzzy Bit?", "Some Much-Needed High End"). My favorite: "Gastrointestinal Distress."
Todd Rundgren
Having waded through the above minefield of blips, I was hopeful that Todd Rundgren's endeavors in this field would finally give me what I was after. And it did -- kind of. There's just enough written on the internet about Rundgren's 'No World Order' project to make it seem that it was assembled in the method I've been describing. The problem for me, is in the presentation.
First, Allmusic's summary of the project:
"Every Todd Rundgren album seems to have a gimmick, and on this one, the trick is that he recorded almost four hours of musical fragments of four to eight seconds each and put them on an interactive CD so that they could be combined in a nearly infinite number of ways. If you have a CD-ROM, that is. If you only have a regular old CD player, this noninteractive version presents ten songs and six variations on them. Rundgren has added rap to his arsenal, his lyrics are more political, and many of the tracks seem aimed at the dancefloor. Rundgren fans will be put off, while the new jack swingers won't bother to listen. But the real problem is that it's just not very good."
I've acquired copies of both the 'unenhanced' and the 'interactive' "No World Order," and they're equally disappointing.
The interface for the CD-Rom is pretty horrible, but with some messing about, I was able to control the tempo, mood, mix, and other variables, affecting the playback as my changes were made. This is as close to the implementation I've been describing as the "No World Order" project comes. The 'proper' "No World Order" album is twelve tracks built from the pieces used in the CD-Rom, all of which seem far too cohesive and layered to have been randomly assembled. Interestingly, each track also contains enough purposefully random jumps in style and tempo that I almost felt that Rundgren was trying to convince the listener that it was randomly pieced together.
There is no silence before or after any of the songs, so playing straight through does give the effect of a gapless, randomly evolving playback. Because of this, playing the disc on random finally achieves what I'm after -- a CD where the music can be played on shuffle and all hang together relatively melodically.
Unfortunately, the music on this CD is Todd Rundgren rapping about politics, over synth pads and drum machines.
Other Honorable Mentions
One of the responses garnered by my posting on ILM read as follows:
"I had that second Stone Roses Cd, which had about 99 tracks of nothing, which meant you HAD to play it in order. One more reason to get rid."The Stone Roses' "Second Coming" features 13 tracks of 'proper' music, occupying track numbers 1 through twelve, and ninety. Track ninety is "The Foz," so tracks 13 through 89 are clearly meant as spacers. Whether this avalanche of "empty" tracks was also intended to ensure proper listening order or not is uncertain -- though I rather like the idea of a pompous young british band purposefully removing the 'shuffle' option via overwhelming the odds in favor of silence.
Another ILM poster contended:
"They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18. The entire "Fingertips" section was made for random play, so that you'd get random bits of craziness between songs. I think it turned out better if you just played all of them straight through, though."While this is true and makes perfect sense to me, I was unable to confirm that TMBG's 'intent' was for random play, and not just a suite of several short nonsensical songs. Nowhere on the album art is random play mentioned. It's a good theory, though.
The Inevitable Video Game Tie-in IMuse was the music system in old Lucasarts adventure games, and had ways of branching and looping depending on things that happened during gameplay. http://imuse.mixnmojo.com/ For some really complicated technical information about iMUSE you can visited the official page about iMuse's patent. You find a lot of sketches and descriptions over there, but it is formulated in quite a difficult language. But still, this site is worth a visit. Now, in reality, it's not that complicated. iMuse is a system that plays midi (in the older games) or digital (in the newer games) music files, and manages to switch smoothly from one file to another (or to another position in the same file). Therefore, it uses certain commands such as Jump and Loop. It can, for example, also change the volume. The midi version of iMuse was also able to add or remove instruments and to change the tempo. Obviously, this is not possible with digital music, but you can obtain the instrument-effect by switching between two different mixes, one containing the instrument, the other not. "One of my favorite songs in Curse of Monkey Island is the Barber Shop Song. First it has a special introduction when you enter the shop the first time (when Guybrush asks if anybody knows how to remove Elaine's curse and when the pirates start to become interested in the gold statue... Guybrush: "Oops, did I tell too much?"). Then you have the general theme that plays in the shop. Now, when you start talking with Haggis, Van Helgen, Bill or Rottingham, the music jumps to a special mix for each of the characters, but it starts at the same position that we were on in the original song, so that you don't realize the transition." amon tobin mentions this some regarding his experience doing the new splinter cell soundtrack in a recent interview on games http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/26/news_6117182.html GS: You said you considered your albums soundtracks in and of themselves. How was the recording for Chaos Theory different from your early work? AT: Well, the music really had to integrate with the gameplay in this case. It wasn't like I was setting out and doing an arrangement like I normally do. It was more a case of making a track and then splitting it into different layers to express a sort of stress and intensity. The different layers get triggered as the character does different things in the game. So, for instance, in the game you won't hear the music in the same way as you hear the CD. That's because on the CD, all the layers are there, and they're all playing at the same time. In the game, if the character is creeping around, you might only hear certain elements of the track. And as events happen, as things get more stressful in the game, new layers come in, and different transitions into new layers. So it's constantly moving in the game, and changing, adapting to what you do. GS: But you said the actual album has all the layers at once simultaneously? AT: Well, yeah. What it is, is that I made tracks which were about six to eight minutes long, and then I split them into four layers of stress. I made the tracks to work like that, so each layer, from things like stealth to extreme stress, would work independently of each other, and also together. They all sort of interlock. When they're put into the game, the layers are stripped out, so they're not really playing at the same time. Let's say you have the bass guitar playing while [game hero Sam Fisher] creeping around, and then like, say someone spots him and percussion comes in, that kind of thing. But the various pieces are made as a whole arrangement to begin with--it's just been separated for that purpose. When it came to the actual soundtrack CD, it was back to reassembling all the layers and making proper arrangements out of them again.
Summary, and Call to Action!
So, having surveyed the existing body of work, I still think that this could be done better. So here's my idea, internet -- We come up with some guidelines, and then send an open invitation to anyone reading this: record short bursts of notes, beats, individual phrases, etc. and compose a giant, collaborative, ever-evolving song! Oh man I'm such a hippie. Here are some starting points that came up in a discussion about this concept between several friends and I.
1.) Take into consideration the fact that the delay between random selections will be variable from player to player.2.) Include multiple instances of many (if not all) of the bits, so that repetition / recapitulation of themes is possible. (Otherwise each bit would only be played once per randomization.)
3.) Adopt some sort of structural guidelines as far as key, length etc.
My friend Shawn added:
"The space between tracks seems like it'll be the problem. Even in my iTunes i notice it between tracks on an album that run into each other. how ridiculous. i understand that at least a CD player has to physically move the laser back and forth to line with a location on the disc - my Mac and its mp3s have no excuse.other then that seemingly unavoidable limitation, i think the idea of making the disc be ONE song is the right idea. I would probably start experimenting with something like a simple pop song. write, say, about 4 or 5 parts (intro, chorus, verse, bridge, etc.). maybe make a few variations of the same part; have 2 or 3 verses, each with different lyrics, have a version of the chorus w/ less or more instruments, etc. then burn it and see what happens. you could even do this with an existing song if you wanted to quickly see some results.
i could see it definitely getting more complex if you broke it down further, like into notes or fills or "riffs". if this was the case i would say yes, have duplicate tracks so parts appear multiple times. "
So, great, faceless internet - I Challenge you. Let's establish some guidelines and attempt to come up with some random yet melodic music, based around shuffle technology. Comments below, or email me.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: Animated Sand Mandalas
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I saw a link to this series of photographs, depicting a group of monks working on a sand mandala, on the Kircher Society blog last week. While I'm not a huge fan of monks or sand-painting, I am a fan of large-scale, glacially-paced art projects and behind-the-scenes documentation. Clearly, the fusion of the two via stop-motion animation is among my favorite things ever (see here).
These photographs were practically SCREAMING to be turned into an animation of some sort, so I felt it was my duty to download them and whip up a stop-motion animated gif.
Here it is (2.8 Megs, takes a while to load).
"To symbolize impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern, the sand is brushed together and is usually placed in a body of running water to spread the blessings of the Mandala."Awesome.
"Before a monk is permitted to work on constructing a mandala he must undergo a long period of technical artistic training and memorization, learning how to draw all the various symbols and studying related philosophical concepts. At the Namgyal monastery (the personal monastery of the Dalai lama), for example, this period is three years."----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Brendan EMAIL: brendan.wiles@gmail.com IP: 68.4.152.77 URL: DATE: 05/22/2006 01:38:06 AM I remember going to the Walker Art Center in Minnesota in elementary school and they were given a mandala by the monks, not smeared. It was amazing to see up close, even as a child. ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Instant Albums STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 1052 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 06/22/2006 05:18:07 PM ----- BODY: Yet another website for a nerdy musical project I was involved in: instantalbum.org. The gist was to throw a party where random 'bands' would be drawn from a hat and tasked with writing and recording a song in an hour. Below is the latest version of the 'rules:'
"In the early stages of painting, the monks sit on the outer part of the unpainted mandala base, always facing the center. For larger sized Mandalas, when the mandala is about halfway completed, the monks then stand on the floor, bending forward to apply the colors."
"Traditionally, the mandala is divided into four quadrants and one monk is assigned to each. At the point where the monks stand to apply the colors, an assistant joins each of the four. Working co- operatively, the assistants help by filling in areas of color while the primary four monks outline the other details."
"The monks memorize each detail of the mandala as part of their monastery's training program. It is important to note that the mandala is explicitly based on the Scriptural texts. At the end of each work session, the monks dedicate any artistic or spiritual merit accumulated from this activity to the benefit of others. This practice prevails in the execution of all ritual arts."
"There is good reason for the extreme degree of care and attention that the monks put into their work: they are actually imparting the Buddha's teachings. Since the mandala contains instructions by the Buddha for attaining enlightenment, the purity of their motivation and the perfection of their work allows viewers the maximum benefit."
"Generally, each monk keeps to his quadrant while painting the square palace. When they are painting the concentric circles, they work in tandem, moving all around the mandala. They wait until an entire cyclic phase or layer is completed before moving outward together. This ensures that balance is maintained, and that no quadrant of the mandala grows faster than another."
"The preparation of a mandala is an artistic endeavor, but at the same time it is an act of worship. In this form of worship concepts and form are created in which the deepest intuitions are crystallized and expressed as spiritual art. The design, which is usually meditated upon, is a continuum of spatial experiences, the essence of which precedes its existence, which means that the concept precedes the form."
For awhile I was getting my fix courtesy of the opportunistic companies who exploited the coinciding twilight of the PSOne and the advent of Best Buy exclusive distribution. One company in particular licensed a handful of japanese puzzle games, translated them into english, and sold them for ten bucks each at best buy. I, naturally, bought three of them. Of the three, one sucked, one was decent, and one ruled.
When I assembled my own Jamma-based arcade cabinet, I think I puzzled my friends and family with my first board acquisition: Logic Pro 2. My affinity for this title (and its predecessor) stems from a relatively rare puzzle game for the gameboy - Mario Picross, which I bought on clearance for $5 at a Toys R Us one summer. It held a special place with Dadalean Opus in my oevre of great gameboy puzzlers. In my youthful folly, I managed to lose the cartridge.
I got into the whole MAME thing in a backwards sort of way. Mopst people discover it as a really great way to play arcade games from your youth on your computer. My introduction to mame was through several arcade game restoration forums, whose members despise mame. The reason for their intense hatred lies in the practice of 'MAME-ing' (Maiming) classic arcade cabinets - a procedure which consists of gutting the cabinet and replacing the logic boards and wiring with a computer. Often, the 15 kHz arcade monitor is ditched in favor of an inaccurate computer monitor.
The really great thing about MAME is that the scene that has grown around is so active that if you bother with 'keeping up' with the latest news, you end up being exposed to an endless barrage of arcade-only games that came and went without you ever knowing they existed. This has been great for me, as I've discovered tons of unique puzzle games that never saw actual release in the US. I'm going to post my favorites here in the hopes that people with a more extensive knowledge can turn me on to a few others.
After exhausting my fondness for the Puzzle Bobble series of titles, I branched out into the off-shoots such as magical drop (on through three), Money Idol Exchanger, and _________. After tiring of even these tangential games, I began to seek out more obscure puzzle games to get my fix. Three of the best I've found:
Oh man, ghostlop. Ghostlop was developed for Neo Geo's MVS arcade system by Data East,a nd then NEVER RELEASED. What? I KNOW. Imagine combining puzzle bobble, arkanoid, into one game and then wrapping the whole thing up in a ghostbusters theme, as interpreted by the Japanese. The resultant game is Ghostlop. And it is amazingly great.
Nerratte Chu!
Sort of like a cross between Tetris and Mr. Driller. I feel like I've seen the keys / locks concept before too, but I might be making that up.
Landmaker
Sort of like Puyo Puyo crossed with 1980's Milton Bradley board game Cathedral.
P>
Your unsung MAME favorites, puzzlers or otherwise?
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: 0 auto drummers
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DATE: 08/30/2006 12:22:18 PM
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book
Good quote: Playback:
"Music Technology asks us to take it for granted. The intoxicating magic of sound reproduction springs from the transparency of the mechanical process. Means of delivery fades as the music plays. It's so sleek and efficient that you don't notice the technical marvel on display, by design."
http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com/history/index.html
http://dcramey.com
==== DRUMS ====
For years now the idea of a robotic drummer that plays a drum-kit intended for humans has fascinated me. I've always intended to make an attempt at building one - it's one of the projects that I still haven't managed to cross off my ultimate 'to do' list. In recent years, not one but TWO implementations of the same idea have come to my attention completely by coincidence. This prompted me to research the idea more thoroughly, which led me on so many different ridiculous tangents that I barely know where to begin.
It is important before beginning the ridiculousness to make a distinction between a robotic drummer and an animatronic drummer. An animatronic drummer simply mimes the motions in time with pre-recorded music, while a robotic drummer actually plays the drum kit, accurately striking each piece while keeping time. In short: Constructing a robotic drummer requires a much higher degree of precision engineering than constructing an animatronic drummer.
...which is not to say that animatronic drummers do not warrant attention. The animatronic drummers most familiar to those of my generation were featured members of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Players. The Pizza Time Players were an animatronic troupe of musical performers created by Nolan Bushnell, also the man responsible for Atari.
such as the Beagles and the Beach Bowzers.
The Chuck E. Cheese venture went on to become a wild success, and it wasn't long before imitators arose. The first and most succesful of this bunch was Bob Brock, an eager Chuck E. Cheese franchisee who was frustrated with the slow pace of the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics manufacturing. He met with an outside company called Creative Engineering and hired them to construct a live show for his own franchise, which would become Showbiz Pizza. The band that Creative Engineering constructed was christened 'The Rock-a-Fire Explosion,' and their drummer was known as Dook Larue. Dook was known to sing lead on a few songs - here's an example of his singing voice. A profile from one of several Rock-a-Fire Explosion fansites:
"Dook became a drummer for the RAE while waiting to become a space dog and go into outer space. He wore a flashy space suit that was quite elaborate. The singer who did the voice for Dook was argueably the best vocalist in the group. Although Dook was known to be dimwitted at times, his beautiful songs never showed it. Dook has amassed a strong following amoungst Rock-a-fire fans."Showbiz history: http://www.showbizpizzapage.com/history.htm Showbiz videos: http://www.showbizpizzapage.com/video_2.htm country bears (disny) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3634805764&category=850
Obviously, there have been a multitude of animatronic drummers with less charcter development at their disposal. If you have inforation on any additional animatronic drummers, specifically any disney-affiliated ones, I want to know about it.
Among the most informative sites in researching the animatronic drummers were Veganova's Chuck E. Cheese / Showbiz reference page, and the extinct attractions club, who offer dvd's containing documentaries on amusement park attractions you may remember form your childhood.
~*~
Once you cross the line from animatronics to robotics, there is a broad spectrum of ambition and achievement. I spent some time researching early robotic drummers. Using the internet as a starting point, the earliest dated references to Robotic drummers I was able to dig up include a hoax about a steam driven 'drum machine' and the 'robot' band seen below.
This band was built somewhere between 1823 and 1920 (you'd think they could narrow it down a bit more) by the German Blessing family, "who built some of the finest instruments in the world during their hey day."
The websites discussing the blessing band alerted me to the existance of a book,"Encyclopedia of Automatic Instruments,' that I was able to track down in my university's library. The encyclopedia sports an impressive page count (1600), and hundreds upon hundreds of photographs of long forgotton musical contraptions. I spent most of December 2003 eagerly tearing through it.
My intention in tracking down the book in the first place was to provide any historical background on automated percussionists that i might turn up in its pages. Instead, I ended up discovering a period of musical history that was completely new to me, and as I read more the scope of the prehistory portion of this essay began to outgrow and overshadow the original idea. Below, I've tried to summarize what to me were the most amazing sections of the book. Obviously, a single webpage is no substitute for 1,600 pages of information, researched over a lifetime. This book is a wealth of knowledge on a truly lost period of recorded musical history, and I can't recommend it enough to people who are interested in the technical end of music and musical intruments - I can't believe Steve Albini hasn't been championing it for years.
OTHER EXAMPLES
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0911572082/ref%3Dnosim/gnugk-20/102-6496016-6841765
Steam hoax http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/25878 1800 robot band http://members.aol.com/tgcnc/robotbn.htm
robot drum IDEAS: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Babbage_20Drum_20Machine
Animated music - drum section http://www.animusic.com/animusic-dvd.html
OCTANT: http://www.audiodregs.com/thumb/issue10/Octant.html
http://www.earpollution.com/vol2/july00/profiles/octant/octant.html
ACADEMIC
ACADEMIC: http://www.eng.man.ac.uk/aero/wjc/projects/mbot/ http://lemurbots.org/ http://www.logosfoundation.org/kursus/2031.html http://kurort.komkon.org/~bushel/cvr.html http://www.baginsky.de/agl/ While all of these academic projects are interesting, I'm more enamoured with the idea of someone applying this technology to a working band situation. It appears that there are at least two people doing this, in the form of the groups Octant and Captured by Robots. I first read about Octant in Tape Op magazine a few years ago. James ____, one-half of the human portion of octant, began building a robot drummer to accompny his human partner ____ ____ and himself. Octant's robot drummer consists of a case-mounted kick drum. I've included links to the photographs that accompanied the Tape Op article below. In
October of 2003 I finally had a chance to see the spectacle that is Captured by Robots! in a live setting. Captured by robots is the project of ___ ____, who goes by the name JBot. ___ has built an entire band of robots that are programmed to play his songs. He has also personified each of the robots - developing personalities for each. The basic cast of charecters is described below: DRMbot is by far the 'purest' distillation of the Robot Drummer that has been nagging at my brain for years, but I still have the urge to see it brought to the fullest extent of ridiculousness. Musical history? - Blue Meanies - Skainkin' Pickle Education - Engineering? Electronics history - How much was learning experience? ROBOTS - was this an idea you'd been toying with for awhile? - What was the first step you took? - previous work? - research / sources - helpers? - First Robot? - Problems, stumbling bocks. - DESIGN: Functionality vs. Personality Guitarbot - sways to music. Drummer Solenoids? Triggers / Sequencing software? Hornsmen Source of 'horns'? tuning? method for Guitar/bass calibration? software? Pressure? Interface? Computer? Software? Coding? Logistics Songwriting process - time consuming? - easier than live band experience? Touring - freedom. - easier with one. AUDIENCE - spectacle vs. showcase skill CONTEMPORARIES: - You list servotron / causey Way - Octant? Article Chuck e Cheese Personality
Probably the CLOSEST approximation of what my brain wants to occur can be represented by director Chris Cunningham's short collaboration with Aphex Twin - 'Monkey Drummer.' It's available for download in both high and low resolution, and also appears on Cunningham's recently released DVD. Unfortunately, It's pretty obvious that this is video trickery and not the real deal. Definately worth seeing though.
General robots: http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/index.html ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: Reusing Mummies: a popular past-time! STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 87 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/31/2006 12:40:29 AM ----- BODY: I starting writing this sometime in 2004. Then I stopped and forgot about it for a year and a half. This was when I was working at the library and had time to do things like email mummy historians for copies of the papers they'd had published in scholarly journals. While talking about halloween, I remembered that i'd never finsihed this, so I decided to post what I'd managed to cobble together. Without further ado - "Reusing Mummies: a popular past-time!"
1.) Mummies: A non-renewable resource
I've recommended Nicholson Baker's "Double Fold" in this space once before, but I'm recommending it again based on the chapter (6) dealing with the recycling of Egyptian mummies as fuel for locomotives. I quote:
In H. Rider Haggard’s novel She, mummies are used as torches - the bituminous preservatives burn so fiercely that “flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.” Combustion this intense could generate steam. The railroad from Cairo to Alexandria, imposed on the Abbas Pasha by the English in the early 1850s, runs through several bustling necropolises; Egypt had no indigenous coal and very little wood. A small item in the September 27, 1859, edition of the Syracuse Daily Standard reads: “Egypt has 300 miles of railroad. On the first locomotive run, mummies were used as fuel, making a hot fire. The supply of mummies is said to be inexhaustible, and are used by the cord.” Dard Hunter’s Papermaking cites an informant’s report that “during a ten-year period the locomotives of Egypt made use of no other fuel than that furnished by the well-wrapped, compact mummies.”
BAKERS FINDINGS
The internet is full of people variously insisting that this is true and / or false. The Straight Dope's Cecil Adams says no:
We owe this wonderful conceit to Mark Twain, who in The Innocents Abroad (1869) writes, "The fuel [Egyptian railroaders] use for the locomotive is composed of mummies three thousand years old, purchased by the ton or by the graveyard for that purpose, and . . . sometimes one hears the profane engineer call out pettishly, 'D--n these plebeians, they don't burn worth a cent--pass out a King!'" Lest anyone fail to realize it's a joke, Twain then adds, "Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am willing to believe it. I can believe anything."Didn't help. To this day you can find reputable organizations such as the BBC solemnly reporting this "fact" as fact."
Adams concludes that all of this is mere speculation. I found a posting by a ___ ____ who has written a meticulously researched paper that finds several earlier mentions of the practice (Innocents Abroad was published in 1860).
2.) Mummies as paper
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.urban/browse_thread/thread/f1fa32cb3187a3e/9bf8a6b7b2af7b22?tvc=2 Thus ends the present body of information about mummy paper. As was stated in the beginning, it is a messy tangle of truth and fiction, wherein there is a germ of reality which fuels the fires of urban legend. It is the sort of story the reader almost hopes is true in a gruesome sort of way. The evidence supports the claims that paper was made from the wrappings of mummies; whether they were stripped in Egypt or the United States, that is less clear. Popular magazines such as Down East and Yankee resurrect the story from time to time, and touch off whole new waves of interest and inquiry. Unless someone stumbles across old Isaac Augustus's elusive (and probably mythical) lost store of ancient dead Egyptians, that question must remain unanswered.
The second item you dismiss, of Stanwood's paper mill, is documented (though I haven't seen confirmation on the 30K figure). See DejaNews for cites in this thread.
I checked out " Money Talks" and I have some more problems with it. It says that " In January of 1863, Augustus Stanwood opened a new paper mill in Maine. .... He found the net cost of purchasing, collecting and transporting Egyptian mummies would be less than three-cents per pound for the cotton---half the price of cotton rags." So he imported 30,000 mummies to his paper mill in Maine!But the story gets better. "Because Stanwood failed to disinfect the wrappings, a severe cholera epidemic broke out among the rag-pickers and cutters employed in the Maine paper mill."
This story as I learned from a letter to the editor in KMT Spring 1993 is from a book reprinted by Dover called PAPERMAKING:The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, pages 382-384., By Dard Hunter. But in Hunters story Augustus Stanwood made "course brown wrapping paper" from the mummies.Hunter got this information from Stanwood's son. Both stories claim that a cholera epidemic was the result of handling the mummy remains.
According to something called the "Institute for Hemp Special Report #B" at http://www.seed.net.tw/~mcclay/blt404.htm#A1.17 under the "History of paper making"..."In 1863 the first claim of making paper from wood is made by Augustus Stanwood and William Tower in Gardiner Maine. With the invention of the wood pulp process the decline and the eventual end of recycled rag paper was certain." So that the same year Stanwood liberates paper making from rags he has to import 30,000 mummies from Egypt to use their rags to make paper?
But the weirdest claim is the cholera epidemic. According to Centers for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/publications/brochures/cholera.htm
"A person may get cholera by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium. In an epidemic, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person. The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water."
Could the mill workers have gotten cholera from mummy cloth thousands of years old? Stanwood's son also claimed that mummies were fed to the boilers of steam locamotives in Egypt to run them.( see the KMT letters,Spring 93) As stated before this was a joke by Mark Twain in INNOCENTS ABROAD. So far I stand by my remark that these stories are prepoterous!
BONUS INSANE HEARSAY:
It occurs to me that the source of the cholera was not the mummy wrappings, but rather the way that they were prepared for shipment. I would bet that the cloth was bought by weight rather than volume, and there is one obvious way to add weight to any absorbent material-- let the packers urinate on it. I am told that this procedure was also used by large scale marajuana dealers in the 60's and 70's to add weight to the bales....
I find it hard to believe there was a concerted effort to contaminate the mummies to make them weigh more. Why not just put water on them? Either way the smell of rehydrated mummy flesh would present problems in handling and transportation that makes this theory dubious at best. But now with your second point about marijuana yet another "urban legend" has been spread about.To say that it stinks does not begin to describe what it is so full of.
The mummy rags were blamed for outbreaks of "pestilence" in Westbrook and Gardiner, Maine, at the S.D. Warren, I..A. Stanwood, and Richardson mills during the latter half of the 19th century. The mummy rags were mixed in with rags from recently dead Europeans (primarily Italians and French!) as well as newly deceased Egyptians, and so the onus cannot be laid entirely upon the ancient rags, and more likely was due to the newer rags which were often filthy in comparison to the "clean" mummy rags. One of Deck's reasons for pushing the use of mummy rags was their "cleanliness" as opposed to the "filthy, leprous" rags imported from Europe! Modern virology studies have shown that the cholera morbus germ could not have survived thousands of years in a viable state, and so the cholera was more likely caused by bad hygiene (in fact Warren capped a spring in Westbrook and provided clean water for his model village). And at least one royal Egyptian mummy appears to have died from something like smallpox, and the people who handled his body did not get ill from that or any other disease.
3.) Nutrient-rich Mummies
He also talked as an example of one ship arriving in Liverpool with several tons of cat mummies for fertiliser in a single trip in the 19th century. es I too was horrified to read that in KMT. I also got an email message from Bob Skinner where he supplies a reference to the tale about mummified cats being sent to England to fertilize the gardens. "In Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (1910) p. 926 under "Mummies" we read: '"Discovery of a large burial place of mummified cats, sacred animals, in central Egypt, sold as manure; 28 tons brought to Liverpool -1890"' I would like to know just what is "Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (1910)?"
4.) Mummy Pills During medieval times they were ground into powder and used as medicine. Later this powder was used as a paint pigment called "mummy brown," a practice that persisted into the early 20th century. (Thanks to Carter Lupton of the Milwaukee Public Museum for this information.) So maybe Twain's comment about a profane engineer should be attributed to a profane painter: "D--n these plebeians--pass out a King. I want to finish this job with one coat." "EATING MUMMY" In the tombs, not only have the faces of many wall images been altered or destroyed, but the crimes against African mummies are almost beyond description. There is a tradition dating back to at least 1000 A.D. in which Arabs and later Europeans engaged in the practice of "eating mummy." This practice was widespread in Egypt and Western Europe and it consisted of countless ancient African mummies being burned, ground up and made into a kind of powder in order to be eaten. This incredible act of cannibalism was considered an effective medical practice and folk remedy. The belief became widely prevalent that cures could be obtained by eating ground-up preserved bodies. "Eating mummy" was considered effective in treating contusions, coughs, epilepsy, migraines, ulcers, cases of poison, and as a general panacea. Mummies or fragments of mummies were taken from their tombs and sent to Cairo and Alexandria, where merchants sent the ground-up parts all over Western Europe. In the European Middle Ages and Renaissance mummy trafficking was widespread. Egyptian mummies were so sought after that the chaplain to Queen Catherine Medici of France made a special trip to Egypt in 1549 and, together with some physicians from Italy, broke into a number of tombs around Sakkara in a quest for mummies to use in various medicines. Catherine's father-in-law, King Francis I of France, also carried ground-up mummy in a pouch around his waist at all times in case of an emergency. The mummy madness was such that if a genuine ancient Egyptian mummy were not available, local Arabs would use the corpses of executed criminals or those who had died from disease. They used these modern substitutes to meet the high demand for mummy powder, despite the protest against this barbaric practice by some physicians, among them the French surgeon Ambroise Pare', who stated, "It causes great pain in their stomachs, gives them evil smelling breath and brings about serious vomiting." "Eating mummy" had a long and respectable tradition as a medicinal remedy. This uncivilized European and Arab tradition of eating mummified human flesh was part of a flourishing trade and thus did not die out until last century. It is impossible to calculate the many thousands of African mummies that ended up in the stomachs of Europeans and Arabs. http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Mummy+powder&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=19991023220856.26770.00000351%40ng-fj1.aol.com&rnum=1
5.) Mummy Brown Ground up mummy, I don`t know whether animal or human, had a vogue as a pigment among nineteenth century artists. The result has been disastrous. The paint never dries and the brown colour spreads over the years to obscure bits where it wasn`t meant to be. copy of Ralph Mayers "Artist's Handbook" mentions a pigment called Mummy Black consisting of Bone ash and asphaltum obtained by grinding up Egyptian mummies. It further states that the use of this pigment was discontinued in the 19th century when the nature of it's origin became known. I used to order paints for a large retail art supply house, several years ago. Some of the fine art oil colors (especially a brand that used many European artists' original paint recipes such as Vermeer's and Rembrandt's) listed some pretty exotic colors. I've looked up the historic recipes for several colors in THE ARTIST'S HANDBOOK which is incredibly useful. It describes the original source of INDIAN YELLOW (watercolor) as from the urine of cattle fed solely on mango leaves. And so on.... But one color I'd looked up was CAPUT MORTEM, (sort of a brownish purple) an oil color from a Dutch company, which in THE ARTIST'S HANDBOOK describes as being made from burnt muummy wrappings, and originating in use during the Victorian era. I've wondered since then, which mummies did they use? Certainly not the hard-to-find human remains? I suspected that they used the sacred mummies of animals which would have been far more numerous. I think it's synthesized by some ferrous oxide now days. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=51un42%24ocg%40shore.shore.net&rnum=2&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522Mummy%2Bbrown%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D51un42%2524ocg%2540shore.shore.net%26rnum%3D2 Egyptian tombs were being raided, many mummies were removed and transported to Europe for sale. It was discovered that when ground into a fine powder, these remains had a particularly fine dispersion in oil and produced a desired pigment for underpainting as well as for glazing. "Mummy" was most popular in the 19th century but fell out of favour because of its grisly make-up. It was apparently available still in the first quarter of this century. Now the term applies only to the colour as opposed to the origin of the material. Mummy eventually turned out to be a very unsatisfactory pigment. The paint made from it never dried properly and the paint bleeds and flows into unwanted places. It has ruined the pictures where it was used.
6.) Mummy Cartel? http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010126.html http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=quellen.466.010E0F20%40azstarnet.com&rnum=8&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dmummy%2Bburning%2Bfuel%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3Dquellen.466.010E0F20%2540azstarnet.com%26rnum%3D8 http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Stanwood%27s+paper+mill+mummy&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=4nu7sl%249iq%40sun.sirius.com&rnum=1 ll those mummies being used for irreverent purposes were possibly left lying about underfoot in Egypt because--sigh--they had become separated from their cases. I have just finished reading an article about Sir Gardner Wilinson's house in the latest issue of KMT. Now we come to the most logical use for mummy cases in wood-famished Egypt--and I quote someone who was on the scene in about 1827: "Mummy cases are used for fire-wood. During my stay at El-Ckoor'neh I could obtain no other wood for cooking (had these Englishmen never heard of dung?); and sometimes my servant brought, for this purpose, cases so beautifully ornamented that I was reluctant to allow the cook to make use of them." A certain Lane, the same gentleman who wrote the above, tells further of the decor at the home of one, Yanni, a notorious collector of antiquities: "I was surprised to see doors, shutters, shelves...formed of the materials of mummy-chests...My servant sat down (on a chair)...it fell to pieces under him; it had been found a few days before, in an ancient tomb."
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 0 Life-Sized Games STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 148 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 08/31/2006 02:29:03 AM ----- BODY: This link has been posted everywhere already Pacmanhattan - in which a group of people has layed out a pacman board oon the streets of manhattan, donned pacman and ghost costumes, and used technology to coordinate a large-scale real-life game of pacman.
When the link to pacmanhattan.com started making the rounds a few weeks back, I was instantly reminded of a similar large scale implementation of a video game - the dutch implementation of tetris on the side of a high-rise building in 1995. http://www.etv.tudelft.nl/vereeniging/archief/lustrum/90/english.html From here I started thinking about similar examples of games extrapolated to ridiculous scale. Another obvious example is 'Living Chess,' - livingchess: http://www.goddesschess.com/chesstories/livingchess.html A bit of half-hearted googling reveals a lame version of life-sized monopoly, and a life size 'operation' (which seems to defeat the purpose a bit). http://boardgames.about.com/b/a/012774.htm monopoly http://partyexpress.safeorders.net/images/surgery.gif operation ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 0 Fun with Playback STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 198 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 09/28/2006 02:05:59 PM ----- BODY: Vinyl Killer
The Vinyl Killer is an amazing battery-operated toy van that plays records. After being carefully placed on the record, the van drives oround in circles, using a needle mounted on the underside to play back the recording. Audio is played through a speaker built into the "roof" of the van. Repeated playback via this method is almost guaranteed to ruin your records, hence the name.
A little poking around has revealed a few online sources for these gadgets, but they aren't cheap. The best deal is through razy-works, who sell them in the widest variety of colors for $70. You can also find them for sale in less varied colors here ($123) and here ($128).
There was once a store called Vaccuum records in japan that advertised these devices in the newsprint punk zines (ie Flipside, MRR). A few websites claim that they actually invented the vinyl killer. Vacuum records' websites are both down now, and all email has bounced so I couldn't confirm this. I scanned an old Vacuum Records Vinyl Killer print ad below.
Automobile Vinyl
The image above comes from this 1961 Consumer Reports excerpt, which notes that:
"The needle of the Norelco Auto Mignon stays in the groove of our 45s, even when we drive over rough roads. But since there's no record changer, we must insert each record we want to play, then remove it when the song is over."
This article details the history of the 'Highway Hi-Fi," which was invented for chrysler in 1956. The comprehensive Imperial Club Highway HiFi site is chock full of minute detail regarding this interesting footnote of turntable history. From 1956 to 1959 - the devices played records at 16 2/3 RPM's. Beginning in 1960, 45 RPM models were manufactured.
And then I glanced at the dashboard and almost jumped out of my skin. The engineers of the Chrysler Corporation had installed my machine in Dodges and Plymouths. The characteristics of those cars are quite different from those of the Chrysler line. They were lighter and harder riding, for one thing, with different kinds of suspension. Obviously a record player installed in these cars needed a different kind of damping. Here was a major corporate goof on the part of Chrysler's engineering department. I couldn't call it anything else. There was no reason to believe that any device geared to one type of car had a universal spirit in it that made it happily adjust to all cars. Back in the laboratory we simulated the vibrational behavior of the Dodge and Plymouth and discovered what we had to do to fit them with our machines. The night before the press affair we were still feverishly at work, but by morning we managed to install our last hi-fl system in the last of several cars to be used in the display. Somehow this nice cultural addition to American autointoxication didn't take off with the kind of sales we had expected. Chrysler carried on interminable meetings with CBS engineers. There were complaints from both sides about the way the record players worked. But the chief underlying reason for the middling response, I think, lay in the fact that Chrysler and Columbia Records failed to do proper marketing by not advising potential customers how to obtain additional records. Dealers failed to stock them, and little or no attempt was made to see that they did. Without this stimulus to buying, the car buyer didn't order the optional record player in the numbers that we envisioned. Columbia persuaded Chrysler to pay for the initial set of records and phonographs and then grew apathetic, leaving follow-up to Chrysler. Seeing the slow sales, the auto company relaxed its promotion. Ironically, even though the business declined, the record-changer manufacturers were so enamored with the l6 2/3 that they included the new speed in their changers - "so you can take home your Highway Hi Fi" - even though there wasn't a 16 2/3 rpm record in sight.There's another good site dedicated to these players here.
Bandai's 8-ban
http://8-ban.com/
Dual stylus
http://www.livejournal.com/users/r4c/18181.html L.O.S.D.'s Organic 23, which consists of a CD which has all the low frequency content, and a 5 inch record which contains 23 locked grooves of high frequency content so you can construct your own compositions using the two together. Christian Marclay, Boyd Rice (Non), Emil Bealieau, Janek Schaeffer, Asmus Tietchens, Oval, Disc Emil Beaulieau www.selfabuserecords.net/ media/mediahome.html Janek Schaeffer http://www.audioh.com/projects/skatelp.html http://www.audioh.com/directory.html
Technics skip
SL-J3
SL-DL5
http://www.amusicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=ACLAMATRIX
http://www.amusicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=AAIRTIGHTDT01
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AUTHOR: koyetay
EMAIL: koyetay@gmail.com
IP: 12.17.142.212
URL: http://www.livejournal.com/users/koyetay
DATE: 06/29/2004 02:01:45 AM
Hah, I actually know someone who had one of those toy 8-inch players. He had these records with an extremely abridged book-on-record version of Star Wars. I think my brother scratched it when we were hanging out there.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: "Adam? ...is there a reason your laptop is in the fridge?"
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I'd read a few times that bringing the temperature of a failing drive down will increase its reliability long enough to salvage important files. When the drive in my trusty Powerbook decided one day last week to stop booting and make horrible clicking sounds, I decided to test the theory.
Not feeling particularly motivated to dissect the powerbook, since that would void the warranty I planned to invoke to get the drive replaced, I set it on a relatively uncluttered shelf of the fridge when I got home from work. Ten minutes later, I took it out, and the drive booted like new. I copied my iphoto libraries to an external drive and once that was successful, begun the copying of the only other important file on the drive: a giant iMovie project (~ 30 GB). About halfway through, the drive had warmed up, the copy progress bar had stalled and the clicking was back.
Fair enough. Back in the fridge, for 20 minutes this time. I took it out, booted up (painlessly), hooked it up to the external drive and started the copy again. This time it made it to 75% before the clicking took hold. At this point I considered going after the video clips that made up the iMovie project in small batches, but decided I didn't feel like doing that if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I also didn't want to play guess and check to discover the ideal length of time to chill a powerbook, so I devised a devious plot.
This plot consisted of cooling the powerbook down again, carting my external drive to the kitchen, booting the laptop in the fridge, beginning the copy, and closing the door. Success! I share this experience with you, the internet, in the hopes that it is useful.
Ben Folds - 'Bitches Ain't Shit' (from Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic')Honorable Mentions:Nina Gordon (Veruca Salt) - (from NWA's 'Straight Outta Compton')
Dynamite Hack - 'Boyz in the Hood' (from N.W.A.'s 'N.W.A and the Posse')
Jonathan Coulton - 'Baby Got Back' (from Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Mack Daddy')
Sissy Bar - 'Gin and Juice' (from Snoop Doggy Dogg's 'Doggystyle'Suggest any additions in the comments. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 000 more algorithm music STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 116 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/30/2006 01:39:53 AM ----- BODY: ================ Bach stuff http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&th=972dd351cf2b2a11&rnum=1 There's a famous piece by Bach (maybe the H-moll Messe or A-minor Mass) where the melody uses the sequence B-A-C-H - the encoding is in the "Musical Offering", in the part known as the "Ricercar". It is indeed the sequence B-A-C-H, which makes one of the themes (nicely combined with the royal theme, and certainly worth listening to - good six-voice pieces are rare). - in the German music system H is a valid note to this day - it is the equivalent of the English B (or French "ut", or Italian "si"). The German B is the equivalent of the English "B flat" ("si/ut bemol"). - I wouldn't call this steganography by any measure. The original piece was written by Bach as a thank-you note to King Frederick the Great (and incidentally as a way to support his son Willem Friedeman Bach, who was the court musician). There was no intention to hide it - on the contrary it was a polite way to say "Bach's good fortune is entwined with that of the King" and it was evident to everyone who was familiar with the piece at that time. ================ Google for "Information Hiding -- A Survey" written by Petitcolas, Anderson and Kuhn. http://www.petitcolas.net/fabien/publications/ieee99-infohiding.pdf ================ Elgar's Enigma Variations van Houten's "Rule Britannia" theory http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?175 http://elgar-enigma.tripod.com/ ===================== Programs: http://www.koncon.nl/ACToolbox/ hubs: http://www.flexatone.net/algoNet/ History: http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:ke6oYl_B2qYJ:ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~blackrse/algorithm.html+algorithmic+composition&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Modern: bruce jacob: http://www.ee.umd.edu/~blj/algorithmic_composition/ http://music.dartmouth.edu/~wowem/hardware/algorithmdefinition.html http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~HB9T-KTD/music/muslnk2e.html http://sunsite.univie.ac.at/Mozart/dice/ ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 000 unused liner note weirdness STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 117 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/30/2006 02:02:20 AM ----- BODY: * Legitimate Cryptograms type where & what Adrian Belew:Twang Bar King symbols ? Transliteration: AB CDEFGH IGJ DEKB Arcadia:So Red the Rose LP dinomic misc. on sleeve, album, & notes Arcadia:Election Day EP dinomic "Election Day" on label, "Taylor,Rhodes,LeBon" on sleeve Depeche Mode:Black Celebration symbols ? Jethro Tull:Broadsword & the Beast runes excerpt from lyrics Ozzy Osborne:Diary of a Madman strange "Ozzy Osborne", etc. Rush:Fly by Night [?] runes song title [?] Shriekback:Oil & Gold phonetic lyric sheet WEIRDNESS ==================================== Alan Parsons:Stereotomy (1st issue) red/blue cover notes Cure:Three Imaginary Boys symbols instead of song titles (UK) Grateful Dead:American Beauty "Beauty" is also "Reality" Mainframe:Tenants of the Lattice-Work Masquerade-esque treasure hunt Mission of Burma [EP] lyric sheet words in alpha. order ..Renholdr? It is Norwegian for "maid" or "someone who cleans for money" Also, Paz put D LOHNER on her bass when the band appeared on Conan O'Brien, referring to Danny Lohner, bass player for Nine Inch Nails. Read backwards, DLOHNER is Renhold. For more sprinkly goodness, play the track backwards also. Listen carefully at about 22 seconds in. Satan will not be mentioned. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 000 final vinyl STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 145 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/30/2006 02:21:38 AM ----- BODY: Hexagonal Music: How I Manufactured The Andromeda Strain Soundtrack LP by Dr. Rick Steinberg History done at the request of Jeff Kilan, June 2000. In 1970, during the editing of his now classic movie "The Andromeda Strain", the director, Robert Wise, approached me with a view to have the soundtrack album marketed in a special manner. I was then in charge of Order Service for MCA Records; that is, record manufacture. He asked if it was possible to have the record pressed in a hexagonal shape as the extra-terrestrial viral strain called Andromeda in the film was hexagonal. I said anything was possible, but that it would cost an estimated $20,000. While this was then a high figure for record production, it was minimal to the movie business and was agreed. The executives at Kapp Records were only too happy to go along with the scheme as it relieved them of the production costs. (The soon to be defunct Kapp Records was one of several labels under the MCA umbrella at the time.) I discussed the matter with the president of Monarch Records, who pressed all MCA record requirements for the West Coast at that time. My idea was to have the music recorded in 10 Au format but put on a 12 Au matrix and manufactured as a 12 Au record. A steel hexagonal mold would then be made and this would be used in a press to trim the excess material from the 12 Au record to make a hexagonal shape, leaving the 10 inches of recorded material intact. This became the production method. Kapp had agreed to a production run of 10,000 records. The pressing process encountered some problems: the unrecorded surface of the record had to be roughed so that it could be gripped for the cutting. This left unsightly corners on the finished record, therefore a more careful method of roughing only those edges that would not form the corners of the finished record had to be devised. Also, for a run of 10,000, the edges of the mold had to be sharpened frequently so as to leave a clean edge on the record. The packaging into the record jackets also required extra time compared with normal jacketing. However, the total cost, including a spare mold, came to somewhat less than the quoted figure of $20,000. MCA were fortunate in having a very creative design team for their record jacket production. John LeProvost and Virginia Clark wanted to reflect the fact that it was music from a movie, thus they came up with the idea that the jacket should emulate a camera lens surrounding the actual record, but nevertheless pasted on a 12 Au square board. The original 10,000 records sold out fairly rapidly. Gil Melle, the composer of the music, urged a second pressing, but the Kapp management did not want to go to the expense of reproducing the original format. It was therefore decided to repress the 10 Au recording on a 12 Au standard record and package it in a standard jacket. This did not sell so well, and MCA soon lost interest in the record. Hope that's of some interest to the ANDROMEDA STRAIN fans out there. Looking forward to the continuation of the vinyl piece. ====================== SOund recording formats 1880 on: http://www.normanfield.fsnet.co.uk/transcriptionkey.htm ==================================================================TO consider: porky prime cut http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/lp_grooves.html High society porno: http://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/hs.html http://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/hshb.html MAD? http://www.collectmad.com/collectibles/onions.htm http://www.collectmad.com/collectibles/fink.htm http://www.collectmad.com/collectibles/medialst.htm#RECORDS ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 000 overly dramatic morrissey quote of the day STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 75 CONVERT BREAKS: ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/30/2006 09:37:18 AM ----- BODY: Real kempa.com fans (not you lightweights) remember back in 1999 or so when the site had a randomized 'Overly Dramatic Morrissey Quotation of the Day.' I recently remembered this and decided to bring it back on a trial basis. You open the window by clicking on morrissey's noggin. The quote should change every night at midnight. Good times. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 000 anamorphosis STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 110 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 10/30/2006 10:25:44 AM ----- BODY: http://www.visual-media.be/opticaltoys-ana.html http://www.anamorphosis.com/ One of the Steeleye Span records had an anamorphic picture (of the group) on the album cover. I can't remember if this was carried over to the CD. Nor, for that matter, can I remember if it was a cylindrical or conical projection. All Around My Hat. Conical, if I'm understanding correctly. The album sleeve was designed by a school friend of Tim's, John O'Connor, and he was working on anamorphic projection which was used since the 17th Century. It was a style used for salacious and seditious material for example in the case of for Bonnie Prince Charlie where they devised a way of drawing a picture round 360 degrees or distorting a picture so that it didn't look like one, but when you stood a bottle of claret on it Prince Charlie appeared in the bottle. Somehow the idea seemed to go awry when applied to our sleeve and the result was rather odd caricatures. A nice idea at the time. Julian BeeveKleenex Girl Wonder - 'Thong Song' (from Sisqo's 'Unleash the Dragon')
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So, I was reading the bio of 10cc on allmusic, and it said that Godley & Creme left the band to develop and market this instrument called the "Gizmo." You should definitely put something on kempa.com about this.
I can't find any legit soundclips, and since I don't have soulseek right now...its up to you.
Here's a short webpage describing the Gizmo: http://www.othermachines.org/blint/gizmo.shtml
AND apparently, once they had the Gizmo down, they tried to sell it mass market-style as the "Gizmotron."
http://www.beitec.com/articles/vintage/vintage4.html
There was a Godley & Creme album called "Consequences" which featured the "Gizmo."
"'consequences" was envisioned originally by godley & creme (who had just departed the hugely successful pop group 10cc) as a "three minute demonstration record" to show off the musical attributes of the "gizmo" a unique and unusual device (which the duo had invented some years previously) that "bowed" any or all of the six strings of a guitar automatically. many months later, the three minutes had turned into three albums...and the triple set "consequences" appeared in a deluxe box set with a beautiful booklet. it not only showcased the amazing sound of the gizmo, but featured a rather strange, very english story (with all the parts narrated by the late, great comedian peter cook) of an eccentric englishman named blint, who was obsessed with the number seventeen, and had a strange foreknowledge of the impending end of the world. the album ends with a full-on piano and "gizmo orchestra" work entitled "blint's tune" that is one of the finest works in the history of progressive rock. the album also features a stunning duet between kevin godley and the late sarah vaughn that is beautiful almost beyond words..." - from http://www3.adnc.com/~ambient/faq.html
For a ridiculous website documenting everything about this album: http://www.othermachines.org/blint/
Example of the ridiculous - "Getting a guitar to sound like a saxophone seemed like an impossible task, but it was achieved after three days in the studio. Each note of a guitar solo was recorded separately and faded in on the track so there would be no percussive element. The track was sent through a speaker and out of a rubber hose with perforated cigarette paper at the end. Enough pressure was displaced by forcing the sound through the holes of the cigarette paper to give the rasp of a saxophone."
McCartney played a Gizmo for "I'm Carrying," the b-side for "London Town"
http://www.jpgr.co.uk/r6021.html
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
TITLE: 000 flea circuses
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http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=5etsb7%24shv%241%40kelly.teleport.com&rnum=14&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dflea%2Bcircus%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D5etsb7%2524shv%25241%2540kelly.teleport.com%26rnum%3D14
. . . query about how `flea circuses' are done . . .
Note that I've expanded this to alt.circus.arts, as they often deal with
sideshow & carny material.
Traditionaly done, it just amounts to gluing paper `clothes' on fleas, and
attaching them to various miniature circus-like devices made of thread,
wire, and paper. Trapeze, pushing/pulling/riding vehicles, gymnastics,
merry-go-round, riding cockroach elephants or cricket horses, etc. You get
them to move about by heating the platform of the `circus' to about 105 to
110 degrees farenheit. Much more will just fry them. Viewing areas are
set up with large fresnel screen-lenses on 4 to 6 sides. Most of the fun
is the carny pitch & hucksterism spoof of a real sideshow act. Ideally
you'd sell tickets, have a good-sized backdrop done traditionaly, and
offer `retired performers' mounted in glass bottles.
A set of fleas will only last for a day or two, and must be replenished by
farming them in a professional (and escape-proof) flea hatchery. You will
also want to get your stock from a professional supplier, rather than from
your cat (or yourself) in order to keep them (and you) healthy. In these
days of animal rights activists you might have problems with this, but it
depends on your delivery and personal charm, and your ability to disarm
militant and humorless vegans.
It's probably no worse than dove or rabbit wrangling, and you rarely get
attached to your stock unless you get careless with the crazy-glue.
I don't have any reference books for you, but jeez guys, this is the
*net*.
Is anyone still doing this for a living? Do animal licensing laws apply
to fleas?
CURRENT
Good, w construction:
1.)
http://www.pe.net/~magical/flea/
49.95
http://www.noonco.com/fleadisk/WaltsFleaCircusOpen.MPG
2.)
http://www.trainedfleas.com/
ACME - EMAILED
3.)
http://www.snakeoilproductions.com/fleacircus.html
Jim Frank - Emailed
Images
4.) magic inc
http://www.magicinc.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=869
A complete act. Material on this subject has always been scarce, yet there has always been someone using this delightful hoax, somewhere in show business. The Flea Circus has been done indoors and out, on stage, in theatres, at fairs, close up, in circuses, in Ten-In-Ones, and more recently, in trade shows. Presentation: The audience see a table or stand set out with all the fascinating gear and trappings of a miniature circus. An arched sign at the back, proclaims the name and merits of the show, lit up by small lights. The performers on this apparatus and in the air above it are talented fleas - so the Ringmaster says. By the time the exciting and action packed show is finished, many spectators are sure about the fleas, while others are doubtful, but nobody knows for sure! The entertainer never loses sight of his job for a moment - which is to present a flea circus - a three ring show of performing fleas! Every detail covered with illustrations to make all props, signs, carrying case, etc.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=flea+circus&start=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&selm=CqwH8.8444%24Gs.727372%40bin5.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com&rnum=33
* Uncle John was a Kansas City drifter who had a flea circus, little
critters in band uniforms with instruments you could only see under a
magnifying glass. They didn't actually play them, but if they had, what a
tiny music that tiny music would be. Technically, the song should go "Come
see Uncle John's band," but I took poetic license with the verb. Also, the
riverside is figurative, though he no doubt set up his flea circus wherever
he felt he could draw a crowd, and I'm sure a riverside was as good a place
to do so as any. He had some pretty hard times starting out, but learned to
pick pockets while people tried to get their money's worth out of his gyp of
a dead flea circus, which solved his financial worries.
- R. H.
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AUTHOR: adamkempa
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I hereby jettison each of these unrelated bits of information into the "internet." One or more of them may interest you.
Hello...my name is steve sawyer and I sang the lead as well as wrote the song "tribute to the beachboys 76"..the facts about the group that you have listed is incorrect....It was actually "the tokens" of the lion sleeps tonite fame and myself. Â I did an album in the earlier 70s called the chespeake jukebox band which is about to be reissued by Revola Records.....
Thank you so much for keeping my career alive
thanks for making my old song one of your mp3s of the week....I am steve sawyer from the sands of time and the chespeake jukebox band...
Â
hello
Â
steve sawyer
Adam,
I believe there was more than one group named Sands of Time. Â We were
the Canadian version.
ody: Kempa,
I chanced upon this blog the other day and, although, we are flattered that you think the Tribute to the Beach Boys 76 was us, this is not so.
In your short bio of the band, you point out that the Sands had broken up in the early 70's. Â The Beach Boy 76 record was released between the break up of the Sands and the start of Bentwood Rocker.
Also you omitted Dave Conley from the band member list - vocals, keyboards and the vocal arranger.
Thanks for thinking of us.
Our complete discography is on our web and is:
"I've Got a Feeling" b/w "Loneliness"
single on MTCC Records 1970
Sands of Time  MT-1004 "I've Got a Feeling" b/w "Loneliness" single on National General Records 1971 Sands of Time NGR-11
"Untitled" - unreleased album for MTCC Records 1971 Sands of Time not released featuring the songs: Marianne, Wild Bill, All The Ages, Whether Woman, In The Sun, Helping Hand, I've Got a Need, Fat Frank, City Man
"Sands of Time Reunion 2001" CD on Skyhawk Records 2001 Sands of Time Limited edition featuring the songs: I've Got a Feeling, Loneliness, Marianne, Wild Bill, Whether Woman, I've Got a Need, City Man, All the Ages, Helping Hand, In the Sun, Fat Frank,
Eric Baragar,
BigBMusic, Sands of Time
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TITLE: 0 Looping albums
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Isn't this where we came in?:
Astute listeners will notice that the words "...we came in?", accompanied by some plaintive Yiddish violin playing (sounds like an accordian to me - BC), are the first thing heard on the album. This makes no sense until you hear the last words on the album, "Isn't this where...", implying that the whole thing is a cycle, and that once the wall is broken down, you start building a new one.
-- Cliff Jones, Echoes - the stories behind every Pink Floyd song (Omnibus, 1996)
http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5379886
Isn't this where we came in?:
Astute listeners will notice that the words "...we came in?", accompanied by some plaintive Yiddish violin playing (sounds like an accordian to me - BC), are the first thing heard on the album. This makes no sense until you hear the last words on the album, "Isn't this where...", implying that the whole thing is a cycle, and that once the wall is broken down, you start building a new one.
-- Cliff Jones, Echoes - the stories behind every Pink Floyd song (Omnibus, 1996)
http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5379886
http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5379886
- Jim O'Rourke's "Thirty Minute Raven" does it too.
- pluramon's "dreams top rock"
- This Heat. first record.
- Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen
- Sondre Lerche's second record picks right up where the end of the first record left off. Not the same, but close, and it's pretty cool.
- Paul's Boutique
- Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" owns this thread
- Momus with the legend that is "Tender Pervert".
- Ted Leo's The Tyranny of Distance does this too,
- Radiohead - OK Computer ("Hey man, slow down..." as in the car is driving way too fast, then when you start the CD over again, the narrtor gets into an accident and miraculously survives: "I'm amazed that I survived. An airbag saved my life.")
- Orbital - Brown Album
- Oval - 94 Diskont
- Melt Banana - Cell Scape (a little)
- I've often though that, lyrically speaking, The Mountain Goats Sweden does this. With the narrators reversing roles at the end of "Cold Milk Bottle" and thus "The Recognition Scene" would begin the story again, though with the opposite person in the relationship cycling through the songs.
- Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar kinda does this. the spoken word stuff on the secret track at the end continues in the first few secs of track 1.
- Pinback's Summer in Abaddon does this very well
- Doesn't Lovely Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Insane"
- Eric Johnson's second album Ah Via Musicom starts with the sounds from the end of his first album Tones. He does the same thing with the start of the third record Venus Isle and the end of the second record.
- ghosts don't have bones by tolchock trio
- you think you really know me by gary wilson
- come on die young by mogwai (maybe)
- finally we are no one by mum (maybe?)
-Cornelius - Fantasma, and
- "a different lifetime" by Spearmint
- Add 69/96 ROCnelius.
- Andrew WK-The Wolf
- Since I Left You, more or less. And Pink Floyd's Animals.
- Alphaville - Afternoons in Utopia
- Marilyn Manson's "Holy Wood" does this for real, beginning and ending with the sounds of distant fireworks and Russian Roulette. There's probably some projected cyclical plot thing going on too.
- Variations on the theme (or, will it go ’round in circles?):
REM's third outing -- when it was first released as a slab o' vinyl -- had a jacket that was laid out in such a way that the title of the thing was an endless mobius strip: Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables of the Reconstruction of the... (you get the idea).
- Don't remember the name of the artist or the cd, but s a friend shared something recently. Someone released a cd where portions of the plastic coating had been warped and woofed in such a way that the laser would skip randomly through the thing picking up sounds hither, thither and yon. All I remember was that there was a puzzle piece glued on the back of the jewel case.
- Also, someone who knows hiphop better than I do surely can cite an album that samples from its own earlier tracks. I mean, the idea's too good for someone not to have thought of it before. And if not, someone get me to the studio quick!
. On Buhloone Mindstate, De La sample a Maceo Parker riff from earlier track "I Be Blowin" on "I am I be". It's wonderful.
- Flipper's Guitar - Dr Head's World Tower
- Pedro's album from 2003.
- Endtroducing...
- Point by Cornelius.
On "Rift" by Phish there are these two songs called "Lengthwise 1" and "Lengthwise 2" at different part of the album. Neither of them could be more than 45 seconds long and each one fades in and then fades out. One of the lifeguard I used to work with had a tape that was nothing but the two song repeating over and over again
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TITLE: Christmastime is here...
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For the fifth year in a row, I've helped assemble the Suburban Sprawl Music Holiday Sampler. We got more submissions this year than ever before (34!), and while they're all available on the website, they wouldn't all fit on the limited
run of CD's we put together. My fellow 'organizers' and I had to gather on the night of the deadline and struggle
over what to keep and what to cut, which was pretty excruciating.
Frontier Ruckus - "Driving Home, Christmas Eve" (MP3)
I know nothing about Frontier Ruckus aside from the fact that they're from Lansing. They know someone else associated with the label and came to submit a song through them, as so often happens. I think the well-written lyrics, the delivery, and the production aesthetic all compliment each other perfectly. Yay.
Lickety Splits - "You Set My Christmas Tree on Fire" (MP3)
Ex-Michigander Tim Schreiber howls his way through an original R&B Christmas song that legitimately sounds like it was recorded in 1958. I heard via Dave that this is Tim's 'Favorite thing he's ever recorded.'
The Next Door Neighbors - "How to Make Egg Nog" (MP3)
The Next Door Neighbors have been fine-tuning their holiday-specific songwriting for a few years now, and I think this song is among their most fully realized. A classic Christmas recipe is set to verse, and as the instructions are followed the environmental sounds evolve into the music. I'm all about how they took the recipe as the basis for the song, but built a narrative story around it as well. LAYERS.
Christian Marclay
Christian Marclay http://www.mcachicago.org/cm_media/run-index.htm Good official site - unfortunately it requires shockwave. essay performance videos interview http://www.furious.com/perfect/christianmarclay.html 027 - RECORD WITHOUT GROOVES: Christian Marclay 12" black vinyl grooveless record with gold label in black suede poche with gold lettering. Edition of 50, signed and numbered, Ecart Editions, Geneve/New York, 1987. 036 - MORE ENCORES: Christian Marclay Each piece is composed entirely of records by the artist after whom it is titled. "John Cage" is a recording of a collage made by cutting slices from several records and gluing them back into a single disc. In all other pieces the records were mixed and manipulated on multiple turntables and recorded analog with the use of overdubbing. A hand-crank gramophone was used in "Louis Armstrong". 1/ Johann Strauss 2:54 2/ John Zorn 2:57 3/ Martin Denny 2:47 4/ Frederic Chopin 2:40 5/ Fred Frith 3:29 6/ Louis Armstrong 2:27 7/ Arthur Ferrante & Louis Teicher 2:32 8/ John Cage 2:06 9/ Maria Callas 3:04 10/ Jimi Hendrix 2:58 11/ Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg 2:40 12/ Christian Marclay 2:29 (1,3) recorded at King St. Studio in July 1987 (2,6,7,10) recorded at Horvitz Studio in January 1987 (4) recorded at Noise, New York in August 1987 (5,8,9,11,12) recorded at Harmonic Ranch in May 1988 040 - FOOTSTEPS: Christian Marclay Produced and recorded by Christian Marclay 1990 - RecRec Music (Switzerland), RecRec 26 (single-sided LP) Note: taken for the record liner notes by Christian Marclay: "From June 4th through July 16th 1989 the floor of one of the Shedhalle galleries, Zurich, was covered with 3500 copies of a record titled FOOT- STEPS. During the six weeks of the installation, people were invited to walk on the records-willingly or not, they had to step on them to reach the adjacent galleries where other sculptures were exhibited. The one- sided record, containing the sopunds of footsteps, was recorded in Decem- ber 1988 in the deserted hallways of the Clocktower (N.Y.), and in the studios of Harmonic Ranch (N.Y.), where Keiko Uenishi's tap dancing was mixed in. During the gallery installation the work could be looked at, stepped on and walked through, but the recording was never heard, its content merely suggested by its title. Over the course of six weeks, more than 1500 visitors walked over the fragile floor, contributing to the final composition by altering the records' surface with dirt and scrat- ched. At the end of the exhibition, the records, which were attached to the floor with double-sided tape, were removed. The record enclosed in this package is one of them. When played, the footmark scratches and recorded footsteps blend in a final aleatory composition of rhythmic patterns, with as many variations as there are records. One thousand of these records have been made available, apart from a special edition of one hundred copies signed and numbered. Dedicated to the memory of Fred Astaire." A real interesting one had a picture on the cover of all these people walking on a floor covered in clear yellow records. The record inside was actually one of 500 records in the picture complete with footprints all overt! That sounds like a Christian Marclay record that came out in the mid-80's. At the beginning of the 80s a New York based artist Christian Marclay treated the vinyl record as a late 20th century art object. He constructed records out of broken up vinyl and played the results; he scattered records across a gallery floor, let people walk over them for the duration of the exhibition and sold the results, the idea being that scratches, flaws etc were of equal value to the music. The one flaw in Marclay's own design was the sound itself, which often came over as secondary to the concept that explained it. This is where Boyd Rice's noise - in performance or on record - differs from Marclay's and other gallery orientated sound artists. His sound generating devices and customised records were evolved to meet NON's very particular sonic requirements. "I've done a bunch of stuff with scratched records," Boyd remembers, "I have done everything to vinyl that you can do. I have put records in the oven, I have used sandpaper on them, I have cut them up and put them back together again in different ways. . ." discog http://www.northwestern.edu/jazz/artists/marclay.christian/discog.html http://www.bard.edu/ccs/exhibitions/museum/marclay/ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_9_91/ai_108278523
Boyd Rice (Non)
Emil Bealieau www.selfabuserecords.net/ media/mediahome.html
Janek Schaeffer http://www.audioh.com/projects/skatelp.html http://www.audioh.com/directory.html http://www.audioh.com/projects/twin.html
Asmus Tietchens
Oval
Disc
As for the 'stunt' the Bay City Rollers did this on one of their last albums in Canada. Plain brown wrapper, and you had to send in a card to see who it actually was. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=20&u=/nm/life_rockers_dc the nothing record Meanwhile, it was reported in the late 1960s that someone had put out an LP of Marcel Marceau, consisting of 38 minutes of silence and 2 minutes of applause. Never heard it, so I don't know whether Rolling Stone was having a joke on us or not. Other weirdness: Dual stylus
http://www.livejournal.com/users/r4c/18181.html
Awesomely ridiculous conceptual release
L.O.S.D.'s Organic 23, which consists of a CD which has all the low frequency content, and a 5 inch record which contains 23 locked grooves of high frequency content so you can construct your own compositions using the two together. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 0 Game Lore STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 ID: 511 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/25/2006 04:13:51 PM ----- BODY: Another chapter of Video Game triviality:
System Failure was a site dedicated to Prototype and one-of-a-kind cartridges for home gaming systems. The site hadn't been updated since January of 2003, and it finally went down in the past few weeks. It covered the most minute Nintendo variations (There's an entire page dedicated to the cartridges used by repair technicians to diagnose faulty NES consoles. Unfortunately, the images on this particular part of the site are all broken, but you can IMAGINE how great this site would be if they were still there).
A great site in a similar vein is The Lost Levels. Their mission statement:
"The focus of Lost Levels is to shed some light on video games that, for various reasons, were never released commercially. We’re driven by an insatiable desire to know what we’ve missed out on, and why."
Some people, when reading that sentence, think: "Ehhhhhh, BOY." I think: TELL ME MORE! And so they do. squashed http://www.lostlevels.org/200404/200404-squashed.shtml SMB2 source: sunman http://www.lostlevels.org/200311/200311-sunman.shtml cal raisins grape escape: http://www.lostlevels.org/200308/200308-raisins.shtml xtragraphics nintendo http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?funfacts/namech.htm It's interesting to see the consoring process. This all brings to mind the now classic Maniac mansion essay Apparently the first few thousand copies of NES Maniac Mansion would let Sid or Razor microwave the hamster. Then NoA caught on, and later ones gave the message about cholesterol... Boo, hiss, etc. Of course years later I got to play the real thing on a PC (hello, little computer. I respect you, even though you only have 64K of memory) and indulged my horrific heathen ways to the limit ;-) Day of the tentacle. the unique problem of bit rot http://sf.victoly.com/5200/jr_pac_man/ http://sf.victoly.com/5200/Yellow_Sub/ Censorship http://hotwired.wired.com/collections/censorship/1.04_nintendo_bad_words1.html http://www.nes-site.com/interviews/interview_01.shtml http://www.filibustercartoons.com/Nintendo.htm http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?funfacts/namech.htm http://www.flyingomelette.com/oddindex.html River City Ransom 2? http://www.lostlevels.org/200402/200402-rcr.shtml Mario Clouds: http://auction.thing.net/index.php?uid=3ec9009d6841a&aid=&pn=bid&id=103&sid=29ee2260733554a21ce4dd1ddd74ffd8# Ducktales: http://sf.victoly.com/NES/ducktales/ ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- -------- AUTHOR: adamkempa TITLE: 0 Again with the Tinfoil Hat STATUS: Draft ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ID: 859 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 DATE: 12/28/2006 10:55:24 AM ----- BODY: I was reading the backlog of daily posts over at Deuce of Clubs(My one-stop source for politically-enraging news), and came across this entry, detailing the death of Mr. Gary Webb - supposedly the fourth biographer of George W. Bush to commit suicide. This seemed insane to me, so I did some googling to see if there was any truth to this. I found several stories identifying the four men as Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, Danny Casalaro, and Gary Webb. From that I assembled the following guide.
Mark Lombardi
J.H. Hatfield
Book: Fortunate Son
Status: Dead Cause of Death: Suicide Notes: J.H. Hatfield, author of the controversial book "Fortunate Son," is found dead in an Arkansas hotel room. humiliated after revelations about his criminal past became public, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a hotel room in Springdale, Ark, Friday afternoon. He was 43. Some news outlets, including Salon, reported on the allegation. But soon after, details about Hatfield's past came out, including a report by the Dallas Morning News that he was convicted for hiring a hit man in a failed attempt to kill his employer with a car bomb in 1987. Hatfield denied he was the same James Hatfied with the Dallas criminal record, but later recanted
Danny Casalaro
Danny Casalaro Free lance reporter/writer Died Aug, 10 1991 Was investigating Inslaw, BCCI and the October Suprise Found dead in the bathtub of his Sheraton Hotel room in Martinsburg, Virgina. His wrist had been slashed 10 times and all documents pertaining to the cases he was working on were missing http://members.tripod.com/~cbn2/i4.htmlGary Webb Book: Dark Alliance Notes: http://www.libertyunites.tv/ftopict-6764.html So, more accurately: Four researchers whose work involved the bush family committed suicide, some under mysterious circumstances. There was an attempt at a discussion of the statistics involved with such a coincidence here. It was soon derailed into a "Democrats are kooky! / Republicans are krazy!" clusterfuck. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: ----- KEYWORDS: ----- --------
