skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Mate: "Noo, you didn't!" Me: "Yes, I did!" Mate: "But... Can you play the damn thing?" Me: "Well... No, not really. That's why I got it. To learn to play it, ya know." Mate: "Cool!" Me: "Yeah."
What did I get? An electric guitar. Why the heck would a synthesizer/computer/electro-geek get an electric guitar? Well, for one thing I've been playing keyboards the wrong way for 20 years, so learning to play them the right way would probably be a helluva lot more work than simply learning to play an entirely new instrument. Secondly, a guitar is a versatile instrument suitable for many musical genres including electronic music. Lastly, it looks good on stage. Phallic references not withstanding, it does say "Rawk!" a wee bit more than a synthrig does. Trust me on this...
Oh, sorry. Here it is:
Nice, isn't it? It's got strings and everything! So far, I've learned all about blisters, finger cramps and A major. Coming along nicely, then.
As a part of my much debated "Get Fit Without Really Trying" scheme, I walk for an hour each morning before going to work. No, really. It means getting up an hour earlier - which many people will find slightly unnerving - but the benefits make it worth it.
Now, during my quick walks in the mornings, I often encounter people on bicyle on their way to work. Most of them are sensible enough to travel at normal speeds and take care not to run me down, which I of course appreciate. However, there are a few types of cyclists to be aware of now that the Darkness of Winter is upon us:
1) The Stealth Pilot: Travelling at hypersonic speeds, all clad in black and without a single light, these thrillseekers are not only invisible to most radar systems but also to any pedestrian unfortunate enough to be on their path. Keep your eyes and ears open, and stay on the side of the road so you can take cover in the bushes if necessary: that tiny speck on the horizon will be right in front of you mere seconds later!
2) The UFO: Easily identified by their abundance of multicoloured, blinking lights, they sway across the road like the unidentified flying objects they are named after. Due to their unpredictable behavoiur, I find it safest to just keep a straight path and show strength when they approach; usually they sway to one of your sides as they pass. Epileptics beware.
3) The SWAT member: You know that huge, powerful searchlight you always see in Hollywood movies? Now, imagine that thing mounted on a bicyle, and you have a pretty good idea of what the SWAT member looks like; I walk along the train tracks, and I swear even the passing trains haven't got lights as powerful as the SWAT member. Now, there is no risk of this guy NOT seeing you, it's more the danger of becoming permanently blind from staring into his light. Close your eyes, and you should be alright.
4) The Dynamic Duo: Much like the Caped Crusader and his Boy Wonder, this pair are pretty much always side by side. Usually a couple of middle aged women, they do not travel fast, but they DO travel side by side. Always. No matter how narrow the road may be, they'll be side by side. And don't believe for a second one of them will yield for an insignificant pedestrian. So when you see them, take a good, long step to the side of the road, and try not to be annoyed by the water/slush/mud you're forced to stand in as the Dynamic Duo pass you. You can always dry your shoes later on.
5) The Moving Tripwire: A cyclist with a dog on a leash fastened to their bike - a truly horrific invention worthy of the medieval times. The dog is often of the big, strong variety - terrifing enough on its own - and the cyclist is as good as always traveling on one side of the road with the beast running on the other, with the hard-to-see leash moving at high speed a foot or so above the ground between them. Listen for the barking/moving wheel combo, and be ready to make a jump as they approach. Timing is of the essence.
Keep these in mind, and have a safe walk.
Or if you have any sense at all, just go to the gym instead.
Mwahahahahah! All Christmas-presents ordered, bought, wrapped and ready for delivery - Am I good or what?! Now, I'm actually considering going downtown a few days before Christmas and just sit there and watch all the poor suckers that still haven't finished their gift-shopping. Heh. Me bad man.
Hah, I haven't let go of the list thing quite yet! It does, however, seem to appear rather randomly these days. Oh well.
1) I watched Röyksopp live last Sunday at Rockefeller; the boys have turned into a very smooth and professional live act, even if I'm not their biggest fan. The LED-scroller backdrop was cool, though.
2) I've started the somewhat tedious job of transfering my CD collection to mp3 (yeah, yeah, I know FLAC and OGG is better, but my Rhomba doesn't support those formats) in my usual random way; picking titles based on mood, weather, room temperature and any other factors affecting me at the moment.
3) I finally got around to mounting two lamps that I've had laying around since I got my apartment; whether it was laziness, absentmindedness or whatever, I don't know why it took so long. Anyway, they're very nice lamps that are know giving me much needed bedside illumination and working light in my home studio.
4) I disassembled my old and (t)rusty Windows desktop PC and sold the parts to my foolish - sorry, beloved - younger brother, who - in his usual businessmanlike manner - has sold the thing off to a friend and probaly made more money off it than he payed me for the parts to begin with. R, you sneaky little brat, I love you nonetheless.
5) Yesterday, I helped T move some of his heavier stuff to his new apartment, and was once more reminded of just how insanely heavy a washing machine - even the slimline model - is. Heck, his sofa was a total pushover compared to that little thing. Anyway, my heart and thoughts is with T today, as he is without his internet connection AND his Mac at the moment. Hang in there, man!
And thus endeth my week.
Worst. Idea. Ever.
I do suspect this is a joke. But if it isn't.... Come on! Shouldn't you guys be working on my new Intel-powered Powerbook?!
Hrmph.
Wow. It's not often I get so totally engulfed in a book as I've recently become with Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves" - even though, like my mother, I practically consume books when I start reading them. Anyway, get this; last night, having read through the most thrilling part of the book (so far), I went to bed and actually couldn't sleep for a good while.
The imagery from the book still clear in my head, it almost felt like a little bit of Johnny Truant's paranoia was reeking out from between the pages and into my very own bedroom, making the darkness a little darker, the shadows a little longer and the LEDs blinking from my wi-fi router just slightly more irregular (hey, I AM a geek, after all)...
It was a great feeling, I haven't been "disturbed" by a book for a long, long time.
Of course, it could have been those two cups of coffee I had an hour earlier.
Oh, and there seems to have been a small update to the Dionaea House website. Clickety.
As some of you may have noticed, dear readers (both of you), I'm a bit into the music-making thingie. Strictly for the love and the hell of it, of course, which kind of makes today a bit special;
My music-making compadre, T, informs me that we have received our first payment from Tono (the Norwegian equivalent to Ascap) for radio-play of our music. Hooray! Now that we're wallowing in cold, hard cash (sounds a bit uncomfortable, really) we'll soon start making crap, meaningless and soul-less music to please the Great Evil Record Company (TM) that will soon own our souls. Where did we go wrong? When did we lose touch with what we're doing? The humanity of it all!
Then again, I guess a hundred bucks (600 Norwegian Crowns) isn't quite enough to make us sell out just yet.
Or is it? Nah, just kidding...
Or am I? Muahahahaha....
No really, I AM kidding.
Ah yes, the 80s. Mostly remembered for its music, horrible clothes and dubious hairstyles. No no, please, no justifications; I was there. Hey, don't get me wrong, it was a great time to grow up and I have many fond memories (and some truly disturbing photos) from the time.
So, I find it only fair to do a list of my favourite 80s Saturday morning cartoons. Here goes:
1. Thundercats. I loved this show; the drama, the action and the hot... uhm.. furry chick. A simple premise (scary mummy-like being does bad things, tough and well-trimmed cat-man hybrids set things right) that nevertheless worked very well.
2. Transformers. Whoever came up with this concept truly understood how a boy's mind work: Cars and robots. Simple, yet brilliant. Cars and robots. Story? I'm sorry... I was distracted by all those cars and robots.
3. Masters of the Universe. I was never as much a fan of the cartoon as of the actual action figures, but I recognize the impact it had. Later on, I discovered it was basically "Conan Light" but it was fun anyway. The testosterone levels, man!
4. Inspector Gadget. Ok, so it was pretty goofy, but it was great fun, and the gadgets and the car (oh boy, that car) were really cool. Clearly inspired by Peter Sellers' "Inspector Clouseau", it also had the most memorable theme song EVER.
5. Super-Ted. Well, maybe not the coolest of shows, but at least this was one show me and my kid brother could agree on watching together (and the one show mum would let us watch due to its morally correct and mostly non-violent content)
It's that time of the year again. Pumpkin pie, trick or treating, fancy costumes. Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't got anything against Halloween as such it's just that...
...it is NOT a Norwegian tradition. Not by a longshot. Heck, it's so fresh, even I remember when nobody knew about (or cared about, for that matter) this imported "thing". The Norwegian equivalent, Julebukk, has existed for ages and yet nobody seems to remember that, at least not here in the city.
Hey, I am all for kids stuffing their faces with candy once in a while, but not on Halloween - not here in Norway, anyway. Besides, when the kids go julebukk, they have to EARN their goodies by singing Christmas carols, and we all know that working for your candy builds character.
And this has nothing at all to do with the fact that I never got to go trick or treating when I was a kid.
Hah, I strike back! My last posting was so grumpy I actually felt kinda bad about it today, so here's a list over things that made me happy this week:
1. An... acquaintance... supplied me with a heap of beer (24 x 0.33l boxes) at a very comfortable price. Not that I'm much of a drinker, but the Norwegian prices for beer? Pfft!
2. Winter came and went again VERY quickly. Yeah, no kidding: Tuesday it was -5 degrees Celcius and snow on the ground, yesterday it was all gone and a warm (well, warmish) wind of +12 degrees swept across town. Marlboro coat back on its hanger for now.
3. I got "Lost" season 1, "Firefly", "Batman Begins" and "Princess Blade" on DVD. Woohoo!
4. I discovered Antony and the Johnsons (thanks, Kristian!): Holy smokes! Superb stuff, makes me happy, sad and somewhat uneasy all at the same time.
There you go; I'm not that grumpy after all. Of course, it COULD be the cheap beer talking...
October sale frenzy at work. Tired as hell. Leave me alone. Bah.
Ok, so you've fired up your favourite shooter, stocked up on your beverage of choice, turned the lights down and the sound up: What music to shoot-dodge in Max Payne 2 to, waste Zombies in Doom 3 to, or kill mercenaries in Far Cry to? Here are my suggestions:
"I don't wanna be me" - Type 0 Negative. After playing the "Cinema 2" mod for Max Payne 2, this is the de facto shoot'em up tune for me. Rocks hard!
"Ricochet" - Bionic Jive. I first heard these guys on the "Transporter" trailer a couple of years back. Good stuff.
"Here to stay" - Korn. My little bro' suggested this one, so I'll just have to take his word for it.
"Du Hast" - Rammstein. Come on, it works with ANYTHING involving guns: games, movies, comic books. Wünderbar.
"Damn Me" - Deathstars. Ok, so they're so over the top it hurts, but the Swedish death-pop'ers can make some pretty cool riffs. Great for background music in "Doom 3".
"Shock" - Fear Factory. When that guitar kicks in 00:32, I can see myself playing Quake 4 - if I actually had it. A perfect mix of metal and sci-fi.
Suggestions?
1. Write stupid Blog entries. Mwahahahahahah.
2. Watch the latest "Lost" episode.
3. Enjoy a nice, hot cup of Earl Grey while watching said episode of "Lost" or - if there is no latest episode of "Lost" to enjoy - re-reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
4. Scouring the interweb for strange facts, fresh music and cheap DVDs.
5. Watch the "Apple Special Event" broadcast.
Ooook, so.... like, wow. This is a really, really good hoax. I mean, seriously good. So good, I almost felt a little scared watching it:
Tsunami uncovers giant skeleton
Man, that thing is huge! I refuse to believe this is real (even if I'd like to), but if it is - How the heck did you know, Roald Dahl?!
Wow. I need some coffee.
1. Equally parts daft and cool, the iTech Virtual Keyboard will project a standard qwerty keyboard onto any flat surface. Like, totally space age, dude!
2. The Log1k laptop-in-a-log. Now, I love case-mods and the likes as much as the next geek, but this is almost (ALMOST) over the top. However, I'm seriously considering the iLog.
3. The Firewire Electric Guitar. Ok, so I'd probably never buy a guitar anyway, but this... this... abomination just makes me sad. I'm sure it'll create quite the ruckus in the guitarist camp.
4. A Pin Clock. Oh, wait, that one I'd actually like to get. Seriously. If only IWOOT would ship to Norway... Sigh.
5. The QURO robot from Sony. My oh my, is this thing sweet. It also costs a small fortune.
Hey, this was quite the improvement from previous Friday, wasn't it?
I got my Mastercard yesterday. It's very pretty, golden and all that. It's my first credit card, actually. "Why Bit, you're closing in on 30 and you don't have a credit card?! What else haven't you told us?" Ah, but I've never NEEDED one, see. My old card (a plain vanilla VISA/bank card) has worked just fine for me. However, a long story involving my favourite online DVD shop, my old card and a supposed mismatch of certification standards led me to believe I needed a credit card. Well, to be honest, my bank led me to believe I needed one, and preferably a Mastercard. And I trust my bank, ya know.
So there it sits in my wallet, all fresh and shiny and waiting to be abused. I can see a financial disaster striking me within the next three months.
Or perhaps not.
A hot air balloon just landed on the field just across the street from the store where I work. No, really. I think they kinda aimed a little further down and, uhm, sorta missed. They managed to stay clear of a bunch of trees and bushes AND a powerline, which is pretty impressive, though. It was a Remax ballon, by the way. Perhaps they will pay me for this advertisement space?
Sadly, this is about the most exciting thing that has happened this week.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know: not the most exiting of lists. I'm tired and can't think of anything clever to make lists about. Hopefully I'll figure out something more exiting next week. Woosh.
1. "Lost" - 'nuff said. It's clever, exiting, has great actors and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The season 1 DVD is heading my way as we speak, can't wait to rewatch it with comments!
2. "Firefly" - It's like Buffy in Space, only without the vampires. And Sarah Michelle Gellar. So I guess it's not much like Buffy in Space at all, actually. Meh. It still rocks, though.
3. "John Doe" - Don't ask me how I came to watch this one, 'cause I won't tell. Why this show was cancelled after one season is a mystery to me, but hey, it's a great watch. DVD, please?
4. "Prison Break" - Still in it's humble beginnings, this is almost more intense than "24". A cool premise, a clever break-out plan and Dominic Purcell (the star of "John Doe") is in it. Woot!
That's it for this week.
Woah, this is equally cool and unnerving; last year a Japanese crew of scientists encountered a real, live giant squid at 900 metres depth off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands and today the images where published.
Ok, it doesn't look too intimidating in the pictures, but that thing is 8 metres long. Yikes.
Article (in English) here and pictures (Norwegian captions, sorry) here.
Freaky.
Aight! The weekend is here, and to force myself into blogging more often, I am hereby opening the Friday List - which is where I, well, present lists of... stuff. M'kay?
So, this Friday I present you the official Bitstreem approved Fall music list; music to listen to while drinking a hot cup of chocolate/a glass of wine/beverage of choice and watching the rain pound on your livingroom window. Aaah. Here goes:
1. "Majesty" by Madrugada. This song simply reeks of Autumn. Trust me.
2. "Max Payne 2" main theme by Kärtsy Hatakka and Kimmo Kajasto (download here). Awesome!
3. "Window Pane" by Opeth. Who says black metal guys can't be sensitive?
4. "Nothing at all" by Rob Dougan. I hear his second album might be coming out soon... Woot!
5. "Gravedigger" by Dave Matthews. Espescially the acoustic version.
That's my top 5 Fall songs, feel free to give me any recommendations.
Well, actually not MY first wedding, but the first one I've been to. Yeah, I know, one would think that at the tender age of 29 I'd been to a wedding before, but I haven't. See, most of the weddings I've been invited to before have taken place in some other part of the country and I simply couldn't be there due to work stuff and things like that. But I digress.
Anyway, my good friend Marius married his beloved Camilla yesterday and it was a very nice wedding indeed. Not that I have much to compare it to, but the people were nice, the place where the reception/dinner was held was nice and the food was great. I enjoyed myself, even if it got a little late (yawn). Marius' speech was simply mindblowingly good, if I translated it and sold it to some Hollywood hot-shot scriptwriter I'd be a rich man. Or something.
So, this blog entry is dedicated to Camilla and Marius: live long and prosper, and remember that love will save the day.
(wipes tear from corner of eye)
Dear Blog,
Whatever you may have heard or assumed during my absence, I have not forsaken thee. September has been a ridiculous month so far, with very little spare time on my hands, and when I've had the time, I've been too drained to think of anything even remotely exiting or funny to post. However, I hope to be back on schedule within the next week and start posting MORE sporadically as opposed to less. Or was it the other way around?
Sorry for the lack of posts, and enjoy your weekend.
Regards,
Your Creator
A legend is gone; Bob Moog died yesterday. Although I've never owned a Moog product, I - and many other wannabe owners - recognize the amazing impact Bob's creations have had on the very core of electronic music of all genres throughout the years.
My condolances to the family who have lost a loved one; rest assured though, Mr. Moog has left a legacy that will last a long time. More on Moogmusic.com
Ok, ok, I know the Net is flooding with spam, and I've learned to live with it (more or less). Today, I deleted a spam-comment from this moron that was longer than ANY article I've EVER seen in a blog, ever.
Come on! What happened to the two-line dodgy software/financial solution/male reproductive organ improvement spam links of Ye Good Ole' Days? Two lines I can handle. A freakin 100 line monster spam just makes me grumpy. Grr.
So, Lucy1384923462938238445 or whatever yer frickin' name is, if you REALLY need to spam, please, two lines only.
And if you want traffic, post on a blog that actually has traffic. Which means, er, just about any other blog than mine.
Just want to mention that the website/blog for my band, Audiotherapy, is just about up and running now, so if you want to hear the stuff I do with my faithful compadre Terje, head on over there now.
On a side note, mysterious blogs by Mr. Knox and Mr. Matu seems to have materialized too in the last few days. Very strange indeed.
Ok, ok, so this is all over the web these days, but what the heck: a good thing cannot be repeated often enough...
Check out this customizable keyboard where each separate key has its own - get this - miniature OLED display!
http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/ - gosh, I want this thing sooooo badly.
I need professional help.
Oh joy! They've finally updated the Mother of All Drum Machines VST instrument: MicroTonic! Multiple outputs, pitched oscillators and pattern export - this will be soooo much fun.
Well, as you can see I'm pretty psyched abouth this - and not to mention the fact that it is FINALLY coming for Audio Units, yey! - and if you're doing electronic music, so should you. It's dirt cheap too, at $69 (will increase to $89 in the near future). Go get it!
Having a little cash to spare by the end of June, I wasted no time and decided to replace my old desktop PC (affectionately dubbed "The Vaccum Cleaner" due to the somewhat annoying noise it makes after it's been turned on for about 15 seconds) with a nice little notebook (laptop) PC instead. Woot.
After some research, where I among other things discovered that most of the laptops of this world are made in one of two or three factories in the East, I landed on the Quanta KN-1 (sold in Norway by MPX). So, why a whitebox? Well, it's build by the same people that build IBMs, Dells and HPs so the quality is pretty good, the specs are great for the price and the whole thing cost way less than a similar name-brand notebook. MPX has a great warranty deal AND the thing uses bog-standard parts, so should anything wear out/break, I should be able to find spare parts easily.
I've had it up and running for about a week now, and I like it a lot. The screen is good (although at a somewhat limited 1200x800 resolution), the performance is great (Doom 3 runs like, ahem, hell) and it looks like I'll be able to do some out-of-the-studio work on it as well, as soon as I get a proper audio/midi solution for it (something like the M-Audio Ozone).
Still: this thing came in the most dreadfully dull cardboard box with some wording that made it look like a box of soap. As a rough comparison, my PowerMac G5 came in a box that I could have displayed in a modern art exhibition, to great acclaim. And I'm just talking about the outer box.
On a more serious note: My thoughts are with everyone who fell victim (directly or indirectly) of yesterday's explosions in London. I really like London, and I am sad to see this happen.
So this sleazy salesman came knocking on my door a few days ago. Well, he wasn't really sleazy as such, just the regular fast-talking, smooth, "this offer is only good today" kind of security system salesman that sometimes come by to test my patience and courtesy. Now, as you might know, I'm a salesman myself (of the good, honest, not-trying-to-talk-yer-head-off kind) and as such I'm not easily impressed by these guys that have no interest in their product, but are simply trying to make as much money as they can. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
However, this time, the salesman of dubious intents had brought along something that caught my eye: a dolled up, pretty blonde girl. "Ok", I thought to myself, "so they'll be using the old two-salespersons-one-customer trick. Better brace myself." However, the guy started his monologue - that's what it was, since I coulnd't get a single word in for the good three or four minutes he talked - and as he babbled on, I kept looking at the pretty blonde waiting for her to step into the ring. Nothing happened. I waited, growing increasingly intrigued by what her role in all of this was. She hadn't said as much as a word the enire time since they rang my doorbell, and I speculated wildly as to what her purpose was: Was she his secretary? His boss? A trainee? Wife? Bodyguard? Some kind of inspector that supervised the guy as he sold these security systems? By the end of his sales pitch I refused - as I always do - to sign anything at the door, but would be happy to read any written information material he might have brought along. Of course, he hadn't brought any.
As they left, I couldn't help but think what might have happened IF I'd actually signed up. I mean, the blonde MUST have been there for a reason, right? Did I miss out on something? Was she part of the deal (the salesman never said so, but still)?
The whole thing reminded me of the ending of "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson", when the mobsters and the Yakuza fight and Marge urges Homer to go inside, and Homer doesn't want to because one of the Yakuzas hasn't done anything yet (a short guy in a white suit) and "when he does, I'm sure it's going to be spectacular!"
Heck, if I had a blonde like that with me at work, no customer would be safe: they would all leave with ridiculously expensive gear they didn't need in the first place. Together, we would rule the music-gear-selling world, and there would be fat bonuses every month.
Alas, such is not the way of the lone salesman.
Wanda Noel wrote:
From: Wanda Noel
Subject: Re: FYI
Date: June 4, 2005 4:20:54 PM CEST
To: Bit
THIS IS GOING TO BE OUR FINAL NOTIFICATION
We have made an effort to contact you on many occurences and the time to return your reponse is now!
Your current home loan meets the requirements for you for up to a 3.60% lower rate.
However, seeing as our previous attempts to contact you did not succeed,
this will be our final notice to close for you the lower rate.
Please complete this final step upon receiving this notice immediately,and complete your application now.
(some links and stuff)
From: Bit
Subject: RE: Re: FYI
Date: June 4, 2005 9:20:54 PM CEST
To: Wanda Noel
Dear Wanda,
I recieved you e-mail today (strangely enough, none of your former e-mails have reached me) and I must say I find your offer very attractive. Now, if you can actually offer me a reduction of 3.60% on my home loan interest, that is indeed an offer no sane man can refuse. Do you offer this to Norwegian citizens, too? I take it you do, since you have sent me this mail. Surely, a respectable firm like yours would never send an offer of this magnitude to just anyone.
I don´t know how well you know Norwegian economics, but our interest is (for the time being) at an all time low and this brings us to my question (Disclaimer: I´m not very good at mathematics, so bear with me if I got this wrong):
You say you can reduce my rate by up to 3.60%. Now, as I said, the Norwegian interest is at an record low at the time, and my current rate on my home loan is 3.22%. Here comes the brain-twister:
Does this mean that you will actually PAY me 0.38% of my home loan? I mean, my financial situation is by no means bad, but I sure would love to get an extra - let´s see now - 34000 Norwegian Crowns a month (hope I got this right; my loan is roughly 1.08 million NOK times 0.38 divided by 12 equals ca. 34000)! I don´t mean to sound critical, but isn´t a bank that actually GIVES people money for loaning money there going about their business the wrong way? Unless, of course, you CHARGE people for saving money there. That is certainly not the way we do it here in Norway, but hey, we´re a small country in the outskirts of civilization so what the heck do we know?
Anyway, I look forward to your answer to this, and will gladly transfer my loan to you as soon as we´ve clarified this.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Bit
Ok, this is probably just another example of me jumping in late on an internet event, but what the heck:
The Dionaea House
This is one of the better marketing ploys I've seen online in a while, and it's also a great read - heck, I read through the whole darn thing at work today and even in broad daylight it's pretty creepy. I do have a feeling this will eventually be made into a (at best) mediocre movie. Sigh. The potential is there, though.
Anyway, read this in the dark, when you're alone, and I guarantee the goosebumps will come.
Hmm, I wonder if I can learn something from this...?
(This commercial break is brought to you by.... me)
If you haven't checked out my hard-rockin' amigos (and amiga) in "The Crest" yet, you owe it to yourself to do so now: these days, their long awaited second album, "Vain City Chronicles", hits the streets - or rather, webshops - and if you like melodic, guitar based dark rock (let's stay clear of the somewhat overused "goth"-term) you NEED to give these guys a listen.
You should be able to pick up the CD in respectable webshops like Amazon, CDON and from the Season of Mist e-shop.
They're having a releaseparty here in Oslo, Norway next Thursday, so if you wanna buy me a beer for giving you this indispensable information, I'll be more than happy to oblige.
Look for the guy in a bright, multicoloured shirt among the horde of rockers. I'm kinda easy to spot.
"Dear Mr. Banjong Pisanthanakun and Mr. Parkpoom Wongpoom,
I had the not too pleasant experience of watching your motion picture "Shutter" this evening, and would like to make the following statement:
Whereas I can tolerate being scared silly (once more) by creepy, pale asian girls, outstanding use of dynamics in sound (I guess you guys listen to Ravel's Bolero a lot), an intriguing storyline and several jump-in-the-seat scare moments, I will not tolerate the kind of colateral damage your movie has caused on my furniture. If you make a movie that's so creepy that it'll make me chew up my pillows and my Ikea sofa's armchairs, you should bloody well say so on the cover.
Therefore, please find enclosed my receipt for the following item:
1 large, comfy pillow (good for sleeping on, resting your back against, or chewing on during scary movies)
I'm expecting you to act responsibly and replace my now chewed-to-pieces pillow within a reasonable period of time.
I don't mind a cheap Thai pillow, as long as it matches my sofa.
Yours,
Bit"
To the person(s) who got the idea for the music for the new Mentos commercial (the one with the birds):
I know that reviving the "No Limits" tune by 2 Unlimited (sic) might have seemed like a good idea at the moment. It's catchy. Maybe even infectiously so. The young 'uns haven't heard it before and think it's cool. And I'm sure that if you chew enough Mentos, you'll feel like there's no limit to what you can do. Or possibly the ad agency O.D'ed on Mentos when they came up with the idea. Whatever.
Now hear ye: bringing back that song is much like what Dr. Herbert West did in Re-animator - and nothing good will come of it. That foul thing is dead and should remain so. I don't know what unholy ritual you performed to bring it back to life, but you crossed the line, man. What you have done, you will eventually pay for. Oh yes.
However, since it's my birthday today and I'm feeling generous, I'll give you a couple of days headstart before I hunt you down and play you "Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil" until you beg me for forgiveness.
Fear me, for I am Geek. And happy birthday to me, dammit.
I like shiny objects. Shiny objects and blue LEDs. In particular, I like the shiny object that is my PowerMac G5. It looks good (outside AND inside), it plays well and it darn well feels good, too. I installed a second internal harddrive in it today, and had to contemplate for a few minutes just to grasp the beauty of it: all I needed (except for the drive itself) was right there.
On my PCs, installing a second harddrive usually meant getting the disk, finding some screws, fidgeting with the drive bay to fit the disk, realizing that the IDE-kabel didn't reach it, repositioning the drive (often accidently unhooking some innocent looking cable somewhere in the process, wreaking havoc on my setup later on in the process), realizing the disk was set as master, desperately searching for the miniscule plastic jumper that got lost in the process, restarting, formatting and Bob's your father's brother.
Now, the same procedure, G5 stylee: get the disk, get the four screws that are conveniently placed next to the drive bays, fasten these on the disk, put the disk into the bay (which then simply locks the disk in place), fasten the S-ATA and power cables (which, once more, where conveniently placed just below the connectors on the disk) - et voila! - Disk installed. I'm telling you, this should be a frickin' standard on ALL PCs, Macs or otherwise. I'm really starting to like my Mac.
My brand new livingroom floor looks pretty shiny as well, although it's not brushed steel and hasn't got any blue LEDs.
Yet.
Finally got (most of) my floor back today (I had a small waterleak in February), hopefully the carpenter will finish it by tomorrow so I can spend the weekend putting stuff back where it belongs. Can´t wait! It´s been a total mess around here for the last couple of months and I´m fed up with it.
On a happier note, I got my first PHP/MySQL based website up and running yesterday, and I feel quite content. It went much smoother than expected, and was pretty much like installing and setting up a CGI-script. Cool.
Tomorrow is the last day at work for one of my coolest co-workers, after 6 years it feels a bit weird (and sad). Not so cool. That´s life, though; nothing stays the same forever.
I think this is as deep as I´ll get this week.
I got a much needed full night of quality shut-eye and woke up feeling fully restituted from the weekend brouhaha. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and therefore I arrived at work...
...with a total b*tch of a headache. Go figure. I had to retreat to the lunch-room for half an hour two times today, just to gather the strength to get through the day. Of course, with an in-store humidity of about 20% and a temperature of about 25 degrees Celcius, a headache is bound to happen now and then. It´s so darn dry in there, that I can hear the acoustic guitars scream in pain as their necks slowly and inevitably curl up into banana-shaped pieces of wood.
Feeling better now, but still a little groggy. Don´t know why. But I´m certain that a good two or three hours of Monday night quality TV will set things straight; "Scrubs" at nine, "24" (season 4) at nine thirty and my favourite guilty pleasure, "Smallville" at ten thirty (hey, Buffy has ended, ok?!).
At least my head will hurt for a reason tomorrow.
Back from a two-day retailer/distributor weekend conference, and I feel a bit exhausted. There have been a couple of very nice seminars in motivation technique and sales/customer treatment, and I´ve seen some new products from the distributors. Nothing exiting, really, just the bread-and-butter stuff that makes the wheels go round.
Best thing was probably getting faces to go with all the names I see and voices I hear on the phone every day; there was a moment of equal surprise at the bar last night when I bumped into one of the guys I buy goods from on a regular basis - we were both sure the person on the other end of the line was some 40 year old and not a guy in his (late) twenties! Good to see there aren´t TOO many grumpy old men in my line of business, we need some (relativly) young upstarts as well.
Very, very tired now, gonna hit the sack early tonight, methinks.
Ok, this is just sooooo cool: The Jazzmutant Lemur, a poly touch-screen based controller unit made by some wacky French guys! Now, this might seem like a silly thing at first glance, but for those of us who indulge in electronic music escapades and aren't keyboard virtousos it could open up a heap of sweet live manipulation possibilities for our software synths and sequencers...
...IF we could afford one. At 2000 Euros (what's that, 2600-700 dollars?) it is pretty much out of my price range, at least for now. Also, it doesn't transmit MIDI, but uses the OpenSound protocol. A "translation layer" will of course solve that problem, but I still get the feeling this is made for the Max/MSP crowd and their close followers. Fine with me, but it does bring up images of über-artsy soundscape/noisescape artists waving their hands around the surface of these things, impressing a crowd of well-dressed, wine-sipping, silently head-nodding twenty-somethings who are simply BEYOND the boring restrictions of rhythm and melody.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Being a music freak, I tend to pester my surroundings whenever I discover some (more or less) obscure band, mailing links to everyone I know, waxing lyrically about it at work, over coffee, at parties - I´m sure you know the type. Lately, I´ve made two such discoveries: Mandalaband and Evil Nine. I stumbled unto Mandalaband in a funny way; one of their songs was used as the theme song for a Norwegian TV series that just about every kid (well, every kid in their late twenties) know about (click here if you´re Norwegian). I´ve always loved the song, but not been able to figure out just who made it - I always believed it was composed specifically for the series by some Norwegian musician. Well, a couple of weeks ago I finally found the man behind the music, and bought the wonderful "The Eye of Wendor" album - an hour of late 70s prog-rock bliss! Good stuff.
I really, really do. Speaking to a friend and fellow music gear geek today made me realize just HOW much I desire one of these babies. Now, those of you out there who lead normal lives (bless you) may not know what a Nord Modular G2 is, and I don´t blame you. However, a short briefing may be necessary. The Nord Modular G2 (or just G2, as we affectionados call it) is a Swedish digital modular synthesizer, made exclusively to make synth geeks like yours truly breathe heavily, drool a bit and then enter an almost vegetative state as we ponder the endless possibilities for making strange, burbling noises with this $2500 red-and-black device.
I´d like to take this moment to thank Sweden for the wonderful things they´ve given us, including (but not limited to): Ikea, meatballs, Clavia, the Chef in Muppet-show, some sweet Amiga demos and music, Astrid Lindgren, cheap meat (it´s a Norwegian thing). Oh, and that Nobel guy was pretty cool, too. Take a bow, Swedes everywhere!
Ah, yes. So they got to me at last, all the "What, you don't blog? And you call yourself a geek? Tsk tsk." people. Okay, now I'm here to change the World of Blogging, to rip through the foundations of reality, to tell you what the Matrix REALLY is. Or not.
Anyhoo, since it's pretty slow at work today (hey, I found time to set up my blog, didn't I?) I've spent way too much time at I-am-bored, KVR Audio and waiting for the new The Crest site to go live. Oh wait, that's what I do everyday. Oh well.
Now, since I really haven't blogged before, you'll have to live with my more or less meaningless drivel for a while. Hopefully I'll get better at things as time goes by, but don't hold your breath.
Nice, isn't it? It's got strings and everything! So far, I've learned all about blisters, finger cramps and A major. Coming along nicely, then.
