January 26, 2004
Never Stop Breathing
The new CD of Chrysanthemum Fiends songs appears today. It features the sex-bits of a bright red tulip on the front cover.
Whenever I complete a new CD, I tend to spend a few weeks going around and endlessly listening to said CD in many different places (in the studio, in the kitchen, upstairs on the stereo, in the car, on tinny little multimedia speakers, on an ipod etc) to ensure that it all sounds good, and is tonally balanced. I've been listening to this one for about 6 weeks, and I'm probably no longer being objective about it. The mixes are now sounding “about right” on most of the above systems (though this process has really just highlighted how variable my various stereos / rooms are). (Note to self: must budget for active monitors and acoustic treatment everywhere in house).
I'm very happy with the songs themselves - half of them are the best things that I've ever written (and the other half aren't far off). The recordings also feature many more instruments than previous CDs, including Piano, Electric Guitars (solid 6 string, semiacoustic 6 string, 12 string), Acoustic Guitars (steel string, nylon string), Bass guitars, Drum kit, Harmonium, Bamboo Saxaphone, Synthesizers, Temple Bells, Wind Chimes, Ceramic Drums, Harmonica, 5 string Banjo, Mandolin, Tambourine, Egyptian Tambourine, Shakers, Glockenspiel, Electronic Percussion, Digital Audio Workstation &
Vox Humana). Peter Robinson also guests providing Trumpets on one track.
The whole kaboodle is now available on the site. Now, I'm off to write some classical scores, and hardcore electronica…
January 13, 2004
Archetypal Blog
When the “blog revolution” happened a year or two ago, and everyone was writing about the “blogosphere” etc. the number of online blogs rose dramatically. People were predicting that by 2006, there would be more online blogs than users of the internet. The number would continue to grow exponentially until there were more blogs than grains of sand in the entire world. And by 2021, the number of blogs would be greater than the number of atoms in the milky way galaxy. And the number of blogs would even continue growing after we are all wiped out by nuclear war / comet impact / particularly nasty flu virus in March of 2028, (though the average number of readers would remain more or less constant).
However, it is estimated that only around 1/3 of these blogs are still updated on anything like a regular basis. Around 1/2 of the blogs in existence (looking at those hosted on BlogSpot are created, and then immediately abandoned). And a large percentage of the rest of them are all about the blogger's pet cats.
Well, I confess, I've posted once or twice about our cat Oreo when she went missing last year (and never came home again), but otherwise I think I've done fairly well in not turning this into a catfest .
But, on this occasion, you'll have to excuse me. We've just adopted three new kittens, Lazslo, Moko and Bam. You can see Bam and Lazslo below (Bam is the blue one looking directly at you).
If you liked him, then there are also pictures of all three kittens asleep on my lap.
That's it. Catfest over.
For now.
January 12, 2004
Dr Junkee
Don't you love it when you idly turn on the radio, and find yourself listening to an off the wall comedy, which you know absolutely nothing about, which doesn't make any sort of sense, but it just doesn't matter? In this tradition, Martin Randle and a few friends have recorded the adventures of Dr Junkee, which is being released over the digital aether in handy spoon size servings. The first episode is hysterical, and I'm told that the others will be even funnier. So, go download, and listen to them in a quiet room somewhere.
January 01, 2004
How not to buy binoculars
The consumer experience in Houston leaves much to be desired. In a city with more shopping malls than there are people, it is nonetheless difficult to find particular items for purchase. In my case, a pair of binoculars.
In amongst the Best Buys, Wal-Marts, Foleys, Bath & Body Works, Old Navys, Sam Goodys, Mervyns, Dillards, Lord & Taylors, Sears, Ross, Bed Bath & Beyonds, Home Depots, Gaps, Pottery Barns, Targets, Victorias Secrets, Expresses, The Limiteds, Abecrombie & Fitches, JC Penneys, Casual Male (Big n Tall!)s, Barnes & Nobles, Hobby Lobbys, Kirklands, Pier 1 Imports, Watch Stations, Sunglasses Huts, Pizza Huts, Jabba The Hutts, more Sears, Wolf Cameras, Fox News, Candle Warehouse, Candle Cities, Candle Depots and Candle Barns, I have managed to find zero binoculars with full multicoatings and 50-60mm lenses (Victoria's Secret had some 10×32 binoculars, for perverts to spy on people trying on lingerie, but these didn't really fit the bill). As a handy alternative, almost every shop has offered a bewildering variety of impossibly cheap clothes (albeit with incomprehensible names such as a “club knit”), and 18 different variations on milk. The choice is quite staggering, so long as you don't want binoculars. It is of course possible that the Bush administration has banned the sale or ownership of binoculars (as the name “bin”oculars purportedly has links to “bin” laden, and are therefore a possible weapon of mass destruction) under the PATRIOT act. Or I could have just finished reading the new Michael Moore book Dude, Where's My Country.
As the lure of random shopping quickly loses its appeal, and the TV has become even stupider over the past 12 months (one of the most intelligent pieces of programming I've seen over the past few days involved a naked man trying to escape from a perspex cube full of cockroaches), I'm especially grateful that Neal Stephenson has written Quicksilver, which I'm enjoying immensely. I might even write about it one day.